Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Petrol/Diesel cost cutting plan. New article to give you nozzle nous
This is my new three step plan to cut the cost of your fuel bills. First find the cheapest petrol station near you in seconds, then join a scheme to give you a potential 5p-10p off a litre, then learn how to fill and drive more efficiently. Article: Fuel Cost Cutting (Special mini-mutterings) Related Articles: Car Insurance Cost Cutting, Drive Down The Cost Of MOTs, Cheapest Roadside Recovery

Free Boots £5 Time Delay beauty products. Act quick. Looks like they've mistargeted their vouchers. Top chat spot!

Reduced! Money Diet book, back down to £3.99 on Amazon! (and soon on the tubes)
Don't ask me why, or for how long, but it seems Amazon (already cheapest) has just reduced the price on my new book, the Money Diet to £3.99 (rrp £7.99) plus p&p. This may be very short lived. Direct Amazon Link* or Read More about the book. Also from 16th Jan, Londoners'll see the publisher's ad for the book across tube platforms. Thought you may like a sneak preview

FREE £50 CREDIT means new cheapest phone service for lighter users
Post Office Home Phone's* new offer is join before 31 March and it'll give you £50 on your bill. As for calls it isn't particularly cheap, higher users will be better off sticking with my usual top buy suggestions as in the Cheapest Home Phones article. However for those who spend less than £5 a month on calls (or are willing to grab the £50, use it up, then switch again) this is a good deal. More details Related Articles: Digital TV Cost Cutting, Completely Free Calls Worldwide Via Your PC

A 50p massage! Buy a pack of flour and get a free facial, massage and other treatments. Flour Power!

SPREAD THE SAVINGS! Pls suggest friends/family/colleagues get this email too

ISA deadline looming, use it or lose it. Get your savings tax free
An ISA is simply a way to save or invest tax free. You can choose what you do with it, either get a cash-ISA which gives you up to £3,000 in a tax free savings account or a shares based ISA which gives you up to £7,000 in tax free savings. This allowance is per tax year, and if you don't use it, you lose it, so use it. The deadline's 5 April so get a wriggle on. Updated Article: Top Cash ISA or How Cash ISAs Work Related Articles: Where To Start With Savings, 10% Interest On Your Savings

5 LeapPad books for under £18 Grab them in Argos Ribbit!

Great Disguised Own Brand Hunt Revisited
Want to know if there's any real difference between Weetabix and Asda's own brand, or a Sony DVD player and an unbranded box? Me too! So a year ago I aimed to use MoneySavers' collective knowledge to answer the question and it's been hugely popular, with thousands getting involved. Do you/did you work in a factory making any product? Add to the collective wisdom, or read others' tip-offs Past Great Hunts: Letters That Work, Free Info and Bit On The Side

Crimbo cards 36 pence a pack!!
Last week I asked MoneySavers to let us know what things to pick up in the sales now for Xmas 2006. Ideas included Half price Xmas Puds, 36p Xmas Cards and Reduced Monsoon Jewellery

Last chance for top savings rate
If you've £15k+ to save, the best savings account rate for you is currently 5.25% from Cahoot*, including a short term bonus. Yet the offer closes on the 17 Jan, so to squeeze every penny you can from your savings grab it quick, then ditch it when the bonus rate ends. Article: Instant Access Savings Related Article: Regular Savings

WARNING! Self assessment deadline: 21 days to go!
Hand your self assessment form in after 31 Jan and you'll be fined £100. For help read Taxing Times or chat with other MoneySavers. Cutting Tax Chat Forum Section

FLIGHTCHECKER SALES WATCH  BMIBaby 50% off sale. Fly from Birmingham to Alicante for £53 all-in. Use the free FlightChecker to find the seats in seconds

DVDs at the price you want them
DVD Comparison website FindDVD has a price watch service. Plug in the price you're willing to pay for the DVDs you want and it'll notify you when it spots a price below your specified target. Use this in conjunction with other DVD shopbots and it's an extremely useful tool. For more about this and other comparison sites read Internet Shopping Time & MoneySaving Techniques

Nationwide stopping cashback reward card
From 11 Jan Nationwide will no longer be offering its cashback reward credit card. Importantly existing customers will be unaffected so this is no great shakes. There are better cashback cards (see Best Cashback Cards article) and Nationwide's real strength is as the Best Card For Overseas Spending; you can't earn cashback when overseas anyway - so no biggie!

Board of the week: Gambling Introductory Offers
Warning! Gambling is not a MoneySaving thing to do. This Chat Forum section is where savvy MoneySavers play the system to gain from introductory offers. If that's not you then stop here! Don't get sucked in. If it is you then here's how to do it. Discussions on the Gambling Intro Offers Board include Free Bets, My Matched Betting Diary and Easy Free Money With Matched Betting

RICHARD HAMMOND NOTE: If you've just joined the tip after the show, these are some of the things discussed. Related Articles: Make £100s From Your Friends, UK's Top Home Phones Providers, More Links

This week's Martin's Musings: How to impress the women when you're out shopping
'Pay off your mortgage in two years' and 'What an absurd nation, we've just given the credit card companies the biggest weapon'. Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

JEREMY VINE NOTE:  If you heard me on Radio 2 last week and want more info on the subjects discussed read Where To Start With Problem Debts and The Credit Card Shuffle, More Links

How big will it be in the New Year?  
Many of you entered last year's contest to guess how many people would be on the email distribution list on New Year's Day. Well the figure was 402,047. If you entered are you a winner? There's now a new contest to guess next New Year's figure. Make your prediction here

DEBT DEFYING GRAVITY POLL: Debts or debits? Vote or Discuss. Also, see last week's Would you keep it? Poll results

That's it for this week.  However, before I go, if New Year's a bit frustrating, perhaps it's time to get vicious. How about human ants and a magnifying glass?

I hope you save some money.

Martin

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