I have a friend who is setting up a hire company specialising in unusual objects for the tv and film market, and it made me think about hire vs own on a personal level. Sometimes it feels as though every action begins with obtaining the appropriate possession. There is so much pressure to “look the part”, or “achieve a professional finish” and other cliché phrases that suggest buying our way into whatever the activity is, or spending money on fancy products. Why do we automatically think of buying before borrowing, or hiring? DIY usually starts with a trip to the DIY store, and maybe instead, it should start with a pop round the neighbours, or a trip to the hire store.

If you were organising a wedding in town and needed 100 chairs, you wouldn’t buy them, because you’d know you’re only going to use them once. Instead, you’d hop onto google and search for Chair hire London. Why don’t our minds work that way for every low usage item, like power tools? If like me, you’re someone who only has use for a drill about once a year, you probably don’t need to own one, do you? I’m guessing that 80% of households on the average street, own some sort of power tool, or kitchen gadget that they only use once a year. It’s a massive waste, and yet we seem reluctant to borrow from neighbours.

Is it because we see possessions as a symbol of status and self sufficiency still, where borrowing from our neighbours or friends is a sign of weakness? It doesn’t matter how much we borrow from faceless banks behind the scenes, as long as it looks on the surface like we can afford our own cars, and power tools. Is that why we buy rather than loan? I hope that we’re not as desperate to keep up with the Jones’, as we have been in the last few decades, I certainly like the idea of borrowing from, and lending to my community more. Car share clubs have the right idea. It’s far too much hassle to own, tax, mot, insure and maintain a car, if you only use it once a fortnight. So why not just borrow one on an hourly ad-hoc basis, and let someone else do the paperwork?

Before you buy ask yourself these questions: Could I borrow, or hire this? Could I achieve the same results without making a purchase? Another angle is to ask yourself: Will this purchase hold me back from another greater goal?

Lavender is a wonderfully versatile product, that can be used in a number of ways to great (and affordable!) effect.

Cuts and Scratches
Lavender has natural antiseptic properties, it’s like human antivirus software. Dab lavender oil on cuts and scrapes as a protective salve rather than using TCP or alcohol.

Skin Care
For burned or irritated skin, add some lavender oil to moisturiser and apply twice daily. Lavender oil in water works as a great after-sun treatment. Just add a dash of lavender oil to a spray bottle of water and mist generously.

Washing
Tie a bundle of lavender flowers in cloth and add them to the tumble dryer. A great alternative to dryer sheets.

Recipes
Lavender makes an unusual, floral accent to many dishes like this Lavender Shortbread.

62g icing sugar
2 teaspoons teaspoons dried lavender
zest of one lemon
225g butter, room temperature
280g all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a food processor, pulse the icing sugar, dried lavender, and lemon zest until lavender flowers and lemon are well incorporated. Don’t be tempted to add more lavender as it can be quite strong and overpowering. Add the softened butter to the food processor and cream with the sugar. Add the flour and salt and mix just enough to combine.

Take the dough from the processor. and form into an 8 inch log. Wrap with greaseproof paper, and place in the fridge overnight, or for up to a few days. When ready to bake, heat oven to 190C. Slice the chilled dough into 1/4-inch slices. Bake for 13-15 minutes. You don’t want them to colour very much at all, so keep an eye on them, and don’t let them catch.

The Oxford Dictionary defines credit as:

“The ability of a customer to obtain goods or services before payment, based on the trust that payment will be made in the future”

The offshoot of credit is unquestionably debt. It surprises me that people do not always equate financial services as credit, and therefore do not realise they are in debt. I’ve compiled a list of the different types of credit, which I’m sure won’t be exhaustive, so feel free to mention anything that I’ve missed in the comments.

Personal Loans
You borrow money, that must be repaid at a later date with interest. Personal loans can be obtained for specific purposes, like buying a new car, paying for college fees, or for making home improvements. Regardless of what you’re borrowing the money for, loans are generally divided into two types:
Secured loans these are guaranteed by collateral of equal or greater value than the amount being borrowed, such as a car, or a home.
Unsecured loans these do not require collateral, and are instead made based on your credit score and perceived ability to repay.

Mortgages
Usually a large, long term loan to buy a property. There are various types of mortgage including repayment, interest only, interest rate, tracker, fixed rate, capped, lifetime mortgages and so on. For more information on types of mortgage, check out direct.gov.

Debt Consolidation
If you are having difficulty paying off your current loans, you may be able to consolidate the debt with a new lender who will put you on a single, reduced-interest payment plan. The new lender will effectively buy all of your debt. Because they can repay the debt, they may be able to negotiate discounts from your current lenders to make a profit. Although, they may also extend the time you have to pay off the loan, ultimately leaving you with more interest to pay in the long term.

Overdraft
Also called a credit limit. Your bank may allow you to take more money out of your account than you have in there. This is not your money, it is debt and more often than not, you will have to pay interest on it. The interest charged on overdrafts can be very high, especially if you go over the limit you had agreed with the bank.

Credit cards/Store cards
These allow repeated transactions up to a maximum credit limit. You will pay interest on the amount of money that you have borrowed, until you pay that money back.

Hire-Purchase
Often associated with buying a new car, when you enter into a hire purchase scheme, you are partly buying something, and partly renting it. At the end of the hire term, you may be faced with paying more money to buy the car outright, or walking away. Either way, you are unlikely to have got a bargain.

Buy Now Pay Later
Of course this is credit (and therefore debt), you are accepting receipt of something that you do not have to pay for yet. The danger in this sort of credit is that you could find that you get to the end of the term only to find that your circumstances have changed, and you can no longer pay the debt.

Mobile Phone Contracts/Gym Memberships/Car Insurance
Entering into an agreement to pay for goods or services over a specified time, is the same as being in debt. There are so many people who do not treat these contracts as debt, why? Usually, we cannot get out of them without buying our way out, or being prosecuted!

It can sometimes be difficult to avoid using credit to make some purchases, however when you have the option of paying upfront for something, in my opinion, this is nearly always the best option. It’s often cheaper to do this too, as you will not have to pay interest on the credit.

Pawnbroking
It sounds old school, although pawnbroking is alive and well. You give items of worth to a pawnbroker, and they lend you some money for a few days. If you cannot pay back the money, you are effectively defaulting on your loan, and the pawnbroker will keep and sell the item.

Payday Loans
Much like pawnbroking, payday loans, are short term loans, although they are based on credit rating rather than being secured with an item. The interest rates on these loans are often astronomical, leading to much criticism for the product.

Loan Sharks
Loan sharks are illegal money lenders who give out credit to people who cannot get it from any legal sources. The interest rates are laughable, and the penalties for late payments are criminal.
“We only loan people money who can’t get credit elsewhere. We start customers off on £200 and they have to pay £600 on that at £30 a week and then if they miss a payment it goes up. They get charged thirty quid for missing a payment and it just goes on like that,” says Jay, pictured above in a recent BBC interview.

This sudden cold spell has taken me off guard somewhat. I was born with the very British affliction of not being able to cope with extreme weather conditions. Hot, cold, wet, windy, it doesn’t matter, as soon as we’re out of mild, grey territory, I lose all feeling in my fingers, or something burns. I was planning on bringing you some tips on how to save on your heating bills this week, although with these sub-zero temperatures, there’s no way I’m going to ask you to turn the heating down, so I’ve thrown a curve ball and focused on water bills instead.

Charlie Mullins is the MD of Pimlico Plumbers, the UK’s biggest independent plumbing firm. He is Britain’s most famous plumber. When asked to describe himself on Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire, he said “I don’t back down from things, I don’t sit on the fence, and I’m always right”

In other words, after what is possibly the most long winded intro in the history of Curb Your Consumerism, he’s the perfect man to give you some no-nonsense advice on how to lower your water bills, so that’s what I asked him for.

Charlie’s top tips on how to lower your water bills:

1. Install a water efficient shower head. This will help you save on water and energy bills, due to the need to heat less water.

2. Install a thermostatically controlled shower valve which will save water by delivering the required temperature instantly.

3. Reduce your showering time – every minute you cut from your shower can save up to nine litres of water.

4. Check for dripping taps. Changing the washers can significantly cut your water bill by hundreds of litres a year, and in the case of hot taps save on energy bills too. A dripping tap can waste more than 2000 litres of water a month.

5. Update your toilet cistern to a duel flush system – ten half flushes saves enough water for a five minute shower.

As a quick and very cheap alternative to this, you could install a HIPPO system in your toilet cistern. The HIPPO is a small plastic bag which can easily be fitted into your cistern. Water is retained in the bag, helping to save water every time you flush. The HIPPO saves up to three litres of water with every flush.

6. Have your water meter checked to make sure you are only paying for the water you are using.

7. Make sure your hot water thermostat isn’t set too high. The higher the temperature of your hot water the more cold you will waste to cool it down to a safe, usable level.

8. Check your property for overflowing toilets and water tanks.

9. Check for leaking pipes by reading your water metre before you go to bed and then again in the morning. If there has been no water usage overnight, but the reading has changed, you may have a leaking pipe. Seek advice from a plumber.

10. Next time you buy any appliance that uses water, make sure you check the water efficiency rating – a washing machine rated AAA or higher can save 50 litres per load, and can also be used at a lower temperature to save on energy bills.

About Pimlico Plumbers:
Pimlico Plumbers are London’s leading domestic servicing and maintenance company, with over 100 dedicated service vans and 150 engineers serving London from vans with premises that are open 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

Pimlico Plumbers have more awards to their credit than any other company in the industry and they are the only London company to have twice won ‘National Installer of the Year.’

There are many of us with a healthy disdain for credit cards, due possible, to a chequered history with them. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to get through life without credit, so what do we do when we feel our credit rating is holding us back? I was pleased when CompareTheMarket.com approached me with some great advice on the matter.

When it comes to tackling bad credit and improving a damaged credit score, many people are simply clueless about where to begin and how to stop further degradation of their creditworthiness. With a few simple tips and procedures, however, bad credit can be turned around quickly and efficiently, allowing for approval and lower interest rates when securing mortgages, credit cards, personal loans, and even car insurance.

Stop Adding More Debt
The first step in dealing with poor credit is to simply stop adding any new debt to the existing burden that is weighing down a credit score. That means no more use of any credit cards, no new cars or homes, and no new loans. Everything should be frozen in place as it currently is, in order to quickly and efficiently handle the items which are weighing down creditworthiness. Of course, payments should continue to be made on all outstanding debts and, because trade lines actually help to improve a credit score, no credit cards or loans should be closed during this process.

Negotiate Debt Settlements, Deletions, and Goodwill to Boost Credit
The next step is to begin tackling outstanding items found on a credit report. These negatives can include things like past-due student loans, charged-off credit card accounts, and other debts sold to a collection agency. The most damaging thing to a credit is a late payment, which can have a significantly negative impact for up to three years from the date an account was reported late.

Determine which debts can be paid in full right away, and then make it a point to contact the original creditor or collection agency. Write a letter explaining how the account came to be past due, how it should be resolved, and ask for one of two things: a “pay for deletion,” which will see the negative account removed from a credit report when the debt has been satisfied, or a “goodwill request” which will have the creditor remove any negative reporting from a credit report once the account is returned to good standing.

These two things can boost credit scores dramatically when applied to all of the outstanding collection accounts, late payment accounts, and charged-off debts that often linger on the credit reports of those who have poor credit.

Apply for Credit Cards and Secured Loans to Boost Credit
Once outstanding debts, collection accounts, and late payments have been resolved, it’s time to apply for new credit. When a credit score is calculated, the scoring company takes into account not only the age of accounts (which is why a credit card should never be closed), but also the debt-to-credit ratio. Opening a new credit card or two will increase a consumer’s available credit; keeping balances low will indicate financial responsibility. Over time, this will overpower older, more negative entries on a credit report and lead to an overall boost in a consumer’s credit score.

Be Responsible
Credit is easy to damage and very hard to fix. Once out standing debts have been satisfied, and negative items resolved, it’s time to be responsible with all available credit options. Make timely payments that are above and beyond the minimum required, only charge items to a credit card if there are available funds to pay the balance off right away, and never miss a payment. And if a payment absolutely must be missed, get in contact with the credit card company or bank which is managing the account. Bad credit can be repaired, and avoided, simply by being responsible.

A recent study conducted by Professor Paul Whiteley at the Essex Centre, said that us Brits are more dishonest than we were in 2000.

A decade ago, 70% of people said having an affair was never justified but this dropped to just 50% in 2011. The survey also found that the proportion who said picking up money found in the street was never justified dropped from almost 40% a decade ago to less than 20%.

It is speculated that this diminishing honesty is due to the fact that we are fed on a media diet of terrible role models in the form of bankers, journalists, and footballers.

Bankers wages are in the press at the moment because RBS boss Steven Hester has today agreed to give up a £1million bonus. This man will never have to worry about the price of his weekly grocery shop, or where to obtain well priced fabric sofas, then again, I don’t think he should have to. Taking on a bank post implosion, is an incredibly difficult thing to do, which is why I’m not overly upset that Hester receives a £1.2 million a year salary.

If we’re going to talk about obscene, then let’s talk football. Chelsea’s players earn on average £68,946 per week, or £3.6 million a year. Ashley Cole’s annual wage is £5 million. This is the same Ashley Cole who last year, is reported to have taken an air riffle into work, and whilst “larking around” accidentally shot the work experience boy in the side from a distance of 5 feet. This particular air riffle is said to be the most powerful gun that can be owned without a firearms license, and not really the sort of thing to take into the workplace. If I’d taken a weapon of any kind into work, and caused a flesh wound to a colleague, serious or not, I would expect to be fired immediately. Cole apparently received a fine of £250k, which is the equivalent of around 2 weeks wage.

The effect of these role models on society is something to be worried about. Professor Paul Whiteley said “If social capital is low and people are suspicious and don’t work together, those communities have worse health, worse educational performance, they are less happy and they are less economically developed and entrepreneurial. It really does have a profound effect,” he added “If integrity continues to decline in the future, then it will be very difficult to mobilise volunteers to support the Big Society initiative.”

It doesn’t matter whether you’re investing in gold, finding your way around the property market, or dabbling with Exchange Traded Funds, there are some basic things that you need to know, before beginning to invest in anything.

Understand Your Market
There is an element of risk in every investment, some say the higher the risk, the more you stand to gain, or of course lose. If you venture into an investment without knowing what you are doing, you are increasing the risks and might as well be gambling. Successful investment takes research and planning, if you don’t understand what a company does, then why on earth would you invest in it? It sounds obvious, although you’d be surprised at how many people invest without getting to grips with a companies financials, or without researching what might effect the value of their funds.

Create Your Own Investment Principles
Making money from investments of any sort, is a complex business with so many variables that no one could understand them all. This makes accurately predicting what will happen to the price of gold, or the housing market, impossible. For this reason, many investors create their own investment principles that they apply like rules to every potential trade they make. These rules need to be tight enough to protect you from risks that you do not feel comfortable with, and wide enough to give you the scope to take a few calculated risks. For instance, Warren Buffett, one of the most successful investors of all time, is not comfortable with investing in tech companies, so he never has. I’m sure there have been many tempting tech start-ups that have come and gone over the years, however, he has stayed true to his principles, and never touched them. Putting money into the unknown, increases the risks, and there are enough other sectors to keep Buffett busy. You may decide that learning the intricacies of foreign property law, is not a good use of your time, and take the decision to never buy property abroad. Of course, the opposite may be true, and you might relish the chance to get stuck into the research. Your principles should be there to allow you to make investments that play to your strengths and protect you from your weaknesses.

Diversify
Diversification is about balancing risk. If you are starting out as an investor, you are going to want to look at the funds available and spread them out across a mix of different investments based on what you have already established you feel comfortable with. Keeping 100% of your funds in fixed interest bank products will give you the safest return, however it will also give you a low yield. Balancing a percentage of your assets in ‘safe’ investments will protect you from total disaster, should the worst happen and all your investments dive. In theory, the larger percentage you have in risky investments, the more potential you have for growth. You may want to make one of your principles to do with never investing more than a certain percentage of your assets in what you deem to be risky investment types.

Diversification is not only about balancing safe and risky, it’s also about balancing the type of investments i.e. if they have money in property, they may also want to also have some in ETFs. A venture capitalist may also want to invest in antique diamond rings. When investing in companies, you might want to chose to be diverse about the types of companies you invest in, whether that be tech vs utilities, or companies with a predictable turnover vs those with erratic income streams. Of course, your diversification also needs to be in tune with your investment principles.

So there you have it, thoroughly research every investment. Create your own rules to protect yourself from what you do not understand, and diversify to protect yourself from risk. The key to successful investing is knowing why you are making decisions. If you feel like you are making a punt on something, then you are well and truly in gambling territory.

I wrote a post a while ago called Nifty Tricks for Cheaper Car Insurance, this was picked up by Confused.com, who offered to chip in with their own insider tricks, on how to get the best car insurance quote possible. So here you have it, car insurance tips straight from the horses mouth…

Car insurance: Love it or hate it, if you want to drive you’ve got to have it. It’s one of the few legally required purchases we make in life and, because it typically costs hundreds of pounds it tends to be one of the most expensive purchases we make in a year. So we’re always on the lookout for a good deal.

People have always been encouraged to shop around for car insurance since…well, since there was more than one car insurer probably, and Confused.com was set up to make that process simpler and easier, especially as there are now more than 100 car insurance brands in the UK. So we know a few things about it and how to reduce your premiums while still getting the cover you need. Read on for some insider tips…

Shop around
OK, we’re a price comparison site, so we would say this, wouldn’t we? But it’s true. Premiums for new customers are calculated differently to those for existing ones which means you can never be sure that your current insurer is offering you the best deal. It might be their best deal, but is it the best deal? You won’t know unless you look.

As your situation changes so does your premium
There are many factors that go into calculating a car insurance quote: Age, car, gender (at the time of writing anyway), address… the list goes on. If you have ever bought car insurance you’ll know the number of questions that get asked. Only one of these has to change for the cost of your car insurance to rise or fall.

These days, car insurance brands are all aimed at a section of the driving market. The most obvious ones, if you pay attention to TV adverts, are women and the over 50’s, but others will aim to be competitive for young drivers, people living in London, families, etc. Chances are you fall into more than one category so it’s a good idea to look at what the different companies offer you, and as your situation changes (getting older, married, divorced, have kids) then the companies that are most competitive for you will change.

The details matter
In fact, your situation doesn’t have to change at all; it just depends on how an insurance company looks at it. Let’s take jobs as an example. If you have ever filled in an online form that has a list of jobs for you to scroll through and select then you’ll know that they can vary. One car insurer may, for example, list nurse, doctor and surgeon as their medical professions. Another may split the category of nurse further, into midwife, ICU nurse, army nurse, A&E, heart, etc. The details can matter – just think of the differences in job between a general ward nurse and one in the army.

Fully Comp could be cheaper
It may go against the grain but a quote for fully comprehensive cover could be cheaper than third party only (TPO), the reason being that people looking at cutting down the cost of their insurance by considering TPO or third party, fire and theft (TPFT) cover tend to be high risk drivers – i.e. young or with convictions, or driving a heavily modified car.

Garages can be dangerous
You may think that parking your car in a garage will reduce the cost of your insurance because it’s more secure and protected from the elements. Not necessarily. Parking your car in a garage can increase your insurance premium. Why? Simple: Plenty of insurers have had to pay out for drivers having accidents getting their car into and out of the garage. Plus, it’s rare that a car is the only thing stored in there – ladders, pots of paint, saws, plenty of things that can fall of a shelf and damage a car.

A protected no-claims bonus might not be worth it
Got a no-claims bonus (NCB) of 20 years and proud to have it, so want to protect it? Fair enough, but it might not be worth it. Most insurance companies state that with a protected NCB the discount will still apply should you become involved in an accident that wasn’t you fault. That’s true, but come renewal your premium will still go up. Why? Because you were in an accident, and statistically that means you are likely to be involved in another in the next few years. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. So although the NCB is being applied, it’s being applied to a higher overall figure.

The cheapest quote might not be the cheapest quote
We’ve already said that there are different factors involved in calculating a car insurance premium, but there is also what the policy covers as standard and what is extra. One simple example is that one quote is cheaper than another because it does not include a courtesy car in the event of yours being repaired after an accident. The second quote does and costs £30 more, and to add a courtesy car on the first quote will cost £40, so if you want that car you would be better off getting what appears to be the more expensive quote.

What this boils down to is checking what is involved in a policy as standard and what is extra, because to drive down the price some insurance companies strip out certain benefits, making them optional extras. So think about what you really want from your car insurance cover beforehand so you know what to look for and what to compare on.

Excess payments
An excess is the amount of money you pay towards the cost of repairs before an insurer pays anything, so if you have an accident that causes £500 worth of repairs and a £200 excess, your insurer pays £300. The higher the excess you are willing to pay, the less your premium is.

It’s a gamble, but so is everything with insurance.

This article was written by Rob Powell from Confused.com, the car insurance comparison website.

I’ve been using a Vodafone pay as you go sim card for a while now, with an old handset left over from my days working for Nokia. I wanted to upgrade to an iPhone 4S, with unlimited or near unlimited data as a priority.

As you probably know, I hate credit. I’m not indifferent to it, I don’t dislike it, I hate it. A mobile phone contract is just that, it’s credit. It’s an agreement to pay x a month for up to 24 months. You’re locked into that agreement whatever happens to your circumstance. Another thing I hate, is paying over the odds for something. Happily, the cheapest way to get yourself connected with an iphone 4S, does not require a contract, which means no credit.

I chose to buy an unlocked 16GB iPhone 4S from Apple, and take out a £10 a month bundle, or goody bag as giffgaff call it. The £10 goody bag from giffgaff gives users 250 UK minutes, unlimited UK texts, unlimited internet and free calls, texts, call forwarding and video calls to other giffgaff users. Including the cost of the phone, 12 months of this service, plus the iphone, will cost a total of £619, or £51.58 on average per month.

A comparable tariff is available through Tesco Mobile. iPhone 4S, 250 minutes, 5000 texts, and 1Gb of data. Overall, it costs £635, or £52.92 on average per month.

The crucial difference between the two options is that the giffgaff tariff does not tie you in for the whole 12 months. You can decide at any point not to take out another monthly goody bag. If your circumstances change, you do not have to worry about continuing to pay the monthly contract even if you aren’t using it.

Giffgaff keep their prices low by not using call centers for non-financial enquiries. Their customer service is handled by a customers base who is ncentivised with cash, to answer questions through an online forum. For someone who spends a good deal (ok the majority) of their time online, I’m totally happy with the idea of a user-run forum providing my support.

So there you have it, the cheapest way to get yourself an iPhone 4S with a basic package including unlimited data, is by buying the handset through Apple, and a goody bag from giffgaff.

If you want to join up to the Hollywood Bootcamp program yourself, you can do so at Exercise.com.

Stats

I’ve added the exact measurements below, as the chart above is only really going to show trend.

N.b. The charts above are linking from my google spreadsheet directly and will update as the weeks go on. So if you’re looking at this and wondering why there are more than the first four weeks measurements, it’s because you’re reading in the future.