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Christmas Crafts for Kids - An excellent article about Christmas crafts you can do with your children.
With the holiday season soon upon us, it's time to think about some fun crafts you can do with your children in preparation of Christmas. My kids love doing holiday crafts, and I'm sure yours will too! It has always been challenging...
Even Cats Love Christmas
Our 5-year-old cat, Yoshi, was diagnosed with renal failure. The
veterinarian claimed that there isn't much he can do. Yoshi will
probably only live a few more years and from time to time he
will need to be put in the hospital for treatment. My...
How to Beat the After-Christmas Blues
Christmas is an emotional storm, and next comes Valentine’s, so take a break. Move from emotion to thinking and action. 1.Start planning a Valentine’s Party, or Martin Luther King Party. If you were running a day late and a dollar behind for...
Outdoor Christmas Decoration
An outdoor Christmas decoration holds a special place in
people's hearts. Christmas is an elaborate celebration for many
people throughout the world. For most families, Christmas
involves an extensive amount of decorating, both indoors...
Where Have All The Wise Men Gone? Jesus Is Not Acceptable For Christmas!
It's CHRISTmas! Where are the wise men? WOW - The wise men are MISSING! What kind of Christmas is this anyway? Are you caught up in the "season" with this Christmas thing? Do YOU know where the wise men are? For over 200 years we...
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Money At Christmas - Surviving The Festive Period Without A New Year Financial Hangover
Money always seems to be tight. Every year at Christmas the
financial situation always seems to get worse. Increased
electricity and heating bills to pay, expensive party food to
purchase, presents to buy, travel costs to visit relatives, the
list seems to be endless, while finances are certainly not. It
is the season to be jolly, whilst trying to forget the long-term
costs which will emerge in the New Year.
What can be done to reduce the New Year financial hangover?
Firstly, ensure your incoming finances are being maximised.
If you are in work, is there any part time or freelance work
that you can do? Often jobs such as supermarket shelf stacking
can be made to fit in around other commitments, while websites
such as Dobiz ( http://www.dobiz.net ) have
started springing up to get freelancers and businesses together.
Selling on eBay or simply returning unwanted gifts can help
recover some of your own expenditure.
If you are not working, then obtaining a job is the most
important thing to do. Use the facilities that are available.
The Jobcentre can provide some help, but it is frequently better
to sign up with several agencies who specialise in your own area
of expertise. A quick geographically based Google search will
normally locate appropriate organisation in your area. As well
as using specialist agencies, it is always a good idea to sign
up to a couple of general agencies in order to get some form of
temporary work, as these can often provide short or long term
contracts to keep your finances above water, and they can be
given up without much of a period of notice and they look better
on a CV than a period without any work at all. If you need help
with CV's or interviews, then internet searches can provide many
sites that will be able to help, like Capita ( http://www.capitapd.co.uk )
or Jobseekersadvice ( http://www.jobseekersadvice.
com ).
Regardless of your employment situation, you also need to
maximise the money you have already. If you are using store
cards to make your purchases, don't. Unless you always pay off
the entire balance every month, you will be paying more than you
have to. Store cards usually have a very high rate of interest,
and you should be able to get a much better rate if you use a
credit card. If you are using a credit card to make most of your
purchases, what is the APR of that card, and could you get a
better rate? Many credit cards currently offer introductory 0%
transfer rates, and the increased competition to handle your
finances is leading to lower APRs all round. If you have a loan,
could you get a better deal? Are you getting the best return on
your investments? Comparison websites like Moneynet
(
http:www.//moneynet.co.uk ) or Fool ( http://www.fool.co.uk ) are there
to enable you to check these details for free, quickly and
easily, in order to make your money work for you.
The next thing to do is to try to reduce your outgoings.
Budgeting is a good way to reduce costs. By highlighting how
much your regular incoming and outgoings are, it is often easy
to spot areas that can make huge differences. Most people find
that instead of having very little money to spend each month,
they are actually frittering away small amounts all the time.
This pattern of small spending rapidly mounts up, and can leave
little left over to spend on the things that you feel are really
worthwhile. Keeping a daily record of your spending is a simple
step to take but it can also show where important cuts can be
made.
Other ways to reduce costs at Christmas include recycling last
year's decorations, only buying food that will be eaten, rather
than obtaining large quantities that will end up being thrown
away. Do most of your shopping online to save money on presents.
Due to the lower costs of running a shop online, the price of
goods can be considerably lower than in the High Street. Sites
such as Kelkoo ( http://www.Kelkoo.co.uk ) and
Pricerunner ( http://www.pricerunner.co.uk ) enable you to compare prices from various suppliers and find
the cheapest. Even if you prefer to buy on the High Street it
can still be worth going armed with prices from these sites as
many High Street shops will discount if they know they are
beaten on price.
If you don't win the lottery in the New Year and still feel that
things have got out of control then you need to seek advice from
one of the free advice organisations that are set up to help.
The National Debtline ( http://www.nationaldebtlin
e.co.uk ) and the Foundation for Credit Counselling ( http://www.cccs.co.uk ) are two
non-profit making charities that can help with guides and free
personal advice.
Regardless of whether you are trying not to shed those few extra
pounds, or recover from debt problems, a few small actions like
this can make a large difference to your New Year.
Disclaimer: All information contained in this article, is for
general information purposes only and should not be construed as
advice under the Financial Services Act 1986.
You are strongly advised to take appropriate professional and
legal advice before entering into any binding contracts.
About the author:
Richard lives in Edinburgh, occasionally writing for the
personal finance blog Cashzilla, and listens
to music no one else likes.
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