Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Get paid £2 a month for free evening and weekend calls! MAY ONLY
Following TalkTalk's* market leading combined broadband & home phone package, there's a new top player for those not wanting the broadband. Primus Telecom's Talk 2 tariff normally costs £2.99/month for free evening and weekend calls, yet currently get this via a deal it's got with a comparison website and it'll rebate you £15/quarter, effectively paying you! View/Apply: special rebate tariff*. (mini-mutterings) Like TalkTalk, it's not cheap for mobiles, yet there's an easy way round this. Full details in the Updated Article: UK's Cheapest Home Phone Solution

14" Colour TV effectively £18 providing you play the Tesco Clubcard game. Ends Sunday. Full details

Contact Lens and Laser Eye Surgery Cost Cutting: A Visible Saving New Article
Now here's a site for sore eyes! It's possible to slash the cost of your current contact lenses by up to £200 a year, plus slice laser eye surgery costs by 30%. This is a totally rewritten and re-researched article including a new survey of over 30 websites, supermarkets, and high street chains to find the cheapest. New Article: Contact Lenses & Laser Eye Cost Cutting. (mini-mutterings) Related Articles: Glasses Cost Cutting, Internet Shopping Time & MoneySaving Techniques

Wagamama 2 For 1 On main meals Save oodles on your noodles!

Is your savings account a losings account? New way to find out
ICICI Bank* tops the savings account table at 5.15% interest. Yet many still have cash in what I call 'losings' accounts. That's because if your account doesn't beat inflation, you're effectively losing money. As inflation's roughly 2%, to beat it a basic rate taxpayer needs to earn 2.5% and a higher rate taxpayer 3.3%, yet scores of accounts fail this test. To help there's now a full list of the main 236 losings accounts - check to see if yours is there. (mini-mutterings) Updated Articles: Top Instant Access Savings Related Articles: Where To Start With Savings, Top Mini Cash ISAs

STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL

New Top Pay-As-You-Go Mobile Phone Tariffs Launched
T-mobile's obviously on a serious hunt for new customers. Its Flexi-tariff for contract mobile customers is highly price competitive and its new Text Appeal and Mates Rates tariffs for PAYG users are up there too. The best thing to do is use the mobile phone cost comparison websites to see if these will save you cash. Full pros and cons in Article: Mobile Cost Cutting article Related Article: Batter Down Your Mobile Contract

The one word that caused the pension crisis! Read my blog explaining why

NTL/Telewest customers £200/year saving reported!!!! Go For it!!!
Last week's email urged Telewest/NTL customers to tell it they want a better deal or they're shifting to the new TalkTalk Package (see UK's Cheapest Home Phones article for that). Well masses did and the successes were huge. Article: NTL/Telewest users sub article Chat Forum: Success/failure reports

Join the 66,000 who've asked Carol Vorderman to stop advertising secured loans
In last week's special e-mail I launched an appeal to Carol Vorderman, supported by two debt charities, to ask her to please stop doing adverts for secured loans. It had nearly 50,000 signatures in just over two days. Secured loans are loans of last resort, yet they're advertised as if they were a normal everyday option - with these loans if you can't pay they can take your house, and the debt is commonly spread over a lengthy period massively increasing the interest. If you agree, please show your support. View/sign the petition. Read more

The Response From Carol Vorderman's Agent...

I've still heard no response to my request weeks ago to speak to Carol, though her agent has put out this statement, "Carol Vorderman endorses First Plus, a reputatable secured loans company which has a distinguished record. It is nonsense to try and blame her for the business activities of companies she does not - and would not - endorse. By that logic, any celebrity who advertised an insurance firm would be responsible for every claims dispute across the land," He then goes on to question my integrity, and concludes by saying that Carol has employed specialist media lawyers Schillings to deal with the matter.

In fact I'd already heard from Schillings before starting this appeal, asking for undertakings that I wouldn't put out this appeal, but after consulting lawyers myself, I was satisfied that I was entitled to proceed. This is a very important issue, and I still hold out some hope that Carol will listen to the debt charities and signatories. View/Sign the petition. Read more

Great What Kids Should Know About Cash Hunt Revisited
I was woken one morning 18 months ago by Sky News. They were planning to do a piece on personal finance education in schools. Scratching my head in dreary sleep talk, they asked me "what five rules would you tell a kid about money?" The question was so good I put it to MoneySavers and the answers so interesting I wanted to revisit it. Add your ideas/read others Past Great Hunts:  Cut The Cost Of Learning To Drive, Grants and Cut Booking Fees

Online House Price Valuation £9.95 until 19 May
Housing website Hometrack provides online valuation reports. It crunches data from estate agents and lenders to give you a 20 page report on any property. It's a useful though not necessary tool if you're buying or selling. The normal price is £20 but I've bullied it into letting MoneySavers try it for £9.95 Pros & Cons and How To Get It Related Article: House Selling Tips

Give the trees something back and recycle your books
Last week I asked MoneySavers to let me know about recycling stuff for some extra dosh. Ideas you had included recycle your ink cartridges, 50 Tesco points or a dud phone and recycle your books

"Legally rob a bank". Visit MoneySavingExpert.com - Car Sticker Slogan Winner
This was the overwhelming winner of the 'car sticker slogan vote' with 27% of the 7147 votes. Congrats to tomm3y who suggested it, I'll get it printed up and then it'll be available for free alongside the current one. Links: See poll result, All the original suggestions, Get one of the current stickers

Want £19,000? Don't listen to your husband!!!!!
Time for my regular nag encouraging you to complain about any missold endowment before the deadline. Here's the latest email I've received: "Re: Endowment Compensation. Just wanted to say I've just received an offer of £19K. My husband told me not to bother following your advice as it wouldn't be worth it. He's now a fan of your website!" Remember you can complain for free, without anyone taking a slice of your compensation, in minutes. Article: Endowment Misselling: How To Grab Your Compensation Related Article: Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges

FLIGHTCHECKER SALES WATCH  Nottingham & Durham to Paris c. £15 each way
Budget airline BMIBaby currently has a range of destinations at £14.99 each way including taxes & charges. For a full briefing read the How To Find a Cheap Flight article or go straight to the special free FlightChecker to find the seats in seconds

New Green & Ethical MoneySaving Chat Forum Board!
Sometimes going cheap can hurt the environment. This board's been set up to counter that. How do you live life the MoneySaving way, but protect our planet too? My aim is this section will cover cutting costs in an enviromentally friendly way. Green and Ethical MoneySaving Board

JEREMY VINE NOTE:  If you joined the email list after Friday's programme read these: UK's Cheapest Home Phones, NTL/Telewest Users note, More

This week's Martin's Musings: Who is MSE Dan?
'What Alison Hammond did to me on a plane!' and 'The one word that caused the pension crisis!' Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

PETROL PRICES POLL: Petrol prices versus the environment? Vote or Discuss (and read Petrol/Diesel Cost Cutting article). Also, see last week's car sticker caption contest Poll results

Extreme MoneySaving. That's it for this week.  Before I go, though, here's a great semi-tongue in cheek discussion currently in the chat forum including such suggestions as 'only go to the loo at work and friends' houses to save on toilet paper'. Add yours/read others

I hope you save some money

Martin

*Affiliated link: Click via this link 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 an identical link which doesn't help the site go to www amazon.co.uk, www.talktalk.co.uk, www.energyhelpline.com, www.uswitch.com, www.icicibank.com, www.northernrock.com. For more on how it works and the site's non-profit driven ethical and financial policy read this.