Tess Read - Look After The Pennies: 100s of Money-Saving Tricks and Tips

LOOK AFTER THE PENNIES

Tess Read is a freelance writer and a former employee of the Bank of England. The author of several books, her work has been published in the Financial Times and Euromoney, among other publications, and she has completed courses in macro- and microeconomics at the London School of Economics. Her long-suffering husband and children agree that if only she would trade in writing books for a more profitable career, she could count the pounds rather than look after the pennies. But she is too busy counting her pennies to listen.

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by
Michael OMara Books Limited
9 Lion Yard
Tremadoc Road
London SW4 7NQ

Copyright Michael OMara Books Limited 2011

All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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ISBN: 978-1-84317-610-7 in paperback print format
ISBN: 978-1-84317-775-3 in EPub format
ISBN: 978-1-84317-776-0 in Mobipocket format

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Cover design by Burville-Riley Partnership

Designed and typeset by K.DESIGN, Winscombe, Somerset

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox and Wyman

www.mombooks.com

TO ROSIE

For all the savings we have to make to afford you.

But youre worth it.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Huge massive enormous hugs and thanks and kisses to Glendra, my mum, not only for her devoted support, but also for her wisdom about old-fashioned ways to save money on everything and anything. Thanks also to Danny, as ever, although unusually he didnt write any of this book.

Thanks also for all the tips and hints and collective wisdom from friends and relatives near and far GG, Roo, Dad, Denise, Gisle, Amy, Natasha, Delli, Behnoush, Calum, Amy, Sam, Darren, Graham, Nick, Maria-Jose, Maria, Ben, Milly, Tijen, Claire, Elena, Fliff, Ian, Veronica, Cushla, Alan, Lisa, Anna, April, Sarah T, Sarah N, Tom, Andy and David. And a thank you to all those kind, supportive people who help me along in other important ways: Anne, Audrey, Chrissie, Lesley, Hilary, Vilma, Celie, Alice, Tom, Alex and Annie.

Thanks also to Kate and Katie, my lovely publishers. And Joe and Poppy the future generation for giving me reasons to save.

Tess Read

1. Introduction

We are working harder and living longer than previous generations so there is more reason than ever to save money and to make sure that we are living better. The advent of the Internet is giving us, the consumers, more and more opportunities to compare prices and get together to pool resources, and so beat the retailers at their own game. And as worldwide consumption is hugely on the increase, it makes sense to sit back and reflect on what we can actually afford, what we actually need, and which choices are best for the earth and for all of our futures.

Look After the Pennies will help you to:

Save while you shop, without having to buy economy mince

Plan a monthly budget, without any cries of desperation or panic

Create lovely presents for a fraction of shop prices

And hopes to bring cheer to your heart with hundreds of ideas for how to save thousands of pounds, not to mention teaching you how to clean your home with a lemon (yes, really).

But first, the three golden rules for living well in the modern age:

The DVD player for 100 is not necessarily better made nor will produce a better picture than the one for 50. The same is certainly true of a T-shirt or a dress, especially if the cheaper one actually suits you better.

Temptation is everywhere, more and more so with increased branding, sponsorship and even embedded adverts streamed onto your mobile while youre minding your own business. Always try to be conscious of what you actually need and will really value, not what a shop or someone on a Facebook page wants to sell you.

Dont let it rule you know how much you have, or dont have, and plan accordingly. We know your bank manager is unlikely to be your best friend, but neither is your bank account. If you have a regular wage your salary will appear in it as a nice lump sum, but all the utilities and direct debits have to come off that before you can even think about what might be left over. Put yourself in charge of those pounds, as well as all the pennies that go with them.

Before you start

A lot of the ideas in this book need access to the Internet to bring them to life. If you dont have access then your first port of call is your local library, which will provide free Internet access, and you dont even have to join the library (although if you do join you can borrow books for free too). If you are using library Internet access, it makes sense to make a list before you go of all the things you would like to research or compare prices on.

Pool your resources

To save money every day in the world that we live in, we should all pool our resources and reduce, re-use, freecycle, borrow, lend and share. Here is a flavour of just some of the ideas that I talk about in this book for how we can all help each other to save money:

Go swapping instead of shopping

Get connected with other people to borrow a car or tent or gazebo, rather than buy one

Rent out your bicycle or hedge trimmer or Xbox for the day

Club together to swap restaurant vouchers

Use the Internet to find items other people no longer need, and give away what you dont need any more to charity or to somebody else who could still make use of it