Archive: MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

Budget DIY v. package holiday The cheapest last minute bank-holiday vacations in 15 mins... The summer clock’s ticking down, kids are back at school soon and the weather folk say the sun'll end this Thursday. Yet there’s time for a last minute get away. A 15 min Challenge.... To find which method's cheapest, I set MSE Jenny the task of following the site methods to find the best deals, spending 15 mins on each. The brief: they had to be mid-range family holidays over the August bank holiday weekend (the most expensive week). Late Package Deal. The late market’s in full swing, and is best if you’re looking specifically for 7, 10 or 14 days in a traditional tourist destination. Call a late deal specialist, find a deal you like in your price range and take down all the details. Then ring round other late agents to ask them to beat it (though this takes longer), you can often haggle a further 15% off. Full info: Cheap Package Holidays 09 MSE Jenny found... 1 week Ibiza 3* self-catering £170pp/week. Search time: 8 mins. Budget airline hotel/hostel. Alternatively grab a budget airline flight going anywhere using the FlightChecker & then book a cheap hotel or hostel. As there are no summer sales left there are fewer bargains, but if you can track one down it can be really cheap. Full info: Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotel Booking, Budget Airline Fee Fighting MSE Jenny found... 1 week 3* B&B Sardinia £123pp/week for family of three (Flights £65pp & B&B £25/night). Search time: 14 mins. Always sort insurance & holiday money out separately Don't rely on the airline / travel agents to sort the extras out; they're often massively over-expensive. Instead, annual travel insurance is available from £15, and single trips less; see Cheap Travel Insurance. Sort car hire as early as possible, to keep prices low see Cheap Car Hire and use the TravelMoneyMax to instantly find the best currency rates.

Week of Tue 11 - Mon 17 Aug '09 (Last week's position) 1. New. Repossession Buying 2. Top Savings (2) 3. Beauty Freebies (New) 4. Cheap HD TVs (5) 5. Freebies Freebies Freebies (3) The above excludes daily deals notes Rail fares to be cut in Jan House prices falling again? Interest rates to stay 'low for months' Millions made in parking penalty profits Budget airline rapped This week's full MSE News list

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The Ones Not To Miss MSE

Fight Parking Fines. Many tickets are unenforceable... DON'T pay. Beat penalties.
Park at some supermarkets, retail parks, hospitals or housing estate car parks and often the tickets issued by private companies simply aren't valid. New Private Parking Tickets Guide: Don't be cowed; everyone should know how to spot which ticket types you shouldn't pay and how to beat clamping fees. Unfair Council Parking Tickets: While always legit, if you get an unfair council ticket, you can challenge it, a staggering 70% of people who get to the last appeal stage win. Full Guides & Templates: Fight Private Parking Tickets & Council Parking Ticket Appeals Related: Cheap Car Insurance, Council Tax Rebanding

New Argos Local Clearance Bargain Finder. Eg £250 off an HD TV, £100 off a baby Dyson. Massively popular with bargain hunters, Argos' clearance sale's now searchable by postcode, letting you bag goodies first. See the Forum Note: Argos Clearance

The Top Flights Reward Credit Cards. Earn BA, BMI, AirMiles plus instant free flights.
We've crunched the numbers to find the top flights rewards credit cards. BMI flights: The Miles & More Amex pays roughly 1.5% of what you spend, £15,000 spend gets a European return. BA / Bigger Spenders: The British Airways Amex's* strong for big spenders, as at £20,000 you get a free partner ticket so it gets TWO to Europe or North Africa; plus you can buy more miles and still get 'em doubled. Free Europe Biz Flight: BMI Amex's* intro deal means spend £250 within 3 mths and you get 20,000 miles, enough for a Biz class Russia/Turkey return. Alternatively Airmiles Duo* gives 1,500 Airmiles if you spend £10 by 31 Dec, which gets a Europe return, (inc taxes) though you must book its hotel room. WARNING! It's only worth doing this if you NEVER pay interest, so always repay them IN FULL every month, or face an APR of up to 19.9%. FULL info & more options in the Updated Guides: Credit Card Rewards & Credit Card Freebies Related: Cashback Cards

New! 2for1s at Pizza Hut Delivery, Strada & Giraffe. Joins £10 menu at Prezzo, plus 2for1s at Auberge, Cafe Rouge and haha in the Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers

Grant Grabbing. £1,000s of free cash for home, education, business or just yourself
There's free money out there if you know where to look. We've revised & updated our detailed grants checklist, it's worth a five minute shufty to see if you're eligible e.g. Home Improvements. There's an energy grants finder, money for furniture or even grants for the elderly to pay for putting together Ikea-type flat-packs. Plus the Warm Front heating & insulation grants scheme's upped the amount avail. from £2,700 to £3,500. Individuals: As well as tax credits & benefits, a new charity grant searcher includes things such as household bills or holidays for people under extreme stress. A massive grants guide for these, students and small biz in the Updated Guide: Grant Grabbing Related: Benefit Checkup, Council Tax Rebanding

Warning! Comprehensive car insurance cover is CHEAPER than third party. New research out shows policies with more cover bizarrely cost less. See the MSE News Story: Fully comp wins Related: Cheap Car Insurance (record £12/year)

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New Instant 15% off B&Q voucher 1 week only. Joins new 20% off Peacocks (with mag), 20% off Dorothy Perkins, 15% off Ocado & Bodyshop £5 off £25. Full details in the in the Daily Deals List: Shopping Vouchers

New Top BIZ Savings Account. Fix at 3.2% AER or guarantee a top rate (c. 2.4% AER).
Small business owners have seen their interest slashed even more than personal accounts. Who needs a biz account? Usually only those with limited companies, as sole traders can simply use higher paying personal accounts (top pick easy access is Egg's* 3.25% AER inc. bonus). 1 yr fix: Abbey Business Bank (min. £50k) pays 3.2% AER if you're prepared to lock the cash away. If you've less, Standard Life (min £1,000) pays 2.9% AER until June 2010. Consistent Rate: Investec's Business High5 (min £50k) pays the avg. of the top five biz accounts (currently 2.4%) though 3mths notice is needed to withdraw. Instant Access: Anglo Irish Bank's Quick Easy Access pays 2.25% AER (min £1) Savings safety? When turnover's under £1million, you get the normal UK £50,000 per protection (larger businesses don't get any) - except Anglo Irish where you're reliant on the Irish not UK's govt protection. FULL info in the Updated Guide: Top Savings Related: Top Cash ISAs, Safe Savings

Urgent! Grab 2 x £15 iTunes cards for £20. In-store and online at Clinton Cards. Likely to be short lived. See the Forum Note: £10 off iTunes

1,000s free tickets to Grand Designs Live at the NEC (Birm) worth £13. We've blagged MoneySavers free tickets for Fri 9 Oct, book online using special code before 24 Aug. Full info in the Daily Deals List: Cheap Days Out

Warning! 7 debit cards add fees when you buy travel cash. Tool of the Week. TravelMoneyMax.com: Finds the top rates Buy Euros, Dollars or any other currency from a UK bureau de change and outrageously some cards treat it as an 'overseas' transaction and thus charge an additional 2-3% cash withdrawal fee on top. The Cards To Avoid: ALL credit cards (barring Santander) and debit cards from Abbey, A&L, Barclays, Cahoot, Co-op, Lloyds & Smile debit cards. What to do: Use a different card if possible, if not with debit cards withdraw cash from a UK cash machine & pay with that instead. TravelMoneyMax.com: This finds the best all-in rate for every country from 25 providers updated daily. Full Info & Tool: TravelMoneyMax.com Related: Cheap Travel Money Download Championship Manager 2010 PC edition for £2.51 (worth £25). Pre-order for as little as 1p plus £2.50 transaction fee until 10 Sept. Forum Note: Champion Savings London-only restaurant vouchers. 2for1s at Dim T and Masala Zone, 2 meals £10 at S&M Cafes. Joins 2 pizzas for £10 at Fire and Stone in the Daily Deals List: London Restaurant Vouchers

Tesco Clubcard 2 revealed... double points on in-store spending. Yet warning for those planning to redeem on holidays
Tesco's been advertising 'Clubcard 2' everywhere and it finally launched on Monday. What's changed: You now get 2 points per £1 you spend, double what it was before. A great boost as Tesco's loyalty scheme is already the most flexible. The Worry: As it's easy to disguise points' real worth, will Tesco erode their value? While 500 points is worth £5 in-store it's better converted into Rewards Vouchers where it's worth £20. Thankfully no major signs yet, but we'll be monitoring. Booking Virgin/Cosmos holiday with Rewards? From Sept you'll only be able to put £700 of Rewards Vouchers towards Virgin holidays and £400 for Cosmos, so if you've more book quick. Full info in the News Story: Tesco boost Clubcard scheme Related: Boost Tesco, Nectar, Amex points, Tesco Clubcard Bonus Deals

New Instant Theme Park 2for1s. MoneySavers voucher for The Dungeons & Sea Life, Warwick Castle & Legoland. These instant click 'n' prints joins 2for1s for Thorpe Park, Chessington & Alton Towers. See the full Deals List: Theme Park Vouchers

Are you one of the UK’s thriftiest people? Want to share your tips in an ITV1 Tonight Programme? Find out more: TV Thrifty Tipsters

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The Big & Easy Ways to Save Checklist

Quick links or click the titles for full pros, cons, alternatives & more savings

0% Balance Transfers: Top pick: Virgin* 16 mths 0%, 2.98% fee (APR 18.6% for BTs) Cheap Gas & Elec + Cashback! Top comparison site: Energyhelpline* Car Insurance: Use both MoneySupermarket* & GoCompare* Also see: Van, Motorbike Cheap Travel Ins: Annual policies from £15, worldwide £24. See Cheap Travel Ins Top Uninsured Loans: £7.5k-15k: A&L*, Sainsburys 7.9%, Tesco* 8% (can be 7.8%) Top Bank Account: Top Pick. Overdraft A&L* (1yr 0%). In-Credit: Earn £23k+ First Direct* (£100 bonus), if not Halifax* Free Budget Planner: Use the free planner or do a complete Money Makeover Cut Home Bills: Read full guides on Cheap Home Ins, Cheap Boiler Cover, Grant Grabbing Reclaim £1,000s: Full Mortgage Fees, C'cil Tax, Endowments, Bank Charges, PPI guides Free New-Mortgage Guide: Order a copy now for free! Also see: Remortgage Guide Cheap Broadband: Plusnet* £6/mth up to 10 Gb download.

More MoneySaving MSE

Cheap Flight Sales Alert. Airline: Ryanair. Price: £8 e/w. Ends: Midnight Weds 19 Aug Our pick this week is the Ryanair £8 e/w sale: On until midnight Weds 18 Aug, it includes some taxes & charges. It's for Sept-Nov flights to a range of European destinations from many UK airports. To find them quickly use the FlightChecker on a £8 max search. More details in the Updated Guide: £8 Flights Extra Charges Warning: Avoid, payment and check-in charges, see the Budget Airline Fee Fighting guide Related: Cheap Flights, Cheap Hotels, Spending Abroad, Cheap Currency, Travel Insurance The MSE Charity. Financial education grant applications for individuals closes 31 Aug The MSE charity fund's donated over £600,000 since it was founded and over half to our own The MSE Charity. What it does. It provides grants to individuals and organisations to promote financial and debt education and information. Individual Applications Deadline: If you want a grant toward a specific financial literacy or education course, the next round of applications closes on 31 August so apply soon. Full Info: The MSE Charity Money given so far: MSE Charity Grants Related: MSE’s Charity Donations, How MSE's Financed Great 'Your Top Tip For New Uni Students' Hunt: What to take, how to budget, shoe-string meals, jobs & more Starting uni can be a daunting experience and if it's your first time away from home there's a lot to contend with. So we thought we'd tap experienced MoneySavers' knowledge for their top tips for new students. Add your ideas/read other peoples': Great Your Top Tip For New Uni Students Hunt Past Great Hunts: View all MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Theo undercut Duncan's work at double pay? Colleagues Theo and Duncan work for a company where overtime's scarce and it often struggles to find people to cover. Duncan hears that extra work's available for one person and grabs it, negotiating himself triple time for the evening. When Theo hears about it he's miffed he didn't get in first, he has a new baby so money's tight and he's always focused his cash on his family. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should Theo undercut Duncan's work at double pay? Previous MMDs: View all

Q. My landlord's putting my deposit into a tenancy scheme. What does this mean? A. Since Apr 07 it's been a legal requirement that anyone who moves into rented accommodation (assured shorthold tenancy) costing up to £2,100/month has their deposit paid into a tenancy protection scheme. It's just a storage pot, in between the landlord & tenant, so no one party can run off with the cash & if there's a dispute an independent body will hear it for free. There are three govt-approved schemes, mydeposit.co.uk (Tenancy Deposit Solutions), thedisputeservice.co.uk (Tenancy Deposit Scheme) and Deposit Protection Service. Yet be careful, some other schemes have similar names. If your deposit isn't held with one of these, either don’t hand over the money or contact your landlord urgently to say it is breaking the law. To enforce this sadly you'll need apply to a court, if you're stuck, speak to Citizens Advice. Discuss: Tenancy Deposit Schemes Suggest: A question of the week (big general issues not personal q’s pls)

Quick Forum Tips Warning! Bargains listed here tend to sell out quickly Daily Bargains Update Tips, Tricks & Treats

Top Deal! Free £10 M&S voucher. Just test drive a Mitsubishi. And send off the form Ambre Solaire sun creams 2 for £1. (SPF15/20). In store at Boots. Usually £6.99 Leapfrog Leapster 2. Kids' learning toy inc. Star Wars bundle. £19.99 at Argos Free Coca Cola can-shaped glasses with large McDonalds meals. Superglaze me Debt Free Wannabe chat of the week: Taking the first step Competitions thread of the week: 18,500 Avon treats up for grabs Old Style (Thrift) Board thread of the week: How do you spend so little?

Board of the week: eBay, auctions, car boot sales & jumbles
Flogging your old gear is a quick way to raise cash, but it can be hard to know where to start. The eBay, auctions, car boot & jumbles board's full to bursting with top tips on buying cheap and selling dear. Discussions include Top listing turn-offs, is postage proof essential? and how to store eBay wares Related Guide: eBay Selling Tricks

Great 'Alternative Sources of Energy' Hunt Result
Last week, we asked for MoneySavers' top tips on alternative sources of energy. There were some great suggestions, including Resell excess energy, £10 solar hot water system and free solar energy debate book

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Andrea's Freebies Freebies, Freebies, Freebies

Lily Allen Remix Album, The Little Book of Holiday Fun, Free Royal Mint Mini Medal Tea Samples, Condoms, Premier League Wallchart

Odds and Ends MSE

Martin's Appearances...Weds 19 - Tues 25 Aug
These are scheduled appearances, though other ad hocs may happen. See the appearances list for updates.

• Thurs, GMTV, ITV1, sometime between 8:30 & 9:30am. Deals of the Week.
• Tues, GMTV, ITV1, sometime between 7:20 & 9:30am. The topic's news reactive.

This week's Martin's Blog: A minute-by-minute day in my life…
"Oops… MSE does an unwitting DDOS…" and "Property Porn...revisiting a hypnotised nation...". Read m'blogs (or RSS users access)

Tell the USA your views on the NHS. This week's poll. Vote and NHS discussion.

Almost half of Moneysavers ignore Google ads. 10,602 voted last week. Asked whether you click the paid-for search results of Google searches, a huge 47% said, you always ignore them. 29% do click them, but only when the natural results are no good. Though 3% weren't aware of any differences. See Google AdWords poll results.

Archna's Free Game of the Week! Use your cunning to destroy the evil little men in Roly-poly Eliminator

If I didn’t love you.... statistically I’d love someone else! I’ve found the antidote to love songs with lines such as "I'm not undervaluing what we've got when I say that given the role chaos inevitably plays in the inherently flawed notion of fate". It's a must watch for realistic lovers everywhere

We hope you save some money

Martin & the MSE team

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 0EH 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: new.egg.com, americanexpress.com, mbna.co.uk, airmiles.co.uk, uk.virginmoney.com, energyhelpline.com, moneysupermarket.com, gocompare.com, alliance-leicester.co.uk, tescofinance.com, firstdirect.com, halifax.co.uk, plus.net. 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 is GMTV’s Money SavingExpert and 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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