Buy cheap stolen goods – plus other life hacks

This content originally appeared in the MSE weekly email on 1 July 2015.

A month ago, we brought you 15 top life hacks (or in old language 'fun tips'), in a contest to see which would be most popular. Now we've a host of new ones to throw in there too.

As we're measuring popularity by who clicks to the guide, we won't overburden you with the details here. Let the battle commence...

1. Pssst. Wanna buy stolen goods on the cheap?

Fancy a new bike or bit of bling? Don't worry, even the police are in on it. Everything is explained in Buy stolen goods.

2. Warning: Don't use PayPal to pay on a credit card. 

It scuppers valuable extra protection for items over £100. For full info, read my PayPal Warning (and I've added info on debit cards too). It's worth knowing.

3. '£67 of shopping for 11p'. 

Source, gain and hoard 100s of product and store coupons, then combine them for huge discounts on groceries and more. Purple Sarah says: "Got £67 of shopping for 11p after store offers, coupons and my employee discount (but it's totally doable just with coupons)." 

Few will reach such heights, but many can cut costs with our 20 extreme couponing tips.

4. Turn your smartphone into a free sat-nav. 

If it's got GPS, convert it into a free sat-nav for the UK and 27 other countries. If you're going overseas, download maps before you go to avoid pricey data costs.

5. Are you due the new marriage allowance? 

If you're married or in a civil partnership, it could be worth up to £212/year to you. See Do you qualify? Ben tweeted after reading it: "Good news, I've had confirmation that my marriage allowance has come through from my wife's tax code."

Buy cheap stolen goods – plus other life hacks

6. Free upgrade to Windows 10. 

Got Windows 7 or 8.1? Register now for the free upgrade. And if you're wondering what happened to the missing Windows 9? Rumours are 7, 8, 9 (say it out loud).

7. Wear/wore a uniform for work? Are you due a tax rebate? 

If you wash it yourself you may be due a uniform tax rebate for up to four years. As Pete tweeted: "Just got almost £120 rebate for uniform cleaning from HMRC."

8. Get savings interest tax-free NOW if you earn under £15,600. 

From April 2016, basic-rate taxpayers will be able to earn £1,000 of savings interest tax-free (higher rate £500). Yet for some on lower incomes, a new tax-free savings allowance already started this April. See Save tax-free 2015.

Now, those are the new ones – here are the winners from last time, showing how well read each was in the five days after we sent the last life hacks email...

9. Watch TV and (legally) don't pay the licence fee. (119,000 reads in five days after the last life hacks email). 

For full info, see Do I qualify?

10. Reverse Sky TV's price hikes. (113,000 reads). 

Prices went up by £54 in June, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to fork out more – our How to beat Sky price hikes story takes you through it. Karen tweeted: "Rang Sky after seeing the success from the advice on your site, just saved £160." 

And it's not just Sky – see How to beat the BT Sport price rise.

11. Free £48/year for Barclays customers. (91,000 reads). 

If you already have an account, there's an easy way to bag the cash. See Free £48 from Barclays.

12. Beware smileys in texts – they could cost hundreds. (66,000 reads). 

With some mobiles beware a £200+ emoji bill.

13. Zara shopper? The must-know summer trick. (66,000 reads). 

To get serious discounts, read Martin's Zara on the cheap tricks.

14. Reclaim lost Tesco points. (63,000 reads). 

Check if you've lost or forgotten Clubcard points with our Reclaim Tesco Points guide. Diane checked and found some from August 2014. "Just been on Tesco site to check my vouchers - £72 outstanding. Many thanks, that's bliddy brill."

15. A YEAR'S 2for1 cinema for £3 by manipulating Meerkat Movies. (60,000 reads). 

The Meerkat Movies trick shows how to get a year's 2for1 pass for a few quid. Darcy tweeted: "Loving Meerkat Movies, £26.70 saved over 3 weeks."

PS: Do you have a life hack to share? 

We'd love your suggestions for MoneySaving life hacks, too. Email us at lifehacks@moneysavingexpert.com. We'll donate £50 to the charity of your choice for any new ones we use (for the first person who sends it).