Everything Else

This includes everything  else I discuss on Pounds and Sense, including Health, Holidays, Relationships, and so on.

Free Kindle Ebooks

Download My Kindle Ebooks Free This Week!

I’m a bit off-topic today, I know. But these are – to put it mildly – exceptional times, and we all have to respond as best we can.

I know many people are having to self-isolate right now, or at least spend a lot more time at home. So I thought I would make a small contribution towards making life more bearable by offering both of my Kindle ebooks free of charge.

My ebook The Festival on Lyris Five is a tongue-in-cheek science fiction novella featuring illustrations by the talented Louise Tolentino. You can download it free (until Thursday 26 March) by clicking here or on the ad below. I hope you enjoy reading it. If you do, a review would be appreciated (though certainly not a requirement!).

My other ebook is called Three Great Techniques for Plotting Your Novel or Screenplay. As you’ll gather, this is aimed at writers and aspiring writers. If you are in that group, I hope you will find the tips and advice it contains helpful. Again, here is a link or you can click on the display ad below.

As you may know, you don’t need a Kindle device to read Kindle e-books. You can also read them on your mobile phone, tablet or PC using the free Kindle app available via Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-dbs/fd/kcp

And since one of these titles is aimed at writers, I thought I would also include a plug here for Best Writing Forum, which I helped set up a couple of years ago. BWF is free to join and has members all over the world. If you are looking for support or feedback with your writing, you will find it here. Equally, if you are just seeking online companionship from fellow writers during these most stressful of times, you can find that here as well.

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

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
UKMB Easter Giveaway

Win an M&S Easter Hamper in the UKMB Spring Giveaway!

I’ve joined forces today with some of my fellow UK Money Bloggers to put together a giveaway of FIVE M&S Easter Family Hampers. That means five lucky winners will receive a hamper in time for Easter 2020 🙂

These hampers sell for £50 apiece on the M&S website. The full contents are as follows:

  • Gold label teabags (250g/ 80 bags)
  • Caramel eggs (120g)
  • Hide and seek egg hunt bag (135g)
  • Simnel cake bar (460g)
  • Chicky choccy speckled eggs (90g)
  • 8 Spiced Easter biscuits (200g)
  • Bubbly bunny (23g) x 4
  • British strawberry soft set jam (113g)
  • Easter fried eggs whips (180g)
  • 4 golden hot cross buns (260g/pack of 4)
  • Presented in a dark stained basket with brown faux leather strap

In the event of supply difficulties, or with discontinued products, M&S say they reserve the right to offer alternative goods or packaging of equal quality and value. Full information about the hamper and its contents can be found on the M&S website.

Here then are all the details you need to enter, provided by my colleague Emma Drew (who is co-ordinating this event). Good luck! It would be great if a Pounds and Sense reader wins one (or more) of the prizes 🙂

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Meet the Bloggers Taking Part

The bloggers taking part in this fantastic giveaway are as follows…

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EmmaDrew.InfoMrs MummyPenny | Financial Expert | Thrifty Londoner | Much More With Less | Thrifty Lesley | Pounds and Sense | Melanie’s Fab Finds | Inspiring Life Design | Budgeting is a Challenge

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Katie Saves | Looking After Your Pennies | Monethalia | Lylia Rose | Earning By The Sea | The Money Saving Mum | The Reverend | This Money Works | Bang on Blanks | Charlotte Musha | Joleisa | SueFoster.Info | Mind Over Money Matters | Mum on a Budget

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Emily Brookes | Alieshia | Glitz & Glamour Makeup | Money Saving Nat | Side Hustle Directory | TuppennysFIREplace | My Money Cottage | Mrs Pinch | Brit On A Budget | SavvyMumUK | I Beat Debt | Broke Girl in the City | Debt Free Family | Reinventing Neesha

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Skinny Spending | Bargain Bunny | Papawire | The Savvy Sloth | Savvy Dad | Thrifty Chap | Frugal Family | Savvy in Love | The Financial Wilderness | Young Fun and Thrifty | Great Deals Made Easy | Frugal Expert | Money Saving Central

The Prizes

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There are five M&S Easter Hampers up for grabs, worth £50 each.

If the hamper is no longer available when the winners are drawn then the winners will be offered an alternative hamper from M&S worth £50 each.

Enter to Win

To enter simply complete any or all of the Rafflecopter entry widget options below.

The competition closes at midnight on 29th March 2020. If the hamper selected is sold out then we will offer an alternative M&S hamper worth £50. You can see the widget for the full terms and conditions of this giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One final small point is that if a winning entry comes from following someone on social media, Emma will check before awarding the prize that the winner is still following the account in question. If they aren’t, they will be disqualified and a new winner drawn. So, please, don’t follow and immediately unfollow, as your entry won’t then count.

Good luck, and I really do hope you win a hamper!

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

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
Booking a holiday with Airbnb

Booking a Holiday with Airbnb

I recently booked my first ever break with Airbnb.

Of course, I’ve been aware of this person-to-person accommodation booking platform for some time, but till now I’ve avoided using it myself. In the back of my mind were stories I read years ago about people renting out sofas in their living room to make a bit of extra cash. At my age that prospect – the sofa in the living room, I mean – definitely didn’t hold any appeal!

Times change, though, and it’s important to keep up with them. In my case I wanted to book a short break in a part of North Wales that isn’t well served by hotels, the Lleyn Peninsula. Okay, I could have stayed at the Haven Holidays Park (formerly Butlins) in Pwllheli, but I was pretty sure that wouldn’t be my cup of Welsh tea either.

So after researching the relatively few hotels in the Abersoch area where I wanted to stay using Booking.com (affiliate link), I decided it might be time to give Airbnb a try. In recent years, as regular readers will know, I have become more accustomed to booking self-catering accommodation for short breaks, and have realised that in some ways I prefer this to staying in hotels.

In this blog post I thought I’d share my experience of registering with Airbnb and finding and booking accommodation. I hope this might inspire you to try it yourself if you haven’t yet taken the plunge with Airbnb.

  • Of course, you can also become an Airbnb host and make money that way. I haven’t tried this myself, but did cover the subject in another blog post titled Boost Your Income by Renting Out a Room.

Registering with Airbnb

Before you can make a booking with Airbnb, you have to be registered on the website. You can still browse without joining but (as I found out) if you find somewhere you like available on the dates you want, you will have to go back and register and then start the whole process again. This is a frustrating waste of time. It’s free to register and doesn’t take long, so if there is any chance you might want to book through the platform, my advice would be to do this first.

Registering with Airbnb is similar to registering on other booking websites. One thing to be aware of, though, is that as well as your personal details, as proof of ID they also ask you to upload a scan of an official document such as your passport or driving licence with your photo on it. Once you have done this, you have to wait for your ID to be approved. In my case this happened within 15 minutes and I received notification by email.

Once you’ve done all that, you can start searching for your perfect holiday retreat!

Searching Airbnb

Once you are logged in, you can start your search using the box on the Airbnb front page (see below).

Airbnb search box

As you can see, you have to enter where you wish to go and the dates you want to arrive and depart. You have to choose specific dates, even if (as I was) you are flexible about this. Once you have found somewhere you like, you will be able to see what other dates that accommodation is available. If you want to check all possible places in the area, though, you may need to do a few searches using different dates.

Anyway, once you have entered the relevant details and clicked on search, a new page will open showing you a map of the area in question. Here’s what I got when I searched just now for accommodation near Abersoch in early May (not actually when I am going).

Airbnb Abersoch

As you may gather, each of the prices in a small oval represents an Airbnb place with availability on the dates in question. The price is the cost per night. Clicking on any of these will bring up brief info about the accommodation in question. If you like the look of this, clicking again will bring up a new page with photos and more. Here’s the top of the page for a cottage I like the sound of, though it would be too large for me alone.

Airbnb cottage

Also on this page are full details about the accommodation and a reservation form – see below.

Airbnb booking form

As you can see, for your money you are getting considerably more than a sofa in someone’s living room 😀 £110 a night seems very reasonable to me for a cottage that can accommodate a family of six.

As you may have noticed, there are some additional charges. Many Airbnb properties – though by no means all – charge a cleaning fee. In addition, you will always be charged a service fee. This goes to Airbnb, and is one way they make their money (they also charge a fee to the property owners).

If you scroll down you will see various other items, including visitor reviews and a calendar showing when the property is (and isn’t) available. Also towards the bottom of the screen you will find the cancellation terms. These are set by the hosts and vary considerably, so be sure to study them carefully. Often you will be able to cancel free of charge until a certain date. After that, you may have to pay the service charge and perhaps part or all of the booking fee as well.

Making Your Booking

If you want to proceed, clicking on Reserve will take you to a new page where you can confirm your booking and provide payment information. This is pretty standard, although one thing you don’t normally have to do on hotel booking sites is write a message of introduction to the property owners (your hosts).

Airbnb provide a ready-written message you can use by default. This is pretty bland, however. I think it’s best to take a few minutes to write something more personal about who you are, why you want to visit the area, and so on. This is especially important if you are new to Airbnb and don’t have any history on the site or reviews written about you (yep, Airbnb hosts review guests as well as vice versa). In theory a host can decline your booking if they don’t like the sound of you, so it’s good to reassure them that you are a normal human being and will treat their property with respect.

And that’s it, basically. When I made my booking it all went through smoothly and I received a thank-you message from the hosts within an hour. I haven’t been on the holiday yet, but will post a review on this blog after my return.

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

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
Top Twenty Posts of 2019

My Top Twenty Posts of 2019

As is customary for bloggers at this time of year, here are the top twenty posts on Pounds and Sense in 2019, based on comments, page-views and social media shares. They are in no particular order. I have excluded any posts that are no longer relevant.

I hope you will enjoy revisiting these posts, or seeing them for the first time if you are new to PAS. Don’t forget, you can always subscribe using the box on the right to be notified of new posts as soon as they appear.

All posts in the list below should open in a new tab when you click on the link concerned.

1. Twelve Great Ways to Generate a Sideline Income

2. How I Saved £511.08 on my Annual Home Insurance

3. Make Money from Car Loans With Buy2Let Cars!

4. Trade Your Way to Profit With Deal Arbitrage

5. Nutmeg Review: My Experiences With This Robo-Adviser Investment Platform

6. Get a Free £50 on Football Index With Footy Index Scout!

7. My Short Break in Aberystwyth

8. Two Places You Really Shouldn’t Turn for Tax Advice (And One You Definitely Should)

9. Why Property is an Essential Part of the Retirement Planning Jigsaw

10. How to Save Money on Clothes Shopping

11. Is It Worth Getting Batteries for Your Solar Panels?

12. My Short Break in Llandudno

13. Can You Get the Warm Home Discount?

14. How to Start Video Gaming as an Older Person (Guest Post)

15. How to Save Money on Prescriptions

16. Kuflink: My Review of This P2P Property Investment Platform

17. Is a Friendly Society a Good Home for Your Savings?

18. My Best Investments of 2019

19. Crowdlords: My Review of This Property Crowdfunding Platform

20. Start Cooking! UK Bloggers Share Their Favourite Kitchen Tools, Apps and Websites

Thank you very much for your interest in Pounds and Sense. I hope 2019 has been a good year for you.

I’ll be taking a break from blogging over the festive period (though I’ll still be around on Twitter and Facebook). I’ll therefore close by wishing you a very happy and peaceful Christmas, and a prosperous and fulfilling new year. See you again in 2020 🙂

If you have any comments or questions, of course, feel free to leave them below as usual.

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
UKMB Festive Giveaway 2019

Win One of EIGHT Marks and Spencer Hampers in the Great UKMB Festive Giveaway!

Today I have another great giveaway to share with you.

I’ve joined forces with some of my fellow UK Money Bloggers to put together a giveaway of EIGHT Christmas Afternoon Treats with Flowers M&S hampers. That means eight lucky winners will receive a hamper in time for Christmas!

These hampers sell for £50 apiece on the M&S website. The full contents are as follows:

  • Christmas afternoon treats
  • Swiss chocolate extra smooth milk chocolate truffles (205g)
  • Pure origin Assam teabags (125g/50 bags)
  • Classic recipe top iced bar Christmas cake (450g)
  • The Collection Berry medley soft set jam (42g)
  • The Collection Bitter Seville orange marmalade (42g)
  • All butter shortbread fingers (28g) x 3
  • A beautiful bouquet of flowers

In the event of supply difficulties, or with discontinued products, M&S say they reserve the right to offer alternative goods or packaging of equal quality and value. Full information about the hamper and its contents can be found on the M&S website.

Here then are all the details you need to enter, provided by my colleague Emma Drew (who is co-ordinating this event). Good luck! It would be great if a Pounds and Sense reader wins one (or more) of the prizes 🙂

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Meet the Bloggers Taking Part

The bloggers taking part in this festive giveaway are:

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EmmaDrew.Info | Shoestring Cottage | Your Money Sorted | Thrifty Londoner | Much More With Less | Thrifty Lesley | Pounds and Sense | The Money Whisperer | Inspiring Life Design | Budgeting is a Challenge

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Bee Money Savvy | Joleisa | Mind Over Money Matters | The Reverend | Charlotte Musha | Earning By The Sea | SueFoster.Info | Katie Saves | The Money Saving Mum | MamaFurFur | Daily Deals UK | Thrifty Husband

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Everyday, Freebies and More | Melanie’s Fab Finds | Mrs MummyPenny | Bronni | Brit on a Budget | Miss Penny Money | Your Best Friend’s Guide to Cash | Money Blog Scotland | I Beat Debt | The Savvy Sisters

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Looking After Your Pennies | Bang on Blanks | Miss Manypennies | Lylia Rose | SavvyMumUK | Monethalia | The Female Money Doctor | Broke Girl in the City | Mummy Saver Money Maker | Mum on a Budget | Bargain Bunny | Not Taught at School | Savings 4 Savvy Mums

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Glitz & Glamour Makeup | Debt Free Family | Side Hustle Directory | The Somerset Foodie | Financial Expert | Get Paid to F.A.R.T | Savvy in Somerset | A Thrifty Gamer | Mrs Pinch | TuppennysFIREplace | Reinventing Neesha | Alieshia | Sunshine and Rain | Thrifty Chap

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Skinny Spending | Money Making Mum | My Money Cottage | Money Tips Blog | Emily Brookes | Frugal Family | Beauty Markdown | Boost My Budget | Make Money Without a Job | Family Budgeting | The Mini Millionaire

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This Money Works | Broke in Bristol | The Bloglancer | The Money Principle | Slimming Violet | Savvy Squirrel | Ruth Makes Money | A Balanced Belly | My Debt Diary

The Prizes

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As mentioned above, there are eight Christmas Afternoon Treats with Flowers M&S hampers up for grabs, worth £50 each.

If the hamper is no longer available when the winners are drawn then the winners will be offered an alternative hamper from M&S worth £50 each.

Enter to Win

To enter simply complete any or all of the Rafflecopter entry widget options below.

The competition closes at midnight on 14th December 2019. If the hamper selected is sold out then we will offer an alternative M&S hamper worth £50. You can see the widget for the full terms and conditions of this giveaway.

There are plenty of ways to enter this giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
One small point is that if a winning entry comes from following someone on social media, Emma will check before awarding the prize that the winner is still following the account in question. If they aren’t, they will be disqualified and a new winner drawn. So, please, don’t follow and immediately unfollow, as your entry won’t then count.

Once again, good luck, and I really do hope you win a hamper!

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
Elderly People and Scams Infographic

Elderly People and Scams (Infographic)

Today I’m sharing another eye-opening infographic from my friends at the credit reference agency Equifax.

It’s an unfortunate fact that older people with vulnerabilities can be targeted by scammers. Older people often fear being mugged or burgled – but 90% of all crimes committed against the over 65s are actually fraud.

Scammers don’t always come across as aggressive or pushy – they can often appear very polite and friendly, which is how they win people over and gain their trust. They use several methods to commit identity theft and steal money, which include:

Age UK has reported that almost 5 million people over the age of 65 believe they have been targeted by scammers. People living on their own, or suffering with dementia, are especially vulnerable.

The same study revealed that 27% of single people were duped by a scam when they were targeted, compared with less than a tenth of people who lived with someone else.

The cost of fraud – in terms of money, time and individuals’ health – is massive.

  • In 2017, victims suffered an average loss of £29,000 due to investment fraud
  • On average, pension scam victims lose £91,000
  • It can take weeks to sort out the aftermath of a scam

The infographic below sets out some ways to help elderly people protect themselves against scammers – and warning signs that might suggest they’ve been targeted..

Thank you to Equifax for an eye-opening graphic. If you help look after an older person – whether it’s a friend or a family member – it’s important to keep an eye out for this and offer advice and support when appropriate. This applies especially if they live on their own.

The infographic includes some excellent advice on ways to reduce the likelihood of being scammed online. But, of course – as mentioned at the start of the article – scammers operate in other ways as well.

An increasingly popular method is scam phone calls, e.g. this one where the victim receives what appears to be a genuine phone call from HMRC telling them that they are being prosecuted for tax evasion. Of course it’s a lie, the purpose of which is to get the victim to make payments into the scammer’s bank account and/or hand over their bank details. If you know any older people who may be vulnerable to telephone scams, it’s important to warn them about this and tell them always to contact you for advice before they respond.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post (or the infographic), please do leave them below.

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
UK Bloggers 2019 Christmas Giveaway

Win a Virginia Hayward Hamper in the UK Bloggers 2019 Christmas Giveaway

Today I have a great festive giveaway to share with you.

I’ve joined forces with some of my fellow UK Bloggers to put together a giveaway of FIVE Virginia Hayward ‘The Magic of Christmas’ Hampers

These hampers sell for £65 apiece on the Virginia Hayward website. The full contents are as follows:

  • Barfield Bakery Mince Pies x 4
  • Cambrook Christmas Nuts 80g
  • Farmhouse Biscuits Regency Salted Caramel Biscuits 150g
  • Gold Crown Decorative 4 inch Square Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel & Fudge Pieces
  • Gold Crown Christmas Pudding 350g
  • Grandma Wild’s Mini Bites for Sharing Mature Cheddar 100g
  • Great British Crisp Company Cornish Sea Salt & Luxury Peppers Crisps 150g
  • Joe & Seph’s Brandy Butter Popcorn 80g
  • Linden Lady Decorative Chocolate Covered Marshmallows 140g
  • Shaws Caramelised Red Onion Chutney with Balsamic 195g
  • Sugar n Spice Choc Chip Cookie Bites 140g
  • The Secret Truffletier White Chocolate Truffles 55g
  • Zonin Prosecco Brut DOC Italy 75cl 11% vol
  • Black Wire Basket

 

If you need to know about any possible allergens in the contents, full information can be found via the Virginia Hayward website (click on the PDF link on the site).

Here then are all the details you need to enter, provided by my colleague Laura Light who is co-ordinating this event – big thanks to Laura!.

Good luck! It would be great if a Pounds and Sense reader wins one (or more) of the prizes 🙂

This Christmas, some of the UK Bloggers have come together to offer you the chance to win five Virginia Hayward The Magic of Christmas Hampers. Five lucky winners will win a Christmas hamper delivered before Christmas. Keep reading to find out how you can enter.

Who are the Bloggers Behind the Giveaway?

The UK Bloggers are a group of bloggers, podcasters, and influencers in the UK who are passionate about helping you to improve your life. We are a mix of lifestyle, parenting, food and money bloggers. Whether you want to make more money, find recipes, read about parenting or other lifestyle topics, we are your people. Here’s who we are:

Savings 4 Savvy Mums | My Beautiful Mess | Rachel Bustin | Soph Obsessed | Charlotte Musha | The Somerset Foodie | Odd Hogg | Keiran Crying | Thrifty Chap | Bronni | Yorkshire Wonders

Earning By The Sea | Welsh Mum | Mind Over Money Matters | My Money Cottage | Bargain Bunny | Slimming Violet | The Life Of Dee | Tuppennys Fireplace | My Three and Me | Side Hustle Directory

Daily Deals Blog | Chilling With Lucas | Tammy Mum | Big Family Organised Chaos | Midlands Traveller | I Always Believed In Futures | Melanies Fab Finds | Really Missing Sleep | Life Loving | The Money Whisperer

Ruth Makes Money | Jupiter Hadley | At Home With Kayla | Our Adventurehood | Looking After Your Pennies | The Free From Mummy | You Have To Laugh | Attachment Mummy | A Rose Tinted World | Mighty Mama Bear | Parenting Phils

I Beat Debt | Run Jump Scrap | The Parent Game | Accidental Hipster Mum | Mummy Saver Money Maker | Miss Many Pennies | Savvy In Somerset | Dolly Dowsie | Yeah Lifestyle | Just Average Jen

Raising Moonbows | Lindy Loves | Boxnip | Me Be Geek | Mrs Pinch | Thrifty Husband | Pounds and Sense | Boring Mother | A Mum Reviews |

My Balancing Act | Emma Drew | Bump and Beyond | Life In A Break Down | Mummy Vs Work | Lisa’s Notebook | Christmas Magic And Markets | Make Money Without a Job

For The Family | The Money Saving Mum | Family Travel With Ellie | Two Plus Dogs  | At Home And Online | Adventures Of A Yorkshire Mum | The Willow Tree |

The Prizes

You can win one of five Virginia Hayward The Magic Of Christmas Hampers.

The Rules

The giveaway is open until midnight on 17th November 2019, when the five winners will be chosen.

The giveaway is open to UK residents only.

Winners will be contacted by email from laura@savings4savvymums.co.uk

Should the Christmas hampers be out of stock then a suitable replacement will be found.

How to Enter

Please note that this giveaway works differently from the otherwise similar UKMB giveaways I have featured on this blog.

You can get two entries by clicking on the links in the Rafflecopter widget below. One is to visit my Facebook page and the other is to follow Pounds and Sense blog on Twitter.

You can then get (many) more entries by clicking through the links above – or below – to my fellow UK bloggers, all of whom have their own posts about the Giveaway with their own Rafflecopter widgets.

After the closing date all entries will be put together and five winners will be chosen at random. I hope that’s all clear, but let me know if not!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Quick Links!

To save you a bit of time finding the other posts in this giveaway, I have listed below all the bloggers who have published a 2019 Christmas Giveaway post, with a ‘deep link’ straight to the post in question. You can work your way through the list below and enter via the widget in each post. All links should open in a separate tab.

Make Money Without a Job

Savings 4 Savvy Mums

My Beautiful Mess

Rachel Bustin

Soph Obsessed

Charlotte Musha

The Somerset Foodie

OddHogg

Keiran Crying

Thrifty Chap

Bronni

Yorkshire Wonders

Earning by the Sea

Welsh Mum

Mind Over Money Matters

My Money Cottage

Bargain Bunny

Slimming Violet

The Life of Dee

Tuppennys FIREplace

My Three and Me

Side Hustle Directory

Daily Deals Blog

Chilling With Lucas

Tammymum

Big Family Organised Chaos

Midlands Traveller

I Always Believed in Futures

Melanie’s Fab Finds

Really Missing Sleep

Life Loving

The Money Whisperer

Ruth Makes Money

Jupiter Hadley

At Home With Kayla

Our Adventurehood

Looking After Your Pennies

The Free From Mummy

You Have to Laugh

Attachment Mummy

A Rose Tinted World

Mighty Mama Bear

Parenting Phils

I Beat Debt

Run Jump Scrap

The Parent Game

Accidental Hipster Mum

Mummy Saver Money Maker

Miss Manypennies

Savvy in Somerset

Dolly Dowsie

Yeah Lifestyle

Just Average Jen

Raising Moonbows

Lindy Loves

Boxnip

Me Be Geek

Mrs Pinch

Thrifty Husband

Pounds and Sense

Boring Mother

A Mum Reviews

My Balancing Act

Emma Drew

Bump and Beyond

Life in a Breakdown

Mummy vs Work

Lisa’s Notebook

Christmas Magic and Markets

For the Family

The Money Saving Mum

Family Travel With Ellie

Two Plus Dogs

At Home and Online

Adventures of a Yorkshire Mum

The Willow Tree

One final small point is that if a winning entry comes from following someone on social media, Laura will check before awarding the prize that the winner is still following the account in question. If they aren’t, they will be disqualified and a new winner drawn. So, please, don’t follow and immediately unfollow, as your entry won’t then count.

Good luck, and I really do hope you win a hamper!

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

If you enjoyed this post, please link to it on your own blog or social media:
Start Cooking! UK Bloggers Share Their Favourote Kitchen Tools, Apps and Websites

Start Cooking! UK Bloggers Share Their Favourite Kitchen Tools, Apps and Websites

Today I have something a bit different for you. I’ve been asking around my fellow UK bloggers for their favourite kitchen tools, apps and websites.

I was genuinely curious about this myself, but hope it will also be of interest and value for PAS readers who enjoy cooking (or possibly don’t but still have to!). And if you are looking for a gift for the cook (or cooks) in your life, hopefully you may find a few ideas here.

Where possible I have provided links to the resources in question. In some cases these are affiliate links, so if you click through and make a purchase I will receive a commission from the store concerned (Amazon). This will not affect the product or service you receive, or the price that you pay.

Note also that with kitchen tools and devices, multiple brands and versions are often available. I have tried to link to popular models, but they may or may not be the same as the one the blogger in question uses.

Okay, let’s get started then. 🙂

Blogger Recommendations

Tanya Barrow from Mummy Barrow says: ‘It isn’t cheap, but my favourite device is my Thermomix. It does the job of 12 other kitchen appliances and helps me cook healthy meals for my family without using a load of other kit or pans, and quickly. I couldn’t live without it now.’

Ruth Gray from Slimming Violet says: ‘My favourite kitchen device is definitely my Actifry. I thought for ages about whether I should buy one as they’re a bit on the pricey side, but I’m so pleased that I did. It makes it really easy to cook so many different healthy meals, though I must admit that Actifry chips have to be my favourite. With just a drizzle of oil, they’re so much better than their oven chip counterparts!’

Fiona Elizabeth Hawkes from The Somerset Foodie writes: ‘One of my favourite cooking resources is the Yummly app. It’s full of recipes and you can search by ingredient or meal type, exclude recipes with ingredients you don’t like and then save recipes you like the look of. You can even photograph ingredients and it’ll suggest dishes you could try to use them up. It’s great for times I’m struggling with ideas for dinner!’

Keiran Potter, who blogs at Keiran Crying, says, ‘My favourite device is my spiraliser. It’s such an easy and fast way to get vegetables into things like pasta and pies. But also it makes things like potato cook a lot faster because it makes it so thin. I love experimenting with it, it helps me keep meals interesting.

Jupiter Hadley, who blogs at JupiterHadley.com, writes: ‘My favorite cooking website is Allrecipes.com – everyone submits recipes and pictures, so all of the recipes are made previously and they have a good selection of simple recipes. When searching for something there, you can easily read the comments from people who have tried to make the dish (and they have a big community, so it’s normally a lot of comments with the best ones on the first page) sometimes these comments let you know the recipe isn’t sweet enough or it needs a different ingredient, while others tell you little twists you can make. It’s a great community and is really full of great recipes and feedback.’

Petra at Be Healthy Now says: ‘There are so many good websites that I use for cooking inspiration, and one of my favourites is The Flexitarian. I love this website so much because the recipes on there are simply amazing: really healthy, with interesting flavours and a little bit different to what you commonly find online. They are all vegetarian or vegan, so perfect for those who are looking to reduce their meat intake. Annabelle also shares food news and reviews, which all come in really useful.’

Rachelle Strauss of The Health and Wellness Grid writes: ‘My favourite kitchen gadget is my Nutribullet. It’s a reasonable price and is excellent for my morning smoothie (it works well on frozen fruit) and I also use it to grind seeds which I then sprinkle into most meals. So it saves me money on buying smoothies (and helps me reduce food waste by using up fruits that are coming up to being past their best) and I can buy a big bag of seeds which I blitz and hide in foods! I’ve needed to replace the blade once in a few years, but the motor remains strong despite daily use, so it’s excellent value for money overall. I also use it for soup, after the ingredients have cooled – again saving money on shop-bought products and using up old veggies.’

Hayley Muncey, who blogs as Miss Manypennies, writes: ‘My favourite gadget is my pancake/crepe maker (hot plate). Obviously totally unnecessary, but it means we can pop on the table and no one has to be the one standing cooking, it’s quick and the pancakes always end up the right shape! It’s easier to experiment with toppings too ‘

Kim John of Life Can Be Toff says, ‘My favourite kitchen gadget is my soup maker. It is a simple way for me to create quick and tasty soups, particularly at this time of year. The fact it is so quick (around 30 minutes total including prep) also means I can be quite adventurous and try different things. It is great for making in bulk and with little washing up!

Nick adds: ‘I have an electric soup-maker as well and get a lot of use from it, in the cold winter months especially. I wrote this blog post about it not long after I bought it.’

Melissa Williams, who blogs at The Diary of a Jewellery Lover, writes: ‘My favourite kitchen gadget is my slow cooker. I like putting all the ingredients in at the beginning of the day and having a delicious meal ready for me in the evening. It makes the meat so tender and delicious. I would definitely recommend getting one if you don’t own one. It will change your life!’

Afshan Nasim of Afshanesque writes: ‘My favourite kitchen utensil is my Hinari Genie blender. It is great for making smoothies and milkshakes. It also helps me chop my onions and puree my tomato for use with my curries. It’s like the Nutribullet, but cheaper.’

Nicole Shroff from The End of the Fork writes: ‘I love my cast iron skillet, it is what I reach for the most in my kitchen. Nicely weighted, it distributes heat evenly retaining it well, so food cooks faster and you do not need to move it around the pan as much. The more seasoned it becomes with use, the better it’s non-stick qualities. It is extremely hard-wearing and easy to care for as long as it is dried well before storing. A good cast iron skillet improves with age and will last generations!’

Jo Jackson, who blogs at Tea and Cake for the Soul, says: ‘ I have an ancient Moulinex Masterchef and love it. I can grate and slice vegetables in it, make cakes, pastry, blend and chop with it. I have a much newer all singing all dancing device but I can’t bear to part with old faithful.’

Jo Jackson also says: ‘I do like the BBC Good Food website. It has photos with clear instructions and sometimes videos. I like a lot of the features including ratings by others who’ve tried the recipe, timings, levels of skill, nutritional values etc. I especially like the print option. I’m a bit old school and if I find a recipe I like, I will print it off, laminate it and keep it in my cook book file.’

Melanie Edjourian, who blogs at Melanie’s Fab Finds, says: ‘I love my Russell Hobbs mixer. It’s great for making all sorts of cakes as well as pizza bases and bread. I also love my Lurch Spiralo Spiraliser as it helps me make all sorts of healthy recipes using veg, like courgetti carbonara.’

Cath Bambi Drews, who blogs at th3secretlifeofme, writes: ‘We have a Gourmetmaxx tower airfryer, which is a bit different to an Actifry. We are a family of six so this means we can actually cook sides or fries/wedges/home-made chips in one go. It cooks crispy chips/wedges. Amazing bacon. Little pizzas. We have even cooked a chicken in there.’

Paulina Borowik from UK Everyday says: ‘One of my favourite kitchen devices is my Morphy Richards Stand Mixer. It ensures that all ingredients are mixed perfectly and my kitchen stays clean. This mixer is very powerful and looks stylish. I would highly recommend it to anyone.’

Jax Blunt, who blogs at Making It Up (as we go along) writes: ‘Can’t believe no one has recommended https://cookingonabootstrap.com or https://utterlyscrummy.blogspot.com . These are my two favourite budget recipe sites. Both are written by people who actually live this life making every penny work to feed a family healthily and cheaply.’

Finally, Sally Allsop from Life Loving says: ‘I know it sounds very insignificant but my favourite kitchen gadget is my olive spoon/pickle picker. It’s perfect for getting pickled veg/olives out of the jar and draining them as you are doing it. Normal spoons make such a mess when you are dealing with pickling liquid or brine.’

Thanks again to all my UK blogging colleagues for an inspiring selection of ideas. I shall definitely be adding some of the items above to my Amazon Wish List!

  • Please do check out also the blogs of everyone above who contributed suggestions. They are an amazing group of talented writers and bloggers!

My Recommendation

I thought I should share a recommendation as well, so I’m nominating my Salter Aquatronic digital kitchen scales (see below). I was lucky enough to get this product free as an Amazon Vine reviewer, and was very impressed with it.

No bowl is provided with these scales, but because of the way they work you don’t need one. You can place any container you like on the scales and press the button to zero the display (so the scales disregard the container’s weight). You can then add your ingredient and the weight (or liquid volume if you prefer) will be shown. If you want to add further ingredients, you can zero the display again before doing so. Once you get the hang of this, it’s amazingly quick and simple. I use it all the time now, and even weighed a parcel on it recently 😀 I also like the way it hardly takes up any space at all in my kitchen when stored on its side.

As always, if you have any comments or queries about this article, please do post them below. And if you have any other favourite kitchen device, website or app, please do share it in the comments!

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Make a Will Online MAWO Review

Review: Make a Will Online – A Solicitor-Checked Online Will Writing Service

I was recently invited by a company called Make a Will Online to review their solicitor-checked online will writing service.

I have written before on Pounds and Sense about the importance of making a will, and the dangers (of which I have first-hand experience) of not doing it properly. In particular, I am very dubious about using ‘DIY wills’ and non-legally-trained will-writers, as I know all too well the problems that can occur when mistakes are made.

Make a Will Online (MAWO) offers solicitor-checked wills starting from just £29.95 for a single will or £39.50 for a pair. This is substantially cheaper than most similar services, e.g. FareWill charge £90 for a single will and £140 for a pair. MAWO also have mostly five-star reviews on TrustPilot. I was therefore keen to find out more about the service they offer.

How It Works

Creating a will with Make a Will Online involves a three-step process as follows…

1. Complete an Online Questionnaire

At the start of this you are asked to provide your address and contact details. These are used for the production of the will, to allow you to log in if you don’t complete your will in a single session, and to send you the completed document (via email).

You then answer a series of questions about whom you want to manage your estate (your executors, in other words), whom you would like to look after your children (if you have any), whom you would like to inherit your possessions, any special gifts or bequests you want to make, and any conditions you wish to attach to your will. You can also specify whether you prefer to be buried or cremated, and any special instructions you may have about the funeral.

2. Review, Confirm and Pay

At the end of the online questionnaire you are shown a summary of the information you have entered and can go back and make any amendments you wish. You then make a secure payment of £29.50 for a single will or £39.50 for a pair of wills. You can pay by credit/debit card or via your PayPal account if you have one.

3. Receive Your Will, Sign and Witness

Once you have made your secure payment, the will document is emailed to you, along with detailed instructions for making the will legal and a receipt for payment. Shortly afterwards, a solicitor will check the document to make sure that everything is in order. If anything is unclear, a member of the MAWO team will contact you by email.

The main thing you have to do to make the will legal is (of course) get it signed and witnessed. This has to be done by two adults who are not beneficiaries in the will. Full instructions for doing this are included in the email you receive once you have completed your payment.

You can choose to receive a printed version by post for £15.00 for a single will or £20 for a pair (though see below for a £5 discount voucher). Alternatively you can simply print out the emailed version of the will, staple the pages together as per the instructions provided, and have it signed and witnessed as above. Either way, you will then have a legal will which needs to be kept somewhere safe and secure until such time as it has to be referred to. Again, information about all this is included in the email you receive.

When you have finished making your will online, you can log in and make free changes to the document for 28 days. After that you can sign up for an optional lifetime updates service, which allows you to update your will at any time. This is free for the first year and then £10 per will per year (so in the case of a couple it would cost £20 a year).

My Experience

I created what was basically a duplicate of my existing will in order to try out the MAWO system.

I found the step-by-step process for completing the online questionnaire generally quick and intuitive. There are six main pages: Your Details, Executors, Guardians, Residuaries, Specific Gifts, and Funeral.

The Guardians section (see picture below) is only relevant if you have children; it allows you to specify whom you would like to look after them following your death.

MAWO Guardians page

Residuaries is where you name the people who are to receive the balance of your estate once any specific gifts (including donations to charity) have been disbursed. By default this is divided equally among the beneficiaries, but you can specify different proportions if you want.

The Funeral section is where you state whether you want to be buried or cremated, and any instructions surrounding the arrangements. You don’t have to complete this section if you don’t want to, though personally I think it’s wise to say whether you prefer to be buried or cremated at least, so your next of kin don’t have to agonize over this.

One thing I liked about all the pages is that there are ‘More Info’ buttons you can click on for more detail about the topic in question if you need it.

It’s also worth mentioning that different boxes open according to the selections you make. If you click on ‘Yes’ on the Guardians page (above), for example, new boxes will open allowing you to enter details of the person or persons concerned.

Finally, you are taken to a page where you can review what you have put, alter this if necessary, and proceed to payment. As already mentioned you can pay with a credit or debit card or via PayPal.

Once I had paid I received an email almost immediately with my will attached and a page of instructions for making it legal. About two hours later I received an email confirming that a solicitor had checked my will and not found any issues with it. Had I so wished, I could then have printed out the will document, stapled it together, and got it signed and witnessed. It would then have been fully legal.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I was impressed with the speed and simplicity of Make a Will Online. If you have a fairly straightforward will (as most people do) I see no reason not to recommend it. Of course, if your personal circumstances are complicated, or you have a substantial estate which may incur death duties, there is no substitute for seeing a solicitor face to face. This will inevitably cost quite a bit more, however.

One small reservation is that it’s still up to you to arrange to have your will signed and witnessed to make it legal. Full instructions are provided for doing this, and it’s not exactly rocket science. It is up to you, though, to ensure that you follow the rules correctly – no-one else will check this for you.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post or Make a Will Online, please feel free to post them below as usual. If I can’t answer a query myself, I will ask my contacts at MAWO for their response.

  • Special Offer – As an affiliate for Make a Will Online I can offer a discount code to anyone signing up via this blog post. Just enter the code MAWO5 at the checkout to get £5 off the price of a printed will. That’s a letter O in the code, not a number zero, by the way!

Disclosure: Make A Will Online kindly gave me the opportunity to try out their service free of charge. In addition, this post includes affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect the price you pay or the service you receive.

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How to avoid money mule scams

How to Avoid Money Mule Scams (Infographic)

Today I am sharing an infographic from the credit reference agency Equifax.

If you have ever seen a job ad which seemed too good to be true, you might have missed the opportunity of a lifetime – or (far more likely) you could have narrowly avoided becoming a money mule.

Money mules are often ordinary people who unwittingly assist criminals by helping them launder money. People who work as money mules are often taken in by job ads offering them the chance to work from home as ‘payment officers’ or ‘finance assistants’, earning large sums of money per week. But what they don’t realise is the cash they are earning is a commission on the money (generally the proceeds of crime) they are transferring.

The infographic reveals how to spot a fake job offer, what’s going on behind the scenes when you work as a money mule, and what will happen to you if – or more likely when – you get caught.

Thank you to Equifax for an eye-opening graphic. Of course, I appreciate that most readers of this blog will believe they are too money-savvy to fall for these scams. Nonetheless, when you (and perhaps your family) are in financial hardship, ads that appear to offer an easy route out can be very enticing.

Also, if you know any older (or younger) people who may be susceptible to such scams, it’s important to look out for them and offer advice and support when appropriate.

As Pounds and Sense is aimed primarily at middle-aged and older people, it’s also worth noting that the 2019 Cifas Fraudscape report found that the largest rise (35%) in money mules was among people aged between 41 and 60.

In summary, the old mantra still applies: if it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is. There are genuine ways to make a sideline income, and of course I cover them regularly in Pounds and Sense. Get-rich-quick schemes seldom if ever work, however, and can rapidly plunge you into a world of trouble.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post (or the infographic), please do leave them below.

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