With new smartphones coming out every month – many Irish homes will probably have a few old mobile phones sitting around in drawers. Most of those old  mobile phones can be recycled for cash .

If you live in Ireland or the UK and your old mobile is working, has a battery, is of European or UK spec and is not barred – you can exchange it at Envirofone for Money. Payable by cheque or Paypal. (Or Argos Vouchers).

You can get an instant  online quote  for your old phone at the Envirofone Website  . You then just post your old phone (Freepost) to them and  after checking the condition they will  send you the agreed price.
If you have old phones that are more than 4 years old you can still send them FREE for recycling but you won’t get cash.

Another  company offering to buy your old mobile phones in Ireland is  Money For Your Mobile - or Money4URMobile.  You send your old phones by Freepost and they send your payments  by cheque  or bank transfer.

Sky Ireland have a special offer that ends on  February  23rd 2012.
If you join   Sky Ireland Online you  get a free €50 cashback,  a free Sky+ box and free setup .  A free Sky Plus HD box is also available for new HD subscribers.

(The €50 payment will be by cheque.One cheque per household. Cheques sent via post within 60 days of your Sky TV viewing card being enabled to receive Sky TV.)

A Sky Plus box allows you to record up to 185 hours of TV programs to watch when  it suits you-  and you can even pause live TV .

Visit Sky Ireland to find out more .

You might also be interested in  finding out about Saorview – the Irish Digital TV service which is already up and running.
In 2012 – the old aerial  signals from RTE will be switched off and all their transmissions will be digital. You may need to buy new equipment to recieve the digital TV channels. Some people may need new aeriels and a digital TV receiver.
Sky customers will not need to do anything or buy anything – they will continue to watch digital TV via their satellite.
Find out more about Saorview Here

There have apparently been a few “teething problems” with the recent transfer of Dublin City Council’s refuse collection service to Greyhound . Reports of late collections and missed collections have been making the papers , online forums and radio phone-ins.

At the moment there are some other companies that are offering bin and refuse collections in Dublin.
Which company has the lowest bin collection charges in Dublin ?
(Prices shown are for black bins. All the companies empty green bins for free if you put them out with the black bins)

Greyhound charge a €100 annual service charge and €6 for each bin emptied.
Thorntons charge €50 annual fee and €7.50 per bin with a 5% dicount if you pay online.
Oxigen have 3 options
a)  – a €20 per month fee with no further charges
b)  €60 annual fee and €8.85 per bin
c) No annual fee but €14 per bin emptied.

Ozo charge €20.42 a month.

Based on a bin being collected every 2 weeks – that is 26 bins a year – the cost would work out the cheapest at  Thorntons at €233 for the year.
Next cheapest would be the €20 a month option from Oxigen – coming in at €240 for the year.
In third place in the price comparison is Ozo at €245.04. If you want to pay the whole year up front – Ozo will charge €220.50 – which works out the cheapest overall.
In fouth place in the price comparison is Greyhound at €256 a for 26 bins in a year.

Coverage
Thorntons coverage areas in Dublin according to their website are Dublin: Ballyfermot, Chapelizod, Citywest, Clondalkin, Crumlin, Drimnagh, Inchicore, Lucan, Palmerstown, Rathcoole, Rathfarnham,Saggart,Tallaght,Templogue.
Call 1850  946 200 for more info.

Oxigen say they are rolling out coverage to all parts of Dublin very soon. Call 1890 943 130 for more details.

Ozo say they cover  Adamstown , Newcastle Paddocks ,  Dublin 4 & 6 , Dublin 8 & 12 Dublin 11 , Dublin 14 Dublin 16 Dublin 20 . Dublin 24 Leixlip – Lucan – Clondalkin Rathcoole – Saggart – City West . Call 1890 247 020

Greyhound cover all of Dublin and can be contacted on 1890 98 99 98

There are  a few credit card companies who still  do introductory offers of interest free credit .  These offers are only for new customers and they usually  allow you to transfer your existing credit card debt and pay no interest on it  for up to 10 months.
It can be a good way of helping to clear credit card debts.   In recent months – the credit card companies and banks don’t seem as keen to offer 0% interest deals as they used to  – but there are still  some good deals around.
See our updated list of 0% Credit Card Offers here.

February 2012 – :  Comparison of  home phone and   broadband package prices in Ireland.

If you are looking for the cheapest  nationally available home phone (landline) and broadband package with up to 8Mb speed as well as free landline calls in Ireland at any time of day – The best  price  available is  from Vodafone at €45 per month.

The Vodafone  at Home package comes with a 40Gb monthly download limit. An added bonus is that you also get 200 anytime minutes free to  Vodafone mobiles. (Worth about €40 Euro ) .
If you sign up online you get a free wireless modem worth €79  and  €20 credit on your account. For €52 a month you can increase your data limit to a massive 300Gb a month.
More details at Vodafone Here

If you are a Vodafone Mobile Bill Pay  customer -  you can get this bundle for €44 a month and you will get an added bonus of free calls to UK landlines too.

Other broadband providers prices for similar packages:

UPC - which is only available in certain areas of the country -  offer speeds of upto 25Mb  for €53 a month including unlimited anytime phone calls.

UTV charge €45.99 a month for upto 8Mb (20Gb limit) and anytime calls (Uk included)

Eircom charge  €65.75 for a 7Mb bundle with free anytime calls  (€57.18 for first 6 months)  (50Gb Limit)

Magnet charge €59.99 for 8Mb speed with unlimited downloads,no sharing ,  free anytime landline calls .

All Prices shown are correct as at Feb 2012

Check out our page on Mobile Broadband in Ireland

The start of a new year is always a good time to make changes  – and with cuts in child benefit and the introduction of the  household charge – many people will have less to spend in 2012.
Below   we have highlighted a few suggestions  to help you save money and cut bills and spending  in 2012.

Switch Electricity Supplier
If you are still on the old ESB rates you could easily save around €100 a year by switching to Airtricity or Bord Gais for Electricity. You could save money by just paying by Direct Debit and opting for electronic billing.
See our  Electricity Price Comparison

Switch Gas Supplier
If you are still with Bord Gais for gas – you could save  as much as €150 a year if  you switch to Flogas for your natural mains gas supply. See Gas Prices Compared

Switch Your Current Account :
Many people in Ireland are still paying  fees to their banks for operating a current account. Bank fees are easily avoidable – just switch your account to a bank that doesn’t charge transaction fees or doesn’t make you jump through hoops to avoid them.   Some BOI customers could save around €200 euros a year in bank charges by switching to a fee free bank   See more here about Current Account Fees

Get Grants towards Insulation or new Boiler.
Grants of up to €4000 are available for insulation of your property.
Grants of €560 are also available to replace a central heating boiler with a more efficient one and upgrade the heating controls at the same time.  Most old boilers could be costing you hundreds of euros a year in higher fuel bills – so replacing it will save you money in the long run too. (Condensing  boilers could save as much as 18% in oil costs for heating and hot water)  See more here about Grants for New Boilers and Insulation

Shop Online to get lower prices. Use discount codes and vouchers for online shopping – See some Discount Codes here

Switch Your Savings Account.
Ifyou have savings you should check if you are getting the best interest rate. See our regularly updated list of the Best Interest Rates Here.   Some deposit accounts are paying rates as low as  0.01%  – but you could get a rate as high as 4.1% . On a balance of €20,000 – that would be an increase in interest of   €818  a year (before DIRT )

Switch Phone and Broadband
You could save about €70 a year by switching your landline and broadband provider  – see more here about the cheapest broadband providers.    (This is for anytime calls and 8Mb broadband)

0%  Interest  Credit Cards

If you have a credit card balance that you are finding hard to pay off -  you could try and transfer the balance to a credit card  with 0% Interest introductory offer. On a balance of €1000 -  going interest free for 10 months could save you as much as €80 in interest charges.  See our list of 0%  Interest Credit Card Offers

Get cash for your old Mobile Phones.
You might be pleasantly surprised at the amount your old phone is worth. See our page about cash for old phones here.  It might not be a lot – but every little helps !

Online Surveys
Don’t waste all your time on Facebook – you could try and make a few Euros instead from online  market research surveys . You won’t make loads of money   -  but every littlehelps . Register here for  Online Surveys

You can keep up to date with Moneyguide Ireland on Facebook too.

Best Rates on Investment Mortgages in Ireland
In some areas – the rental market is doing well as less people are buying houses and now need to rent.

The lowest rate available on buy to let loans is from AIB  with 3.95% Variable  75% LTV

NIB are the next best  at 4.2% fixed for 2 years with max LTV 92%

KBC are offering 4.25% variable with a max LTV of 80%

Figures correct at Feb 7th 2012

Best Buy Residential Mortgages Here

One of the best purchases I made in the past few years  was the iRobot Roomba - a robotic vacuum cleaner.
The Roomba  is a great little machine that can vacuum while I get on with updating this website
Paying for a cleaner is a “luxury” that I have never felt justified the cost  – but the Roomba can save hours of boring vacuuming every week for a lot less than paying someone else to do it.

In these “credit crunch” times – many people who do employ a cleaner might be thinking of cutting costs – well the Roomba will help. Available to Buy Here prices starting at around €265 including delivery.   They also sell the Scooba – which looks good too – a robotic floor washer.

With it’s recharging dock – I  just set the Roomba cleaner  going in a room and it cleans the floor better than I do – under beds is it’s speciality. No need to move furniture – it is clever enough to work around that too. The odd rug needs taking up  because sometimes it can lift the corners and get stuck.

Currys Partmaster also sell Roombas  and Roomba parts and batteries – and delivery to Ireland appears to be available for £6.99

The Roomba 555 is the top of the range model – with the ability to set a timer for when it runs . The Rooomba 530 is a bit cheaper and is missing this timer facility – but apart from that there isn’t too much difference.

Also check Currys Partmaster for Roombas

Pixmania also sell Roombas