Saving on Fuel Bills

You might not think there's much you can do to save money on your gas and electric.

After all, you need the heating during the winter, and most meals need cooking. Then there's the lights, hot water and the washing machine. There doesn't seem much scope for cutting back on these things and you would be right.

However, there's a few quite small things you can do that make a significant difference to your home's efficiency, and with the energy companies putting their prices up far more than inflation each and every year, it's definitely worth looking in to.

I've Joined the Yakezie Challenge

OK, so this post isn't going to be quite as laser focused on personal finance as my previous posts, but bear with me as it is still related.

Currently, I work for an insurance firm as a webmaster, and I set this blog up for 2 reasons, firstly, it's partly an experiement for promoting my workplace (see the link for business insurance down the right hand side).

Secondly, I feel, given my mixed history with my own finances and my career path, that I potentially had a unique perspective that could help people. I'll be going much further into this point in a new post very soon.

Anyway, as part of my on going personal struggles with money I have been taking comfort and inspiration from other blogs such as the rather wonderful Mr Money Mustache which was one of the first ones I happened to come across. Since then,

Managing Your Money With An Aggregator

Reading a few other personal finance blogs, I recently became aware of a type of service called a "money aggregator" which a few bloggers have raved about, so I decided to have a look into them.

I found a couple, such as mint.com and watched the explanation video and was very impressed with what it appeared to offer, but not living in the US I couldn't try it myself unfortunately. However, I did find one that's based in the UK called Money Dashboard and decided to try it out...

Accountability

OK, so I'm writing all this stuff, and I'm sure a lot of you, dear readers, may think something along the lines of: "Well it's alright for him, he's sorted now, he can preach as much as he likes, but things are different for me."

Well that's not the case. This is where I take a bit of a risk and make myself accountable to you all. I am only part way through my recovery process. It's been a lot of hard work, and there's still a long way to go.

This is where I am right now:

Saving

The returns are too low, it's not worth it.

I'm 50, it' far too late for me.

I'll get round to it sometime.

I don't have any spare cash.

I'm paying off my debt first.

There are better things I can do with my money.

There are many reasons (or excuses) for people not to have any savings, and these days with credit still being easily available, (although not as cheap), should you even bother?

How Do I Get A Better Car?

Today, most people need a car.

I say need, because we all need to travel these days. The vast majority of the population do not work on the land anymore, but in an office somewhere, usually in the nearest big town or city, so you need a means to get to your place of work.

But do we need cars? Well, I'd argue that it's often STILL cheaper to drive than use public transport, despite the ever spiralling cost of fuel. The added convenience cars bring is just a bonus.

Of course most of us think it would be nice to have a better car too, but how affordable is it? And can you trade up on the cheap??

Do You "Celebrate" Halloween?

I find this time of year confusing.

The word "Halloween" derives from All Hallow's Eve, the day before All Hallows (Saints) day, November the 1st. If you go back far enough, before Christianity arrived in Europe, it was the pagan equivalent of the day of the dead.

That's all very well, but here in England we haven't celebrated the "day of the dead" for over 1,000 years. We don't even celebrate All Saints day anymore.  

Anyway, what's this got to do with money?