Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

20 Oct 2004: Call abroad, 7% Savings, 50p to breast cancer, Should I cancel unused cards? and masses more MoneySaving......

This info may be out of date. Read this week's emails

The following is the text of Martins Money Tips Email sent on 20 October 2004

Hiya. To all the new MoneySavers since last week's tip, welcome on board. Lots in this week, so no real preamble.

CALL OVERSEAS FROM 0.5p/MIN. New Article. Forget using BT, or even once-cheap providers like One-Tel, they're vastly over-expensive. This is a full re-investigation into the cheapest way to make international calls. Article: International Calls at a tiny price

NEW 7% SAVINGS ACCOUNT TIMES TWO: Both Halifax and Abbey have upped the rate on their Regular Savings Accounts to a massive 7% interest. These accounts are designed for monthly saving, but by drip feeding it‘s possible to stash a lump sum too.

Updated: Regularly beat the best savings accounts. Related Article: Where to start with savings?

GIVE 50p TO BREAST CANCER AT NO COST. Register for free on the Olay website in October and it'll donate 50p to Breast Cancer Research. While I'm talking charity also peek at the tax efficient donating article, plus thanks to your continued use of some articles' ‘special links' the MoneySavingExpert.com Charity Fund is now at £22k since May.

WARNING: SWITCHING ENERGY PROVIDER WON'T CUT YOUR BILL! Don't worry, last week's ‘switch now' call still stands. This is to pre-empt queries as your bills won't necessarily drop compared to last winter – all companies have increased prices by up to 20%. Switching effectively stops this price rise, a huge saving. Winning Comparison site: Energyhelpline/Cashback*. Read full article: ‘Cheapest Energy Provider + up to £20 cashback'

Reminder: MoneySaving Budget Planner Budget the MoneySavingExpert way

Reminder: Sainsbury's 12 months' 0% purchases Apply*/ Read Article.

Reminder: Argos Clearance Hunt. Special Heads Up

Updated Article: Credit Cards Which card is right for me?

BRIEFING: Should I cancel unused credit cards? I'm often asked this. Basically, yes, but there's a strategy for which to cancel and which to keep. New Article: What to do with old cards?, a follow-up to ‘Danger: Minimum Payments'.

THE GREAT ‘STOCKING FILLERS' HUNT. Fill yer boots (well, Xmas stockings actually). Lots of people are struggling for cash at this time of year but still want their kids to have a great Christmas. Hopefully, collectively, MoneySavers can help. Add your ideas or read others in The Great ‘Virtually Free Stocking Fillers' Hunt. Selected Other Great Hunts: ‘Cheapest Laptop Hunt', 'Cheap but Romantic Gifts', ‘Posh Nosh No Dosh'

LOOPHOLE REMINDER! £50 OFF CAR INSURANCE: Egg Car Insurance pays £50 cashback if you have its savings account too - if not you can sneakily open an account with £1 and qualify anyway. Egg isn't always cheapest so first follow the Car Insurance Cost Cutting Article then check Egg's price (Egg offer*). If it isn't £50+ more than the best of the rest, you're quids in. Discuss this loophole. Related Article: Cheapest Roadside Recovery Article.

LATEST QUICK CHAT TIPS (also see Chat Tips GOLD)

URGENT: More £1 flights Fly from Kent
Maxim CD player £9.99 (likely to sell out soon) Maxim-ised savings
Make Shredded Wheat pay for itself Money back
Free passports if you're over 75 Silver savings
Grab a microwave for under £20 Use cashback sites
Feed 6 for £1.62 champagne contest Don't go hungry
Nominate a Post of the month winner for October Post of the month
Most Popular Chat Tips Ever (with links)

WAP-TASTIC. The Great WAP Sites Hunt for top mobile phone internet sites a fortnight ago came up with some corkers, including free ring-tones, train timetables, a tube planner and a cool one for optical illusions.

TALK SPORT LISTENERS NOTE: The topics covered in the programme were:

What to do about problem debts?, Best Balance Transfers, Credit Card Shuffle,

Cut the cost of your mobile, Best Cashback Card, Home Phone Calls

THE MONEY DIET: Every once in a while it's worth a reminder that my book The Money Diet is designed to compliment the website (and thanks to the MoneySavers who made it a

Bestseller). External Reviews: Amazon Customers, The Mirror, The Fool

PROPERTY & HOUSE PRICES BOARD. The new House Buying, Selling and Property Chat Forum board is taking off nicely. Popular threads include ‘How much should you offer?', House Selling Tips and Don't Buy, Crash Expected.

Andrea's Freebies

Family tree searches, Roughguide downloads, Peperami firestick, Popcorn, Computing magazine, Try Me Free Summary, Freebies GOLD

“MARTIN, THERE ARE TOO MANY TIPS IN THE E-MAIL. I'd need to quit my job to absorb the weekly e-mail.” I received this last week, and others have said similar. My aim is you'll scan read and dip in to what's there for you. Any thoughts on making the tip more useable?

NEW POLL. Flutter or gutter? Should gambling be outlawed or are you all for it? Vote. See the results of last week's landline or mobile poll.

SAD NERDS. DID-YOU-KNOW? Call me a Sad Nerd, but this fascinated me, so I thought other sad nerds might like it too - ‘is it cheaper to leave fluorescent lights on or off?‘ discussion.

That's it for another week. If you save money this week, do click the Breast Cancer 50p free donation site and as payback feel free to forward this email to everyone you know so there are more clicks (and more MoneySavers).

Plus a wee heads up on future MoneySaving technological developments. The first involves expanding the flight checker, and the other is something to make credit card companies quake. Watch this space.

I hope you save some money

Martin

*Affiliated link: Click via these links and a contribution is made to MoneySavingExpert.com, which helps it stay ad-free, sponsorship-free and free to use. This in no way impacts any editorial decisions (what I write), costs you anything or changes the product. For identical links which don't help the site go to www.energyhelpline.com/cashback, www.Sainsburysbank.co.uk or www.egg.com. For more on how it works and the site's non-profit driven ethical and financial policy.

Guide to finding info on MoneySavingExpert.com.

Find out more about Martin's Book ‘The Money Diet'

What is MoneySavingExpert.com? It's a website focused on the very best ways to save money on everything and anything. It is owned and run by journalist Martin Lewis, the Money Saving Expert on ITV1s This Morning, Sunday Express columnist, BBC Radio 2, 4 & 5 amongst others. To read about how the site is funded click here

Disclaimer: This e-mail is based on journalistic research. It does not constitute financial advice. Any information should be considered in regard to your own specific circumstances. All tips are followed at your own risk and should be followed up with your own research Full Terms & Conditions.

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