Super Saving Tips!

I’m trying to win an iPad 2 in the iSave, iWrite, iPad competition from PlayPennies.com!

Saving cash has never been so easy. Gone are the days of wearing your pants inside out to save some pennies on washing. With so many ways to save cash it’s sometimes hard to work out where to begin.

Your most useful source on saving is the internet. Before any shopping trip, no matter where you are going, a simple search using Google can turn up a voucher heaven. You can save money by printing out the vouchers before each shopping trip. If you don’t use them, keep a separate part in your wallet just for hoarding these vouchers, you never know when they might come in handy. You can end up saving a fortune using up vouchers you’ve gathered so they are worth collecting up and using.
Some of the best vouchers online are for restaurants. Fancy a nice meal out without having to leave behind organs to pay for it? Vouchers are your best friends. Some places offer half price meals and 2 for 1’s that are only available online. Some places don’t require you to print out the voucher at all and only ask you to keep hold of the number on it. This is a great way to treat yourself without having to miss an arm and a leg later on.

The internet isn’t just useful for giving you savings with vouchers though; sometimes it can be mighty helpful in getting you freebies and amazing deals. There are tons of websites that offer giveaways and competitions that don’t require a lot of effort or a lot of information to enter. If you feel uncomfortable about giving away too many details, only apply for the ones that ask for an email address and simply make a new email just for your competition entries to avoid spam. Remember to check it to see if you’ve won any prizes though! Buying second hand items off eBay is a great way to save on cash as well as lurking through websites that offers swapping items with other users.

Not all of the penny saving has to be online though. There are tons of things to do offline to help cut costs and save money.  If you’re fine with second hand items, charity stores can be a gold mine for great gifts, clothes, electrical items and books. Charity shops sometimes have clothes that have never been worn and books that are practically brand new. There are few that also stock furniture and sell it at a steal which is perfect for new home buyers and those who don’t wish to spend a fortune.

  A personal tip that I practice is having a change jar. It’s a great way to save money, especially if you decide that all change under a certain amount HAS to go into the jar (I put in any change less then 50p). You’ll be surprised how much money you can store from all your change which can be used on a rainy day or saved up and put in the bank. Having large amounts of coinage going in rather then just small coinage makes you feel more accomplished when emptying out the jar when its full as well as saving more this way.

The biggest tip I can give on saving money however is before you spend your money, stop and think twice! A lot of the money we spend is on things that we could either get cheaper or don’t really need. Before you buy something work out whether it’s important to buy and if it is, could you buy it cheaper elsewhere? Thinking twice before spending your money is very important as most people impulse buy without realising they are doing so! Make sure you take your time with your purchase, don’t allow staff to push you into purchasing something and make sure you answer the questions;
Do I need this?
Can I get it cheaper elsewhere?

I wish you all look on your super savvy saving ways!

14th Feb

This week has been very hectic. I have had four projects to work on over this week and two are only two weeks long. I have given these projects more priority over my other two projects to ensure they are completed on time to my fullest abilities. I have realised however that having this many projects and juggling them is quite stressful. I feel that I have not really produced my best over this week due to this fact of being stressed out over the four projects. I think that in the future I should sit and write a detailed time plan of when to work on what and what to complete for that particular day when I have a lot of projects to handle. This will help me with my designs and help me to not become stressed and tire myself out and not be put off about my work.

7th Feb

This week I have taken the final chose designs and have spent some time creating them into proper images on the computer to get a general idea of how they will look. I have played around with various designs of the ideas and have finally narrowed down the designs to the very final design. This design will be the one I will work on over the next couple of weeks. I am happy with this design but I feel it is quite poorly made let alone needing a lot of development work on it.
I feel that the reason why my work is slightly poor is because my photoshop skills are not very good. I need to look at doing some more detailed photoshop sessions and to look on photoshop tutorials online to work on to help improve my skills. This is something quite important to look at and carry out in my own time as it will be an investment on my behalf.

31st Jan

This week I have carried on with my designs. I have also evaluated each and every design. I feel that I have spent a little too long designing and evaluating these designs and feel that I need to really move on in the process of my work.

24th Jan

This week I have spent working on design ideas. I have come up with a few designs based on my idea of centering around the books theme of 'cats' and the bad luck they bring to the main character Frank. I feel that a lot of the designs are nice but none are designs I want to fully further on. I suppose none of my designs are 'the one'. I am disappointed that I have produced a few designs but am not satisfied with the ones I have produced. I will need to spend more time working on my designs and producing greater ones. This is quite time consuming but if this results in a really good design to further develop rather then a poor design to be developed then it would make my project far more interesting and final out come a lot better.

17th Jan

This week I have spent the week researching. I have looked at the Australian target market as well as researching a variety of book covers. I have compared UK best sellers to Aus best sellers, looked at the variety of covers the book already has as well as looking at crime novels and penguin design in general. I have evaluated and gone into particular detail over each of these points to ensure I understand what has already been produced for the markets. After all of this research I feel confident in progressing to the design stage. I do however feel that I have spent too long on the research process and feel slightly 'unfulfilled' because I have not begun the design process. I have however kept to the list I had created for this week which shows that this method does work for me. I will be creating lists for each week on things to 'complete' as I find this ensures I get things done and do not forget things to look at and work on.
In the future I feel that I need to stop forcing myself to research  everything at the very beginning of the project. I think that I should allow myself to relax a little more and allow myself to research through out the brief rather then trying to research the entire project at the very beginning of the project.

10th Jan

This week saw the start of my brand new brief. I have to design a book cover for the book "the postman always rings twice" as well as an essay. I have spent the week reading the book as well as starting initial research. I feel reading the book has made me feel prepared and well equip into making designs for the cover. I feel reading the book has helped me to understand the book as well as pick out key points and themes that I can work from for the front cover. However, reading the book was quite time consuming and ate a lot of time in my week. Reading the book was very helpful but I know in the future I may not be able to do this due to time constraints. I feel that for future briefs I will not really be able to read the books before I make designs for them. I think that I should look up summaries and short essays about the book in question rather then the book in the future to enable me to be prepared for designing but it will take half the time then I have taken.
Because of this I feel that I may be behind in the start of my project. I feel that my time management isnt up to scratch. I will sit and make a detailed list and time plan of what to do for the next week and try to keep strictly to it.