The face value of tickets to World Cup Games is supposedly between about £50 and £80. We all know that they’ll be changing hands for a lot more than that though. At the time of writing, that popular online auction site had one ticket to see England versus the USA with a reserve of £350. There’s no doubt that following your country to the World Cup Finals is an expensive business. There are also those people for whom such a once in a lifetime opportunity is worth the money. So, watching England in the World Cup: priceless?

On top of the ticket price, there are all of those other expenses to consider too. For starters, getting to South Africa, if you can find a seat on a flight out there, is going to be an expensive proposition. Accommodation will be at a premium too, with footie fans from all over the world descending on the Rainbow Nation. Let’s just say that’s all done though. It was expensive but worth it. You’re there and you want to phone home to tell everyone just how good it is. Well, the watchdog Consumer Focus has warned that fans could be paying in excess of £100 to make calls and send texts on match day.

The team leaves the tunnel, the sun is shining and the flags are flying. You want to post a photo or two, to show those that couldn’t make the trip what they’re missing. Not so fast, the highest charges could well be for mobile phone users that upload their photos or videos to social networking sites. You could find that the charges for data and mobile internet could range from just over £1 to £8 for each megabyte.

All of this means that you must check the rates applied by your service provider before you go. If you pay your mobile phone bill by direct debit, you could find that you return from watching the World Cup in South Africa with substantial charges having been applied to your account. This could push your account into the red, meaning overdraft charges and even the possibility of missed payments that could seriously affect your credit rating. We are keen for you to bear in mind that the implications of this can be serious and long lasting so make sure you know where you stand with your network charges. It’s also important to remember that the charges are going to be a lot higher than they are when travelling in Europe. Look into extra data bundles and other money saving angles before you leave.

Snowballing your debt is a great way to pay it off. Essentially, it means paying the minimum on all of your outstanding debts but one and throwing everything you have left at it. In this way, you pay it off fast, move on to the next one and do the same to that. It’s up to you whether you decide to target the smallest debts first, as clearing them will be quicker, or whether you go for the biggest debt first, as this will be charging you the most interest. Whichever way you decide to do go about it, as you pay off each debt, you’ll have more money to pay off the next debt as the previous one is cleared. So, the process will gather momentum, or snowball, towards freedom from debt.

If you’re looking to speed the process up, put any extra money that comes your way into the repayments. Want to free up a bit of extra money? Follow these ten top tips from Debtsolver and you’ll be making big savings and bigger repayments in no time.

1. First things first, shop around. Look for the cheaper option and just get into the habit of making price comparisons for everything you buy.

2. Do you have Sky or Cable TV? How many Channels do you have? Now, how many do you actually watch? You get the point.

3. We all want our children to take advantage of every opportunity but these things can soon mount up. So, try setting a budget for extra-curricular activities and prompt them to be more discerning.

4. In the better weather, take advantage and hang your washing out to dry instead of using your dryer.

5. Likewise, if you have a dishwasher, only put it on when it’s full. If it’s just the odd cup then go all retro and wash it in the kitchen sink.

6. You can still treat yourself and the family to nice things like meals out but you should always look for areas to save some money. Drinking water and waiting until you get home to have desert are a couple of easy ways to save a few pounds.

7. Remember, you don’t actually need to buy the most expensive pet food to keep them well nourished. If you are a slave to the branding, follow point 1 and shop around for deals and offers.

8. Buying in bulk can be a cheaper option, if you actually need the things you’re buying. If you can break up the sets into individual items, as with cases of wine, they can be make great presents.

9. Sharing lifts to work or on the school run can save you money on fuel and cut carbon emissions. Take turns with the driving duties and everyone can make a saving.

10. If you’re worried about your debt, there are free tools online that can help you to build a budget and manage your finances. For a free financial health check, visit www.debtsolver.co.uk.

In the UK, the average student debt runs at about £5000 a year. They’re a more serious business than you might have first thought too. So, start off right and avoid getting into bad debt habits. Student loan providers have established their own protections against defaulting borrowers and normally, a student loan will be non-dischargeable.

Of course, you are wholeheartedly recommended to take full advantage of any grants or scholarships that you might qualify for. These will tend to be means or performance tested. However, across the Atlantic there are some incredibly interesting and totally bizarre scholarships available to students in the US.

• Are you a guy over 6′2″ or a girl over 5′10″? You could qualify for theTall Clubs International Scholarship.
• Left handed? The $1,000 Frederick and Mary F. Beckley Scholarship is offered to two left-handed students at one US university each year.
• Any high school senior in the US can apply for the Chick and Sophie Major Memorial Duck Calling Contest. If you’ve got the best duck call, you get a $1,500 scholarship.
• Nose for a bargain? The Fragrance Research Fund makes a scholarship of up to $50,000 to clinical psychologist post-graduates in aromachology.
• Academic, athletic and look good with a milk moustache? You can go for the Scholar Athlete Milk Moustache of the Year (SAMMY) Award.
• The Patrick Kerr Skateboard Scholarship is for $5,000, with three $1,000 runner-up scholarships on offer too. Apparently, you don’t even have to be able to kickflip.
• Is your name Van Valkenburg? No? Oh well, never mind.  The Van Valkenburg Memorial Scholarship isn’t for you then.
• Can you predict the future? If you’re studying economics, you should apply for the Excellence in Predicting the Future Award… on your way to buy a lottery ticket.
• Languages your thing? Sorry, alien languages I mean. The Klingon Language Institute awards $500 a year for language study.
• Student debt can be a headache. Luckily, the Tylenol Scholarship can be the perfect remedy They helped out American students to the tune of over $250,000 in 2006 alone.
• Slightly ironically, the US credit card Discover Card has established The Discover Card Tribute Award, which gives 10 lucky students $25,000 a year and another 300 students $2,500 a year. You don’t need to pay it back either.

If you’re concerned about student debt, get in touch with Debtsolver and they’ll be able to help you take control of your finances, without having to move to the States, change your name to Van Valkenberg, practice your duck calls or learn Klingon. Bet that’s a relief.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has come out with a recommendation that Banks should begin to offer current accounts that give their customers the option to opt out of an overdraft facility, rather than having one as standard. It considers this to be an important factor in many individual’s slide into debt. Rather than viewing this facility as an emergency resource to help them manage their direct debits and other outgoings, many enter the red with the best of intentions but fail to bounce back out again. In fact, 1 in every 10 people in the UK is permanently overdrawn and accruing the extra bank charges that go with it. A further 12% depend on their overdraft facility at least 5 times in the year and half of us need to use it at least once. So, there is no denying that it can be a valuable resource but it can also be a costly contributor to your debt problem.

The OFT are also keen to see a reassessment of the fees and bank charges that consumers face for their unarranged overdraft. These charges are gradually coming down though. For example, a bounced payment, when you don’t have the funds in your account to cover an expense, used to cost a further £34 on average, now it’s down to about £17. However, some have accused the OFT of taking too soft a stance on bank charges and not doing enough to safeguard consumer interest.

In response to these claims, the OFT reiterated their view that continued monitoring of personal current accounts is effecting significant change in bank’s practice and in the market as a whole. The industry is suffering from rock-bottom consumer confidence in the wake of the recession and is therefore committed to change.

The Office of Fair Trading have outlined a clear goal; a current account market where banks make the necessary information available to customers at the right time. Therefore, making it easier for people to control their finances. Solving the problem of mounting debt hinges on getting your personal finances under control. It highlights how important it is for the individual account holder to use this information to manage their account carefully and even take it to another bank if there’s a better deal to be had. A debt management plan can help you to take control of your finances. Drawing up a detailed budget can help you to recognise the areas where you can cut back too. It’s a good idea to talk to a debt management specialist who has the experience to guide you through the process.

With the 2010 Budget heralding a hike in fuel prices, filling up your tank can quickly empty your pockets. To help those facing the problem of mounting debt, Debtsolver have compiled this list of tips to help you reduce your fuel consumption, spending less time and money at the pump.

1. Over half of the power that your engine produces goes to beating aerodynamic drag. With this in mind, the faster you drive, the more aerodynamic resistance you encounter and the more fuel you burn to compensate. So, staying under the speed limit can save you fuel and save you from getting speeding tickets.
2. Tyre pressure has a big effect on your car’s fuel consumption. If your tyres are a bit flat, not only will you wear them out faster but you’ll also increase the rolling resistance. Properly inflated tyres will lower the resistance and decrease your engines power usage, saving you fuel. You’ve got to be careful not to over-inflate though. As deflated tyres have a greater surface area on the road, increasing the resistance, over-inflated tyres have too little surface area on the road and this can dangerously lower your level of grip. Check them regularly and keep them within the manufacturers parameters.
3. Research has shown that the average engine will run most efficiently somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 rpm. Keeping the revs low, by changing gear before your engine hits 2,500 rpm, will burn less fuel and save you money. If your car is an automatic, avoid stamping down on the accelerator to change down a gear.
4. Carrying around extra weight significantly increases your fuel consumption. The rough figure is thought to be an increase of 2% for a 50kg load increase. Think of all of that extra weight that you’re carrying around in the boot because you don’t know where else to put the stuff. It’s costing you money so have a clear out.
5. Pulling away from a stationary position uses a lot more fuel than from a rolling start. If you try to smooth out your driving, anticipate what’s to come and adjust your driving accordingly, you’ll burn less fuel and save more money. Don’t follow the car in front too closely and you’ll have more time to make these gradual adjustments to your speed that let you avoid unnecessary breaking or acceleration.
6. Although there is an argument for most fuel being used when you start your engine, if you allow your engine to idle for more than a minute, you’re actually using more fuel that you would if you’d just switched it off and re-started. There’s an environmental argument too, so rather than sit with your engine running, burning petrol unnecessarily, just turn it off.

Admittedly, these changes alone will not be enough to solve a substantial debt problem but better money management is crucial to freeing yourself from the burden of bad debt. Cutting back on your spending can take many forms and you’ll find that it is as much about your mindset as it is about those individual changes. Talking to a debt management specialist at Debtsolver is a great place to start.