On Sunday evening I took part in a Radio 5 Live special debate on the credit crunch - in my role as author of How to Survive the Credit Crunch: 101 top tips to beat the crisis. As part of a panel of three guests, including recruitment consultant Jenny Ungless of Monster.co.uk and Bev Budsworth managing director of thedebtadvisor.co.uk I was alongside a couple of consummate professionals in the fields of helping people find work and coping with large debts. The show was hosted by Andy Verity, whose daily Wake Up To Money show, at 5.30am, is probably the best business/money show on air.
For the opening gambit he asked us each for our one top tip. I was representing the money savers and I announced that my biggest money-saving tip of all is to get a money-saving hobby. The poor bloke nearly fell off his chair. "How can playing the guitar save you money?" So let me explain properly.
For the past 30-odd years I have been playing the guitar for an average of about 5 hours a week. That's five hours of not going out and spending money. If each hour of practice is worth say £1. That's £7,800 over three decades. Not much in the scheme of things. But I estimate that as you get older the savings become much more than that.
If you spend a Saturday or an entire weekend with your hobby rather than going out spending haphazardly on stuff you don't really need because that's what you do, or popping off to Prague because the flights seem so cheap, the savings really start to add up into the thousands - a year.
On top of that, if you join a club and share your passion with other likeminded people you not only build lifetime friendships but you're building a social network that you may be able to rely on to help find a new job, as well as trusted tradespeople who while may not work for 'mates rates', won't rip you off or leave you without central heating over Christmas. Jenny backed up the point about using networking to find a job with the staggering statistic that 75% of jobs are not advertised; you can only find out about them through who you know.
Then there are the fringe mental health benefits of having an all-engrossing passion that you can turn to when you're feeling down. You can't put a price on that.
And let's not forget that if you become any good at your hobby you can start to earn money teaching either privately or at an adult education college. A couple of £20 lessons a week and there's an income of more than £1,000 a year to add to the coffers.
You don't have to have any artistic streak. You can do anything just so long as you do something. If you really can't decide, check out your local adult education college for courses or your council for a list of clubs. If you're still bemused, head over to your local library, where, if all else fails, you may be able to borrow a jigsaw - some of the bigger ones offer such items as part of the package. The time it takes to complete just one 5,000-piece puzzle could save you a small fortune if you're otherwise addicted to shopping.
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