Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

The following is the text of Martin's Money Tips e-mail sent on 16 March 2004

The Book, Free £110 Watch, The Savings Fountain, Free £30 with best current account, Cheaper DVDs and much more MoneySaving.

It's been a big week, what with finally telling you all about my book and all.  Unfortunately web hiccups with the retailers abound.  1 in 8 WH Smiths orders incorrectly indicated an £8 not 4 price at checkout.  if this happened you'll only actually be billed for the £4.  I promise. Hopefully all the teething problems are now over.  Thanks so much to all who have or are about to buy it….

“The Money Diet” exclusive pre-publication off £4. Get it cheapest & first:  The Money Diet is my new and first book, full of loads of new stuff.  If you haven't bought one (or 72) yet,  this is the Deal. Buy it in the next few days and it's half price (£4) and should arrive 23/24 March (two weeks before official publication).  The offer is via WH Smiths online, yet it'll charge you £2.99 delivery, there's a loophole though – read the next tip to find out.  Read more about the book.  Discuss it or ask a question.

Get delivery paid from a range of online shops!  Both www.ryanaironlineshop.com and www.flybeshop.com contain online shopping malls with shops like WH Smiths, The Gadget shop and Dixons.  Register with either (its free) and they pay delivery charges for you.  Amongst other things, this means buy the Money Diet from their WH Smiths and delivery is free.  Unfortunately they struggle to cope with heavy demand, so it'' probably be very slow for the hours after this e-mail is sent.  (Ryanair's got the book on its front page promos, buying it works, but the blurb reads “Experience the delights of the enormous Guatemala Elephant beans!”)

Free Accurist ladies & gents watch set worth £110 (so it says): Apply for an MBNA Platinum card via MoneySupermarket and you'll get a free watch. The card has a 0% balance transfer offer lasting 6 months.  To see the watch/apply click here*.  To read the pros and cons and what to watch click here.  Best balance transfers Article: click here.

New Deal: The Savings Fountain:  My completely new concept to maximise your savings interest.  It shows what goes where & when and the best deals.  Remember this years ISA deadline is fast approaching. Article: Click here

FREE £30, 0% overdraft, updated Best Current Account Deal:  Lloyds TSB pays the top in-credit interest at 4.75% max, and a 0% overdraft, plus there's a way to join up and get £30 credited to your account (takes about 8 week).  If you're with Barclays, NatWest or HSBC you're earning around 0.1% interest and pay much more for your overdraft.  Ditch & switch! Article: click here

Quick Chat Tips

£10 of shopping for £3 by clever vouchering: click here

London Discounts – for getting to and using in: click here
Cheap DVDs – you need a multi-region machines: click here

Multi-region DVD player £26 – see above: click here

More La Redoute Discount Codes: click here

Mobile Sim: £30 sim card buys 100 anytime mins a month click here

Education & NHS workers discount card: click here

Freebies/Samples: Nivea for Men sample, Minty energy sweet thingy,  
Redbush tea (no caffeine), Tetley Plus tea sample, Free Flask, £8 High Street voucher (need a new puppy for the last one)

New: Provider A-Z:  OK. I'm lying. It's not new, but as most people didn't know what ‘Directory' was, I've changed the name.  This is linked to from every page on the main site.  It's effectively an online yellow pages and is a useful resource, especially good for specific shopping around e.g. for motorcycle insurance.  The list is compiled externally by ‘Find'.  To take a peek click here.

Did you get your £50 from the Cahoot loophole? Some people have reported it hasn't paid out when it should.  If you're in that boat, I've nagged it to make special arrangements for MSE users. Click here

The Budget, this week, what to do:  The budget is on Wed (17 March).  It's likely petrol, cigarettes and alcohol prices will rise with inflation.  For petrol the price goes up on the day, so fill up soon.  With the rest, the price goes up as shops buy new stocks, but still buying sooner not later is a MoneySaver.  As for other changes – we wait & see.  I'm part of the ITV1 live budget team on the day, so you can watch there if you like.  To discuss the budget click here

Want a signed copy of the Money Diet?  Unfortunately I've a consistent and serious case of RSI, so I won't be doing a raft of signings.  However you're invited to bring your copy to the launch of the book and first anniversary party of this site on 25 March in central London.  Tickets are free but running out quickly. Further Details click here. To get a ticket E-mail ed.obrien@intelligent-pr.com with your name & how many. 

Reminder of Popular Chat Tips & Deal Articles

REVENGE: Free cash from credit cards. Article: click here

Travelodge £25 rooms with search facility. Chat: click here

Budget Flight searcher (includes updates) Chat: click here

Roadside Recovery: Article: Click here

Try me Free Hunt. Chat: click here

Egg Loophole. Article: click here

Cheap Clearance Electronics from Sky. Chat: click here

Get the cheapest gas & elec: Article: click here

Free Sky Channels for some existing Sky Users. Chat click here

Save on MOT bills. Chat: click here

The UK's cheapest home phone. Article: click here

List of the most popular chat tips of all time: click here

Martin's Money Poser:  It's been a long time since I set one of these, so I'm rehashing an old one. “Three flatmates buy a £30 stereo, each paying £10.  As they are leaving, the manager informs the shop assistant the stereo has been reduced  to £25.  As it doesn't divide by three,

the assistant thinks aye aye, pockets £2 himself and calls the flatmates back and gives each a pound.  Yet 3 x £9=£27 plus the £2 in his pocket is £29.  Where's the other pound?” To discuss the answer: click here

That's it for this week.  The site continues to grow and with each new person comes even more MoneySaving.  It really is amazing.  Do tell everyone you know – see if you can get them hooked on this MoneySaving malarkey too – just think of all the companies' lost profits…..

I hope you save some money

Martin

*Affiliated link: Moneysupermarket makes a contribution is made to MoneySavingExpert.com.  This in no way impacts editorial decisions, costs you anything or changes the product.  However to do the same thing without it go to www.moneysupermarket.com . To read more about how it works and the site's ethical and financial policy click here

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