This year’s Christmas Toy Dream Dozen for under £50 from the Toy Retailers Association

The Christmas Wishlist has been unveiled and the dream dozen are listed below, all under £50 which is encouraging!

I must say though, number 5 on the list, Go Go Pets Hamsters disturbs me somewhat, think i'll be giving that one a miss this year!

It is nice to see Lego still going strong after all this time although I still find the heads on the people a choking hazard even for me :-)

1. Bakugan Battle Pack, Spin Master (RRP £19.99)
2. Battle Strikers starter Set, Mega Brands (RRP £9.99)
3. Ben 10 Alien Force Kevins DX Action Cruiser, Bandai (RRP £29.99)
4. Bendaroos Mega Pack, Spin Master (RRP £19.99)
5. GO GO Pets Hamsters, Character Options (RRP £9.99)
6. GX Racers Tightrope Terror, Flair (RRP £22.99)
7. Kidizoom Multimedia Digital Camera, V-Tech (RRP £49.99)
8. LEGO Games Minotaurus, Lego (RRP £17.99)
9. Monopoly City, Hasbro (RRP £24.99)
10. Princess Peppa’s Palace, Character Options (RRP £39.99)
11. Sylvanian Families Caravan, Flair (RRP £44.99)
12. Transformers Movie 2 Voyagers Figures, Hasbro (RRP £22.99)

BaBeeCard will save you money at the following stores on the toys above:

ASDA 5% discount
Sainsburys' 5% discount
Argos 8% discount
Debenhams 10% discount
House of Frazer 10% discount

BaBeeCard gets a 5 star rating

Prepaid cards make great claims to save you money, but how do you know which one to go for? You can be reassured by independent reviews like this one for BaBeeCard. We were really pleased to hear that the reviewers at Prepaid365.com gave the card a 5 star rating. The review reads, “The BaBeeCard does exactly what it says on the tin - helps deliver excellent savings across a wide range of mother and baby products.”

Other plus points highlighted on the independent review site included the Moneyback Promise whereby you get back your initial investment of £9.95 if you have not saved that much in the first year. The only down point that Prepaid365.com found was that the card only come in pounds sterling: the rest of the world is just going to have to wait!

The BaBeecard has also won a couple of great accolades: in the Times Business Money Central feature on ‘Money Saving Tips You Never Heard Before’ the first tip is to ‘Get a BaBeecard’. And BaBeecard won the ‘Best Prepaid Gift Card’ category in the Prepaid365 Awards earlier this year. With this sort of endorsement, you really should check out how BaBeecard can save YOU money too.

Financial help to get a grip on your finances

It is not often that you can get a grant to help to sort out your finances so if you are in financial trouble or simply feel that your money skills are missing, check out the new grants from the Money Saving Expert (MSE) Charity.

The MSE Charity aims to fight financial and consumer illiteracy and is dedicated to educating and informing adults and children about consumer and debt issues. If you’re 18 and over you can apply for a grant of up to £500 to help pay towards a recognised and approved course that will help improve your ability to budget and manage your finances.

The grant can be used to pay for financial education course fees and other associated expenses. There are also grants of up to £5,000 for groups who want to run workshops and other innovative schemes that seek to educate people about money, debt and consumer issues.

Don’t delay: the deadline for the next round of group applications is 30 November 2009 and applications for support for individual courses is 15 December 2009. Visit www.msecharity.com/index.html?pid=21 to find out more.

Travel with Economy

Are your car bills making a big dent in the family budget? Petrol is costly, car insurance is expensive, and unexpected repairs can push you into the red.

Here are some simple tips to keep your car bills down:

• Keep your tyres pumped up. This actually makes your car use less petrol every time you use it.
• Check your route for jams before you travel. Avoiding traffic jams saves you fuel.
• To save further, take unnecessary loads out of the car. If you drive round with a boot full of junk you are making your car work harder. Taking the roof rack off unless you are using it helps too.
• For more reductions in petrol use, keep the air-con off unless you really need it.

You can get 5% off petrol from certain supermarkets when using your BaBeeCard.

Use price comparison sites to shop around for car insurance: I saved over £100 this year by doing this. I also saved 40% on my AA breakdown cover.

Old Fashioned Economy and Super Savings

If you are tightening your budget, why not look back sixty years or more for some simple savings tips. During the Second Work War rations were introduced and everyone was encouraged to ‘make do and mend’. If you ask your parents or grandparents they will remember being encouraged not to waste anything, and that’s a lesson we could all do well to follow today.

One big area of potential waste is food, and there is a simple way to save here. Just make a weekly meal plan and shopping list. When you shop ONLY buy foods on the list. You will soon work out a plan which includes regular family favourites which saves you time and stress planning what to cook each evening too. You can make additional savings on food from your favourite supermarkets by joining a discount club like BaBeeCard.

Snowballing to save

If you have debts, have you tried ‘snowballing’ to pay them off as quickly as possible? This is a simple way to make sure your money is working for you in the best way possible. Simply pick the debt with the highest interest rate and pay that back first. Then, when that one has been repaid, move your money on to repay the next debt.

This way you pay the least interest on what you owe. It is also cheaper than consolidating your debt. Just don’t forget to make the minimum payment on each debt or negotiate with the lender to spread payments in an affordable way. And think about why you have debts in the first place too: try to spend less!

Are you saving or spending?

The BBC has just reported that Brits have lost the saving habit and are paying off debts instead. The recession has driven savings rates down so more and more families are seeing little point in putting money in savings accounts. At the same time the cost of borrowing has risen. July was the first month where, as a nation, we paid back more than we borrowed.

This means it makes sense to pay off debts as quickly as you can. Look at your outgoings and see if you can find some ways to make savings. If you stop smoking or cut back, for example, you could use that extra few pounds each week to repay a credit card debt. Walking to work when you might have got the bus or used the car is a winning option too. You win three times over: you are healthier, you save on the cost of the cigarettes or travel, and you save again when you have less interest to repay on your debts. Give it a go and let us know how you get on.