By installing smoke alarms which are connected to the mains in your home, you could reduce your chances of making a claim, according to the Royals Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

Generally, mains assisted smoke alarms are more reliable than battery powered ones, as batteries are liable to go flat, and it can tempting to take batteries out of smoke alarms to use in other appliances, after which people often forget to replace them.

A spokesperson for the organisation said, “Batteries can also run out, go flat and people forget to replace them. With the mains wired ones, obviously that is not a problem.”

Statistics from RoSPA reveal that smoke alarms failed to operate in 12 per cent of fires in 2006.
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For the record, I’m what serious smokers derisively call a ‘casual smoker’, i.e. someone who only smokes when out in a beer garden or at a party. I managed to successfully give up a 20 a day habit a two years ago, but I still have the occasional lapse, and cave in when I go out with my friends, but now I’m even thinking of throwing in the tobacco towel completely.

Why? Because of the money. Despite the government slapping 77% of VAT on tobacco, cigarettes have continued to become more affordable year on year since 2000, when the price rises on a packet of smokes were changed so that they were in line with inflation. After the budget this year, the cost of a packet of fags went up by some 11p and 9p two years before that. But with inflation already rising, the 2009 budget already doesn’t look good for smokers.

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More and more gym users are instead opting to work out in the home in order to cut down on expensive membership fees as inflation continues to rise. The launch of the Wii Fit platform on the ubiquitous Nintendo console has seen thousands of women across the UK swap the gym for their living rooms, in order to cut down on expensive membership fees. Whilst the Wii is a whole lot of fun and a good compliment to (and not a replacement of) regular exercise, it turns out that really cutting loose on the wireless white wonder could cause your home insurance premiums to creep up, which pretty much defeats the point of skipping out on gym sessions to save money!

A Sheila’s Wheels survey notes a rise in personal injuries and damages to household items sustained as a result of home workout sessions, and the leading ladies’ insurers point the finger at the Wii.

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