Haggle down your holiday's cost. £150 extra saved in 45 minutes. New Article
When booking a package holiday, the aim's to get the same for less; there's more to it than ‘book late'. There's is a five step plan to haggle costs way below the cheapest advertised price. E.g. in 45 minutes an already heavily discounted Cuba holiday dropped from £1,120 to £970. This is a re-researched article on the technique the Travel Agents' trade press bizarrely called ‘immoral'! Article: Holiday Haggling (mini-mutterings) Related Articles: Cheap Flights, Travel Insurance, Spending Overseas Discount corporate fuel card now available for private motorists!
Six months ago I wrote about the Pipeline Card, a new organisation planning to utilise consumer bulk buying power to negotiate a discount on a free fuel card. It's still on the cards (forgive the pun), but in the meantime an existing corporate fuel card scheme is now allowing people to join for £10/year. Full Info: Marmalade Card (mini-mutterings) Related Car Articles: Petrol Cost Cutting, Cheap MOTs, New Car Buying Cashback Credit Card paying 3%! A new market leader?
Cashback credit cards pay cash each time they're spent on, so pay them off in full each month, to avoid interest, and it's a great way to earn. GE Money's new Everyday Card promises a huge 3% cashback on 'food and petrol' spending, up to a max. £5k annual spend (0.5% otherwise). Technically the 3% is paid on any petrol station, grocer or supermarket spending; thus WHSmith's bought food doesn't earn 3%, but a telly in Tesco does. Overall, it should be seen only as a great additional card, not a main cashback card. View/Apply Top Cashback Cards: Likely annual spend £9k+ Amex Platinum*, spend £5k-£9k Conran* /Egg Money, spend under £5k Morgan Stanley*, food/petrol: GE Money Card (mini-mutterings) or better still read Updated Article: Top Cashback Cards. Related Articles: Rewards Cards, Best Lend for Spend, Balance Transfers Free eBay bargain-powersearch sites.... which is the best?
When eBay sellers spell items incorrectly less people find them so they're cheaper. A couple of years ago a MoneySaver created Fatfingers to find the bargains, now a host of similar sites have sprung up with powerful filtering. eaBy spleling eroror powreesarch How is this site financed? New Article
It always makes me smile, that in person everyone asks me about this, yet even though every article links to an explanation, no-one ever reads it. So now I've given it its own page, and added what I hope is an easier to understand description. Don't worry, it's just a redraft, there's no change; the site is still free, ad-free and everything you read's only included because it's the best way to save you cash! I just think it's important MoneySavers know how it works. New Articles: How This Site Is Financed (mini-mutterings) Updated Article: About The Site STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL Car Insurance Cost Cutting: New style cheap comprehensive cover launched
Cutting car insurance costs involves four steps, based around using screenscraping websites where you enter your details and they're whizzed to scores of brokers and direct insurers to find the cheapest. This week Tesco's Value Car Insurance was launched providing cheap comprehensive insurance for lower value cars, mainly by restricting you to limited repairers. As it isn't yet included by the Screenscrapers, those it suits should first use the four step plan, then compare it to Tescos. Screenscrapers: (use both) Insuresupermarket.com* , Confused.com* Tesco Value Insurance: View/Ap ply* or better still read Updated Article: Car Insurance Cost Cutting. Related Cost Cutting Articles: Home, Travel, Medical, Dental Insurance Matrix 10-DVD Box Set £20 In-store only DVD set Are you a StayWarm Customer? Don't be afraid to switch
I've been contacted by many users of StayWarm, the flat charge over 60s energy provider whose cost depends on the number of bedrooms and people in your home, not your energy use. Many people have had price rises. Remember StayWarm's big advantage is peace of mind. My rule of thumb is compare its price to the cheapest normal provider on the market by using a comparison service; if it's less than 5% more expensive then stick with it - otherwise ditch and switch. Top Pick Energy Comparison Services: Energyhelpline* (pays £12.50 cashback when you switch), Uswitch* (gives a bottle of champagne) or better still read Article: How To Switch Energy Provider Download an album for 60p? You say yes, even if its legally a grey area.
Last week's site poll started "Downloading a single music track is 79p, an album around £7. Yet Russian website allofmp3.com is 2p and 60p for the same. Whether it's legal is a grey area. It's legal in Russia but breaks the laws here, the artists don't get any cut of the revenue." Of 3,300 voters, just 22% of people objected to using it; most people said they were happy to give it a go! See Poll Results Great 'Who pays compensation if you ask?' Hunt
While filming Make Me Rich, one customer had had a gas bill mess up. As part of the programme, when going through her bills, I asked her to call them to sort it, and while doing so said 'ask for compensation for the time and trouble it's caused, as it's their fault'. Much to her surprise they offered £20, not much, but a welcome boost. So when something's gone wrong which other standard companies have offered you compensation if you've asked for it and how much? Add your tales/read others Past Great Hunts: Letters That Work, Free Info, What Shops Don't Want Us To Know |
Board of the week: Marriage, Relationships & Families MoneySaving
Full of lots of practical tips on kids, relationships and families MoneySaving. Marriage, Relationships & Families MoneySaving. Discussions include Do you save up before having kids?, What Pocket Money? and Cash as a wedding gift? From Friday, I'm Radio 2's New Music Critic. Even though I've never bought a CD in my life!
Regulars may know I've never bought a record, tape or CD in my life.... no, not to MoneySave, but I simply don't listen to music, never have done. As part of Radio 2's new music club launch, alongside music-hating Peter Oborne of the Spectator, we're becoming 'blank slate' music critics. It starts this Friday 2 June every day at 1.30pm. Read More/Discuss This week's Martin's Musings: Is it wrong to be a munter?
'Thorpe Park with Trevor McDonald', 'and 'The problems of being 'known' at a Comedy Club.... never, ever, ever heckle' Read m'blogs (or RSS users access) SHOULD WE PAY FOR WONDER-DRUGS FOR ALL? POLL: Vote or Discuss. Vote result: Russian download sites.... I thought the result was startling. Just 22% of people objected to using them while the rest were willing to give it a go. See poll results
A MoneySaving Helicopter? That's it for this week folks, yet before I go I need to admit an ambition. I would love to fly and buy a helicopter. Now I admit it's not very MoneySaving, so I keep it in check. For the moment though, I've started getting hooked on this very cool little game someone spotted! In a spin
I hope you save some money
Martin
*links: Any links with a * by them are affiliated. That means go via this link and a contribution may be made to MoneySavingExpert.com, which helps it stay ad-free and free to use. You shouldn't notice any difference, the links don't impact the product at all and the editorial line (the things I write) is NEVER impacted by it. If it isn't possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, nothing changes, it's still included in exactly the same way. As I believe transparency is important, I'm including the following 'un-affiliated' web-addresses for the same things: talktalk.co.uk, insuresupermarket.com,confused.com, tescofinance.com, energyhelpline.com, uswitch.com, mbloan.co.uk, american-express.co.uk, morganstanley.com, talktalk.co.uk, alliance-leicester.co.uk, conran.com, mbloan.co.uk. Read more about this site and how it's financed. Referring people to insurers or insurance intermediaries can in some circumstances require FSA authorisation. For this reason, Martin Lewis of Shepherd's Studios, Rockley Road, Shepherd's Bush, London W14 0DA is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. |
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