crazy rewards

Check out Direct Line - they are offering 12 months cover for the price of 10! Not bad!

But remember to shop around still!

Everyone is struggling at the moment, and it seems that everyday, you read of somewhere else issuing job cuts. Now, it's the turn of Macy's, who have announced their plans to cut 7000 jobs so that they can reduce costs. Cutting the 7000 jobs should make them an annual saving of £281million, which should help keep them afloat against reports of falling sales.

This post is going to be completely different to my normal finance-y stuff, but i just had to write about it. It has to be the funniest thing I've read in a long time, to the point it had me crying with laughter.

It's a complaint to Virgin boss, Richard Branson, from a disgruntled passenger about the airline food he was given. Absolutely hilarious. Love it.

                                            An animal rights group have offered a £1,000 reward to anyone who can help to find some thieves, who killed a budgie in front of its' owner.

The budgie's neck was snapped, after its' owner wouldn't hand any money over during a break in at her home in Cardiff. The robbers got away with £150.

The poor budgie! 

If you're looking for a cheap trip away, you could do a lot worse than checking out what Flybe have got to offer.

If you book online before midnight on Tuesday 27th January you'll be able to get flights and hotels at up to 50% off, meaning you could be in line to get a holiday for an absolute bargain.  Go take a look, there are some great deals there!

It's believed that the value of the average home in the UK will have dropped by £50,000 by the end of 2009.

The CEBR thinks that house proces will fall by 25% and not return to their peak values until 2013.

The average price of a UK home hit £200,000 in August 2007. It's predicted that the average price will fall to £149,000 in 2009.

At the moment, the HSBC Plus account is half price for 6 months, if you take out a Green account. So what is the Plus account? What does it offer?

• Worldwide Travel Insurance
• Roadside Breakdown Assistance
  
• Preferential Rates
• Lots of other benefits

And, if you open the account between 24/12/2008 and the 25/01/2009, it will cost £6.47 for the account, per month, rather than the normal £12.95 - for 3 months. If you decide to go green within 7 days of opening the account, your first 6 months will cost £6.47 a month. And this go green offer is valid until the 1st March.

The high street has really struggled lately, but have we seen the worst of it?

There appears to be a hint of good news emerging - John Lewis and New Look have both reported promising figures, despite other stores struggling. It's causing people to speculate that even though the economy is set for a really bad year, the worst may be over for the high street.

Larger retailers seem to be doing well - many are doing super-discounts to get rid of old stock. But, smaller places still seem to be struggling - this could cause problems for the smaller businesses, limiting their ability to be competition for the market.

Boots are offering their No.7 range of skincare and cosmetic products at a bargain - 3 for 2 on all products, where you get the third free.

Whether it's to stock up on make up or give your skin a treat, there's surely something for you on offer in their range - take a look in store or online to see if anything takes your fancy.

I should know about temp work - I've done it enough. So, what are the pros and cons of temp work?

Pros

• It gives you breathing space if you aren't sure of what you want to do as a career, and gives you experience of verious jobs, to help you decide on what path is right for you
• It can be the easiest wat to get your foot in the door. You can gain experience, contacts and insider knowledge.
  
• Especially if you are a student, temp jobs usually pay better than traditional student work like restaurants/bars.
  

Cons

• No benefits. Temps usually receive little or no holiday entitlement, and miss out on sick pay, health insurance, pension plans and other bonuses. Sometimes, you do get holiday entitlement paid by the hour, and you accrue it, which can be good if you are in the role a while.
  
• No security. You're not guaranteed an end date for any job, so a month long assignment could end on day two, and you can't do anything about it.

So how can you land a role? Make sure your CV is up to date and inform your referees that you are wanting to use them. Also, research the various temping agencies there are - choose the ones that suit you best. You will usually get an invitation to register with the agencies you choose and have an informal chat - this is usually an informal interview, so sell yourself.

How can you boost your pay? Develop your skills. Often, advanced Microsoft Office skills can be a massive plus. Improve your typing speed too. If you need to, get CRB checked and security cleared as soon as possible as this can be quite a lengthy process.