What are Help to Buy ISAs?

The governments new 'Help to Buy ISA" is launching on December 1. Today's post will explain what this new financial product is and who is is best for. 

ISA are Individual Savings Accounts they allow for tax free savings up the cap set by the government each financial year.  The Help to Buy ISA is very similar to a cash ISA but there is the opportunity for a bonus. Individuals can save up to £200 a month with an initial deposit of up to £1000 and received a 25% bond.  The maximum that can be saved and receive a bonus is £12,000 and this is topped up to £15,000 when the saver goes to buy a home. 

The property must be less than $250,000 in London or £250,000 elsewhere. The money must go towards a deposit and not other fees to be able to receive the bonus. 

It is still not clear how interest rate will fluctuate for these ISAs as It was seen with Junior ISAs that shortly after their introductions rates decreased significantly. 

It is also not clear how much of your overall ISA allowance you can contribute to Help to Buy and if you will be able to contribute beyond the £12,000.

The ISA is individual, not based on your household. So both you and your partner (or whoever else you plan on purchasing a house with) could take our a Help to Buy ISA provided that you are both first time buyers. 

Be aware you cannot open a a cash ISA and HTB in the same tax year. If you have a cash ISA opened this year then it will need to be closed and the balance transferred before opening up a HTB or just wait until the next financial year to start.  Though some banks are offering a split ISA allowing you to hold a cash and HTB ISA at present Nationwide offers the best interest rate for this product. 

Several banks have signed up to offer the product. Halifax as of present offers the best rates at 4% interest and you are able to transfer the balance of a cash ISA towards the £1000 deposit. 

Why life is better debt free

We are loving being debt free and the blessings it has brought into our lives. We are thankful for our journey to becoming debt free and hope that the lessons we have learned will stay with us throughout our lives (and prevent us getting into more debt). Today we are sharing some of the reasons why we are loving life so much now we are debt free. 

1. We can plan for our future
We are in a position now where we are able to plan for our futures. For us this involves getting our masters debt free and saving for a house deposit. Before when there was debt in the situation that had to be the priority of the focus and it detracted from our goals of the future. 

2. The burden is lighter
We don't have to worry about who we owe. We don't feel enslaved to a lender (Proverbs 22:7). We can live our lives as we want not bound by the constraints of another. The budget is able to be a little bit more relaxed and luxuries we cut out we can enjoy every now and again. The stress is considerably less, there is no worrying about going into overdrafts (incidentally C has now cancelling his overdraft when we got rid of the card). Less stress means less of a strain on our relationship. Rows about money just don't seem to happen anymore, we are on the same page and working towards the same goals. 

3. We can do things we enjoy
We can do activities or go on date nights without it being an issue. Since being debt free we can allocate more money to these areas of the budget (without going overboard). We are looking forward to visiting extended family over the Christmas holidays when we plan to go on a short road trip. These are treats that we can afford to include in the budget now we don't have to worry about paying down debt. 

4. We can give more generously
My family instilled in me the importance of giving to charity when you can and for many years sponsored children in less fortunate financial situations. When you live paycheck to paycheck there is little or no room in the budget to give. When we give we both give and receive blessings in our lives, being in a position to give is such a rewarding experience. Being able to pay it forward is such a wonderful way to make use of your money. 

What do you love about being debt free

How meal planning can cut your grocery costs + FREE PRINTABLE

Meal planning is one of the best ways to save money on your food shop. It allows you to only buy what you need and avoid waste. Discover how we incorporate meal planning into our food shops. At the end of the post are the printables we use to help with our planning, and we are sharing them with your today. 

When we do the weekly shop there are a number of stages to the process. 

1. Update inventories of cupboard, fridge and freezer. We keep a list of everything in them and when it comes to the time to prep for the shop we update the list.
2. Create a meal plan based on inventories. Breakfasts and C's lunches reaming the same week to week. Dinners will be based on what we have already. Often if we have purchased food in the reduced aisle in bulk then we will plan the meals around these purchases. I will look out for sales on meats and may buy these at a different time. But whilst I'm buying meat on clearance I am constantly thinking of how to incorporate it into meals. If we are short of food in the inventories then this is where I turn to my recipe book and plan out a meals to cover the gap.
3. Write a list of what needs to be purchased. Though we may have meat or the carbs (potato/pasta) in the store cupboard we need to buy fruit and veg weekly. In addition other common items include milk and yoghurt. 
4. Shop be it online or in store. I prefer shopping inshore because I can pick up better deals and choose sell buy dates. However, there is more of a temptation to be drawn of track and buy items I don't need. Though I find that if I'm going with a set list I'm less likely to go off track anyway. 

To access the free printable with todays post click the image below where it will take you to google drive. From there you can print it as many times as you like. 

Earn Money Entering Giveaways

I've always been quite lucky and I remember winning my fare share of competitions as a child. When I went to college, I found myself becoming addicted to entering competitions. It was only recently that I realised I've actually been side-hustling all that time. I don't enter massively now due to time constraints but in that 2 year period I have won the following which amounts to almost £5000 in value.

Entering competitions takes very little effort and absolutely no start up costs making it a good side-hustle option. In addition, you can enter as many or as few as you want, just your odds of winning increase the more you enter meaning it can be as time consuming as your want. It can be quite a time consuming process in particular when you are converting your prizes into cash. However, using online competition sites can help make it less time consuming. 

How to make money through giveaways?

Making money through giveaways is relatively simple. Enter (and enter lots), Win, either keep the prize or convert to cash by selling. I would recommend creating social media accounts which you use for your competition entering only to ensure it doesnt get too messy (or you don't annoy your FB friends). When determining whether to sell, I look at whether I will use the prize, has it appreciated or depreciated already and, it is worth more I if use it? I primarily use Amazon and eBay primarily to sell on prizes and they are the quickest way and usually get the highest value. Though if you can sell to friends or family especially with gift cards you can often get the full RRP. 

Some of the prizes we have won include:

• Amazon Gift Voucher- I won this through a Channel4 competition and initially thought I had won £100, but had in fact won £1000. My parents were looking to buy some big home goods at the time and so we agreed to swap the Gift voucher for cash.
• Art prints- I've won a couple of art works in my time. But in 2014 I won £3300 worth of Art from Eleanor Leone Bennett. As she is an up and coming photographer so I decided to keep the art work to allow it to appreciate in value. 
• Annual Taste card- This prize gave us 2for1 meals out for a whole year at a variety of restaurants and was well worth more than the £75 cash value and had the potential to save us £100s over the year. 

Where to find giveaways?

There a few really great sites that compile competitions listings and allow you to easily track them. I initially used ThePrizeFinder exclusively. However, now I use it in conjunction with MSE Competitions Forum. I find that ThePrizeFinder is easier to navigate but MSE has more listings. It a good idea to only enter for prizes you would want, so use the search functions on both of these sites to help you be more efficient in your entries. For those of you who are reading from the USA YoungAdultMoney regularly compiles a list of competitions. Another great option is to keep your eye out for local competitions in shops and newspapers. These generally have far fewer entries than national competitions thus increasing your chances of winning. 

Di Coke is a master comper and has written extensively about how to be strategic in how to find and enter competitions to have the best odds of winning. She goes into this and more in her book SuperLucky Secrets which we would highly recommend if you are interested in starting this awesome hobby. 

Overall, entering competitions is a great side-hustle that can fit around your schedule. However, it provides not fixed or predictable income and therefore may be best kept as a hobby for many. 

Back to School on a Budget

Back to School doesn't have to break the bank but sometimes it feels like it will. From uniforms, sports kits to books and stationery, the list of things to get can feel overwhelming.
But don't fret, back to school doesn't have to cost the earth. There are a number of ways you can save when preparing for the new academic year. Today we are sharing 3 simple tips to help ease the cost of returning to school.

1. Re-Use last years. 
A culture has developed of needing a whole set of brand new school supplies each year. Do you really need to get a new pencil case, binders and bags every year? Look at what you have from last year much of it should still be in reasonable condition (provided you/your children are respectful with their property).
This becomes more so the case as children get older as they damage things less. When purchasing try to invest in good quality items so that they can last a number of years.  This can especially be the case with items such as backpacks which can last many years. 

2. Buy used. 
Over in England most children wear school uniform, and often it may be specialised for your school with their logo making it expensive. See if your school has a second-hand sale for these logo items as there are always parents with children who have out grown them looking to sell their's on. For the generic items (i.e. those without the school logo) look in charity shops and thrift stores can be a great place to start. Don't be afraid to talk to your parent friends who also have children at the same school, setting a hand-me-down system can be a great way to get your hands on second hand uniform. 

For those in schools without a uniform the burden is less, kids don't need a while new wardrobe just to go to school. Remember they have managed to wear normal clothes all of summer. Once again look for affordable second hand clothing as children will grow out of them so quickly.

3. Wait for the sales. As a college student my term dates are different to schools and so by the time I start term all the back to school items are on sale. If you wait a couple of weeks after term has started stores have great sales on school supplies. This is because they know most people feel compelled to buy everything super early. 
These are also a great opportunity to stock up for next academic year, if buying early is your thing, is you see some super deals. Use this chance to buy items a cut prices yet they are the quality of buying new. We also love using Amazon outlet for reduced priced stationary supplies as you can pick up some super bargains of brand new items. 

4. Don't be afraid to compare. 
The bookshop on campus or the school uniform supplier is never the cheapest option when it comes to buying supplies. Don't be afraid to shop around to try and find the cheapest deal, as it may not be the store you expect to be the cheapest. 
Talk to other parents or upperclassmen to find out where is best to buy and don't be afraid to tap into their experience and expertise, it will pay off in the long run. 

How do you save when its back to school?

This post contains affiliate links. 

Free Monthly Budget template + GIVEAWAY

Print out your FREE monthly budget template so that you can grapple your finances better.  Use these to track your spending through out the month and allow your to better understand your spending habits.  It it so much easier to control your spending when you see everything written down. Although there may be payments such as rent that you can change but other spending such as entertainment is much more controllable.

You might find after doing your budget that you are overspending in a number of areas. Consider using  a 'cash only' system where you take out the budgeted amount in cash only meaning once its gone it is gone. 

So I have recently set up an Esty store and will be selling pritnables (keep an eye out over the coming weeks as I upload more items). 

Today's giveaway is a free budget planning printables kit which includes:

• Monthly Budget

• Bill Payment Tracker

• Savings Tracker

• Debt Snowball & Creditor information

• Monthly Totals (2 pages)

• Binder cover 

For your chance to win enter using the raflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway