The first thing that you need to do is determine what the best type of fancy dress will fit the occasion that you are buying the clothes. Instead of checking out fashions that look great for say a wedding when you know that you are going to a cocktail party you should check out the trends that are available in cocktail dresses. You need to ask the fashion expert what type of dress will make you look the best.

When buying online make sure that they do truly have your item available in the correct size and in stock.

Although it is possible to try to learn to play movie scores by ear, or even to learn the latest chart hits, it’s ideal to have the music written down to follow and learn.

Popular music, be it rock, pop or other sub-genres is often annotated using guitar tabs. This avoids the need for the musician to be able to “read music”, rather he just has to follow the tablature. Such tabs can however be fairly inaccurate and are usually used to supplement the guitarist listening to the piece of music and then playing back what he has just heard.

Sheet music can prove fairly expensive, although when bought in a book with other songs, this can keep the price down.

Burlington Bertie’s
329 Haydons Road SW19 8LA

Charles H Fox
22 Tavistock Street WC2E 7PY

Claire Christie
27-31 Clerkenwell Close EC1R 0AT

Costume Studio
159-161 Balls Pond Road N1 4BG

Escapade Ltd
150 Camden High Street NW1 0NE

Academy Costumes
50 Rushworth Street SE1 0RB

Angels Fancy Dress
119 Shaftesbury Avenue WC2H 8AE

Antoinette
134 Kirkdale SE26 4BB

They have supplied the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Living, West End Theatres, Schools, Hospitals and many Celebrities.

They also supply party stuff to the general public. You can visit them at http://www.partybox.co.uk/

Fancy Dress Code – Alwoodley, Leeds

This Shop Rocks Fancy Dress – Hemel Hempstead

Butlers Bazaar – Llanelli

The Dressing Up Box – Hampton Hargate, Peterborough

Large and Lovely Fancy Dress – Bedwas House Industrial Estate, Bedwas, Caerphilly

Party Animals Fancy Dress – Treforest, Pontypridd

There are a number of things that can be done to cut the cost of Christmas:

1. Don’t buy a new outfit for the Office Christmas party – revamp an old one

2. Buy cheap wrapping paper on a roll rather than expensive stuff by the sheet

3. Do your christmas cards early and send thenm second class instead of leaving it late and sending them 1st class

4. Use christmas dinner leftovers to make  turkey pie or other dishes that can be frozen.

5. Go out into the highways and byways for stuff to make your own christmas wreath rather than buy an expensive one from the florist

6. Pay off your credit card bill before interest starts to accrue.

7. Eat less at Christmas so you don’t feel you need to go on an expensive dieting plan/ join an expensive gymn after Christmas

Do check credit card application terms & conditions very carefully as they are subject to change

Credit Card Rewards

Goldfish card gives you points that you earn with your spending, which you can then redeem for vouchers at for instance B & Q, Woolworths, Comet, Curry’s, PC World, Argos, Vue cinemas and many more. Goldfish is owned by Barclaycard and has recently DECREASED the value of points.

Sonycard. You get pluspoints towards Sony products from cameras to wide screen tv’s

Best deal of all for many is the Egg Money credit card, a cashback credit card which automatically adds cash back into your account.
Illustration: You get 1% cashback, so if you spend £1,100 in a month, you get £11cash back.

None of these cards currently have a monthly or annual charge.

NOTE: Information, card offers and terms subject to change.

Halifax which is  part of the Lloyds Banking Group, said that the less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed property values dropped by 1.2%.

House prices at the beginning of 2010 had bounced back  to 2007  levels, but 2010 has overall shown a downward trend

The average home cost £164,919, according to the survey

Balancing your finances isn’t about waving around a bit of magic dust. It requires planning and common sense. Unfortunately these are two commodities that are often in short supply