Everything Else

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

May 11, 2020

Let’s Talk About Money – National Conversation Week Starts Today

Today I am sharing some information about National Conversation Week, a collaborative initiative between financial organizations Paymentshield and Defaqto, together with mental health charity Mind.

What is National Conversation Week?

National Conversation Week – which this year runs from 11 to 18 May – aims to get people talking in a bid to improve the nation’s well-being, at a time when we are all facing unprecedented challenges and are separated from one another. This annual awareness week, founded by Paymentshield, is now in its fourth year.

Through safe conversations via phone, video calls, or any other socially-distanced method, people can bring comfort and care to one another during the current crisis. National Conversation Week reminds people to get in touch, and encourages creative ways of connecting with friends, family, neighbours, acquaintances, online communities and professionals, to give and receive much-needed support.

In particular, National Conversation Week hopes to encourage conversations about money, to tackle financial worries. A recent YouGov study of over 1000 GB adults, commissioned by Paymentshield, revealed that finances were the single biggest concern when asked to select from a list of 7, with 32% of respondents admitting that money is the thing that worries them the most – ranking higher than work, family, friends, fitness, housework, and hobbies. This is likely to have increased following the outbreak of coronavirus, with many people facing additional financial difficulty and uncertainty.

Financial Worries and Mental Health

Financial worries have a huge impact on mental health, and talking to someone about the situation can be very helpful. Shockingly, Paymentshield’s research discovered that 41% of people rarely ask for financial advice when they need it.

According to financial experts at Paymentshield, during periods of financial uncertainty, people tend to consider their outgoings and can be tempted to make risky financial decisions based purely on cost. Seeking the help of professionals is especially recommended during these periods, to avoid being left vulnerable if, for example, you cancel an insurance policy and are no longer protected, or swap to a cheaper policy without understanding how to avoid higher compulsory excess fees. National Conversation Week raises awareness of the benefits of talking to financial advisers, so that people can have a better understanding of what they can do if their circumstances have changed.

As part of the awareness week, a variety of free resources and information have been released. This includes mental health information from Mind, which is National Conversation Week’s charity partner for the second year in a row.

Stephen Buckley, Head of Information at Mind, says:

“The coronavirus outbreak will have a long-term impact on our economy – we’re likely to see another recession as the nation attempts to get back on its feet. We know there is a strong link between issues like debt, unemployment, poor housing and poor mental health.

“So, it stands to reason that factors like job insecurity, unemployment, low paid work and redundancy could have a knock-on impact on mental health. Unfortunately, we know these kinds of factors disproportionately affect people who have existing mental health problems. That’s why it’s important that financial support and support with wider social issues are there for people when they need it.

“Speaking about these issues and asking for help may seem daunting but sharing your worries can be a real relief and is often the first step in getting the help you need. We’re supporting National Conversation Week in the hope that it will encourage people to speak to a friend, family member, or another trusted individual about how you’re feeling.”

Jennifer Ripley, Head of Marketing at Paymentshield, says:

“We might not be able to see each other face-to-face, but that doesn’t mean that conversations have to stop. We know that right now is a particularly worrying and challenging time, especially with so much uncertainty, and whilst people are cut off from their usual support networks. It’s more important than ever before that we stay in touch, especially when it comes to financial conversations. Money is one of the biggest contributors to poor mental health. We’re calling on the nation to keep the conversation going – from video calls with a financial expert, to a chat with grandparents – and support each other.”

Independent financial research company Defaqto is also supporting this year’s National Conversation Week. Its independent comparison tools can be used alongside conversation on many websites (such as this one) to gain a better understanding of the overall value and quality of a financial product.

To mark the start of the week, Paymentshield has also launched an online quiz to help people find out more about their financial personality, and how conversation could benefit them. Why not try it out now to see what sort of financial personality you have? I am ‘Budget Bobby’, apparently!

More Resources

For more information, resources and advice, or ways to get involved, visit: www.nationalconversationweek.co.uk.

For advice and support looking after your mental health at this time visit www.mind.org.uk/coronavirus.

For more information and tips visit www.mind.org.uk/money.

Thank you to my friends at National Conversation Week for sharing the information above and, in particular, raising the very important issue of mental health and financial awareness at this challenging time. I strongly recommend checking out the website resources mentioned. And I’d like to endorse the advice that if you have money worries, don’t bury your head in the sand. Speak to friends and family members, and to a financial expert if appropriate (here’s a link to my blog post about why I have a personal financial adviser).

If you are working from home right now, by choice or due to the virus, you may also enjoy this excellent piece by my fellow blogger Actual Ar about Keeping on Top of Your Well-being as a Remote Worker.

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post and/or National Conversation Week, please do leave them below.

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

April 7, 2020

My Coronavirus Crisis Experience So Far…

Nick Everything Else events 4 Comments

I thought today I’d share a more personal post about how the coronavirus, and the measures to prevent it spreading, have affected me personally.

First of all – as many of you will know – I live on my own since my partner, Jayne, passed away a few years ago. I am fortunate to live in a fairly large house with a good-sized garden, so being mostly confined to barracks hasn’t been as big a challenge for me as I’m sure it has for some. Also, I am used to working from home, having done this for the last 30 years or so.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the coronavirus crisis hasn’t affected me in a variety of ways. As Pounds and Sense is a money blog, I thought I should start off with that…

Financial

One hard thing for me (and many other people, of course) has been seeing my equity-based investments – and in particular my pension fund – tumble in value. I’m 64 and semi-retired and my SIPP is in drawdown, so I have been particularly concerned about this. But I have tried to follow my own advice and avoid panicking. In the longer term I am sure that the markets will recover, even if this could take years rather than months.

In general my P2P/crowdfunding investments have been holding up better, with my Bricklane property ISA up substantially over the last few months. Admittedly I am hearing stories about some P2P platforms such as RateSetter struggling to process the large volume of withdrawal requests at the moment, but again I am sitting tight for now, so this isn’t affecting me directly. I have reinvested some of my returns from maturing investments on Kuflink on their new secondary market (see screen capture below), so will be interested to see how this works out.

I did decide to invest £7,000 – the proceeds of another maturing investment – in another vehicle for Buy2LetCars. As regular readers will know, I’ve had one (new) car with this car loan investment platform for about two years now, and the monthly repayments have been coming through like clockwork. So I decided to invest my £7,000 (the minimum investment with Buy2LetCars) in another car – a pre-owned one this time, of course.

I particularly liked the idea of investing again with Buy2LetCars, as they lease vehicles to key workers such as nurses and other NHS staff (along with teachers, prison officers, police, and so on). These people all need cars for their (essential) work. They are responsible individuals, and have every incentive to look after the vehicles (though as they are fully insured, investors don’t bear any risk from accidents themselves).

Unfortunately Buy2LetCars don’t tell you who has leased ‘your’ car, but I like to think the ones I have bought are providing transport and security for two hard-working NHS nurses at this moment 🙂

The only other investment I have made recently is a modest top-up to my Nutmeg Stocks and Shares ISA. This is obviously a bit of a gamble, but with equities having fallen so much in such a short time, I hope to take advantage when the markets start to rise again. Of course, there is no guarantee that the markets won’t fall further in the short term, but based on my experiences to date I am confident that the Nutmeg team will do their utmost to protect my investment and soon enough start it growing again.

I am also waiting to hear if I will be eligible for the government scheme to support self-employed workers. I think I should be, as I appear to meet all the criteria. Indeed, as they are basing payments on profits earned in the tax years 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19, this should actually work in my favour. I earned quite a lot more in 2016/17 and 2017/18 than I am earning now, as I glide serenely into retirement (lol). I won’t turn down any money I am offered as it will provide welcome added financial security. But I appreciate that my needs are probably not as acute as many self-employed people right now.

Personal

On a personal level, the crisis has also affected me in a range of ways. Some of these are predictable, others less so.

Thankfully I have managed to avoid contracting the virus so far (as far as I know). I do, however, have good friends who (probably) have it. Fortunately they haven’t had to go into hospital, though. I am following all the guidelines about social distancing and self-isolating and really hoping to avoid catching it myself (at least until better treatments and hopefully a vaccine are available).

Like most people I have had to contend with the results of panic buying, which have left the supermarket shelves bare of certain items. Here’s a photo of the toilet roll shelves in my local Morrisons a couple of weeks ago when panic buying was at its peak…

On another occasion when I went to Waitrose the only fresh vegetables left in the shop were baby courgettes (I bought a pack – they were very nice in a stir fry).

On my recent shopping trips the situation seems to be getting better. I have been able to buy most things I needed, including eggs, which had disappeared for a while. There is still no flour or pasta, but as it happened I have enough in stock to keep me going for a while yet.

I am taking a daily walk (as mandated by the government) for exercise. In fact there is nothing new about this for me, as working from home I have always tried to fit a walk into my daily schedule. But suddenly I am seeing a lot more people (and families) out and about on the roads and back lanes. People seem a little friendlier generally, more willing to say ‘good morning’ or some such greeting as they pass. I am also becoming accustomed to zigzagging from one side of the road to the other to avoid breaching social distancing rules!

I do miss being able to go for a swim. I used to go twice a week if possible to my local David Lloyd Leisure club, but that is now closed for the foreseeable future. Daily walks are good, but not really a substitute for this. I am not a natural exerciser, but am making an effort to be a bit more active in other ways at home. Having a large garden which needs a lot of attention at this time of year helps!

One online resource I have been finding very helpful is the local community website NextDoor (which I wrote about in this blog post). When last week I was despairing about ever seeing eggs again, I posted there asking if anyone knew where they might be obtained. Within a couple of hours I had over a dozen replies, including suggestions of several local shops I hadn’t even realised were still open.

A side benefit is that I am discovering shops and businesses around my area I wasn’t previously aware of, even though I have lived here for over twenty years. That includes several farm shops, including one that is barely a mile away. Also via NextDoor I learned that my town (Burntwood) is host to a fruit wine making company, and they even deliver free to local residents. I plan to order from them once I have decided whether to get damson or gooseberry 🙂

I am making good use of technology to keep in touch with friends and family (even though it’s obviously not the same as meeting face to face). My Skype skills have improved, and I even took part in an online pub quiz via Skype last week (though I’m told by younger friends that Skype is ‘old hat’ and I need to get on Zoom now!). I have also watched a couple of concerts livestreamed from the living rooms of the musicians concerned.

I was going to sign up for the NHS Volunteer Responders programme, but was a bit slow off the mark. By the time I got around to it, they had closed to new applications. If they reopen I will certainly apply though. In the meantime I am shopping for an elderly couple – old friends of mine – who are self-isolating and have been unable to get online shopping slots with any supermarket despite being officially ‘vulnerable’..

If there is one good thing that has come out of this, it is that in general people are looking out for one another a bit more. I was on the receiving end of this myself recently. The doorbell rang and when I opened it I saw a young man whose face seemed vaguely familiar. I was rather embarrassed when he explained he was my neighbour from over the road, come to check if I needed any help. It’s definitely not like Ramsay Street around here! But it’s good to know people are thinking of others at this time. And if I see that neighbour again in future, hopefully I will remember who he is now!

So that has been my experience of the coronavirus crisis to date. Not great, but I am dealing with it and trying not to get too stressed out. I do of course appreciate that I am in a fortunate position compared with many other people. I hope you and your family are coping in these strange and worrying times as well. I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. If you have any comments or questions, as always, please do post them below.

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

March 23, 2020

Download My Kindle Ebooks Free This Week!

Nick Everything Else events, writing 0 Comments

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:

March 16, 2020

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

Nick Everything Else events, competitions 0 Comments

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 🙂

Meet the Bloggers Taking Part

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

The Prizes

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:

February 18, 2020

Booking a Holiday with Airbnb

Nick Saving Money, Everything Else reviews, property, travel 2 Comments

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).

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).

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.

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

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:

December 23, 2019

My Top Twenty Posts of 2019

Nick Everything Else events 0 Comments

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:

December 1, 2019

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

Nick Everything Else events, food, competitions 3 Comments

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

Meet the Bloggers Taking Part

The bloggers taking part in this festive giveaway are:

The Prizes

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:

November 14, 2019

Elderly People and Scams (Infographic)

Nick Everything Else infographic, retirement 2 Comments

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:

Online scams (for example, via fake emails)
Phone scams (where scammers call up and pretend to be a company or business)
Postal scams (where fake letters encourage people to reveal their bank details)
Doorstep scams (where scammers try to gain access to your home, or ask for money)

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:

November 3, 2019

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

Nick Everything Else events, competitions 2 Comments

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:

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

Mind Over Money Matters

Side Hustle Directory

Daily Deals Blog

Chilling With Lucas

Tammymum

Big Family Organised Chaos

Midlands Traveller

I Always Believed in Futures

Looking After Your Pennies

Accidental Hipster Mum

Mummy Saver Money Maker

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

November 1, 2019

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

Nick Everything Else food, blogging 8 Comments

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!

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

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