50 ways to make and save money: Essential recession-beating tips

We're all feeling the pinch. Here's your chance to bite back against the credit crunch as we present 50 ingenious ways to make and save money...
Around the home

1) Don't take a tumble

Tumble dryers use a huge amount of energy. Hanging clothes on the line or an indoor drying rack could knock £45 a year off energy bills.

2) Turn it off!

Switching off lights, TVs and other appliances as you leave a room can save the average family £37 a year.

3) Turn heating down in winter

Most people set their home thermostat at more than 22c. Next winter try setting it at 18 to 21 degrees and wearing a sweater or fleece around the house. Turning your heating down by one degree could slice a tenth off your bill.
Woman in the laundry room

Hang clothes on a line rather than using a tumble dryer and save £45 a year
With your bills

4) Pay by direct debit

Energy firms frequently reserve their best deals for those who sign up to direct debit. And there are firms which penalise you if you don't sign up - BT, for example, charges £4.50 a quarter for those who won't use direct debit.

5) Swap energy provider

Go to a comparison site such as uSwitch.com, moneysupermarket.com or compare.dailymail.co.uk and you could cut up to £170 a year off energy bills by finding a cheaper tariff. To get the cheapest possible bill, you'll need to take both electricity and gas from the same firm, accept internet billing and pay by direct debit.

* Energy bills calculator
* Is now the time to switch?

6) Switch insurers

Don't simply accept the renewal policy when your car or house policy comes to an end. Go to comparison websites to see if you can get a better deal. Then see if your insurer can do better.

* Compare cheapest car policies
* Compare cheapest home policies

7) Bundle

By taking out gas and electricity with the same company you can usually save. Likewise phone and broadband deals are usually cheaper bundled by the likes of TalkTalk. Sky and Virgin Media go a step further and add TV.

* Broadband comparisons

8) Switch or ditch?

Millions of us pay for TV packages with Sky or Virgin Media, but have channels we don't watch. Several TV channels are sold in packages, so channels you don't use could be costing you money. Take note of what you actually watch for a month.

If you only watch a couple of films, it may be cheaper to sign up to a DVD subscription such as easycinema rather than paying Sky or Virgin for films, or use a free channel such as Film4. Comparison sites Simplifydigital and uSwitch have searches that allow you to compare the different packages.

* Compare digital TV packages
* How to cancel Sky TV

9) Get web savvy

Many companies give discounts to those who receive bills by email instead of through the post - for example, TalkTalk will knock £1.25 off your monthly bill. Moneysupermarket comparison site says British Gas's standard average yearly rate is £1,202.43.

But if customers were to move to its online product, the rate would be £1,018. And O2 offers a £29.38-a-month contract where you would get 400 minutes and 1,000 texts if purchased online. However, if you turned up to a store, you would only get 400 minutes and 500 texts.
On the phone
cloe

Save: Cleo Eden has saved £80 by changing her mobile network provider

Cleo Eden reckons she has saved £80 a year by moving from her old mobile phone tariff to Virgin Mobile. Money is tight for single mother-of-two Cleo, 33, as she is taking a teaching course at Birmingham University.

So cutting her mobile bill was an obvious way to save costs. She compared some of the other tariffs on the market, but by moving to Virgin she discovered she could get more minutes and a new phone for around £7 a month less than she was paying with O2.

Cleo, who lives in West Bromwich, West Midlands with her son Joseph, seven, and daughter Harriett, two, says: 'When an essay is due or there is an exam, I am constantly phoning and texting people and my old tariff was costing me a lot of money. I needed more minutes.' She has 100 minutes and 100 texts for £15 a month, plus she also got a new Samsung phone.

10) Say no to expensive calls

If you are calling an 0845 and 0870 number, then visit saynoto0870.com to see if there is a local number you can call. Most credit cards have an alternative number printed on them from abroad - use this number in the UK, too, but substitute a 0 for the 44. Consider blocking calls to 07 and 09 numbers - your phone company should do this free of charge. You'll be amazed at how much this can save.

* An alternative way to take revenge on 0870

11) Talk can be cheap

Calling abroad need not be expensive, as certain companies charge a minimum flat rate (normally the cost of a standard UK landline call) for connecting you. Some phone packages such as those offered by TalkTalk include international calls to certain countries. Then there are internet phone services such as Skype or Sipphone. You will need

a headset and a microphone, but once you have downloaded the right software you can talk free of charge to anyone else in the world on the same phone service. Be wary because PC to phone calls can be more expensive.

12) Change your contract

Don't just sign up to the same provider at the end of your mobile or landline contract. Check how many calls you make and texts you send. Most phone companies will allow you to transfer your existing number to the new network.

* Compare cheapest home telephone deals

13) Sell your old mobile

Almost every time you switch to a new contract you are given a new mobile phone. Even the oldest handset can be worth cash. Money4urmobile.com, for example, could give you up to £150 for an unwanted mobile phone depending on its age and model. Other sites include envirofone.com and mopay.co.uk - or you could just give it to a charity.
On the move
Sharing a car has saved us £1,300 a year

Michelle and Darren: Sharing a car has saved us £1,300 a year

Michelle and Darren Pitt have saved hundreds of pounds by switching their energy bills and using their car less.

They are expecting their first baby in September and were looking for ways to cut costs.

Michelle, 26, a human resources officer, says: 'When we found out I was pregnant, we wanted to find ways to save some money - the cost of nappies alone are eyewatering.'

'So we sat down to figure out areas where we could save - it took us no time to realise where we could cut back and probably only half an hour to sort it out.'

They used to pay around £1,400 a year for gas and electricity at their house in New Haw, Surrey, but switched to a 12-month contract with EON - cutting their monthly bill by £35. And paying by direct debit knocked another £112 off their payments.

Darren, 35, a group publishing manager working in Teddington, Middlesex, used to drive to work - spending £100 a month on petrol and £45 on insurance. Now he carshares with a friend and sometimes cycles - saving around £1,300 a year, and keeping fit, too.

14) Ditch your car

Joining a car club or car-share scheme might help you save money.

Instead of paying the one-off cost of buying a car, annual insurance, tax, petrol, MoT, and running repairs, you just pay for the time you actually use it. Firms such as Streetcar allow you to book a car for as little as £3.95 an hour or £49.50 for 24 hours.

15) Be a better driver

Keeping your tyres correctly inflated, removing heavy objects from the boot, taking off the roof rack and turning off the air conditioning will save money. Likewise filling your tank up only half way will mean you are carrying less weight and use less fuel. Drive in the correct gear and change when the revs get to 2,500rpm in a petrol car or 2,000rpm in a diesel. Accelerate and brake gently.

* More advice on how to cut the cost of motoring

16) Find cheap fuel

At petrolprices.com, enter your postcode and you can track down the cheapest pump in your neighbourhood.

17) Pay in one go

Many car insurers charge interest of upwards of 15 per cent to pay your insurance in monthly instalments. So pay in one lump sum.

* More car insurance advice and tips

18) Get a rail card

There are five types of railcards that knock almost a third off your train journeys: for 16-25 year olds; senior citizens; family and friends; Network card (which confusingly means just the South-East); and disabled.
With your banking

19) Give yourself a financial health check

Look at your bank and credit card statements and highlight in different colours 1) necessary bills 2) food and transport 3) other spending. Now roughly add up this final column. Most people are staggered to see how much they spend on unnecessary items.

* Household budget calculator

board properties.

Pay extra off your mortgage while interest rates are so low

20) Overpay your home loan

While interest rates are low, pay a little extra each month off your mortgage and you could clear your debt years early, saving thousands of pounds in interest. London & Country Mortgages says if you paid an extra £50 a month on a typical £150,000 loan, you would save £12,965 in interest and clear your loan two years and five months early.

* How to clear your mortgage early

21) Ditch packaged accounts

Bank current accounts which charge a monthly fee for extra services may be good for some people. But if you aren't using the breakdown cover or mobile phone insurance that comes with it, stop paying around £15 a month for it. Move to a standard free account.

* Compare current accounts

22) Make your savings work

Check what rate your savings are earning. If you haven't opened a new savings account in some time, you could be earning as little as 0.1 per cent. But the best High Street account from Abbey pays 2.5 per cent and the best internet deal pays 3 per cent. This could give you an extra £29 interest a year on every £1,000.

* Compare savings accounts based on different criteria

23) Use your Isa allowance

You can put a total of £7,200 into an Isa this year rising to £10,200 next year (the new limit applies from October for those aged 50 and over). Money in an Isa grows free of income tax and capital gains tax. All this up to £3,600 (£5,100 from next April) can go into a cash Isa and earn tax-free interest. This can boost the interest of a basic rate taxpayer by 25 per cent and a higher rate taxpayer by 66 per cent.

* How to pick the best Isa: Accounts and funds

24) Balance savings and debts

Check the interest rate on your savings and on your debts, especially credit cards. If you are being charged more interest on your debts than you are earning after tax on your savings (and you almost certainly will be), then use the savings to pay off your debt. Beware of early repayment penalties on personal loans.

* Loan repayments calculator
* How long to clear your credit card on current repayment rate

On holiday
Young family splashing on poolside

Make a switch: Cut the cost of a holiday by swapping homes with another family

25) Get a cheap credit card

Most credit and debit cards charge you when they convert foreign currencies back to sterling - typically this will be 2.75 per cent of whatever you spent, though can be as high as 2.99 per cent. However, some cards don't charge this. Abbey Zero charges nothing, and Saga is the same for spending in Europe, though charges 1 per cent for the rest of the world. Nationwide is free in Europe and 0.84 per cent elsewhere.

* How to get the cheapest foreign currency and holiday cards

26) Hide your mobile

The cost of using your mobile is not the rip-off it once was - but it still can be expensive. From July 1, the European Union capped charges at around 10p for sending a text, and around 37p for receiving a call. Bills for using the internet are much higher. Keep it turned off most of the time.

27) House swap

Cut the cost of your holiday by swapping homes with another family. You will normally have to pay for an agency to help arrange the switch - between £30 and £150 a year. After this there are no other costs other than getting to your destination. The most common countries that take part in these schemes are the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

* How to swap houses for a cheaper holiday

Making money

28) Sell your junk

Put your unwanted clothes and furniture up for sale. Put anything up. Start the bidding on websites such as eBay or Gumtree for 99p. Take a photo, write a description and then watch it sell. It only takes a few minutes.

You'll be amazed at how much you can make from what you think is trash. Remember to add a delivery charge and send it recorded delivery. And for heavy items mark it as 'pick-up only', then the buyer must come and collect it. Or go to a car boot sale. Pitches vary between £5 to £20. Find sales in your area at www.carbootjunction.com.

* How to get the best price on eBay

29) Make your opinions earn you money

You can earn a few pounds by taking part in online research and doing product reviews. Sign up to companies such as Ciao, Valued Opinions and One Poll and you will from 10p for a quick survey, to £20 for reviewing a product.

* Get paid to write about your holiday on simonseeks.com

30) House sitting

You can earn between £25 to £30 a day plus transport costs for looking after the pets and plants of people who have gone away. It could be that all you have to do is wait at the house for a package to be delivered. It is best to sign up with agencies such as housecarers.com which take care of insurance etc.

* More ideas on cutting the cost of holidays

31) Rent your drive out

Is parking at a premium in your neighbourhood? Rent out your driveway as a parking place. Visit www.parkatmyhouse.com or www.yourparkingspace.co.uk.

32) Rent a room

This is a tax efficient way of earning some extra cash if you are struggling for money. You can get up to £4,250 a year tax free from a lodger in your main residence - this would make the monthly rent £354.

* Inventive ways to make money from your home

D-I-Y tax cuts

33) Check your PAYE code

Dig out your coding notice from HM Revenue & Customs. If it's wrong, you could be paying too much tax. Read the details of the benefits the taxman believes you are receiving to check they are correct. If in doubt, call the tax helpline.

* Easy ways to pay less tax

34) Trust your partner

If you are married or live with someone in a different tax band, then you should consider allowing the person who pays least tax to hold the savings. Higher earners are charged 40 per cent on their savings, while basic rate payers only get charged 20 per cent and non taxpayers can get tax-free income.

* More news and advice on income tax

35) Get tax-free interest

If you are a low earner and don't use up your personal allowance, then ask the tax office for form R85. This will entitle you to have no tax deducted from your savings. If you're on a low income, you may qualify to pay just 10 per cent tax on savings. Get a form R40 from HM Revenue and Customs for details.

36) Think how you give to charity

Slipping cash into a charity collection tin is the simplest way to give to charity, but it's the least tax efficient both for you and them. If you use GiftAid, then the charity gets more money and, if you are a higher rate taxpayer, you benefit, too.

One method of doing this is via the Give As You Earn scheme which many employers offer through their payroll. A basic rate taxpayer who gives one pound to charity using GiftAid will have their donation bumped up to £1.28. Higher rate taxpayers can reclaim extra tax relief, cutting the cost of their donation to 77p.

* More advice on tax-efficient giving
* Gift aid calculator

At work

37) Join your company pension

If your company offers a pension scheme to which it contributes, then sign up. You're not only getting free money from your employer, you'll also get tax relief on your own contribution. Basic rate taxpayers get an extra 25p for every £1 they contribute and higher rate taxpayer get even better tax relief.

* Company pensions explained

38) Salary sacrifice

Some employers offer schemes that let you pay for things directly out of your salary. There are bike purchase, pension, travel card and share save schemes. The advantage of these is that your repayment of the item is deducted before your tax and National Insurance are calculated. So, for example, the £100 you are paying is actually only equivalent to paying £80 if you are a basic rate taxpayer, or £60 if you are a top earner.

* What's the snag with salary sacrifice pensions?

Claim your entitlements

39) Invest child trust fund vouchers

These vouchers are sent to all new parents. Since September 2002 parents get a one-off voucher worth £250 to invest in their child's name. They get a further £250 when the child reaches seven. You can add up to £1,200 a year.

A quarter of child trust vouchers are not even used. This means that instead of the parent investing the money, the Government puts it into a default fund. Performance of these funds to date has not been good.

* How to pick the best child fund

40) Claim your benefits

Check you are getting all the benefits to which you are entitled. If you are a low earner, live alone, are old or have children, you could be entitled to get money off your tax bill or get a regular payment from the government. Likewise, those that live alone can get 25 per cent off their council tax bill. The government's information website is www.direct.gov.uk.

41) Cut education costs

Whether you are sending your child to private school, going to the local comprehensive or packing them off to university, there are ways to save on education. The Education Maintenance Allowance can pay up to £30 a week to some 16 to 19-year-olds who stay in higher education.

You can also get transport costs paid for travel to sixth form college, and adults in higher education can get discretionary support. At university, you may be able to get a support grant of up to £2,906. On top of this, individual universities have different bursaries and grants.

* More advice on being a better-off student

42) Trace missing money

Whether it's a dormant account, an old Premium Bond, a lost pension or a not-too-old Lottery ticket, it's easy to find missing funds. Each organisation has its own system. Best places to start are www.mylostaccount.org.uk and www.unclaimedassets.co.uk. They will point you in the right way to search.

43) Reclaim your payment insurance

Thousands of borrowers who signed up for loans were also flogged insurance policies for their repayments. Many were not told the true cost of the insurance or were even unaware that the policy was there. You can often reclaim the cost of the cover. Visit our sister website www.thisismoney.co.uk/reclaimppi to find out how.

* How to reclaim payment protection insurance

Out and about
FILMS:Ice Age 3

Enjoy: Take advantage of cheap days at the cinema

44) Hunt for discounts

Search the internet for the latest offers and vouchers. Among the best sites is vouchercodes.com. Then there are more specific sites such as toptable.co.uk and squaremeal.co.uk which have money-off vouchers for restaurants and bars.

* A round-up of 2 for 1 restaurant deals and other offers

45) Become a savvy shopper

Write down what you want to buy before going to the supermarket and only buy the things on your list. Consider using a cheaper supermarket or, better still, use your local street market. Go an hour before closing and you'll be amazed at the bargains you'll pick up. And always shop on a full stomach!

46) Earn rewards

Swap to a credit card that gives cashback on your shopping. American Express Platinum, for example, gives you 5 per cent cashback on your shopping for the first three months then falls to between 0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent. Others offering cashback include M&S, John Lewis and Tesco. Then there are shopping rewards schemes such as those offered by Boots, Tesco and Nectar.

* Compare loyalty and cashback credit cards

47) But don't forget to claim them

There is an estimated £413million worth of these unclaimed benefits on cards such as Nectar, Boots and Air Miles that shoppers are missing out on.

* More on the best loyalty schemes

48) Cheap films

Take advantage of cheap days at things such as the cinema. For example, Orange mobile phone customers get two-for-one offers on Wednesday night at the cinema (even for Ice Age 3 Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, above). And some cinemas have money off on Tuesdays.

49) Join a library

Why spend so much money on buying books that you will probably read only once? Join your local library and you can take them out free. And DVD and CD rentals can be much cheaper there, too. Alternatively, buy second-hand books from a charity shop.

50) Cheap cuts

Go to a hairdresser on a model night. Top salons can charge as little as £5 if you are willing to allow a junior hairdresser to cut your hair. Some may even give a free cut. It may take longer, because the trainee has to be supervised.

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