Something came up at work this week where I caught the tail end of a conversation where someone said they were ashamed to be having problems with their debt. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but as I was walking back to the office, I found myself thinking about it again.

I can understand their point, but shame can very quickly turn to pride when you make the decision to deal with your debt rather than just stick your head in the sand and roll on from month to month.

Am I ashamed of the fact I am in debt? No I’m not. It happens, it’s life. It’s how you deal with it that counts.

Am I proud to be dealing with my debts? You bet I am.

My First Weekly Roundup

You could spend a lifetime reading personal finance blogs and likely still not find all the good bits. Periodically I’ll round up some of my favourites and share them. Here are my 5 for this week:

1. “Frugality That’s Outside The Realms of Possibility” from The Simple Dollar.
2. “Going Broke to Win Big” from Financial Samurai.
3. “How to Get A Raise (Or At Least Keep Your Job)” from Five Cent Nickel.
4. “How Buying an iPhone Can Make You Rich” from Monevator.
5. “Being Rich is Not a Sin” at MoneyNing.

Don’t miss out!

The Oblivious Investor is still offering his new book “Investing Made Simple” for free download while stocks last (ahem). Grab it while you can as after October 1 rolls round, it will be an opportunity lost.

Enjoy!

• 5 Things I Will Do When Debt Free
• Community Networking
• One in Four Households Struggling
• MBNA Launch Best Credit Card Balance Transfer Deal Ever
• Giving to Charity

Being frugal isn’t about becoming miserly and miserable. It’s about making sound financial choices that will make you prosper, save you money in the long run, and re-evaluate your connection with consumerism.

Every Friday I give you my tip of the week on all things frugal – except this week I’m giving you 5 to chew on over the weekend!

Use a 30 Day List

Want a new laptop? Fridge? TV? DVD Player? DVD?

Whenever you consider making a non-essential purchase such as the latest DVD, or a big purchase such as a new laptop, don’t go and order it the moment you think about it. I know Stuff Magazine says its the best TV on the planet, but do you need the 72″ version?

The idea behind the 30 Day List is you write down the stuff you want to buy right now and then the date of whatever today + 30 days will be, and disallow yourself to buy it until that date comes round. You sleep on it for 30 nights, research it during the 30 days, and perhaps find something better or cheaper in the meantime. It’s also possible you decide during the enforced wait that actually, you’d rather keep the £3,000 you were going to spend in your savings account instead.

Count to Ten

This is the smaller cousin of the 30 Day List and is much simpler. Despite its simplicity, it’s still really, really effective. Imagine you’ve picked up a £14.95 DVD in Tesco because you really want to watch it. Before you put it in your trolley, hold it and just count to ten. Convince yourself why you should buy it right now, rather than just put it in your LoveFilm list. Still want to shell out £14.95?

Didn’t think so.

Drop a Price Plan

Mobile phones are expensive, and deliberately so. Are you really using the 5,000 minutes and 45,000 text messages included in your plan at £55 a month? Could you make do with 300 minutes and 300 texts instead at just £15 a month (or somewhere inbetween)? Even if you’re still in contract, most carriers will permit you to drop one price plan after a couple of months – if you can still fit your usage comfortably in the plan below – switch to it. You could save hundreds of pounds a year!

Eat Out Less

The old favourite! Eating out is hellishly expensive, and it’s not all that good for your waistline either. If you eat out three times a week (not outside the realms of possibility for most folk), then you’re going to spend at least £10 a time. If there are 2 or more of you then that shoots up to £25 or beyond with ease. I’m going to shock you now:

That’s £3,900 a year on takeaways or restaurant food (based on £25 a pop, 3 times a week for a year)! That pays for the TV if you really want it on your 30 Day List, plus enough left over to get the surround sound cinema system to go with it.

If your primary excuse for eating out is a lack of time, then you might want to take a gander at last week’s Frugal Friday tip.

Switch to Energy-Saving Lightbulbs

According to the Energy Saving Trust, if you replace every lightbulb in your home with energy saving equivalents you could save upwards of £45 a year or more. Most retailers have deals on at the moment on these, so there has never been a better time to go and grab an armful. They last considerably longer as well so even if you spend £45 this year buying them, you’ll make back that inside 12 months.

And you won’t have to buy any for another 3-5 years netting you somewhere between £135 and £225 off your electricity bill during their lifetime.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Got a frugal tip to share? See you in the comments.

• 7 Reasons My Friend is Poor
• Why Rate Chasing is Worth It
• Personal Recessions
• My Financial Meltdown: Part 1
• A Guide to: Individual Savings Accounts (ISA)

It’s not widely known that if you wear a uniform at work that you have to subsequently wash at home, you can claim a reduction in tax anywhere from £20 to £140 a year. The government will give you that figure every year to cover the expense of having to wash your own clothes! This is in more official parlance, termed the Fixed Rate Expense Allowance, which changes your tax code to increase your pre-taxable earnings.

You won’t get this without asking for it, so you need to write to your tax office (your HR or wages department will be able to tell you which this is, if it isn’t written on a document you have to hand such as a P60). Once you know you need to contact, it’s game on.

To find out if you qualify and to access a list of the occupations that benefit from this – and there are a lot – click here. You’ll be presented with a very long list on Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs website which shows the industry and where necessary the type of work within that industry, and how much you are entitled to claim.

Find the address of your tax office. This is fairly simple, the HMRC website has a little tool you can use to pull up the relevant one. Click here to access it.

Finally, make your claim. I’ve put together a template letter you can use to make your claim. If you’re a Google member, just select ‘File’ > ‘Save as New Copy’ to edit it, change the required points, then print it out. If you’re not a member then you’ll need to select ‘File’ > ‘Download Document As’ and choose whichever word processor you normally use, then make your changes and print it out.

You can also backdate your claim, but results vary. See the old rates and work it into your letter depending on your circumstances. HMRC will write back to you after a fashion, confirming your claim.

Literally 10 minutes of your time, an envelope and a stamp could net you up to £140 a year. Simples!

Did you already know about this?

• Frugal Friday! 5 Easy Ways to Spend Less
• Personal Finance: Pessimist or Frugalist?
• My Adult Life in Graphs
• A Fundamental Question - Answered?
• My Financial Meltdown: Part 3