Quids in! Magazine - Spring 2022 by Quids in!

YOUR

FREE

GUIDE TO SMARTER MONEY SAVING

Quids in! SPRING 2022 / WWW.QUIDSINMAGAZINE.COM

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BE YOUR S OS OWN BID E - OUR GU

E MAK MORLE SS E M FRO rna o L h t i w Cooper

O T E T I A L W T ’ P N DOSAM T B E D E L K C A T

e burden h t g in r a h s f o benefits e h t n o r e t r il Po

EXPERT ADVICE ON: ✔SPENDING ✔SAVING ✔BORROWING ✔INCOME

D THE N I H E B S WHAT’

S W E N Welcome

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Three things make the right job for the right person: Something that pays. Something we’re good at. And something we’re interested in. When I launched Quids in!, I knew I could string a sentence together but I cared deeply about helping people. The question was: How could I earn a living helping “A reader realised people stretch a there’s dough in limited income? knitting booties” Going into business is not for everyone but it’s sometimes the quickest way to a job we’ll love. I recently heard about one Quids in! reader who loved knitting. She was churning out baby clothes like nobody’s business but she’d never thought of selling them. Looking online, she realised there was serious dough in booties, so set up an account for herself. So, here I am, 15 years later. I found customers who wanted simple tips for the people they work with. They bought up Quids in! and now it’s not just me. There’s a team of people who love their jobs too.

Jeff, Editor

LOW-COST SHOPPING LOANS

● It’s aimed at helping shoppers avoid a food crisis

upermarket chain Iceland is offering cheap loans to help with the cost of the weekly shop. It’s giving the loan to spend in-store to stop shoppers turning to highinterest lenders or illegal loan sharks. The loans are for £25-£75 and we repay them in weekly £10 amounts with an interest rate of 45 per cent. We wouldn’t be allowed to owe more than £100 at any one time. When repaying the loan, the £10 a week is fixed and can’t be changed. But we can choose which day of the week the repayments come out on. We’ll obviously still end up paying a bit more than if we were able to pay

¬ For healthy eating on a budget, see our interview with super cook Lorna Cooper on pages 4-5.

In this issue…

Less is more

Bossing it

Gail Porter

Lorna Cooper’s fab food savings Page 4-5

Anyone can start their own business Page 7

Why there IS life after a debt problem Page 8

• Address 24 James Street West, Bath, BA1 2BT Tel 0845 646 0469 • Editor Jeff Mitchell Email editor@quidsinmagazine.com • Office Manager Dan Fineman Email daniel.fineman@cleanslateltd.co.uk • Head of Business Development Lisa Woodman Email lisa.woodman@cleanslateltd.co.uk • Interim Deputy Editor Sarah Reid Email sarah.reid@cleanslateltd.co.uk • Design Joe Burt © This magazine may not be reproduced in part or full without prior written permission The publisher (Clean Slate Training & Employment CIC) makes every effort to ensure content is correct at the time of going to print. We have no political allegiances, and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher or editor. Any relationship with advertisers or sponsors is always on the understanding that we retain our editorial independence.

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for our shopping with our own cash. But when things are tight and we think we’ll have more money in the coming weeks, it could be a good solution. Iceland’s own market research showed how the loan is helping. Shoppers listed benefits like not needing to use foodbanks, worrying less about bills and feeding their children healthier meals. For more details of how it works, see the longer article on our website: qimag.uk/iceland

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editor@quidsinmagazine.com

ICELAND OFFERING

Our purpose

Quids in! guides are designed to help people understand and manage their money better. They are published by Clean Slate, a CIC (Community Interest Company) and a social enterprise.

Clean Slate is a social enterprise that helps people on low incomes become better off through money guidance, employment support and digital skills. Staff recruited from the communities we work in offer advice alongside structured training. Our money skills initiative (Quids in!) publishes a magazine, specialist guides, a website and monthly money email.

NEWS

ENERGY CRISIS:%

4 5 Y B E IS R O T S L BIL

ment “Those of us on prepay meters are going to be ain” hit the hardest – yet ag

● The new price cap hits those of us on the lowest incomes hardest – but there is help out there

nergy bills are going to rise even further this spring, with those of us on prepayment meters hit hardest – yet again. Despite the fact that households who have to pay up front for gas and electric are likely to be some of the worst off, the default price for a typical home for a year will go up to £2,017. It’s because the new price cap will come into force on 1 April. The default price tariff for a typical home paying by Direct Debit will jump to £1,971. The price cap is the maximum amount our supplier can charge us per unit of energy if we live in England, Scotland or Wales. This means it’s gone up 54 per cent – and it had already gone up last year too. The first thing to do if we’re struggling is speak to our supplier. We can’t expect miracles, but they may be able to change our payments to make things easier.

There is some government help on the way though. If we live in a Band A-D home, we’ll get a discount of £150 on our council tax. If we’re in a higher band but on a low income, the discount may still apply – we should check with our council. Wales also has a £25m fund that councils can use to help vulnerable households in their area. There’s also going to be a £200 loan towards energy bills. We’ll get it in October and it’s repaid over five years. And the Warm Home Discount is being expanded to three million low-income homes. It’s worth £140 and our energy supplier can tell us if we qualify.

E L P M A Quids in! has produced a new Energy Special magazine, full of tips on how we can bring down our bills. See quidsinmagazine.com/store/

BOOK TEACHES KIDS OF LOAN SHARK DANGERS

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● Feelgood story takes a bite out of illegal money lenders

new story book is warning children about the dangers of loan sharks. Amsty Meets Mr Loan Shark by Salim Shaikh and Hafsha Dadabhai Shaikh tells the story of wise old library computer Amsty. He’s not the coolest PC on the block, but when keen gamer Hassan is tempted with a loan that seems too good to be true, Amsty’s wisdom is a lifesaver. The book, aimed at children aged five to eleven, was paid for with cash seized from convicted loan sharks. Co-author Hafsha said: “For families with low literacy, language and digital skills, Amsty plays a key role in warning of the dangers of loan sharks.

“Amsty gets fam ilies talking about mon ey and important life sk ills”

“It also highlights the dangers of online loan sharks and develops their digital literacy and awareness. “Amsty gets families talking about money and the important life skills of budgeting, savings, borrowing and money management.” A loan shark is someone who lends money without permission from the authorities. They prey on vulnerable people on social media, where they advertise loans that often seem too good to be true. (Hint, they are.) Loan sharks start out friendly but charge huge fees, meaning loans spiral into debts that victims just can’t repay. The crooks then use violence and blackmail to pile the pressure on. But along with brilliant people like Hafsha, there are others fighting back.

We can contact Stop Loan Sharks on 0300 555 2222 or report one – safely – on their website stoploansharks.co.uk. The book is for sale on Amazon.

WIN £50

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Got something you want to tell us, or a money-saving tip to share? There's £50 for the best letter, email or tweet, so include your name and address. POST The Editor, Quids In! 24 James Street West, Bath, BA1 2BT EMAIL editor@quidsinmagazine.com TWEET @quidsinmagazine

Quids in! | 3

R E P O O C A N R O L M LESS MORE

G N I K A M ON

FRO

k is full of tips to o o c r e p u s d n a The author e kitchen th in s s le m o fr ore help us make m while we’re at it y h lt a e h y ta s d n –a

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uper cook and busy mum Lorna Cooper has launched a new book, helping us to make more from less in the kitchen. In the past Lorna’s shared recipes and tips on how she feeds her family for £20 a week. Now she’s focussing on getting four meals out of the meat we buy by bulking it out and not wasting a scrap. “People say they can’t afford a beef joint or a pork joint,” she tells Quids in! “So it’s about how to make it last so you can have a nice roast dinner then use the rest to make three other meals. “When I first spoke out about buying a chicken and using it for four meals, people were like, no way! But they were eating the whole thing in one sitting or just eating the breast and throwing the rest away.”

FIGHTING RISING PRICES Lorna says her new book will make people sit up and think about how they approach shopping and cooking. The leftovers section has tips for making the most of anything from a lone slice of gammon to a single spoonful of mash. “Basically what I’m trying to do is what your grandmother or great-grandmother did,” Lorna says. “They knew how to stretch out food because they had to. In the ’80s we thought we knew better with convenience foods. And they are convenient, but you pay for that convenience. If you’re not in the position to pay for it, just do it yourself.” Food and energy prices are rocketing, but Lorna promises that doesn’t mean our diets have to suffer. It’s possible to eat

For more tips from Lorna and loads of other ideas, get the Quids in! Food Guide. See quidsinmagazine.com

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healthily on a small budget – but we have to put a bit of legwork in. “It’s not easy to feed your family for £20 a week,” she says. “But you can definitely eat well for the same amount as it would cost to buy junk food. Every week the supermarkets have got five or six offers on vegetables. “Cook seasonally, what’s grown locally just now? That’s what’s going to be cheapest. If you can go to an allotment, these people grow more than they can eat and tend to give it away or put it in a basket with an honesty box. They just want people to eat it.”

VEGGING OUT Lorna also uses her money saving approach to cope with picky eaters. “I got to the point where I always had soup in the house,” she says. “So cheap, so easy and if we were doing something the youngest didn’t like then he would have a bowl of soup and I knew he was getting his vegetables. “I’d googled ‘pasta sauce’ and I realised people were putting in all sorts of vegetables. So I wondered how many I could actually get in, it was a challenge. “I started picking up loads of vegetables reduced in the supermarket and grating everything through my food processor, cooking it up with some tinned tomatoes or passata and tomato puree. At one point I had 12 vegetables in this pasta sauce! “I started making huge pots of this and if I was making chicken tikka masala and I needed a tin of tomatoes I’d use this sauce instead. I was getting veg into the kids and they were completely unaware.”

GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY Lorna’s other tip for cheap food is to have a bash at growing our own. “You can grow carrots and potatoes really easily in this country,” she says. “You don’t have to have a lot of ground, just flexi baskets or a hessian bag with some holes in the bottom. “You don’t even have to buy special seeds, just chuck some old potatoes that have started shooting into some compost and see how it goes.”

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≠ We have five copies of Lorna’s

new book Feed Your Family: More From Less to give away – go to

quidsinmagazine.com/lorna-cooperprize-draw/

LORNA SAYS... Best store cupboard ingredient?

Rice or pasta. You don’t need much to be able to make a meal with either of those. I make a savoury rice, which is just a stock cube and some frozen veg and rice. Pasta’s the same idea.

E L MP "When I spoke about using a chicken for four meals people thought, no way!"

Favourite family treat?

I make these cookies that are so easy, just flour, sugar and butter and we call them thumb cookies. Once you’ve put them on the baking tray you stick your thumb in the middle and make a hole for things like jam, chocolate spread or lemon curd.

How did you become queen of the kitchen?

It wasn’t until I had my daughter that I showed any interest in cooking. When I was 30 I had my youngest and not long after that I was diagnosed with a heart condition so had to cut back on work. Then I hurt my back and had to stop work altogether so money was tight but I still had three children to feed!

Quids in! | 5

DJ GETS BACK

IN THE GROOVE

A struggling former DJ read an article in Quids in! that showed him how his old career could net him a lot of cash

ohn* was a radio DJ for more than 20 years until the station went bust. He was in his 60s and struggled to find work, despite replying to hundreds of ads. When the £20 Universal Credit uplift was axed last autumn, John was left on the brink. That’s when his Jobcentre Plus contact mentioned Clean Slate (which runs Quids in!). “I thought, a clean slate is what I need,” John told us. “You get to that stage where you lack belief in yourself and your self-esteem starts to suffer. You think, ‘I’m multi-skilled, I’ve had jobs in the past.’”

E L P M A CASH IN THE ATTIC Maggy at Clean Slate found a fuel payment and travel card he was entitled to. She also sent John a link to Quids in! “There was an article all about selling unwanted items and I realised this was something I could do,” he said. “I realised, ‘oh my God – I’ve got all these things in the loft’.”

“I’ve got years of pottering with my vinyl”

FINDING THE SPARK John thought he had around 10,000 records from his two decades in the trade, and he’s now digitising his collection. “I’ve got a solution now, I’ve got years of pottering around with all my vinyl and magazines and books and just loads of stuff that I can sell on eBay,” he said. Quids in! helped, but John said being creative again was key. “Somehow we’ve got to try and look for a little spark inside,” he said. “We all have creative potential inside us.” *name has been changed

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✆ QUIDS IN! USEFUL NUMBERS

LOAN SHARKS The Illegal Money Lending Team tackles loan sharks. Call anonymously on ✆ 0300 555 2222, text LOAN SHARK and your details to 60003 or email them at reportaloanshar k @stoploanshark s.gov.uk . In Wales call ✆ 0300 123 3311 or email imlu@cardiff.gov.uk. Scotland: ✆ 0141 2876 655, or email loansharks@glasgow.gov.uk CREDIT UNIONS Credit unions are not-for-profit organisations that provide bank accounts, loans and savings. They may help people the banks won’t. To find your local credit union call ✆ 0161 832 3694 or visit www.findyourcreditunion.co.uk.

BENEFITS • People with disabilities or carers should contact the Disabilit y Benefits Centre (✆ 0345 605 6055) and for Child Benefit and tax credits call Inland Revenue

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(✆ 0845 300 3900). • Council Tax and Housing Benefit is dealt with by your local council. • Benefits calculator www.entitledto.co.uk • Pensions Service: ✆ 0800 99 12340

DEBT ADVICE For free debt advice and help, contact any of the organisations below. • National Debtline ✆ 0808 808 4000 www.nationaldebtline.org • StepChange Debt Charity ✆ 0800 138 1111 www.stepchange.org • Citizens Advice www.citizensadvice.org.uk. In Wales call ✆ 08444 77 20 20 England call ✆ 08444 111 444 • Citizens Advice Scotland www.cas.org.uk. ✆ 0808 800 9060 • Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) ✆ 0300 200 2770 www.dasscotland.gov.uk Government-backed scheme to pay debts.

Quids in! Readers Club Pleased to receive your free Quids in! every three months? Now you can stay in touch all the time with our Readers Club. Join the growing crowd of money-saving, savvy-shopping, debt-beating, cash-boosting Club members and receive freebies and top tips throughout the year by email.

WHO’S THE

? S S BO

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n business Starting our ow ut of can be a route o or a unemployment that lets us lifestyle choice g what we spend time doin , here’s love. Either way know what we need to

oing self-employed might seem daunting but really all we need is a skill and some info on how to set up a business. Getting a job isn’t for everyone – for lots of reasons some of us might prefer to work on our own and be our own boss. We can choose our own hours and make money from the things in life that really interest us. But whether it’s charging for a skill like painting or gardening, or making things to sell, there are a few things we need to know.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

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The first thing we should do is choose a name for our business. We should also google this to make sure no one else is using it. We can either use our own name or come up with something a bit more creative!

We also need to think about whether there’s a market for what we’re offering. If there are already people doing it, that shows the market exists. But it’s also a sign we’ll have competition! When we’re sure there’s a market we should find out who our potential customers are. It’s also good to find out if they’d want to pay for what we’re offering. Social media is a free and effective way of doing this early research. And it’s great for getting our name out there when we’re set up and trading. Facebook and Instagram can be really helpful for small local businesses. Keep things simple to start with – just core products or services. If things go well we can always branch out later.

LIFE AND SOLE TRADER

The government will want us to let them know that we’ll be trading as a business. We’ll likely be known as a ‘sole trader’. When we start advertising, or have our first customer, we have to register with HMRC. This seems scary, but we can ring the Business Support Helpline (0800 998 1098 if we’re in England) for guidance. In Scotland we can call 0300 303 0660 and in Wales it’s 0300 060 3000. They can also signpost us to local support agencies. These agencies often offer free webinars and other resources to help us as we start out. They can also advise on anything we’ll need to know about tax.

TAKING THE PLUNGE

Being self-employed can allow us to make money from our passion. But it’s not an easy option. We may end up working long hours and over weekends to make the money we need to get by. If we’ve had a job before, we won’t get things we may be used to like

“Facebook and Instagram can be really helpful”

paid holidays or having our tax sorted. But take Susie, for example. She became a Partylite consultant, hosting ‘shopping experiences’ in other people’s homes and hasn’t looked back. “I set up stalls and ‘go live’ via social media to share our home decor range and fragranced candles,” she says. “I am my own boss so I choose when, where and how I work and the more I sell, the more I earn.”

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IN THE KNOW… ows Gail Porter’s story sh happen money problems can n’t to anyone – but we do e have to face them alon

DON’T HIDE T B E D M O R F how much money you’ve got, I love you to bits regardless.’ That is the most important thing.” Gail has shared her story to stop others feeling like they’re the only ones. It was a brave and big-hearted thing to do, and she’s said it’s made her feel good about herself too. The most important thing to remember if we (or someone we know) has problem debt is that we don’t have to face it alone.

ail Porter is bubbly, chatty, down to earth. But the TV presenter has been through some difficult times with her health and her finances. “I was just under the covers with a whole bunch of bills, crying a lot,” she said in an interview with insolvency firm Creditfix. “The bailiff thing was terrifying for me. If the bell rang and I could see the man outside I’d be on the floor.” Gail’s struggles with her health are also well known. After being all over our screens in the ’90s, she split from her husband in 2004 then lost her hair to the autoimmune condition alopecia. She has also lived with bipolar disorder and depression for years. The work dried up but the bills kept coming in. Gail has said in the past that she’s not good with numbers and didn’t open the letters because she didn’t understand them. She ended up with more than £100,000 of arrears.

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GET SOME BREATHING SPACE

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Last year, a report by Christians Against Poverty found that people with a plan in place for their debt had better levels of mental health than those who didn’t. The same report also found that debt is now such a big problem in our society that it should be treated as a public health issue.

She’s certainly not alone. Government figures showed 14 per cent of adults felt their debts were a “heavy burden”. In the UK there’s a strong link between problem debt and our health. Sometimes poor health means we can’t work as much as we’d like to – or at all. Other times having more debt than we can afford is what causes our health to spiral downward. The good news is things have really improved since Gail was at her lowest. Last year, a government scheme called Breathing Space was introduced. It gives us 60 days of, well, breathing space to let us try to get on top of things. Better still, stronger rules apply if we’re getting treatment for mental health problems. We’re protected for the whole length of our treatment plus 30 days.

SHARE THE LOAD

HELP EQUALS HEALTH The idea of seeking debt advice may send us into a panic, but in the long term it’s been shown to improve our mental health.

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Another thing that adds to the stress of problem debt is carrying the secret alone. Debt advice charity StepChange says sharing the burden with a friend or loved one can make a huge difference to our mental health. While talking to experts like StepChange is a must (but NEVER pay for debt advice – see the box on page 6 for where to get help free of charge), it’s our family and friends who’ll be there for us day in, day out. StepChange says having someone we trust to help us open those terrifying letters or set a budget can make a big difference. Most importantly, they’ll cheerlead for us better than anyone else could. Gail said that being honest with her daughter Honey about her money problems was important too. She told The Sun back in 2017: “My daughter said to me, ‘It doesn’t matter

“I was just under the covers with a whole bunch of bills, crying a lot”