Another Ingenious Idea: Prepaid Credit Cards

 A lot of us tend to spend a lot of money when buying clothes and accessories, however I have solution to make sure that we don't spend too much money and start saving! TheIntroduction of prepaid credit cards has helped me cut down on how much I spend and also to manage what I buy. It is a great idea and works just like a sim card, you only spend what you have. There are a quite a lot of companies thesedays who offer prepaid credit cards, but not all are good.

What are prepaid cards and how do they work?

Prepaid cards look like credit and debit cards and they offer the same ability to purchase products and services but with a crucial difference – you can only spend the balance that has been preloaded onto the card. This means there is no risk of running into debt as it has no credit or overdraft facility.

You will be give a Pin number when you purchase a card, and once money has been credited, it can be used in the same way as a debit or credit card – for high street, online or telephone purchases, as well as cash withdrawals from ATMs.

Money can be loaded onto a prepaid card by cash at a bank, Post Office, at Payzone or PayPoint terminals or via a bank transfer. However, not all prepaid providers offer all of these loading options, so you need to bear this in mind when comparing deals as some are more flexible than others.

What are the advantages of prepaid cards?

The main advantages of prepaid cards include:

• Availability - there are no credit checks, which means you can get a card without worrying about your credit history. All prepaid card providers will carry out an identity check to confirm you are who you say you are.
• Control - prepaid cards are an ideal way to budget for yourself or help to manage your children's spending. Like a credit card you get a full breakdown of spending on the card so you can see what has been purchased, who from and when.
• No debt risk - with a prepaid card there is no chance of spending too much as you are limited to the amount you put on your card.
• The card for travel – prepaid cards are a good option if you are going overseas. They are popular with students heading off on gap years and children who go abroad on school trips as parents can load them up here in the UK. However, the benefits are not restricted solely to young travellers - any holidaymaker can take advantage: prepaid cards offer a good alternative to travellers' cheques. They are safe and you will probably be offered a better rate of exchange as you spend.

Food shopping: save money

Food shopping: save money without losing quality

February 23rd 2009

Food shopping is one kind of shopping we all have to do whether we like it or not.  It can also be a big drain on finances; with tantalising products available for us in the supermarkets that were not around even 10 years ago, there’s more choice and temptation when we shop for food.

• Reduce your food bills by shopping online, working the reduced-price section, going to the market, buying wholesale and avoiding convenience foods.
• Save £££s by using MySupermarket to do your shopping online.

There’s also a strong market now for convenience products: green beans that have been topped and tailed, packaged lettuce leaves and diced chicken for which we pay considerably more than the effort it would take us to prepare them ourselves. However just because they are available doesn’t mean we can afford them.
There are simple rules to reduce your food shopping bills, like avoid buying things you don’t need and things you simply can’t afford because you want them, but we thought we’d investigate other ways to cut down on your food shopping that will let you buy pretty much the same products, just at a lower cost. Here are some quick tips to get you started:

Quick tips

•Don’t visit the supermarket. The only way you can really avoid the real evils of the supermarket layout is by shopping online. This is all cleverly arranged to make you walk back and forward to get a good look at all those things you really don’t need! Thanks to the wonder of comparison websites it’s all been made very easy. Simply log on to MySupermarket.com, make your shopping list and they’ll tell you which supermarket can give you the best price. They’ll then send your shopping basket over to the right store’s website and they can take it from there!

•Budget your spending. No we don’t mean buying every no frills item you can see! What we mean is; do you honestly and truthfully need to buy premium brands every time? Of course not. Half the time, the only difference is the packaging. Challenge yourself to take a step down in brands on some staple products, i.e. if you normally buy Andrex’s Softie toilet tissue, switch it for Tesco’s own brand and save yourself a bundle. Only those with particularly sensitive bottoms should be able to really tell the difference.

• Eat before you shop. The first thing you smell when you walk through the supermarket doors is the bakery – this is no coincidence! The big supermarket bosses know that hungry people buy more food. Prepare yourself and stuff yourself before you get there.

•Avoid impulse buys. Chocolate and magazines are strategically placed at the till for some last-minute attention grabbing, leading to the inevitable impulse buy. Exercise some self-control and ignore the treats the next time you’re queuing!

•Look high and low. Another sneaky marketing trick is that supermarkets place their most expensive items in yours (and your children’s!) line of sight on the shelves. As you’ve probably guessed – this doesn’t always necessarily mean the best quality.

•Buy in bulk. Don’t do this from your regular supermarket, but from the cheaper stores like Aldi, Lidl or Netto. They do sometimes have some good deals on items like crisps, frozen foods and meat so they’re perfect if you’re planning a party. Also, for products like rice, flour, eggs, salt etc. you can buy in bulk and save an awful lot. Only do this if you can store the items somewhere or you know they’ll be used soon.

•Use a loyalty card. By using a loyalty card it doesn’t mean you pay any more, but simply earn ‘points’ for every pound you spend in the store. You can later redeem these for free stuff or money off your shopping trips so there’s no harm in signing up. We all love free stuff! The Tesco Clubcard and Sainsbury’s Nectar Card are the most popular.

Step one: shop online

Our first solution to the food shopping money drain is simply do not go shopping at all.  Of course, we don’t mean starving yourself, just be as lazy as possible and do all of your shopping on the internet.  All of the major supermarkets now have online shopping services where you can browse through their products, make up a list and then get it all delivered to your house at your convenience. To make the best savings, visit MySupermarket.com where you can create your shopping list and the lovely lot will tell you which of the major supermarkets can get your groceries to you for the cheapest price. Yes, there is a charge for delivery for each supermarket (normally between £4-£6), but there are a number of reasons why it’s cheaper than shopping in the supermarket building:

• You can’t be tempted by offers that you see whilst walking around that otherwise you wouldn’t notice.  If you don’t need fruit, then you won’t even look in the fruits section online, so you won’t come home with starfruit or a prickly pear just because it’s buy one get one free.
• You can keep an eye on the cost of your shopping all the time, so you can accurately plan exactly how much you are spending and not just rock up to the checkout praying that all the food you’ve chosen is going to come in under your budget.
• Once you’ve shopped online once, you can save your list and then buy the same things each week, with just a few adjustments.  This means that you only have to look for a few products to add to the list each week, depending on what you want to eat, and so there is much less temptation to spend.

Hopefully, using online shopping will help you make fewer impulse purchases and budget carefully so you make savings even when the delivery charge is taken into account.  To try to reduce the delivery cost, mid-week charges are often less than the weekends and because online you have the leisure of shopping whenever you want, try to avoid weekends at all costs as there will be more choice during the week.

Great ways to save money

I've posted a few tmes already about ways to save money, but now in this post i wanted to keep everything simple and straightforward. Everything hs been put under sub headings so if you want to look up travelling offers, you'll find all the retailers (which are great for saving) under one roof. also I'd like to thank everyone who has used this blog to search for ways to 'save money online', and If ou would like to make any suggestions to me please post comments.I also want to thank anyone who has purchased amazon goods from my blog(and a lot of people do), it took me a lot of time and effort to think of what to write in each blog and I put amazon products there so people can find what there looking for,safely from a reputable company easily without the hassle. A lot of my time and effort have gone into my posts, so anyone who likes reading please continue, all the time consuming 'looking for' has been done, so enjoy!

Shopping

quidco.com
A cashback website that has saved me hundreds of pounds. When you buy something from one of 1,200 online shops (including Play.com), you receive a percentage of the price back. Normally a site such as Google receives a referral fee - through this "online cooperative", the cash is paid into your bank account. For example, there's 5% back from shopping at M&S. Other cashback sites - each covers some different retailers - include pigsback.com and greasy-palm.co.uk
chemistdirect.co.uk
Online pharmacy that promises to beat any other UK chemist's price on prescriptions.
kelkoo.co.uk
Scours the net to find the cheapest price for a huge range of items, from electronics to handbags. For a big purchase, compare several sites. Others include savebuckets.co.uk and pricerunner.co.uk
cosmeticresearchonline.co.uk
Instead of buying new cosmetics, sign up here as a volunteer to trial new beauty ranges. The products have all been declared safe.
pricecutreview.com/UK/
Lists Amazon items that are half-price or less.
bookbrain.co.uk
A specialist price-comparison service for books.
fatfingers.co.uk
Save money on eBay bids: type in your desired item and the site searches eBay for listings with common typos, so you uncover items with low bids.
furnituredeal.co.uk Online furniture retailer that cuts out the storeroom salesmen and offers low prices on a wide range.
retaileyes.co.uk
One of the several online mystery shopping companies that pay cash when members sign up to test their clients. Retail Eyes' companies include Virgin Active gyms - you receive free membership and a small payment when you join the gym and compile reports on your experiences.
mydigitalprints.co.uk
Finds the cheapest online photo developer for the exact quantity and size of prints for your needs. It also compares the cost of photo gifts such as mugs, calendars and greeting cards.

Eating in and out

moneysavingexpert.com/tipnote/cheap-restaurant-deals
Lists current offers at hundreds of restaurants, including buy-one-get-one-free deals. Includes nationwide chains and, in the forums, area-specific dining-out bargains.
5pm.co.uk Restaurant-reservation site with discounted deals available if you book to eat on the same day, after 5pm.
mysupermarket.co.uk
Compare the price of any single item or the price of your whole (online) supermarket trolley here. It will calculate the total cost at Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda and Ocado (Waitrose) and you send the order to the supermarket you choose.
fixtureferrets.co.uk
Lists promotions on groceries at major supermarkets including Waitrose, Tesco and Asda. Search via shop, brand, promotion or category.
quaffersoffers.co.uk
Compiles details of up-to-date wine offers at major supermarkets and off-licence chains. Search via grape, shop, country, price or colour.

Travel and days out

liftshare.org
Sign up for free and enter your journey, then find someone else to share it with. The nationwide car-sharing scheme now also includes cycling and walking groups and routes.
petrolprices.com
Search via town or postcode to find the cheapest petrol near you.
carrentals.co.uk
Compares the prices of 40 car-rental suppliers in the UK and abroad to find you the cheapest.
daysoutuk.com
Has around 300 discount vouchers for days out in the UK and Ireland, including theme parks and attractions, such as Cadbury's World (£10 off a family ticket) and the London Dungeons (free child entry).

Vouchers

myvouchercodes.co.uk
This site has discount coupons for thousands of stores, including Comet, Asda and Next. Some are online offers, others can be used in-store.
oscaruk.co.uk
Features discount deals and concessions especially for over-60s.
studentbeans.co.uk
Search via your university (or home) town for student offers.

Insurance and utilities

moneysupermarket.com
One part of this massive site finds you the cheapest motor, home, travel and life insurance deals; another focuses on utilities; another shows credit card and mortgage offers.
simplifydigital.co.uk
An Ofcom-accredited specialist in phone, broadband and digital TV offers and bundles. Compare prices and buy digital deals from this impartial site.
onecompare.com
Finds cheap mobile deals, including pay-as-you-go options and best-value contracts. Search by phone, features or inclusive minutes/text bundles.
confused.com, CompareTheMarket.com, uSwitch.com
The cheapest quotes for home, life, car and van insurance.
energysavingtrust.org.uk/calculator/checklist
A government-backed site providing tips on how to cut fuel bills.

Info

saynoto0870.co.uk
Don't call expensive numbers such as 0870s - use this site to find a local-rate alternative or freephone option.
entitledto.co.uk
A simple, useful site to help you calculate your benefits and tax credits.
thephonebook.bt.com
Search online instead of using expensive directory inquiries.
niftylist.co.uk/calls
Don't call an international number straight from your BT phoneline - search the destination here and find an access code to dial first and save cash. Alternatively, use an online telephony service such as www.voipcheap.co.uk
to make cheap or even international calls from your computer.

Holidays

halfpricehotels.co.uk Cheap UK deals.
hotelscomparison.com
Compare hotel prices in one place - this site searches others including AlphaRooms and Hotel Club to find best value rooms worldwide.
hotwire.com
Very cheap, top quality US hotel rates are available at this site selling anonymous rooms. You're told about the hotel's facilities, rough location and star rating before booking, but the hotel name remains a secret until you have paid. In the UK and elsewhere, lastminute.com/topsecret offers a similar service.
priceline.co.uk
A travel specialist with a twist: its "name your own price" feature allows customers to bid for a hotel rate. A low bid can bag a bargain, but you can only bid once a day.
kayak.co.uk
Another travel search engine which hunts through other sites for cheapest deals. Best for flight searches.
couchsurfing.com
Find a place to stay for free at home and abroad when you register on this free, international site and request to "couchsurf" at members'

Swapping

readitswapit.co.uk
List the books you own but don't want on this free site, then search the online library of 20,000 books listed by other users to swap your unwanted reads.
uk.freecycle.org
Get rid of your junk or pick up a bargain for free. The site is organised by area, then you browse by item, so it's like a giant car boot sale - from your computer.
teamuphere.com
A free skills-exchange forum. Search by area for the skill you require (when I last looked, they included accounting, babysitting and tattooing), and register your skills to swap.
whatsmineisyours.com
Swap, buy, sell or barter for fashion, beauty and furniture. Divided into vintage, new and designer goods as well as by specific items of clothes.
swapmyticket.co.uk
A free ticket exchange for sports, theatre, music and travel passes. Users can buy, sell or swap tickets, but this is a marketplace: there are no assurances against fraudsters so be careful.