January 6, 2009
In the past, I’ve put a couple of Brian Lenihans speeches through Wordle - here and here. Here’s the Wordle (*) of the speech that Brian Cowen gave during December when he launched the governments master plan to get the country through the recession - “Building Ireland’s Smart Economy: A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal”.
(*) Slightly Amended.
January 5, 2009
We’ve all seen the increased popularity of shoppers from the south of Ireland heading north to shop in Newry. We’ve seen a big increase in people using Google to hit this site looking for information on shopping in Newry.
Here’s the Google Trends graph of Irish people searching Google for “Newry” in 2008:
January 4, 2009
Happy New Year to all our ValueIreland.com readers and subscribers. Here’s hoping that you enjoyed the past couple of weeks, and that you’re looking forward to facing into 2009.
Reading much of the newspaper coverage of the year gone by, and the year that’s just arrived, it seems like it’s going to carry on with all the doom and gloom for us for a while more to come.
While times will be tough for many, it’s also likely that 2009 will bring new opportunities for many as well.
We’re hearing loads at the moment about things like the credit crunch and its fallout, the banking crisis in Ireland, the collapse of the property market, rising prices, and most worryingly the complete lack of leadership coming from our political leaders.
However, as consumers, we can’t really do a whole lot about all these things - so there’s not really much point in complaining or worrying about them. Lots of us have been here before and came out the other side - some of us haven’t experienced tougher times, but what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger - and recessions don’t kill.
The recent government master plan, Building Ireland’s Smart Economy: A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal, is full of much fluff and guff about preparing the country for the end of the recession and the better times that are expected to follow (at some undetermined time in the future). All well and good - but again, not a whole lot for us as individuals.
So what is there for us to do? What we should be doing for 2009 is focusing on all the things that we can actually have an impact on.
We can focus our time, our interest and our concerns on our family, on our work and careers, on our personal finances, on our hobbies and pastimes, and where we go from here.
It’s within all our own personal control to actually make it through 2009 in as best a way as possible, to have a great year despite everything, and to prepare ourselves and our families for the even better times that might come, somewhere over the rainbow.
January 3, 2009
I blogged about this very same subject this time last year as well, and the timing is important, so here we go again.
Dublin Bus have increased their fares again for 2009, by up to 10c per ticket for adults. For me, my bus fare will go from €1.70 to €1.80 - an increase in my travel costs for the year of €50. It’s not all that much in the greater scheme of things, but still, with all the other price rises we’re experiencing these days, it’ll all add up.
So, to avoid this Dublin Bus price rise, at least for a short time, go to Ticketmaster and buy up any remaining tickets that they still have available at the old prices. That I can see, all the tickets currently on sale for Dublin Bus on the Ticketmaster website are still available at the old prices. Get them while you can.
Not sure about Irish Rail prices, but the same thing might be the case for the train tickets that are on sale via Ticketmaster also.
January 2, 2009
I know I’m supposed to be on holidays at the moment, but here’s a quick tip if you’re reviewing your finances as we’re heading into the New Year, 2009.
If you have a credit card with Ulster Bank the advertised interest rate is 17.9% (or 15.9% on the Zinc card that I have had).
I rang this morning to close my account having paid off the balance and they immediately offered me their “staff only rate” of 7.5% - a full 10% less than their basic rate and 8% better than their Zinc rate - more than a 50% reduction straight off.
So, if you’ve an Ulster Bank credit card, and don’t always pay off the balance monthly, give them a ring straight away, tell them you’re closing your account because you’ve got a better deal elsewhere, and see if they offer you the same rate.
I guess a lot of service providers (financial and otherwise) will be similarly keen to keep our business in 2009. It’ll probably be worthwhile ringing all of them that you deal with in the coming weeks to see what they can do to keep your business.
December 24, 2008
ValueIreland.com is finishing up today for our Christmas and New Years break. We’ll be back online on Monday, January 5th. We hope you’ve enjoyed what we’ve put together here for you during 2008 and have found it useful and interesting.
We have some exciting plans for 2009 with planned new initiatives and original research for Irish consumers.
Some of these are based on our own ideas, while others are based on feedback from our many valued readers. If you have any thoughts or requests on what you’d like to see here next year, leave us a comment below and we’ll follow up in 2009.
In the meantime, we wish you a very happy and joyous holiday season, and a very successful and prosperous 2009.
December 24, 2008
We very much hope that you enjoyed our series of Top Tips for Irish Consumers. For the past 3 weeks, we’ve provided you with some fantastic and interesting tips from some higher profile Irish consumers. Everyone involved has been very generous with their time, for which we are extremely grateful.
If you haven’t check out all the Top Tips, check them out now - you could find something new that could save yourself a few quid coming up to Christmas.
Many thanks again goes to all those who contributed to this series - we in ValueIreland.com appreciate it very much and we hope it’s been of benefit to the readers of ValueIreland.com.
December 23, 2008
Do you know that the “unit pricing” regulations are? Do you check out the unit prices to see if you’re getting good value for money?
A shop that provides price labels on their shelving and has bar code scanning at checkouts (most shops these days) are obliged to provide a unit price for an item as well as the actual selling price.
So, if you’re buying an item that is sold by measure, volume or weight, the label must tell you how much that item is per litre, or per kilo etc.
Below are two shelf labels from my local store from a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, they’re both for the same product - Squeez Orange Juice, but for 2 different volume containers.
Interesting, isn’t it! On the same shelf, two different unit prices for the same product.
And to even complicate things even more for the poor consumer, the version of the juice that was market as €1.64 per litre was actually also flagged in a “2 for €2.50” deal. What’s that? 2 litres for €2.50, or a unit price of €1.25 per litre (which isn’t actually shown anywhere).
Takes a bit of effort and mathematics to work out the best value there!
December 23, 2008
With thanks to, and courtesy of, Jan Battles who writes for The Sunday Times, here is the 17th and last in our series of Top Tips for Irish Consumers.
When I’m being thrifty and virtuous (which I admit is not always) these are some of the things I have found that help me save money.
- I’ve installed Skype on my computer, which has got to be one of the best inventions ever. The software allows users to make telephone calls over the internet for free to other users of the service (and for a fee to landlines and mobiles). My best friend moved to Australia a few years ago and now instead of buying phone cards or access codes off websites I can call her totally for free. Not only does it cost me nothing, and is really easy to use, but because I have a webcam on my laptop I can see her every time we speak, instead of just once a year at Christmas. You’d think there’d be a catch, but I’ve yet to find it.
- When using my credit card abroad and given the option of paying in euros or the local currency I always select the local currency. It means I’m not getting the crappy exchange rate the hotel, restaurant or shop has set (which will include a nice cut for themselves) but rather the bank’s rate of the day.
- I use Which? magazine and its website Which.co.uk to help choose what brands of electronics and appliances to buy. They do comprehensive tests of reliability and value for money. They’ve never led me astray.
- Otherwise it’s just trial and error for us consumers. Consumer Choice, the magazine of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland, publishes similar reviews.
- I buy as much stuff online as possible: I get Dermalogica skincare products, which are only available in certain beauty salons and spas, from Care4YourSkin.com, where they are much cheaper (and they arrive at your front door). I use Amazon.co.uk for books, CDs and DVDs; Pixmania.ie is good for electronics and I buy art prints from Allposters.com or Easyart.com who will deliver canvas or framed prints.
- Earlier this year I had an extension put onto my house and got a new kitchen fitted. I brought my rough plans to one kitchen company and paid them around 150 euros to do up a full CAD drawing with computer images of what the kitchen would look like, then emailed it round six or seven different companies for quotes. The dearest was twice the price of the cheapest. Many companies around the country are willing to deliver and fit in Dublin and are usually much cheaper than ones based in the capital.
- I use websites like Laterooms.com and Wotif.com to get discounted hotel rooms. I’m so disorganised it’s always last minute anyway when I’m booking a holiday that it works for me but if you like to have everything sorted months in advance it’s not ideal.
- I stock up on painkillers like paracetamol and ibuprofen when I’m in the North or Britain. Boots and Tesco have several different lines of own-brand versions in the UK that they don’t have here that are much cheaper, and it’s the same active ingredient. You can get paracetamol for as little as 1p a tablet when the cheapest here is more than 8c each. You can also get some medicines that are prescription-only here over the counter there, which saves on the 40 or 50 quid it costs going to the doctor.
- Unless I have a memory lapse, I always clear my credit card when the bill comes in. I tend to use it only to book tickets, reserve hotels and when buying valuable items so they are covered by the card insurance. I don’t use it as a loan facility as the interest rates are so high and I’m freaked out by big debt (my large mortgage is something I manage to block out of my head most of the time). I love denying the bank any interest payments so when I forget to pay on time it really bugs me.
- When the lovely people at the insurance company send me my annual renewal and have bumped up my premium I always call them. The first year I phoned all the other providers to get quotes and told my insurer how much cheaper I could get it elsewhere. The second year I didn’t go to the bother and just said I could get it much cheaper elsewhere and they immediately dropped the price. It seems to me like they pick any number out of the air and are leaving the ball in the customer’s court as to whether they bother to quibble with them or not.
- These are personal top tips, and are not necessarily endorsed by The Sunday Times.
December 22, 2008
With many thanks to, and courtesy of, Pete Wedderburn (Pete the Vet) here is the 16th and penultimate installment of our Top Tips for Irish Consumers.
- Think about the cost of a pet before you welcome it into your home. Even just the cost of feeding a dog or cat will amount to hundreds of euro ever year. There are also vets’ bills, boarding kennel fees and other unexpected costs, such as replacing the wallpaper that was chewed/scratched to shreds. If you are feeling the pinch, choose a goldfish rather than a bigger, more expensive pet.
- If you’re getting a dog, don’t buy a pedigree puppy. Instead, rescue a dog from an animal sanctuary. You’ll save money and you’ll also save a life. Local authorities in Ireland destroy around 15000 healthy cross-bred dogs every year, just because they are unwanted.
- Don’t buy expensive toys for your cat – make your own instead. Try stuffing an old sock and attaching it to a piece of string. Visit www.best-cat-art.com/homemade-cat-toys.html for some more home-made toys.
- Don’t buy expensive chew treats for your dog – instead, buy long-lasting rubber toys like the Kong. (www.kongcompany.com). When stuffed with food and deep-frozen, these give your dog hours of contented chewing time, and they can be used again and again, lasting for several years.
- Learn to groom your own pet. A one-off investment in electric fur clippers will equip you to cut your own pet’s hair for many years.
- Choose your pet’s food carefully. Cheap pet food can be poor quality, and is not always good value. Pets need to eat more food to get an equivalent amount of nutritive value. Instead, choose a high-quality, so-called “premium” brand that your pet likes, and don’t change brands too frequently. Pet shops and vet clinics stock a range of diets that are suitable.
- Get pet insurance, but not necessarily for your pet’s whole life. Get it for the first two years of life, and then from seven years onwards, since these are the highest risk times. If not insuring your pet, put the equivalent amount to one side each month, in an interest bearing account, so that you are ready for a health crisis if it happens.
- Don’t let your pet get fat. Many people waste money by feeding their pet too much, and obese pets end up with illnesses (such as diabetes and arthritis) that are expensive to treat.
- Get a dog licence! It only costs €12.70 per year, and if your local authority finds that you don’t have one, you risk a much more substantial fine.
- Learn more about pet health and behaviour on the internet. Websites like www.veterinarypartner.com allow you to search for answers to different problems. Your local vet is still the place to go if you have a serious problem, but sometimes it’s possible to get simple, helpful advice for free.
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