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January is the year's only five week month
How to stretch out your finances...
Dec's early payslip seems great pre-Christmas, yet it means the cash needs to stretch an extra week. As that coincides with such a high spend time it's no surprise many struggle. Here are some quick tips.
- Know what you've got left. Check ASAP what cash you've left for the month, when your next pay cheque's due, and whether any bills are due. Then calculate what you've left to spend per week and stick to it. It ain't rocket science, but it takes discipline.
- Use Feb's money early for free. Feb's the shortest month, so if you must, access a little of its cash now. The easiest way is to spend on an empty credit card then repay it IN FULL next month to avoid interest. Otherwise, use a new card with a 0% deal on spending though the time it'll take to arrive may scupper things.
- £1,500 interest free budgeting & crisis loans. Those with severe problems may be eligible for job centre funds. Crisis loans are for emergencies, eg repairs after burglary; while Budgeting loans are only for benefits recipients, but allow spending on a wide range of things. Each job centre has its own cash, and sadly many run out quickly, see the debt help guide for more info.
Preventing future problems requires good money management. So tackle it now. Do a decent budget, ensure you're getting all due benefits (see 5 min benefit check-up), and most importantly ensure you're getting the best deal on everything...
Discuss stretching Jan costs.
Money Makeover Special
As every January millions start dieting, exercising and sorting their finances, this week's e-mail is a money makeover special...
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Please suggest friends/family/colleagues get this free weekly e-mail from moneysavingexpert.com/tips
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| The Ones Not To Miss |
New Tool. MSE's free BudgetBrain.com Financial Analyser
Souped up free online budget planner assesses if you've overspent & helps fix it
Do a budget properly and you'll instantly discover if you spend more than you earn, and can then prioritise your spending to fix it. Yet most budgets are bunkum as they focus on a typical month forgetting daily coffees, weekly shops, annual holidays, Xmas & more. New MSE BudgetBrain.com: We've rebuilt the automated budget planner, so it's now an all-singing, all-dancing online tool that misses nothing, uses graphics, pie charts & more to dig into your spend - then has special functions to refocus where your cash should go to balance the books. New Guide & Free Tools: Free Budget Planner Related: Give Yourself A Money Makeover, Stop Spending
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Burger King 2for1s
16 printable mini-vouchers for 2for1 burgers, ice cream & loads more
Inc 2for1 whoppers, free cheeseburger with a drink and more. See the Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers
Hotel loophole! Grab £50 cashback to get free worldwide rooms
A hotel broker's giving £50 back, so find rooms under £50 and they're free
Valid for all dates inc. Valentine's Day. Just sign up via a cashback site. Deals Note: Hotel Sales
New Cheap Car Insurance Sytem - record's 96p/year fully comp
Drive down costs, includes new 'Quick cashback' solution if you're short of time
Never, ever, ever just renew, you could overpay £100s; top deals are almost always for new customers. Instead... 1: Pick your policy. Don't assume lesser 3rd party cover's cheapest, counter-logically for many fully comp. is. 2: Combine comparison sites: This gets max. quotes in min. time. Our latest survey shows using BOTH MoneySup* & GoCompare* means a total of 130 different quotes. 3: Hidden cashback. Take the best quotes then see if up to £120 of hidden cashback's available via special cashback websites. Record Result: Following the full system, one MoneySaver got a £120.96 quote followed by £120 cashback, meaning 96p for a year's fully comp. New Quick Cashback: Alternatively, for super-quick one stop 'compare 'n' cashback' both BeatThatQuote* & MoneyExpert* pay £25 cashback if you get a policy through them. Though they cover fewer providers and much higher cashback may be possible using the main system. FULL step-by-step Updated Guide: Cheap Car Insurance Related Insurance Guides: Van, Motorbike, Home
50% off vouchers! Pizza Express, Pizza Hut (dine in), Strada & more
Vouchers are back. Also Cafe Rouge & Ha Has 2for1s and Browns £29 for 2 courses and wine
The Jan lull means restaurant chains are launching serious deals. See the Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers
Or alternatively...
Free £60 3-month WeightWatchers online package
Promo means no £30 joining fee then use a cashback site to cover the monthly cost
There's £30 avail via a cashback site, which covers the £10/month cost. See the Deals Note: Free WeightWatchers
Cheap 'n' free flights, packages, insurance & more
The key rules to slice £100s or £1,000s off your summer holiday costs
It's prime holiday booking time, so here're the key MoneySaving rules.1: Packages can be cheapest. Go away for 7, 10 or 14 days to a traditional holiday destination, and package deals can undercut web flight & hotel combos. 2: Use the right cheap flight finder. Know when & where you want and screenscrapers like Kayak*, Travelsupermarket* & Skyscanner* instantly find the cheapest. For dirt cheap flexible flights eg sub £10 in July, use the Flightchecker. For charter flights use Avro* & Flightsdirect. Much more in the cheap flights guide. 3: Haggle package costs. Tour operators make holidays, travel agents sell 'em, so identical packages are sold by many agents. Find the holiday you want then call around saying 'can you beat the quote?', 10-15% further savings are possible, see the Package Haggling guide. 4: Avoid travel agent insurance. You'll often pay more for a week than you'd pay for a year's cover elsewhere, eg £15/yr Europe only* and £30/yr family Europe* are available via comparison site Moneysupermarket, see the Travel Insurance guide. 5: Grab Free flights. Check out credit card freebie intro offers to fly free. Related: Cheap Hotels, Cheap Travel Money, Beat Budget Airline Charges
Urgent! 10,000 free Megabus tickets (50p booking fee)
Cross country trips eg London, Bath, Manchester, Leeds etc for Mon-Thurs travel 1 Feb to 21 March
Usually up to £7 each, all routes except those originating in Scotland. See the Deals Note: Train & Coach deals
Got friends who'd like to save? Please tell them about this email
Free £11 Origins scrub voucher (in £3.50 mag) & more beauty deals
Plus £10.50 Nails Inc polish, Free Hairgroup haircut, 50% off Body Shop bargains
Join 30% off manicures voucher, 10% off Superdrug online and more in the Daily Deals List: Beauty Deals
Cut Credit Card Costs In 4 Steps: Jan Debt Special
Save £100s. Lower interest rates, repay the costliest first & free help if needed
The first January special is tackling credit card debts...1. Shuffle! Don't assume you need new credit, many cards allow existing customers to shift other debts to them cheaply, protecting your credit score, see the full Credit Card Shuffle guide & video. 2. Top 0% deals. Balance transfers let new cardholders shift debt to cheaper rates. Top 0% Deal: new Virgin* customers get 16mths 0% for a 2.98% fee (then it jumps to 18.6% APR), next best is 15 mths 0% with 2.9% fee for existing current bank customers of RBS*, HSBC*, NatWest* (all then 16.9% APR). Long Term Deals: if you need longer to repay, Barclaycard's Simplicity* offers 6.8% for life, meaning it lasts until all the debt shifted's been repaid. More info & options in the full Best Balance Transfers guide. Step 3. Repay highest interest first. Put all spare cash to repaying the card with the highest rate first, just pay the minimum on everything else, this'll clear your debts more quickly. 4. Free debt crisis help. If you can't even afford the minimums, go to a non-profit free debt counsellor asap, see the Guide: Debt Crisis Help Related: Cheap Loans, Credit Checks, Fight Rate Jacking
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£77 Blu-Ray/DVD Player
Plus an £80 multi-region player, £90 Sony and more. High def, low cost
If you've a high def telly, Blu-Ray's the new DVD, and bargain boxes abound. Deals Note: Cheap Blu-Ray Player
Are you due a cold weather payment? Some benefits recipients get £25/wk if the temp drops below 0°C for 7 days; there's a postcode checker to see if you're due cash. See the Forum Note: Cold Pay
Please help MSE shout a little louder...
I believe it's the perfect moment for people to hear about MoneySaving & we need your help to tell 'em
You can't have missed the monstrous dirge of TV ads for IVA companies' comparison sites, insurers, phone companies, credit cards & more as the goliath corporations pump money out to swamp the airways. Help spread the MSE word. We can't compete with all that, we've always relied on word of mouth about the site. What you can do? Please tell people about the site, put it on your facebook and twitter page, forward the email (but don't spam) and more. Most importantly suggest people go to www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips to get this email. Thanks for your help. Related: Martin's Facebook page, About the Site, How this site's financed
Travelodge £9 UK 30,000 summer room sale. Starts 6am Thur 7 Jan
Available for May - Sept stays, usual cost c. £29-£59. 30,000 rooms at £9, plus 20,000 more at £12
The key to bagging them is to get in quick. See the Deals Note: Travelodge Sale Related: Cheap Hotels, Hotel Sales
Waitrose £10 off £50 spend instore voucher
In a £2 newspaper every Sat & Sun for three weeks, it's valid until the following Fri
So buy the Telegraph even if you don't want it and you're £8 up. Full info & other vouchers in the Daily Deals List: Shopping Vouchers
Boost your income! 50 ways to earn more
Sell your old mobile, get paid for opinions, become a comper, rent out your parking space & more...
If saving cash isn't enough to balance your budget, try pumping up your income. Get paid for opinions: it's possible to earn £100s a year filling in online surveys or taking part in focus groups; see the Survey Stashing guide. Comp for cash: turn entering competitions into a possibly profitable hobby with powerful free tools to super-speedily enter 100s comps a day; see the Comping for Cash guide. Flog old mobiles: get up to £150, use MobileValuer.com to find the best payer. And there's lots more. Take in a Lodger: £4,250 a year is tax free. Party planning: hold parties for Ann Summers, Virgin Vie & more. Rent your parking space: special sites let you put your drive on the market. De-clutter for cash: savvily sell stuff you no longer use and you can net £££s, as well as freeing up space. Full Guide to over 50 ways: Boost Your Income Related: eBay Selling Tricks, Stop spending
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Don't Switch Bank Account yet! Next week Alliance & Leicester brings back its £100 sign up bonus, making it best buy. So if you're sorting your finances hold off (reminder here then). Related: Best Bank Accounts
Give yourself a FULL MoneyMakeover. This email's all about the big makeover topics, yet to dot every 'i' and cross every 't' the full Give yourself a Makeover guide has 46 ways to cut ongoing costs.
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| Big & Easy Ways To Save |
| Quick links or click the titles for full pros, cons, alternatives & more savings |
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| More MoneySaving |
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MONEY MORAL DILEMMA: Should Naomi fire Annie?
Naomi is the editor of a successful magazine. Her long time friend Annie's a talented writer who's just got divorced, lost her job and currently has some major health issues - so to help she hires her. Yet after a few weeks it's all missed deadlines and excuses. Should she fire her while she's suffering? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should she fire Annie? Previous MMDs: View All |
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Archna's Free Game of the Week!
Budget your squares to get the highest possible score! Brain Bones
Free cocktails for ladies with nuts! Thats it for this week, but before I go, some sympathy please, sometimes English isnt an easy language to master, this and other unfortunate. Foreign sign slip-ups
We hope you save some money,
Martin & the MSE team
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Q. My husband died in the summer & his life insurance will pay off the mortgage with around £10,000 left. Should I do this or pay into a savings account and take a monthly sum? I'm 39 and work full time. Claire, by email
Martin's A: I'm sorry for your loss. On a purely financial basis the general rule is if your mortgage rate is higher than your after tax savings rate you're better off repaying the mortgage - if not, save.
Eg, if you've £100,000 mortgage at 6%, the annual cost is £6,000; while £100,000 saved at 3.35% after basic tax, earns £2,700, so repay the debt with the savings and you're £3,300 a year better off.
Though always check mortgage repayment penalties which could scupper this, and remember once the mortgage is repaid, you won't have access to the cash, so if you ever needed to live off it you've locked it away as an asset, rather than being easily convertible into income. See the 'Should I Pay Off My Mortgage?' guide. |
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Suggest: A question of the week
(big general issues not personal q's pls) |
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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 we 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 we believe transparency is important, we're including the
following 'un-affiliated' web-addresses for the same things: alliance-leicester.co.uk, americanexpress.com, avro.co.uk, barclaycard.co.uk, beatthatquote.com, directline.com, egg.com, energyhelpline.com, gocompare.com, hisave.co.uk, hsbc.co.uk, kayak.co.uk, moneyexpert.com, moneysupermarket.com, natwest.com, plus.net, rbs.co.uk, skyscanner.net, talktalk.co.uk, tescofinance.com, tiscali.co.uk, theaa.com, travelsupermarket.com, virginmoney.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-focused 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 amongst others the News of The World, The Telegraph 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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