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Turn Rail travel into a direct route to savings

Rail is one of the oldest and most established forms of travel in all of Europe, and the UK is no exception. Iron tracks connected and solidified empires into nations over hundreds of years, facilitating trade, travel, and commerce.

Today it’s still a common form of transportation, and like all forms of travel, you can save money on it if you know how.

Many of us take the train to and from the cities we work in, but not all of them purchase monthly tickets. In many cases a monthly train ticket can be a significant savings over paying daily. For those taking longer rail trips, the same rule applies.

Likewise, international is much like international air or water transit. Planning ahead, and bringing some beverages or food along can mean the difference between truly enjoying the trip you planned on taking, or spending considerably more than you had budgeted for.

Another consideration when looking into rail travel versus other forms is the cost of an overnight rail travel versus the cost of a hotel room between destinations. Interrailing in Europe is one popular way of travelling, giving pass holders the ability to traverse the whole of Europe over extended time periods.

Quite often rail travel can be a much less expensive alternative to road or air. It’s also more comfortable than a coach or plane.


Do you travel by rail? If so, what are your tips for saving money on rail travel expenses?

Money Saving Along the Highways


If you can manage to avoid traffic, or at least avoid the worst of it, then there’s really nothing quite like the open road. This is especially true once you get out of the city, as the UK’s got her fair share of lovely, particularly if you’re motoring, and even more so if you’ve saved money along the way.

To do that, it’s important to map your travel routes, and plan when and where you’ll be stopping along the way for supplies or other necessities. If you’ll be long in any one place, or stopping off to picnic, then you’ll need to consider those options as well.

A little bread from your local shop, along with some spread, or a wheel of cheese, and perhaps a few sausages can make a lovely meal at a picnic stop or roadside venue. There are of course roadside cafes and motorway eateries, but these are likely to be priced way over the top and definitely be on the more expensive side of the equation.

Pack a big flask of tea or coffee too, and don't forget the little ones - plenty of water and juices to keep them hydrated and happy!

By preparing things in advance, you won’t need to stop as long or as often. That means you’ll be able to just enjoy your motoring, driving sedately and saving fuel and wear and tear as you do, whereas rushed and manic driving will use more fuel and of course expose you to more risk.

Once you’ve arrived at any planned stops, proper planning means that you'll be able to spend more time there too. Since you’ll have packed your own kit from home, there won’t be any need to worry over the higher prices roadside shops generally have over the discount markets you can find at home.

Happy Travels!

What about you? Are there any tips or tricks you can share with us for saving while motoring?

Crossing the Water on a Budget - Trip Considerations Before You Leave

Water travel is a bit different than most other forms of travel. This has to do with the fact that, especially as concerns cruises, you can’t exactly get a drink or a meal anywhere other than the ship. That means that whatever happens to be on the menu, at whatever that price happens to be, is most likely what you’re going to be partaking of.

If you don’t like something, there will of course always be other options, but they can be frighteningly expensive in comparison to what you’d otherwise have access to on land.

In fact, the single largest complaint of budget conscientious water travelers is the unexpected cost of items that aren’t included in the cruise prices.

While most cruises do offer meal plans and packages, as a general rule, the average package does not include snacks or beverages during off times. A couple can easily end up spending 20£ a day on those, which adds a whopping £140 to a seven day cruise. Throw in alcoholic beverages, and that figure can easily triple to £400  or more.

That means you might save more by upgrading your travel package than you’d save by not doing so. You’d also do well to consider the cost of basic remedies that might not be available on ship, such as aspirin, and antacids if you’re prone to indigestion.

Of course, many of the better packages will factor things like these in and won't always nickle and dime you in to stumping up more from their captive audiences. But ask questions first, it'll save a sore wallet or purse on the other side!

If you’re hungry, best eat before shopping

If you haven’t eaten recently, don’t go food shopping until you’ve had a bite to eat.

If you do, your hungry little mind will have you buying every sort of thing that appeals to it, with no care for cost. Even if you’re quite strong willed, and we’ve no doubt that you are, modern marketing is going to be working against you every step of the way.

Because you’re hungry, you aren’t going to be thinking clearly. The mind is going to be focused on food, and since sterling’s not edible, your finances are going to be completely off the radar.

You’ll find that small purchases you’d normally pass on are going to be filling your basket, such as 5-minute rice instead of the usual 45-minute sort. By the time you get out of the store, you’re quite likely to have a stone or more worth of junk you’d normally not have purchased.

To avoid this, and to save your money, make sure you have a good meal before you go shopping. Also, make a list. Think about what you’re going to cook, and take care of the necessary bits and bobs in advance. If you put it off, you’ll end up in the store, hungry, and picking up a bunch of things you really don’t need.

How about you? Does planning your meals and shopping on a full stomach help, or do you take a different approach? Let us know.

Keeping the lights on is more important than keeping up with the neighbors

Money Saving Tips for energy and water around the home

Just when you though your home was all set and ready to go, with a lovely budget that would make father proud and mother stop worrying, those pesky energy and utility costs jump out at you. Often, one has to wonder how such bills can be so high, particularly if you’re single, but that’s because most people start out not really knowing what goes into the utility payments – because they never had to pay them.

Now that it’s you paying the bills, the best piece of advice is to heed those oft said words from mum and dad. They’ve likely told you to turn off lights, don’t run the water, close the door, and stop watching so much television for the better part of your life. Ironically, those are all the best ways to cut down costs.

In light of this sage advice, our three top tips are:

If it isn't needed then turn it off

1. Electronics: Never turn on the television just to have background sound. Either turn it on and sit down to watch something, or leave it off. In fact, don’t turn on anything electronic that you don’t need – this includes your computer and Wi-Fi router too.

Fill your kettle with just enough water needed. A full kettle will burn electric and take a whole lot longer too.

2. Heat: In the winter, turn the heat down at night, and if possible, buy a thermostat that lets you time when the heat comes on and off. By shutting it off all night and in the first part of the weekdays, you’ll not be heating an empty house. By the time the end of the week rolls around, you’ll have saved about 114 hours of heating your home out of the 168 hours per week you’d normally be heating your home. That’s a reduction of almost 70%.

Shut the doors and keep the heat in. Do you really need to heat the whole house? If your doors and windows haven't been insulated then consider looking in to it. You could save a packet.

Loft Insulation - Is your loft insulated? Check out the options available and make use of them. Don't let that heat escape through the roof!

3. Water: Turn off that water! Don’t run the shower when you’re not actually in it, and don’t run it unless you’re getting wet or rinsing off. You can soap up with the water off, and then turn the water back on to rinse off.


Baths consume at least twice as much as a shower - do you really need to have that bath?


Fix that leaky tap! A leaking tap is like money down the drain - get it repaired and save yourself money.


Flushing the toilet - Do you really need to use that full flush every time? Consider flushing less or installing one of those cisterns that have both full and half flush options.


Washing Machines - Think twice before washing that solitary shirt, socks and pants alone - wait until you have a full load and make the most of both the water and energy you use.


These are our top tips – what are your’s?

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail..

Redundancy planning is an unfortunate, but essential part of any career plan. Sooner or later technologies will change, and when that happens, if the only thing you have going for you is experience, you might just become redundant.

To help prepare for this sort of thing, it’s a good idea to take the following five steps:

Redundancy Insurance

1. Look into redundancy insurance. The earlier you get it, the less it’s going to cost you over the span of your career. Then balance the cost of insurance against what you’d have if you just set aside that much sterling each month. Go with whichever one is better.

Save for a Rainy Day

2. Work up to saving at least six months worth of salary so that you can be prepared, should the worst happen, and you be declared redundant.

Become Employment and Benefit Savvy

3. Make sure you’re aware of your benefits. In many cases you could qualify for £5,000 and more in benefits, should you be become redundant.

Build Yourself Into An Asset

4. Stay ahead of the curve. Educate yourself, and record the costs of that education. By being proactive, your spending a little extra time now to save yourself from spending a lot of extra time later looking for a job or rushing through classes to catch up. If you’re on top now, then stay there.

Don't Rest On Your Laurels

5. Don’t get lazy. Make sure you keep a network of people you know, who appreciate your value as a professional, and know enough about your work ethic to be spokespersons for your ability.

These are just small steps, but they can mean the difference between working your way into a comfortable retirement, or an uphill battle just when you thought you were about to retire.

Do you have anything you’d like to add? Let us know!
 

What’s the difference between a pension and savings?

A basic introduction to the difference between the two.

Most people know that they need to save money, but many of them assume that a pension counts as saving money, or that saving money counts as a pension. Despite being similar, the two are actually quite different.

We’ll give a quick overview of each.

Pensions

Pensions are special funds that are either managed by the government, or by an independent fund manager. They come in many different varies, but generally share one thing in common. You can’t touch the money in one until you’ve reached retirement age. That means, if you’re planning to buy a house, a car, or even pay for higher education, important as funding your pension is, you may need to delay it a bit, or fund it a little less than you otherwise might.

Savings

Savings accounts are similar only in that they involve saving money for use at a later date. Instead of offering the benefits of a pension fund, with the limitations on withdrawals, most savings accounts have little or no withdrawal penalties, and can be drawn on at any time. However, they also usually have a much lower rate of return than a pension fund. Because of this, they’re best used as emergency accounts, or fund accounts to collect savings for large purchases, like a home, or a new car.

What about you? Do you keep just one type of pension or savings account, or more than one? Maybe you have some savings or pension tips that you'd like to share with our readers. Do feel free to comment below or start a fresh pension or savings thread yourself.

Happy Saving!
 

Mortgage Saving Tips to save money on the biggest purchase of your life

Almost everyone will be spending far more on their mortgage than anything else in their life, unless you’re one of those lucky fellows with a jet and a McLaren. Outside of the rich, the average homeowner will want to look for ways to save on a mortgage.

This is best done long before you’re prepared to take out a mortgage, because it takes years to establish yourself as a financially responsible individual. Trying to do that six months before you apply for a mortgage will rarely do much, so here’s a few generalised things that we suggest.

1. Start borrowing as soon as you’re able to. With credit cards, always pay off 100% of what you charge each month. On installment loans, never miss a payment, and make sure any extra payments are always applied to the end of the loan (the principle) rather than added on as extra payments.

2. Build relationships with lenders. Don’t always shop around for the best car loan or credit card rate you can find. Instead, look for the best mortgage lender, and then get your auto loan and credit cards through them. Building the relationship will pay off when it comes time to get your mortgage, as they’ll already know who you are.

3. Don’t buy more home than you need. Every extra meter of home you buy costs at least twice as much as you agreed to pay once the loan and interest have been factored in. Plus, you’ll have more home to decorate, furnish, and maintain. If you are planning to have children, remember, they start out small. Most kids don’t need their own room, and would prefer to sleep with mum and dad for the first few years anyway. So, save your money now, and buy more home later, or build on to your existing home when you’re ready. Either way, you’ll save.

Do you have more mortgage tips? Do you agree or disagree?  Let us know below or start your own mortgage thread today!