Mrs Mean Money Show

It has never been more important to make our money go further. Inflation may have reduced, but we are still paying a lot more for our food,energy and homes. One way open to us all to make money is to sell stuff. It may be old clothes, old books, games, tech toys, kitchen equipment, in fact anything you have finished with. Remember we typically wear less than half the clothes we own. We have wardro...

Fraud is an increasing problem in the UK made worse by the closure of thousands of bank branches. Banks are now required to pay compensation up to £85,000 within five days when criminals defraud their customers. But as banks try to reduce their potential compensation bills it is becoming more difficult to make bank transfers and open new accounts, especially if your bank has closed the local branc...

Supermarkets make it difficult for us to get the best value for our money. They game us with their loyalty cards, special prices, extra points, yo-yo pricing and price matching. The last quarter of the year is the most profitable for them. We all need to work hard to make sure we are not made fools of by attractive displays, misleading prices and two tier pricing. Shopping takes a little longer, b...

The way we work has changed in recent years and employees are set to get more opportunities to make work work for them and their families. Compressed four-day weeks will give employees the chance to complete a full working week in four days and continue to earn their full salaries. They will also be able to save big money as they are more productive for their employers. Working from home saves big...

Our finances have never been so sorely tested. Energy bills are increasing so are water bills and tax is also a worry among Mrs Mean listeners. But that does not mean we have to accept the bad news without fighting back. There are lots of tips to save money on energy and water bills. Now is the time to check them out. Those trying to improve their financial positions also need to make sure that si...

Student finances are even tougher this year for those starting their university courses, as maintenance loans are just 2.5% higher than last year, even though rents and other costs are increasing far faster than the cash help. The average maintenace loan is just £6,116 less than the average rent. And to make matters worse the financial help offered by the Students Loans Company has been reduced fo...

Cash is making a comeback. The cost of living crisis means that millions of people have to watch every penny and cannot afford to get carried away with credit cards or contactless ones. The number of people using cash for day-to-day spending is at a four-year high and cash is used for 12% of all transactions. It gives greater control of our money and does not fool us into thinking we have more mon...

The world gets faster but it can make us very vulnerable as scammers and the unscrupulous, trick us into making decisions too quickly. The banks are not always helpful if customers are defrauded. It is not only the elderly who are at risk. We all have to make sure we do not click on links, open attachments or accept phone calls from unknown senders. Busy people are probably the most vulnerable as...

Home insurance bills are racing ahead. It means we all have to do our research early and be ready to move fast when renewing our policies if we want to save money. With average increases of 42% we need to check every aspect of our cover. Too many people pay too much for their buildings' insurance because they insure for the sale price of their home and not the rebuild cost. Lots of people are also...

Cyber attacks and IT glitches are happening more often, affecting millions of customers, and they can put our money in danger. Not only are hackers after our money, but fraudsters are ready to use news of IT glitches to persuade us to hand over our account details. They pretend to be from our banks, credit card companies or other organisations. They are very apologetic that our information is in d...

We can all make extra money, and in most cases we will not have to pay any extra tax into the bargain. Whether it is selling on clothes that no longer fit, hiring out power tools, renting a room or space in your driveway you can start earning in days. With taxes at a 70-year-high and food and energy prices still much higher than they were a couple of years ago most of us need exta money, and it ha...

Customers are owed £3.7 billion by energy companies. The money has built up from overpayments of direct debits and should be returned. Companies err on the side of overcharging when they set up the amounts we have to pay for direct debits. A small buffer is sensible, but all too often customers are owed hundreds of pounds and more. We need to get our money back and after a 12% price reduction in A...

It is the peak holiday booking season as we look forward to summer sunshine. But first of all you need to make sure you get a great deal for your flight, hotel, hire car and holiday money. And as soon as you book you must protect the dream with travel insurance. We tell you how to avoid being ripped off by hire car companies, which are the best days to travel, and how to avoid extra costs. Avoid a...

Millions of credit card customers face a big increase in the cost of their borrowing, but many will not know.   Barclaycard is reducing the minimum payments that customers will be charged from July.  Someone owing £2,500 will have a minimum payment of  £71. 21 from July down from £89.96 - an apparent  saving of £18 a month.    But this move alone increases the cost of paying off balances because c...

Children are very expensive, especially if you work.    The government has increased the financial help it gives towards child care costs so that the parents of two-year-olds can now get a contribution towards the costs.  But this is still likely to be a lot less than is needed.  The official line is that two-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours free child care a week if the parents each earn less t...

Loyalty is the latest tool that supermarkets use to lure us into their stores.  Big signs and advertisements suggest we can save lots  of money  but in reality you need to take a calculator, check prices carefully on grocery websites and allow extra time if you are not going to be ripped off.  Loyalty cards offer cheaper prices to customers who have them.   But this loyalty is fickle and the offer...

April is the cruellest month when many of our household bills increase.  The battle  to tame inflation has not yet  been won so we have to cut our household  bills wherever possible.  Even energy bills that are set to be reduced by 12% on April 1 are still more than twice what they were before Ukraine was invaded.   So there is no better time to check all our household bills to find out where savi...

It is crunch time for millions of homeowners whose fixed rate mortgages expire this year.  They face much bigger monthly payments. After 14 interest rate increases over the last two years, and no sign from the Bank of England that there will be a reduction any time soon, many are fearful they could lose their homes, and may be putting off finding out just how bad the news is.  It may be scary, but...

Succeeding in your A level exams is vital for the school students wanting to go to university this autumn.  But almost as important, as their studies, is working out how they will afford to live whilst they are at university.  The government has increased maintenance loans for undergraduates by 2.5% for students going to university this autumn.  This comes after a 2.8% increase last year and two y...

Tax returns have been filed so it is now time to find out if there is any money that HMRC owes you, and the quicker you are the more you might get.  The current tax year ends on April 5 and if you make a claim before then for an allowance you should have then you may be able to backdate the claim to 2019. And there is lots of money waiting for you to claim it.   There are 2.1 million couples who a...

Insurance companies are competting to charge us more.   The average homes' insurance policy already cost 36% more this year than last, before storms Babet, Ciaran and Debi damaged thousands of homes  causing half a billion pounds worth of damage.   And then came the even more powerful  Henk. While the insurance  companies will find reasons to increase our premiums we all need to make sure we...

Banks make billions a year by charging borrowers lots and paying savers little.  Now with mortgage rates coming down as banks compete for customers savers have to be nimble if they are not going to lose out. Now is the time to find out whether you can get a better return on any savings you have. Banks are already reducing the interest they pay on deposits and have long paid little or nothing to cu...

We have been battling inflation all year and now retailers are trying to persuade us to spend whatever we have managed to save. Everywhere we are being offered half price goods and even cheaper. Before you are tempted you have tocheck whether the price cuts are as good as the stores say, and whether you need what is being offered. It has been a tough year for retailers but we do not need to help t...

New Year is an opportunity to get our finances under control. There is the quiet period after Christmas to review all our accounts and to work out if there is money to be saved. More people are using cash to give themselves better control of their money.  It is much more difficult to overspend when the cash runs out and we notice every overspend. It is tougher this year to balance budgets but ther...

Christmas is a tremendous financial strain each year, and it is probably worse this year as interest rates, food prices,  energy bills all challenge household budgets.  We all need to learn how to do more for less. There are lots of ways of giving presents that cost nothing, and even more ways of raising extra cash in the next few weeks . Banks are giving away up to £200 to customers who move thei...