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Credit card debt
Credit card debt is the most common money mistake made by people of all ages. While credit cards, if used properly, can be a useful tool for those big purchases or used in an emergency, they can also create a false sense of financial security.

Interest rates on credit cards can be high, especially if your credit rating is low. Any month that you don’t pay-off your credit card completely, you have to spend more money on the accumulating interest.

While paying only the very low minimum monthly payment is completely affordable, it’s another practice to avoid with your credit card. If you only pay the monthly minimum on large credit card bills, the interest rate per month will exceed the amount you paid to ward off debt chasers.

Pay more than the monthly minimum or the total bill when you can, and if you can’t, STOP using your card until you have.

No emergency plan
It’s important to have an emergency money plan (that doesn’t solely include your credit card) in case something unexpected happens. While you might not be able to count on one hand the unforeseen circumstances you could possibly end up in, life can surprise you and having a savings account with a nest egg will make a huge difference.

If you go through your 20s and no unexpected financial costs occur, well not only are you very lucky but you’ll have a nicely padded savings account to dip into when you enter your 30s.

Ignoring retirement
While it seems like ages away, retirement is something to be considered even if you’re in your 20s. If you plan ahead and save up a little each month or start a retirement fund, your 65-year-old self will be very thankful. If your income is low and you are stuck paying off previous debts, even just a few pounds a month will eventually start to add up and instil a good habit for when you have a little extra cash flow.

While money does seem to control our lives, it’s smart to maintain control over your finances. Talk to your bank or a financial professional to get the most thorough advice. They can help create a plan within your budget and help you to adjust the plan as your financial situation changes.

Do you have any tips for staying on top of your money in your 20s? Let us know in the comments below.

Image by Images_of_Money

40% of households have seen their finances take a dip in the last month, according to financial information company Markit.

In a study of 1500 adults, Markit used the Household Finances Index (HFI) to determine the state of the country’s personal finances. They have found that debt levels have gone up in a large proportion of households, while savings and take-home income has taken a drastic fall. As a result, the HFI has fallen for three consecutive months.

Savings have fallen by the largest amount in two and a half years, while disposable income has taken the biggest fall since the survey began. In fact, general household finances haven’t seen this steep tumble since February 2009, when we were right in the middle of the recession.

The bleak findings seem to cover all age ranges, income levels and regions. However, some areas were harder hit than others. South east England saw the gentlest decline in situation, while more northern regions saw a steeper drop.

Good news was very thin on the ground, as only 6% of households reported an improvement in their financial situation

Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit, told the BBC that the bleak findings reflect the gloomy attitude in the global economy as a whole: “Recent events have made a week seem a long time in economics and August’s survey is the first sign that the slew of downbeat headlines has knocked consumer sentiment.”

Things are unlikely to get better any time soon, as the Bank of England are predicting inflation to rise up to 5% due to the high price of oil and other utilities.

Batten down the hatches, folks. It looks like we still have a fair bit of this storm to weather yet.

Are you having to tighten your purse strings? Tell us your story in the comments section below!

Image: Duane Brown

Group discount sites such as Groupon, Groupola and Living Social have become increasingly popular to many in recent months with thousands taking advantage of daily deals to try out something new or save money on luxuries such as spa days and holidays abroad.  However with increasing popularity comes an increase in bad press.  With many making claims of bad service, scam deals and lost money, the question is are these just an unlucky few or are daily discount deals too good to be true?

The basic model of Group Discount sites is simple, via the site Businesses can offer aggressive discount vouchers to customers, only available online for a limited time customers can purchase the vouchers from the website and then redeem them with the participating business within a given time scale.  These offers can only become available to the customer if enough people choose to take up the deal otherwise payment is not taken and the vouchers are not available for use.  Similarly problems arise if too many people purchase a voucher, with many of the businesses participating being small or start up there is often too much demand for an offer for the scale of the company to cope with.

The benefits and subsequently the draw of sites like these are that they allow people to indulge in luxuries that they may otherwise not be able to afford.  With many of the deals available slashing up to 50% and sometimes more from the cost of their services and products, who can resist for example a spa day for only £20 or a holiday in the sun for half price.  It is also a great way for people to try something new without having to spend a fortune doing so and if they don’t like what they’ve tried they can at least take comfort in knowing they haven’t paid full price.

The problems arise however when you have bought your voucher and try to redeem it.  In most cases it is as simple as phoning the company involved to book an appointment or going along to the restaurant or store with your voucher in hand.  However it is understandably disappointing when the situation arises that you are unable to redeem your voucher.  Reasons for this have ranged from there being no appointments available within the time scale of the voucher, there being no Steak left in the restaurant offering 2for1 steak dinners and in some cases the company offering the voucher just doesn’t exist.  In the majority of these cases people are offered a refund or credit for a further voucher.  So is it all worth it?  There are many who swear buy their chosen discount site but there seem to be an increasing number who vow never again to be taken in by a deal which is just too good to be true!

It seems to be the case that the benefit comes to those who use these sites with caution.  It’s all too easy to get caught up in the excitement of amazing deals and to snap up an offer without thinking it through because if you don’t buy it now it might be gone, but here in lies the problem.  My advice to anyone interested in using a group discount site would be to take the time to check out the company and the deal.  If you look up the business and it’s a small salon and on further inspection the deal has already been bought buy 500 hundred people, the chances are you won’t get an appointment.  Similarly those who have been caught out by non existent companies have often not taken the time to check out the company before clicking the BUY NOW button.  Essentially, a good rule of thumb for this sort of site is not to buy anything just for the sake of getting a good deal, if you wouldn’t normally buy something then don’t.  Impulse buying is what causes the high volume of demand for these deals, if people were to show more constraint, only buying vouchers for things the have a genuine need or interest in, when taking up these deals the chances are there wouldn’t be thousands of people all trying to grab the same deal.  There is also less chance you’ll be left disappointed and feeling stupid because you didn’t really want the item/service any way.

Do you have a Group Discount horror story? Tell us about it in the comments section below!

As fuel and car insurance costs continue to rise, owning a car is becoming a costly business. But follow these 5 simple fuel saving steps and you could find that you can significantly cut the cost of motoring.

Keep your motor well maintained

Having your car regularly serviced may seem like an expense that you can do without but a well maintained engine will save you money in the long run. It is estimated that an under-serviced engine can reduce a car’s fuel economy by up to ten per cent.

As part of a regular service you should have your air filters and oil changed as this will help to maintain your car’s fuel economy. Having clean oil in your engine will reduce the friction caused by moving engine parts and this, in turn, will reduce wear and help to maintain efficient fuel consumption.

In addition, you should regularly give your car a quick look over and make sure of the following:

• Tyres are inflated to the correct pressure – under-inflated tyres add resistance and can increase fuel consumption to such an extent that it can add two per cent to your annual fuel bill!
• Your fuel cap fits correctly – if the cap is not airtight then fuel can easily evapourate.

Keep cool correctly

You may not realise it but keeping you air-conditioning on can increase petrol consumption by up to 25 per cent! So it’s best to keep cool by simply opening the air vents, sunroof or windows.

However, when driving at high speeds it may actually be more fuel efficient to keep your windows closed and cool down using the air-con system. This is because driving at speeds of over 60 mph with an open window dramatically increases drag and can affect petrol consumption more than using the air-conditioning.

Keep drag down

It’s not only open windows that can increase drag as anything that adds unnecessary weight to the car will also do this.

It is estimated that every 50kg of extra weight will increase fuel consumption by up to two per cent, so remove things such as roof racks, carriers and any unnecessary equipment that is being kept in the boot.

Keep the revs down

This could be the most difficult fuel saving tip to adhere to but it may be necessary to change your driving style to cut down on petrol consumption.

According to RAC studies, you can save as much as 30 per cent on fuel costs by simply driving smoothly and consistently, in high gears wherever possible, and by avoiding sharp braking and accelerating.

It’s also worth noting that driving at 85mph uses around 25 per cent more fuel than driving at 70mph so just sticking to the speed limit can save fuel.

Keep idling to a minimum

If you are going to be idling for more than five minutes it makes sense to turn your engine off altogether.

Keeping the engine running for more than a minute consumes more fuel than is needed to restart it. So by switching the engine off instead of leaving it idling you will save more petrol than is lost from the burst needed to fire it back up again.

Simple to say but harder to live by. The easiest way to try to make this a reality, is to always imagine you make less money than you actually do. If you have an income of £15k then spend your money as if you actually make £12k, then save the rest or pay off debts with it. The less debts you have, the less interest there will be to pay, and so you will have even more money to play with.

It may seem like a difficult thing to do, but it is not really that hard when you recognise the fact that whenever you receive a pay rise, finances never really appear to significantly improve. Spending simply adjusts to meet the new income level. Set up a direct debit so that as soon as you get paid, some money goes straight into a separate savings account. As you don’t view it in your current account, you will not see it as available to spend, and so your savings will gradually increase with no real effort or hardship on your part.

If you can manage to live below your income in this manner, then making important financial changes becomes much easier.

Here are some of the ways Cashzilla has heard of people trying to make money:

Auctions held on ebay:

Human soul – some are even charging for postage?!
Mystery envelope – just an envelope where you dont know what the content is.
Advertising space on someones body – Winning bid US $11,300.00
Heavenly Jesus Pinto Bean – apparantly “The Face of Jesus Naturally Appeared on This Pinto Bean”
Name change – highest bid $1,325 and still didn’t win
Bizarre vegetable – CROSSING OVER……MY POTATO TURNED INTO A FISH

Do you know any othe strange ways people have made money, and not just on ebay?

1. Parents who give children their own books at Christmas
2. Present of dandruff control shampoo (buy one get one free offer) in office Secret Santa
3. Recycling of tea-bags
4. Carpeting house with scraps and free samples
5. Buying Christmas presents in the January sales
6. Driving at 56 miles an hour on the motorway to save petrol
7. Using dustbin bags for curtains
8. Accumulating toilet paper from public places
9. Accumulating light bulbs from public places
10. Clearing out the complimentary mini bar and toiletries from hotel rooms
11. Going one step further and clearing the maid’s trolley, apparently you can pick up a month’s supply in approximately 20 seconds!
12. Coasting downhill
13. Scouring conference rooms for leftover sandwiches
14. Always buying out of (display) date food at supermarkets
15. Checking fruit machines for leftover change
16. Conveniently needing the toilet when it’s your round
17. Combing the streets for leftover change
18. Asking for a student discount, four years after graduation
19. Steaming un-franked stamps off letters
20. Putting on extra jerseys in winter instead of just turning up the heating
21. Trying to claim half fare on buses/trains despite being quite clearly in your mid-twenties
22. Keeping bottle bags that you got for your birthday and giving them to out-of-favour relatives (minus the tag that has, unfortunately and inconsiderately, been written on)
23. Becoming a Jehovah’s witness just to avoid shelling out on expensive Christmas gifts
24. Collecting AOL discs from the stand at Tesco
25. Collecting the free miniature pencils from Ikea
26. Free ‘tester’ food in supermarkets
27. Sleeping in airports to avoid accommodation costs
28. And the “old classic” – legging it out of a restaurant without paying the bill
29. Scooping out the mint imperial bowl on your way out of the door

If you know of any other tactics a Scrooge has employed, please mention them in the comments.