Keeping your money safe seems to be the theme at present – rather than the “borrow and be blowed” culture we’ve become used to.
Some things are worth spending your money on though and department store Debenhams has reported an unprecedented run on … of all things … piggy banks. Sales have rocketed by an amazing150 per cent.

Many people are failing to see the point in keeping their money in the bank, given the abysmal interest rates and are keeping it safely at home instead.

Another turn on the “keep your money under the bed” appeared in the news. There’s a bed firm selling beds with built in safes. Apparently it started a bit of a tongue-in-cheek publicity stunt but there’s been lots of interest.

As far as the piggy-banks go – the top sellers are labelled “Handbag Fund”, “Shoe Fund” and “Shopping Fund”. It seems the women are the savers.
Maybe men just aim higher – there’s still a demand for the “Ferrari Fund”!

Results of a poll of more than 1,400 people, on behalf of personal finance pfeg, show that British children are more financially aware than their parents were at their age.

It showed that even 10 year olds were using their parent’s debit or credit cards to make purchases on-line. The average age for owning their first mobile phone is just eight and their weekly pocket money now averages 6 pounds and 32 pence.
Contrast this to their parents, who received the equivalent of 3 pounds and 77 pence, but weren’t expected to help out with household chores until they were ten or older.

It seems that today’s youngsters are realising a few facts about the value of money, with seven year olds offering to carry out chores to earn pocket money.

They’re fully conversant with the internet and two out of five children between the ages of seven and 15 were likely to use it to buy computer games, music or books. 40 per cent had bought games and ringtones for their mobiles.

The online survey, carried out by Populus in January, involved 1,435 people, including 546 children aged seven to 15, 676 parents and 759 grandparents in England, Wales and Scotland.

It seems that making financial decisions helps some children to feel more in control of their lives and it’s felt that this will help them to be more responsible with their money and better at managing their finances as they reach the age where it matters and before they get credit cards of their own.

I spent most of last Sunday at a horse jumping competition, as is often the case since my niece took up horse-riding. For “niece” read “the whole family” as everyone tends to get roped in. The first event started at something like 8.30 and luckily she wasn’t in the first couple of them, so we arrived at around 10am and even had time for bacon butties in the horsebox whilst she warmed up her pony.

The show was aimed at youngsters and far from being the children of the wealthy, which many people expect, they’re offspring of hard working parents, keen to see their children do well in their chosen hobby. They’re well turned out (ponies and riders, that is) and arrive in an assortment of horse boxes and trailers – some of them quite smart, some looking decidedly on their last legs but they must have an MOT and the associated costs – or whatever the equivalent is in horse boxes.

Talking amongst the parents, many of them are finding it a real struggle at present to keep up with stabling and feeding costs and the sheer expense of everything horse-related but they’re a friendly bunch and it’s good to see children who are keen to do well and who behave like kids should. Friendly competition (usually), a few tears, lots of encouragement. They learn to mix with and support other riders and care for their animals.

Lots of the Mums are doing two or more jobs to support the hobby and there’s quite a lot of make-do-and-mend with all the gear. With the effect of the credit crunch, it’s very likely there won’t be so many of them at the next event – there are a record number of ponies and gear up for sale. We’d not been to this particular venue for a few months and the tack shop has closed already. The café has been scaled down – but many families take food with them and eat in the horse boxes anyway.

My thoughts turned to the insurance issue, as it tends to. The horses and riders are insured – they have to be, to enter the events. All the boxes are insured and obviously the venue is – that’s a lot of money laid out for just one Sunday event out of hundreds going on throughout the UK. No wonder lots of these shows have been sponsored in the past by insurance companies.

The credit crunch is producing losses for everyone. For these lucky kids, for family life and for the insurance industry.

But how did she do? Two events, two refusals and one jump down. Still, you can’t win ‘em all. Jess had a good day.

Later this year, a new act is coming into force that will mean that anyone found to be over the legal drink driving limit of 80mg per 100 millilitres of blood, who is at the tiller of a narrow boat will be subject to a fine of up to £5,000 at a magistrates court.

It had been thought that with the slower average speed of 3 mph on the canals of Great Britain, the narrowboater would find a more relaxed approach than the larger sea going boats, but it seems they’re all tarred with the same brush.

So, the next time you see a narrowboat tied up outside a country pub, whilst the owners enjoy a leisurely lunch, bear in mind that once they cast off, a couple of pints could make them drunk in charge of a tiller.

The British Marine Federation are not entirely happy about the new rule and their executive director Mark Pridding said “We didn’t want blanket legislation. We don’t believe that there is a widespread problem of alcohol afloat and were worried how this would impact on people taking boating holidays, where a glass of wine with a meal is one of the things you do.”

Explain that to the foreign visitors we’re hoping will visit our waterways this summer!

Oh dear, they’ve done it again. Imagine the scene: Gordon Brown, Lord Mandelson, the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao attending a ceremony for the signing of a trade agreement. Flags proudly flying – the trouble was that ours was upside down!

Only in Britain! Still, it could have been worse – we could have got the Chinese one wrong, which would have been a real clanger.

There were some odd headlines in the news recently – like “Anger as snow returns”. We really must learn to face facts, such as: It’s February, it’s Great Britain, it may well snow. Being angry won’t make a bit of difference.

Then there was Alistair Darlings statement “We are now facing an extraordinary downturn”. As opposed to an ordinary downturn, perhaps?

Remember the “Things can only get better” slogan – keep flying the flag.

The people of Appenzell Innerrhoden – a canton in Switzerland - had some unwelcome visitors to their delightful region last year, with an influx of naked hikers.

Justice minister Melchior Looser stated that they are forced to introduce “legislation against this indecent practice” before the start of the warm weather.

It seems that a naked hiker was detained last year, but they were unable to go further and issue a fine as naked rambling was not illegal. This is no longer the case, so if you’re planning a ramble in the region, don’t forget your fig-leaf.

Back in less hilly Blackpool, hoteliers are busily preparing for bumper season. With the state of the euro and general worries about the economy, it seems that people are planning to holiday at home this year. Not sure what the rules are about going bare in Blackpool, but you’ll be sure of a warm northern welcome.

A Skoda landed bonnet down on the roof of a church in eastern Germany at the weekend. It appears that the vehicle was “travelling at high speed” when the driver missed a bend in the road, driving through a railing and then careered up an embankment and flew through the air for around 35 metres. The 23 year old driver had to be freed by emergency crews and was admitted to hospital for treatment.

The insurance claims form should make interesting reading. The answer to the question “What was the position of the vehicle immediately after the collision” is surely a first?

It goes to show these Skoda’s are really taking off!

It struck me yesterday just how much things have changed over the past few years.

I had a list of “things to do” – which included taxing the car, buying a special present, grocery shopping and contacting some friends.

The car was taxed on-line and the DVLC site confirmed that the MOT was in date, ditto the insurance – time saved searching for documents is invaluable.

Grocery shopping on-line too. The site came up with the details of the last order and with a few alterations, it was all done, ready for delivery this afternoon. I just have to be around.

The present involved a trip out to the nearest town, but this was from choice – I could have had it delivered. Instead I searched on line for the best price, located a store that had it in stock, reserved and paid for it. All I had to do was collect it. Then I came back and emailed one or two friends – giving me time to phone and chat with the others.

One of the things on my next “to do” list is contents insurance for the house – a couple of clicks will set it in action and I know there’ll be a good choice and the right deal. In the “old days” I might have just renewed to save all the bother – I dread to think of how much money I must have wasted over the years.

Now …….. what to do with all the time I’ve saved?

Stuff the turkey took on a whole new meaning last Christmas, according to the latest figures.

Picture the Christmas Eve of just a few years ago; the tree is dressed, the house is spruced up for the big day. Mince pies and sherry are ready for Santa’s visit. In the kitchen, the vegetables are all prepared and it’s time to stuff the turkey and set the table for the feast. A day or so of relaxation, maybe the odd walk and a little TV lies ahead.

Winding on a year or so and it’s – stuff the turkey, the sales have started. All hands to the computer. It’s said that John Lewis celebrated its busiest ever online hour from 7pm on Christmas Eve as its clearance sale started. The action continued through the great day, with numbers visiting their site being 12 times that of a year ago. Boxing Day topped the lot, with on-liners in general doubling the Christmas day figures.
It seems the Queen’s speech had a little competition too – her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs were not doubt delighted to report that over 600 people used a part of their Christmas Day to file their tax returns on-line.

Happy Christmas for next year!

Dot

Following my first blog yesterday and having committed myself to finding something enthralling for you every day, I now find my perfect job being advertised. So…………….if I go missing!

If a tropical island just off the coast of Queensland, with an average temperature of 25 degrees sounds just the job, some-ones in for a treat.

The trouble is, apart from living completely rent-free in a villa with amazing view and a plunge pool to yourself, you have to do boring things like swimming in clear blue seas, with miles of sandy beaches, snorkelling, diving and sailing. You have to work a whole 12 hours a month, feeding the hundreds of species of fish and picking up the mail for the island. It’s tough – but some-one has to do it.

The “caretaker” will be doing all this hard work to attract tourists to the islands of the Great Barrier Reef and in addition to visiting some of them, they need to provide a blog, a photo diary and update videos to show how wonderful it all is.

The pay’s not too bad, either. How does 70,000 pounds sterling sound, for the six month period?

The trouble is, there could be some tough competition – the job’s being advertised world-wide, so don’t hold your breath! You have until 22 February to apply so prepare to join the stampede.

Dot