Oh grr grr and double grr.

I actually believed those NatWest adverts. I sat on my sofa listening to a soothing voice tell me they were adding impartial MoneySense advisers who would be there to help you make the most of your money – without any effort to sell you anything – and believed every word. Oh how gullible was I?

A mystery shop by Which? Has revealed the service has fallen far short of the promise.

How long would you be able to cope financially if you lost your job tomorrow? One month? A couple of weeks? Three days?

It seems that us Brits need to get into the savings habit FAST. Many people I know would be able to live on their savings for just a few days before they had to start using credit cards to pay for everything. In fact I'm not so far away from that scenario myself.

In the current economic gloom, you should ideally have the equivalent of six months' expenses set aside, to deal with possible unemployment and other emergencies.

So - if you want to start saving - but you're not quite sure where to start - read on...

If you drive home today from your high-paying job and plan to relax with cigarette and a glass of Scotch while you sit down to watch The Apprentice, then make it last... after tonight, this simple pleasure is going to cost you more thanks to today's Budget.

Let's look at the key areas that were tackled in this historic Budget – never before has the Government borrowed so much – and see where we might get something back.

These was some conversation yesterday about how safe Internet banks are. While they seemed like a good idea a little while ago, are they the best option now? The low interest rates and good deals drew people to them, but now they might be falling out of favour. You can't talk to anyone real, you don't know who you're dealing with. And well, in the current economic climate, getting your hands on your money if you need to is important. So here's a quick poll to kick of this four day week (hurrah!). Are you using internet banks?

Taking out a new credit card could make you richer. No, really, it could. It could even help you get through the recession in one piece.

No, I've not lost my marbles. There's a certain type of credit card - commonly known as a lifetime balance transfer card - that could help you slash the amount of interest you're paying on existing card debt.

As always, however, there are strings attached. Here's what these flexible friends are all about...

As you might be able to tell, I'm all about getting your finances in order at the moment. I've just given mine a big overhaul and it feels good. In fact I've written a post about spring cleaning your finances – you can see it here.

If you want to get your money in order but you really don't know where to start, help is at hand in the form of an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA). With the economy as it is and banks desperate for our custom, things can easily get very confusing for us consumers. An IFA can help you make sense of the complicated stuff and take a weight off your mind. Read on to find out more.

As the deadline for investing in an Individual Savings Allowance looms, one thing is becoming abundantly clear: The banks want your money!

If we just look at cash ISAs, where you can invest up to £3,600 tax-free, the attractive offers until not long ago, were all with the relatively obscure banks, including those from India and Iceland. But now, our very own Barclays and Natwest are getting in the action with some seemingly good deals.

Bag of spuds...Beep!...Kitchen cleaner...Beep!...Mortgage for a new house...BEEP!

My local Tesco has a pretty wide range of stuff on offer. Kids clothes, Japanese seaweed, Jamaican jerk seasoning and thousands of other everyday items. And with the millions they spend on advertising, they're obviously selling plenty to dress and feed punters across the land. But now Tesco want to venture into new territory, an area that has left plenty of bruised egos, tattered reputations and angry customers in its wake... banking.

The retail giant plans to open 30 in-store Tesco Banks by the end of the year, concentrating on the savings plans, credit cards and insurance it already offers. They're even looking at offering a current account, next year.

The majority of credit card fraud happens when you're on holiday, and with online banking fraud more than doubling last year according to UK payments association Apacs, we all need to be wary of how we manage our money when we go overseas.

Prepaid cards are gradually becoming more popular as a real alternative to credit cards and can be extremely useful if you're going away.

You're probably fed-up of hearing about the recession and its gloomy effects, I know I am. Recent inflation statistics have illuminated an unexpected trend however and I wanted to find out how it affects the everyday consumer.

Just bear with me while I try to explain the UK measures of inflation...
RPI – the Retail Price Index – takes mortgage payments into account and for the first time in 49 years, has fallen to 0. This isn't that surprising of course, given the current economic climate.

What is surprising is that the other measure – the CPI (Consumer Price Index) which doesn't include mortgages has in risen.

So how can inflation be rising and falling? And what does it mean for us? Is it good or bad?