VAT changes!!!

Hey peeps,

I can't believe we our in December already, and Christmas is literally around the corner. From now until usually the ending of January, people, including myself, spend an immense amount of money during the Christmas and New Year sales period.

Currently the VAT (value added tax) on goods is 17.5%, but from the 4th January 2011, the VAT on goods will dramatically increase by 2.5%. To put this into perspective, if you buy an item for £100 today, the same item after 4th January would cost you £102.13.

After Christmas my goal is to buy a new TV (yet again!!) during the sales, in order to avoid the hike in the VAT changes in the next few weeks.

Check out www.in-spirelsmagazine.co.uk to see more of my articles and features.

I'm still here!!!

I haven't blogged in such a long time, since 17th August to be precise!! I know, such a long time, but I haven't been sitting around doing absolutely nothing. I've been to New York, been appointed as the finance editor and features writer for an online inspirational magazine, called in-spireLS. In October, I finished my 3 hour long exam on childhood theorists....okay that has been boring, but the other stuff have been exciting.

Whilst on holiday, I unfortunately lost my BB, which I absolutely treasured like gold dust. Being without it for 5 days, was like existing without oxygen. OK, that's quite severe, but still it was hard. I presumed that the travel insurance I took out with Barclay would mean that my BB would be covered under the personal belongings section of the insurance policy. When I spoke to the customer advisor whilst on my holidays, she explained that I am covered. From that story you would think everything would be OK, but quite the opposite. Upon arriving back in England, when I rang the insurer to fully go ahead with my claim, they informed me that my BB was not covered. Complete disaster or what??? Cut a long story short, ensure you

read the small prints of these insurance policies, no matter how tedious you think they are.

The Thriller Experience!!!

Recently I went to the theatre to see Thriller Live at The Lyric theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. It was definitely an amazing experience, especially due to the fact that we were seated in the stalls, row A!! For all you non-theatre goers, that means we were sitting 3 rows from the front. So we were able to see all the actors and dancers facial expressions. At one point, I even saw one of the dancer's sweat drop on someone a few seats down from me. YUCK!!

Recently when I tell people where I was sitting, they would state that it must have cost me a bomb to get tickets in that area of the theatre! Well, me being the queen of savvy spending and saving, I obviously didn't pay full price for the tickets. In fact, I paid half price for them. Resulting in just damaging my wallet of £29.50 + delivery charge. The key is to regularly search reportable sites like ticketmaster and lastminute.com for all their latest offers. Sometimes this can become monotonous, but I would prefer to save them in my 'favourites', check the sites regularly and end up purchasing half price tickets, whilst have the luxury of sitting up close and personal with all the performers.

I think I may go see Legally Blonde the Musical next......

Grab those sale items!!!

Goodness gracious me, I haven't blogged in a while. I thought I would give you the consumers a quick tip before I start doing some research on new savvy ways to spend and save your money.

The summer sales are still on, some shops have put further reduction on their current sale items!! I reckon its a good idea to start buying your Christmas presents now!! I know you think its too early, but you will be saving yourself some money, you won't be running around in the big Christmas rush come late November, and lastly, at least you wont be broke during the Christmas/New Year sales, so you can treat yourself without feeling that guilt when payday comes in January and your overdraft has already eaten up your wages.

P.S I not long ago created a twitter account, so start following me for daily tips and catch up with all my daily antics!!

Click on twitter icon on the right.

http://twitter.com/LaToyaKadesha

Say goodbye to Child Trust Funds!!

Since the formulation of the new coalition government, they have decided to scrap Child Trust Funds (CTFs) from next year.

"Why are they doing this, since they only introduced this form of savings 8 years ago?"

The purpose of axing CTFs is to help the government save extra money, to assist Britain in crawling out of their ever expanding debt. In doing so, the government aim to approximately save £520m.

There has been a lot of talks that parents that hold existing CTFs will be able to make further contributions until January 2011, thereafter we are still unsure what the governments plans are.

Current accounts. Who needs them?

Majority of us use current accounts to get our wages paid into, but then comes straight back out to pay all our bills.


During this economic down-turn, it is essential that you are a savvy consumer, rather than being an oblivious one.

Throughout life people are often scared of change. What do you owe your current bank if you decide to leave? If they are not offering the best deal, it is time to switch!!




Currently Alliance and Leicester are offering customers a £100 incentive to switch from their current banking provider to their Premier current account. Additionally they guarantee 0% interest on all overdrafts for the next 12 months.

Before thinking about switching it is imperative to discuss with your current provider if there are other accounts that are more tailored to your personal financial circumstances. If they are not coming up with the goods, you know what to do next:

SWITCH

Realistic Savings

Before you can decide how much money you want to save and which savings account is best suited to your financial circumstances, you need to make a in-depth record of all your outgoings and measure it against your income. Until this is done, you will not be able to make an inform decision.

WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP??

You can make your own budget planner on Microsoft Excel or simply download templates on the internet to record your information.

I recently opened a fixed-term savings account at 4% for the first 13 months with Santander.

The Banks and Building Societies are not offering very attractive rates, but it is imperative to lock some money away each month, especially for those rainy days.

The Petrol Hike

As all drivers are currently aware, petrol prices has been slowly creeping up.
In my local area, the minimum you will pay is an astronomical 120.1p per litre!!!!


I have only been driving for 4 years now, within that time I remember when I perceived 89.9p per litre as a total rip off, nowadays drivers would be fighting each other to get half a litre at that price if they could.


"I haven't got time or enough petrol in my tank to be driving around different petrol stations to find the cheapest place"


petrolprices.com is a very useful internet based tool that allows consumers to research the average cost of petrol in their local area.

Additionally, you can register for free and actually find the name and exact location of the petrol stations that are offering the best prices.

Trust me, the difference between 120.1p per litre and 123.2p per litre is an immense amount of money in terms of filling up those tanks!!!

Savings Gateway

From July 2010 the government is launching a new saving scheme to encourage more people to save.

"By time I pay the rent, gas, water...buy Alfie a new pair of trainers, I simply don't have enough money to save anything".

Savings Gateway aims to target families on low income (below £16,040), receiving tax credits or are obtaining any other types of benefits.




"That sounds like its going to be hard to set up...."



If you qualify for this scheme HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) will automatically write to you.



But if you have dealt with them before, it is wise to perhaps contact them prior to the launch of this nationwide scheme if it is applicable to you.


"So what is the government actually going to do???"

As a saver you will only be allowed to save a maximum of £25 per month.

After 2 years the government will top up the Savings Gateway account with 50p for each £1 that you save.




http://www.direct.gov.uk/

Not long to go now!!!!!

When the clock strikes midnight, it will be the end of 2009-2010 tax year!!!

So please endeavour to switch over your ISA into the best savings account before your time is up!!!

Unless you are already in a good deal, then you are sorted I guess!!

Best credit card for purchases

Do you enjoy buying lavish presents, keeping up with the latest fashion, renovating your house or venturing to exotic destinations??









I know I certainly do.


But many people make the bad decision of purchasing these type of things on credit cards with diabolical interest rates like 18.9%.

Currently Virgin has brought a new credit card onto the market that is offering an attractive 0% rate on purchases for the first 12 months.

The key is to clear your balance before the promotional period is over in order to benefit from this alluring offer.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/credit-cards/purchases/

What is it all about though???

From an early age I have always had a profound interest in all things relating to saving money.

My focus field mainly consist of investigating anything relating to finances, savings, credit cards, current accounts...

Recently I have broadened my repertoire and began to research other methods in attempting to save money.

I'm a type of person who likes to live a champagne lifestyle, on a lemonade budget.

Why shouldn't normal people like us be able to better our quality of life, whilst being a $avvy $pender and $aver.

The main focus is to regularly update this blog on all the latest offers, current information, and any recent development in the financial world, and to endeavour to empower and educate you the consumers.

End of the 2009/2010 tax year looming!!!!!

Make use of the remaining amount of time to contribute to your ISA allowance which is £3,600 in cash.

If you were over 50 from October 2009, your allowance was bumped up to £5,100.

From 6th April everyone can invest a total of £5,100 in cash each tax year.

Currently there are not many appealing interest rates, but Santander are offering 2.75% variable rate.

You are able to transfer previous ISAs into this account, the minimum amount you have to invest is £1.00 and you are able to have instant access to this account.