2013

It wasn’t my first time queuing in the early hours for the sake of a bargain, but this year I hadn’t intended to queue at all. I rocked up to Next in Canterbury, Kent, at bang-on 6am, expecting to catch the tail-end of the queue filtering into the shop. But I was shocked to find a queue...

At the tender age of 20, I was studying in Barcelona and enthusiastically soaked up any and every experience the local culture offered me. Living abroad for the first time was a real challenge. But with my first-ever credit card in hand, I knew I had a safety net if I found myself in an emergency situation....

Over the last few weeks we’ve been encouraging you to come up with a No Unnecessary Present Pact (Nupp) for Christmas, to stop you wasting money on tat no-one wants. It’s easy to quickly dismiss the idea as Grinch-like and miserable, but if you’re wasting time buying presents some people don’t want, or getting carried away with...

Extra cash at Christmas is always a welcome bonus, especially with so much expense at this time of year. But what would you do with £100? We asked MoneySavers on the forum and on the @MSE_Forum Twitter account what they’d do if they won £100. Would they spend it on Christmas presents or food? Or would they...

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Christmas grinch. I LOVE buying Christmas presents, and receiving them, of course! But I remember feeling nothing but annoyance after I received a Christmas card from my aunt one year with £20 in it, while my mother handed a card with £20 to each of her kids. It was pointless. For...

Now isn’t the best time for cost-conscious film and TV fans. With Blockbuster going into administration this month, and the possibility of a cut in the TV licence, I’ve a bad feeling about the future. As a MoneySaving movie and TV fan, I fear these events mean if we want both quality and choice over what we...

In my relatively short time as a parent, I’ve gleaned some great party tips from our and others’ kids’ birthday parties. As MoneySavingExpert.com’s about sharing MoneySaving ideas to help as many people as possible, I thought I’d tell you mine. So here are my top tips for cutting costs, but to still have a great time: 1....

My wife and I are currently going through a clean out of what some refer to as "treasured memories", and I refer to as "a load of old clutter", to create space for our first child, due next March. (Cash donations welcome.) As such, and as painful as it was to admit it, we decided the time...

Update: 28 November 2013: I finally received my £100 from Halifax today. I had to call again last week to chase it as nothing had been done about it. Halifax has also given me £42 in compensation. So in total it’s taken two months from opening the account to getting the cash! Five weeks ago, I ended...

My wallet is bursting. Not with cash, but with cards. Before you even get to banking cards, there’s my driving licence, football season ticket, two cinema membership cards, supermarket loyalty cards, Blockbuster (yes, I still have one!) and a dozen or so more left at home. There’s just too many to carry around. It would be so...