Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Earn under £66,000? Do the five-minute benefits check-up. New Article
All families earning under £66,000, pensioners, single people on low incomes and many more - please read this: £1,000s of state benefits go unclaimed, yet to check your eligibility takes just five mins via a speedy, free, web calculator. My quick tip about this a few months ago was so well read, I decided to write a fully researched detailed article about how to check, what to watch for and how to claim. New Article: Benefits Check-up (mini-mutterings) Related Articles: Child Trust Funds, Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges, Get Endowment Misselling Compensation, Reclaim Lost Assets

URGENT LOOPHOLE! Cannons/Holmes Place gym membership Possible £40/month saving (mini-mutterings)

"Should I pay off debts and/or my mortgage with savings?" New Article
A new report laments Britons for only saving 30 days' emergency cash to cover job-loss; and urges us to start saving instantly. Yet this logic's wrong; only the debt-free should save; otherwise paying off debts is the absolute priority. This new article tackles how to work savings, debts, your mortgage and an emergency fund. New Article: Should I pay off debts with savings? (mini-mutterings) Related Articles: Start Saving, Danger Minimum Repayments, Best Balance Transfers, Best Card For Purchases, Problem Debts?, Remortgage Guide

Quick CD & DVD On and Offline Sale at Woolworths Prices from £1 to £5

Grab a top new savings account. 5.15% or guaranteed 4.8% Updated Article
Since the Bank of England increased the Base Rate by 0.25% a fortnight ago, the savings account market's gone haywire. ICICI* is still number one at 5.15% but all other rates have shifted. Now Capital One Base Beater* is a much stronger contender, it pays 4.8% but also guarantees its rate will beat the Base Rate until 2010, giving surety that you'll get at least decent interest for the next few years. Updated Article: Top Instant Access Savings Account Related Articles: Where to Start with Savings, Regular Savings Accounts, Top Cash ISAs

Top Freebies (limited stocks) A 50ml Original Source Shower Gel and a Wilkinson Sword Razor

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

Cheapest Dial-up Internet Provider: Free isn't always best! Updated Article
For some, broadband internet isn't available or necessary, yet old-style dial-up can hit your pocket hard. Don't believe the 'free usage' hype, do that and you'll pay up to 3p/min for the access call, when it's available for just 0.5p/min. Plus there's a way to get a trial free 30 minute access card. Updated Article: Cheapest Internet Access Related Articles: Cheapest Broadband, Completely Free Calls Worldwide Via Your PC

Final Week: Nectar Double Rewards Watch! Adams Childrenswear massive points boost

Now in glorious technicolour! Listen to or watch a video, audio or podcast of the e-mail
Each week I record a 'muttering' commentary on the top tips in this email. You can watch a video podcast or listen to an audio version on Itunes sites. There's also a PSPcast or you can download a Windows Media Player version. Read an explanation and feel free to discuss it

Loophole Reminder! £100 free cash & top bank account Team up with a friend

Great Tips To Cut Postage Costs Hunt: Stamp down postage costs
The Post Office is changing how it calculates some postage costs from 21 Aug. In future it'll depend on size as well as weight so I thought I'd tap MoneySavers' collective knowledge to compile a list of top tips on how to stamp down postage costs Add your ideas/read others Past Great Hunts: Cosmetics Cost Cutting, Free Office, Graphics & Presentation Software and Pricebeaters Plus

Free fruit! It's blackberry season, don't buy, pick... Discussion

Great 'Buy Now From the US' Hunt. Result
Last week I asked MoneySavers to let us know what to buy now from the US. Your suggestions included Make-up, Renew your internet domains and Gymboree Kids Clothes

Debt and Fat Free Wannabe? Entertaining discussion on reducing pounds without spending them

FLIGHTCHECKER SALES WATCH  Malaga, Prague & Salzberg c. £20 each way
Budget airline Thomsonfly currently has a range of destinations at £1.99 or less each way. When you add in its taxes and charges this becomes roughly £20 in total. 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

Freelancers & Small Biz charge interest to speed up late paying companies Calculators show how much

Wales: Board of the Week
Looking for top tips on cutting costs in Wales? Then the Wales MoneySaving chat forum section is the place to come. Discussions include Cheap things to do in Fishguard, Cardiff Car Boot Sales and Handsonhideaway Related Boards: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland

BBC The One Show:  I'll be doing my new regular Wed slot on the One Show at 6.55pm, BBC1. 15 Aug - recycle old mobiles; 23 Aug - Equity Release

This week's Martin's Musings: My last Guardian column
'What would you put on the toss of a coin?', 'Fat happens' and 'Groan. They've printed my article next to a secured loan ad!' Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

Would you womble? Poll: Some look for receipts where loyalty points haven't been claimed and claim them for themselves. Ignoring the legal aspect, would you? Vote or Discuss. Vote result: How risky are you?.... it seems the majority of you are prudent with your pocket, with 51% of you saying you'd not risk your salary even on a top bet. See poll results

That's it this week. Yet before I go, even I can admit sometimes you can take MoneySaving too far (this week's poll is another example), so have a look at some of these bulk buying disasters

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: icicibank.co.uk, capitalone.co.uk, talktalk.co.uk, insuresupermarket.com, confused.com, american-express.co.uk, morganstanley.com, alliance-leicester.co.uk, conran.com, mbloan.co.uk, amazon.co.uk. Read more about this site and how it's financed.

'DON'T SWITCH' recommendation changed to 'SWITCH NOW!'
Move to a cheaper gas & electric supplier and get £15 cashback in 5 mins

For six weeks I've been saying don't switch, as with a raft of gas & electricity price rises due; compare prices and it's likely the one coming out cheapest will be the one that announces a price rise the next day. Powergen has just announced an 18% rise in gas and 10% in electricity prices. My best guess (and sadly it can only ever be a guess) is the playing field is now as level as it'll ever be, so it's the perfect time to do a comparison and switch to the cheapest.

Warning! EBICo (Equigas & Equipower) is still likely to raise its prices soon, so if this comes out your cheapest, it's worth considering going to the next best.

For full info, options and MoneySaving read the full 'Switch & Get Cashback' Article

Use a free web or phone price comparison service which will quickly tell you the cheapest in minutes. Better still, the scale of MoneySavers' consumer power has resulted in a price war! Comparison services will pay up to £15 cashback if, after finding your cheapest supplier, they can switch you. They don't do this if you go direct.

My top picks are Energyhelpline/Cashback*, which pays £15 cashback and Uswitch/Champagne*, which will send you a £20 bottle of Piper Heidseck Champagne. Choose based on which freebie you prefer (though if you use Uswitch, ensure you tick its 'include social tariffs' option or you'll find some competitive tariffs excluded).

For full info, options and MoneySaving read the full 'Switch & Get Cashback' Article

Feel free to tell/forward this to friends and family who may find it useful
Next normal Martin's Money Tip: Wed.

I hope you save some money

Martin

I got this email, but I've never heard of the website, how? MoneySavingExpert.com does not spam. You have received this email because someone you know has forwarded it to you as they believe you will be interested in it. If you are not, please delete it. This email has been sent to the over 650,000 people in the UK who have added themselves to the distribution list of the weekly ad-free, free to use, Martin's Money Tips e-mail.

Related MoneySaving:

• New Article: Cheapest Gas & Electricity
• Other Related Articles: Cheapest Home Phones Provider, Cut Water Bills
• All other Utility and Phone Articles: Phones and Utilities Zone
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*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: energyhelpline.com/cashback, uswitch.com (it has no unaffiliated champagne link). Read more about this site and how it's financed.