Further research undertaken by Friends Provident in association with the Blood Pressure Association came with a recommendation that most people would benefit from taking out Income Protection Insurance.

Their rearch has highlighted some disturbing facts:

56% of respondents are now spending less on food; Worries about the economic situation left 19% sleeping less and 15% declared they now work longer hours.

21% said they had used gyms less, many to try and save money.

7% confessed they had increased their alcohol intake since the onset of the credit crisis, and 9% expected to increase their alcohol intake during the next six months.

If you are concerned about your health you should always visit your local doctor. You can also take a pro-active approach and keep a regular blood pressure check with one of the many over the counter blood pressure monitoring kits available at you local chemist .

The Blood Pressure Association have also provided some useful facts about high blood pressure*:

1. High blood pressure is a level consistently at or above 140mmHg and/or 90mmHg.
2. 31 per cent of men and 28 per cent of women have high blood pressure.
3. People with high blood pressure are three times more likely to develop heart disease and stroke and twice as likely to die from these as people with a normal blood pressure.
4. Approximately 62,000 unnecessary deaths from stroke and heart attacks occur due to poor blood pressure control.
5. Look after yourself, if you have any concerns, consult your GPHigh blood pressure is the main risk factor for stroke and a major risk factor for heart attack, heart failure and kidney disease. There is also increasing evidence that it is a risk factor for vascular dementia.
6. One in three adults in the UK (16 million) have high blood pressure.
7. Around a third of people with high blood pressure do not know that they have it, as there are no obvious symptoms. This is why it is often called the ’silent killer’.

France : Sales of French champagne dipped 2.6 percent in the first eight months of the year, according to figures from champagne winegrowers’ committee CIVC.

Gerard Laloi, who heads a group that represents France’s bar owners, said beer sales have been falling since January, with bar beer sales down 12 percent in the first nine months of 2008, compared with the same period a year earlier.

Laloi blamed the decline on a smoking ban that took effect in bars and restaurants on Jan. 1, as well as on the economic downturn.

Germany : Germany’s brewers sold just under 11 billion pints of beer in the first six months of this year — before the crisis took hold, but amid growing economic concern in the wake of the U.S. subprime meltdown. That was a decline of 1.7 percent from the first half of 2007.

The flagging economy is not the only factor in the decline. The German statistics agency said other causes were this summer’s poor weather, new smoking restrictions and price increases driven by rising energy costs and higher costs for hops and malt.

As in other countries, beer consumption in Germany has been falling steadily for more than a decade, a trend that experts have attributed to an increasingly health-conscious public.

USA: In the U.S beer sales are slowing, but still growing, said Benj Steinman, publisher of trade publication Beer Marketer’s Insights. Sales to retailers this year are up about half a percent, he said. That’s down from the 1.4 percent growth rate the beer industry saw last year and 2.1 percent in 2006. But Steinman notes that the industry’s long-term growth rate is about 1 percent a year.

“The beer industry overall is performing surprisingly well given what’s going on,” Steinman said. “It’s just resilient. It’s not recession-proof but it resisted more than many other industries, seemingly.”

Sales of imported beer, though, are down 3 percent, Steinman said, a sign people are curbing their purchases of pricier brews. Micro-brewed beers, which command higher prices, though often not as much as imports, are up slightly this year.

The problem is with special offers galore it is all too easy to over indulge and quickly drink your way through any savings that initially attracted you to stay at home drinking. Supermarket prices maybe cheap but that accounts for little if your doubling your alcohol intake each night.  That maybe one of the reasons why there has been a sharp upturn in DIY home brewing. With some 40 pint home brew kits available for less than £20 you too can be brewing your own beers at below supermarket prices.

 With all the ingredients  supplied in the correct quantities and a requirement to only add water you can be drinking your favourite beer within 4-6 weeks. No need to limit yourself to bitter and lager. Homebrew wine kits are also available and bottles of your homemade plonk make great presents for friends and family.   

10" Beer Filter Kit w/ Ball Lock Keg Fittings Homebrew!

US $31.00 (5 Bids) End Date: Wednesday Mar-10-2010 14:24:48 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

At about a third of the price of a shop brought loaf you can make significant savings over the period of a year by baking your own bread.

Look at the cost savings on this one aspect of home baking alone:

Let’s say weekly the average family buys 5 x loaves @£1.20 =£6.00
Weekly Bake your own costs :5 x £0.40= £2.00
Weekly Savings=£4.00
Yearly Saving=£208.00

Why not go a step further and bake some extra loaves for friends and family.Sell just 5 fresh loaves a week at say £0.60 i.e half shop price and you will cover all your bread making costs for the year. In other words eat bread for free for the year.

There are 2 main ways to make bread :

1. The old fashioned way of kneading,letting it rise and oven bake.With no shortage of good bead making recipes on the internet you can be making a delicious rich plait bread in no time.
or
2. For the more time strapped why not consider a bread making machine. For less than £50 you can be well on your way to a lifetime of baking your own shop quality brad products.

Here is a selection of bread makers currently on offer on eBay now.

DAK II TURBO BREAD MAKER MACHINE W/XTRAS

US $41.00 (7 Bids) End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 18:52:08 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Panasonic SD-BT65P Automatic Bread Maker

US $66.00 (4 Bids) End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 18:58:08 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

WELBILT BREAD MAKER ABM100 ABM-100 PADDLE GASKET & PAN

US $13.50 (6 Bids) End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 18:59:07 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

BREADMAN AUTOMATIC BREAD MAKER MACHINE MODEL TR-440

US $11.50 (6 Bids) End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 19:00:59 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

MIB Oster 5834 EXPRESSBAKE Breadmaker Bread Machine 2LB

US $18.50 (7 Bids) End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 19:21:33 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

.

If allotment gardening sounds too much of a challenge then why not just turn part of your garden into a vegatable patch .For an initial outlay of about £15 you should be able grow a years suply of vegatables.

There is no shortage of books available on growing your own vegatables and allotment gardening. One of the most popular is The Kitchen Gardener :Grow Your Own Fruit and Veg by Alan Titchmarsh which has some customer cracking reviews on Amazon .

If you have any credit crunch busting tips on growing your own food then we would to hear from you. You can either leave a comment or use our contact us form.

One of the problems with DVDs is that once you’ve watched a film the chances are that like many it may never see the light of day again and end up gathering dust on in a draw or shelf. A great way to avoid this is have a constant supply of new films to watch is to start a DVD club at work or with friends & family.

One way to do this is for everone in the club to contribute say 5 or 10  films from their DVD collections which is then held into one central pool in say a locked cupboard at the workplace. A simple master list is then drawn up which is also used for booking the DVDs in and out.

A monthly membership fee of say £2 can then be charged to fund new purchases to keep the stock updated with new films.

One of the best places to pick up the latest DVDs or your old time favourites is without doubt Amazon which offer some great discounts and free shipping.

If your short of DVDs to kickstart the club collection then why not do a bulk buy of collections adverised on eBay.

Goosebumps Horror Kids/Childrens/Family DVD Bulk Lot

US $26.01 (9 Bids) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 18:30:50 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

DVD Lot 18 piece used wholesale bulk

US $0.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 20:18:11 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Great bulk sale of DVDs - less than $1.25 per DVD

US $30.00 (1 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 16:53:53 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Bulk Lot Used DVD Bundle: 38 Dvds

US $31.00 (3 Bids) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 17:06:15 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Bulk lot of 6 Scooby-Doo cartoon kids DVDs opened & NEW

US $14.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 18:24:36 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

With more families and couples looking at more economic and flexible alterntives to package holidays has accounted for a sharp increase in the demand for good quality second hand motor homes.

You need to look no further than eBay to see that is no shortage of seller and bidder activity on motor homes. You can grab youself a decent motor home for less than the cost of a couple of family holiday packages and spending money. The beauty is that provided you care for your motor home correctly the chances are there will be no shortage of buyers if you decide to sell in a couple of years time.

Here is a selection of Motor Homes currently on offer on eBay now.

Old Hamilton Beach Home Motor Sewing Machine Electric

US $9.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 18:43:04 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Vintage Idaho License Plate Motor Home

US $4.95 (1 Bid) End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 18:45:16 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Hot Wheels Classics Series3 GMC Motorhome

US $0.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 20:26:15 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

BRAND NEW DELUXE RV MOTORHOME COVER CLASS C 25' - 28'

US $179.00 (1 Bid) End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 20:36:21 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

HOT WHEELS BELL GMC MOTORHOME MINT REAL RIDERS!!!

US $0.50 (1 Bid) End Date: Tuesday Mar-09-2010 20:59:05 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

If you have a Motor Home then we would love to hear from you if you have any credit crunch busting ips to share.You can either leave a comment or contact us through our Credit Crunch Survival Form..

To get up and running on eBay is surprisingly very simple.Here’s a step by step guide to help get you started:

1. Get together say 6 good quality unwanted items.

2. Register With eBay

3. Take a photo of your items with a digital camera or mobile phone camera.

4. Register with PayPal so that you’re able to accept instant secure card payments.

5. For each item create a listing on eBay that includes your item picture, a detailed, honest description and your delivery charges and then submit it.

7. That’s it.Check the progress of your auction regularly and answer any questions in a polite manner as they arise.

8. Once your item has sold and the funds have cleared in your account, email the buyer to thank them for their business and assure them the item will be shipped straight away.

9. Leave positive feedback for your customer and if they are happy with their purchase and your customer service, they should do the same for you!

Be warned -selling on eBay can be additive.You may even wish to consider developing your own eBay business.

Here are some of the advantages of starting an eBay business:-

1. Low start-up costs.The only set up costs being your eBay fees which can be paid from the cash you make through sales on eBay.

2. You don’t need business premises-you can run your business from your own home.

3. You can start it up in your spare time and grow your business as slowly as your circumstances allow.

4.Low risk as you initially invest very little financially.