• Who should have a euro currency account?
• Best for business
• Best for convenience
• Best for those who travel often
• Best for everyday banking
• Best for transferring money

You might wonder if it’s even worth having a euro account, given what’s happened in Cyprus. However, it can be useful to have – just make sure that whichever one you go for, you don’t have any more than €100,000 in it at any one time so that it’s covered if the bank fails.

Who should have a euro currency account?

Do you travel around Europe often or transfer money to friends or relatives in the Eurozone? If the answer is yes to any of the questions you should have a euro currency account for easy banking, convenience and most importantly to save you time and money. Opening a euro currency account will allow you to receive and make payments in the Euro and transfer your money with ease.

Best for business

Barclays Currency Current Accounts 

• Offer both euros and international currency accounts in a range of currencies
• Currencies: euros, US dollars, rupees, yen
• Able to conduct business in a foreign currency as easy as in pound sterling
• Settle transactions in euros on the same day
• Write cheques in your account’s currency

Best for convenience

Citibank Plus – Euro Current Account

• Accounts linked to just one card
• No monthly fee
• Access to three currencies
• You can purchase and withdraw cash overseas in euros without worrying about charges on foreign currency purchases and fluctuating exchange rates
• Charges may apply to cash withdrawals made on your card in foreign currencies

Best for those who travel often

Co-op – Euro Currency Account

• Must have operational current account for six months 
• Can open a currency account in euros and 13 other currencies
• Transfers between currency accounts and pound sterling accounts = £6
• Maintenance fee = £20 per ½ year (April – October)

Best for everyday banking

HSBC – International Personal Current Account

• Manage your foreign currency quickly and conveniently
• Monthly fee of £5 (or currency equivalent)
• No minimum balance
• 24-hour automated service
• Choose from a range of currencies

Best for transferring money

Lloyds TSB – Premier International Account

• Free on balances over €2,500
• Free international transfers - send and receive money internationally for free
• 24/7 worldwide access to your money
• Account holders only
• Recipient and corresponding banks abroad may charge a fee for receiving payments
• Manage your money in pounds, euros and US dollars

Useful articles

• Cheapest foreign currency for your holiday 
• Sending money overseas: a great way to send money abroad
• Ask Jasmine: Euro exchange rate
• Changing sentiment towards the Euro?

• Winners
• Losers
• Housing benefits
• Council tax
• Universal Credit

Winners

Pensioners come out as the biggest winners with the basic state pension increasing by 2.5% to £110.15 per week as of April. This extra boost of £2.70 will help millions of retirees living off the state pension. Despite caps on high earners retirement funds, the Chancellor said this is in line with inflation and average earnings. The Carers Allowance and disability benefits will also rise with inflation by 2.2% in April which allows them to keep up with rising living costs.

Public sector workers will benefit from a 1% pay rise after a three-year wage freeze. Whilst this is great news for those who have not seen their wages, it does not match the 15% wage loss in real terms felt by public sector workers over the three-year freeze. Anyone who earns should be better off as the personal tax threshold is going up by £1,100 to £9,440. This means you can earn up to £9,440 without paying any tax at all.

Losers

Chancellor George Osborne announced in the Autumn Statement that there will be a three-year cap of 1% increases in most benefits and tax credits from April 2013. The problem with this 1% freeze is that it won’t fall in line with inflation meaning that as the cost of living increases, the amount in benefit people receive won’t. This is bad news for those who rely heavily on benefits such as jobseeker’s allowance, working tax credit , child tax credits and even those who need maternity, paternity and adoption pay.

If the Chancellor had linked benefits to the Consumer Price Index (which is currently 2.7%), there would be likely to rise by 2.2% in April – illustrating just how much people are missing out now and more so over the next few years. To make matters worse, more households are likely to seek out benefits thanks to a withdrawal of child benefits to higher earners in January.

Housing benefits

Those receiving housing benefit are likely to have their benefits capped or reduced. If you are in a couple with or without dependent children, the cap will be £500. It is the same for single parents, however single adults who don’t have children or children who live in another property will be capped at £350.

If the combined income from certain benefits is more than the cap, housing benefit will be cut. Changes to housing benefit will penalise people with a spare bed in their home. The ‘bedroom tax’ is being introduced to housing association tenants. Those with one spare room will see their benefits cut by 14% or 25% if they have two or more spare rooms. This will not affect private sector tenants.

Council Tax

Council Tax Reduction Schemes are being introduced in April whereby local authorities determine how much is paid to whom.  No new claims for council tax benefits will be accepted but pensioners will still be able to get a full discount, however they must meet certain criteria.

Universal Credit

Universal Credit will replace six different benefits; income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, income support, child tax credits, working tax credits and housing benefits. This means that claimants will receive just one monthly payment in their bank account, much like a salary allowing them to manage their rent, income and other outgoings.

Whilst Universal Credit acts as an easy solution to the welfare system, it could make life much harder for some low-income families. The risk of falling into debt and rental arrears increases for those who already struggle to manage their finances. Universal credit is initially being launched in certain areas of North-West England in April before it is rolled out across the country later in the year.

See our essential article on Universal Credit for more information.

Useful links

• GOV.UK
• HMRC
• Citizens Advice

• What is a credit union?
• Why should I use a credit union?
• Are credit unions safe?
• What are the downsides?
• How do I join a credit union?

It’s highly likely that you have a credit union in your area and it will offer a good savings and loans operation, and possibly much more besides (such as mortgages).

What is a credit union?

Credit unions are like building societies used to be (before they started to think of themselves as banks). They are run by local people for local people. Customers (or ‘members’) open up current accounts and savings accounts and the money they put in is used to loan to other local people.

There are also credit unions for many professions – so you will often find credit unions set up especially for nurses, police or teachers for example. Ask your trade union if your profession has one.

Credit unions have been around for decades and are huge in many other countries including the USA, France and India.

However in this country they were held back for years, because governments in the 80s and 90s feared that they could present serious competition to the City.

Why should I use a credit union?

Unlike banks and building societies, credit unions are non-profit – so any excess they make gets ploughed back into the operation itself.

Credit unions often offer competitive savings rates, so it can be worth joining just to open up a savings account (even if you don’t use it for normal banking).

Money put into a savings account with a credit union not only attracts decent rates but is used to help the local area. Statistics show that every £1 put into a savings account with a credit union does roughly £10-worth of good in the community.

They also provide an alternative for many people who would otherwise find themselves taking out high interest payday loans or, worse, borrowing from loan sharks.

Credit unions are usually willing to give small loans to members which banks generally won’t do. In fact a feasibility study by the DWP found that credit unions offer the most competitive interest rates on personal loans of up to around £2,000 in the UK market.

They also help members to budget and encourage them to pay off their loans as quickly and cheaply as possible, so they are particularly helpful for people on low incomes and those who have difficulty stretching their income to make needs meet.

Are credit unions safe?

Yes. Credit unions are regulated by the FSA and covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) - which means that up to £85,000 of your money would be protected in the unlikely event that the credit union went bust.

What are the downsides?

Credit unions vary greatly across the country. Some offer a wide range of services and can rival banks. Others offer very few and are only open at certain hours of the week. This is changing as the last Labour government and the current Coalition have strongly encouraged credit unions and helped them to grow.

Many credit unions still don’t have online banking services, so you may well need to go into your local branch to carry out transactions.

How do I join a credit union?

You can find your local credit union by going to Findyourcreditunion and putting your postcode in. It will show you which is the nearest one to you.

When you go to the credit union they will need to see some ID and will need to meet you in person at least once.

Useful links

• Findyourcreditunion
• Moveyourmoneyuk

What we all really want to know is: how will the economy affect me? A lot will depend on your personal circumstances: the security of your job, your levels of debt or savings, whether you own a property… But whatever your situation, Moneymagpie can show you how to navigate the choppy financial waters that lie ahead.

Your immediate priorities should be to examine your mortgage, credit card and savings arrangements. For most people, these are the three most important aspects of their finances. What many don’t realise is that reviewing them is an easy way to make significant savings for relatively little effort.

• Review your mortgage
• Check your credit card
• Make your savings work for you

Review your mortgage

With interest rates so low at the moment, savers are losing out – but borrowers are reaping the rewards. So if you’ve got a fair amount of savings tucked away in this type of financial climate, it’s worth considering taking out an offset mortgage.

Why is an offset good for those with savings?

In basic terms, offset mortgages are where the balance of the mortgage is reduced by the amount of money in your savings or current account. For example, if your mortgage is £150,000 and you have savings of £10,000, your mortgage balance will be measured as being £140,000 (and you will only pay interest on that amount).

What’s more, as the interest on your savings is being offset, you are to all intents and purposes not paying tax on your savings interest. We like the One Account which is provided by the Royal Bank of Scotland – have a look at it here. And you can find all the best offset mortgage deals here.

What kind of offset?

A big question at the moment is whether you should go for a fixed-rate or variable mortgage (both are available as offset mortgages). It’s a trade-off: with fixed-rate mortgages, you get the security of knowing your interest rate won’t change over a fixed period. Variable ‘tracker’ deals, meanwhile, usually offer the best rates in times like these – but you need to be prepared for rates to go up as well as down.

With interest rates remaining at an all-time low people with tracker mortgages have extremely low mortgage payments at the moment. Fixed-rate mortgages are still popular though, as many look to protect themselves from the uncertain market.

However, the bank base rate is unlikely to rise in the immediate future, with industry experts predicting that mortgage rates will stay low for at least a year. But large government borrowing (as is happening during the current recession) has historically tended to lead to higher interest rates in the long term.

Tracker mortgages

If you have a tracker mortgage, you are more likely to be in a position to currently overpay on your mortgage (assuming your mortgage contract doesn’t penalise you for doing this). With rates so low at the moment, you can keep your previous level of mortgage expenditure while paying more of it off.

This is a good idea to do if you can. You will pay off your mortgage quicker and you will pay less in interest. Also, by building up equity in your property, you won’t need to borrow as much when the time comes to remortgage – which will enable you to get a more competitive mortgage deal.

Fixed-rate mortgages

Fixed-rate mortgages may be set above the current base rate, but there are still some fairly low rates around. Locking yourself into a fixed-rate mortgage gives you security and peace of mind (as you know what rate you’re going to be paying for years to come, and you won’t end up paying more when the base rate rises). This certainly makes it easier to budget and manage your finances.  You can find the best fixed mortgage deals here.

REMEMBER! If you’re locked into a long-term mortgage deal of more than two or three years, you could face early repayment charges should your circumstances change. These can be high, potentially wiping out any interest you would have saved over the years.

If you think you might have to move in the next few years (due to career change, job loss or simply because you need to upsize or downsize your property) then going for a long-term fixed mortgage (anything over three years) is not going to be the best option.

Shorter term fixed-rate mortgages give you much more flexibility. The downside is, you might struggle to get as good a deal when you remortgage, as your loan to value ratio (LTV) will be higher and rates may have increased. Plus, remortgaging costs can easily run to over £1,000 (see our tips on how to bring down your mortgage set up costs).

What if you’re remortgaging to pay off debt?

Should you have significant debts however, you could consider remortgaging to pay them off while rates are still low. Talk to independent brokers London and Country, who will search all deals on the market for you to bring you the best deal. This service is absolutely free – you won’t pay a penny unless you decide to switch to a better mortgage through them.

Check your credit card

If you’ve got credit card debt you can’t shake off (and can’t see the economic downturn making it any easier), then it’s worth considering getting a balance transfer credit card.

Balance transfer cards

Balance transfer cards allow you to put existing credit card debt onto them – but charge you 0% interest (usually for a period of between 5 to 16 months). This makes it much easier to clear your debts and can save you from being further out of pocket.

REMEMBER! These cards will start charging you interest after the 0% period, so it’s best to try and pay the debt off within that timeframe. Also, most cards tend to charge you an initial fee (usually between 2.5-3% of the amount you transfer) for switching the debt over.

Is it an option worth going for?

If you can pay off your debt within the 0% period then definitely. You need to watch out, however, for rates on new spending – they are often at the standard rate (the average is around 17% APR).

The longest 0% balance transfer deal is currently with the Barclaycard Platinum credit card which offers a whopping 26 months interest free. You’ll also get six months’ 0% interest on purchases which is a nice bonus.

Another great option is the Halifax balance transfer credit card, which offers 25 months interest free. The handling fee is just 2.5% and it offers 0% interest on purchases for the first three months.

The Virgin credit card offers 0% for 20 months, with 0% on purchases for the first three months.  The handling fee is 2.99% with an APR of 16.8%.

REMEMBER! If you’re using these cards to help clear your debt, it makes sense to try and avoid putting purchases on them if you can – as that will only increase your debt.

However, if you’re confident of your finances (regardless of the recession) a 0% purchase card could come in very useful.

0% purchase cards

If you’re quite disciplined when it comes to spending, using a 0% interest purchase card can be a good way of spreading the cost of buying something big.

It’s far better to use one of these cards than to go for a 0% finance deal in a shop, for example. With your own 0% credit card you have a lot more control over the way you pay back the money and financing in shops is much more rigid and incurs more penalties in the case of non-payment.

Tesco’s Clubcard credit card offers 0% interest on purchases for 16 months, and 0% on balance transfers for nine months (with a 2.9% handling fee and a 16.9% APR).

Alternatively, the Halifax All in One Card gives you 15 months 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers (3% handling fee applies). The typical rate of interest is 17.9% APR.

You can even use these cards to actually make money. If you have the cash to cover the whole purchase, you could still buy the item (or items) with your 0% purchase card, then put the money into a high interest savings account and earn some interest on it until the end of the 0% period.

Obviously, to make the most of these cards you should aim to pay the whole thing off before the 0% period finishes – so that you clear the whole debt before you need to pay any interest on it. If you don’t manage to do this, you should try and switch the remaining debt to a 0% balance transfer card instead.

Check your credit rating!

Not everyone is approved for 0% balance transfer or purchase cards.

If you’re not sure how good your credit rating is, it’s definitely worth checking it before you apply. This is because if you apply for credit and get rejected, you’ll get a further black mark on your credit record.

You can check your credit rating for free with a 30 day trial subscription to CreditExpert (just cancel your subscription at the end of the free period if you don’t want to be charged anything).

Should your credit rating not be too hot, it’s best to go for a card with a low regular balance. Check here for the lowest standard rates.

Make your savings work for you

First things first – if you’ve got significant debts, you should concentrate on paying them off before putting money aside for saving (unless you’re in the fortunate position of not having to pay any interest on your debts).

What about going for fixed rate savings?

Interest rates look destined to stay low at least until the end of this year, but if you tie up your money for a longer term (say five years) and interest rates go up, you could be missing out on the chance to make your money work harder elsewhere.

Really, the longest you should be fixing for is two to three years.

Tax-free savings

If you can afford to put some money away for more than a few years, it’s worth considering putting cash into a stocks and shares ISA.

Both Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and Tracker Funds can be ‘wrapped’ in an ISA scheme so you don’t have to pay tax on the gains.  These funds do carry risks, as they are obviously dependent on stocks and shares for their performance. But, over a long period, you should make a much better return than with cash (especially as you can put up to £11,280 a year in a stocks and shares ISA, compared to a maximum of £5,640 for a cash ISA).

Should you have an existing cash ISA, you can transfer your money into a stocks and shares one.

For more information, see our article on investing in stocks and shares ISAs.

REMEMBER! Make sure you don’t close your existing ISA when transferring your cash, or you’ll lose your tax break – ask for a cash ISA transfer form instead.

On the other hand, you might want both a cash and a stocks and shares ISA. Why? Because although interest rates for ISAs have plummeted with the economic downturn, cash ISAs are still better than putting your money into a tax-paying savings account. They can also offer you easy access to your cash – important when you need money to cover costs like unexpected bills or costly car repairs that crop up in everyone’s life from time to time.

If you’re looking to transfer existing cash ISA funds into a better account, the current best option on the market is Santander’s Direct ISA, which offers 3.3% variable AER tax free for the first 12 months.  As the rate drops to 0.5% after 12 months, this is a good option for a year’s investment. It requires a minimum deposit of £2,500 and the account can be operated online, in-branch or by phone.

(Bear in mind that if you keep a cash ISA open, this will affect your stocks and shares ISA allowance of £11,280. So if you invested £1,000 in a cash ISA, you will only be able to invest £10,280 in stocks and shares.)

Ultimately, where you choose to put your money depends upon your individual needs. But if you tailor these financial tools to your personal circumstances, you should find it far easier to ride out the current financial storm.

Useful Links

• Download our FREE mortgage guide
• Compare mortgage deals
• Compare credit cards
• Compare savings accounts

1. Take a reality check
2. Set a savings goal
   
3. Go on a money-making drive
4. Grab any pension your employer offers
5. Invest wisely
6. Consider equity release
7. Have regular check-ups

Get a FREE guide: 4 Ways to Avoid Running Out of Money During Retirement. Claim your free copy here.

Step One: Take a Reality Check

Firstly, you need to change the way you view your life and work. If you have no savings at 50, you’re probably going to have to work until you’re at least 70.

You might not want to hear this, but remember you’re not the only one. Lots of people are working longer these days and it’s not the terrible sentence it might seem. There are good sides to working longer:

• Working will keep your brain active and may help you to live longer.
• You don’t necessary have to work full time. A part-time job might be just enough to top up your state pension.
• After 65 you’ll pay less tax and no National Insurance so you can keep more of what you earn.
• Working can get you out of the house and meeting people. You might even meet someone special!
• You could find yourself setting up your own business and create a whole new world and life for yourself.

Step Two: Set a Savings Goal

The age at which you retire is largely up to you.

It’s a good idea to work out how much money you’ll actually need in your old age, so you have a savings goal.

Put together a budget taking into account all the costs you expect to face in your old age, such as heating, electricity, water, council tax, food, transport, home repairs, clothing, holidays and gifts. We have a handy budget calculator for you to use here. If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at our article on creating a budget here.

Once you’ve worked out how much money you’ll need each year, multiply this figure by the number of years you expect to be retired. For example, if you plan to retire at 70, and are working on the assumption you will live until 100, you will need to multiply your yearly costs by 30.

You’ll also need to factor in the cost of care in the later years, should you become unable to take care of yourself in your own home.

One of the reasons we need so much cash to take us through our retirement is that a lot of us are living longer, but struggling to cope in our own homes once we get past the age of around 80. At this point many people end up in retirement homes, which can be expensive.

By the way, one way around this might be to decide to start your own mini care home. You could get together with a small group of six to 10 friends and agree to buy a large house you can all share, employing qualified carers, a cleaner and a cook for yourself, thereby cutting out the middleman… just a thought!

Even if you don’t decide to go this far, it’s good to plan ahead and work out what you’d do if you could no longer manage to cook and clean for yourself. There’s more advice on this topic in our guide to long-term care.

Once you’ve worked out the total income you’ll need to take you through your retirement, use one of the online pension calculators to work out how much you need to putting away each month to achieve this. These tools make certain assumptions about inflation and the cost of living, and as no one can predict the future it might turn out you need a bit more or less. However, this should give you a starting point to work towards.

Step Three: Go on a Money-making Drive

Next, you need to think about ways to make more money right now. No whingeing here! Being 50 is nothing. You have the strength, the skills and the resources to make money for yourself and you have very valuable life experience to help so go to it.

After all, you could find yourself creating a whole new life for yourself!

We have lots of tips and ideas for making extra cash in our Make Money section. Why not start off with the easy and immediate cash-makers in our article 10 Easy Ways to Make Quick Cash?

To make money on the side it depends how much time you can spare and what skills you have.

For example, if you’re a mum, consider becoming a doula. Doulas support women through childbirth and new parenthood, and can charge up to £500 to be present at the birth and £15 an hour to cosset a new mother in her home. British Doulas runs courses in London for women wanting to take up the role. Find out more about it in our doula article.

If you’re well educated – particularly in subjects like maths, economics and business – you could become a tutor and teach maths and English in the evenings. You can earn up to £80 an hour doing this. Dog walking is another option with a good hourly rate of pay (£10-15 per dog per hour in most places), provided you can handle more than one dog!

If you’re comfortable selling to people, network selling is another great money maker. It involves selling products through your network of friends and family on behalf of a direct selling company. It can be a great way to start a small business. The Direct Selling Association has more information. Also, consider signing up for market research or mystery shopping, both of which can pay well for a relatively small investment of time.

If you own your home, why not take a lodger? You can earn up to £4,250 tax free this way, and even smaller rooms are attractive to renter’s in today’s market. But you don’t have to make this much of a commitment. You could host a foreign student for a short period of time. You could charge commuters to park on your driveway. You could even rent out your garden as an allotment, or your attic space as storage space. And while you’re up in the attic, keep an eye out for vintage clothes. You can often spruce these up and sell them for good money.

If you have a job, ask yourself if you’re earning what you’re worth. You can compare salaries in different roles on the Payscale website. While it’s never easy asking for a pay rise, you have nothing to lose. Ask yourself if there are any extra responsibilities you could take on in return for a pay rise. If you think that might be possible, put together a proposal and pitch it to your boss.

You could also consider learning new skills to increase your value in the job market. You could do this through an Open University course or evening classes. If you’ve been working in a professional field, such as education or business, you might even be able to make money on the side as a freelance consultant, putting your years of experience to good use.

Step four: Grab Any Pension Your Employer Offers

If you have a job and don’t have a pension through your employer, you should grab it, as it’s tax free, and your employer will put a decent chuck of money in for you. If your employer doesn’t offer a scheme, you’re in luck, because recent changes to the law mean that all companies have to offer a pension contribution to their employees by 2016.

Sometime in the next three years, if you’re employed, you’ll be enrolled into a pension unless you opt out. Take advice before you say no because it’s a good deal and you don’t want to lose out!

Step five: Invest wisely

If you plan on working until the age of 70, any money you make now still has 20 years to grow. For this reason you need to consider your investment options very carefully.

If you don’t have an ISA, you should get one, and if you do, you should aim to use all of your tax free allowance each year.

Louise Oliver, of Taylor Oliver Financial Planners, says you should start off by asking yourself how risk adverse you are. If you want to minimise risk as far as possible, you might be better off sticking to a cash ISA.

If you’re prepared to take on a little more risk, she suggests looking at collective investments. A collective investment is a product which is managed by a stock broker, who invests into different asset classes on behalf of a variety of people, making sure to minimize their tax liability.

Laith Chalef, Pension Investment Manager at Hargreaves Lansdowne, says that the first thing you should do is to build up a cash buffer of around six months’ wages, in a cash ISA. Once you’ve got this, he says you should take a look a Stocks and Shares ISA if you plan to be investing for another 20 years.

We like index-tracking funds for easy, cheap stock market investing so take a look at our explanation of how these work and why it’s best to put them in an ISA so that you don’t pay tax.

We also have a free guide to investment trusts which can also be a good way to invest in the stock market.

Whatever you invest in, you should review the situation at age 60, and consider moving some or all of your money into bonds, savings accounts and other more stable investments. The reason for this is that you don’t want to find that the stock market has crashed by 15% the day before you retire!

Step six: Consider equity release

If you have your own home and, particularly, if you have no family to leave your wealth to, then equity release may be a good option once you retire. It’s not something you can get until you’re into your 60s but it’s a potential fallback option.

Be careful though!

The industry has improved in recent years but there are still a lot of pitfalls for the unwary. Read our article on equity release and get independent advice before agreeing to anything.

Get a FREE guide to Equity Release Claim your free copy here

Step seven: Have regular check-ups

If you’re unsure if you’re doing the best you can to make your money work for you, it’s often worth seeking the advice of an independent financial adviser (IFA). In the majority of cases, an IFA will save you more than they will charge you for the appointment! They consider your personal circumstances in depth, and suggest ways you might be able to free up spare funds, such a re-negotiating your pension or advising on equity release if you own your own home. You can find an IFA near you at Unbiased.

• Cut the cost of living
• Find money you didn’t know you had
• If you’ve got it, rent it (or sell it)!
• How and where to put your hard-earned cash

Cut the cost of living

In order to save you need to free up some money each month. The easiest way to make a dent in your outgoings is to cut your utility bills – so see if you can’t save money by switching providers.

With energy price rises, your fuel bills are a good place to start. Have a look at our article about switching and saving for loads of advice, then check out our energy comparison page. Some people save £538 a year simply by switching their energy provider, so you owe it to yourself to check.

You can also use our comparison tables to quickly find cheaper insurance (on everything from your car to your holidays), as well as cheaper broadband. These are all regular bills for which you may well be paying over the odds for.

Then cut down on your general spending. If you don’t know where your money is going each month, keep a spending diary for a few weeks - you’ll soon find out!

Start with just one thing that you’ll cut down on – perhaps you buy a coffee every morning on the way to work? Replace that with a travel flask or cup of your own brew and you’ll save about £12.50 a week.

Bring sandwiches to work instead of buying them or have one less takeaway a week. All these things add up and cutting back on them will free up a lot of money.

For loads more ways to cut your spending, read our article on reducing your outgoings and find out how you can save over £1,000!

Find money you didn’t know you had

Check out the brilliant website Mylostaccount, which will search for any dormant accounts you might have forgotten about.

And don’t forget other financial products you may be missing out on. Our article on how to get free money has links to services like the Pensions Schemes Register, which will find any old pension schemes you set up with previous employers.

There’s also the Unclaimed Assets Register which covers all manner of investments, life policies, shares, National Savings and others.

They charge a small fee of £25  but it’s worth it. They’re also partnered with the Halifax to help current and former Halifax members find old savings accounts quickly.

While you’re at it, why not pull the cushions from the sofa and check in pots, on shelves and under boxes around your home to see if you can find any spare coins.

According to Visa UK, Britons collectively have £1 billion of loose change just lying around!

Save coins in a jar

Pick a coin – any coin. It could be £1 coins, £2 coins or 20p coins. Whichever you choose, you have to save any coin of that denomination you have left at the end of each day. Get yourself a piggy bank or a special jar that you empty your coins into regularly.

A lot of people use this method of saving for things like a holiday or Christmas. It’s a great way of gradually accumulating money, without it hurting your purse too much.

However, it’s also a good idea to empty your coins jar every month and put the money into a high-interest savings account. That way you can start making interest on it and, hopefully, take away the temptation to raid the jar!

If you’ve got it, rent it (or sell it)!

What have you got hanging around the house that could make you some money?

If you have a spare room, you could rent it out for cash (even if it’s on a part-time basis). It can bring in thousands of extra pounds a year – and the first £4,250 you earn from a lodger is tax free!

So if you want to make the most of that spare room, have a look at Easyroommate – it’s free to post an ad. If you don’t want to commit to a full time lodger, check out MondaytoFriday.

You can also make money by renting out your driveway. Try Parklet or Parkatmyhouse.

In fact, you can rent out all sorts of things for cash - from your DVD player to gardening tools with RentNotBuy. And the beauty of lending is that you can do it again and again, making it a cash stream that can last.

Alternatively, you could set yourself the task of clearing out all your unwanted junk and selling it on. Get selling on eBay and don’t worry if you are completely new to it – find out how to sell things on eBay here.

You could also try posting an ad on Gumtree in the ‘For Sale’ section, or checking out some online car boot sites like Boot Bay. For loads more information about car boots, have a look at our article on how to turn your trash into cash.

Set aside time to make money

Instead of slumping in front of the TV every night, how about setting aside just one evening a week to make some extra cash to save?

Try spending a few hours in front of the computer one night just doing online surveys, or you could even write your own blog and use Google Adwords to help make you some money.

Take a look at the ideas in our Making Money section for any that match your circumstances.

Where to put your money

The first thing to do is open a high-interest savings account to help your money grow – find the current top savings accounts here and tax-free Cash ISAs here.

If you think you’ll only be depositing small amounts, a regular savings account could well be what you need.

If you make money over the internet, move it straight into an internet-based savings account as soon as you get it. If it’s cash, put it in an envelope and deposit it in your savings account immediately to stop yourself spending it on treats!

If you’re still worried about the safety of your money after the recent banking turmoil, you could consider looking at some of our savings alternatives.

Useful links

• Mylostaccount
• eBay
• eBid
• Gumtree
• 12 top money-saving tips for families

• Learn the difference between online savers and instant access savings accounts
• See who is offering the best rates
• Want to skip the best buys and go straight to the info? Click here
• Here are some questions to ask yourself before taking out an account

Grab the best rates:

• AER: 2% (but only for new customers for one year. After 12 months, reverts to standard variable interest rate, which currently stands at 0.50%)
• Interest paid: Monthly
• Minimum balance: £1
• Access: Online and telephone

Sainsbury’s Easy Access Saver

• AER: 2.6% (After 12 months, you’ll revert to the standard variable interest rate, which currently stands at 0.50%)
• Interest paid: Monthly/Annually
• Minimum balance: £1
• Access: Online and telephone. If you make 6 or more withdrawals during the 12 month period your interest will go down to 0.50%.

What’s the difference?

An online savings account is a savings account that can only be dealt with via the World Wide Web, and is sometimes described as an easy access account (although don’t confuse that with instant access).

You have all the features of an ordinary savings account – such as checking your balance and transferring money etc – but you don’t have the option of going into the branch to withdraw real cash. Generally, you can deposit and withdraw as much as you like, whenever you want, but bear in mind you may lose your interest if you withdraw money. For example, some accounts take away all the interest you would have made for the whole month in which you withdraw the money.

There are regular online savers too, which require regular monthly payments – so it’s important to check the terms of whichever account you open. Online savers are useful if you do all your banking online anyway. That way it’s easy to keep track of all your accounts. In addition, because the bank or building society doesn’t have the added costs of manning the phones and staffing their branches with more workers, they can sometimes offer you a better rate than other types of account with similar terms and conditions.

An online savings account can’t be ‘instant access’, because although you can access your money at any time online, you will have to transfer it to a separate account to withdraw it. This could take a few days depending on the circumstances.

There are three types of online savings accounts:

No notice online savings accounts: these generally don’t require any notice for you to transfer money from the account (remember, it’s online, so you can’t withdraw cash from a branch), and shouldn’t penalise you through loss of interest if you do. Do check the small print when you apply however, because there may be a catch somewhere.

Notice online savings accounts: these often penalise you if you withdraw money from the account without giving them a set amount of notice (which will be stipulated in the terms). With this type of account, there’s a possibility of your losing your interest if you don’t give them sufficient notice.  Be careful with these accounts – the whole ‘notice period and loss of interest’ aspect of things is often only mentioned in the small print.

Monthly interest online savings accounts: these can either be notice or no notice, and simply means you receive your interest monthly, rather than annually, or after a given amount of time.

What is an instant access savings account?

An instant access savings account is the most flexible type of account. You can deposit and withdraw money as the mood takes you.

Savings accounts advertised as ‘instant access’ may still incur a penalty such as loss of interest for the month you withdraw the money in. But many don’t, so you’ll need to check this.

All instant access savings accounts should offer a cash withdrawal facility, either in branch or with a cash card.
Most also offer an online banking service, along with a phone number to call – but this will depend on the package offered by individual institutions.

Which type of account is right for me?

The only real difference between online savers and instant access savings accounts is the way you access them.
As with any other financial product, the right account for you will depend on your individual circumstances, and you’ll need to check the small print on any account you’re thinking of applying for.

Unless for some reason you’re desperate to be able to withdraw cash or you’re a complete technophobe, it’s probably a good idea to go for an online savings account.

This is purely because online savers often (though not always) offer the best rates. With the internet pretty much taking over all things consumer-based, there is also a much better selection of accounts on offer. Finally, they’re very easy to manage at any time of the day or night.

If you’re searching comparison sites (like Moneymagpie’s best buy tables), both types of accounts will be grouped together under a title like ‘easy access accounts’ – because they’re so similar.

Things to check in the terms and conditions

• Are you getting a competitive rate, compared to other accounts with similar terms?
• How often is the interest paid? If you’re looking to make an extra income from your savings, an account that pays interest monthly will be more beneficial.
• Is the rate advertised a ‘bonus rate’? If so, you may lose that good rate after a certain amount of time and need to switch accounts again.
• Is there a notice period for withdrawals? If so, what is it?
• Is there an account opening restriction? You may have to hold a current account with the bank or building society before you can open a savings account.
• Is there a minimum opening balance? Some accounts require a minimum initial deposit, which could be anything from £1 upwards.
• Are there any withdrawal penalties? A lot of accounts will not pay out interest if you make a withdrawal. Always check the conditions for this.
• Does the account offer any bonuses? You may be offered a higher interest rate if you hold a current account with the bank, or if you don’t make any withdrawals in a certain period of time.
• How can you access the account? By post, in branch, over the phone or via the internet?

Useful Links

• Saga’s Internet Saver account
• ING Direct Savings account
• Sainsbury’s Easy Access Saver

• Buy cheaper, no-frills brands
• Stop buying bottled water
• Throw a swap party
• Save money on energy
• Get cheaper car insurance

50 tips for families on how to save money:

1. Ready, steady, cook: Stop buying fast food and ready-made meals; buying ingredients and cooking yourself will save money in the long term, and it is much healthier. Making meals from scratch can be a lot easier than you think, and you can get the kids involved and helping too. There are loads of easy, healthy and inexpensive recipes to be found online, such as Tesco Real Food and Sainsbury’s family recipes.
2. Make homemade cleaning products: Why pay £3 for floor cleaner when you can pay 50p for lemon juice and still make your floor sparkle? Not only will making your own products save you money, they are also more environmentally-friendly and contain fewer harmful chemicals. Have a look at the Home Channel’s ‘How to guide’ so you can get started. Most of them will cost less than £2 to make!
3. Start packing your lunch: Did you know that the average worker spends about £5 per day on lunch, adding up to £25 each week? Keep going and you are at almost £1,250 each year. By the end of your career you would have spent over £47,500 just on buying lunch! Save money by making your own, and for handy hints on packing your lunch and yummy food ideas see how you can make your lunch money go further.
4. Wait! You don’t need to go grocery shopping yet: Use all the tins and jars lurking in the back of your pantry and cupboards before you buy more. Visiting sites like Frugal Cooking will give you recipe ideas on what to do with them, and vegan and vegetarian recipes are particularly good for using up all those beans and pulses that normally sit at the back of the cupboard. Check out LoveFoodHateWaste for ideas on what to do with your leftovers.
5. Buy no-frills brands: Buy the store brand of food items like bread, butter, canned goods, teas and pulses. You’ll be amazed at how much money this can save you. You can compare the difference between the major supermarket prices on MySupermarket to make sure you’re getting the lowest prices.
6. Write a menu plan: Having a shopping list will prevent you from purchasing things that you don’t need. Sainsbury’s meal planner has a detailed list that will feed three meals to a family of four for seven days, and can be changed depending on dietary requirements and varying family numbers. Make sure you take your list and tick off each item you place in the trolley.
7. Take advantage of all the rain: Good old British weather may not be best for sunbathing, but great for growing vegetables, saving money on having to buy them. To help your green fingers, Amazon have lots of books to choose from, and John Harrison’s Vegetable Growing Month-by-Month will take you through the whole year.
8. Go foraging: The summer is the perfect time to wander in the open countryside and pick up some meals for free; berries, mushrooms and other food grow naturally and often go to waste. Be careful what you eat though, as it isn’t all safe. It’s worth checking in a book like Richard Mabey’s book, Food For Free, which has been around for over 20 years, and is available on Amazon, and is a great source of information.
9. Cut back on eating meat: You don’t have to become a vegetarian but if you opt to go veggie twice a week you will be saving money as meat can be expensive. You can still get your daily amount of protein from eating eggs, lentils and beans, and nuts, and the BBC Good Food website  has a whole host of recipes on what to do with them.
10. Stop buying bottled water: Not only is it expensive and environmentally irresponsible, but tap water is actually cleaner! It goes through a more stringent filtering processes than bottled water since there are very few regulated standards that bottled water companies need to comply with. The Telegraph wrote an article about it.
11. Cut down on laundry detergent: This is like the directions on all shampoo bottles that advises us to wash our hair twice. No one ever does that and they still manage to have clean hair. You definitely don’t need to use two tablets, or as much powder as the box recommends, to get a clean clothes (unless it is caked in mud, paint and grass stains). This simple trick will make your laundry detergent last twice as long and save you money.
12. Make homemade greeting cards and wrapping paper: Save loads on birthday and holiday cards by making them yourself. They can be personalised for a special touch, and it also gives you a fun way to spend some quality time with your children. The website Making Greeting Cards is devoted to this, loaded with design ideas and a whole list of tools and supplies that you can pick up from stores like Staples.
13. Recycle old greeting cards: Remember that Christmas card with the really cute penguin on it? Why not cut him out and make him into a gift tag? Instead of throwing cards away or letting them sit at the bottom of some drawer, you may as well put them to use, and save the money you would have spent on packs of tags.
14. Buy all seasonal products after the holiday for the following year: While you’re elbowing your way through the January sales, you should also pick up wrapping paper and anything else you might need for the next Christmas as it will often be less than half the price. The same goes for pretty much any holiday event.
15. Go second hand: Save yourself hundreds by buying used items like bicycles or furniture at greatly reduced prices from sites like eBay and Gumtree. Sometimes Gumtree features free items that people just want rid of, though you often have to pick it up yourself. A lot of the stuff is in great condition, and you can check photos online before you pick it up, and hey, it’s free!
16. Refill – don’t buy new: Refill your printer cartridges rather than purchasing new ones, you’ll save yourself on average 60-70% on the cost of replacing a cartridge by simply refilling your old one. Visit Cartridge World for great rates. Inkcycle.co.uk will pay you for your empty cartridges, but it no longer collects Epson or Laser brands.
17. No more shampoo: Seriously, if you were to step into your bathroom now and venture into the dark scary recesses of your cupboards, how many unused and unfinished hair, cosmetic and skin products would you find lying back there? Have a clean-up, throw out all the old, used-up stuff and start using all that forgotten stuff. Don’t buy any new shampoos, conditioners, make-up or lotions until you’ve used it all up.
18. Make your own make-up: Going homemade with toiletries such as face masks and exfoliants will help save money as a lot of brands charge huge amounts for their products. Instead of spending £5 on a face mask that is made with a scary list of items that you can’t pronounce, why not mash up a banana and slather on, with a couple of slices of cucumber for your eyes? It makes for an amazing face mask and has just saved you a load. Exfoliating with used coffee grinds is great for the skin and should help diminish those cellulite dimples as caffeine is the active ingredient used in lots of fancy cellulite creams. Hop onto Health Recipes for all the beauty creams you’ll ever need, or Making Your Own for more.
19. Let a student cut your hair: Get your haircuts, and especially your children’s haircuts, at hairdressing colleges where students can gain experience, and you get a cheap – or free – new ‘do’. It’s not so scary, most have had hours of class time and there is a teacher with them at all times. You can also go with trusted hair salons like Vidal Sassoon and Toni & Guy – the latter offers free hair cuts and £20 for highlights. Both salons only offer the services on specific dates and times so you need to book in advance.
20. Hit those charity shops: Shop at charity shops in posh parts of town is a money-saving must, where you can sometimes buy fantastic designer finds at an 80% discount. In London, Chelsea, Notting Hill and Kensington are good bets, but otherwise any affluent suburban area is likely to have some good finds.
21. Shop online: If charity shops aren’t your thing you can still save loads by buying used designer clothes on eBay. Vintage and retro looks are very in, and there are some great bargains to be had, so scan the vintage clothes section, or go to the women’s clothing section and search by period.
22. Throw a swap party: Have your friends and neighbours round for a swap party, which is where you all bring stuff you no longer want and swap with each other. This can be a great way to get some new clothes or used baby items for free and it’s a great way to get rid of all those old items you no longer wanted. If not, sites like Freecyle and Snaffle Up can help you swap stuff online.
23. Don’t be shy – haggle! There are so many deals out there to be had if you just work up the courage to ask. Even high street shops have great deals, start by asking what kind of discount you can get if you pay in cash or if you buy two rather than one. Use a price comparison site like Kelkooto make sure you always get the best deal. Read Jasmine’s tips on how to get out there and do it.
24. Shop at auctions: There are hundreds of charity fund-raising auctions, and general auctions around, but it’s worth having a look at any police auctions being held in your area. Police auctions sell everything from jewellery to cars to homes for really discounted prices. Read our article on Police Auctions for great tips, and check the Police and Government Auctions website.
25. Start re-gifting: Re-gifting is a great way to save money. If you got a gift that you don’t need or want, don’t take it out of the box, and the next upcoming occasion you now have your gift without spending a thing…Just don’t give it back to the person who gave it to you!
26. Recycle: When items become old, and you’re either bored of them or replace them for a newer model, don’t just throw them away or leave them in a cupboard. Sites like Envirofone will pay to recycle most old mobile phones, and if yours is too old to have any value, at least they will recycle it responsibly. As for your old CDs, DVDs and games, musicMagpie will send you a cheque for what you send them. They have excellent taste in birds, too.
27. Beware of the BOGOF: Unless you were going to buy it anyway, buying something because it is on offer only ends up making you spend more than you were going to. So, put down the five multi-packs of crisps, and the expensive washing powder with a free novelty toy, and step away.
28. Get your movies from the library: Borrow movies from your local library rather than from the video store – they’re about half the price, or if you’re a film buff, join LOVEFiLM, as they’re currently giving a free 30-day trial, and you can get films delivered to your door.
29. Books: There is no real need to buy books at full price any more. Make use of your local public library, or if you do just have to have the physical copy in your possession, scout around charity shops, book sales, Amazon, and sites like ReadItSwapIt where you can swap the books you don’t want for the ones you do!
30. Switch those bulbs: Changing all the lights in your house to the energy-saving kind will save money on your annual electricity bill, and up to £100 over the bulb’s lifetime. Energy saving bulbs last up to 10 to 15 times as long, and use about a quarter to a fifth of the electricity that ordinary light bulbs use. In less than a year the costs of the light bulbs will have been saved in your energy bill! Which? conducted a rigorous lifetime test of the newer-style eco-light bulbs, finding that General Electric, Osram and Ikea come out on top in terms of lifetime, and liability to dim as they age. At around £3, Wilkinsons is the best place to buy them.
31. Save money on energy: In the UK, energy prices have steadily risen since 2003 and are still going. There is a bright side, with such rising costs customers have started really shopping around for good deals, creating a market where energy suppliers are desperate to retain customers by offering them bargains. Switching to a new gas and electricity supplier can save you as much as £100 per year, with an additional savings of £50-£60 annually if you set up a direct debit payment scheme. There are lots of energy price comparison sites you can use to compare deals. Head over to sites such as MySupermarket and The Energy Shop.
32. Turn it down: If you were to turn down your thermostat by 1°C, you could save yourself £30 annually! By making the most of the heat; drawing your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows, and making sure not to block radiators with any curtains or furniture, it’s unlikely you’ll even notice the difference.
33. Don’t forget the boiler: By also turning down both your hot water boiler to 60 degrees centigrade or 140 degrees Fahrenheit, you could save an extra £10 annually.
34. Replace your old boiler: If your boiler is over 15 years old it is no longer efficient and draining loads of energy, and therefore, cash. It can be expensive to purchase a new boiler, but the savings made with lower heating bills will see the cost recovered within three to five years. There are also government grants that will offer you money, or will cover the cost of purchase and installation. After installing your high efficiency condensing boiler with heating controls you can expect to save between £190- 240 annually on your heating bills. Contact your local Energy Efficiency Advice Centre on 0800 512012 for more details on energy efficient boilers and for grant information. If you would like to compare the efficiency of different boilers visit www.boilers.org.uk.
35. Use your timer: Even if you are not planning on replacing your boiler, always use a timer – there’s no point heating your house if you’re not in it! Turn your heater off 30 minutes before leaving home and programming it so that it switches back on 30 minutes before you return. Unless it’s really cold, turn it off overnight too and go for hot water bottles instead.
36. Buy your boiler a new jacket: By adding an insulation jacket to your hot water cylinder you will be preventing heat loss and therefore saving yourself £15-£20 annually. They are easy to fit yourself and shouldcost you about a tenner from most good DIY stores, and B&Q have one for much less. Make sure to purchase a jacket that is at least 75mm thick. Visit Home Heating Guide for step-by-step instructions.
37. Switch off: Always remember to switch off all your appliances when you are no longer using them, preferably at the plug socket. Microwaves, TVs, videos, stereos, and computers, eat up loads of energy when they are left on standby. In fact 85% of the energy consumed by your DVD player comes from when it is not actually in use, so start saving money!
38. Unplug too: The same principle applies with unplugging pieces of equipment once they have fully charged. Don’t leave your mobile phone charger, shavers or electric toothbrushes plugged in as they will still be draining electricity unnecessarily. Overcharging electrical equipment also causes the battery trauma and it won’t last as long.
39. Get energy efficient appliances: If you are purchasing any new appliances buying the energy efficient one will save you loads. By replacing a 10 year-old fridge-freezer with a modern, energy efficient A-rated appliance you can save £45 a year. The government has put several grants in place to help people replace their appliances; with just a bit of research you can scoop up loads of free money to buy new appliances that will help save you money! Read through some of the offers.
40. Stop washing your dishes: Think you are saving water and energy by washing your dishes by hand? Think again. Modern dishwashers use less energy and water, as long as you remember to only wash full loads of dishes, turn down the hot water temperature, and skip the drying cycle. Leave the door ajar instead and let your dishes air dry to save money.
41. Don’t forget about the loft: By insulating your loft you could save up to £200 off your annual heating bill. You can purchase the insulating foam at B&Q and install it yourself, but remember to use protective goggles and gloves. Note that this could be time consuming, and you’ll need some know-how to do it properly. You may want to check out where you can find loads of resources for government grants that will cover the costs of you going greener.
42. Skip the dry cycle: Giving your tumble dryer a miss and drying your clothes indoors is a great way to save money. Use clothes rails rather than lying clothes over radiators as this prevents heat from circulating the room.
43. Shower more and bath less: Taking a shower consumes two-fifths of the water used for a bath, meaning lower water bills for you. However those power showers heads are a no-no as they can use as much water – or sometimes more – than a bath would!
44. Make sure that you have the lowest mortgage rate possible: Find yourself a ‘fees-free’ or ‘whole of market’ mortgage broker that can guide you through the process of finding you the best deal. You can compare deals here. Remortgaging your home and securing the lowest mortgage rate is the most substantial money saving move you can make. If you manage to cut 1% off from a £100,000 you’ll save £80 per month.
45. Get cheaper car insurance: When it’s time to renew, always check to see if you could get a cheaper deal. You can visit our car insurance comparison page to compare services, and it’s always worth checking sites like GoCompare and Confused.com to see what deals they can offer you to save money.
46. Use direct debit: Set up direct debit payments to avoid paying late fees on your credit card, which could result in having your interest rate increase. Also transfer fees to 0% credit cards. Read about the best 0% credit cards for the best offers. Have a look at our article on the best 0% credit cards for balance transfers.
47. Consider your car: If you can, start walking or cycling to work, or walking the kids to school. It will save money, it’s eco friendly, and gives you some exercise without having to step into a gym. If you have to drive, don’t be in such a hurry. You’d get up to 35% better fuel efficiency by just driving a bit slower and not accelerating so quickly at green lights.
48. Get points with loyalty cards: Store cards from places like Boots, Tesco and Nectar cards that can be used at Sainsbury’s give more value to your money. After spending, you earn points on your card, which can be exchanged for vouchers or used to buy other products, therefore saving money on future purchases. In the case of Nectar points, if you build up enough you could even use them to pay for flights for a holiday.
49. Make your own baby food: When making those homemade meals for your family don’t forget to blend some of those fresh soft fruits for your own baby food purees. Once your baby has moved onto cooked meals you can just puree some of the unsalted version you’ve already made for the rest of the family, saving you both time and money. You’ll also be avoiding a lot of the preservatives that can be found in some brands of baby food.
50. Get cashback from shopping: Just imagine; you’ve just bought something from the internet – a stereo perhaps – and just through buying it from a particular site, they decide to give you money. Money for buying stuff? That doesn’t happen! With sites like Cashback shopper it actually does. Once you have registered, you just have to click from their website to the site where you want to buy from, purchase as normal, and once you’ve spent £25 they will credit your bank account. But note, it’s only worth doing if you were going to buy the items anyway.

We hope this has given you a few ideas on how to save money, even if you try out just a few of them.

Useful links

• 12 top money-saving tips for families
• Inkcycle.co.uk
• eBay
• Kelkoo
• LOVEFiLM
• Amazon
• Home Insulation Grants
• Customer Utility Services

• Set up your own special savings account
• Develop new habits that help you save instead of spend

Set up a special savings account

Before you get really sneaky, set up the savings account that is going to hold all your loot. Ideally you want something with the highest rate of interest you can get, but also an account which offers you instant access, meaning you can pay in and take money out as and when you want to.

One of the best around right now is ING Direct savings account which you can open with just £1 and pays a fixed rate of 1.50% for 12 months from the account opening. When looking for the best savings accounts it may also be worth speaking to your bank about what they can offer.

Top sneaky saving tricks

This is where you have to get cunning. Come up with ways of kidding yourself into saving money without even realising it. Everyone’s different, so not all of these ways to save money will work for everyone – but we’ll guarantee that a few of these top tricks will get you saving.

1. Pay yourself first

Set up a direct debit so that a day after your wages are paid into your current account, you move a percentage of them (5 percent, 10 percent or as much as you can afford) straight into your  savings account. That way it’s like you never had the money in the first place, so now it’s tucked away earning interest in your savings account and you won’t miss it.

2. Get cash back

If you use a cashback credit card or do your shopping through cashback websites, make sure that whenever you get that money back you stick it straight in your savings account.

If you don’t do either of these things you should start straight away – it’s free money! The best cashback credit card out there at the moment is the American Express Platinum Cashback credit card (bear in mind you need a decent credit rating to get this card).

When it comes to the best cashback sites, try ECashback for instant rewards of up to 35%, and for a fantastic array of offers check out Quidco.

3. Spend one payrise behind

If you are fortunate enough to get a payrise, you might be tempted to increase your spending – but don’t! Instead, try and stick to the smaller budget you’re used to, and put the extra pay into your savings account. In fact, change your monthly standing order so that all of the money diverts into your savings before you even think about the raise.

4. Lighten the load

Got a purse full of coppers? At the end of every week empty all your small change out of your purse and put it in a piggy bank – it saves having to carry it around with you. Plus, because it’s only small change you won’t miss it, but you’ll be amazed at how much you can accumulate in a month.

Save the money you find when you put your trousers or jackets in the wash too. And check down the back of the sofa every so often, there’s probably more money down there than you think!

Every couple of months make sure you take all the money and pay it into your savings account so it starts earning you interest.

5. Exercise and save

If you walk, cycle or get a free lift for a journey that you would usually pay for, put the fare, or equivalent petrol money into your savings. So if you would have paid £2.50 for a tube journey, put that money in your piggy bank. Cycle to and from work for a month and you could save yourself over £100, and get fit!

6. Curb your urge to splurge
Instead of forking out £3.50 for that coffee you usually have on the way to work, take your own in a flask, and put the money into your savings account. The same goes for your lunch – if you make it every day for work instead of buying it you can save yourself over £1,000 a year! And chances are, what you make yourself will be a lot healthier than the lunch you buy (never underestimate the amount of salt, fat and preservatives in packaged sandwiches).

If your willpower is really strong you can try this out with other things too. Seen a pair of shoes you love but don’t really need? Put the money you would have spent on them in your savings account, and let it make you more money instead.

Of course a little of what you fancy does you good, but really thinking about whether you need something or not before you buy it is a great habit to get into.

7. Set up a bad habits box

It could be just a swear box or it could be a chocolate, fast food or crisps box. Whatever your secret, or not so secret, naughtiness is, fine yourself something when you indulge.

Come up with an amount that suits you – 10p or £1 – and every time you eat the offending item, be it a McDonalds or a take-out curry, stick it in the bad habits box. Putting the money in the box each time you succumb will help you kick the habit so you can save money and help yourself lose weight at the same time.

8. Start your own in-house Laundromat

Put a jar next to your washing machine (and dryer if you have one) and ‘charge’ yourself every time you use it. Again, it’s up to you how much you charge but after a few months you should have a decent amount to pour into your savings account.

Not only will you be saving money, you’ll be saving the environment too – having to pay to do the washing will make you think more economically about your loads.

9. Be the agent for your friends

Be the one to book group holidays – you could get a discount or even a whole holiday for free for yourself.

If you go out for a meal with your friends, say once a month, be the one to book it. If you use a site like Toptable you’ll get better deals at fantastic restaurants anyway, and you earn points every time you book. So you’ll be getting great deals for your friends and earning enough points to enjoy your own free meal in no time! Put the money you would have spent on dinner straight into that savings account.

Plus if you have a car, join up to car-sharing websites like Liftshare or National Carshare or just arrange to give friends lifts. Once again, any money they give you for petrol should go straight into your savings pot.

10. Find money you didn’t know you had

Ferret out all that money you’ve forgotten about. Research from MoneyExpert shows that Britons have over £4 billion worth of unredeemed loyalty card points, gift vouchers, credit notes, coupons and air miles – just lying around.

So hunt down all that ‘free money’, and the next time you book a flight, do a food shop or splash out on some new clothes, try to avoid spending any cash. And the money you’ve saved? Straight into the savings account of course!

The tax man may be scary, but it could be worth your while getting in touch. According to Unbiased.co.uk, failure to claim back tax overpayments has left Britons £322 million out of pocket. Find out how to get your money back here.

And finally, go to Mylostaccount to see if you have any old savings accounts lying dormant that you could raid to add to your stash.

Useful links

• Mylostaccount
• ING Direct
• National Carshare
• Toptable

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Suddenly being without your salary and still having bills to pay and a family to look after is a terrifying thought for anyone, but there are things you can do now to protect your income and make sure you can still afford to keep going if you were to lose your job.

Read on for our seven invaluable ways to protect your income and put your mind at rest.

• 1. Set up your savings safety net
• 2. Take out income protection insurance
• 3. Get mortgage payment protection insurance
• 4. Get critical illness cover
• 5. Set up extra ways of making cash on the side
• 6. Get some training on the side
• 7. Set up passive streams of income

1. Set up your savings safety net

Having a savings safety net is absolutely essential. It’s self-insurance – which is the most reliable form of insurance to have, because you don’t have to depend on anyone else for your money.  You are insuring yourself by creating your very own emergency fund.

Your emergency fund should have enough money in it to cover your expenses for at least three months, ideally six.  Yes that is going to be a substantial amount of money, but it is so, so important to have this savings account.

Why? Because if you suddenly lose your job or you can’t work due to illness or other problems, you can at least pay your bills and keep the roof over your head.

The added bonus:  If you don’t lose your job, you still have a nice wad of money quietly earning you interest in a savings account that you can enjoy in your retirement.

So how do you set up this savings safety net? Well, you need to open an easy-access savings account with the best interest rate you can get – check out the best deals now here. Then put as much money as you can spare into it each week.

Even if you don’t think you have any cash to spare, we’ll show you how you can get some by telling you the secrets to saving when you don’t have any money.

2. Take out income protection insurance

If you don’t have self-insurance then an option you could consider is income protection insurance (IPI). This kind of insurance will replace some of your salary if you have an accident or illness that stops you working for some time.

Good policies will continue to pay out until you are ready to return to work again – even if that’s in a few years, and if you never recover enough to go back to work, they should pay you an income until you reach retirement age (and payments are tax-free).

Unfortunately, you will have to wait before you start to get the benefits – usually around 13 weeks/three months is the norm. You can get policies that will pay out from the moment you have to be off work – but the monthly premiums for those are much higher.

The best way to get this kind of insurance is to shop around, as there are many different policies on the market. Use our comparison service to find the best deal for you.

WARNING! Income protection insurance does not protect you against unemployment. If you are made redundant, this form of insurance will not pay out.

So should you get redundancy insurance instead? No. We don’t think you should.

Why not? Because we think it’s expensive and in many cases it doesn’t pay out when you need it.

Redundancy insurance, also known as unemployment insurance or redundancy cover, is supposed to provide a payout if you lose your job.

The idea is that redundancy insurance will pay out if you lose your job because of compulsory redundancy. On the whole, you get paid about 50-65% of the income you were on, up to a maximum benefit of £1,000-2,000 a month. But you can’t claim if you choose voluntary redundancy.

If you do manage to get a pay-out you must be able to prove that you’re actively seeking work and you’ll only get the benefits for 12 months (24 months with some policies). After that you’re on your own.

In addition, you usually have to wait for one or two months before you start to receive the benefits of the policy and there’s a qualifying period of 120 days before the policy is valid. In other words, if you take the policy out now and you get made redundant next month, you won’t qualify for the money.

Plus – you have to be continuously employed for at least six months before you can make a claim.

If you’re keen on protecting your income against redundancy, you’re better off with the next point….

3. Get mortgage payment protection insurance

If your savings safety net is still a work in progress and you have a mortgage to pay, then you should seriously consider mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI).

WARNING! Don’t just get the insurance offered to you by your mortgage lender. Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that of the borrowers who have MPPI, three-quarters took out the cover with their mortgage provider. But these ‘bolt-on’ policies tend to be more expensive – up to three times as much as those from independent providers who charge around £5 a month for every £100 of monthly repayment.

As well as looking at the price of MPPI, you need to be aware of exclusions with the cover. Many MPPI policies will exclude stress and back trouble – two of the most common reasons for claims – so ideally you should find a policy that includes these conditions.

Also find out if there’s an ‘excess period’ before the policy starts paying out, or whether the provider offers ‘back to day one’ cover. MPPI normally pays out between 30 and 60 days after you become unable to work and continues to pay the benefit for 12 months (sometimes 24).

Be aware that claims will not be met if you knew you were likely to be made redundant when you took out the policy.

Don’t forget – although MPPI may sometimes be cheaper than income protection, income protection pays out until you can get back to work or until the policy end.

Once again, because there are so many different policies out there you need to shop around. Use our comparison service to find the best deal for you.

4. Get critical illness cover

In a way, critical illness is one of the most pessimistic forms of insurance, but it can be a huge relief not to have to worry about money should you be struck down with a long-term disease.

A lot of people are unable to work for long periods – over two million in the UK currently claim State incapacity benefit for more than six months at a time. Critical illness insurance will give you reassurance in these circumstances, if you can afford it.

WARNING! Thousands of employees receive critical illness cover as part of their employment package, so make sure to check whether you do before taking out a policy.

Some types of insurance will give you ‘level’ or the same pay-out during the policy term. In other words, you could get a lump sum pay-out if you get ill at any time while the policy runs.

However, it is possible to buy cover where the lump sum gets smaller over the five years – and this sort of cover is cheaper. This type of ‘reducing’ critical illness cover is designed to be used with decreasing home mortgage repayments. Less and less cover is needed as the mortgage gets paid off.

If you’re self-employed, or you don’t have critical illness insurance as part of your work benefits and you are the only or main earner in a household, it is worth considering this type of cover for a few key years. The cash can be a major boon if your health goes wrong.

5. Set up extra ways of making cash on the side

Having a bit of extra money coming in from somewhere other than just your day job is a perfect bit of added security to put your mind at rest. We don’t mean getting a second job, we’re talking about easier ways to make some money.

Check out our top ten easy ways to make quick cash for starters – it’s the most popular article on our site! If the idea of being able to make cash sitting in front of your computer is appealing, then you should check out Moneymagpie’s favourite money-making websites and find out how you can make money from competitions.

There are tonnes of other easy ways to make money from things you enjoy doing, and you really can turn them into regular little earners without too much trouble. For loads more money-making ideas from house-sitting to being a car boot king or queen, click here.

6. Get some training on the side

Brush the dust from your CV and take a long hard look at it. Do you have a host of transferable skills? What about a second language? A good knowledge of different IT programs? Don’t worry if you’re drawing a big fat blank at this point, because now is the time to get yourself some new skills – for free.

Want to start learning a new language? Then head to BBC Languages. You can learn a language for free with their great courses and you’ll even get a certificate at the end!  The BBC also has free online media training courses too.

7. Set up passive streams of income

N.B. these are long-term ideas. They’re unlikely to help you in the next twelve months. However, to protect yourself in the future, it’s worth setting up at least one of these now.

With passive streams of income you’re talking real money – regular money. Setting up one of these means creating something that will pay you year after year, later on, with minimal effort on your part.

This all sounds great, of course, but be aware that in order to create this lovely stream of money in the future, you’ll have to put some effort and money in now…probably quite a lot of it.

Here are some activities that could provide you with a regular income later on:

• Network selling

This isn’t about pyramid schemes, it’s about selling goods or services to a network of friends and, importantly, trying to get them to sell to others on your behalf.

There are several different companies that operate this system, but if you’re interested in getting into it make sure you only go with one that is a member of the Direct Selling Association.

There are still a lot of cowboys in this arena and you need to be careful. Be aware, also, that it’s really not for everyone. You need to be good at selling, networking and motivating others. Not everyone is.

• Your own web business

This is such a big subject that it would take a whole book to explain how to do it properly. However, why not start small now by setting up your own blog. It’s free (just go to Blogger.com to do it) and you can start making a very small amount of money by getting Google AdSense on it.

You could even write a blog about redundancy if that’s what you’re going through. As we’ve shown in this article on making money out of misery, you can turn a bad situation into gold if you try.

• Invest in shares

While you might think this is a terrible idea, investing in the stock market is actually a very reliable way to make money in the long term. If you are willing to invest for at least five years, and ideally more, you can see some pretty impressive returns.

We recommend investing in nice cheap, easy index-tracking funds (trackers) and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as a good place to start.

Put money in regularly – each month or each year, whatever you can manage – and sit tight. Don’t be put off by hysterical news reports about the stock market tanking, just keep quietly investing. Over time the stock market will go up, even if it drops wildly in certain years.

• To dream about!

Write a successful book, play, song or film. Mm, that’s easy…not! However, if you’re talented enough and you come up with the right formula, you can set yourself up for life with just one successful creation.

Very few of us are actually able to do it, but it doesn’t mean you can’t try. Just because only a few people manage it doesn’t mean that you can’t be one of them. Remember, J.K. Rowling was rejected by nine publishers before she was accepted by Bloomsbury. Keep trying.

Useful links

• The Four-Hour Work Week
• Direct Selling Association