Top money-saving tips!

Feeling a bit skint after the blow-out of Christmas and New Year's? Afraid to look at your bank statement for fear it may give you a coronary? Wondering if you'll have to take out a loan just to cover next month's Diet Coke bill? Never fear,

Ban the booze: Alcohol is expensive, no question about it. Lay off the liquor for a few weeks if you can (we know it's hard) and you'll save at least £100 in a snip! Also try and quit your morning Starbucks coffee and wait until you get to work for your caffeine fix.

Think like a student: Remember when your weekly supermarket shopping bill was less than £20? Go back to those halcyon days for a while, forget the organic lettuce and balsamic vinegar and load up your basket with pasta, baked beans and noodles. Cheap and filling!

It's better to spread your bets: borrow 50p off every friend you've got and you'll amalgamate a healthy sum in no time. What's more, they're unlikely to ask for it back cos it's such a 'tiny' amount. Little do they know...

Get creative with charity shops: Try and avoid the sales, as you’ll just end up buying shedloads of stuff you don't really want because it's a 'bargain'. Instead, go to the real charity shops, not the posho vintage emporiums, and get your new season clothes there. Improvise and personalise your new purchases with cheap haberdashery bits from John Lewis.

Get eBaying! Don't allow yourself to buy anything, but instead register as a seller and very soon you might find you've got a healthy business going in flogging off your old tat to slavering punters.