In ode to our North American cousins and all those that are celebrating Thanksgiving over the next few days here’s Simple Payday’s contribution to the festivities.

Holiday Treats on a Budget

With half terms and Christmas holidays cutting a big dent into your monthly pay cheque, it may seem impossible to find treats and activities to amuse the whole family without having to take out a bank loan or finding yourself unable to make you pay last the whole month. Nobody wants to have their children sitting around bored playing video games for their whole holiday, but what can you do when half term falls a week before payday?

One solution is to plan in advance, making sure you save some money from the preceding months to ensure two or three great days out to make their holiday really memorable, or taking out a payday loan to see you through until the next payday. Payday loans are instant cash advances of up to £1000 that will appear in your account within 24 hours and can be paid back on receipt of your next pay cheque. There is no need for a credit check or lengthy application process and you can take as little or as much as you need to make sure both you and your family have a stress free and enjoyable break. However, with fees and interest working out to around £25 per £100 borrowed, this may leave you in a tight spot the following month, especially with Christmas coming up, so working out cheap or free activities is an even better way to have fun worry free!

Wherever you live, take advantage of any free activities available to you and your family. Museums will often be free entry, meaning you only have to pick up the cost of travel there and back, and will give you a full day’s entertainment that will also prove educational for your children (in a way that is fun enough for them not to realise they are learning!) The Science Museum in London has a number of hands-on exhibits that will thrill and tire the kids out, and give you plenty to look at and enjoy as well, while The Manchester Museum in Manchester offers a fun look at everyday science, zoology and biology. Any town should have a tourist centre which can tell you where your nearest free museum is.

For a completely free day out, meet up with some friends and their children and head down to your local park. Take a picnic, toys and bikes and let the kids go wild running around in the fresh air whilst you and your friends have a catch up. If the weather is nice it could last you a whole day, or you can move the fun back home to play games as a group. Your child’s games console can become an activity for the whole family with multi-player games and family entertainment such as Singstar or the Nintendo Wii making for a full day of fun and laughter.

A Morning or Afternoon at the flicks

Vue Cinemas offer mid-morning showings of children-oriented films for just £1 (£2 for 3D showings), and you could follow this with a restaurant lunch to make the day really special. Many restaurants offer cheaper deals at lunchtimes, and if you look online you can find a number of money-off vouchers, half price coupons and even loyalty cards which will offer a free meal to your group.

For a really big day out for almost half the price, take a look at online voucher codes websites for half price entry to theme parks across the UK. With ticket prices coming in at well over £100 for a family of four, half price tickets can cut the price of your big day out in half, leaving more money for treats while you are out! Theme parks and attractions often work in conjunction with supermarkets and catalogues as well, to offer half price or cheap family tickets for theme parks with locations all over the country, meaning there is bound to be one close to you, helping you to save on travel money.

Half terms and holidays don’t have to be a stressful time full of money worries, if you can take some time out and be clever in your choice of activities, you can guarantee the whole family has a good time without having to bankrupt yourself!

No matter how carefully you budget and plan in advance, there is bound to come a time when you don’t quite have the finances you need to see you through the month. Whether you have an unexpected expense due to a household problem (such as a kitchen appliance breaking down), a bill coming in that you were not prepared for, or even a longer gap between paydays than usual, it may be necessary for you to get your hands on some cash fast.

In these circumstances there are a number of ways to use objects in your home to make you some quick cash to see you through the month

Most people have wardrobes full of clothes and shoes that they no longer wear but hold on to ‘just in case’. Now may be the perfect time to have a clear out of anything you don’t think you’ll wear again and head to Ebay or Gumtree to let your old clothes make you some money and let someone else get their hands on a bargain outfit that they will wear time and time again! Not only does clearing out your home free up space,but it is also a good way to make you feel happier, with less clutter to irritate you and making the clothes you actually want to wear easy to find.

You might even find some items you had forgotten you owned! For designer pieces, and items in perfect condition, you can actually make quite a decent amount of money, and you will not need to send the item until the money has cleared into your account. With auction terms being anything from one day to one month, you can choose how quickly you need the money and how long you think you’ll need to get the right amount for your items.

Making fast cash look easy

Another way to make some fast cash is to look through your CD and DVD collections. Most people have large collections of both, and once you have watched a DVD a few times, or added a CD to your MP3 player you are unlikely to need it again. Music Magpie offer good rates for both CDs and DVDs and even send you a freepost sticker so that no matter how many you choose to send off, you won’t end up paying out more than you get back. They’ll send you a cheque for your goods once they have been checked to make sure they are in good condition which you can put straight into your bank account.

If you have any unwanted electrical goods, CEX can give good money for televisions, MP3 players, stereos and so on, as long as they are in good condition. In fact, even if your items are broken, there is a good chance CEX will take them at a cheaper rate anyway. You can visit the website (uk.webuy.com) and enter your items to get a total straight away, send your items to their freepost address and receive a cheque in the post, or for an even quicker solution, just pop into one of their stores with their items for an instant valuation and money handed over in cash for your items. With most households having plenty of electrical goods stored away in cupboards, unused, this could work out as a very profitable way of making some fast cash.

Looking at the quick loans option

Finally, if you cannot find anything to sell, or just need a brief loan, it may be worth looking into taking out a payday quick loan online, these are short term loans which can be paid back anywhere between one week and one month. You can generally take out between £100 and £1000 and interest works out at around £25 for every £100 borrowed. A rule of thumb is to only take out a payday loan if you are absolutely certain you will be able to afford to pay it back on your next payday, and always take the interest into account. But for quick money, payday loans are one of the most instant and easy to obtain forms of cash you can find. An internet search will bring up a large number of payday loans providers so do your research and you could have the cash you need by the end of the day.

Obviously, it is always better to make quick cash that you won’t need to pay back, so look through your home first for anything you don’t need and can be sold easily via any of the simple above methods.

Life has a habit of surprising you at the worst possible moments financially. Unexpected bills, tuition fees and broken household appliances can all leave you in desperate need for some quick cash, and if you are more than a week from your payday it can seem incredibly difficult to get through the month. In such a short space of time, it is pointless to take out a bank loan, and if you cannot borrow the money from friends or family, a good way to go about it would be to ask your boss for an advance on your pay cheque. This may seem like a frightening proposition, but if handled correctly it could be the easiest way to get yourself through a difficult financial spot.

Don’t psych yourself up – Relax yourself up

First of all, make sure your boss is in a calm and relaxed mood. If there are difficulties in the company that your boss is dealing with, it will be far easier for them to just say no so that they won’t have to deal with your situation as well. Choose a good time, perhaps the end of the day when the boss is getting ready to leave, or at lunchtime so that they are in a relaxed and happy state of mind.

Another important thing to think of is how your company is doing financially. A company that is struggling to make ends meet are far less likely to want to let go of any extra funds, as they may need that money to pay for other things throughout the month. If you company is financially stable and is not approaching a big review or deadline, and your boss is in a calm mood, you should feel confident to go and request your advance.

Three’s a crowd

Make sure that you and your boss are alone, as bringing up something so personal in a meeting or when surrounded by others may cause your boss to feel pressured, and will also not give you the time and atmosphere you need to make your case professionally and calmly. Perhaps ask your boss for a meeting, or even just for ten minutes on their own, then state straight away what you are asking for. Your boss should give you time to state your case and will be more likely to hear you out of they know straight away what you are asking for.

The pitch

Explain why you need the advance, making sure you speak in clear facts as opposed to using an emotional standpoint. Keep the conversation professional and relaxed and even if you are rejected for the advance you will not lose any standing with your employer. Show that you have thought through all of the issues that may arise because of this and offer various repayment plans – perhaps offering to pay back the advance in full before your next payday, or offering to have the advance taken out of your pay cheque in stages over a couple of months. Allow your boss to make their thoughts known, as there may be standard company procedure for this.

Another way to make sure the advance pays off for both you and the company is to offer to work extra hours and overtime to pay off the advance. This would also ensure that your next pay cheque is not affected and will actually bring in more money as opposed to money you need to pay back.

Let your employer state their case and if the answer is still no you should thank them for their time and leave in the same relaxed and professional state you entered into the conversation with. There are other options for short term cash advances, such as payday loans, which can be given within 24 hours for amounts of up to £1000, and work to a fee of around £25 per £100 borrowed. These loans are easily available on the internet and do not require lengthy background checks or even a good credit rating, meaning that even if your boss cannot offer you an advance this time around, you are still capable of getting your hands on a short term cash advance with little trouble.

Should your employer say yes, make sure you say thank you, and do not abuse this facility too often. A one-off cash advance is one thing, but if you continue to ask for advances on your money you may find yourself in financial trouble quite quickly. Consider raising your hours or taking on some part time work if you continuously struggle to make your pay cheque last.

Debt is generally perceived as ‘bad’. Owing money means that you are never fully financially secure, and the money that comes into your bank account is not truly yours, belonging instead to your creditors. However, there are certain kinds of debt which can in fact help provide a more secure future for yourself and your family, and even improve your financial situation. This kind of debt is ‘good’ debt, owed money which creates an investment sure to pay off later in life, and which will not negatively impact on your situation while it is still owed.

There is such a thing as good debt

Good debts are debts which in the long term will help to generate an income, such as university education or even a mortgage, or debt which is taken out as an investment in yourself. Loans taken to buy a car needed for work for example, or a start up loan for a small business can generally be considered good debt. Similarly, a mortgage, despite being taken out over a long period of time (often 30 years or more), will help to improve your credit rating  as well as take you out of the essentially wasteful process of renting a property, where every pound spent goes into your landlord’s pocket and gives you nothing more than one more month in a property you do not own. At the end of a mortgage term you will own a home, something which can continue to rise in price and leave you with far more money in the long term than you began with.

Similarly, low interest loans can be considered generally good debt, as they can be used to consolidate higher interest loans and credit cards to help you into a far better financial situation. When consolidating debt, make sure you shop around for the very best deal and lowest interest rates, ensuring that you will be able to meet the repayment terms, because otherwise you risk this good debt turning bad!

So now the bad debt

Bad debt always comes from buying inessential purchases which are high in value but will depreciate from the day they are bought. A widescreen television bought new can be a hefty amount of money, but secondhand will cost almost half of what you paid for it, and any damage will render it worthless. Plus with new products coming out all the time, the ‘must have’ product of the moment is bound to be worth far less in a year’s time. Credit cards are frequently used for these purchases and although often have low interest rates, if you cannot afford the product in the first place you may struggle to meet repayments, leaving you paying off up to double the cost of the item just in penalty charges.

Personal loans taken out for general spending or something like a holiday would also come under bad debt. A holiday will not raise in value once it has been taken and leaves you in debt for far longer than the break was. Similarly with loans taken for general spending, once the money is gone you are left in the same situation as before, but with an extra amount of money that needs to come out of your pay cheque each month.

Payday loans are also considered to be quite dangerous ways of getting into debt. With these loans they are incredibly simple to get, even for those with bad credit ratings, and because there are so many payday lenders out there it is incredibly simple to take out more than one at a time, despite the fact that individual companies will not lend out again until the original loan is paid off. It can be tempting to take out a payday loan to fix a short term financial problem, but it is always worth remembering that these loans need to be paid back, will have relatively high interest rates, and may leave you in a far worse financial situation in the long run.

It is not impossible to go through life only ever living on the money that is yours, but in many cases debt can actually help you to move onto a new and more secure future. It is just important to ensure that you only choose the right kinds of debt to save yourself from getting into stressful and difficult financial situations.