October 2011 Blog Posts (17)

What’s a good debt?

Your mortgage is a good debt and even re-mortgaging to make home improvements will add value to your property. The bad debts are your credit cards and loans (always look at the small print in that agreement). That outfit you bought for a night out will make you feel good for a short time, especially if you got it in the sale, but if you don’t pay it off on your credit card, it could end up…

Saving Money on Heating Costs?

It’s that time of year again. I don’t honestly know where the time goes. It seems like only five minutes ago since the end of the summer holidays and the kids were back at school. Half term has already been and gone, bonfire night is upon us and Christmas looms over the horizon.

The summer holidays seem like a distant memory - or do they?…

With the winter months upon us and the strong possibility we’ll be spending more time at the chemists purchasing pills, potions and medicines to help with our coughs, colds and infections we could be wracking up a bill for prescriptions.

Let’s face it, at £7:40 each they are far from cheap, but did you know, that the NHS offers an alternative way to purchase your prescriptions that could save you a fair amount…

Have you ever considered 'ad hoc' HOTDESKING?

Hotdesking has many benefits for people on the move, or needing to get out of home and into an office environment occasionally.  A hot desk allows you to enjoy all the facilities of a serviced office - in an instant! Just walk in and work...

If you work from home and sometimes need office facilities, perhaps at short notice, this is a cost-=effective way to access the office environment. You may already have you r…

Lloyds Banking Group has become the first big bank to raise Standard Variable Rates, prompting suggestions that the era of borrowing at rock-bottom rates is drawing to a close as the Eurozone crisis deepens.

The move will affect more than 175,000 borrowers who took out mortgages from Bank of Scotland and The Mortgage Business, who will see their rates rise from 4.84% to 4.95%…

Having made the decision to set up your business, whether a sole trader, partnership or a Limited company, I wonder what your thought process was when you considered how best to manage the accounts? 

Did the idea of maintaining the financial records fill you with dread, or were you confident that you had the know-how to deal with this task…

Winter draws on :o) as we expect the first frost overnight -  and in ten days time the clocks go back. 

The business exhibition season is in full flow, and tomorrow John Udal’s …

Earlier this month the Chartered Institute of Personal Development (CIPD) published the results of their 2011 survey into workplace absences revealing that stress was now the primary cause of long term sickness.…

We have started the run-up to the Walton Festival of Light on Saturday 19th November and I am helping to rustle up some volunteers to walk with the procession around the town.

The volunteers will be walking with the Big Builds (lanterns)  and basically doing the Health and Safety drill as in previous years. If you are interested in volunteering please let me know. Last year was…

‘Don’t panic, Captain Mainwaring!”  This classic quote from Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army (whose brilliant co-writer David Croft died last month) is a timely piece of advice for all our businesses, as most Western economies slide inexorably towards the second dip in the ongoing recession.

Vince Cable…

Steps to ABSolute perfection!

If you’ve decided it’s finally time to do something about your waistline all the advice you’re going to need is right here.

The first thing to do is to get to know your abs and become personal friends with them, that way you’ll intimately and immediately know whether you’re…

Travel Trade Gazette research has revealed that In the last 12 months, 25% of those surveyed booked through a high street travel agent compared to 17% the previous year.

The number booking through a tour operator, as opposed to booking direct with airlines and accommodation, has also increased from 24% to 28%.

The research shows that women and young people are more…