Take in a lodger to make some extra cash
Filed under: Financial Crisis, House and Home
The recession may be over, but tens of thousands of people are still in financial trouble, with debts spiralling out of control. So renting out a spare room has become a popular way of bringing in some extra cash.Spareroom.co.uk has seen a large rise in the number of people advertising for a lodger on the website - both existing live-in landlords and people looking to take in a lodger for the first time.
Students hit with record rent rises
Filed under: Families, Budgeting & Planning
Students heading to university this autumn have been hit with record rent rises – bad news for many parents who pick up the bill.Average student rent now tops £65 a week nationally, a 4.3% annual increase – more than double that of the past two years, according to website Accommodation for Students.
Unions are planning to destroy summer
Filed under: Financial Crisis
The government has been keen to push the concept that 'we're all in this together'. We all enjoyed the boom years, so we all have to take the pain of cuts together in order to pay for it. It's not an easy message, and not one we're all going to warm to, but if we could all take it on the chin and learn to cope, we could all hope for a financially sustainable future.The problem is that we're apparently not all in it together. The unions have decided they are in it for their members (which after-all is the job of a union). Unfortunately for everyone else it means a double whammy of financial pain and the kinds of strikes that could ruin your summer.
NPower axes fixed energy deal. Fix now!
Filed under: House and Home
Npower has withdrawn its ridiculously-named Go Fix v2 tariff, which was offering the cheapest fix on the market. It's notoriously difficult to tell when prices are about to rise, and it's worth locking in at the cheapest price you can, but this is a signal is ever there was one.So what's going to happen and what should you do?
Empty nesters find new freedom
Filed under: Families
Parents whose children are about to fly the nest need not worry about feeling lonely and depressed.Forget 'empty nest syndrome' – within weeks you will feel better than ever.
Stelios launches Easyjet travel rivals
Stelios Haji-Ioannou (that's sir Stelios to you) is launching a series of new travel-themed companies. They will put the entrepreneur, who now only owns a minority of Easyjet, in conflict with his most famous brand. Stelios and Easyjet are already locked in a legal battle. And now Stelios has created Easyholidays, Easyflights and Easyairtours, which will compete with Easyjet's own holidays wing, things can only get bitter.
Lotto Lout who blew £9m win loses £600,000 on house sale
Lotto Lout Michael Carroll – aka Chavvy McChavChav – has been forced to sell the Norfolk mansion he bought with part of the £9.7 million he won on the National Lottery before blowing it all on drugs, prostitutes, smashing up cars and wild parties for his "friends".And he will make a £600,000 loss on the house because he and his friends wrecked it. After legal fees, he will be left with little more than £50,000.
House prices: hold tight, we're going down
Filed under: Property
The surveyors have spoken: house prices are set for a massive fall. There are some people you can count on in life for their boundless optimism. Kids TV presenters, extreme sports fans, and surveyors. So when the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors comes out with a set of negative figures, things are indeed looking grim for house prices.
Brits urged to take care of pennies
More than £40 million in loose change could be lost down the back of Britons' sofas, a bank has said.The average person thinks they have £1.61 down the back of their sofa, while two-thirds of us regularly find loose coins, according to Halifax.
Great, cheap family days out
Filed under: Travel, Entertainment, Families
There are loads of places in Britain that make a great family day out. And lots of them are free! Here is a round-up of some of the best.
