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The ‘commute’ from bed to office without leaving home may go on way after lockdown restrictions ease, with big name companies including Nationwide and PwC offering employees the chance to ditch office life.

Nationwide’s 13,000 ‘office based’ staff can choose where they want to work, after 57% of its staff said they’d like to work from home full time. And PwC is rolling out flexible working to allow 22,000 staff to split work life between the office and home.

So if working from home is the way forward; how can you get the job done?

I’ve worked mainly from home for years, being freelance, and absolutely love it. It’s given me freedom, saved heaps of cash on commuting costs, and saved me hours with no time spent in traffic jams or on board sweaty trains.

But as I’m sure anyone who moved their office to their front room during the pandemic knows, ‘working from home’ is no holiday.

It’s work, and the way I choose to earn a crust to pay the mortgage, bills and in happier times, fund my travel passion.

The number of people working from home has nearly doubled over the last ten years to 1,540,000 according to the Office for National Statistics and 60% of us worked from home during the pandemic, with 26% of those expected to stay working from home even when restrictions are lifted. And if you’ve been made redundant you may be going freelance and working from home for the first time too.

So here’s what I’ve learnt and how to make it work.

Get up!

Always a good start, as working from home doesn’t mean rolling out of bed at midday, grabbing a coffee and sending a few emails before settling down with a good box set for the afternoon, well not on a regular basis anyway!

This won’t cut it when it comes to bringing in the cold hard cash, so you’ve got to get tough, motivated and set your own ‘office’ rules to make it work.

Have a ‘work’ bank account

If you’re freelance it’s tempting to stash any earnings in your ‘everyday’ current account but this is the fast track to getting in a financial pickle.

If you’re set up as a Limited Company; then you’ll need to have a separate business bank account, but if you’re a ‘Sole Trader’ still makes sense to have a separate bank account.

Reason being you’ll need to set aside some money to pay your tax bill, so I’d always suggest ‘saving’ 20% of your earnings for this. Makes sense in my book to keep this in a separate account so you’re not tempted to splash out.

Have an office dress code

Ok so no law to say you can’t spend all day in your PJ’s, but I never feel in ‘work mode’ unless I’m up and dressed. Thought that’s not to say I’ve never done the odd 6.30am radio chat in my PJ’s…..

If you’re used to office life, then spending the best part of the day in your dressing gown can seem like a novelty, and if you don’t have any Zoom meetings, you can get away with it. But does it really put you in the right frame of mind for work?

Working from bed is another ‘no no’ in my book. I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I’ve done this; and only when I’ve been ill, as us freelancers don’t get company sick pay. But be warned; laptops and duvets don’t make great bedmates!

Set a routine

May sound strange, as surely the whole point of working from home is to ditch the ‘routine’ of office life for a more flexible lifestyle?

But without any kind of regular routine; can be all too easy to procrastinate to the point when the thought of clearing out the junk cupboard or cleaning the kitchen floor can seem more appealing than the thought of opening your laptop and logging on.  I’m lucky enough to have a separate ‘office’ at home, (once our spare room), but now kitted out with my desk, cabinets and all things work related.

And means I can shut the door at the end of my working day without the risk of spilling spag bol over a pile of notes.

Stave off cabin fever

Yes your office colleagues may have driven you nuts and you couldn’t wait to see the back of them, but doesn’t mean you won’t find office life a bit too quiet at home.

Heading to a coffee shop, (once again, in pre-lockdown life), works for some as a change of scenery, with company and coffee on tap, but can be a drain on your finances if you regularly spend most of your working day there.

I’m lucky living near open countryside; so I usually head out for a lunchtime walk to clear my head, or in a past life, (before March last year), was often in London one day at week for meetings or telly stuff.

Switch off

If you’re on holiday, enjoy it, and I’d say think twice before you flick through emails on your phone while having a coffee at a beach taverna, or even the day before coming home. I’ve done it, and there’s always the danger that just one niggling email will transport you back into ‘work mode’ and burst your holiday bubble.

I can never understand people who take their laptop on holiday and check emails by the pool. So with no boss to ask; I can take a holiday when I like, but on the flipside, can be the niggling feeling of missing out on work once you hit your ‘out of office’ auto reply.

Giving your cash savings a growth boost by bagging a decent rate of interest is a dim and distant memory right now. With inflation now running at 0.7%; you’ll need to beat this in order to have any chance of making your savings grow.

The ‘average’ instant access savings account pays a super stingy 0.5% a year in interest, and even if you stick your money away in a ‘fixed rate’ account for two years; you’d be be hard pushed to top 1% in interest.

Cash savings booster

While it’s possible to get higher rates on cash savings, these can come with strings attached. So for example, you can earn 2% with Nationwide’s FlexDirect current account and 3% with Natwest’s Regular Saver, which sounds pretty good right now, but both have restrictions.

Nationwide’s 2% rate only holds for the first year and only on balances up to £1,500. You’ll also need to pay in £1,000 a month. And the Natwest deal is only for existing customers and the maximum you can pay in each month is £50.

So is it time to take a punt on prize draw savings? Some banks and building societies are offering savers free monthly draws with big cash prizes. Won’t cost you a penny to enter and you may still get a dash of interest too.

Prize Draw Savings

Here’s some of the names splashing the cash along with top monthly prize.

Halifax – £100,000

This offers the biggest prizes with a monthly prize bag worth £550,000 and three top prizes of £100,000. But you’ll need at least £5,000 in one of its savings accounts to be in with a chance to win. Most accounts qualify; apart from kids’ ones, but worth checking before opening a new one.

Got a mortgage with Halifax? You can enter its free monthly draw where each month one winner gets their mortgage paid off up to £300,000.

Post Office – £10,000

You’ll need to open a Post Office savings account and stick in at least £1,000 before 30th April to get your foot in the door for this one. And you’ll need to ‘opt in’ as entry isn’t automatic. Top prize is £10,000 with four prizes of £2,500 and 200 shopping gift cards of £100.

Natwest – £1,000

If you’re a current account customer, open its Digital Regular Saver account and pay in between £1 – £50 in April, May and June, you could be in with a chance to win one of ten £1,000 prizes in the July draw. Plus you’ll get 3% on the first £1,000 saved.

Nationwide – £100

Top prize is £100 with Nationwide with its Start To Save account To be in with a chance to win, you need to pay in between £50 and £100 a month for three months before qualifying for the draw. Pays 1% interest; which is, (sadly), not a bad rate right now.

Existing savers only……

I’ve left this till last as while there’s a monthly prize pot of nearly £100,000 up for grabs, the Windfall Bond savings account from the Family Building Society is no longer open to new savers.

If you’ve already got the account; which needs a minimum of £10,000 to qualify, they’ll keep dishing out the monthly prizes which includes a top one of £50,000 with smaller ones all the way down to £1,000. But only pays 0.1% in interest.

Premium Bonds – £1,000,000

You can stash up to £50,000 in Premium Bonds for a chance to win a million every month. You won’t earn any interest; but if you’re happy to sacrifice the smidge of interest you might get sticking your money in a savings account; then it’s worth a punt and winnings are tax free.

When someone dies there’s certain things that need to be done, and knowing where to start and what to do first can be overwhelming.

Telling family and friends may be your first thought, but very soon there’s decisions to make and arrangements to organise.

Here’s a practical guide to some of the things you need to do.

Where to start

You need to get the medical certificate showing the ’cause of death’ before you can officially register the death or arrange the funeral. Depending on where the person died, you may get this from the hospital, or local GP, if the person died at home.

Registering the death

Once you’ve got the medical certificate, you can make an appointment to register the death. This is usually at the local register office and should be done within five days, or eight in Scotland. Under normal circumstances you’d make an appointment to do this in person; but right now, this is being done with telephone appointments and the death certificate sent out to you.

It’s often worth paying for extra copies of the death certificate as banks and insurance companies will want to see this when closing accounts. Costs can range from around £8 – £12 per copy.

Arranging the funeral

Before you can start doing this, you’ll need what’s known as the ‘green form’, which is the official certificate for burial or cremation. It’s usually handed to you at the register office; although right now they’re being sent out.

Most people use a funeral director to arrange the funeral, as they can organise and co-ordinate everything for you. When choosing a funeral director, remember there’s lots of small independent family run companies as well as the bigger chains.

When it comes to cost, be honest about your budget as a good funeral director will suggest different options. And do check if the person who’s died had a funeral plan in place, as this may cover some, or all of the costs.

Worth checking that whoever you use is a member of the National Association of Funeral Directors, (NAFD), or the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors, (SAIF), as these organisations both have codes of practice and strict standards for members.

How much will a funeral cost?

Funerals can be expensive and costs can vary according to where you live, as well as the type of funeral you choose.

According to SunLife, (who produce an annual report into the cost of funerals), the ‘average’ cost of a cremation is now £3,885, and £5,033 for a burial.

However this is only the basic cost, and you can pay a lot more depending on the options you choose, for example the type of coffin and whether you want flowers and cars.

In the current climate more people are choosing a ‘Direct Cremation’; which costs an average of £1,554. This is a very basic option; as there’s no service, so you can’t go along, although you can collect the ashes afterwards.

If you’re claiming certain benefits you may be able to claim a Funeral Expenses payment.

Closing down accounts

Most of us have multiple accounts, services or subscriptions to our name and these will all need closing or cancelling.

Worth making a list of all the companies you need to contact as you think of them, including banks, pension and insurance companies, energy providers along with any clubs or organisations the person belonged to.

You can contact most Government departments in one go using the ‘Tell Us Once’ service which covers state pensions, benefits, cancelling a passport and driving licence. You’ll be given a special code to access this service when you register the death.

There’s also organisations like Life Ledger where you can tell multiple organisations in one go. Most organisations, especially banks and insurance companies, have their own bereavement departments to help you close down accounts and you can find details on their website.

Wills & probate

The job of closing down the person’s estate and sorting out their last wishes falls to the person, or people named as Executors in the will.

They may need to get what’s known as a Grant of Probate to start sorting out money matters, although this isn’t always necessary.

Without a will, the estate is split up according to ‘Intestacy Law’ which sets out who gets what.

Got five minutes to find out about today’s budget? Here’s my quick run down on what it means for the pound in your pocket.

Furlough scheme extended

Furlough is now being extended to the end of September. As an employee, you’ll still get 80% of your wages, up to £2,500 a month, for the time you don’t work.

But employers will have stump up and contribute 10% to the bill in July and 20% in August and September.

Support for the self-employed

There’s two more grants as part of the Self Employment Income Support Scheme.

The 4th one covers up to 80% of your ‘average’ trading profits over a three month period and worth up to £7,500. The 5th one will cover the period from May to July but look at how much you’ve lost. With this one, if your profits are down by more than 30%, you’ll still get the 80% grant, but if it’s less than 30%, you’ll get 30% of your profits.

This time round the scheme will cover another 600,000 people as it’s being extended to those who’ve submitted a tax return for 2019 – 2020.

However once again nothing in the way of any financial support for limited company directors.

Stamp duty extension

The current stamp duty ‘holiday’ is extended from the end of March to 30th June. Means no stamp duty to pay on the first £500,000 of your home’s price tag.

After that, the ‘nil rate’ band gets cut to £250,000 until the end of September, and then it’s back at its previous £125,000 level from October.

Boost for first time buyers

The Chancellor announced plans to, ‘turn generation rent into generation buy’.

First time buyers will be able to buy their first home with just a 5% deposit with a new Government Guarantee in place to protect lenders. Will be available on properties with a price tag of up to £600,00.

Tax freezes

There’s no change in the rates of tax, national insurance or VAT.

The ‘personal allowance’; that’s the amount you can earn before paying tax, goes up from £12,500 to £12,570 next year and then gets frozen till 2026.

And the ‘higher rate’ allowance goes up from £50,000 to £50,270 next year and once again, it’s then frozen to 2026.

Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax and the Pensions Lifetime Allowance are all frozen at their current rates till 2026.

Corporation tax hike

If you’re a limited company; then you’re going to see the rate of corporation tax go up from 19% to 25% from April 2023. While it was rumoured to be going up; this is far higher than the 23% that was expected.

However small limited companies with profits of £50,000 or less will stay paying the 19% rate.

And more……

Minimum wage goes up to £8.91 an hour from April and the £20 Universal Credit weekly ‘uplift’ will be extended for another six months.

And if all this has got you reaching for a G&T, well a tiny glimmer of good news in that alcohol duty is frozen, so your bottle of plonk shouldn’t cost you any more at the till. Oh and fuel duty’s frozen too, so you shouldn’t pay more at the pump tomorrow.

If you’re on a low income and reached state pension age, you may be able to claim some extra cash in the form of Pension Credit.

What is Pension Credit?

It’s a ‘top up’ payment that boosts your weekly income to a guaranteed minimum level. And it’s tax free too. Around two million households currently claim it, but it’s reckoned around one million may be missing out.

How much is it worth?

The ‘average’ amount claimed is £58 a week; over £3,000 a year according to Government figures.

However there’s no ‘one size fits all’ payment as Pension Credit is ‘means tested’. This means how much you get depends on your income, including any pensions and benefits and any savings over £10,000 will be counted too, although not your main home.

Pension Credit comes in two parts, and you can claim one, or both.

Guarantee Credit can ‘boost’ your income to a minimum of £173.75 a week for a single person, and £265.20 for a couple.

Savings Credit is basically a reward if you’ve saved for retirement; say in a pension. It’s worth £13.97 a week for a single person and £15.62 for a couple. You must have reached state pension age before 6th April 2016 in order to start claiming Savings Credit.

Check if you can claim

No need to worry about doing the number crunching yourself. Here’s the easy way to check if you can claim. All you do is plug your details into the Government’s Pension Credit calculator

Claiming Pension Credit also opens the doors to some other discounts and benefits including a free TV licence, (if you’re over 75), along with help with council tax.

Making a claim

You can find out more about how to claim here or call the Government Pension Credit claim line on 0800 99 1234.

Payments are usually made every four weeks straight to your bank account.

If your situation changes, this can affect the level of Pension Credit you claim, so call the Pension Credit helpline and let them know.

Free toys and games worth up to £20 each are up for grabs during half term with this special offer from Uber Eats & Hasbro.

Uber Eats has teamed up with toy giant Hasbro with a free toy store app. Means free toys and games delivered to your door within just 30 minutes and all you pay is an Uber Eats delivery fee, which can vary; but usually up to around £4.

No need to order food either with this offer. You can just go on and snap up the free game, without buying anything.

The doors to this virtual toy store open at midday on Wednesday 17th February and stay open through to Saturday 20th.

How it works

Just go on the Uber Eats app; head for the Hasbro toy store and choose from one of seven toys and games including Cluedo, Game of Life, Boggle, Pit, 2 different Play-Doh sets and Yahtzee.

I’ve shopped around to see how much you’d usually pay for one of these freebies and they’re typically up to around £20 on other toy outlets or Amazon.

Promotion code

When you go on the app; the games and toys will have a ‘£6’ charge beside them. This the ‘minimum spend’ at the Hasbro Toy Store, but if you pop in this Uber Eats promotion code THEHASBROTOYSTORE all you’ll pay is the Uber Eats delivery charge.

The PR people do tell me that in some cases there could be a ‘service charge’ too, so do watch for that.

Any catches?

Ok so it’s not available nationwide; only in London and Manchester and you’ll need to live within around three miles of a Hasbro toy store to be able to order.

Only one game or toy per household and the deal is available for the first 200 orders and do remember you can’t go on to snap up your freebie till midday Wednesday!