With the summer holidays over for many people and colleges promoting new courses, it is the time of year to consider whether you can benefit from a new skill or interest - perhaps at an evening class or local club. Here, The Mail on Sunday explores how to get pleasure from a pastime that could end up saving you lots of money. The average household spends more than £80 a week on food and drink. By honing your cookery skills and perhaps growing some of the ingredients, you will not only save money but serve up tastier meals.

Millions of pension pots are lying unclaimed and could provide a vital income boost to people in retirement. Here, The Mail on Sunday investigates how pensions go missing - and what you need to do to track them down. Nearly 1.6 million pension pots are waiting to be claimed by people who have lost touch with their retirement savings over decades of employment - known as 'gone-aways'.

Every year, millions of women find that, for no apparent reason, they are unable to become pregnant. The discovery can be extremely upsetting. Trips to the doctor ensue, where women and their partners are often told there is no obvious problem and they should simply keep trying - even after six months or more. A cycle of frustration, stress and anxiety can follow, with wide-ranging consequences for all concerned.

The '66 six-monthly registration plate arrives on Thursday, followed by the new Sportswagon - an affordable, good-looking, stylish, economical and smooth family estate. Not the most exciting drive. That said, a sportier GT version is in the pipeline for next year.

Research claiming that confidence in the property market has fallen off in the aftermath of the Brexit vote have been slammed by mortgage experts. Technology firm Equifax Touchstone processes about 70 per cent of the mortgages made in the UK has published research suggesting that mortgage sales fell 15.7 per cent, equal to £2.5billion in July from the previous month. Year-on-year, sales were down 16.6 per cent or £2.7bn. But experts said the data shows nothing except a normal seasonal slowdown in the housing market coinciding with people's summer holidays.

For most holidaymakers, their break will be nothing but fun...but what happens if you fall ill or are injured while abroad? Here, LIZ PHILLIPS explains the steps you should take.

An Avon lady going from door to door with her bag of products is one of the 20th century's most enduring business images. But that business model is being turned on its head as the iconic beauty company innovates to keep up with its online rivals.

In the same week as the holy grail of savings accounts, Santander's 123 account halved its rate to 1.5 per cent, research suggests landlords can earn returns up to 6.9 per cent. A combination of low property prices and strong demand for rental accommodation in student cities in the north of England means landlords are raking in almost 7 per cent a year. But experts have warned that it's not a get rich quick scheme. Letting property requires knowledge and understanding of local markets, tenant demands and the laws that govern rental provision.

The Financial Ombudsman explains how victims got scammed and the response of firms to their plight - and how it ruled on who got refunded their money. In one shocking case, a women who lost £250,000 eventually managed to retrieve all of it, but in others victims were left to bear the full brunt of losses themselves. Ombudsman probes can involve listening to recordings of calls between victims and banks back when the scam was under way, to determine who was more at fault for letting fraudsters get away with their crimes.

Nicola Stopps founded Simply Sustainable six years ago, with just £2,500 and a six-month-old baby on her arm. Today she has a network of consultants around the country. She shares her tips

Wonderush, a booking service backed by Olympic gold medallist Andy Murray which allows members to sample a range of activities, used crowdfunding specialist Seedrs to raise £150,000 in just three hours last week. The online club has 4,000 subscribers and currently operates exclusively in London. It is now aiming to raise a total of £200,000 to fund expansion. The business, based in Kensington High Street in West London, has previously received funding from investment fund Fuel Ventures, set up by Mark Pearson, founder of MyVoucherCodes.

The rises mean that a customer phoning a friend on their home phone would be charged £15 for a half-hour conversation, if they have run out of minutes. However the biggest hikes are for international calls to destinations such as Australia, Canada and US, which will cost £1.60 a minute instead of the current £1.

The targets programme forced staff to sell every financial product - from insurance to wealth management - at least once a month or face disciplinary action. Lloyds insisted the so-called minimum competency targets were aimed at making sure staff were fully trained and able to meet customers' needs.

Imagine being able to secure a discount on a property of up to 50 per cent? It could mean lots of cash left over to decorate and furnish - or just being able to buy somewhere bigger and better. We have found 10 very different properties currently for sale with asking prices that have been cut by a drastic amount - some even halved - since they were put on the market. They include a semi-detached house in Shedfield, Hampshire (pictured top left), a mansion in Totteridge, London (pictured top right), a house in Bolton (pictured bottom left) and a development opportunity on London's exclusive The Bishops Avenue (pictured bottom right).

Woodford, one of the UK's most respected stock pickers, will be the first leading fund manager to speak out on the problem of pension fund black holes. The investment guru will issue a stark warning on the deficits, which are recently estimated to have topped a combined £1trillion, in his hugely influential blog this week.

The first thing to say is that with investing, you can never guarantee that you won't lose any money. The very nature of investing means taking that risk. If you can't stomach the idea of losing any cash, then the best thing to do is look at savings bonds from a High Street bank, where your initial sum of money is guaranteed.

Savers using Help to Buy Isas to get on to the housing ladder face fiddly negotiations with sellers due to a catch in the scheme's small print. More than half a million people have taken out the tax-free savings deals launched by George Osborne. But small print blocks customers from using this bonus for the initial 10 per cent deposit payable to the seller when contracts are exchanged.

Former Pensions Minister and This is Money columnist Steve Webb calls for a rethink of the assumption that benefit claimants still earn high interest on savings, despite an era of low rates. Read his response to a reader who complains: 'I'm sick and tired of being totally penalised for being stupid enough to scrimp and save only to be hung out to dry by both low interest rates and a wholly unfair system.'

There were some extremely deep pockets in California at the weekend. That's because two iconic cars set new records as the most expensive British and American motors of all time. The Jaguar, which won the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans, sold for $21.8 million while the original Shelby Cobra was bought for $13.8 million.

To clear the average national household debt of ?13,000 at 6% interest with a monthly repayment of ?100 will take around 17 years. There are, however, plenty of simple ways to make significant savings on your regular spending that could clear your debt - or boost your savings - in less than a year. This is Money's top 50 - updated - money-saving tips may appear light-hearted but are deadly serious.

Choosing the right DIY platform is crucial but a wealth of choice and changes to charges have left many investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best. We also highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense, as it should protect your hopefully growing investments from tax forever.

Now that we've voted ourselves out of the EU, it's time to work out how we're going to trade in future with all its 27 member countries - and the other 27 countries it has deals with. So how do other non-EU members trade with the bloc and would any of their models suit us?

Asked on Radio 4's Today programme if there was a real prospect of a further cut in rates before the end of the year, the Bank's Ben Broadbent said, 'that's true'. Bank rate was cut yesterday to 0.25 per cent from its already record low level of 0.5 per cent, where it had remained for more than seven years.

Musicians have seen pay rises averaging nearly 20 per cent in 2015, while cleaners are getting 17.8 per cent more, and window cleaners 12.3 per cent. Artists in general are earning 14.6 per cent more in 2015 than 2014, according to the huge annual data dump of pay scales by the Office For National Statistics highlights.