How to Profit from Printables

How to Profit from Printables

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If you’re looking for an easy and enjoyable money-making sideline, have you thought about creating printables?

As the name suggests, printables are items of content people can buy and then print out themselves. Common types of printable include planners, artwork, meal plans, inspirational quotes, prayer cards, birthday and wedding invitations, calendars, diary pages, and so on.

One big attraction of printables is that you don’t have to spend time packing and sending physical products, as would be the case when selling on eBay, for example. All you have to do is send your buyer the relevant file by email – and even that can be easily automated using a platform such as Etsy UK or Shopify. Here is a link to a sample Etsy shop selling printable planners of various types. And no, it’s nothing I’m connected with personally!

This is a great sideline if you have a flair for art and design, but that is by no means a necessity. You can use templates as a starting point. There are also people on Fiverr and similar sites who will be happy to create designs for you very inexpensively.

Creating Your Printables

Your first step will be to decide on a niche. If you have a blog or website already, it clearly makes sense to start with that. Otherwise spend a bit of time researching what other people are doing.

As mentioned above, you could start with Etsy, as lots of people sell printables there. Visit Etsy UK and search for “printables” using the box at the top of the screen. You will find literally thousands of printable items listed, and you can also see how much people are charging for them.

For creating your printables, a good choice can be the online design tools Canva or PicMonkey. These both have hundreds of templates you can use and adapt. Here’s a link to an autumn-themed poster I created on PicMonkey in just a few minutes using one of their templates. Feel free to download and print it!

Alternatively go to Fiverr and search for “printables”. You will find lots of people offering this service from around £3.50 (the sterling equivalent of $5). At that price you could afford to commission two or three and go with the one you like best.

Selling Your Printables

There are various ways you could sell your work. As mentioned above, one good choice would be Etsy. This is a popular platform for people selling art and craft products, and they also allow the sale of printables. Etsy provide the means for people to download your printable after they have bought it, meaning orders are fulfilled automatically for you. All you have to do is keep an eye on your dashboard to see how much money you have made!

Setting up an Etsy shop is free. A bit like eBay, you then pay a small listing fee per item and a further fee when you make a sale. You can learn more about setting up an Etsy shop on this help page.

Another option is to sell your printables on Fiverr. Lots of people sell printable business cards here, for example. You may be able to make more money by offering rapid turnaround or additional services.

Finally, you could simply print out your designs yourself, frame or laminate them, and sell them at craft fairs and markets. A friend does well at this, using photos of local landmarks with or without captions.

A Few More Tips

  • Be sure to make it clear in your listings that you are selling downloadable items the customer will need to print out themselves. This will avoid any misunderstandings.
  • Use plenty of clear space on your printables so they don’t look pinched and crowded.
  • Avoid large dark areas. Nobody wants to waste all their ink printing out a sea of black.
  • You can offer editable PDFs buyers can customize as they wish. This adds value and means you may be able to charge a higher price. You will need Adobe Acrobat Pro to do this or perhaps a cheaper alternative such as PDFescape..
  • Printables are low-cost products, so paying to advertise them probably won’t be cost-effective. They are best promoted via social media, blogging, online forums, and so on.
  • Being a visual platform, Pinterest is a great place for showcasing your printables.
  • Giving away some of your printables can be a powerful tactic too. By this means you can attract more visitors to your blog or website, more sign-ups to your mailing list, and so on.
  • You can also take the opportunity to advertise paid-for products and services on your printables, including books, e-books, courses, affiliate products/services, and so on.
  • Printables can also be used as add-on incentives to sell higher-value products such as courses and e-books.

Designing and selling printables is an enjoyable, creative activity, with good money-making potential. On its own it probably won’t make you rich, but it can undoubtedly provide a valuable addition to your sideline-earning portfolio.

  • If you want more information about creating and profiting from printables, my colleague Amy Harrop has a number of high-quality downloadable guides and courses on the subject. I particularly recommend One Page Publishing Profits (affiliate link).

As ever, if you have any comments or queries about this post, please do leave them below.

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Shoirt break in the Lake District

My Short Break in the Lake District

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I recently took a short break in the English Lake District. It was the first time I’d been there in over 20 years (and the previous time was for work so I didn’t see much of the area). So I thought I’d share my impressions here.

I stayed at Waterhead, just south of the town of Ambleside, at the north end of Lake Windermere. I’ve embedded a map below (courtesy of Booking.com) showing the area and available accommodation.
Booking.com

I booked a room at the Waterhead Hotel (pictured below), which is located just a few yards from the lake.

Waterhead Hotel

 

I thought the hotel was excellent. My room was large and comfortable and furnished with all mod cons, including a large flat-screen TV and CD/DVD player. I had a view of the lake, admittedly across a car park!

On my first day the weather was so-so. I began by driving to Hill Top (pictured), the farmhouse where children’s author Beatrix Potter lived and in which she wrote some of her best-loved books. It’s quite small and admission is by timed ticket. I only had to wait about 20 minutes, though, which gave me a chance to look round the garden and take a few photos.

Hill Top

You get a real sense of what the house must have been like when Potter lived there. As well as her furniture and ornaments, there are several writing desks with copies of letters to and from her publishers and a page of her Peter Rabbit story with hand-drawn illustrations. There is a little shop, where I bought a jar of National Trust jam, but no restaurant. There wouldn’t be anywhere to put one, although there is a pub next door if you need refreshment.

After that I drove on to Wray Castle (pictured below), where I spent most of the rest of the day. Wray Castle has only been opened to the public by the National Trust for a few years. It is not as old as it first appears, having been built in the Gothic revival style by a Victorian couple as their retirement home. It has had a varied history since then, including a twenty-year stint as a Merchant Navy training school.

Wray Castle

I went to a free 20-minute talk about the history of the house and then immediately joined a tour of the gardens. The latter took about an hour, and included information about the latest discoveries the Trust have made there, including what they believe are the remains of a Victorian pineapple house. It was interesting and informative, and the guide shared photos from the archives as we went round.

The latter included a picture of Beatrix Potter and her family at Wray Castle. They stayed there for three months one summer when Beatrix was 16. The visit gave Beatrix her first taste of the Lake District, which later of course became her home and an area she loved. With the proceeds from her book sales she bought large amounts of farmland around the lakes, which she ultimately donated to the National Trust.

The next day was sunnier, and I decided to take a lake cruise to the other end of Windermere. I bought a ‘Freedom of the Lake’ ticket, which got me 24 hours’ unlimited travel on any launch or steamer cruise on Windermere. I combined this with a return ticket on the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway. The total cost of this on the Windermere Lake Cruises website was £23.80, which struck me as very good value. There are also timetables and cruise routes here, which I must admit took a bit of getting my head around.

Apart from the first leg of the journey (from Ambleside to Bowness), I travelled on the MV Teal, one of the two lake steamers built in the 1930s. These are large, spacious vessels which can transport up to 533 people, so there was plenty of room on board (it’s also fully wheelchair-accessible). You could either go on the top deck to get the fresh air and the best views, the main saloon below that (with a coffee/gift shop) or downstairs in the bar, which served alcoholic drinks. As it was still quite nippy, I spent most of the time in the main saloon.

At Lakeside, which is at the other end of Windermere, I took my return trip on the vintage steam railway to Haverthwaite. The route is only about four miles but it’s very scenic (see photo).

railway view

On my return to Lakeside I paid a visit to the Lakes Aquarium, where among other things I got to admire the piranha fish below. Both the train and the aquarium are easily accessible from Lakeside and would be good choices for trips with children or grandchildren.

piranha fish

Finally I travelled back on the steamer from Lakeside to Ambleside, enjoying the views and the commentary. I had a pot of tea and a piece of Kendal mint cake on the boat – although the latter turned out to be a mistake as (in my opinion anyway) it was just a slab of mint-flavoured sugar.

On the morning of my final day I took the opportunity to walk the half-mile into Ambleside itself. I particularly wanted to see The Bridge House, yet another National Trust property. (As a side comment, if you want to get value for money from your National Trust membership, the Lake District is definitely the place to come.)

The Bridge House is a tiny 17th century building above a river. It was originally built as an apple store, but over its long life it has served many purposes, including a tea room, a weaving shop, and home to a family of eight. The later is particularly hard to imagine – they must have been packed in like sardines! In any event it’s a charming property, and many thanks to the nice National Trust lady who took the time to chat to me about it (and the area generally).

Bridge House

After that, there was just time for a coffee and some gift shopping, then it was back in the car for the long drive home down the M6. The least said about that, the better!

So that was my short break holiday in the Lake District. I enjoyed it very much and hope to return before too long. As ever, if you have any comments or questions, please do post them below.

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Twelve Top Tips for Selling on eBay

Twelve Top Tips for Selling on eBay

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Today I have a guest post for you from Luci Olivia, who runs The Frugal Fox website and blog.

Luci is a highly experienced eBay trader, and in her article she sets out some hints and tips for making the most of this popular sideline-earning opportunity.

Over to Luci then…

 

Making money selling tat from around the house is great, as you’re earning extra cash and de-cluttering at the same time! For someone like me who is looking to buy a house soon, downsizing and making money ticks both boxes.

There are plenty of websites these days to flog your unwanted items. However, eBay is arguably the UK’s most popular customer-to-customer sales site. They have earned this reputation from being incredibly easy to use. They offer an honest way to earn some money, whether you’re organising your house, selling off some vintage heirlooms, or even ‘flipping’ items from a charity shop.

At any given time there are 100+ million listings on eBay worldwide, with 6.4 million listings added every day. In the UK alone there are 17 million people visiting eBay every month and 180,000 registered UK based eBay businesses so it’s certainly a way you can make some money!

There are a lot of beginner’s mistakes to be made and trials and errors to experiment with, but if you’re looking to make a little extra money this year then read these tried and tested tips from myself – an eBay veteran – to make the first time you sell go as smoothly as possible.

1. Pick an Account Name

Your eBay account name is part of what you’re selling. If you want to sell vintage dresses and your name is Laura’s Vintage Dress Store, it’s going to look more professional and instill more faith in your eBay shop than if you called it LauraSmith1975.

2. Fill Out Your Profile

Also fill in your ‘About’ page, add a nice background and show that you are a reputable business that people should have no worries spending their money with. I’m surprised by how few people fill out their profile – it might just make the difference between someone bidding or not bidding.

3. Take Clear Pictures

Make sure the pictures of the items are taken with a plain background, no shadows on the item, by natural daylight, and include any signs of wear or marks. Trust me – it’s much easier to sell to someone who accepts the flaws than sell and refund someone who didn’t know it had marks.

4. Put it in the Correct Category

I know it’s common sense to ensure it’s in the correct category, but eBay suggests a category once you’ve chosen your title and sometimes it gets it wrong! Check the category before you agree and your antique coin ends up in a category with key rings.

5. Use Keywords

Your item is more likely to sell with extra information in the title. For example, if you find an old games console under the bed and decide to make a few quid off it, as a buyer which are you more likely to click on – the listing called ‘PS2’ or the listing called ‘Barely Used PS2 Slim +2 Controllers, Tested and Working’?

6. Double Check the Spelling

If I search ‘Barbie Doll’ but you’ve inadvertently called your listing ‘Brabie Doll’ then it isn’t going to show up for me or anyone else looking for a Barbie. So double check your listing for spelling mistakes to ensure it’s seen by everyone who’s searching for it.

7. Describe it Well

You don’t need to be a salesperson to fill in the description. All I put is a brief description of the item with a few key words and some essentials about the item. For example: ‘Stunning fluffy and comfortable jumper with no snags or signs of wear. This item is from a smoke- and pet-free home and I’m happy to take more photos if requested. Please ask if you have any questions and make sure you see my other items for sale.’ That’s all you need.

8. Time the Ending

When your eBay listing ends is really important, because the more people who are on eBay at that time, the more likely it is that you’ll get a bidding war. You want your listings to end on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday any time from 5pm – 9pm. You can schedule your listing’s start time for free, so set it to go live at 7pm so it will end at 7pm in the future.

9. To Bid or Buy

eBay offers two main options when you’re selling an item: ‘Buy It Now’ or ‘Auction’. Auction items have the bonus of no top price; however, you usually have to start them at 99p to gain attention and appear in the search. Buy-It-Now items can be sold at any point and for the exact price you’re willing to pay. Weigh up your options and pick the right one for your product.

10. Know Your Fees

eBay offers 20 free listings a month but they do take 10% of the selling price so keep that in mind when you see the final figure. They will bill you monthly, so keep 10% aside for that bill. Also keep 3.4% aside as that’s what PayPal will charge. I usually keep 15% aside to be safe and keep my PayPal pot above zero.

11. Deal Professionally with Issues

There will be issues. You can do everything perfectly and there will still be issues. Unfortunately that is part of doing business – so if a customer isn’t happy, it’s best just to keep that smile on, remain professional and help them out (no matter how much they make your blood boil!).

12. Give and Get Feedback

To be a successful seller on eBay it’s important to build your reputation. So always take the time to rate buyers, and ask politely if they will do the same for you. Obviously nobody wants bad ratings, so if there have been any issues (see above) check and double-check that they have been resolved to the buyer’s satisfaction before asking them to rate you.

So those are my top tips for selling on eBay. It’s super easy, especially via the free app, so get listing and see first-hand how stress-free it is and how much money it could make you this year.

Luci Olivia

Thanks again to Luci (pictured, right) for her valuable tips. Please do check out her Frugal Fox website for more advice on saving and making money.

If you have never tried online auction selling before, I hope this post will inspire you to give it a try. It really is as easy as Luci says, and someone, somewhere will almost certainly want anything you have to sell.

In my own case, I recently sold a selection of old beer mats that I had originally scrounged from a local pub for our house-warming party twenty years ago. Although admittedly I did have to re-list them (for no extra charge) as they didn’t sell the first time around!

As always, if you have any comments or questions, for Luci or myself, please do post them below.



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Hands-off ways to invest in property

Hands-off Ways to Invest in Property

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As I said in this recent blog post, I am a fan of property investment, as part of a balanced portfolio.

Property investors typically get a double benefit: rental income from tenants for as long as they own the property, and – in most cases – a profit when the time comes to sell.

A further attraction of property investment is that it can be beneficial tax-wise. Any profit you make when selling property is likely to be subject to capital gains tax (CGT) but there are generous annual allowances you can take advantage of (£11,700 in the tax year 2018/19).

In addition, if you invest via a platform (see below), income from rent is typically paid as dividends, allowing you to take advantage of the separate dividends tax allowance (£2,000 in 2018/19). Even if your dividend income exceeds the annual allowance, most people will only pay 7.5% tax on dividend earnings up to £34,500 (2018/19 figure).

Property investment can also be a great way of diversifying a mainly equities-based portfolio.

One drawback with property investment is that managing a property and its tenants can involve a lot of work. So today I want to focus on a property investment platform that takes care of all this on investors’ behalf (for a fee, of course). This makes it truly a hands-off way to invest in property.

The platform in question is FJP Investments. They partner with experienced developers to offer a range of property investments suitable for high net worth individuals and “sophisticated investors”. I’ve listed some of the main investment options they offer below.

Buy-to-let

This is, of course, the traditional way to invest in property. FJP offer investment opportunities in the UK buy-to-let market as well as overseas.

Student Property

This is becoming a very popular investment opportunity. The market is growing rapidly thanks to a government policy change ensuring an additional 200,000 students will be seeking accommodation in the UK by the year 2020.

Hotel Rooms

This type of investment started in the USA and has since taken off across Europe. Investing in a hotel room is simple. You buy the hotel room and then sub-lease it to the hotel operator. They in turn manage the day to day running, along with generating bookings. All you have to do is sit back and collect your share of the profits.

Car Parking

This is another popular income-generating investment. Investors purchase one or more spots in a car park and then receive a share of the income generated via the operator, who manages it on investors’ behalf.

Car parks are typically at or near airports. This market is expanding rapidly, with passenger numbers set to increase by over 220% in most major airports in the next 20 years. A further attraction in some cases can be free parking at the car park in question.

Care Homes

This involves investing in care homes for the elderly and/or people with disabilities. It is an ethical option but nonetheless one that offers good potential returns. Britain has an ageing population and yet the number of care beds is on the decline. There has been a lack of investment in the care sector which has created a growing demand for nursing homes, and an acute shortfall in the number of available beds is expected by early 2020. There is therefore a huge need right now for care home investment. Investors can profit from this while contributing to the creation of more high-quality care home facilities.

Risk v Reward

The potential returns from property investment are a lot better than you would get from a bank savings account at present, with 10% and upward widely advertised. Clearly, though, there is a greater element of risk with these investments. For example, you are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which will refund up to £85,000 if a bank with which you have an account goes bust. On the other hand, your money is in bricks and mortar, so it’s unlikely you would ever lose it all.

In the case of FJP Investments, as mentioned earlier, they work in association with highly experienced property developers. They set great store by protecting their clients’ money, not least because  their reputation – and indeed their business – depends on this. They take the time to get to know their clients personally and help them choose investment opportunities from the range on offer that will meet their specific needs and goals. These are all, needless to say, hands-off investments.

It is, of course, vital to be aware of the risks associated with investing in property and only to do so as part of a balanced portfolio with assets in a range of classes, including readily available cash. Property can be somewhat illiquid and should therefore normally be regarded as a medium- to long-term investment.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for which I am receiving a fee. Please note also that I am not a financial adviser and nothing in this post should be construed as personal financial advice. Before making any investment it is important to do your own due diligence, and seek advice from a qualified financial adviser if you are in any doubt how best to proceed.

If you have any comments or questions about FJP Investments, or property investment in general, as always, please do post them below.

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Can You Make a Living from Matched Betting

Can You Make a Living from Matched Betting?

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I’ve talked about matched betting a few times on this blog. It’s a way of making risk-free (and tax-free) cash by taking advantage of bookmaker special offers and promotions.

Matched betting is perfectly legal and (done properly) it’s not gambling. You can read my introduction to matched betting here, and why I believe it can be a good money-making sideline for older people here.

I am writing about it again now because I’ve seen a number of questions posted recently in Facebook groups and forums asking, if matched betting is so good, can you make a full-time living from it? As a reasonably experienced matched bettor myself, I thought I would share my own thoughts on this subject here.

Don’t Believe The Hype

Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of matched betting, but it’s important to understand what it can (and can’t) realistically deliver.

It’s not hard if you search online to find people claiming to make thousands of pounds a month from matched betting. These claims do need to be treated with a degree of scepticism, however. Here are just a few reasons…

1. Some people when describing their matched betting earnings include money they make from affiliate programmes. As you may know, the main matched betting advisory services all run affiliate schemes that pay commission for referring new members. I am an affiliate myself, but I wouldn’t ever count affiliate commissions as matched betting profits.

2. The inflated earnings figures typically include money from casino offers. While there is undoubtedly money to be made this way, it is not matched betting and it is not risk-free. Casino offers are really a whole different ballgame. I don’t touch this type of offer myself, except occasionally when I am offered free spins by an online bookmaker.

3. Some of the people making big money are doing so by setting up multiple accounts, e.g. in the names of friends or relatives. They then take advantage of bookmakers’ introductory offers several times over. This is of course completely against bookmakers’ rules and regulations, and may well be illegal. It is not something I would ever advocate doing myself.

Also, despite the claims that matched betting is suitable for everyone, there are some people who probably shouldn’t do it at all. I am thinking especially here of people who may have (or develop) a gambling addiction. Matched betting itself isn’t gambling, but if you think it might draw you into it, then you may be best looking elsewhere to generate a sideline income.

There are also some people who struggle with the practical aspects of matched betting. It’s not rocket science, but you do need a basic grasp of mathematics, and to be well organised and logical. If not, there is a real risk you will get stressed out, make mistakes, and lose money as a result.

The Reality

One key fact about matched betting is that the best opportunities are presented by the introductory offers. By following matched betting principles, you can earn a genuine risk-free thousand pounds or more from these.

Once you have exhausted these offers, however, it does become more difficult (and time consuming). There are so-called reload offers, but these are typically not risk-free. An example is horse-racing refunds. This is where you back and lay a horse in a race and hope that a particular outcome occurs that triggers a refund from the bookmaker.

An example would be if a bookie offers to refund your stake if your horse comes second in a race. If the horse does come second, you get your stake money returned by the bookmaker but also win the lay bet, giving you a net profit. This type of offer can be profitable in the long run, but a lot of the time you will lose a small amount backing and laying when the refund-triggering event doesn’t occur.

For all these reasons, as you may have guessed, I don’t recommend looking to matched betting to provide a full-time income. And I definitely don’t recommend giving up your job to do it full-time. After the first month or two you will be relying on reload offers, and this is no way to generate a reliable monthly income that you – and perhaps your family – can live off.

In my opinion matched betting is best regarded as a tax-free moneymaking sideline which you can use to supplement other sources of income. If you are new to matched betting the welcome offers can also provide a quick financial boost – maybe to pay off debts or fund a holiday or other large purchase. But bear in mind that after a month or two, making money this way is likely to become a lot harder as the sign-up offers run out.

Advisory Services

I’ve said this before, but if you’re new to matched betting, I strongly recommend joining up with a matched betting advisory service. As well as providing tutorials to get you up to speed, these services provide essential online tools, including oddsmatching software and calculators. They will also alert you to a wide range of money-making opportunities, and offer support and advice if needed.

There are various advisory services you can use. I currently recommend the popular Outplayed service (formerly Profit Accumulator), This is a dedicated matched betting website. You can join free initially and they will provide details of two offers you can take advantage of straight away. These should make you up to £40 in net profit.

If you wish to proceed further, you can then pay a monthly fee (currently £29.99) to become a ‘Platinum’ member and get access to Outplayed’s full range of betting offers and services. If you are interested in casino offers as well, you can sign up to their ‘Diamond’ service, which additionally gives you access to casino offers and software and costs £49.99 a month.

As well as detailed instructions on offers, Outplayed also provide various online tools you can use. Their oddsmatcher, for example, helps you find markets where the back and lay odds are as close as possible, so you can minimize your losses on qualifying bets and maximize the value of your free bets. They also have calculators, where you enter the back and lay odds and how much you want to bet at the bookmaker. The calculator then reveals how much you need to lay at the exchange to guarantee a set profit (or qualifying loss) with either outcome.

A further advantage of joining Outplayed is that you get access to the members-only community forum, where you can get any questions you may have answered by more experienced members and/or the Outplayed team.

For more information about Outplayed and its different membership levels, just click through this link [affiliate].

  • If you are at all sceptical about the Outplayed service, you might like to check out the reviews on the independent Trust Pilot website. They currently average 4.7 out of 5 stars, with 89% of respondents awarding them a five star (‘Excellent’) rating. That is one of the highest average ratings I can recall seeing on Trust Pilot.

As ever, if you have any questions or comments about matched betting, please do post them below.

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase at the site in question, I will receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect in any way the cost of the service to you or the benefits you will receive.


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Should You Get a Smart Meter Installed?

Should You Get a Smart Meter Installed?

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If you haven’t yet been offered a smart meter, it’s highly likely that in the coming months you will.

The government requires energy suppliers to offer smart meters to all homes and small businesses across Great Britain by 2020. Smart meters are coming to Northern Ireland as well, though a definite timescale hasn’t been decided yet.

There is a lot of confusion about smart meters, so today I thought I’d try to shed a bit of light on the subject. I have had a smart meter myself for nine months, so will be offering some thoughts based on my own experience too.

What Are Smart Meters?

Smart meters are a new generation of gas and electricity meters that replace the traditional meters (including prepayment meters) most of us have under the stairs or in the hallway.

Smart meters are so called because they send readings automatically to your energy supplier via a dedicated wifi network. That means you will no longer need visits from a meter reader or have to submit readings yourself.

The other aspect of smart meters is that they come with an electronic in-home display (see picture above). This reveals how much energy you’re using in near real time (they update at least every 10 seconds for electricity and every half-hour for gas). The display shows what your energy is costing you in pounds and pence (or if you prefer, kwh or CO2 emissions). It can also show how much you’ve used over the last day, week, and month.

Are You Obliged to Have One?

The short answer to this question is no. There is no obligation to accept a smart meter and you can decline the offer if you wish.

There is one caveat, however. If your existing meters have to be replaced for safety reasons or because they break down, smart meters may well be fitted in their place, as traditional “dumb” meters will no longer be made and become obsolete.

All meters have to be replaced when they reach the end of their working lives, so sooner or later you will almost certainly end up with one. Note, however, that you aren’t obliged to view the in-home display and can unplug it if you want.

What Are the Pros and Cons?

Here are some advantages of having smart meters installed:

  • No more estimated bills.
  • No need to arrange for meter readers to gain access (or submit readings yourself).
  • Potentially there may be cheaper, smart-meter-only tariffs you can switch to (although this hasn’t happened very much yet).
  • With the aid of the in-home display you can check how much energy you are using at any time, helping you to see where you can make savings.
  • Getting smart meters installed is free (although of course we all pay ultimately through our energy bills).

Are there any drawbacks to having smart meters installed? Well, possibly. One is that currently if you decide to change energy suppliers, your smart meter may no longer work and you will have to revert to submitting meter readings yourself.

A new generation of smart meters (SMETS2) is coming that should work for any energy supplier – but for now, if you’re planning to switch suppliers, it may be a good idea to do this before getting a smart meter installed.

Another possible objection to smart meters is that they could encourage a miserly attitude to energy use and cause friction within couples and families. A female friend has refused point blank to have smart meters installed because (rightly or wrongly) she fears her husband would become an “energy fascist”, constantly turning down the heating and switching off the lights to save money. That is obviously an issue every couple needs to negotiate for themselves!

Getting a Smart Meter Installed

If you decide you want a smart meter, you can either wait to be contacted by your energy supplier or contact them yourself.

All the main suppliers have information on their websites about their rollout plans. There will also be a number you can phone to register your interest.

You will need to book a date and time for a fitter to install your meters. This is likely to take a couple of hours, and your gas and electricity will need to be switched off some of this time. The fitter will explain how the meters work and demonstrate how to use the in-home display unit. He/she will also offer some general advice on how to save money on your energy bills.

My Own Thoughts

As mentioned earlier, I had smart meters installed six months ago. It was pretty painless, and I have found it interesting to see how my energy consumption goes up and down. Here are a few thoughts based on my own experiences…

  • Initially I found it disconcerting how the display jumped into the amber or red warning zone when using my electric kettle or toaster. However, I quickly realised that as you only use these devices for a few minutes at a time, they don’t add massively to your energy costs.
  • A particular benefit has been that if I glance at the meter and see that my current consumption is higher than normal, it nudges me to investigate why. A couple of times the cause turned out to be an electric heater I’d forgotten to switch off. From a safety angle as well as a monetary one, I was glad to be alerted to this!
  • The display unit has a budgeting feature, where you can set a daily target for your energy consumption. It then shows whether you are on target to achieve this or not. Initially I liked this, but as winter set in last year I realised that targets set in the summer are no longer realistic as the days get shorter and colder. I guess I could reset my budgets every month, but personally I just ignore this feature now.

All things considered, though, I do feel that having a smart meter has been beneficial to me and I am definitely saving on my energy bills (and feel reassured that they are more accurate).

Obviously it’s a decision everyone needs to make for themselves, but I think most people will benefit from having smart meters installed. And if they help reduce overall energy consumption, that has to be good for the planet as well.

That’s my view anyway, but what do you think? Please leave any comments (or questions) below.



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Guest Post: Saving and Making Money with Your Kitchen

Saving and Making Money with Your Kitchen

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Your kitchen is perhaps the most important room in your home. It’s where you spend time with your family, catching up on the day and cooking meals. However, it’s also important in terms of finance – you can end up spending a lot on your kitchen, and you don’t always need to. Here’s how you can save and make money on your kitchen.

Save Money

Renovate

If you’d like to have a new kitchen but you just don’t have the finances, you can save a lot of money by renovating it yourself. You can do it in stages too which will help you to spread the cost. Even if you can’t afford to change the whole kitchen, you can upgrade certain aspects on a budget, simply by being thrifty. Start with your units – paint costs less than £20 and can make an enormous difference – and once you have painted you can swap the handles for something different by heading to eBay or your local DIY store. Next, take a look at your worktops – granite is on trend and is currently quite affordable. There’s a lot that you can do to your kitchen without fully renovating it, and you may be surprised at the difference that it can make.

Buy Used/Ex-Display

Sometimes, only a new kitchen will do. It may be that yours is beyond saving, or that you have simply grown out of it. If that is the case, you don’t have to go all out on a brand spanking new kitchen from a showroom. Instead, you should look at used kitchens. Buying a used kitchen means that you can get a great (often designer) kitchen for a fraction of the price. However, avoid your local selling pages and go straight to a trusted re-seller such as Used Kitchen Exchange. Before you buy a kitchen, you’ll need to know information such as the measurements and what is included in the sale – you can get all of this information from the Used Kitchen Exchange website. The company has a wide range of kitchens in stock for every taste and size – from wooden kitchens to sleek, contemporary European kitchens.

Used Kitchen

Make Money

Sell Your Kitchen

If your kitchen is still in good condition and you’re just ready for a change, you can put some money towards the cost of your new kitchen by selling your current one. You can approach a recommended re-seller such as Used Kitchen Exchange, who will manage every step of the sales process for you – from photographing and listing your kitchen to finding a buyer. You can relax and wait for the money to come through.

Sell Your Appliances

Perhaps you have a coffee maker that you never use, or a spiraliser from the health kick you promised you’d go on but you never did. Whilst these appliances are collecting dust in your cupboard, they could be making you money! Sell them on eBay or Gumtree and put the cash towards your new kitchen.

 

Thank you to the team behind Used Kitchen Exchange for an interesting guest post (for which I am receiving a fee). The cover image and the article itself both show kitchens from Used Kitchen Exchange, by the way.

I had never come across the concept of buying and selling used kitchens before. I’ve had basically the same kitchen furniture and appliances since moving into this house 20 years ago, however, so it’s definitely something I shall consider now!

If you have any comments or questions about this post, as always, please do leave them below.

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How to look after the pennies...

How to Look After the Pennies…

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I was having a sort-out in the kitchen and came across a jar of small change. There were a few pounds’ worth, so I thought I’d change this into something more useful. It turned out to be a bit more complicated that I expected. So I thought I’d set out the options here and reveal what I did in the end, and what I plan to do with my small change from now on.

Banks

In the small town where I live there is now only one bank left (Barclays) and this is not a bank I have an account with. I went in there anyway to ask if they would accept change from me. I was told that if I didn’t have an account with them they wouldn’t be able to assist me.

So far, so disappointing. In these days of multiple bank closures, it’s a shame the banks can’t co-operate a bit more to help their local communities, but there we are.

So I had to travel a bit further to find a branch of HSBC, one of two banks I have accounts with. They kindly provided me with a supply of clear plastic coin bags. They are a standard design as far as I know and bear the following message:

£1 in 2p or 1p

£5 in 10p or 5p

£10 in 50p or 20p

£20 in £1 or £2 coin

NO MIXED COIN

I must admit I misunderstood this initially. I thought it meant you could have a £1 bag of mixed 1p and 2p coins, a £5 bag of 5p and 10p coins, and so on.

The nice lady at HSBC in Lichfield told me this wasn’t the case. The bag has to be all of the same denomination – so a £1 bag of 1p coins, a £5 bag of 10p coins, etc.

I do still think the instructions are a bit ambiguous, even if it does say NO MIXED COIN. Anyway, she kindly still accepted the bags I gave her and changed them for a note and some pound coins.

  • I’ve heard it said that some banks have change machines that let you pay in coins and count them automatically, but I’ve yet to see this myself. If you have seen any with your own eyes, I’d be grateful if you could tell me where!

Coinstar Machines

This is the commercial alternative for dealing with your small change.

These machines are generally installed in supermarkets, including Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury. You just pour in your change and the machine automatically counts it and prints out a credit note to use in the store. You can either put this towards the cost of your shopping or redeem it for cash at the store’s customer services desk.

Of course, this service isn’t free. According to the Coinstar website, they charge a 9.9% processing fee for cash transactions “but fees may vary by location”. The fee is deducted from the amount you put in at the time of your transaction. You can also opt to donate your money to charity, in which case there is a lower 7% charge.

You can find the location of your nearest Coinstar machine by entering your postcode in the box at the top right of the Coinstar site. This doesn’t appear to be updated very often, though. It is still saying there is a machine in my local Morrisons, despite the fact that this was removed over a year ago (and didn’t work for some time before that).

Coinstar machines offer a quick and easy solution if there is one near you, but with the 10% charge (or thereabouts) you do pay a premium for the convenience.

My Advice

My advice then is to go to your bank and ask for a supply of clear plastic coin bags and fill them with coins of one denomination only. You can then either pay them into your account or change them for something more convenient.

As a result of my experiences, in my kitchen I now have a set of jars for coins of each type (pictured above) and periodically sort my small change into them. In due course I will count them and take them to the bank in coin bags (which I keep handy in the kitchen drawer).

You can, incidentally, also buy coin-sorting moneyboxes from Amazon (see below), but aside from the novelty value I’m not sure how useful or reliable these would prove!

Over time we all inevitably accumulate loose change, which can weigh down our pockets or purses and is easy to regard as a bit of a nuisance. This money adds up, though. Saving and sorting it really is worthwhile, and can provide a handy cash boost when you pay it in.

As ever, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please leave them below. And finally, for some additional ideas on saving money and making money with apps, check out this great post by my fellow money blogger Grainne on her Wannabe Debt Free blog.



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10 Ways to Raise Money Quickly to Pay Bills

10 Ways to Raise Money Quickly to Pay Bills

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We’ve all been there. An unexpected bill comes in and you don’t have the money in your account to pay it.

There are various possible solutions to this dilemma, so in this article I’ll set out some options that are open to you.

1. Short-term borrowing

If you know you will have the money within a few weeks, short-term borrowing can be a sensible solution.

If you have a credit card – and can pay the bill this way – you can take advantage of the interest-free period. So long as you pay off the balance by the due date on your monthly statement, it won’t cost you anything extra. I don’t recommend drawing cash using your card, however, as interest starts to accrue immediately if you do this and rates are generally high.

Short term loans are another possible solution if you need help paying bills. This method has the advantage that you get the cash straight into your bank account, and if you apply online you can often access the money within a day. Clearly if you use this method there will be interest to pay, so look for a company that will let you pay off the entire loan at once and aim to do this as soon as you possibly can.

2. Selling on eBay

Another good solution if you have a bit of time is to have a clear-out of things you no longer need and put them up for sale on the online auction site eBay. All sorts of things sell here, and if you have never tried selling via the site you will be pleasantly surprised by how easy it is.

Basically, you just log in and go to my eBay, then click on the Start Selling button. Enter a short description and eBay will display some similar items, each with a message under it saying “Sell One Like This”. Click on that and you can use the item in question as a sort of template (although clearly you shouldn’t copy it word for word!). This can be a great way to raise a useful sum of money quickly, and as long as you are selling your own possessions (not buying to resell) it’s tax-free too.

3. Visit a Car Boot Sale

This is the low-tech option for selling unwanted goods, but it can work very well as a way of generating cash quickly. Check the local paper for sales in your area – they are generally held at the weekend. You can also do an online search for “Car boot sales in Mytown” or whatever.

When going to a car boot sale, aim to arrive early to get a good spot, and take plenty of change with you. Assume everyone will want to pay with notes! Know the price you want for the products you are selling, but be prepared for people to haggle. It’s generally best to ask for a bit more than you expect to get, so you have some room to negotiate.

4. Sell on Shpock or Local Facebook Pages

This is another good option for selling unwanted items. Shpock describes itself as “the boot sale app”. It’s available for both Android and iOS. You can advertise products to people in your area via the app and buyers will come to collect the goods in person. This and Facebook local pages can be good ways to sell anything which is difficult for whatever reason (e.g. size or weight) to send in the mail.

5. Sell Unwanted Gift Vouchers on Zeek

If you have unwanted gift vouchers, did you know you can sell them for cash on the Zeek website? Both physical and electronic vouchers can be sold (and bought) this way. Obviously you won’t get the full face value and there is a modest charge to pay. But if you’re in a fix and need money fast this is definitely worth considering, especially if you don’t have any other use for the voucher/s concerned.

6. Try Matched Betting

This is a money-making method I have described on various occasions on this blog. It’s a way of making risk-free (and tax-free) cash by taking advantage of bookmaker special offers and promotions.

Matched betting is perfectly legal and (done properly) it’s not gambling. You can join an advisory service such as Profit Accumulator or Odds Monkey and they will take you through two or three money-making opportunities for free. After that, if you wish to continue, there is a small monthly charge. Note that matched betting may not be an option if you live in a state or country that bans online betting.

7. Get Temporary Work

Jobs may be harder to find these days, but there is still plenty of short-term/temporary work available if you look for it. Some of this is seasonal, e.g. many companies take on extra staff to help them cope with the Christmas rush (Amazon being one well-known example). Another option is helping at elections, e.g. as a poll clerk or vote counter. It is generally a long day but decently paid. Inquire with your local council if there are any opportunities in your area.

8. Become an Extra

If the prospect of appearing in TV shows or movies doesn’t put you off, being an extra has much to recommend it. The work is interesting and varied, although it can also involve a lot of standing around, and doing the same thing over and over until the director is satisfied with the shot. You won’t get rich working as an extra, but the pay isn’t bad either, and you get free meals as well! Apply via an extras agency in the first instance.

9. Do Online Surveys

This is another popular option for people wanting to raise money. Payments aren’t generous but the work isn’t too taxing, and over a few weeks (or longer) you can generate a decent sum. Prolific Academic and Panelbase are two of my favourite survey sites, but there are plenty more around if you look for them.

10. Offer Your Services as a Freelance

There are lots of possibilities here, from copywriting to photography, social media management to website design. Set up accounts on sites such as Upwork and People Per Hour and you will be able to bid for any job advertised that suits your skills and talents. Admittedly it can take a little time to get established on these sites, but once you have your first few jobs under your belt (and good feedback from clients) more work is very likely to follow.

I hope the list above will give you some ideas of ways to deal with cashflow problems caused by bills. If you have any other comments or suggestions, as always, please feel free to post them below.

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post for which I am receiving a fee.

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Six Ways to Make Money with Cashback Sites

Six Ways to Make Money with Cashback Sites

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In this post last year I discussed cashback sites and how you can save money on your shopping by using them. Today I want to go a step further and show how you can make money from them too.

I’ll be revealing six different strategies you can use to make money via cashback sites, and specifically Quidco and Top Cashback, the Big Two in the UK.  Do just bear in mind that offers on these sites change frequently, so I can’t promise that all those mentioned below will still be available when you read this – but others (possibly even better) will undoubtedly have appeared as well.

Let’s get started then…

(1) Free Offers

Both Quidco and Top Cashback list offers where you can make money simply by asking for a quote or performing some other action.

For example, on Quidco you can get 50p at the time of writing just for ordering a free SIM card from GiffGaff and £6 for activating it – while on Top Cashback you can get £2.30 by requesting a quote for your car insurance from Confused.com.

To find free offers on Quidco, click on Offers in the main menu, then click on the Free Cashback tab. On Top Cashback free offers can be accessed on the right of the main menu, under the Free Money tab.

(2) Cashback Arbitrage

This is my name for offers where you get more cashback than you actually spend with the retailer, giving a guaranteed profit overall.

This type of offer is mainly the province of online bingo and gambling sites. They clearly hope that once you’ve joined you’ll carry on playing even after you have met the minimum requirement for cashback. So if you think you might be drawn into gambling, you may prefer to give these offers a miss.

Nonetheless, there are some great, guaranteed money-making opportunities out there if you apply them correctly. For example, if you join Gala Bingo via Quidco and deposit and wager £10, you will get £60 cashback. That’s £50 clear profit, and more if you make any money from your wagering.

Top Cashback have a range of offers, including £20 cashback if you deposit and bet £10 on the Betfair betting exchange (new customers only).

(3) Utilities and Comparison Sites

If you’re thinking of switching your energy or telecoms supplier, there is free money to be made on cashback sites.

Both Quidco and Top Cashback list comparison services who will pay cashback if you switch suppliers through them. For example, if you join uSwitch via Quidco and change energy supplier through them, you will currently get £15 cashback for a single fuel and £36 (recently increased from £30) for duel fuel.

Alternatively, if you know the supplier you want to switch to, you may be able to get cashback from them. On Top Cashback you can get up to £100 if you switch to a duel fuel deal with npower, or £68.25 with British Gas.

There are also some great cashback offers if you want to switch telecoms/broadband provider. For example, on Top Cashback, BT Broadband are currently offering new customers up to £175 cashback if they sign up for their broadband, phone and TV service.

(4) Financial Services

You can also get free money by applying for a credit card through a cashback site or starting an ISA or pension through them.

On Top Cashback you can currently get £52.50 cashback if you apply for a Tesco Premium credit card (and are accepted). Also on Top Cashback you can get up to £255 cashback if you sign up for an ISA (Individual Savings Account) with Scottish Friendly.

And on Quidco you can get £55 cashback if you transfer a pension of £2,000 or over to PensionBee, an online pension management service.

Clearly before applying for any financial product or service you should research it carefully and ensure it will meet your needs. Nobody should make financial decisions based solely on the cashback available. Nonetheless, if this is a service that meets your needs, you may as well grab the cashback too.

(5) Events and Promotions

Both Quidco and Top Cashback regularly run special events and promotions to encourage people to check out their offers, with prizes including cash and free draw entries.

The promotions typically tie in with times of year, e.g. Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas. These are basically a bit of fun, but worth doing if you have the time, as they are free to enter.

(6) Introducing Others

Finally, you can make money by introducing friends and family to these sites. Offers change from time to time, but typically you are paid between £5 and £15 when someone joins via your link and earns cashback themselves. You may get more commission if you are a premium member. Disclosure: The links in this post are affiliate links, so if you click through and sign up with Quidco or Top Cashback, I will get a small commission.

In conclusion, I hope this post and my previous one have opened your eyes to the money-saving and money-making potential of cashback sites. Sign up to both sites today and start building your cashback over the coming weeks and months!



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