Make your money work harder
Too many of us let cash languish in accounts or in products paying rotten returns. Shake off this laziness and make your money work harder, plus hunt down any forgotten funds or concealed cash. You may be amazed at what you find.
Give yourself a 25% pay rise
There's nowt more powerful than sorting out your own finances. By shifting to the best deal on every product, you can give yourself a 25% pay rise, without cutting back. Before anything else, this is the most important starting point.
How much? The average UK family could gain £2,500 to £5,000 a year doing this.
How do I do it? Use the step-by-step Money Makeover guide.
Get paid every time you spend
Cashback credit cards pay you back a proportion of what you spend each time you use them.
Set up a direct debit to pay the card off in full each month, so there's no interest cost, and you can earn £100s/year. Just use the card for all your normal spending.
How much? The top cards pay 5% cashback for the first three months. It's also possible to get 3% for petrol/transport and 1% for supermarkets.
How do I do it? For updated best buys, see the Top Cashback Cards guide.
Don't accept pitiful savings rates
Make sure you're getting the most out of your savings. Too many people leave their savings in pitiful high street bank accounts where former best buy rates have dropped massively.
Even worse, you may have it in a current account earning just 0.1%. Stop! Five minutes' work will let you increase the interest massively.
How much? For every £5,000 you have in a top easy access savings account, as a basic rate taxpayer you'd earn at least £41 a year more than in a poor account - potentially much more if you're able to tuck it away for a couple of years.
How do I do it? See the Top Savings Accounts, Starting Saving and Best Bank Accounts.
Pay off debts with savings
Most people who try to save while they're in debt are simply throwing their money away. The amount you pay in interest to borrow is much more than you earn on your savings, so pay the debt off with savings and you're quids in.
How much? Someone with £5,000 on a credit card and £5,000 saved is likely to be around £800 a year better off by paying off the debt with the savings.
Find out more: See the full Should I Pay Off My Debts?, Should I Pay Off My Student Loan? andShould I Overpay My Mortgage? guides.
Get the benefits/state pension you're entitled to
There's a plethora of benefits available - the key is working out whether you're entitled to them. The rather nifty tool from benefits specialists Entitledto in ourBenefits Checkup guide does the work for you. Its regularly-updated calculator works out everything you can get.
Plus it may be possible to get more in your retirement by purchasing extra National Insurance Contributions (NICs), though there are drawbacks. Read the full State Pension Boosting guide.
How much? If you've a family income under £42,000 it's worth checking. But in rare cases families with £72,000 can qualify, as you could get any of these: working tax credit; housing benefit; council tax support; pension credit; child benefit and child tax credit. By boosting your state pension, you could end up £1,000s better off.
Find out more: Read the Benefits Check-up, Pension Boosting and Childcare Costs guides.
Use your credit rating to stooze
Many credit card companies are willing to lend you money at 0% interest, so why not use this cash for everyday spending, replacing all other credit & debit card spending?
This means you'll now have debts on your 0% card (make sure you make the min repayment each month) and a similar amount in your current account, which you can save in an ISA or high interest savings account.
Pay off the full balance before the 0% ends, having earned interest on the money saved. This is known as stoozing. It's legal and can be profitable, yet it's only for the really financially-savvy.
How much? This depends on what you'd normally spend. It's this amount that will be gaining interest in a top savings account, but if you stoozed £5,000 in a top rate ISA, you'd earn around £77 over the year.
How do I do it? Use the step-by-step Stoozing: Make Free Cash guide.
Flog what you've got: Declutter and sell it!
Whenever you finish using something, whether it's kids' clothes they've grown out of or an embarrassing old CD... flog it!
Remember, if the buyer needs you to send items via registered or special delivery, this is an additional cost to take into account when calculating if it's worth it. Some sites also require a minimum number of items or overall trade-in value, so check these first.
Flog on eBay for best prices
If you've got it, and don't need it, flog it. Selling on eBay* usually pays best, yet to really get the eBay cash rolling in, you neeed to know the etiquette and shortcuts.
Our 40+ eBay Selling Tricks guide is a crash course, including tips on getting the best prices and cutting eBay fees by using no-charge listing weekends. Plus there are tools to create multiple listings in advance and bulk-upload them, and lots more.
How much? Dedicated sellers make £100s on the side.
Got an eBay question? Join eBay nerds in the eBay and Auctions forum board.
Flog old handsets, iPods, cameras & more
eBay usually pays best, yet if you want speed and ease, there's a whole industry set up to help. If you've unwanted gadgets, such as mobiles, cameras or MP3 players lying around the house, several firms will happily take 'em off your hands.
Not only could this bag you £100s but, by not throwing it out with the rubbish, you'll also be doing your bit for the environment.
How do gadget-buying companies work? The idea is simple. You go to the website, find your gadget and it'll tell you what you can get for it. If you agree, it'll send you a freepost bag or label. You then send the gadget to it (make sure you send it registered) and the cash will be transferred or you'll receive a cheque. Some sites even arrange free collection for heavy items.
Mobiles
How much? It depends on the phone and demand, but some of the higher-end handsets will easily net up to £200 - more for some models. It only takes five minutes to check out what yours is worth.
How do I do it? Use MSE's MobileValuer tool to quickly find the top payer.
iPods
How much? From £30 to £160, depending on your model.
How do I do it? Do an iPod selling comparison on MobileValuer.
Cameras, other MP3s, sat navs, games consoles
How much? Again, as a rough guide, cameras tend to get £3-£15 (some of the snazzier models can fetch more), sat navs up to about £20 and games consoles up to about £40. It really depends on the make and model though, as prices vary widely.
How do I do it? Use the MobileValuer - just select the type of item you've got from the list along the top of the page.
Laptops
How much? It varies, but generally you can get up to about £80 for an old laptop in top condition.
How do I do it? There aren't many recycling sites that include laptops, although there are a few listed in MobileValuer.
Quicker cash for old CDs, DVDs & more
Several sites let you quickly trade in old CDs, DVDs, computer games and Blu-rays for cash. The sites are easy to use and give instant quotes, so if you've got loads to get rid of, you could speedily make a bit extra. Also see how to get max cash for old books.
How do I do it? Type in the barcode, ISBN or product name on the site to get an instant valuation. Each site is different, and some offer more for certain items than others, so always compare a few. Some also have a minimum number of items you need to trade in, or a minimum overall value needed, so you may need a few to sell.
Once you've compared and found the top payer, you simply accept the valuations and send your stuff to the them. Postage is usually free, but always check. Always ensure items are packed well, as, in most cases, any that fail basic quality checks will not be sent back to you.
You'll then get paid, either by cheque, bank transfer, vouchers or store credit, depending which service you've used. All these companies aim to send payment for accepted items within about seven or eight days of receiving them, though forumites' feedback suggests it can be longer.
How much? The amount you'll make depends on what you're flogging. As a rough guide, you'll generally get up to about £1 for CDs, £1.50 for DVDs and £15 for computer games, though it can be a lot less. Where these websites win is convenience.
The top trade-in sites. This table shows the main players, and what you can trade in with each. They have been chosen based on feedback from the forum. If you've had a positive or negative experience with any of these, please post in the individual forum threads.
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