Small investments make a difference

(image from dailymail.co.uk)

Small investments make only small differences but like the famous saying goes, "it all adds up", and indeed it does. The price of stamps is going to rise quite dramatically at the end of April, so I have a month to make perhaps a series of investments.

Buying stamps is like buying loo roll - I just know that I am going to use them eventually!!

The price of first class stamps will rise from 46p to 60p each and the second class stamps will go from 36p to 50p. Yet it is possible to buy them now and they will still be valid even after the price rises, because they have no value printed on them, just the indication as to whether they are 1st or 2nd class.

Second class stamps are fine for most of the letters and cards I send out, so I plan to invest £36 and buy a hundred. After the 30 April, those same stamps would cost me £50 so the saving is clear. If I have another opportunity before the end of April, I may even invest in a second book of 100. They don't expire, so if they last me a couple of years, I am still quids in, and I just know that the price of stamps is never going to come down, unfortunately.

I use less stamps now than I used to, with the advent of email, online and telephone banking, and bill payment online and on the phone. But I do still send cards and letters through the mail occasionally, and that personal touch is still important at some times.