News

The traditional image of students who focus more on sleeping, daytime TV and happy hour is far from the truth for most, with many students working full-time jobs in addition to their studies. Then on top of further pressure of exams, there is added stress of making ends meet. The strain can be difficult to live with and the pressures of managing day to day finances can badly affect one’s ability to shine in their studies. Sadly, the trade-off is a poor one in the long run, as once leaving university or college the jobs market beckons with a lot of competition and few roles available.

Package Holidays: What's in the Box?
What are package holidays and are they for everyone? The short answer is, of course, no. There are roughly speaking two different types of traveller - those who prefer the independence of the non-package holiday and those who prefer the convenience of the packaged type. For many families, in particular, the package holiday has some distinct advantages over the non-packaged.

Value at a Price

If you have children you will know how just expensive it can be keeping them entertained; especially if you want to take them away during the school holidays. Thankfully help at hand with many retailers providing special discounts on holidays, coach and rail travel as well as days out. Here is a list of the ten best family discounts I could find which should hopefully save any family a bit of cash this summer.

1. Jet2olidays – Free Child Places

I don’t know about you, but when I think about package holidays I imagine delinquent children, sloppy food, moonshine spirits and being holed-up in one place for two weeks as it’s too dangerous to leave the resort after dark. I had this conversation with a friend recently and it was pointed out that I was being a snob. So I decided to investigate whether there are indeed any package holidays out there that don’t invite one to self-harm in the hopes of getting airlifted home.

Did you know you can read Kindle books for FREE without actually buying a Kindle? Amazon has released a free app which allows users to download Kindle books on phones, tablets and PCs. Amazon’s Kindle app uses Whispersync technology which allows users to download any book instantly; it literally takes seconds for your book to appear. You can also add bookmarks and make notes and highlights across any of the devices you use the app on. That also includes the Kindle if you happen to have one.

Travelling by air is so common for people in the UK nowadays that it’s rare I meet anyone under 50 who has never flown. This in part is due to the cost; flying is so much more accessible given the influx of no-frills short haul flights that can literally cost pennies. Even British Airways are trying to compete with these airlines and you can on occasion find BA flights that are cheaper than Ryan air's.

Pre-planning

I was recently asked which UK retailers provide discounts for students; rather than admitting I had no idea I did a little research to see if I could find the answer. To my surprise there didn’t seem to be a comprehensive list anywhere. There are of course lots of student discount specific websites, but these appear to list special offers only and none (as far as I can see) provide a simple list of retailers and the discounts each provide.

Bulk purchasing power is a wonderful thing and it's not necessarily restricted to large firms and organisations. In fact, it's a tried and tested method of making savings on the household budget and one that has been used for many centuries by discerning frugal housekeepers. For those on a tight budget, the temptations of the multi-buy discount in the supermarket are often too much to resist and before you know it you've half the European Milk Lake in the fridge and there's so much discounted mayonnaise in there that you may have to consider bathing in the stuff as the use by date approaches.

For those jetting off (or hoping to) in the coming months for the annual holiday it's worth considering the cost of living in some of the most popular tourist destinations for tourists. The annual Post Office Survey is a good place to start when checking out the best cheap holiday destinations each year. The survey compares the cost of living in popular destinations and the good news for travellers is that costs remain low this year. Here are some of the most affordable destinations for the coming holiday season.

Sunny and Seriously Discounted

With soaring energy prices comes soaring debt; shock figures have just revealed over 5 million people in the UK are now experiencing payment difficulties, with over £6 million owed to energy suppliers.

What’s going wrong?
Part of the problem is incorrect billing; customers who have been under-charged for a certain period of time are now being hit with bills for the back payments owed. Throw into the mix the rise in prices and the general and the lacklustre of the UK economy and you can start to get an idea of how such a problem might occur.