When you are getting organised on the home front, make sure you don’t overlook important details like home contents insurance.

Unfortunately, you can never predict when the unexpected may happen, but in the case of fire, flood or theft, you’d feel a whole lot better if your possessions were covered and you didn’t have to pay out to replace them all.

When you ring round for contents insurance, the insurance company will have a whole list of questions about different items around the home and anything that is exceptionally valuable. If you have a cheap dining table you won’t need to put that down as a special item, but you may have more valuable items like jewellery and electrical items like cameras and computers that you need to list specifically.

Check with the insurance agent whether the cover you choose will cover replacement value or value of the item after wear and tear has been accounted for. Otherwise you might be in for a shock when you think you are going to get replacement value and you actually don’t have adequate cover for it.

There are special extras that you can include such as cover for accidental damage. This can be really useful if something like red wine gets split on a cream carpet or sofa. It may seem like a good idea to say no to extras when you are going through the quote, but when an accident occurs you may regret not spending that little bit more on your policy.

If you do have to make a claim, some insurers give you a set amount to spend on each replacement item. It’s a good idea to wait for a sofas sale to come up, as you may be able to get a better sofa for the same amount of money.

If you run a small business that involves taking equipment around with you – then an estate car is often a great option as it kills two birds with one stone and doesn’t necessitate a car and a handy van of some sort.

The downside is that if your business necessitates the carriage of tools or supplies or other equipment that gets dirty – or needs to go into dirty areas like building sites etc., then the car can quickly begin to look like a builder’s van rather than a family car. There’s no way round this beyond protecting the vehicle with plastic sheeting etc., cleaning it regularly and treating it a little more gently than you would a van bought for the same purpose.

But the upsides are great – particularly for your pocket. A vehicle that can help your work and ferry your family around saves you a fortune on what would otherwise be the cost of two vehicles – and if you can demonstrate that the vehicle is a necessary business expense then it’s perfectly justifiable business cost.

In many cases, however, it works out better tax-wise to own the vehicle privately, outside your business (if you have a limited company) and simply to claim a reasonable mileage allowance for all the miles you legitimately cover in pursuance of your business.

So the same goes for insuring the vehicle, i.e. whether privately or through your business. Obviously, this is something for your accountant to decide – but otherwise, there is usually little or no difference in insurance premiums between a standard saloon car and its estate car equivalent.

But making one vehicle a hybrid solution somewhere between works vehicle and family car – by picking the right estate – can really pay dividends.

And the final clincher is that an estate car is great for holidays!

People tend to put up with furniture in their homes for far longer than they actually like it, particularly if they’re worried about how much it’s going to cost to replace it all. You get accustomed to your lumpy sofa in the pattern that you no longer like. Even though it sags when the family sit on it, you’ve all got used to it, so you put up with it. However, go round and see someone’s smart new living room and it might get you thinking.

Have a little look online and you’ll see that some new furniture doesn’t necessarily mean blowing the monthly budget either, especially if you only buy a couple of things at a time. For instance, there are so many different styles of sofa to choose from now, and they come at all different prices. It depends on the shape and size of your living room what kind of sofa you might want to buy. If you’ve got the room for them, recliners can be great for relaxing on. However, remember that you’ll need space both behind and in front of them when they’re in the reclined positions, so measure up before you buy.

Corner sofas are also very popular today – every furniture store stocks them and they fit in virtually any living room. Some people are put off by them, thinking they’ll take up too much space, but often one corner sofa takes less room than two traditional sofas.

You can make a big impact with changing furniture in the dining room, too. If you often have guests over for dinner and it’s a bit of a squeeze around your existing table – why not get an extending dining table? These are perfect as you can extend them when you need the extra space, but reduce them back down when it’s just you and your family at home – so you can pass the salt with ease! As for the chairs you can often get folding dining chairs that will go well with your permanent ones – and just store them in the garage or in the cupboard under the stairs until you next need to extend the table.

A few new pieces of furniture will make a huge difference to how you feel about your home, and the process of choosing them should be fun, too.

At this time of year, especially if you’ve had a difficult winter with a car that has had lots of problems on cold winter mornings; it can be tempting to think that the best solution is to buy a brand new car.

There are plenty of enticing new car offers around at the moment, giving you great incentives to set up those easy-to-afford monthly payments in return for trouble free motoring, in a car the colour and trim level of your choice. However, try not to fall for the salesman’s patter, and remember that the monthly payments will go on for years and years. In fact, you’ll probably never own your new car, as you’ll be tempted to trade it in in a few years’ time and increase the monthly payments ‘just a little bit’.

The alternative – which many people choose – is to make a far more sensible choice and buy a cheap and reliable used car. For a start you don’t have to pay the VAT you’d have to pay on a new car, and you won’t suffer the immediate drop in the car’s value that you get when you drive a new car off a salesroom forecourt.

And if you’re thinking that a new car is better for the environment, you’re probably right. Almost every car rolling off the production lines this year is far more fuel efficient (and therefore eco-friendly) than its predecessors; yet this has been the case for a number of years now, so you can still get some really fuel-efficient conventional cars and even hybrids on the second hand market now.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that a new car makes economic sense – do some thorough research and find a used car that will not tie you into crippling payments, yet still offer you reasonable running costs.

I’m sure we all know people who have made claims for whiplash injuries following motor accidents when their car has been hit from behind.

I was once hit from behind gently. My Honda suffered no damage, nor did I, but I was “surprised” by my passenger’s whiplash injury!

The whiplash injury has become the shame of the insurance world with a few headline-grabbing cases whereby people have been involved in an unfeasibly high number of rear end collisions – always with themselves as the victims. Some of the crazier cases have made all the newspapers and little wonder.

But at last, it seems the government has decided to take action to actually do something about it – and about time too. Fraudulent insurance claims aren’t only immoral – they push up the costs of insurance for the vast majority of ordinary people who play by the rules – and they limit the pay-outs for those people whose claims due to physical injury and incapacity are perfectly genuine.

This, in turn, has a negative impact on the whole industry. The costs of motoring in general are far higher than they need to be – which has a deleterious knock-on effect in all sorts of ways. For example, people who may otherwise choose eco cars for the sake of the environment, or classic cars for the sheer love of driving – are deterred from doing so because the insurance cost just pushes things out of financial reach.

But now the report by the House of Commons Transport Committee says high insurance costs are partly the result of bogus whiplash claims and it says some insurers even sell motorists’ details to lawyers – who then encourage claims. Apparently, there was a 70% increase in the quantity of such claims over the past six years alone!

The Transport Committee recommends that the government changes the law in a way that people must then prove an injury, and prove that it’s having a major negative impact on their life.

If you’re a saver, it can hardly have escaped your notice that there’s barely any point bothering in these days of 0.5% interest rates – with no reversal in sight, for the time being at least.

But if your rely on your savings and investments to provide you with at least some if your living expenses – and you’ve understandably lost trust in the overall finance industry to advise you in that process – then a high yield portfolio might be right for you.

A high yield portfolio is designed to provide investors with a decent income in a hands-off style so they don’t need to continually be trading shares to achieve the income.

Quite a few well-respected providers of essential goods and services which are listed on the UK stock market (or other international markets for that matter, though these may be a little harder to research for UK-based investors) pay yields around three times the best possible interest rates.

These may be through the companies’ ordinary shares or via the companies’ preference shares or corporate bonds.

The simplest way for individual investors to get a yield is to invest in a well-diversified portfolio of defensive stocks; these are shares which provide essential “can’t do without” goods and services and which present reasonably good value.

Examples include utilities providers (gas, water, electricity etc, supermarkets and big oil companies). At the time of writing, to give you a few examples, SSE plc should be providing a dividend yield of around 5.65%, Sainsbury’s around the same, United Utilities a smidgeon lower, whilst big insurers RSA and Aviva are around 7.5%.

These are just a few examples as things stand today. And as you buy the shares “today” then the yield is locked in at today’s prices ad infinitum – unless something unforeseen happens, of course.

This is why it’s best to select your high yield portfolio across a range of companies in different sectors. And if you feel out of your depth, try and get some advice first on which shares to invest in from someone who understands these things, who has no axe to grind – and whom you trust.

Good luck.

This article was written by David, a financial blogger who writes about anything ranging from Payday Loans to debt problems.

The number of people buying environmentally friendly cars in the UK is on the rise. While the number of hybrids and eco cars UK consumers are buying is miniscule compared to conventional cars, nonetheless it is gradually growing.

In November 2011, 1.6% of the new cars sold in the UK were neither petrol nor diesel fuelled.  It’s a tiny amount but with the focus at the world’s motor shows on alternative fuels, hybrids and electric vehicles, this figure only has one way to go.  The world’s car consumers are demanding better fuel economy and an escape from our reliance on oil.

Buying any new car offers drivers better fuel economy than from a model five or even three years ago. An average new car today can achieve more than 52 miles per gallon, an increase of 29.3% on 2001 figures. More and more cars are being fitted with stop-start technology, so that the vehicle no longer idles at traffic lights or in queues.  Instead, the engine cuts out when the brake pedal is applied, and starts again automatically and seamlessly when the driver releases the brake.  Stop-start technology can significantly improve fuel economy and is great for reducing air pollution in urban environments.

Driving is getting greener by default through improved fuel economy, because of the lower emissions that new cars today produce. Manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota and Volkswagen, among others, are putting increasing emphasis on greening their models. The less fuel you burn, the fewer emissions are produced, and car manufacturers are under constant pressure to reduce emissions on all new car models.

Some drivers are making a conscious decision to be even greener by choosing to drive a hybrid or electric vehicle, which have low or zero carbon dioxide emissions when being driven.  However, it is important to remember that emissions are still created in the production of cars and in the production of electricity to fuel electric cars.

The all-new Civic is here and it’s better than ever. The Civic is surely the car to which Honda owes its reputation for innovation more than any other. And the new honda civic 2012 certainly continues that proud tradition.

The new model’s petrol engines have Honda’s latest i-VTEC system, as well as a completely redesigned cylinder head. The car is also made up of generally lighter components than its predecessor and the diesel 2.2 litre i-DTEC model has a range of new components which combine to make the new engine both lighter and stronger and reduce engine friction.

Meanwhile, all the Civic 2012 manual versions include the new “Idle Stop” whereby the engine shuts down when the car comes to a halt, starting automatically an instantly when the driver is ready to pull off again – and so making substantial fuel savings.

Also helping minimize fuel consumption are all round sharper aerodynamics. The rear spoiler gas been reshaped and new panelling improves the airflow at higher speeds. Also, the automatic grille shutter in diesel models works on information including water and air temperature, and speed, which thus optimizes cooling and reduces drag to a minimum.

Also, Honda’s “ECO assist” system can better fuel economy by anything up to 15%. This system tells you when to change gear for optimal fuel performance, changing the colour of the speedometer to let the driver know. And drivers can also choose to hit the “ECON” switch which automatically changes settings such as the air conditioning and throttle mapping to make sure the car is as mean as possible on its fuel consumption.

In any ways, the brand new Civic is the culmination of 40 years’ continual development on Honda’s favourite car – and the new version looks like becoming just as popular as its eight predecessors.

In the current economic times, saving money is a priority for the vast majority of us. Modern life can be expensive, especially if you have a family, and it can often be a real struggle trying to find any more ways to cut down on spending.

There are simple steps you can take to save money however. And one of the most effective steps is to make the most of coupons. By using Printable Coupons, you will find you can save money on quick meals, clothing, household goods and even restaurant meals out. So saving money doesn’t have to mean not having a life.

A good tip when trying to cut back on the spending and save your money is to not always stick to the same brands. Experiment by buying different brands using your money-off coupons; you might actually find that you get to like new products as a result. And you’ll be saving money at the same time, so it’s a win-win situation.

Meals out can be expensive and seem unrealistic for those on a very tight budget, but printable coupons can make a big difference to the price. Search for coupons that give you two for one offers and you and a friend or loved one can treat yourself to a well-deserved night out for half the price every once in a while.

If you have a family, money-off coupons can be a real godsend when it comes to those everyday essentials that seem to mop up money, such as nappies, baby formula, school clothes, cleaning products and toiletries.

For days out, money-off vouchers can mean you and your family are able to take that theme park trip or even go on a little break; it’s all about hunting down the best bargains and making the most of those money-off coupons.

In the current economic climate saving money has never been more of a concern, especially for families. Managing family finance has never been more important and yet, for many, has never been more difficult.

However, there are plenty of small changes you can make to your daily lives that, put together, can make a real difference to the amount of spare money you and your family has.

Look for bargains. At the end of each day supermarkets will vastly reduce the price of items that are not out of date yet but which need to be sold that day. If you can get to the shops an hour or two before closing time you are bound to pick up some amazing bargains and will find yourself spending pence on something you would have spent pounds on earlier in the day.

Freeze any food you think you won’t eat in time so that it doesn’t go off, and if you make large portions of meals, save the leftovers for another day rather than chucking them in the bin. Use money off coupons. You will find these in many magazines as well as on product packaging and online money-saving sites. Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to use them. The manufacturers make them to be used, after all, so take advantage of them!

Save on your energy bills by wearing jumpers and making hot water bottles before automatically putting the heating on. Wash your clothes on as low a cycle as possible and save them up until you’ve really got a full load; the same applies to the dishes and dishwasher.

Invest in energy-saving light bulbs to save money in the long run and make sure you switch lights off when you leave the room. When you leave the house, make sure all plugs are off at the switch and the television is fully off; being on standby will still drain energy.