During any financial recession money can be tight, so it is a good idea to review your shopping habits and start making additional savings by cutting your weekly shopping bills down.  By taking some time to look at your shopping bills and finding ways to cut costs, you can free up money and help to take the pressure off other financial commitments you may have.

Watch Prices

Set aside plenty of time to do your food shopping, and look carefully at the price of each item before you put it in your trolley.  It can be tempting just to pick up the same goods each week without checking the cost, but you could make a lot of savings by swapping your usual brand or ketchup for a cheaper, supermarket own label, or by looking out for an alternative brand that is on offer that week.  Also watch the prices at your local petrol stations, so that you can spot which ones are cheaper so that you can make some savings on your fuel bills.

Buy in Bulk

It can be much cheaper to buy certain items such as toilet roll, tinned foods and frozen foods in bulk, and as these items will last in your store cupboards so you can stock up on them every two to three months, and then just put them away until you need them.  Only ever buy those items you will actually use in bulk though, or else you will just be wasting your money and cluttering up your cupboards for nothing.

By Fresh

Ready made meals and takeaways are very convenient, but they are also very expensive and you can save a lot of money by buying the basic ingredients and making meals yourself, and they will also taste much nicer and be better for you in the long run.  If you are stretched for time at the end of the day, then set aside one afternoon/evening a week and cook up some simple suppers such as lasagne, cottage pie, pasta bake etc. and then portion these up and put them in the freezer.  Then all you will need to do is heat them up and serve them with some fresh crusty bread when you get home from work.

Coupons

Most supermarkets and larger stores offer coupons with money off goods and services, so make sure you look out for coupons in magazines, newspapers and also in store to help you cut your weekly bills, and don’t forget to check out the coupon codes on retail websites as well, as these can make you great savings online.

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Now the US small business owners get relief as US newly elected President Barack Obama has said small businesses that have been hard hit by the global economic downturn will be helped very soon. He said small businesses remained at the key of the American economy. So, it must be helped and support through the credit shortage. President Obama was speaking those to small business owners and others at the White House. He added credit problems had forced a number of small business owners to cut back their operations or close the businesses. So, it is hampering the US economy.

In the White House meeting, to point out that small businesses are accountable for more than half of all private sector jobs, Obama said: ‘Any lender that provides SBA small business loans will have a buyer for those loans. And in turn, community banks will no longer have to choose between providing loans to credit-worthy small businesses and maintaining the required capital and liquidity.’ He further added US Treasury Department would step properly in to get small business loans from banks.

Taiwan’s biggest electricity producer, Taiwan Power Co. has sold NT$6.99 billion (US$203 million) of bonds to facilitate fund purchases of new generators as well as to build transmissions lines. Taipei-based Taiwan Power informed in an e-mailed statement Friday (13 March) that the state-run utility sold NT$3.89 billion of five years notes and NT$3.1 billion of seven years bonds. The utility has an Aaa.tw rating from Moody’s Investors Service. The rating is the highest for any Taiwanese company. More to the point, Moody’s has a separate rating system for Taiwan. Taiwan Power Co is also known as Taipower.

Earlier Chief Engineer Tu Yueh-yuan said Taiwan Power needs to borrow NT$200 billion in 2009 to fund spending, including NT$158 billion of investments in power plants and transmission lines.  He said it on January 14. The authority said the five-year securities priced will pay an annual interest of 1.61% and the seven-year debt 1.87%. The state owns 97% of Taipower and it generates around 75% of the electricity the island uses and monopolizes transmission.