Does anyone else feel angry with the banks for the way they have caused the current recession?

I know I’m not pretty sympathetic to their current situation and with savings interests at an all time low I have added reason to be frustrated. When I had debt and overdrafts they were very keen on fining me, taking 1.25% interest a month and other charges that I felt weren’t particularly fair.

And now that I have a little saved up, they give me nothing at all.

I did buy some banking shares a few months ago and they have done REALLY well for me, but you never know.

Then yesterday I found an alternative that gave me the chance to give back directly to people or companies that need it; Zopa

Are you familiar with Micro lending or person to person lending? Organisations like Kiva connect people usually in the poorer parts of the world with other people that have money to lend. But we are talking about small sums.  The beauty of micro lending is that anyone can lend the borrower a small part of the loan they need, say if I needed five hundred pounds, 5 people could lend it to me – or 25 for that matter.

What this means is that anyone can lend money directly to anyone else, provided systems like Kiva are in place. Which it’s not if you live in the UK.

And that is the gap that is being filled by Zopa

For people with money, Zopa gives you the chance to earn a higher interest rate, set by you, and accepted by the borrower. It also gives you a chance to put money where it is needed – directly to the people that need it. If you hate the banks, then this would surely feel great!

For people who need money, you get to borrow it from real people, not banks. People who have put their trust and money in you to get your business idea going.

However, if you have defaults, CCJ’s or can’t prove you earn more than 12 thousand pounds a year and can afford to pay, then there is no point in trying to borrow.

But in my case, I want to earn a better interest on whatever savings I have so I have joined Zopa as a lender. Are you joining me there too?

When do you do your groceries shopping? Friday afternoon or Saturday morning? Don’t you just love the mayhem? If you hate the Saturday morning shopping at Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s or Asda’s then this is a tip that would interest you.

As the headline says, buy groceries online. This way you can do it at your own pace and without having to deal with screaming kids – and best of all, you’ll save yourself from all the impulse buys.

Pretty much every supermarket chain now offers some kind of home delivery. You can find them all on  mySupermarket .

But what if you need specialists? Or maybe some of the other shops offer better deals? Able & Cole and Whiltshire farm foods are two other companies that offers home deliveri4es of vegetables and frozen meals respectively.

In other words, there is no longer a real need to dive into the mayhem that is Friday and Saturday shopping. Unless you prefer that sort of thing of course. But each to their own. I prefer to do my shopping with a keyboard.

One of the larger expenses when you move into a new home is the household appliances. One of the things worth checking out is how you can get your chosen fridge, freezer or washing machine cheaper than in the store.

There are ways to find genuine bargains, but there are some evil looking solutions out there too.

For example, Comet has a website where they sell off returns. It’s a good idea to check what is available there although it is not the cheapest option, but the site has additional drawbacks.

The delivery charges are particularly painful, but the website is not really well known so you can get some bargains, although it is obvious that the auction format is not entirely “free” but rigged to favour comet.

Check http://www.clearance-comet.co.uk/ to see if you can find the bargains.

(Personally, I never bother because the site is low on traffic, but if you start bidding, the system magically seem to find competing bidders…)

Saving money on your bills can some times be very very easy to do. You might not think of insurance as the most inspiring thing in the world. That is at least not until you find out that the way you pay your car insurance for instance can save you up to 25% off your premium.

Instead of paying monthly, pay the insurance annually when you get the option to. Usually insurance companies add interest to your monthly premium for the convenience. So if you pay the annual car insurance premium up front, you can save yourself quite a chunk of money.

If you can afford to that is.