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Where to get 'the jacket' to beat budget airline fees
How to fly for under a tenner each way all-in
Since my ITV 'Beat Budget Airlines' prog. on Thurs night (watch it), I've been swamped by people asking "where do you get the jacket?" so here's the answer & m ore...
- The 22 pocket jacket. Travelling with just hand luggage saves the whopping £40 return per case charges. Yet you can only take 10kg max, so the solution's take a multi-pocket jacket too, stuff it like a fat suit, wear it to board then shove it in the overhead storage. I've not heard of anyone being rejected (yet).
To push it to the max, I used a 22-pocket US Scottevest to fit a laptop, towels, books & more. Yet it ain't cheap, so check your closet, try camping stores for things like Regattas or Zebcos and look out for jackets with ‘poacher’s pouches’ in army surplus shops - at £20ish they're less than the baggage charges. Discuss: Budget airline jacket-bags.
- Take light bags and wear heavy clothes. Always wear the heaviest clothes you're taking and don't use big solid, heavy, metal luggage. If you've only 15kg, the bag's own weight could eat half of it.
- Find sub-£10 flights. Budget airlines often advertise sub-£10 flights, yet finding them's a nightmare, often people haven't checked the promo's specifics. Do it then use the flightchecker to find flights for you.
Eg. Until Thur, Ryanair's offering £9 e/w inc. most taxes & charges European flights for Sept and Oct to over 40 destinations.
- How to avoid booking fees. Most budget airlines charge up to £10 per person return if you pay by credit OR debit card. Yet get a prepaid Mastercard for Ryanair (FairFx* is cheapest) or Visa Electron for others (Post Office is cheapest), to pay on and it's free.
- More bags doesn't mean more weight. Beware, booking a 2nd bag doesn't mean your weight limit increases, just you can spread it around more bags.
- Avoid their travel insurance - get a year's for £14. Book a flight and their travel insurance may be auto-selected (even though that breaks EU law). Instead consider a year's policy for roughly the same cost e.g. Single £14, Family £28, Over 65s £29. For FULL info see Cheap Travel Insurance.
These are just the beginning, for an airline-by-airline guide, see Beat Budget Airline Fees
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| The Ones Not To Miss |
New! FREE 40-page 'First Time Mortgage' printed Guide
Mortgages harder than ever to get, find cheapest way to get on the property ladder
The mortgage market's been turned upside down in recent years - once lenders salivated at the thought of flogging massive debts to all, now they're tighter than a plane's wing nuts. You need preferably a 25% deposit to get a decent rate, though 10% is still just scrape-able. So we've a new post-credit crunch free 40 page MSE printed guide to help. What's in the guide? How to pick the best deal, boosting your chances of acceptability, get mortgages if you're self-employed, buy to let, where to get help and much more - plus special beginners sections such as how interest rates work. How to get the guide: Either order a printed guide or instantly download a PDF. For a full 'what's in it’ breakdown see the Full Note: MSE 1st time mortgages guide. Related: Free Remortgage Guide, Free Annuities Guide, Find Mortgage Broker, Mortgage Arrears Help.
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£10 for 3 Blu-rays at some WH Smiths (usually c.£8 each). Stock clearance in some branches, includes Die Hard 4.0, SATC, Simpsons. See Forum Note: Cheap Blu-rays. Plus secret Amazon bargains: Blu-rays 65% off*
5-night kids summer camps £49
For age 10-19 Activities inc. paintballing, archery, street dance, film making etc.
YHA camps reduced from £299 to £49 for all, available up to 22 Aug. See the Deals Note: Cheap Days Out
New TOP card for holiday spending
Save £100s spending abroad - beat even the best bureaux - apply now for hols
A new specialist best-buy travel credit card's launched that's quite simply the cheapest way to spend abroad. So get it and set up a direct debit to repay IN FULL to minimise interest. New Top Card: Most cards add a 3%-ish load to exchange rates (so spend £100 of Euros and you pay £103) but the Halifax Clarity* card is load-free worldwide, so you ALWAYS get the perfect exchange rate on spending. It's also fees free for ATM cash withdrawals, but does charge interest for those even if you repay in full; though at a typical 12.9% APR (about £1/mth per £100 withdrawn) that's lower than competitor cards. Top Europe only card + major perks: For European spending, the Nationwide Gold* (min income £25k) is load free, though for ATM withdrawals has a min £3 fee and charges interest even if you repay in full (27.9% APR typical). Yet it also offers a year's extra free warranty on UK bought electricals, and 15 mths 0% on balance transfers (3% fee) and unlike most cards as your money repays the costliest debts first, doing spending AND balance transfers on it isn't an issue. For FULL info see the Updated Guide: Cheap Travel Money Related Guides: 0% for 16mths bal transfers, £14 annual travel insurance
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Free Bottle of Milk (1Ltr) at Sainsbury's or Somerfield. Simply click 'n' print a voucher for this UHT milk. FULL info in the Daily Deals List: Supermarket Coupons Top Holiday Digi Camera Deals e.g. 10 MP £50
Current bargains available incl. 10 MP Fuji £50, 12MP Samsung £60, and sub-£100 Canon IXUS
Plus Flip Ultra pocket-sized high definition camcorders £80 (£50 off), see the Deals Note: Cheap Digital Cameras
New Vouchers! H&M 20% off (instant) & Coast 20% off (in mag)
New Discounts: Plus Lovehearts 30% off code, spend £40 get £5 off Morrisons
Join 10% off La Senza, Lipsy and Halfpriceperfumes.co.uk in the Deals List: Discount Vouchers [[tip_box_in_tip]]
Virgin & BA flight sales e.g. NYC £327 all-in, £357 Dubai, £392 Miami. Prices have shot up; these can be serious bargains, fly Sep-Mar 11. Plus Amex holders get £35 off. More info in Forum Note: BA & Virgin Sale
Warning! Fixed rate savings ending? Earn 4.15%
600,000 savings fixes end in July - if you don't act you'll be shoved to dismal rate
If you've a fixed rate savings account ending watch out, most banks then move your cash to a holding account at a dismal 0.1%ish rate, so check and act quickly to ensure you don't miss a fortune in interest. Here are the top current deals... Top Easy Access Savings (2.8%): Both Egg* and The AA* pay 2.8% AER though this includes a 2.3% bonus for a year, so you'll need switch again after that. If you've not used your £5,100 tax-free ISA allowance since April, fill that first, C&G's cash ISA pays 2.7% AER, again including a 1.7% 1 year bonus. Top Fixed Savings (up to 4.15%): If you're prepared to lock cash away the top online fix is ICICI's* (min £1,000) at 3.1% AER for a one year fix, 3.7% for two years and 4.15% for three. Though of course locking in for longer means if UK rates rose your fix could look less than competitive. Alternatively for shorter fixes you can earn slightly more through the postal account from Punjab National Bank at 3.25% AER for a year or 4% for two. Are they safe? All the accounts listed have the full £50,000 per person UK savings safety guarantee. FULL info in the Updated Guide: Top Savings Related: 2.7% Cash ISAs, 3% childrens savings, Are Your Savings Safe?
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Is BT's Sky Sports deal really cheaper than Sky? How does the deal stack up. See the News Story: Sky Sports cheaper on BT? Related: £75 Sky cashback deal
Free Prince's New '2010' Album in 65p paper! This weekend in a big publicity splash it'll be in the Mirror. Full info in the Forum Note: Free Prince Album
Energy Alert! New Annual Statements & Urgent £70 extra cashback
Massive cashback 'til Thurs - plus providers now forced to send annual summaries
More changes in the energy market... New Annual Statements: From this month, Ofgem's forcing suppliers to send you a yearly statement (by 1 Dec latest). This will finally detail the EXACT tariff you're on, something we believe companies deliberately miss to confuse and make switching difficult, plus any lock-in fees & when special tariffs end. So we've a new guide to show you how to make the most of this New Guide: Annual Energy Statements. Urgent £70 Extra Cashback: Until Thurs, switch to any Scottish Power tariff via some comparison sites (not direct) and you get £35 each for gas & electricity, on top of the usual freebies via the MSE links below; so if it's within £70 of your cheapest, it's a winner... Compare, switch & get cashback: (cashback specifically via these special links) The following give the extra cashback Top Pick Comparison: Energyhelpline* pays £15 cashback per switch. Dual Fuel: Uswitch* free case of wine. FULL switching info in the Guide: Switch Gas & Elec Related: Cheap Boiler Cover, Grant Grabbing
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£60 four-day holiday park family trips (usually c. £300)
Collect tokens in The Sun for 274 European holiday parks for 13 Sept - 26 Nov '10 holidays.
An ever-popular deal, the paper's cost is tiny compared to possible savings. See the Deals Note: Sun Holidays
£25 for 6 mini treatments at London Spa (worth c. £70). Works at one of the seven O Spas, see the Deals Note: Cheap Beauty Deals
URGENT! Free £40 mobile with cheap phone & broadband bundle
Get a £30 PAYG handset with £40 credit free with £16/mth line rental & broadband deal
Sign up via Simplify Digital before Friday 9 July.
Full info in the Updated Guide: Cheap Homes Phones Related Guides: Cheapest Mobiles, £6.49 Broadband
Pizza Express 2for1 for 45p joins free burger & chips at Yates
Restaurant Vouchers! Plus free brekkie at Giraffe worth £4.25 if you wear (take) a dressing gown!
Joins Toby Carvery 2 courses for £5.95, La Tasca 50%, Kids eat free at Loch Fyne & All Bar One 3 small dishes and a bottle of wine for £15 in the Daily Deals List: Restaurant Vouchers
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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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Archna's Free Game of the Week!
Strategy game for budding electricians. Electric Box
Until now I've never wanted to wear old Spice! That’s it for this week but having just been to the states, this add did make me think of converting... be an Old Spice man
We hope you save some money,
Martin & the MSE team
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Q. Are you aware of any cases of small businesses being successful in reclaiming bank charges on a business account? From Jack, by email.
Martin's A. You may be surprised to hear that the 'hardship rules' that consumers can still attempt to reclaim under (see bank charges reclaiming) apply to some businesses too.
Specifically they need to be 'micro-enterprises' which is defined as companies with an annual turnover of under €2million (approx £1.6million) with less than ten employees.
The actual definition of small business hardship is in the lending code (page 20 section 9) and is quite broad. As for whether I know if anyone's been successful - no - but then again MSE is a site that focuses on consumers not small business, so it's not as likely that it would've been reported to us.
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Discuss: Small biz charges
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, Charecroft Way, 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
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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: amazon.co.uk, alliance-leicester.co.uk, americanexpress.com, barclaycard.co.uk, cheltglos.co.uk, confused.com, egg.co.uk, energyhelpline.co.uk, gocompare.com, halifax.co.uk, icici.co.uk, moneysupermarket.com, nationwide.co.uk, natwest.co.uk, rbs.co.uk, primus.co.uk, santander.co.uk, simplyswitch.co.uk, tesco.co.uk, theaa.co.uk, uswitch.co.uk, 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.
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