Beware phone numbers starting with 070! There's a dangerous new trend where scamsters make cash by leaving you a message asking you to call back. These look like mobile numbers, which start 07 something, yet if they have the crucial extra 0, are actually 'personal numbers' that can cost nearly 50p/minute to call. If you see 070, think 'possible premium rate' and treat with caution. (mini-mutterings) Please tell others. Sadly, not only scamsters try to grab our cash, companies do too. This site aims to help stop them. Please suggest friends and family get this e-mail at moneysavingexpert.com/tips, that way they save money and there are more MoneySavers to fight back.
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Microsoft Office costs £125: Get an equivalent, plus loads more free. New Article
Kitting out your PC with software from the shops is expensive, yet alternatives to Microsoft's ubiquitous Office suite can be legally grabbed for free. Professional standard equivalents to Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Access are available along with flashy photo editors and more including turn your PC into a fax machine. New Article: Free Office and Other Software Related Articles: Protect Your PC for Free
32" HD Ready LCD TV £399! Top bargain, it's back. Limited availability though
December's the cheapest time for car and home insurance. Check even if you're not at renewal!
Now's traditionally the time insurers offer the cheapest prices to encourage us while our focus is elsewhere (prices'll be hiked in Jan). If you're not at renewal time, you can still cut costs. As long as you've not claimed, most insurers will allow you to cancel with a pro rata refund. Occasionally there will be a fee, so check it's not bigger than the saving. To find the cheapest policy takes less than ten minutes, just follow the Car Insurance Cost Cutting or Home Insurance Cost Cutting articles. Related Articles: Travel Insurance, Roadside Recovery, Pet Insurance Loophole! Amazon Free Delivery even if you spend under £15. Only 50,000 so go quick (mini-mutterings) Now new Thrifty Ways book at £3.99 plus delivery (or use the loophole above)
Amazon's surprised me by offering my new Thrifty Ways* book at £3.99 (it gave no hint this was due) the same price as the Money Diet*. Buy the book alone and it's still pricier than Play at £5.49*, as delivery is £2.75, unless you're able to grab the loophole above or are spending over £15 at Amazon that is. Read about the books: Thrifty Ways & The Money Diet 10,000 more free copies of Moneywise magazine blagged for MoneySavers. Want one? Use shopbots to get the cheapest online deals. Now's the time to order on the web
Regular MoneySavers know never to go straight to an online retailer for books, games, CDs or anything as in the same amount of time use a shopbot (shopping robot) and it'll tell you who's the cheapest. This is the right week to buy online. Leave it later and while they'll still deliver in time, if you miss the delivery you'll have a chase to get the stuff. Next week I'll publish a 'last order dates' list. For full details of the best shopbots read the Article: Shopbots and Best Cashback Sites Related Articles: Best Lend for Spend, Best Cashback Credit Cards, Consumer Rights STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL New free Directory Enquiries Service launched. Updated article
118 118's launched a new free directory enquiries service. Register, then you can make unlimited free enquiries, yet the real cost is you must listen to adverts and hope its automated service can understand you. Updated Article: Directory Enquiries Buying perfume/aftershave for Christmas? Halve the cost!
It's said more perfume is sold on 24 December than during the whole of August. If perfume's your inevitable fallback; do it now via special discount websites which legally sell well known perfumes for less. Full Notes: Where to Get Perfumes for Less Related Article: Find The Web's Cheapest Prices, Boots Treasure Trove
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US goods are dirt cheap, time for the Great 'Order Now From The US' Hunt
Buying stuff from the USA is cheap now as £1 buys $2, so it's time to revisit the Great 'Order Now From The US' Hunt, a mammoth discussion on what you can order from US websites that'll save you serious cash compared to buying here. Add your ideas/read others Past Great Hunts: Christmas Booze, Decorate Your House for Under £20 and Tips to Cut Postage Costs
5% off 1st class stamps at Superdrug plus bag 10% off everything else Stamp down the cost Quick note. Tax is a consumer issue, do you know where yours goes?
As it's the Chancellor's pre-budget report time, last week's poll asked which area of public spending people thought most cash went to. Less than 30% got the answer right (see vote result). We spend more of our cash on taxes than mortgages, cars or holidays, so I thought it worth informing you where the Government actually spends our cash... social security & benefits £137 billion, £82bn on health, £63bn on education, £29bn on police and public order, £28bn to defence, £25bn on servicing the UK's debts and £4bn on overseas aid. (mini-mutterings) Got friends and family in Poland? Talk to them free this weekend 10 Free copies of Website of the Day, The Book
Radio 2 Steve Wright listeners will be familiar with Miles Mendoza's slot, well it's now a book and I've blagged 10 free copies for MoneySavers MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Would you lend to a friend in need?
Would you lend to a friend in need? Jane's best friend since childhood has always been terrible with cash and now she's got into serious debt and is in danger of losing her home. She's asked Jane for a £10,000 loan; money that Jane can afford to lend without a problem, but can't afford to lose. They've always been through thick and thin together and supported each other in everything. Should Jane lend the cash? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Would you lend to a friend in need? Previous MMDs: Would you take the job?, Would you get them sacked? and Give santa the sack?
I've bought a flight, so I've bought a tree Read my blog Farepak update: Response Fund vouchers now available
The response fund set up to raise money for those affected by hamper company Farepak going into administration is now beginning to send out vouchers; your Farepak agent should be dishing these out soon. You should get 17p per £1 you had with Farepak. Plus Argos and Homebase are offering gift vouchers to Farepak customers (just show your payment card). If you lost your cash, read the full briefing, including how to try to get a refund through Visa Chargeback. Updated Note: Farepak: what to do now Quick Chat Tips Warning! Bargains listed here tend to sell out quickly | | |
FLIGHTCHECKER SALES WATCH Dublin, Gothenberg, & Pisa £12.99 each way all in
Budget airline Ryanair currently has a range of destinations for £12.99 each way; unusually and importantly this price includes all taxes and charges yet there are baggage fees. Full Details For the cheapest flights elsewhere read the How To Find a Cheap Flight article
MoneySaving Pregnancy Club: A quick reminder to all mums (and dads) to be, that there's a special discussion on living the MoneySaving way while pregnant
Board of the week: Benefits, Tax Credits & Jobseeking
Many are baffled by ever-changing benefits and credits rules. My 5 Minute Benefits Check Up article explains how to speedily check your eligibility for the many and various pots of cash available. Then check out the Benefits, Tax Credits & Job Seeking board; a mine of detailed information. Discussions include Back to work after 20 years, Disability Allowance Dilemma and Ebay selling and benefits The Great 'Free Family Games' Hunt. Results
Last week I asked MoneySavers to use their imagination and come up with fun family games you can play cheap or free, instead of buying expensive ones from shops. Ideas included the alphabet game, the winking game and fun with a cereal box |
On the box this week: Catch my regular slot on LK Today (every Wed between 8.45am and 9.15am), plus look out for me for the rest of this week on the Wright Stuff, 9am, Five. Keep updated on appearances This week's Martin's Musings: 'Show must go on. Isn't wonderful make-up can cover up green'
'Flying and buying trees' and 'The Pope, Istanbul and MoneySaving'. Read m'blogs (or RSS users access) Would you miss Christmas if you could? Vote and Discuss
Attack of the sprouts! That's it for this week, but before I go, Christmas is just around the corner, which means just one thing…brussel sprouts. For anyone who was forced to eat these as a child, this game's a chance to get your own back
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: energyhelpline.com, uswitch.com, american-express.co.uk, morganstanley.com, alliance-leicester.co.uk, mbloan.co.uk, amazon.co.uk, barclaycard.co.uk, play.co.uk. Read more about this site and how it's financed. |
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