10 awesome things to do in your lunch hour today

Spend your lunch hour today doing these 10 awesome things and watch the money stream into your bank account!

1) Track your spending

It’s easiest to save money when you know what you are spending your money on.

But who wants to sit down with their bank statements for hours and write down a budget? Especially nowadays, when you can make use of a free Spend tracker tool and do the same thing in a couple of minutes.

If you’ve never used one before, I can assure you that it’s dead easy to use – you just put in the details of your various bank accounts and credit cards, and it shows you exactly where your money is going in a nifty pie chart (so 30% on rent, 10% on food, things like that). You can also put in some spending and saving targets and measure your progress against them every month. Find out more.

2) Cut your car insurance costs

There are all sorts of ways you can cut the size of your car insurance bill, from altering your car usage to where you store the car at night. For help on cutting your premium, have a read of 10 tips to beat rising car insurance costs.

3) Cut your home insurance premiums

Many of us make all sorts of daft mistakes when it comes to home insurance, like getting the amount of cover completely wrong. However, it’s pretty easy to get a tip-top policy that won’t cost you a fortune – check out Eight reasons to switch your home insurance today.

Again, you can use a home insurance comparison engine to search for a cheaper policy. That’s a few minutes of your time very well spent.

4) Get cheap life insurance

When money is tight, it can be easy to think that things like life insurance are expensive luxuries. However, if you want to ensure your family does not lose out should you pass away, it’s essential.

But that doesn’t mean it has to be expensive. Indeed, Life insurance is at its cheapest level for nine years.

Donna Werbner looks at how much you can save by quitting smoking.

It used to be very complicated to buy life insurance, and you had to go through a broker. But now you can get a quote in seconds online, without having to speak to anyone.

5) Reduce your energy bills

It’s easy to forget about energy costs when the sunshine is out. But there’s never a bad time to snap up a cheaper deal.

You can search for the best deal in your area by using a energy quote engine, or check out this blog which covers off the best deals in the market every month. Read Top energy tariffs for the new financial year to find out this month’s tips!

6) Save money on your mortgage

It’s certainly a time of uncertainty in the mortgage market. Should you go for a fixed rate, knowing that base rate is going to have to start increasing soon? Or should you make the most of the cheap deals on offer from variable mortgages?

It can all be pretty confusing. If you want some fee-free independent advice, then it’s good idea to head over to an independent mortgage centre where you can pick the brains of a professional mortgage team over the phone, by email or via instant messenger – for free. Find out more

7) Food and drink

The cost of food has rocketed in recent times. Indeed, it’s one of the main reasons that inflation – the measurement of the change in the cost of living – has increased so rapidly over the past few months.

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One simple way to cut your food bill is to use MySupermarket. You fill your basket, and it tells you which supermarket works out the cheapest! But to keep up with the latest food deals in all supermarkets, as well as money-saving deals from the nation’s restaurants, check out this cool blog on Frugal Food.

8) Clean up your credit record

If you’ve had a rough couple of years, there’s a decent chance that your credit record may have taken a bit of a kicking. Perhaps you’ve fallen behind on your credit card payments, or your mortgage, or just not paid the gas bill.

The trouble is it can take a while to repair that damage. And repair it you should – a clean credit record allows you to snap up the best credit cards and mortgages, saving you money in the long run.

There are a number of credit builder credit cards which you should consider, which allow you to improve the state of your record over time. Below are some of my favourites.

Card	Representative APR	Other features
Barclaycard Initial	29.9%	Free text reminders five days before payment is due. Card is part of the Barclaycard Freedom package.
Capital One Bank Classic	34.9%	Credit limits start at £200, email alerts to keep you updated on your balance.
Capital One Bank Progress	29.9%	Over the course of 36 months can reduce the APR to 17.9% simply by staying within credit limits and keeping up with repayments.
Vanquis Bank Visa	39.9%	Credit limits of between £150 and £1,000 to start, online and SMS account management, free fraud monitoring on your account.

Cleaning up your credit rating doesn’t have to be hard, as we explain in 10 steps to a perfect credit record. One way is to monitor the state of your credit record by taking out a subscription to one of the various credit agencies, like Experian.

You can even enjoy a month’s free trial of these services. But if you don’t want to use the service after the month, remember to cancel your subscription.

9) Destroy your debt

Many of us have spent longer than we’d like to in the red as a result of the economic changes of the past couple of years. All the tips above will help you to clear your debt, but sometimes a little extra advice is needed.

Be sure to check out this weekly Dealing with Debt blog from debt charity Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS).

10) Get some answers!

All that is well and good, but what if you have a specific area of your finances you need help with? Perhaps you have a question about your credit card or energy bill or general debt that you need an answer for, and don’t know who to ask.

Why not harness the power of the internet and use this funky Q&A tool where you can ask any money question you like and get it answered by the expert readers of lovemoney.com? It’s totally free to ask questions and get the answers you need!

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