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In the week before pay day, many people start praying for their next cheque to clear, as finances start to get dangerously low. Living from one pay cheque to the next can be dangerous, and before you know it, you’ve borrowed yourself into debt. 61% of people admit that they live from pay cheque to pay cheque. So how can you avoid this trend?

Budgeting

With a budget, you’ll have a clearer idea of how much disposable income you have, and this will hopefully stop you from overspending. It may become clear that you are living above your means and that it is time for you to cut down on expenditures; particularly luxuries.

Be a Tracker

Tracking your spending means you have a better idea of where your money is going. Save your receipts and organise them into categories so they are easy to manage. Tallying up the total will give you an overview of total spending. Using Excel can help you analyse the data and make decisions on where you need to cut down.

Maximise Your Income

If you can get a raise, flutter your eyelashes at your boss, but a higher salary isn’t the only way to increase your income. Consider working part-time on a Saturday or turn your hobby into a cash cow. However, making more money doesn’t necessarily mean you will cure your tendency to spend all of it before pay day. 30% of workers earning six figure salaries also admit to living from pay cheque to pay cheque.

A Financial Paradigm Shift

If you are in this overspending position, it’s likely that you aren’t the most responsible person with your money. You may spend more than you really make by overestimating your income. You may just have few organisational skills when it comes to money and you have no idea where it is all going. In this case, hopefully your budget will do all the hard work and get you back into a good financial position.

Set yourself goals and visualise yourself as master of your bank account – the days of borrowing from family and banks are over. Keep that in mind and stick to your budget, rewarding yourself every now and then with a treat. Try to focus on only spending what you need to for 99% of the time: bills, rent, and travel to work.

Uncertainty

In an uncertain climate, who knows when you will need disposable money to prop you up? You may lose your job or get into an accident. In these situations it always helps to have an emergency savings fund, but how are you going to protect yourself if you can’t even make it to pay day, let alone put money aside? Guard yourself and your loved ones through responsible financial practices and cut down on all the luxuries which are putting you further into debt. It’s time to stop worrying.

More and more credit card users are going in the debt each month and the common reasons are stagnant income, rise in the living cost, and unexpected life events such as the accidents, diseases, and natural calamity etc. These reasons make the survival difficult for the credit card users and they find it really difficult to come out of their debt. It may surprising to hear but it is true that debt relief will become the easiest job for you if take care to follow some important debt relief tips. Concentrate on these 3 important debt relief tips to get freedom from all the debt.

Follow the best debt relief option

There are too many debt relief options available in the market depending on the market situations in the local area. Taking a loan from the financial institutions is the first option that most of debtors try. The debtors can also sell their ownership of house, car, bike or anything else. The item you choose to sell should depend on the total amount of debt that you have to repay. The debtors can also ask for the money from some other sources such as the relatives, friends, and neighbors etc. So you have so many options of debt relief but the big question is that which option should be tried.

To get the answer of this question, the debtors should compare all the options and choose the one that is most suitable according to their requirements. Choose the best option that not only helps to pay the debts but also gives the peace of mind to the debtors.

Pay full debt each month

The credit card providers provide an option to pay the minimum debt this month and pay the rest in the next month. This is a good option of payment for those who do not have the sufficient money to pay their debts this month. Although it is a good option but it can also make the situations worst for the credit card users. The money that you will not pay this month would add to the balance in the next month. This will increase your burden in the next month and it will continue to rise whenever you will fail to pay. So the best option is to try to pay full debt each month and do not let your debt grow like a tree.

Hire a credit counselor

If you think that these 2 tips might not go a long way in giving relief from the loads of debt growing then the next important tip is to hire a credit counselor. The credit counselor will run a credit counseling program to analyze your financial situation and the debt. The credit counselors will also help in getting the concessions from the creditors on the interest rates. So this is how the counselors can be helpful in reducing the debt.

These are the three important tips that will help any debtor to get freedom from the debt.

Even though the UK appears to have left the worst depths of the recession, all of us have been looking for ways to save up to make sure we’re prepared in case we hit another financial rough patch. Preparing for an economic downturn may be tricky, but we’ve listed the three most straightforward ways you can ready your saving accounts for the worst.

1. Establish a cash ISA. Save over £5,000 every year (and rising, as the deposit limits increase with inflation each fiscal year)without paying tax on your money. With so many ISA products on the market, be sure to compare cash ISA rates online and select the one with the best interest rates from a reputable bank that offers the accessibility you need.

2. Switchinternet savings accounts. It’s easy to compare online savings accounts to find the ones with the highest interest. While some will require your funds to remain in place for a certain period of time (at the risk of a harsh penalty if you access or transfer them), once that period is up, you should always look for the best offers.

3. Set up automatic monthly deposits. Willpower often ends up derailing our best savings goals – it is hard to plan for the future when you see something you want right at that time. But if you automatically siphon some of your wages to go into a savings account, you can avoid accessing the funds for more frivolous purchases. This means you’ll have a guaranteed income in that account every month, allowing you to more easily plan for the future.

Actually getting hold of the spare cash to put in your savings accounts may still be tricky, but knowing how to handle the money you’ve got is the most effective way to ensure that your nest egg is thoroughly protected.

The current economic climate means that even if you have a very secure job, you are bound to be looking at ways to save money and make extra money. Follow our 8 money-making tips for making money in your spare time and you will not regret it.

• Clearing out your clutter

Most people have a loft, garage or house that is full of things they no longer have use for. There is bound to be someone out there who can make use of your unwanted clutter and would even be willing to pay you for it. Internet auction sites are a great way of selling high price items, but car boot sales can be a good way of selling lots of smaller items in one go.

• Using the internet

Uploading videos onto sites such as You Tube may result in the website owners paying you a share of the advertising revenue they receive on the page where your video is viewed. If you have a small business, advertising on Facebook and other social networking sites is a cheap and easy way to generate extra revenue. In addition, if you are a good photographer, some websites will pay you to use your images and if you have a successful blog, advertisers may pay to place adverts on it.

• Generate your own energy

Everyone is aware that using price comparison sites can help you save money on your energy bills, but few people are aware that if you generate your own energy using solar panels or wind turbines, you can sell any excess energy back to the National Grid.

• Extra work

Doing extra work at evenings and weekends is not something most of us would relish, but if your salary from your regular job only really covers your essentials, a few shifts a week working in a restaurant or bar could provide you with that little bit extra.

• Make money from hobbies

If you are a keen crafter or baker, it is possible to make money from these hobbies. Making and baking for friends and family could lead to paying customers as word spreads. Attending craft fairs, bake sales and advertising your business on social networking sites such as Facebook will also help to generate income.

• Competitions and Market Research

Entering competitions may be worth doing. Depending on what you win, it may be possible to sell the prize and keep the proceeds. Market research is also a good way of making extra money and you can now do paid online surveys from home. Additionally, you could apply to be a product tester or a mystery shopper, which means you can eat for free in restaurants and stay for free in hotels or even have your shopping paid for.

• Writing

If you enjoy writing, why not try making money from it. Set up an online blog and make money from advertising or write for the local paper or newsletter.

• Using your home

Rent out your spare room to a lodger or if you don’t feel comfortable with that, rent out your garage as storage space. In areas where parking is at a premium, people with driveways can even rent these out as parking spaces.

There are many ways to make some extra money, some of which are easier than others and none of which are guaranteed to make you a millionaire. It is worth choosing the right one for you and then you will already be halfway to making that little bit extra you need.

Energy prices have risen rapidly recently, and as a result, many households and businesses have looked at their monthly gas and electricity bills with a look of astonishment over how much they’ve been charged by their supplier. As a result, many energy companies are trying to persuade unhappy customers that, by switching to them, they can get a better deal, but is this actually true? It might sound tempting, but some energy suppliers contact people either door-to-door or via telephone without actually giving them a better deal after switching, which can be misleading.

Energy regulator Ofgem, which oversees energy companies in the UK including the so-called ‘Big Six’, says that if businesses and households are unhappy with their current energy supplier because they’re paying too much, they could switch in order to save money. Ofgem state that by failing to switch supplier, businesses could be spending at least £100 a year more than is necessary on their energy bills, which for smaller companies can be a significant amount of money that’s wasted.

To make sure that consumers are aware that they can find a cheaper deal elsewhere, Ofgem and Citizens’ Advice are launching a switching campaign called Energy Best Deal. The campaign claims that, by switching to a different energy supplier, businesses and households could save up to 40% on the cost of energy. The campaign states that, by making enquiries to several energy companies, trying to take advantage of special offers and visiting price comparison websites such as Make It Cheaper energy saving, it’s possible to cut energy costs without too much hassle.

However, switching supplier usually takes between six to eight weeks, so to get it done businesses need to allocate themselves time for it to happen, and they should remain patient. Also, businesses are advised to look at different companies, including smaller energy suppliers, to see what they have to offer. An increasing number of businesses are making the decision to switch to a smaller energy supplier from one of the ‘Big Six’ energy companies for several reasons. A spokesperson from makeitcheaper.com explained why:

“A number of our customers said that they trusted smaller energy suppliers more than the Big Six, especially because of their more reasonable prices and customer service. On top of that, 55% of those we spoke to said that billing issues were problematic, with 40% talking about poor customer service provision. Make It Cheaper was set up so that anyone who came to us would find the best possible deal for energy prices and customer service.”

or any businesses who may be interested in saving money on energy costs, they are hosting a two-hour free event in Twickenham, where Liberal Democrat MP and Business Secretary Vince Cable will be doing a Q&A session on small business issues. Anyone who attends can also network while receiving advice on how to save money for their company. It takes place at The Albany, 1 Queen’s Road, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham TW1 4EZ, and is on from 6pm-8pm.