Mrs Mean Money Show

Using cash is the best way to survive if you are struggling with your budget during the cost of living crisis and need to be mean. It is not only the poor that are worried about paying for their rent, mortgages, food or energy bills. Unfortunately we have got too used to contactless cards, credit and debit cards and do not always know how much money we have to spend.  The money runs out before the...

Babies and children upset budgets more than any non-parent can imagine.  We all want to do the best for our children, whether it is violin classes, shiny new laptops or the best buggy on the market.  Such is the desire to get everything right for our children we can easily be persuaded to part with our money, especially in the months leading up to the birth. Much better to take advice from parents...

Complaining has never been more important. But you have to do it well.  There are fewer employees waiting for our calls or emails in call centres so it can take literally hours to get through to someone who will help us to get things sorted out. Mrs Mean tells when to call to get through and how to make sure you can be effective.   Be prepared. Be professional and do not be fobbed off. Ombudsmen c...

The massive hike in energy bills from October 1 2022 when the energy price cap is increased by 80% means that all of us  have to think about using less gas and electricity.   Even those who can afford the bills this winter should want to cut back as analysts warn of possible outages.  The more we use now could also push up prices next year. Mrs Mean says that now is the time to start cutting back....

Price comparison websites promise to save us hundreds of pounds but we need to be wary and not leave all the work to these websites.  To start with not all insurers, mortgage lenders, banks and apps are on all price comparison websites.  To get the best deal you need to go on more than one comparison site, and then some.  Direct Line Insurance is only available from the company. NFU Mutual does no...

In tough times more of us are looking down the back of the sofa for coins or in jacket pockets for forgotten fivers and we may need to raid the children's piggy banks, but we should be more ambitious.  There is lots of money out there with our name on it.  Millions of bank accounts are dormant in that we have not paid money in or taken it out for more than 24 months.  Sometimes we have even f...

We all like it when we  think we are getting something for nothing but we need to make sure these offers are not an expensive mistake.  Free trials for Amazon Prime or other subscriptions are great if you do not forget to cancel within the 30 days and end up paying almost £100  annually for years. Even worse are the birthday gifts offered by restaurants. You may get a free main course or bottle of...

Retailers and manufactureres work hard to sell us expensive warranties for white goods such as fridges, freezers, washing machine, dishwashers.  They try to sell the contracts when we buy the equipment and again when the regular warranty ends.    They are expensive and may not pay out when you have trouble.  Remember the average washing machine will last seven years and two months and gas cookers...

Transport costs are expensive whether it's by train, tube, bus or plane.  Booking early should save money but there are lots of traps that can cost you dearly.   Get the wrong middle name on an airplane booking can cost more than £100, failing to print a boarding pass or waiting until you arrive at the airport to pay for luggage to go into the hold is similarly costly.  You need to make sure...

The first thing you need to know is exactly what income you have each month after deductions for tax, National Insurance and pensions.  Then you need to list the fixed costs such as rent, mortgage, council tax, energy and water bills. But what catches most people out are those occasional costs such as birthdays or insurance renewals.  Even though we all have to work with a 12 month 52 week year Ch...

Mrs Mean has used credit cards for more than 40 years but over the last 20 years she has made sure she has not paid a penny in interest or other charges.   As families increase the use of cards to buy groceries she warns that we must  all know the cost of using credit cards and other types of credit and the damage to their budgets and their credit profiles that can be caused by missed or late paym...

Being a careful shopper can save you £s In this episode Mrs Mean warns shoppers to allow time and use their calculators.  The supermarket trickery may require you to compare the price per capsule with the price per kg for the same brand  washing detergent in different size packs.   Don't believe the bigger pack is always better value whatever the signage says. Usually the best value is on the...