One way of making a home more cosy this winter is by installing a wood-burning stove. They are becoming increasingly popular, but will they save you money? While the initial outlay can be expensive, they can significantly reduce your fuel bills over time.

When I broke up with my ex I gave her £6,000 in cash and furniture worth £2,500 as a gesture of goodwill so she wouldn't have to worry about money. But now she has a new partner I've asked her to pay me back and she's refusing, is there anything I can do?

Before you make any decisions about where to invest, whether to buy a rental property or what to do with your pension, it's generally a good idea to get a complete picture of your financial situation - and how it interacts with your wife's. In simple terms, this means adding up all your savings, investments and the equity in your home. These are your assets. Then do the same with your debts - your outstanding mortgage, overdrafts, car finance, any personal loans, store cards or credit cards. These are your debts. Assets minus debts = your wealth.

Now the weather is getting colder and we've begun putting the heating on, I've started thinking about switching energy providers, but should I do it now to avoid higher bills? And what's the risk of switching to a provider I've never heard of before? Is it safer to go with one of the Big Six?

William Hindmarch setup BOTB in 1999, first venturing into Heathrow with a Porsche he had to clean with bottles of Evian because there were no taps on site. Now, thousands of people use his site every week to play for luxury vehicles. We chatted to some of the people who've won over the last two years.

Utility giant ScottishPower is still failing to deal effectively with customer complaints - just seven months after it was handed an £18million fine by regulator Ofgem. In the latest episode of customer service ineptitude, it has allowed debt collectors to threaten an 87-year-old widow despite giving previous assurances that her billing problems had been resolved.

A shed has hidden qualities that can make it far more than just a place to store tools and bikes. Here, The Mail on Sunday discovers how the humble shack can be transformed into an idyllic retreat - inspiring you to learn new hobbies, improve family relationships and make money.

The premium mixer drinks maker, founded in 2005, has had a meteoric rise since it listed on the stock exchange two years ago. It gave another confident update which sent shares bubbling up to new highs. On the second anniversary of its AIM flotation the group said performance had been strong in the second half of the year and sales had continued to grow.

This week EU judges will decide whether the trademark registration covering the cube's three-dimensional shape should be cancelled. The case has wider ramifications, leading to worries it will spark a general weakening of European intellectual property protections.

Residents of Kingston Upon Thames have the best credit scores in the UK followed closely by Lerwick while Sunderland tops the list of the postcodes with the worst scores. Check how your postcode compares using the ClearScore interactive map

A couple who sold their house are nearly £100,000 out of pocket after their solicitor was tricked into sending their money to a fraudster in a new terrifying scam hitting both buyers and sellers. The scam involves fraudsters intercepting e-mail threads between home movers and their solicitors and convincing one of them to move money into the fraudster's account.

Experts tends to agree that if she becomes president the market will stay steady and the dollar could strengthen. That's a good boost to the earnings of those FTSE 100 firms. Trump's policies haven't been made as clear as Clinton's and experts say the uncertainty if he won could send the stock market spiralling. In a rush to safety, the gold price is likely to rise.

Venture capital trusts offer generous income tax relief, tax-free dividends and the chance to strike it rich with early stage companies, yet remain something of a mystery to many investors. To find out more about what VCTs do and what they invest in, we invited Stuart Lewis, of Octopus Investments to join us on the Investing Show.

House prices will rise by more than £50,000 in some areas over the next five years, Savills forecast, as it mapped out potential property gains across the UK. The typical value of a home across the country will rise 13 per cent by the end of 2021. However, the biggest monetary gain is tipped for the South East, where higher prices combined with a larger percentage increase led to a forecast rise of £53,200 over five years.

We've been warned that inflation could hit 4% next year. Needless to say, if that happens it spells bad news for our money. The answer is to invest spare cash, says one expert, what we know about long-term financial history indicates it to be a wise suggestion. But what counts as spare cash and what's the point in holding cash at all?

The ferocious US presidential election is causing ructions in financial markets as Donald Trump closes in on frontrunner Hillary Clinton in the final days of the race. Polls showing Trump just behind or in a few cases slightly ahead have upset the conventional view that he was heading for defeat, and prompted a global sell-off.

Standalone policies, particularly those pedalled to you when signing up for a contract can be eye-wateringly expensive, so before you take out mobile cover check that it won't overlap with any existing policies to handing over extra cash to needlessly double up.

Etiquette school The English Manner is exporting the British upper classes' unique set of protocol and social codes all over the world. Their clients want to know how to throw the perfect dinner party or impress future employers with a flawless grasp of English customs.

It's easy when you're 45 to say that one day you'll sell up the family home and move when you retire. It's much harder to do, when you reach retirement age, as many find out. We look at what you need to think about if you are considering cashing in on your home to help fund retirement.

Want a new car but don't want to spend a small fortune? We've enlisted the help of the expert test panel at What Car? to tell us which sub-£10,000 models are worth considering. The winner is a fairly modest brand that's managed to dethrone the might of the VW Group, but is it any of the cars pictured? Top left to right: Hyundai i10, Suzuki Celerio, Vauxhall Viva, Skoda CitiGo, Toyota Aygo, Dacia Sandero.

As many as 64 fixed gas and electricity deals are due to close before the end of the year potentially hiking bills for hundreds of thousands of families. Those who fail to find a new tariff once theirs ends are typically moved over to their provider's more expensive standard tariff.

Former City worker Manya Klempner left the world of finance and went into business with her personal trainer to set up Moose X-Training after noticing the growing popularity of trainers who visit the workplace or home for one-to-one or small group sessions. Now, with figures from Sport England showing boxing participation has more than doubled in the past five years to 42,000, she is planning to open a new boxing centre in London.

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.

Despite endless media coverage of the political wrangling and financial speculation, the average Briton can be forgiven for remaining confused about what 'soft' and 'hard' Brexit really mean. About the difference between the 'Norway model' for the UK's post-Brexit relationship with the UK and the 'Swiss solution'. But a clever table put together by HSBC in a report called 'Is Brexit Getting Harder?' cleaves some clarity from the murk.

An interest rate cut before the end of the year looks less likely following the plunge in the pound. However, the Bank of England has indicated that higher inflation driven by rising import costs won't make it lift rates.

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.