Money

Relentless pressure on the pound is pushing up shopping bills for families, with inflation climbing to 1.8 per cent. Food prices are being hiked for the first time since 2014 and a host of household staples, from Marmite to Nescafe, are becoming more expensive. Even the cost of tea is set to rise, with the owners of Tetley and Yorkshire now forced to pay more for imported leaves. These higher bills, combined with 'shrinkflation' of beloved chocolate bars such as Toblerone and Freddo, where a manufacturer reduces the size of a bar while charging the same price, mean families need to be smarter than ever with their weekly shop.

June Kenton, bra supplier to the Queen (pictured bottom left), says the Monarch is charged the same price for her bras as any member of the public. Kenton, who became a multi-millionaire when she sold her lingerie business Rigby & Peller, still goes to Buckingham Palace and holds the Royal Warrant as corsetiere to the Queen. Yet it has not always been easy. She started out selling ladieswear at Brixton market in South London and remembers struggling desperately to pay her bills as a young woman.

If you are exasperated with being tied into a lengthy contract for a product or service, do not despair. There is a way to live without being tethered to your provider. It is called 'pay as you go', an option which is finding favour across all age groups. Emma Mumford, a money-saving blogger known as The Coupon Queen, has spotted a resurgence of interest in 'pay as you go'.

Japan, Malaysia and Mexico are tipped as attractive destinations for British travellers keen this year to squeeze more value from their spending money. All three offer more local currency for your pound compared with popular destinations, such as France and Florida, which have seen exchange rates work against travellers. According to analysis by travel insurer Columbus Direct, the weak pound means two-fifths of holidaymakers expect to change their travel plans this year, with as many as eight million saying they will opt for a 'staycation' in the UK to save money.

Why do economists get it so wrong at times, is economics up to the job - and if not, what alternatives have we got? Economics is undergoing a bit of a crisis, after failing to predict the financial downturn - and forecasting a post Brexit vote meltdown that has failed to materialise.

Despite the savings, thousands of new widows in future are set to see their payments slashed from April, with some losing out on tens of thousands of pounds. The government predicts that the changes will cost it around £45million in the first two years. However after that, costs are set to fall even further, by around £21million every year.

I'm no fan of stamp duty, nor an enemy of buy-to-let, but with first-time buyers up and landlord purchases down, reversing the 3% surcharge for additional properties would be a mistake.

Can thermal foil on my windows help to insulate my home and in turn keep my energy bills down? If so how much am I likely to save by doing so? Or is it a waste of money and should I just pay out for double glazing or roof and wall insulation?

Kraft confirmed it had made a 'comprehensive proposal' about combining the two companies, but Unilever turned the offer down. The offer valued Unilever at $143billion (£115 billion), and would have been one of the largest mergers and acquisitions deals in corporate history.

Homes in Luton, Bedfordshire, have risen in value by 14 per cent in the past 12 months - more than double the national average - figures by the Office for National Statistics show. Towns such as Stevenage, in Hertfordshire, and Bedford, in Bedfordshire, are increasing at 16 per cent a year, while many Essex towns, including Thurrock, Colchester and Southend-on-Sea, are rising by between 12 per cent and 14 per cent.

When we moved house last August, we found that we could not have Virgin broadband, so signed up to Sky instead. In December, we noticed Sky had not cancelled our television agreement at our old address. It was still collecting £80 per month by direct debit, in addition to the charges for our new property.

Want to make your home look like like an edition of Grand F1 Designs? These 10 items of designer furniture will convert your living space into a museum of motorsport.All the components have done things like race round the city streets of Monaco, circled the Abu Dhabi marina, or take the flag at Spa Francorchamps. And now they could be gracing your living room.

Just when you thought it could not get any worse for savers, NS&I; cuts its rates again. Last week, the Government's savings arm said rates would fall by between 0.1 and 0.25 percentage points on accounts including Premium Bonds. The good news is that unfamiliar banks have started battling for top spot in our independent best buy tables.

Balancing on two side wheels on a perilously steep rock face helped concentrate my mind on the extreme off-road capability of Land Rover's versatile new Discovery 4x4.

David Borthwick, pictured, is no stranger to hard work. The 57-year-old gets up in the dark to open his family newsagents in Edinburgh at 3am every day. So he was over the moon in April 2015 when the Government said over-55s could cash in their entire pensions.But it turned out that years of high charges had eaten away most of his savings.

Phil Moran, from London, booked a villa on Airbnb last August, after friends raved about the spectacular properties available. He found a beautiful villa with a pool on the island of Ibiza, which looked ideal for their children. The website showed 19 pictures of the Spanish property - and one of a couple, whom Phil believed to be the hosts.

In our series Money Pit Stop, we ask a financial expert to give a free portfolio makeover. This week, a 33-year-old with an investment portfolio and £34,000 in premium bonds wants to know whether it's worth taking more risk with his investment portfolio so that he can take on more properties and give up working ahead of schedule.

The Government has publicly backed the development of 14 new 'garden villages' - but would you welcome or fight one of the new developments if they are in your neighbourhood? We reveal the locations of the new garden settlements and what you can do to find out more about the sites.

Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb is This Is Money's Agony Uncle. He is ready to answer your questions, whether you are still saving, in the process of stopping work, or juggling your finances in retirement. This week, a council worker and new mum wants to know how best to boost her savings so she can stop work at 60.

Unloved investments can prove to be profitable, while those that are popular can disappoint, says Mouhammed Choukeir, chief investment officer of Kleinwort Hambros. We tend to give recent events - good or bad - more weight than long-term history. We feel intuitively safer in the middle of herds, comforted by the throng, but blind to if it is headed over a cliff, he says. So it's time to think differently

There's a new kid on the Scandinavian block of interior terms. The Swedish art of lagom is the hottest new trend - and broadly translates as just the right amount. This is something that is being adopted by design-conscious homeowners across Britain, and getting on-trend with lagom could help sell your home. We reveal four that fit the bill.

To clear the average national household debt of ?13,000 at 6% interest with a monthly repayment of ?100 will take around 17 years. There are, however, plenty of simple ways to make significant savings on your regular spending that could clear your debt - or boost your savings - in less than a year. This is Money's top 50 - updated - money-saving tips may appear light-hearted but are deadly serious.

Choosing the right DIY platform is crucial but a wealth of choice and changes to charges have left many investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best. We also highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense, as it should protect your hopefully growing investments from tax forever.

The amount you can save into a pension ultimately depends on what you can afford - but the longer you leave it the more you will need to save. We tend to put ambitious targets on our hoped-for income in retirement and then underestimate how much we will need to set aside to achieve that. So how much should you save?

An interest rate cut before the end of the year looks less likely following the plunge in the pound. However, the Bank of England has indicated that higher inflation driven by rising import costs won't make it lift rates.

Despite endless media coverage of the political wrangling and financial speculation, the average Briton can be forgiven for remaining confused about what 'soft' and 'hard' Brexit really mean. But a clever table put together by HSBC cleaves some clarity from the murk.

Compare your pay to the national average and see whether your employer treated you to a pay rise in line with the the rest of your profession. Farmers, care and air travel assistants were big winners on the pay scales in 2016. Travel agents, careers advisers and probation officers lost out.