There are always a lot happening in London behind the scenes you are not aware of. Most people go through most of their life without knowing a quarter of things happening around them. You do not have to be one of them.

Police Most Wanted - The Metropolitan Police have the tough job of making London a safer place and they issue wanted lists to the public every now and then. These people are considered dangerous and with your help or at least an annonymous phone call to help them catch the bad guys would help them out a lot. Check out their website to see if you recognise anyone on there and report it.

Jury Service - Each borough in London will send out a mandatory form to all occupants in that specific borough to complete once a year. This is called an electoral roll. Most credit institutions rely on your name being on there as a positive thing. Being on the electoral roll puts you in the lucky draw of doing Jury Service. If you have received a letter from court services you might need to seek further advice from the Jury Service website.

Nectar Card - A loyal reward scheme involving a lot of businesses in London and around the United Kingdom. Nectar is the largest one around and definately worth having. You sign up with them and they will send you a credit card type card which you swipe when making a purchase at any of the stores that allows you to collect Nectar Points. You can also get a keyring if it is easier to carry out. You can redeem the points for cinema tickets, discounts at grocery stores, holidays or any other type of voucher available. Their website has more on what they cover.

Passport Photos - When applying for any sort of visa in any embassy in London, they will require at least two passport photographs. This is probably the easiest thing to obtain when applying. You will find tonnes of photo booths around the tube stations and bus stations. They normally charge £3.50 for a set of four photos. They do not accept any form of credit or debit card, coins only.

Identity Theft - It is a little known fact that one in four Londoners will be a victim of fraud. This is why this section is so important to anyone wishing to live in London. It can happen to anyone and it will affect you in a bad way. There are ways to stay clear of being a victim by destroying mail with your address on it so that people can not go through your garbage and take your identity. Do not buy take-away food from just anyone shop, you have a right to be picky. That is how I became a victim. I ordered pizza from a local pizza shop and two weeks later I got a phone call from my bank asking me if it was me making last minute holiday reservations to a lot of countries all at once. Banks are trying their best to fight identity theft but you have to help them by destroying mail addresses with your name on them or letting your debit or credit card out of your sight.

Electoral Rol - The Electoral Rol is quite important in the United Kingdom when it comes to obtaining any form of credit. It plays quite an important role in your credit score and it really costs you nothing to get on the rol and building your credit rating in the United Kingdom. I must warn you, you will be declined credit if your name is not on the Electoral Rol. You can get on the Electoral Rol if you are 16 years and older. British, Irish Republic or Commonwealth citizen. Citizen of a European Union country living in the UK or citizen of the Channel Islands or Isle of Man living in the UK. Registration costs you nothing, you complete a basic form which gets sent to your address by your local council and send it back. Remember, you do not need to go vote in person, you can register to vote by post. This option is much more convenient.

Credit Record - So many people are blind when it comes to their credit record and do stupid things to damage their credit record. I did a lot of research as a few people around me spoke about it. There seems to be no black or white when it comes to affecting your credit record. When you arrive in the United Kingdom, you will not have a healthy or non-existant credit record. A lot of companies will offer credit to you and you will complete their forms and they will reject you because you have no credit record. Do not apply for a credit card or store credit unless you have done the following, it could hurt your credit record badly and might take years to build it up again.

- Open a bank account and try to keep a healthy balance by not going over-drawn on your account

- Put your name on the electoral roll through your council

- Do not apply for a credit card in the first six months of arriving in the United Kingdom.

Phone Home - There are tonnes of phone cards that you can pick and choose from to phone home. All have their advantages and disadvantages. I can recommend a few but you will need to browse around a bit more to find the better deals. Remember that some of the phone cards do charge you a connection fee every time you phone and others will charge you a day fee which is quite bad. I currently use the Nomi Card which I can top up directly on their website every time I need to add some credit. Been using them for months now and they do seem like the better deal.

Mobile Phone Services - You have two options here and they are Pay as You Go or a Monthly contract fixed for 12 months.

Pay As You Go: You do not get a new mobile phone but you can switch from provider to provider by simply getting a new sim card. Most mobile phone providers are giving them away so you do not need to even pay for them anymore. Some providers have great offers such as top up with a certain amount each month and they give you more minutes or text messages.

Mobile Phone Contract: They normally tie you down for 12 months but they do have contracts for 18 months as well. There is no going back when you signed up, should you decide to cancel before the time, you would be liable to pay for the entire year. They also have a lot of great freebies with the monthly contract, cheaper rates and you get a brand new mobile phone.

Here is a list of all mobile providers in the United Kingdom

• O2
  
• 3 (Three)
• Orange
• T-Mobile
• Virgin Media

Charity Shops - We have basically covered this topic already but I thought that I should highlight it again as it may help you save a pound or two and help save the environment by not adding to the rubbish dump.

London Libraries - Libraries in London have really branched out by introducing more services to the community in each different borough. By living in one of London’s Boroughs, you can now get membership by dropping by any library in your borough with proof of address and you are set. Libraries in London will really help you save a couple of pounds on buying new books or even renting a movie or CD. They are all free of charge but you need to book in advance for some items. All Libraries in London have internet access free of charge. Head down to your local library today and see what I am talking about. We are all paying a fortune for council tax and it is about time we use what is made available to us, what we are basically paying for.

Blood Donations - The National Blood Service is in serious need of people to donate blood. The screening process is quite thorough and donors are getting scarce. Not just anyone can donate blood even though it would have helped. You can visit their website to see if you are eligible to donate blood. There is no money involved in donating blood, consider it as a good deed to the survival of mankind. I would have loved to donate some blood, even though I’m scared of needles but I went through the survey and got denied. What a pity huh! By the way, they will announce when their have their mobile clinic in your area to make it easier for people to donate blood. You can also view their current blood stock levels on their website.

Leisure Centres - If you are living in London no matter in which of the six zones then you are paying council tax. You might not always be paying directly for it but you do pay for it. Do you even know what the council tax are used for? London is divided into various boroughs; each borough is run by a council that keeps the streets clean, put up posters, maintain the parks and run the local library. They obviously do a lot more but you can visit your local borough’s website for more information on that.

Leisure Centres are run by the local council of that borough. A Leisure Centre is exactly what it says it is. Some Leisure Centres have more facilities than others. They normally have a lot of gym equipment and a swimming pool. A lot of members from the community attend an exercise class of some sort and a lot of weddings are held at Leisure Centres. You should explore your local Leisure Centre today, chances are that you will get a huge discount because you live in the borough and get to experience a lot of new things and make a few friends.

Legal Music Downloads - A short list of famous and popular websites where you can legally download music from unsigned bands and free tracks offered by various famous artists to listen on your Ipod or Mp3 Player.

(3 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5)

 Loading …