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A FEW SMART choices can lead to bigger savings than you’d expect.
It’s like the Boy Scouts say: fail to prepare, prepare to fail. A few simple tips and tricks can be of huge benefit for families looking to mind the pennies.
Of course, it’s not always obvious where we could be getting better value, or else we’d already be doing it ourselves right?
Well, here are some places that you could be getting a better deal – without compromising on experience….
In the run-up to big family holidays, it’s a good idea to choose your time wisely when changing money. Due to currency conversion rates, converting money just before you leave might not actually be the most cost-effective time – so bear this in mind if you’re heading to places such as the UK or US.
Activate price drop alerts for your Amazon account. On other sites, opting to watch things in your basket might lead to them dropping in a sale, too – so always click to receive notifications on these items.
Lots of more niche electronics components (think that jumble of leads and wires in your kitchen’s messy drawer) are available for better prices online than in the shops. Make sure they comply to EU safety codes, then reap the savings.
Reckon a whole cooked chicken is too much for you and just a few others? Think again. Roasting a chicken at the start of the week makes a lot of sense, versus buying lots of fillets or cuts throughout that time. You can get the meat for a Sunday dinner, sandwiches after, make soup from leftovers, then boil the bones for stock.
If you have space to compost, you should think about starting. It’s not only great for the environment (and also, of course, on cutting down on your waste bills) but also a fun and interactive way to teach the kids about nature and how the world works.
Speaking of compost…
Starting a little home garden (if you have the space to do so) is a really fun activity for kids and adults alike. You’d be surprised at what you get out of it, and it’s certainly not just for those with ten acres around their house. Even a small garden can offer up delicious, easy-to-grow veggies like peas, broad beans, courgettes, tomatoes… And it doesn’t take much time either. More info here.
It goes without saying – and almost everyone knows this is a good idea, but rarely put it into practice. There are lots of areas in family outgoings that can be improved on, cost-wise. Not just things like TV, internet and electricity bills – even your own current account could be working harder for you. Invest a little time looking into this, and look forward to savings coming in for years.
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And the spineless NATO looks on.. God help them.
@Tom Kiely: i bet you my car that if Russia invades a baltic state – NATO wont do a single sh..t. and will be waffling their usual “we dont want to start a war” nonsense. Useles s , spineless alliance.
@Tom Kiely: direct NATO engagement in Ukraine would lead to war between NATO countries and Russia, with a distinct potential for escalation to nuclear warfare. For this reason, invading a NATO country is likely a line that Putin will not cross, but entering a non NATO country to engage Russia is also a line NATO cannot cross. I grieve for the Ukrainian losses, but we would see more pain in a much wider scale if NATO directly engaged Russian forces.
@John Johnes: what do you think will happen if they invaded a NATO state?
@Georg Ludwig Cantor:
@Georg Ludwig Cantor: They can start by implementing a no fly zone through a UN resolution and NATO can then go in. Tony Connolly RTE has s very good article this morning on a ‘Tug of War’. for anyone wanting to catch up.
@John Johnes: we don’t want to start a war nonsense? What is nonsense about not wanting to start a war, especially to defend a non nato state. If they did it for every non nato country then where would it end. It’s awful what’s happening but it would start a world war to stick thier nose in so the smart choice is to avoid that at all costs. There may be a lot of civilian deaths not but can you imagine the amount if WW3 broke out and putin started using nukes. We can’t be short sighted about this as awful as it is.
@Paul Furey: the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are nato states.
@Fandandi: you must have missed the part where Putin was shooting missiles at a Nuclear reactor on Friday morning
@Tom Kiely: NATO are an offense force, not a defensive force. They are the sales and marketing division of the arms industries. Stopping the war is not in their interest.
@Splat: Russia can veto any no-fly zone in the UN.
@Tom Kiely: You hoping for WWIII?
@John Johnes: you are correct but that would mean looking at game over.
Imagine if Putin hits the nuclear button on a couple of western cities,the U.S you’d imagine would hit back.It could be all over very quick.
@Splat: And how do they enforce it? An attack on a military ship or plane is considered as a direct attack on the country it belongs to. This “Something must be done, der ort to be a law” rhetoric advances nothing. Sanctions don’t seem as dramatic as boots on the ground, but think of it this way. Putin is kept in power by the oligarchs because he protects them and makes them money, he’s now costing them billions. What do you think happens to a crime boss who starts costing the organisation money?
@Me Darlin’ Dublin: All heavy munitions were fired at training buildings at the facility and not the reactors themselves. This has been confirmed in a number of non-sensationalist reports. Propaganda and fake news is as popular in the West as it is in Russia. Putin has no interest in Ukraine becoming a toxic wasteland. It’s rich in resources (mineral and agricultural). The cities are irrelevant except to house compliant Government but the land assets are the trophy.
@Georg Ludwig Cantor: no pain, no gain
@John Johnes: nice new account you have there comrade
@Me Darlin’ Dublin: except that’s not what happened. They burned outbuildings as a threat. The reactors can withstand direct impact from a plane. They’re designed that way.
@Kieran Woods: that’s actually not true either. NATO are a defence force.
@Kieran Woods: That’s a BS comment. NATO is a defensive force. When they went into Afghanistan it was against those you perpetrated terrorist activities against an ally! Peace in Europe is very much in their interest.
Now the issue is, if Churchill didn’t enter the war against Germany, what might have been the outcome? He didn’t shy away from battle and Germany was much more powerful than the UK. If there is a nuclear war it will happen because the Russians invaded Ukraine. Putin is not stupid either he knows if he uses nuclear bombs, even tactical ones, there will be a response from NATO.
@John Johnes: If the Russians start invading the Baltic states, it might cost more to fill your car with fuel than its worth…
@Tom Kiely: and face nuclear war?yeah right
@Tom Kiely: I remember as a school-kid in the early 1980s drawing mushroom clouds all over my copy books (and sharks, thanks Spielberg). At 10 years old, knowing about stuff like Mutually Assured Destruction, and knowing that a nuclear war – the WW3 that some people on here are baying for – would last for exactly 28 minutes, before everyone on both sides was taken out.
It’s hideous what’s happening in Ukraine, but NATO rolling into this will actually end the human race. Sometimes you have to make awful “least worst” decisions, and I think Western countries have been very decisive in this — full on, gloves-off economic war, no military escalation.
I do not understand anyone who is asking for NATO to escalate this into a quick and final world war.
@John Johnes: better to stop them now rather than wait until they’re on our doorstep? Russia now following same tactics as the Nazis. Accuse countries that have a Russian ex pat population of genocide and then invade to protect your countrymen. Ireland has 5,000+ Russians living in the country but of course we’re neutral so we’re ok….
@Georg Ludwig Cantor: unlikely. That to me is a bluff. Russia would be a desert.
@John Johnes: if putin gets away with this it will be a matter of when not “if” he invades a baltic state. That’s why Europe is so united atm all be it they have much more to do on the economic side at least.
@John Johnes:You sir, are a ŕêțāřđ of the highest order.
@Tom Kiely: Maybe you missed all the shipments of military equipment from NATO members towards Ukraine?
@Gin & Jetfuel: NATO members acting independently, not as a collective ie not as NATO. Good effort though.
@Me Darlin’ Dublin: Missiles or flares? I thought missiles explode at impact. Videos show the light dropping on the ground fizzed off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to-SZyoxFhI
The US(NATO) need to get out of Europe and other areas on Earth where they have brought nothing but death, pain, murder and misery in every place they meddle in. It’s hard to hear them accuse Russia of the very crimes they themselves are guilty of every day but the global media chooses not to highlight.
@Jordan Salanger: The media were fairly quiet about Russian atrocities in Syria too. I don’t think the main problem is the media siding with NATO. I think the main problem is lack of concern for victims of extreme violence when they happen not to be white Europeans.
@Jordan Salanger: given the gravity of the conflict the we are all seeing in Europe this is a time to be very clear what side you are on and not to play what-aboutary. There is a strong clue to how I feel about your comment contained in your surname.
@Anthony Horan:
whaboutary = exposing the act of expressing outrage at one atrocity while ignoring another.
The children in Yemen are being slaughtered right now in a conflict no less grave. . Their lives are no less important, which I believe is John’s point (correct me if I’m wrong John). No media reporting because our allies are carrying it out
It’s not about taking sides. It’s about condemning all atrocities, not the ones we select because of who is carrying them out.
@Jordan Salanger: two wrongs don’t make a right… But you know that
China refusing to broadcast the Premier league this weekend due to the Ukraine solidarity protest taking place. We know who’s side they’re on.
Someone needs to take Putin out.
@Wood Jackson: well seeing as you suggested it why don’t you do it?
@Wood Jackson: out out.
@Mejewlie: like for Dinner out
@bkyona: He’s already been 69d.
Protest demonstration 2pm today @ GPO
in support of the people of Ukraine.
@Eamonn Tierney: That will put a stop to things. Fair play.
@Eamonn Tierney: I’m sure Vladimir will be watching
@Gavin Linden: No need to be so cynical.
@Anne Busher Collins: you’re right, now’s not the time for cynicism, definitely the time for virtue signaling, but not cynicism.
@Gavin Linden: There is a Russian Oil tanker docking this week. Send it back. Protests show the publics resolve to economically cut this country from our lives.
We survived without a much larger Russia in the 1980′s they have chosen to go back there. Car pool, commuter corridor buses ,creative thinking.
@Albert Brennerman: I’d say delivery is paid for in advance.
BBC reporting that Russians are firing on civilians at the end of the evacuation routes. Sc*^*ags!
@Thomas O’ Donnell: Just like Sky was reporting that Russians fired upon their journalists? Their journalists arriving at the checkpoint on E40 road west at the outskirts of Kiev driving “into” Kiev over the Irpin river? Running back west away from the capital?
https://goo.gl/maps/BXynYgq3H7uCMrV98
Where are all these refugees going?
@JPM: out of Ukraine for a start.
It is so shameful that we as a right thinking nation are not berating NATO and US for their cowardice. They must realise – we are in the middle of WW III and they are waiting for everyone else to be killed…What passing bells for those that die like cattle…
@Me Darlin’ Dublin: WWIII? Really? If NATO and the US get involved, it will be WWIII then for sure.
At the moment, it is not a world war.
@Me Darlin’ Dublin: This is not the middle of WW3, you will know about it if and when that happens.
@David Corrigan: don’t be so nieve…who do you think knocked out our health service last year?…doh…jeez I could go on but please have a look around you…war is not just with ICBM and AK 47
@Me Darlin’ Dublin: God love you. Like Fandandi said above. You will know what WWIII means if NATO and the US get involved.
@Me Darlin’ Dublin: If we’re already in ww 3 why have you gone over to fight in it? What are you waiting for why haven’t you joined the Ukrainian army to prevent people dieing like cattle
@Roy Dowling: I don’t need to examine my conscience in the respect Rory. I’ve been to the FEBA in two conflicts …witnessed atrocities…were citizens were mindlessly obliterated – because right thinking people dillied and dallied – long before you were born probably. If I could still climb over a wall I’d be long gone.
@Me Darlin’ Dublin: we are on the edge of WW3, if NATO and/or the US go in, we will be in WW3 with a madman armed to the teeth with nuclear weaponry that he has already indicated he will use. What is happening in Ukraine is horrific, it is devastating to watch whilst feeling that you are standing idly by BUT to intervene brings much, much worse consequences for both the Ukraine and much further afield. Unfortunately a cautious, hesistant approach is the only option here
Was just wondering is there any chance Russian Generals might turn on Putin with so many Russians losing their lives and the operation not going according to plan.?
@Kieran Woods: That’s a BS comment. NATO is a defensive force. When they went into Afghanistan it was against those you perpetrated terrorist activities against an ally! Peace in Europe is very much in their interest.
Now the issue is, if Churchill didn’t enter the war against Germany, what might have been the outcome? He didn’t shy away from battle and Germany was much more powerful than the UK. If there is a nuclear war it will happen because the Russians invaded Ukraine. Putin is not stupid either he knows if he uses nuclear bombs, even tactical ones, there will be a response from NATO.
As if anything Putin says these days can be relied upon…
Also, people who bring up the nuclear threat (as an excuse for inaction) need to stop calling those who don’t childish. Even in a totalitarian state no single individual has the power to bring about the apocalypse. It surely wasn’t the case in 1962 at the height of the cold war. As much as Putin would like to grab Ukraine and give the west the middle finger, even he knows it’s not worth total annihilation.
There needs to be a humanitarian refuge in the West of the country. With a humanitarian No fly. Therei is No way Europe can absorb all these numbers.
Ukranians want a no fly to break out of the cities and break the lines, to move to fight these Russian armies because they are winning the Russian will not engage them the shoot from far off. They can absolutely win this now because the population massively outnumbers the invading force and nobody has folded as their children are in bunkers.
If you cannot do a no fly , then give a future lease to the Ukrainians of a decent airforce and aclimatise their pilots..
If you cannot do that arm them to the teeth with the best ground to air weapons. So they can ground cover their own movements.
Again pointless war geopolitically, the West is more than Europe and the US, we did without your economic output before so we will do again.
Shell buys Russian Oil- Boycott Shell petrol/diesel
@Jonathan O’Riordan: You’d be hard pushed to find one as I think Shell pulled out of this country in 2005.
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