B&Q has reported that sales of DIY ‘how to’ guides have risen 30% since the start of the credit crunch, suggesting that people are turning to DIY to cut costs on home repairs. When tackling the right jobs, DIY can help you save hundreds of pounds on fees from tradespeople, says Mark Bridge in The Times. Obviously, replumbing the bathroom might be beyond your expertise, but it’s worth considering the easier jobs. For example, forget getting the decorators in – paint your home yourself. Professionals cost £800 or more for a studio flat, whereas you can do it for £100: £40 a room for paint and £60 for equipment.
A bit of DIY can also save you from future bills. For example, blocked gutters can cause thousands of pounds of water damage, but you can avoid this by simply cutting the base off a plastic milk bottle and using it as a scoop to clear your gutters once a year. Just make sure someone holds the ladder for you, otherwise what you’ve saved may be wiped out in medical bills.
Care for your car
Sales of Haynes car manuals have also risen in recent months as motorists try to cut their garage bills, says Bridge. For those not prepared to get their hands dirty, invest in a £10 pressure gauge and just check your tyres regularly – tyre problems account for 10% of callouts, according to the AA.
Sell your old CDs
This tip won’t make you a fortune, but selling your CDs is better than adding them to the 30 million that are sent to landfill sites each year, says Which? Musicmagpie.co.uk will buy your CDs and pay for postage and packaging for you to send them in. Unfortunately, when Which? tested the site most CDs only fetched between 25p-50p. But as you can sell up to 250 CDs at a time, it can add up to a tidy sum.
Save on stamps
Head to Superdrug to buy your Christmas stamps this year. The store is offering a 5% discount on books of first-class stamps until Christmas Eve. You can buy 72 stamps at a time.
Avoid big brands
Christmas this year is going to be different, says The Observer. “Everyone wants to save money but still feel as though they are splashing out.” That isn’t as hard as you might think. By avoiding the established luxury brands you can get quality at a fraction of the price. For watches, try Christopher Ward, which sells elegant watches with Swiss automatic movements for around £225. Or, if you know you’ll want help shifting the pounds after Christmas, try a PowerPlates exerciser. Madonna is a big fan and as a result the top brands sell for £5,000 or more – but head to www.kaloss.com and you can “pick up a machine based on the same principle” for less than £100, says The Observer.
Cut your bills
To help cut your gas and electricity bills, look at them with your children and tell them you’ll spend half the savings of the next bill on taking them out for a treat. “You’ll be amazed how much the bill goes down,” says Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne.