Recent Economic Crisis: Greatly Influenced the Poor Countries

It is a tough world today; millions of people are having financial problems, within the United States and far beyond its limits. People from all nationalities and from different parts of the world are trying to manage their tight budgets, and no matter how short their shopping lists are, they need to be further shortened until there are only the most basic things left.

Rich Countries versus Poor Countries

The world as we know it has always been divided into two categories of countries – there has always been a clear distinction between the poor countries and the rich countries. This richer group has always been the place where the rest of the world would like to live, and the poor countries have always been the place that the residents are trying to leave. Nowadays, however, the distinction between the rich and the poor countries is less visible. The countries that were considered to be wealthy are unfortunately losing some of their fortune due to global economic crisis.

Rich Countries Becoming Less Rich

As it has already been mentioned above, a number of rich countries have lost some their financial power in the last few years. This is why the residents of once-wealthy countries are slowly learning to live frugally, saving every dime they can. Living on a budget has always been a work of art, and people who were skillful in this department have always been worth our admiration. Many people had no reasons to gain knowledge in regard to living with a small budget, but present circumstances have turned this into a necessity rather than a question of choice. Consequently, people are learning to cut down their expenses, but still managing to be well-dressed, have food on the table, as well as invest in going out and vacating.

Poor Countries Becoming Poorer

The main question is this – what happens if the residents of the country are already poor? How should they fight the global economic and financial crisis? When you don’t have enough food or clothing, it is hard to cut down the expenses that have already been cut down so many times prior to the recent crisis. People who live in poor countries aren’t actually trying to avoid going on spending sprees, but they are trying to have some food left on the table after the cheap budget is drastically decreased. This task is sometimes so difficult, and no matter how people may grow accustomed to poverty, they can never be prepared for it.

The Global Picture

There shouldn’t be a difference between the rich and the poor, as not having enough money for what you need is tough for everyone. Some seem to need help more, some less, but the fact is that the recent economic crisis has put a lot of countries in a difficult position. It seems that there has come the time when humanity is more welcome that it has ever been. The same way people ought to help each other, countries should follow the same example, and try to unite to help the ones that really need help.

5 Great Websites for Saving and Making Money

Unemployment is high, the cost of living is rising, banks are not lending and real wages are down, which is why it is hardly surprising that millions of people in the UK are searching for ways to cut their monthly outgoings.

Though mortgages, other loans and credit-card repayments are among the most costly items of expenditure, smaller savings can make a difference. Here are five of the best websites for saving or making money.

SayNoTo0870.com

This useful website helps ordinary people to escape the stealth cost of calling numbers with the 0870 prefix. Dialling an 0870 number costs most people around 15p per minute, which is pretty high considering that 0870 numbers tend to be used by customer-service departments.

Spending half an hour or more on the phone to a not-so-helpful customer-service agent is not uncommon, but every half hour costs about £4.50, so a particularly complex complaint could end up costing more than the goods or services provided.

Rather than call the prescribed 0870 numbers, people can visit SayNoTo0870.com and find out if a firm has alternative numbers. If a free 0800 number cannot be found, it is often the case that there is a local-rate number which will help the customer save money. It’s simple but effective.

Quidco.com

Advertising online is big business, which is why many websites aim to earn a slice of marketing revenue by generating trade or traffic for suppliers. In the case of Quidco.com, an income is generated by providing users with links to established retail outlets such as Tesco.

When users click on the links, they are taken to the target website and offered some kind of incentive for doing so – typically a discount, free gift or cash-back. Quidco.com provides plenty of benefits for its users, but it should be noted that registering with the site costs £5 a year – not much for the chance to save 10 per cent or more on certain purchases.

Environfone.com

Mobile phones are regularly being discarded as people opt for next-generation smartphone technology, but why should perfectly good devices end up in the bin? Environfone.com enables people to recycle their old mobiles in return for cash or Argos vouchers worth £40 or more. Those with at least six handsets receive a free courier service as part of the deal. It’s a simple way to make a little money from unwanted goods.

MusicMagpie.co.uk

As with Environfone, MusicMagpie.co.uk allows people to earn cash for old products – in this case, old CDs, DVDs and video games. You simply enter the bar codes from your old music CDs, movie DVDs and games into the MusicMagpie website (or via its handy smartphone app) to receive a valuation for the items. Assuming the goods are received by MusicMagpie in good condition, a cheque will be sent to the seller.

ReadItSwapIt

Home to more than 360,000 titles, ReadItSwapIt provides a resource for book lovers to share literature. Avid readers can register with the site for no charge whatsoever. Members display the titles of books that they own and are willing to share with others, providing a library of titles that can be exchanged for nothing more than the cost of postage.