Mums Finance

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I’ll bet you are wondering what freebies? Marks and Spencer are not in the habit of giving away anything for free as we all know, but one thing they do give away free of charge are those green plastic carry bags. But no more. In line with the new measures to eliminate the wastage and damage that plastic carry bags cause M&S will no longer give them away to shoppers. More stores are following suit too.

Now, I used to consider it a minor pain to get to the checkout only to find that plastic bags were no longer provided free if at all;  but when you consider the latest reports of sea creatures such as whales, seals and swans being washed ashore dead from ingesting the plastic it makes you think again for sure.

The days when the shops provided those brown paper carry bags could well do with a reintroduction. Okay, they were not that strong, they ripped or tore when something wet in the bag leaked - but at least they could be burned or thrown away without harming the environment. Just as an example; take a drive around some areas of Belfast and see all those plastic bags caught in the trees and branches…it looks terrible.

Rather than pay that 5p that Marks will be charging for the bags in the future save your pence and take your own bags from home. Even boxes will do and most of us have plenty of those left over from Xmas to use. Save your money and recycle instead!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Our parents and grandparents were great at saving what little money they were able to hang onto years ago; these days it is not so easy to put a bit aside for any reason let alone building up some savings for the kids. But with some thought and committment you can set aside some money as watch it grow - it will make a great gift for the when they come of age. And we all know how quickly that comes long!

* Make use of that free cash from the Government

If your child was lucky to be born after 1 September 2002 and is entitled to Child Benefit then they’re also entitled to a voucher - a Child Trust Fund voucher - of £250 at birth plus a £250 top-up at seven, both double if you’re on a low income. In the bigger scheme of things I know it’s not much but it’s a start and often that’s all you need to get onto that road to that nice nest egg.

The route to that nest egg really begins with the fact that once invested - and you’ve got to choose the stocks and shares option for this - you and your family can top up the account to the tune of £1,200 a year, returns are tax-free and the kid can’t touch it till they’re 18. Arm yourself with a good Broker for this task, there are plenty around. Child Benefit, if you can afford to invest it, is nearly £1,000 a year. Do all this and, assuming a roughly achievable annual return of 6%, after a mere 6,570 days (18 years), your child has £40,025.57 !

Remember, we are talking about looking to the long term here - nothing happens overnight as we all know.

Popularity: 11% [?]

How’s the blogging going then? I’ll bet that there are days when you really are stumped for something to write about but this is completely normal. Even if you live your life at top speed with hardly a minute you will still find that at times you are staring at the keyboard and wondering what do I say today? Just keep at it all the same.

One thing that really builds your page ranking is a series of incoming links. If you have a good blog, great quality and no innane rubbish ( opinions vary though ) you will find that people will ask to exchange links with you. Look at the blogs out there are most of them will sport a blogroll or series of links whereby you can exit to another site.

This is a great thing but one important thing to remember is to be very careful who you link to. Porn sites are out completely unless you want nothing but rubbish coming back to your site. If you see a site you really like and would like to link to them send off an email and request an exchange. Try to link with other sites that are along the same lines as yours and only go for good quality sites - give your readers a good exit from your blog to another.  Be responsible in your linking and only go for what will enhance your own good work, as well as enhancing theirs too.

Popularity: 10% [?]