Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email
£5 all-in European flights; Free Burger King vouchers;
7% fixed rate savings; Cheap Roaming Sim;
Free anti-virus and other safety software;
And much, much more MoneySaving...
Donate to Burma for free (up to 100,000 dead) 50p to Burma Cyclone aid for every new e-mail recipient! As I write the official death toll is at 22,000 with the real number estimated to be up to 100,000. Every penny is needed to help the distressed and displaced. Thus, this site is pledging 50p for every genuine new UK recipient of this free e-mail between now and midnight Sunday 11 May. Please spread the word. The money will go to the specific Oxfam appeal unless the DEC sets up an appeal (you can donate there yourself too). Find out more about 50p donations. The logic behind this.. We first did this after the Tsunami. The logic's simple: it helps Burma, it helps the site and it helps your friend save money. It's based on the charity fundraising model devised by TheHungersite. It’s important to note, this donation is on top of the site’s usual charity donations. How much can be donated? On a normal day, around 2,500 people join the list, so by Sunday at least £6,000 should be raised. However if people spread the word it could be much more (it's capped at £50,000). The scale of the disaster is huge, yet a little bit of cash can go a long way. If you're wondering how a free site can afford to do this, read the how this site’s funded article. |
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Please tell everyone you know, spread the word… people can get the e-mail from moneysavingexpert.com/tips
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Time to Fix your Savings? New 7% year long deal, or 6.87% for 6 mths. Updated Article
It's now possible to earn over 7% on your savings. Fixed rate accounts mean you save for a set time at a guaranteed rate of interest; but you can’t access the cash for that period. Thus they're only for those prepared to lock cash away. Currently the rates are red hot; for a year’s fix both ICICI and Icesave pay around 7% AER, and for six months B’ Midshires & Cahoot are 6.87% AER (see Are Your Savings Safe? for the levels of protection). As most economists predict falling interest rates, these are attractive deals. For comparison the top instant access deal is Kaupthing* at 6.5%. Full pros and cons in the Updated Article: Top Savings Related Articles: Top Cash ISAs, Are your Savings Safe?, Starting Saving
Latest 2for1 meal deals inc Burger King. Plus Pizza 2for1 offers, 50% off at posh pubs & more Get your teeth into these!
Free Anti-Virus & Other Safety Software: Protect your PC for nowt. New Article
It’s possible to get a wealth of top quality, legal, PC protection software without paying a penny. Many big companies give their software away to home users, hoping you’ll upgrade, or persuade your employer to get their business safety systems. This completely re-researched article details all the best free anti-virus, firewall, ad/spyware removal, spam blocking and recovery software on the web, plus tips on how to keep safe. New Guide: Free Anti-virus Software Related Articles: Free ID Fraud Protection Free Office Software, Stop Spam Calls
URGENT! £5 Ryanair flights (incl. most taxes & charges). To scores of European destinations in May, June, September & October, avail. until Midnight Thurs 8 May. Find them quickly: £5 Ryanair Flights guide.
Premium Bond rate drops to just 3.4% (from 3.6%). Find out what you're likely to win
The interest rate paid on premium bonds has dropped to 3.4% This cut follows the recent UK base rate drop, yet as some top savings accounts have mostly held rates; it means the premium bond rate is only around half what they pay. The unique, free Premium Bond Probability Calculator will show you your chances of winning and compares them to the top savings accounts. Use the Calculator: Premium Bond Probability Updated Article: Premium Bonds are they worth it?
Related Article: Top Savings Accounts
New Investigation. Are your savings safe? Friday ITV1 Tonight 8pm. Related Article: Are Your Savings Safe?
Cheap Mobile Roaming: New Sim Card, pay £15 get £20 credit! Updated Article
Using mobiles abroad can cost a fortune, commonly as high as £1/min for making and receiving calls. One solution is to use an international Sim card; cutting calling costs and making it free to receive calls in some countries. One of the normal cheapest providers Sim4Travel currently has a promotional offer through various websites for the first 10,000 customers (which we've managed to blag for MoneySavers) you can either get a £10 credit Sim for £8.49 (usually £16) and £20 credit for £16 (usually £26). Full info/alternatives/pros and cons in the Updated Article: Cheap Mobile Roaming Related Articles: Cheap Flights, Cheapest Travel Insurance, Spending Overseas
URGENT! £18 worth of beauty goodies free with £3 magazine. £13 hair conditioner & £5 body butter from selected WH Smiths. Go quick!
STOP YOUR FRIENDS WASTING CASH! PLS SUGGEST THEY GET THIS EMAIL
Free £3.30 BBC Gardeners' World Magazine. For the cost of a phone call. Greenfingers on the deal
Say No To 0870 Update! Ofcom recommends an end to premium pricing. Updated Article
For years this site’s been firmly behind the Saynoto0870 campaign. Phone numbers starting with 0870 are effectively cut-price premium rates. Worse still, the company you’re calling may get up to 2p/min of this; and as many banks & utility firms use 0870s, shockingly they can earn while you’re on hold waiting to complain! Now the regulator, Ofcom’s, recommended 0870s shouldn’t cost more than normal geographic calls and should be included in providers' free minute packages. Sadly it's unlikely to start before the autumn. Meanwhile, to cut the cost of calling these numbers read the Updated Article: SayNoTo0870 Related Articles Cheapest Home Phones, Calling Mobiles Cheaply, Cheap International Calls
Free wireless access at Coffee Republic, McDonalds & Wetherspoons nationwide. Coffee Republic's become the first high st. coffee chain to offer customers free wireless access with purchases, plus McDonalds & Wetherspoons both do it too. Full details in the Updated Article: Free Wireless & Cheap 3G
Eurostar 2 for 1 tickets are back. From £58 for 2 from Kent. Train-ee MoneySaving
Hayfever Tablet Price War! Now buy six months of tablets for £6.40 inc. delivery. Reacting to last week's article, the online suppliers slashed prices even further until 14 May. Updated Article: Cheap Hayfever Tablets
Cheap Gym Loophole. Save £400/year on Virgin/Fitness First/Cannons. Terms Changed
Sign up for medical insurance from Pruhealth* which for many costs £20-£40/mth and you get free or subsidised gym membership which usually costs £40-80/mth. Thus for some people getting the insurance, even if you don’t want it, provides dirt cheap gym membership. One key term is you must ‘attend’ the gym twice a week. Attendance used to be defined as ‘swiping your card’ in, but now it says you must ‘engage in physical activity’ so just going in for a smoothie doesn’t count. Updated Article: £400 Gym Loophole Related Article: Gym Membership Cost Cutting
Free fiver for HSBC customers. Opt for paperless billing & give up your cheque book. More Info: Go Green. Even better switch and ditch to the Best Bank Account
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The Big & Easy Ways to Save Checklist |
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Great
''Travel Swapping" Hunt: Blag free accomodation by swapping with strangers
A host of swapping websites allow you to blag free accommodation by switching homes, sofas or even caravans with people who live elsewhere. The savings can be vast, and some MoneySavers report making lifelong friends. Yet on the downside, swapping with strangers has its hazards. I want to tap MoneySavers’ knowledge to find out what kind of experiences you've had and your top travel swapping tips. Which are the best websites and what are the safety considerations? Add your ideas/read other peoples': Great
'Swapping Holidays' Hunt Past Great Hunts: Single MoneySaving, What Kids Should Know About Money, Audience Tickets
Slice down the cost of food shopping...It Pays To Watch, five TV, Wed 7:30pm. Beat the 7.5% food inflation. Related Articles: Cheap Supermarkets, Loyalty Scheme Tricks, Cheapest Online Shopping, What's Hot At Aldi/Lidl/Netto
Money Moral Dilemma. Would you drink someone else’s champagne?
A bottle of champagne arrives at your door from a delivery firm, you sign for it, then the delivery person leaves. You read the card and by the message ‘Dear Deidre, thanks for all your wonderful help’, shows it's clearly not intended for you, and none of your neighbours are called Deidre. Yet the address has obviously been done in error, as it unequivocally states your details barring the name. Would you drink the champagne or try to send it back? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Would you drink the champagne? Previous MMDs: Can you go giftless to a wedding? and Should you demand a last minute property discount?
How MoneySaving can be romantic! Read one users very first post and how it bagged one MoneySaver the man of her dreams! MoneySaving Romance
Quick Forum Tips
Warning! Bargains listed here tend to
sell out quickly
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Great 'Financial Mistakes' Hunt Result
Last week I asked MoneySavers to recount financial faux pas they'd made to help others avoid the pitfalls. Many honest, frank and benignant tales were told, including Understanding credit card minimum repayments, Thinking it's a man's job to look after finances, Always buy goods over £100 with a credit card, and Sexually transmitted debt. Related Articles: DANGER! Minimum Repayments, Consumer Rights
Board of the week: Greenfingered MoneySaving
There's an abundance of information on the Greenfingered MoneySaving board that'll not only help to spruce up the drabbest of shrubberies, but'll also show you how to use a garden as a MoneySaving tool. Discussions include Compost bin for small gardens, Gardening jobs to do in May and Reclaiming window sills.
Giant Mr Men Poster, Wellwoman Capsules, Photo Poster Maker, |
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MoneySavingExpert on the box/wireless
If you like to watch as well as read about MoneySaving, I'll be appearing on the following programmes over the next week or so.
- GMTV, ITV1, Wednesday between 7.30 & 8am. Discussing how to Boost Your Income online.
- It Pays To Watch, five, Wednesday from 7.30-8pm. How to halve your bill and get Cheap Supermarket Shopping.
- Tonight, ITV1, Friday from 8-8.30pm. Are Your Savings Safe?
- GMTV, ITV1, Tuesday (between 7:30 & 8am). Don't eagerly renew your Car Insurance, Mobile Tariff, Broadband or Digital TV deal with an existing provider; make 'em fight for your business!
Watch/listen back to past appearances: Including Radio 1's Jo Whiley, Radio 2's Vine, Radio 4's MoneyBox and GMTV. Listen/watch here
Keep updated on appearances: Changes and updates go in the Updated appearances list
Feedback on appearances: Discuss or add your thoughts on MoneySaving in the Media
This week's Martin's Blog: Rude words in my new Scrabble dictionary
"Some mortgage brokers don’t know who their friends are…" and "Why BOGOFs stop me buying tangerines". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)
House Prices: Would you prefer them to rise or fall? This week's poll. Vote and Price rise/fall preference discussion.
The 'Can you spot a BIG company' quiz. Last Week’s Vote. The answer was…. Tesco
In last weeks poll I asked who could spot which company wasn’t in the top 10 UK biggest (by market capital – ie how much it's valued at). The highest vote, 17%, went to massive mining multinational Rio Tinto, but only 9% of you worked out that Tesco was the odd one out (its 15th).
See the BIG company quiz poll results.
Archna's Free
Game of the Week! Lead the little man through the runes collecting coins as you go. Runes of Shalak
How crimes haven’t changed…That’s it for this week, but before I go, the Old Bailey has opened up its historic archive of criminal cases… nearly 200,000 of them, what’s not changed is what's shocking. Historic Crimes
I hope you save some money
Martin
Explanation of * Links
FSA NOTE: 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.
How this site is financed. 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, 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: barclaycard.co.uk, kaupthingedge.co.uk, pruhealth.co.uk, virginmoney.com, alliance-leicester.co.uk, talktalk.co.uk, americanexpress.co.uk, envirofone.com, mopay.co.uk, energyhelpline.com. Read more about this in how this site is financed.
MoneySavingExpert.com is the free to use Consumer Revenge website focused on how to save you cash. It’s owned, and run by ultra-specialised journalist and bestselling author Martin Lewis. On TV amongst other things Martin has his own show It Pays To Watch on Five, is GMTV’s Money SavingExpert, presents money programmes for ITV1 Tonight. On Radio Martin has regular slots on Radio 2 Vine and Radio 1 Whiley. He’s also a columnist for the News of The World, Moneywise and the Sunday Post. Find out more: About the site and its funding.
Disclaimer: This e-mail is based on journalistic research. It does not constitute financial advice. Any information should be considered in regard to your
own specific circumstances. All tips are followed at your own risk and should be followed up with your own research Full Terms & Conditions.
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