2016: the year I try to teach myself more about money!
8 Things I did in month 2 of improving my personal finance know-how:
- Used mysupermarket to check I’m getting the right deal when I’m doing supermarket shopping. As I suspected, it’s still Asda and Aldi/Lidl that come out top for my items.
- Saw a Mortgage Adviser for the first time in my life. Useful, even if the mere thought of buying property in London is enough to send the average person screaming from the room.
- Started reading Money Week, ‘ft thrift’, and other personal finance pages like the Telegraph.
- Did you know you can pay a cheque in by post, and it only costs you a stamp? If you live far away from your bank, it’s a good option, and once the cheque is received they’ll process it within 24 hours so it’s no less quick.
- Tried (and failed) to revert to using my maiden name on my current account. I’ll be ‘angry blogging’ about this once I’ve actually managed to do it.
- Read 2 money related books from the library – by Martin Lewis and John Lanchester. I learned a lot. Made a change from reading a crime thriller, although I read one of them anyway.
- Had another go at using a cashback site, and purchasing using a cashback credit card that comes with my current account, even if it’s a tiny extra 0.5%. The thing is I haven’t actually needed to buy anything yet, so haven’t made any cashback earnings!
- Found out there is a new Postgraduate Loan available this year through Student Finance England. Who knew about this? I swear they’re hiding it.