Saving Blog

I don't blame people for being frugal at the moment. With the credit crunch in full swing, who can blame us? Which is why cost cutting Brits are saving money on days out, by visiting free museums instead of the costly alternatives such as theme parks.

By going to free places such as museums, people were predicted to save up to £77 a month. A total of 11 million people are predicted, by Abbey, to be on the hunt for free stuff in order to help with their finance management.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders have dished out some debt management advic: to make overpayments on your mortgage whilst you still can. Apparently, by doing so, you will seriously affect the length of time you're stuck with the mortgage and also the amount of interest you will end up paying back. 

Just make sur eyou're not penalised for making overpayments. If you can, do it!

Between October and December, 2008, the UK economy fell by 1.5% - this follows a 0.6% decline over the 3rd quarter of 2008, which fulfils the requirements to be deemed a recession.

The latest results, for the final quarter of 2008, represent the buggest drop in the UK economy since 1980 and doesn't bode well for any improvememnt in the near future. In fact, many analysts think that the current downturn will last until at least the end of this year. Great stuff.

Ryanair are offering one million £1 flights, most including taxes and charges! The flights go from 16 UK airports, and go to over 40 different European hotspots, including Bolgna, Oslo and Brussels.

All you have to do is book by Monday 19th January and you could be on your way to a lovely European city for a well deserved break. You can go between January and March 2009 as well. Just go to their website.

It does exclude checkin, booking and baggage, but just check how much these things are! If you're only going a way for a weekend or something, you won't have to pack a lot anyway and, if you're anything like me, could get away with just taking an item of hand luggage. Sorted!

Media entertainment store, Zavvi, have said that they are having to close another 18 stores, accompanied by 353 job losses.

The remaining stores - 74 of them - will stay open.

The stores to be closed are:

• Basingstoke
• Belfast
• Cambridge
• Cheshire Oaks
• Crawley
• Londonderry
• Edinburgh
• Gateshead
• Glasgow
• Grimsby
• Hull
• Newry
• Newtonabbey
• London Picadilly
• Romford
• Stevenage
• Watford
• Woking

It's likely some others will be closed too if the administrators don't find a buyer for the chain.

So, what are you buying more/less of in light of the failing economy?

• Baked bean sales have risen by 22.6% in December compared with the same month a year before
• Sales of standard white loaves have also increase - beans on toast maybe?
  
• Sales of sparkling wine have fallen by 2.3% in December
• Champagne sales fell 10% in a month
• Olive oil, despite being a 'luxury product' increased in sales by 6.5% last month. Is it a staple requirement now?
• Own brand supermarket products have increased by 30%
• Organic food sales fell by 11%

Nearly 50% of Brits have made their New Year's Resolution to include saving more money in 2009. The research from the ABI also found that 50% of us are more likely to save because of the current climate.

47% of us have said that we are planning to save more, whereas 51% have said that they will have to save more in order to help them with their finances during 2009.

The ABI think that the limit which can be invested into an ISA per year should be upped, from £7,200 to £10,800 so that people can take full advantage of tax-free saving.

In 2008, personal debt was found to be rising by £1million every 10 minutes.

Credit Action have said that total lending in November increased by £1.5billion, with the average interest paid per household per year is £3,774.

Personal debt is up 4.1% in the past year, and I expect the value will just keep rising for the time being.

Despite criticism from Alcohol Concern, and most likely others, JD Wetherspoon have decided to cut the price of their pint to 99p, in an effort to cheer up their drinkers during the downturn. Even though this specific offer is only for IPA beer, they are also offering price cuts on some beer, bottled lager, wone and spirits. They are also offering £2.99 meals.

But Alcohol Concern don't seem too impressed, and fear other chains will soon be following suit. They argue that pricing drinks this low, at 1989 levels, will cause more people to drink and land themselves in hospital - not only detrimental to their health, but also to the bank balance of the NHS, which now has to shell out £2.7bn a year on drink-related illnesses.

There is up to 70% off in Debenhams at the moment, both on line and in store. You can find bargains in all departments, including women's, men's and children's fashion as well as gifts, furniture, home and electrics.

The sale will be on until early January, when it will morph into their blue cross sale. See if there's anything that you need.