If you are the ideal weight for your height, then going on a diet just to save money would not be a solution as it could lead to health issues. However, for anyone who feels they want to shed a few pounds, dieting can be a way to a healthier life and a healthier bank balance.

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Just imagine. Your beloved father has been looking for a particular book for the last twenty years. It reminds him of a happy childhood in less stressful times, but he just can’t find it. Or your wife has been searching for just that one last pig/frog ornament that she hasn’t got, and it will make her ridiculous collection complete. Then one day, you’re strolling down the High Street at lunch time, and your eye is drawn towards the window of a usually unnoticeable antiques’ shop. There it is; that item that will make their day/week/year and earn you immeasurable Brownie points. The problem is, pay day is not until next week and you’re a bit short of ready cash.

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After you’ve been working in the recruitment industry for a while, you may come to the conclusion that you could run a business like this of your own. You have experience, you know the ins and outs of the business, and you certainly have the skills and talent to open your own company and run it successfully. With every financial venture, as you well know, there are risks associated with it, and handling these hurdles is paramount to the success that you can expect to have. Before you undertake the challenge of starting your own recruitment company, let’s review some of the hurdles that can thwart your plans for prosperity.

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These days it’s not about who wears the trousers in the household, but who looks after the purse strings.  Traditionally it always used to be the man about the house, but now it can be either the male, female or even both!  I remember as a child that my mum always looked after everything to do with finance.  My father was so disinterested he would come home from work, give my mum his wage-packet full of cash and think no more about it.  But who looks after the money now?

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Arguably, people involved in the food service business are the most under-appreciated and under-compensated people in any industry. Yes, waiters at a fancy restaurant can often make a very decent living, sometimes through a basic minimum wage paid by the restaurant itself with the rest of their income coming from tips left by satisfied customers. In these types of restaurants, where service is expected to be top-notch, waiters and waitresses often definitely earn their living. They have to adhere to high standards of service, and anything less than excellence is unacceptable. At the other end of the food service scale are those who deliver food to your home from a local restaurant or other establishment. More often than not, theirs is a low-paying job that provides little, if any, satisfaction. Perhaps the next time we open our door, we should take their situation into greater consideration.

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It is well past the end of the school day, but Paddington Academy’s biggest classroom is packed with students and an almost deafening chatter fills the air. Forty pupils aged 14 and 15 from local schools are forgoing the pleasures of after-school television to attend what may well be their first careers event.

The classroom is set up along the lines of a speed-dating room but, instead of looking for love, these children are finding out more about the world beyond school. At the desks sit volunteers, including doctors, lawyers and civil servants. The pupils rotate around the desks at seven-minute intervals, grilling each professional on what their job involves and the qualifications it requires.

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