How to save money in Spain

Anyone who is not certain they will be able to clear their monthly credit card balance in full needs to pay great attention to the interest rate a card carries before signing on the dotted line. Those with an excellent credit history will be in a position to apply for the best deals as a good credit score indicates a good financial reputation. However, those with a less than perfect score are less likely to be able to take advantage of the most preferential rates.

Ironically paying your balance off in full each month is one factor which is likely to result in your obtaining the lowest rates, which makes sense as if you clear the balance in full each month then the interest rate is completely immaterial. If you are more known for carrying balances then the lender will look for an opportunity to draw interest charges from you.

Low introductory interest rates are usually offered with balance transfer cards, but there is inevitably a balance transfer fee to pay for the privilege. It is important to determine what the interest rate will be at the end of the introductory offer in advance, as it could be high.

The way you handle your credit card payments will also influence the interest rate. If two consecutive payments are missed on your card then a penalty interest rate will be imposed which will be a costly one, and this will apply for a set period of time. Lenders keep the penalty APR in place until six consecutive payments have been made in a timely fashion.

It is worth paying attention to this clause in the terms and conditions you sign as many have no idea that this will happen as a result of missed payments, simply assuming that the late payments will carry a late payment charge but unaware of the increase in interest charged.

Banks are no longer allowed to arbitrarily increase the interest rate you pay as they so famously did in the last few years. However they do have the right to raise the rate by informing you in writing that they intend to raise the rate in forty five days. Of course if you are carrying a balance you cannot afford to clear you will end up paying the higher rate, but that may be a good time to shop around and look for a new card provider and decide to stop carrying balances.

Those with poor credit scores will be most likely be the ones who resort to obtaining credit from sub prime lenders where the interest rates and fees will be much higher. It is preferable to try and obtain a secured credit card from a reputable lender as a means of re establishing your credit in such circumstances than fall into dealing with a sub prime lender.

Your income, gender and race play no part in influencing the interest rate on the credit cards; it is primarily down to yourself and the way you manage your finances. By establishing and maintaining an excellent credit score you will be able to obtain the most preferential interest rates on the market.

The interest rate cut on savings held in Sterling was not the best news for many trying to get some interest on their saving in GBP. But, is there away around it? There are always different ways of looking at how you can save money and make money at the same time. Keeping your money in the traditional way may not be the best alternative at the moment.

Of course, you should still try to save your money. First of all, cutting down on bills is something that we all try to do. Once you have done that, there are other ways of saving money that you could take a look at. For instance, if you have access to currency markets, you could transfer your money into a different currency. At the moment, some offshore banks are offering better saving rates on accounts held in US dollars. Some of the accounts, even include a bonus for the first year. It could be worth taking a look at them, and checking out if they have a tiered interest structure as well. In that case, the more money you save, the more interest you will receive on your money.

Investment schemes are worth taking into consideration as well. Of course, there are a whole host of investment schemes that you can contract on the Internet. But, it is your money, and I would be very cautious. It could be better to rely on that kind of advice that you can only get from a face to face meeting with a financial consultant. Remember that it is important to check that any investment you decide to invest your capital in, is fully regulated and that you are not going to risk too much of the capital.

Interest rates are likely to be down for some considerable time yet, and I am not sure that they are ever really going to recover. Should that be the case, it is better to play smart and find a new way of investing and saving your money.

Do you save your supermarket money back vouchers, or do you use them straight away? Most supermarkets now have some kind of customer loyalty program. In exchange for you giving them some personal information, they give you a card that allows you to accumulate points or cash. Some supermarkets just issue you with discount vouchers every month. But, how do we treat our hard earned money off vouchers?

Saving Up Your Supermarket Money off Vouchers

Saving up your supermarket vouchers for a special occasion such as Christmas seems to be the most popular way of making the most of your vouchers. If you are fortunate enough to have a Tesco Clubcard, you can also “boost” your vouchers by taking part in different promotions such as 4x times the value of your vouchers. You can even boost your vouchers by turning them into vouchers of meals or when buying jewellery in certain stores.

When you only have access to Spanish loyalty cards, you may want to consider saving up your vouchers for a special occasion. As yet, most of the super markets here in Spain are not very savvy with the way they use their loyalty card schemes. But, it might be coming, I have many Spanish friends who travel to the UK, and they have taken a keen interest in how UK supermarkets run their loyalty schemes. The end result is that many of them have written to supermarkets like Eroski and Consum to express their views, and it seems to be that they are listening. Consum are saying that they are “boosting” their loyalty card scheme by issuing individual offers to shoppers.

But, is this the best way to use your vouchers?

Money Off Vouchers on Special Offers

Personally, I tend to use my vouchers on special offers. So, when a supermarket has a special offer on a product, I get my vouchers out to see of I can make a considerable saving. Last month, one supermarket had a really good special offer on laundry tablets, so I immediately rushed in and snapped up 24 tablets using my vouchers to pay. The product had 3€ off in the first place, and with my vouchers, I ended up walking out with my laundry tablets not having parted with any cash.

Using your vouchers together with special offers might be one of the smartest ways of making the most of your accumulated earnings. But, when Christmas comes around, it is also nice to be able to take a chunk of money off your shopping bill. Some loyalty cards schemes such as Carrefour do not allow you to hang on to your vouchers for a very long time, so make sure to check the date on your voucher.  

Lots of people assume that all of the fruit in Spain is very cheap all of the time, Just like elsewhere, there are some fruits which are seasonal, and may not always be “cheap”. If you enjoy making smoothies, or smoothie bowls, it could be a good idea to buy certain fruits when they are on special offers. Or alternatively, do what I do, do a little bit of foraging in the Spanish countryside.

Pineapples

Pinapples are perhaps not the most expensive fruit that you can find in Spain, but it is one of the easiest fruits to freeze, and it comes up on special offer rather a lot. I love pineapple because of the many health benefits of pineapple, and I make sure that I snap it up when it is on offer.

The great thing about pineapple is that you can make use of all of the pineapple. If you have greenfingers, you can even grow the top of the pineapple. It may not produce a pineapple, but it will turn into an interesting gardening plant. The skin of the pineapple will also compost down very well. Don't forget to keep the core of the pineapple. Believe it or not, it is more nutritious than the rest of the pineapple.

To freeze the pineapple, it is best to chop it up in small bits. Freeze them by placing them on a tray in your freezer, and then transfer them into portion size bags.

Blackberries

The Spanish countryside is full of blackberries come end of July. Not a lot of Spanish people harvest or forage for this lovely berries, but I do and I have taught one of my Spanish friends that blackberries are delicious. This year seems to be a very good year for blackberries, so perhaps you should get out there.

The best time to pick blackberries is early in the morning. They have had a chance to cool down, and they seem to be a bit firmer. So far, I have picked blackberries for the past two weeks, and I have ended up with about 4 kilos of blackberries. I am not sure how much 4 kilos of blackberries would cost in the supermarket, but they are not cheap.

The most important thing about blackberries is to clean them. It is really easy to do. All you need to is to pace them in a large pot of water when you come in, leave for a while, and they are clean. Let them dry, and then spread them out on a tray for quick individual freezing. Fresh blackberries do not need any sugar as they really are sweet enough. Great to use for healthy drinks, adding to yogurt and do not forget the cheesecake!

Papaya

This can be a very expensive fruit in Spain, and you should look out for offers. Expect to pay about 3€ for half a papaya. I think that is expensive so I always make sure that I take advantage of offers. My local supermarket normally sells off their papaya after 5 pm on a Saturday night, so I sneak into pick up a few. Instead of paying 3€ per fruit, I normally end up paying 1.50€. Two fruits will last me a week.

Once again you can save the papaya seeds. They will only start to grown in the summer, and you have to make sure they are nice and warm. I have trick when it comes to growing papaya, and it has not failed me as yet. They may fruit, but if they don't you will certainly have a very exotic house or garden plant.

Don't chop up the papaya in many small pieces, or the fruit will lose it flavour. Using an ice cream scope to spoon out the flesh works well, and it tastes great with blackberry. Freeze quickly on a tray, and take it out when ever you need it. It is worth buying papaya as the health benefits of papaya are well known, and can really help with inflammatory disease.

Bananas

I don't find that bananas are too expensive, but it is a good idea to take advantage of special offers. When you want to work with bananas, it is best to be super prepared and well organized. They will go brown very quickly. I slice them up, but don't freeze the slices individually. Instead I slice up about two bananas to a container, and freeze them that way instead.

Frozen bananas are great in smoothies, and the funny thing is that frozen bananas seem to make for thicker smoothies. Needless to say, they are good for us because they are rich in potassium – one of those micro minerals we often lack.

Cherries

We do have delicious cherries in Spain, but they are not in season for very long. In recent years we have learned a lot about the health benefits of cherries, and we should really try to make the most out of this humble little fruit.

Cherries are that little more labour intensive as you need to take the stone out first of all., but the rest is easy. Just freeze them individually, and place them in containers. Great for all sorts of things including cakes, smoothies and smoothie bowls. Also taste great in home made muffins and you can even add semi-frozen cherries to the middle layer of a Victoria sponge cake. It is almost like an ice cream, and once the juice starts to soak through, I promise you that nobody can keep their hands off that cake.