Would You Sell The Olympic Torch?

I'm sure a lot of people have watched, or are planning to watch, the proud Olympic torch bearers running through the towns and villages of the UK, carrying the Olympic flame to the London 2012 games. It is certainly a moment to be remembered forever if you were one of the lucky 8000 who were a part of the relay.

Yet, as I am writing this, several of the Olympic torches used to transport the flame through its initial travels are for sale on eBay. You might think selling such a unique souvenir would be a little unsentimental. Possibly. But you might reconsider your judgement when you learn that with >21 hours left, one lucky soul has already got the bidding up to £130,100.

Here's the link

Have a look, maybe even watch it to see how much the bidding ends on. Just be sure not to accidentally place a bid!!

What do you think? There are several other torches for sale already on eBay, all for tens of thousands of pounds. Would you sell one, if you had it, or keep it forever as a souvenir for your grandchildren?

Gotta tell you, I'd sell it.

Things I've Learned from No Spend Days

I have had over 50 No Spend Days this year so far! I set myself the challenge of having 100 No Spend Days in 2012, so I am currently ahead of schedule. I am due to move to Uni in autumn though and I think it's better to get as many as possible out of the way before I go!

So what have I learned so far?

The good

The Boyfriend said that I would probably just roll lots of spending into one day, so no spend days would not save any money. This is not the case. I find that I don't spend more than normal on a “spend day”.

I find this challenge stops me spending little bits here and there. If I am having a No Spend Day, it's not worth losing it for an ice cream or a drink. It stops the drip drip drip of unconscious spending.

The bad

I have found that spending money is quite addictive. Even buying diesel can be quite exciting! I bet no-one else gets that excited about swiping their debit card! I think it's because it makes you feel rich. If you have a few spend days in a row, it's hard to break the pattern. You feel drawn back into consumerism.

I need to turn this feeling around. Spending money makes me feel rich, but NOT spending money makes you ACTUALLY rich(er)!

The breakdown of my No Spend Days is as follows:

• January – 13
• February – 14
• March – 10
• April – 11
• May (so far) – 6 of a possible 14 ( target is 14 for the month)

As you can see, since I was approaching and achieved being debt free in March I seemed to spend more often. I have set myself a target for May to get back on track and have 14 No Spend Days.

Who would benefit from No Spend Days?

The value of No Spend Days is debated a lot online. Do they encourage people to spend less, or simply group a lot of spending into a few days?

I would say they are good for those who fall victim to the “latte factor”, a phase invented by David Bach to describe the little things you spend money on daily. The example he gives is a latte on the way to work in the morning, but it could be any unnecessary purchase from a newspaper to buying lunches. If you just bring your own coffee/lunch from home a few days a week you could save a bundle, racking up a No Spend Day in the process!

Then again, as Laura Vanderkam said, perhaps these Latte Factor Victims spend a lot less on rent so that they can afford little luxuries like this!

Do you keep track of No Spend Days? Do you think they are a useful tool in a frugal lifestyle?

A Weekend in the Sun

I just had a lovely weekend. The sun was even shining at my house – very unusual! :) I thought I'd share what I got up to!

Fun in the sun

On Saturday I took The Boyfriend for a surfing lesson for his birthday. Neither of us had ever been before, but it was really good fun. (The stag party group of ~25 men dressed as pirates certainly added entertainment value too!) The instructors were really good and gave you a lot of help both on the beach and in the sea. I managed to kneel on the board before falling off, but The Boyfriend got as far as crouching on his feet! We are both VERY achey today!

Today after work my sister and I went for a walk along one of the beaches in Newquay. We've decided to brave the sea tomorrow in our summer gear! Wish us luck!

Gardening

Got my little cabbages in the vegetable patch, planted some potatoes, swede, swiss chard, peas and pumpkins, and even weeded my Mum's fruit bushes. We now have all the ingredients growing to make a proper pasty! (Note carrots do NOT appear on the list!!)

My Nana came round for a cup of tea and left with a big bag of stinging nettles to make fertiliser. Basically you cut the plants up a bit and leave them to rot in a watering can. After a while it makes a very nutritious feed for plants, a trick that Ilona (the Mean Queen) has mentioned on her blog's money saving tips.

So what other interesting things have been going on?

Pamela (of Feral Homemaking) often writes a post linking to various articles that have interested her recently, so I thought I'd give a quick roundup:

Isa's reinvented her old fridge by adding a stylish paper design to cover old stickers left by previous owners. It looks awesome!

Rivulet's back to work after the recent birth of her first son, and it has inspired her more than ever to get out of debt. Her son is adorable too!

Stephanie looks like she had a great time flying round in a small plane and chatting to the pilot! Very jealous of the adventure!

Ilona's been making amazing shopping bags out of old plastic supermarket bags fused together in layers. She's even added designs to them for added style. I really want to try this! What a good use of “rubbish”.

What have you been up to? I hope you've enjoyed the sunshine! 

Theft-Proof Your Wallet Today!

I've been travelling the country a lot lately, visiting friends as well as universities. One thing I am always very paranoid of is pickpockets/muggers. (Mainly instilled in me by my father, who insisted I wouldn't make it through a year living in London because I have no common sense!) That's why today's article by Donna Freedman on Get Rich Slowly really struck a nerve with me.

Donna was the unfortunate victim of three cowardly muggers whilst travelling. She spent the next few days trying to remember (and cancel) all of the credit/debit cards, loyalty cards, rewards cards, store cards, etc., as well as all the possible sources of identity theft.

Somewhat more organised than myself, Donna had a list of everything in her wallet back at home, with all the phone numbers she would need to cancel the cards and protect her identity as well as her bank account.

I decided to give this “wallet audit” a go, so that in the event of theft I can immediately cancel everything and limit the damage done. I wrote down the emergency phone numbers of everything in there, so it's a simple case of following a pre-written plan should anything happen.

Side note! This is also handy to get rid of random stuff that is no longer useful; old Tesco and Sainsbury's vouchers, lots of out of date loyalty cards, etc.

To be honest, I would not fret too much over losing most of the things in my wallet. I guess the three most problematic things would be my bank cards, credit card and driving license. It's good to know I know have a back-up plan, available online ready to use if needed! :)

Mainly for my own benefit: 

What's in My Wallet?

• 2 x debit cards for my bank accounts (If you are with Natwest the number is 0870 600 0459, and the Emergency Cash service is the same number).
• Student credit card (as above)
• Driving license – UK photocard holders can ring 0300 790 6801, but I was shocked to see that there is a £20 fee for replacing it!
• AA card - 08705 444 444
• Tesco Clubcard - 0800 591 688
• Nectar card – 0844 8110 811
• Shell Drivers Club card - 08459 006 008 – Wouldn't be so bad if thieves racked up some points I guess!
• Starbucks card - 020 8834 5050
• Waterstones card – 0800 328 5723
• Eden Project Pass - 01726 811911
• National Insurance Number card - 0845 915 7006. I have taken this out of my wallet now. There's no need to carry it and if it's stolen you would have to get a new NI number! Hassle!!

Extras I have when travelling:

• Oyster card (for travelling around London) - 0845 330 9876. If you have registered your card online your balance should be able to be transferred to a new card
• Rail card - 08448 714 036. If card is lost, a replacement fee of £5 applies, if stolen you can provide a crime reference number and your card will be replaced for free.
• European Health Insurance card - 0845 606 2030
• Passport - 0300 222 0000

What's in your wallet? Do you know without looking? :)

Research Finds One in Four on Wrong Tax Code

Today The Telegraph reported on research by accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, which found that 25% of its clients were on the wrong tax code. This mainly affected people with taxable income from savings, especially pensioners and higher rate tax payers.

The report found that people were often paying tax twice on the interest from their savings. If you use self-assessment, rather than Pay As You Earn tax deductions, you need to check with HMRC whether they have records of your income from savings and know exactly what to include on your tax return.

If you have modest savings, it is worth moving it from a regular savings account into a tax-free ISA (Individual Savings Account). You can save up to £5640 in cash, or up to £11280 in shares (or a combination of cash and shares). Instead of paying tax on the income at 20% for lower incomes, or up to 50% for higher rate tax payers, you get to keep all of the interest. This means it is very rare for a regular savings account to yield better returns than an ISA.

The report did note that HMRC says that 98% of people are paying the correct amount of tax, but I have often had problems with the system. If you have not worked for the entire tax year (beginning on April 6^th), you may have paid too much tax before your Tax Code was calculated.

When you receive your P60 for the recently-ended tax year, use HMRC's tax checker to make sure you paid the correct amount of tax. If you discover you paid too much, contact them (with your National Insurance Number to hand) and ask them to check whether you are owed a refund. Do NOT leave it to them to sort out. It is supposed to be done automatically but I have ALWAYS had to do it myself, even a couple of years later! (Bear in mind if you ring you might be on hold for a while!!). 

Seizing Opportunities: Expect the Unexpected

If an amazing opportunity came up, would you have the resources set aside to do be able to pursue it without worrying about how to pay for it?

Many people have an Emergency Fund but it is important to keep this money earmarked specifically for emergencies. When I was getting out of debt, I used my Emergency Fund to pay for trips to University interviews, leaving it severely depleted when I needed to pay for car repairs a couple of weeks later.

One option is to create a fund for unexpected expenses. I've already done this with things like car maintenance and gifts, however I recently set up a “Travel” category (inspired by the photos of my holiday with The Boyfriend last year) and a “Moving to Uni” category too. I know how much is in each category but they are all stored in the same account, which gives a bit of a buffer if needed.

So today I say hello from Kent! (I am writing this at home but I will be in Kent when you read this!)

I was supposed to be camping with my Mum this week but we've had to cancel because something came up at her work. I already had the week booked off as holiday from work, so I couldn't even go in and pick up some shifts. I decided to text some friends I hadn't seen in a while in the hope that they might be free. As luck would have it, two of them in the South East were able to get some time off so I booked a train ticket using my Young Person's railcard (saves you a third off most train fares – costs £28 but worth it if you make more than £100 worth of train rides a year).

A couple of months ago I would have had no room in my budget to make this unexpected trip although I have been dying to see my friends for nearly a year now. Having that money set aside specifically for travelling meant I could take advantage of the opportunity that arose, without trying to fit it into my budget or reaching into my Emergency Fund for a non-emergency.

I know a lot of people specifically save for travelling and it is a great idea. I would like to save up to visit another country either during or after my PhD, so I will slowly start funding my Travel fund. It will allow me to take advantage of last minute offers, as I know the cash is available.

Do you have an Opportunity Fund? Do you have money set aside to use doing something fantastic, without knowing exactly what it is right now?

SFT's Challenge: Find an Extra £50 in May!

Saving For Travel has a new challenge over on her blog. To compensate for an increase in monthly living costs, she has decided to find an extra £50 in May and challenges everyone else to do the same!

The money can be from additional wages, ebay sales, savings (using coupons instead of cash, for example); anything that raises £50 more than you would otherwise have.

This challenge ties in nicely with one I set myself back in February. When I went from two jobs to one, I decided to make sure I had extra money coming in each month to supplement my wages. An extra £50 will be a nice addition to May's budget!

Ways I Might Raise an Extra £50

• Extra shifts at work – This seems like the most likely option, although I hope to use a variety of methods!
• Selling unwanted stuff on ebay – I sold a few things in April with some successes. This will encourage me to do some more decluttering! :)
• Collecting change – I stash away any 1p, 2p and 5p coins I find in my bag at the end of the day. If I can collect £1 of coppers or £5 of 5ps then I can deposit them into the bank. I don't use cash often though so this will be difficult!
• Using loyalty points instead of cash – I have Nectar points, Tesco points and fuel points all likely to give me a voucher this month. If I use these I can bank the savings.
  
  

Saving For Travel said she will be putting her £50 towards her trip to Japan next year. I will allocate any extra money I make to my Moving to Bristol fund.

Anyone else signing up for this challenge? What will you put your money towards?