Virgin Media Mobile!

Apr 21

Virgin Media is all about saving you money. We’re not talking about its cheap, great-value broadband and tempting tariffs for your mobile, either. This time, Virgin Media has created a thrifty guide designed to save you money through the use of mobile apps and more!

It includes things such as mobile messaging; using WhatsApp to send data instead of texts messages, and calling; making the most out of Skype for free international phone calls.

It’ll even predict the total amount of money you could save! It instructs you with regards to billing, and why you should always choose paperless (not least for the environment), as well as exploring the handy BillMinder app, which’ll help you keep track of your payments.

Travel is one expense that all city-goers endure, but Virgin Media’s money-saving infographic even has tips to make sure you can get from A to B in the cheapest way possible. Whether that’s using London Tube Exits App, CityMapper or Waze.

So if you love saving time and cutting costs, then visit the infographic here!

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Negotiating Your Offer: Simple Strategies for Homebuyers

Mar 03

It’s time to make an offer on a home, but you’re not a professional negotiator. That’s OK. You’ll need to brush up on your skills though. Negotiation is one of the most important aspects of buying a home. Your ability to negotiate will often determine the price you pay for a home, and it could save or cost your thousands of dollars, depending on which way the negotiations go.

Get Pre-approval

Always, always, always get a pre-approval. This is one of the biggest mistakes that new home buyers make. They walk onto a property without any clue how of how they’re going to pay for it. It’s frustrating for the seller, all of the agents involved, and the buyer when he can’t sign a contract for the house he wants.

Pre-approval means that you’ve already filled out an application, gone through the process of a credit check, and the bank has approved you for a loan. You just need final approval based on the actual house you want to buy.

Take a Tour

Take a tour of the home you want to make an offer on. You’ll have to go to a few open houses, take lots of private tours but, when you’re ready, take a final walkthrough. Inspect everything. Then, tell the seller why you love their home. This establishes rapport. It also shows that you’re genuinely interested in the home.

Make an offer that is anywhere between 90 and 97 percent of the asking price, based on any repairs that might need to be done to the home. If extensive repairs or concessions need to be made, offer less. Don’t lowball the seller, however, if the home is in decent shape.

Making Your Initial Offer

Your initial offer is an important one. It sets the tone for future negotiations. Ideally, you’ll offer somewhere between 90 and 97 percent of the asking price. This allows for some room for negotiation. If you start too high, you’ll end up hitting the seller’s asking price too soon. You’ll also pay more for the house than you need to. Bid too low, and you risk offending the seller and losing the home altogether.

Getting A Home Inspection

Make sure you pay for an Austin home inspector to come and inspect the home from top to bottom. Most homeowners don’t do this, but it’s one of the most important steps in the negotiation process. It gives you more wiggle room in the price if the inspector finds something wrong with the house. For example, let’s say your initial bid on a $100,000 home is $97,000. The home inspection reveals that there’s a problem with the water heater and the furnace is about to die. That’s not good. Furnaces can cost upwards of $4,000 to $10,000 or even more. Hot water heaters aren’t cheap either. The inspection might also reveal whether the home infested with pests like termites and needs to be serviced from companies like Pest Control Experts (https://www.pestcontrolexperts.com/local/georgia/) to solve this issue. Something like this might not cost too much but if the termite infestation has been happening for a while it could have properly rotted through the wooden structure of the house and therefore, the house is not worth your money.

Here’s where you can approach the seller and ask for a concession on the price of the home. You’ll need a new water heater immediately, and the furnace is about to die, so you can ask for money off to buy a new one.

Get An Appraisal

Get an official appraisal of the home. Some homeowners are irrationally attached to their home for sentimental reasons, even when they’re selling. They’ll assign a higher value than what the market can bear. An appraisal will ferret out the true value of the home so you don’t pay more than what the house is actually worth.

Get Your Agent To Negotiate

Spend some time learning how to find a realtor that knows how to negotiate for you. After all, this is what your realtor is for – not just signing the paperwork. A good realtor will be able to assess the seller’s willingness to sell, and will also understand how to negotiate the deal.

Most realtors are trained in negotiation, but that doesn’t mean that all real estate professionals are equally adept at it. Interview 10 agents, and ask about their previous sales. This will be a good indicator of what they can do for you.

Dennis Ellis has a long career in the real estate market. After years of working with homebuyers, he enjoys writing about navigating buying and selling property for the everyday person.

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Top Five Tips for Using Payday Loans Safely

Feb 25

When used carefully, a payday loan can be the perfect short-term solution to all types of financial problems. Unexpected car repairs, overdue monthly bills, debt payments and groceries are just a few examples of expenses that can be covered quickly with payday loans. While lenders used to run brick-and-mortar businesses in the past, most have since taken their services online. Now that digital storefronts are becoming increasingly common, getting an advance is easier and more tempting than ever before. You no longer need to leave your home to find a lender in your area with business hours that fit your schedule. With a few clicks of your mouse, you can secure a loan from Northcash and have it deposited into your bank account overnight. All you need is proof of income and a working checking account.

 

The downside is that payday advances still come with high interest rates, and you can find yourself in serious financial trouble if you start to rely on them to pay off most of your household expenses. Following the five tips below can help you learn how to use payday loans efficiently and avoid getting caught in the dreaded borrowing cycle.

 

1. Focus on paying bills with payday loans rather than expenses that can wait until your next paycheck

Since payday loans carry high interest rates, prioritize paying off bills such as electrical, roof, or plumbing repairs as that could help save you money. Let us look at the hypothetical example of an electrical problem you need to have fixed. You looked up “electrician near me in allentown pa” and had a professional come over to fix your power lines and monitor recent electrical surges. By spending your loan amount on such fixes, you will be able to consume electricity normally, without worrying about energy wastage. Likewise, plumbing repairs can save you money by reducing water consumption and waste efficiently, thereby resulting in a regular bill amount rather than a high one. So, figure out what bills need to be prioritised in order to avoid bigger and more expensive problems in the future.

 

2. Research borrowing rules and interest rates

Because taking out a payday loan on your computer only takes a few minutes, it’s easy to get lazy about reading the small print. To assess whether taking an advance really makes sense in your situation, you need to know exactly how much money you can expect to spend on the entire process after it’s done.

 

3. Have a plan for repaying your advance by its due date

There’s absolutely nothing dangerous about taking out payday advances if you already know that you can repay them on time. When you’re confronted with an expense that needs to be taken care of immediately, there’s sometimes a tendency not to think about the future. In fact, being pressured to make a payment now is one of the top reasons why people have bad experiences with using payday loans. To use an advance safely, you need to have a plan for how you’re going to repay the money you’ll owe before you even think about applying.

4. Use secure websites with a good reputation

Legitimate lenders have transparent backgrounds, testimonials from real people and active social media pages. They’re also upfront about their terms of service. If you come across any businesses that ask you to wire money before the process is over, it’s a sure sign that you’re dealing with a scammer. In general, always avoid deals that sound too good to be true.

 

5. Stick to one lender

Borrowing money from multiple lenders is how people get trapped in the cycle of renewing loans and taking out one advance to pay off another while their interest rates continue to grow. Unfortunately, most borrowers who juggle loans from multiple lenders don’t realize how much they owe until it’s too late. While renewing your loan once or twice won’t bankrupt you, going to the same lender can help you stay in control.

 

Nam is a finance expert writer who has a particular interest in covering topics on loans. He’s a regular contributor on PaydayLoansGuide.org.

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How much does Love cost you (Hint: A LOT)

Feb 13

This awesome infographic from Luma dropped by my inbox today – and with me being a happy divorcee remarried it made me chuckle.

I wonder if I would ever have set up Moneysavingblog.org if it wasn’t for the ex 🙂

Take a look at the Infographic either by clicking here or over at Luma directly.

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August 2012 – Saving money on all utilities with a utility bill swoop! Debt rolling all the way down to £16,950 PAID OFF!

Aug 31

Well been to cleaning job this morning so that’s all done. Went to Aldi on the way back and spent £41 but £5 of that was on a cup cake holder for me . Can’t afford it and don’t bloody need it but hey ho it got bought.

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July 2012 – A good month – a few sucesses and progress is being made £16,120 PAID OFF!

Jul 30

I am in a lucky position in some ways. As I mentioned in my original post, my parents are currently covering the rent that I should be paying to them. My dad is wonderful with money; he was the one that put me on to this site years ago. He has sorted my parents finances out no end but unfortunately they are steadily falling back into uncomfortable territory because of me.

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