save guinea pigs to save money

Animals are great. You can ride on them, make jumpers from their wool, be entertained by them etc etc etc. Theoretically they are also good at cosmetic research, but I don't want to wear lipstick that has been shoved into the eye of a poor little monkey. So save the animals the pain, by testing the cosmetics on yourself.

AOR was established at City of Bath College, where students of Beauty Therapy took part in testing cosmetics for a local toiletries manufacturer. As the demand for trials grew, so did the number of volunteers. Other companies started to use AOR to conduct their trials.

AOR launched a global appeal for Volunteers in 2003 from its UK base, and now it has spread all over the world. Join them by clicking here, and you too can be part of the testing frolics.

So not only do you save the poor animals the indignity of wearing eye shadow, you get some free make-up to wear when you go out tonight.

(I accept no responsibility if you come out in a nasty rash and people laugh and point at you calling you 'puffy-face' )

clothes for free

When I was younger, I didn't really care for clothes that much. I was a bit sad and pathetic actually, preferring to play with my Star Wars toys than dress up for the girls at the school disco. Over the past year I have found myself paying much more attention, and much more money, to my clothes. My wife puts it down to having a mid-life crisis. She's probably right, last weekend I was shopping for a 2 seater sports car. Not a good money saving tip.

Unless you shop at Primark or Asda, clothes can work out expensive. So don't bother paying for them, just swap them.

Go to bigwardrobe or fashionspace and start swapping now. It's a bit like ebay but without the money. Just go and swap your old pants for someone elses. You will never buy anything new ever again!

(Ok, I wouldn't do it myself, sounds a bit manky)

sort out your tax to save money

Tax is bad. Fact. Yes I know it helps to pay for stuff like hospitals, defence and MP's second homes; but that still doesn't make it any easier when you get your payslip at the end of every month and see a huge chunk taken out by the Government.

Well unfortunately we all have to pay tax (not strictly true, but as an accountant I charge for that advice :P) so you might as well pay as little tax as possible whilst claiming back some nice benefits which you have already paid for through your PAYE.


1. RECLAIM OVER PAID TAX
You can claim back upto 6 years in overpaid tax, which usually occurs through having time off work or being given the wrong tax coding. An accountant can help, or go here to calculate it yourself.


2. CLAIM TAX CREDITS
This sounds like something complicated to do with your tax code, but it isn't. In real terms its cash paid into your account every month (or week if you so desire). You can claim them whether or not you have children, and whilst you are working. Go here to see if you qualify.


3. CHILDCARE VOUCHERS

Via this method, a deduction is made from your salary and turned into vouchers to pay for childcare. Via this method you do not pay Tax or NI on £243pcm. This is per parent, so if both are working it can make quite a saving.

4. VISIT AN ACCOUNTANT
I know this sounds like a big advert for myself, but it is worth doing. It is especially useful if you are self-employed, rent property, are a Director or shareholder of a Company or generally have multiple income streams. Many accountants, myself included, would not charge for an initial consultation to indicate where savings could be made. Contact me at anooltd.com

buy a house now to save money

Although times are hard, and credit is increasingly more difficult to obtain, there has not been a better time to buy property in the past few years as now. Prices are dropping as demand decreases, and the sad rise in repossessions does provide opportunities for some fantastic deals. So here are 3 tips on getting your property portfolio started in the cheapest way possible.

1. AUCTIONS
A great place to find a bargain, but do not get caught up in the excitement and end up bidding more than you anticipated. Set yourself a limit before you start and stick to it. Also ensure you have the funds to put down a 10% deposit on the day (a cheque is fine) and finance available if required for the remainder. Otherwise say goodbye to your deposit.

2. BUILD YOURSELF A HOME
Apparently over 30,000 people build their own home each year in the UK. Find your land, builder and architect and you're sorted. Use the Self Build Website for advice.

3. BUY A HOUSE WITH FRIENDS
A good option to increase your buying power, and to make you more attractive for finance. Ensure that you have an adequate legal agreement before you enter into a commitment with a friend. It surprisingly common for such arrangements to turn sour.

sort out your dentist to save money

I have always thought that whilst the human body is an incredible machine, it has one design fault. Teeth. You get one set for like 6 years, then another set for 70 years. Seems daft. I do not understand why you could not receive a third or fourth set at, say 30 years and then 50 years. It would save a lot of problems and expense.

Anyway since this is not going to happen, we all have to make our twice yearly trip to the dentist which inevitably costs money. So I have provided my best tips on tooth related savings.

NHS

This is the cheapest option, but it is now ioncredibly difficult to find a NHS dentist if you are not already registered.

If you are under 18, in f/t education, had a child in the last year, pregnant or on a low income treatment on the NHS is totally free.

People who are not in those categories have to pay according to the three tiered system of charges.

To try and find yourself an NHS dentist, contact NHS Direct. Good Luck.

Private

So you have not been able to find yourself an NHS dentist, so you need to go private. There are 2 main ways to save money.

1.Go Abroad

It is increasingly popular to receive dental treatments in the Eastern European countries. I myself visit Poland frequently and use their private dental care system which is excellent. Hungary and the Czech Reoublic are also popular.

2. Dental Hospitals

Here you can be treated at a reduced rate by Dental Students, if you are brave enough.

3. Insurance

These plans help with your private dental treatment costs.

With a Dental Cash Plan you make contributions monthly, and when you require treatment the make a payment towards your total costs. It differs from Dental Insurance as there is a maximum annual allowance for dental costs and if you exceed that amount, you'll have to pay for the total cost.

Dental insurance is more expensive than a dental cash plan. This is because dental cash plans are designed to help you with normal dental costs and probably any serious dental work that you require will exceed the annual limit. However, dental insurance will cover larger costs and as a result the premiums are more expensive.

There are a variety of Insurance plans available, and I am not in a position to make recommendations. Search Google and carefully evaluate each plan.

cheap car insurance

There are a variety of ways to dramtically cut your car insurance, the best ones I have found are listed below.

1. Paying Monthly
Be careful if you elect to make monthly payments for your car insurance. Usually they charge you a ridiculous amount of interest. If you can afford it pay it all in one lump sum, or use a 0% Credit Card.

2. Your Employment Status
Insurers give preferential rates to occupations with the smallest history of claims, so by tweaking you job description you can save ££'s. Martin Lewis at MSE has a fun job-picker tool for doing this.

3. Comparison Sites
Everyone knows about price comparison websites. For insurance, they are especially useful since they can save hours of time searching for the best quote. But since each comparison site has different insurance providers, you have to ensure you search as many as you can. By searching all the sites below, you will cover 99% of the Insurance providers. It may take you up to 25 minutes, but savings can be huge.

Money Supermarket
Go Compare
Confused
Only Insurance
Direct Line (is not included on any comparison site)
Uswitch
Comparethemarket
Tesco Compare

holiday in a tent to save money

The inflation figures are out today, showing an overall rise of 4.4%, with food increasing by a massive 12%. Whichever way you wish to look at it, times are getting hard and we all need to watch the cash in our pocket.

Holidays are always a good way to escape the depression, but they do not work out cheap. That is unless you go camping. Gone are the days of roughing it in a muddy field, eating cold beans and having your pathetic tent chewed by a cow. These days camping is 5 star luxury (well, almost). Most sites now have electric hook ups for tents, so you can take your kettle/laptop/plasma in fact anything you fancy with you.

Tents are avaiable from about £10 upwards, but if you are willing to spend £100 plus you can have seperate bedroom(s)/living and dinig areas. Finish them off with luxury beds and you will believe you are in the Hilton. Almost.

Pitches start from around £10-£20 per night depending on season and location.

You can almost give it all up.,stop paying your mortgage and live in a tent in a field full-time.*




* (not recommended)

rent anything for money

As I type I'm sitting in my office, which is rented. So is my photocopier. So is my credit card terminal. Unless you are extremely rich (which you may well be if you have been reading this for the last 3 months) you will have in your life many things which you rent, since it is either uneconomic or simply too expensive to buy. So dig your fingers into this market and rent anything you have, anything at all.

Rentrino.co.uk enables you to rent anything to anyone. So if you're not using you house because you are travelling around the world, rent it. If you are not using your car because you have decided to become healthy and bike everywhere, rent it. Hey, if you have something in your house and you are not using it you might as well rent it.

Unfortunately you cannot rent out people, like wives or husbands. That would be prostitution. And wrong.

sell sim cards for money

People love mobile phones, myself included. I know we all moan about them, but life is impossible to imagine without them. So much so that many people now have more than one. It can be useful, being able to seperate your business life from your personal. You can then safely switch off your work mobile at weekends, safe in the knowledge that if Auntie Doreen wants to call you about your birthday present she can get hold of you on your personal phone.

Therefore selling PAYG sim cards can be quite profitable, if you can find enough people to sell them to. The best bit being sim cards are free to get hold of. Go to any of the major networks websites, and you will find a link to request a sim card which they will send straight to your home. Some providers such as O2 will send up to 5 cards.

Once they are in your little mitts, sell them to friends, at car boots etc. There is no point trying to sell them on ebay, as there are too many already. However, if you are lucky enough to receive a golden number (easily remembered with consecutive digits, or many digits repeated eg 07*** 554554 etc) they can be auctioned off for hundreds of pounds.

savvy shopping to save money

Its a fact that food prices have increased dramatically over the past year, and all the indications are that this trend will continue. Since we cannot manage without food, here are my top tips for getting that bit extra out of your money:

1. If you are going to the Supermarket, eat before you go! :The hungrier you are, the more chance of you buying products you don't need

2. Have a good look around: The Supermarkets are devious monkeys, placing the most expensive items at your eye-level, hunt up and down the shelves to find the best buys

3. Don't even bother going to the Supermarket: Instead of walking up and down aisles and being tempted by things you don't actually need. shop online and buy your essentials. Go to mysupermarket.com, enter the products you want to buy, and it will tell you the cheapest supermarket to go to,

4. Try Alternative Brands: Often the cheaper or own brand items are just as good as the big names, try them.

5. Get a Loyalty Card: You might as well earn points whilst you are spending money

6. Buy Bulk: Either get yourself a cash and carry card, or visit Aldi or Lidl

7. Shop at Night: You can get great deals on perishables at night. Then take them home and stick them in the freezer.

8. Stop buying readymeals: If you bother to make the food yourself, you will find it will be upto 2/3 cheaper. Retailmongous!

9. Stop wasting Food: When you have finished eating, consider using the left-overs as part of tomorrows dinner. Shoptastic!