Can there be a greater joy than your fixed rate mortgage coming to an end?

That mortgage you signed up to years ago when rates were 6% and it seemed like a great deal at the time?

There probably are things – the birth of your first child perhaps, conquering Kilimanjaro – but halving your mortgage in one go is pretty peachy.

While it's tempting to simply gloat and then head off to the shops, the end of the fixed rate brings a notable, but pleasing, dilemma – how to spend your new cash?

I'm all for making the most of a new business opportunity, but taking advantage of the growing ranks of the unemployed in order to squeeze the last of their cash from them seems like a peculiarly heartless trick.

A recent report from the OFT has suggested that a growing band of scammers are targeting the unemployed with 'work from home' schemes.

These schemes are one of the oldest scams going. The more upmarket ones will take out adverts in newspapers, the less sophisticated will stick flyers to lamposts.

But they are all readily recognisable, offering 'profitable business opportunities' or 'start-up advice' with great riches for minimal effort, all from the comfort of your living room.

So what's the catch?

It's difficult to muster up a lot of sympathy for Robert Gaines-Cooper who, when not living it up in the Seychelles hangs out at his 27-acre estate near Henley, but a tax bill for £30m would dent anyone's lifestyle.

The Court of Appeal ruling that he is to be considered resident in the UK despite having spent less that 91 days per year in the country will put the wind up tax exiles from Monaco to Mexico, but it has wider implications for the average taxpayer as well.

Abusive letters from the Inland Revenue are never welcome, but they seem even crueller on your birthday. But there it was, along with lots of lovely cards, threatening that if I didn't produce a certain document they would fine me £60 a day up to a maximum of £3,000.

This seemed harsher still because I had sent them the document in question a month before. Apparently it had failed to reach the person in question because it's 'a really big building'.

Somehow I feel that if my tax hadn't been paid because – oh, I don't know – internet banking is a bit complicated, or the Inland Revenue's account number is a bit long, this would not have counted as a good excuse.

What is it about Valentine's Day that makes mugs of all of us?

We pay over-the-odds to go to restaurants on one of the most crowded nights of the year, and for what?

Romance?

What could be less romantic than sharing elbow room with twenty other couples at your local curry house because it was the only place with a table?

Bah humbug. Is there anything worth doing on Valentine's Day?

Poor old Gary Coleman. Arrested again earlier this year for failing to appear in court.

His life reads like a text book 'child star' nightmare. Bankrupt at 31 with any cash from his £100,000 per show salary long since spent, his best hope of earning money is probably on reality TV.

The story is so familiar that it's difficult to think of a child star who hasn't frittered away their early riches. How can you ensure your children are more financially prudent?

It helps if you're not completely rubbish yourself, because your own attitude to money will rub off on your children. Coleman claims his problems stemmed from mismanagement of his trust fund by his parents, though he seems to have got through a fair bit on his own. Either way, there is apparently some familial responsibility for his plight.

It probably also helps if you don't give them a whole wodge of cash before they've learnt to tie their shoelaces. Even 21 seems a bit early to expect someone to be financially responsible. Nigella Lawson has strong views on this - in spite of her chunky fortune and multi-millionaire husband, she says her children won't be trustafarians, believing it reduces their incentive to achieve on their own. A cursory look at The Sunday Times Rich List bears this out. Most fortunes have not been started with a fortune.

As January becomes a distant memory, I am now in a position to assess how well my cost-cutting resolutions have gone.

I'm feeling pretty virtuous and have certainly spent the month with the sense that I have denied myself quite a lot. I've been careful about what I buy and where I buy it. I've have only had one small impulse purchase (Sutton Seeds had an offer on perennials and I just couldn't resist).

So has it revolutionised my finances?

The end of another tax year marches towards us and those fortunate enough to have any spare cash may be contemplating their ISAoptions this year.

Given that whoever is in power next year is likely to be shaking our piggy-banks until they squeak, it is undoubtedly a good idea to shelter as much from the taxman as possible.

ISAs are a great way to do that, but cash may be the worst way to save at the moment.

I think I've found a new stealth tax. The end of January usually involves a bit of financial juggling as I try to ensure that I've got enough cash in the right accounts to pay my tax bill.

The recession has led to some media organisations being extremely slow to pay their freelancers, and so buying a bit of time is crucial.

But, it turns out, putting your tax bill on a credit card, to give yourself an extra month or two is not an option, as the Inland Revenue now charges 1.25% for the privilege.

The increasing cost of food and fuel are thwarting our best efforts to cut back, according to data out from the Office of National Statistics.

The cost of living has actually risen since 2007, leaving even those who've managed to hang on to their jobs worse off.

Even more depressing was research from Verdict that suggests the average family will be a further £1,130 per year worse off by 2013.

So where's all your money going?