The hidden cost of New Year's at home

Deciding to spend New Year's Eve at home can cost more than you might think, new research reveals.

Barclays Insurance Services finds that people planning parties in their houses are expecting to spend an average of £197.82 on drinks, decs, and nibbles. But as well as the cost of celebrating the start of 2006, Britons are set to spend another £78.40 cleaning up afterwards.

However, for a few, the cost of putting your house or flat back in shape after revellers have wandered home is far higher.

Six per cent of Brits are set to spend a minimum of £400 on their party, but might have to fork out even more if they are not careful.

Barclays Insurance Services reveals that, in the wake of a party, one person in five needs new glasses or crockery, one in seven needs to replace or professionally clean flooring, one in 14 needs to replace furniture or curtains, and one in 20 requires a new stereo or TV.

And party organisers cannot expect their guests to make good for any damage they have done.

Ten per cent of party-goers say they would own up to breaking something, but would not expect to pay for it, while five per cent would simply deny all knowledge of the incident to avoid forking out for a replacement.

"A little bit of wear and tear is part and parcel of holding a party," said Adrian Grace, managing director of Barclays Insurance Services.

"However, as festive spirits are high and party-goers want to make sure the new year starts with a bang, hosts may wake up with more than just a headache in the morning.

"By double-checking exactly what their home insurance covers them for and updating their contents insurance with any major Christmas gifts such as TVs, ornaments or jewellery, party hosts can relax and have a good time."

Barclays' top tips for a happy and safe New Year's Eve party:

Make sure you safely store away valuable items (to prevent damage to them).

Avoid placing flammable decorations near candles or an open fire.

Avoid serving drinks near your electrical gadgets (to prevent damage).

Have plenty of ashtrays for smokers and watch out for unattended cigarettes.

Do not use your best china (to avoid it being smashed).

Make sure you have up-to-date home insurance cover.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Babs and I are off now over Christmas so I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We should be back in 2006 with some exciting new features and plenty more of the same.

Wishing you all a great holiday season.

Bruce and Babs

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UK Cheapest Credit Card

Choosing the right credit card

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A Credit Card allows the user to make purchases instantly and pay for them later. A minimum percentage of your outstanding balance must be paid off each month and you will have a credit limit which restricts the total amount that you can spend on your card. The bank will require you to pay interest on your spending. Cards with differing credit limits are offered by each bank, the rate of interest that you have to pay, and the minimum monthly payment are also likely to differ depending on the type of card on offer.

Cards can pre-book cinema or theatre tickets by phone; reserve a seat on a shuttle, give you purchase power in the high street, or from the comfort of your own home on the net. A card can do lots of things. Every day, more and more people are using "plastic" to help run their day to day finances. They use cards to draw cash or make payments and enjoy the flexibility and security they can provide. But, everyone's different and we all have different needs.

If you fail to do your homework you could end up paying too much, or being limited by not having the functionality you would want from your card. With hundreds of credit card providers offering a widely varying range of APRs and specialist packages, it can be difficult and time consuming to find and select the card that is right for you.

Finding the cheapest UK credit card

We will help you Compare the Cheapest UK credit cards.

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Swiftcover

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The £11,000 cost of household bills

The average UK household spends £11,000 a year on bills, new research reveals, but Britons are underestimating this cost.

Online bank Egg finds that the largest cost the average household faces each month is for mortgages or rent - which use up £611 - followed by council tax (£109) and telephone bills (£34).

Home insurance, gas, electricity and water bills, along with other essentials such as television licences, all cost over £20 a month.

This all adds up to an expenditure of £888 a month, or £10,656 a year, Egg calculates.

But despite this heavy expense, most Britons believe they are paying far less than this.

"The average consumer believes their home costs 30 per cent a month less to run than it actually does, which often results in failure to budget appropriately and as a result, regularly overspend," said Mark Nancarrow, Egg?s chief financial officer.

This miscalculation can lead UK households to believe they have £300 more a month than they think to spend.

"It is clear that many consumers are unsure how much discretionary spending money is at their disposal each month. However, in order to budget effectively it is important that consumers think about their money as being in one of two pots ? money which is committed to regular bills, services and costs and money which is leftover for discretionary spending," Mr Nancarrow added.

"Only by understanding these two separate pots - how they operate and what they cost - can we ensure that we stay in control of our money and avoid overspending and unnecessary fees and charges from our banks."

To see if you can save money on your mortgage, go to www.financechoices.co.uk/mortgages.html

The climbing cost of Christmas

Britons are planning to spend £466 each this over the Christmas period - £43 more than last year.

But while this cost is up on last year, it is considerably lower than in 2000, when spending hit £589.

But Abbey?s annual Christmas spending report reveals that one person in eight has no idea how they will pay for the festive season.

"It?s no great surprise that Christmas is an expensive time of year and it?s good that people have an idea of how much they will spend and, in some cases, how they will pay for it," said Reza Attar-Zadeh, Abbey?s head of banking.

"Whether people use an authorised overdraft, credit card, loan or savings ? they must plan for the extra expense and not just hope for the best. It?s also important that people do not go overboard when they spend on a new credit card or dip into their savings just because it?s the festive season."

Most Britons (63 per cent) will use their savings to cover the extra Christmas costs, while more than one in five (21 per cent) will put it on a credit card.

This is a small increase in the number of people using a credit card and a drop in those planning to take money from their nest eggs.

Another four per cent of UK residents have saved in a Christmas club throughout the year to cover the cost of puddings and presents.

Halifax: House prices accelerating again

House prices rose 1.2 per cent in November, according to Halifax, the third big rise in four months.

The Halifax house price index, which uses in-house mortgage data to calculate the UK's average house price, has now shown annual house price growth accelerating for four months in a row.

After July's nine-year low in house price growth, property values increased 1.9 per cent in August, 1.1 per cent in September, were flat in October, and then rose by 1.2 per cent in November.

If this level of growth continued, house prices would rise 12.6 per cent in a year.

However, four month-on-month falls in house prices in the last 12 months - accompanied by generally slow growth - mean that house prices in November were only 4.5 per cent higher than 12 months previously.

But the recent growth spurt is not being taken as a sign of things to come by most analysts.

"The slowdown in UK economic growth over the past year and the historically high level of house prices relative to average earnings are, however, expected to curb the recent improvement in housing demand and prevent another sustained period of sharply rising property values," explained Martin Ellis, Halifax chief economist.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at Global Insight, agreed: "The Halifax data will undoubtedly increase speculation that the recent clear pick up in housing market activity and buyer interest is starting to feed through to revive house prices.

"[But] we remain sceptical that house prices are set to see sustained sharp rises any time soon. Most other house price indices have remained relatively muted overall in recent months, including the Nationwide (who reported house prices to be flat month-on-month in November and up just 2.4 per cent year-on-year) and a particularly comprehensive index produced by the Financial Times (up 0.1 per cent month on month and 2.5 per cent year on year in October)."