Contents
FREE Cosmetics and Toiletries .................................................................. 15 Save $$$’s on Your Currency Exchange .................................................... 16 SAVE £££’s and Support Charity ............................................................... 17 £5 M&S Voucher for FREE ......................................................................... 18 FREE Credit Check - Fix Your Finances ...................................................... 19 Save over £100 on Glasses ....................................................................... 20 Make Money by Driving to Work ............................................................... 21 FREE Shopping ......................................................................................... 22 Save £610 On Your Food Bill ..................................................................... 23 Slash the Cost of Phone Calls .................................................................... 24 30% OFF Food Prices................................................................................ 25 50% OFF Restaurant Meals ...................................................................... 26
The easiest money you will ever earn ....................................................... 3 FREE Money For YOU ................................................................................ 4 Cheaper Petrol.......................................................................................... 5 Make £200 a Month for Sitting in Your Car!............................................... 6 Be Paid to Shop ........................................................................................ 7 £180 for your Old Mobile .......................................................................... 8 Free Money For Your Kids ......................................................................... 9 Be Paid for your Opinion ........................................................................... 10 Make up to £300 Per Month From Your Driveway ..................................... 11 FREE Flights! ............................................................................................ 12 FREE Laptop, Wii or PS3 ........................................................................... 13 Sell Your Photos ...................................................................................... 14
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60% OFF Designer Clothes ....................................................................... 27 Save £££’s on Batteries ............................................................................ 28 SAVE £££’s on Car Costs ........................................................................... 29 FREE Birthday and Greetings Cards........................................................... 30 Unclaimed Property Bargains ................................................................... 31 Half Price Wedding ................................................................................... 32 Half Price Cinema Tickets ......................................................................... 33 HALF PRICE Printer Cartridges ................................................................. 34 Sneaky Amazon Discounts ........................................................................ 35 FREE Live Shows....................................................................................... 36 Sneaky Discounts on Holidays, Gadgets, Books and More ......................... 37 Make up to £600 a month by propagating seedlings ................................. 38 FREE Travel Accommodation..................................................................... 39
Up to 20% Discount on Plumbing and Insulation ...................................... 40 FREE Food (for the Bold) .......................................................................... 41 Save Petrol by Being Smooth .................................................................... 42 33% OFF Rail Fares .................................................................................. 43 Make your Clubcard Points go 4 TIMES Further......................................... 44 SAVE £100’s on your Way to Work............................................................ 45 Cash Back For Late Trains ......................................................................... 46 FREE Car Insurance .................................................................................. 47 Turn Every Purchase into a Bargain .......................................................... 48 Save £££’s on Holiday Insurance .............................................................. 49 Save £££’s on Eletricity and Light Bulbs ................................................... 50 Reduce your Food Bill Improve your Health ............................................. 51 99% Discount on Water............................................................................ 52
Content and rates are accurate at time of publishing, but maybe subject to change. Back to Contents
The Easiest Money You will Ever Earn
Search the Internet as you normally would... and BE PAID!
Yes you read that correctly! Use the Internet search facility MoneymagpieSearch to search the Internet as normal and you'll be paid real cash. And that's not all… You will also be paid for searches that your friends make (on top of what they get paid - so they don't lose out). It's a no-brainer quite frankly. As soon as you've signed up you'll be taken to your own search page - once there, click the 'tell a friend' link (tell them all - they make money and so do you!) One point to remember - use the search facility as you normally would. Any abnormal behaviour might get you barred! NEXT STEP: Click on MoneymagpieSearch
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FREE Money For YOU
Did you know that there’s a service to help you find any old bank accounts you might have forgotten about?
Mylostaccount is a free online search service that will rummage through bank records. You have to enter your details and it will tell you if you’ve got any old accounts you have forgotten about. You’ve got to get searching soon as the Government has announced that it is going to take unclaimed funds in dormant accounts that haven’t been touched for 15 years or more. It will use these monies to fund social projects in 2009. So hurry up and find your dormant accounts before the Government does. NEXT STEP: Click on Mylostaccount SEE ALSO: Getting Money for Free
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Cheaper Petrol
Pay less for petrol with free comparison site Petrolprices.
Don’t waste your time, money and petrol driving from garage to garage to find lower prices. Simply register with Petrolprices and you can compare petrol costs in your area at absolutely no charge. They update the rates daily and cover all the petrol stations in the UK. All you need to do is create a free to help you find the best deals. It will be quite an eye-opener to see how different the prices are in different garages. On some days the site can save you up to 14p a litre. NEXT STEP: Click on Petrolprices SEE ALSO: Alternative to owing a car Petrolprices account by
filling in your details and you will get 20 price searches a week
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MAKE £200 a Month for Sitting in Your Car!
Want to earn some extra money without any effort?
You can make between £70 and £200 month by putting an advert on your car. Go to Adsoncars and fill in the online form. Adsoncars will match a product or service to you. Your car will be taken into a workshop and given a special ‘skin’ that doesn’t damage the paintwork. The amount you can make depends on your car, average mileage and the size of the advert. Contracts last between 3 and 12 months. You are paid cash or offered free petrol for every full month that the advert is on your car. So it’s an easy way to make money for nothing and will probably deter thieves too! NEXT STEP: Click on Adsoncars SEE ALSO: 10 easy ways to make quick cash
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Be Paid to Shop
It may sound too good to be true but you can make money from shopping with cashback sites.
When you buy a product through a cashback site they will give you some money back. Some sites like Cashback shopper and Rpoints will even give you money just for signing up with them. Many cashback sites will also reward you for getting your friends involved. This can be a really easy way to make extra cash. So if one of your friends wants to buy something big soon, get them on to these sites through (your referral) and make some extra money for yourself. NEXT STEP: Click on Cashback Sites SEE ALSO: Getting money for Free
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£180 for your Old Mobile
Recycling your old mobile phone is good for the environment and it can also make you some money.
Companies like Mopay will take old mobile phones off your hands for as much as £200 if they are top models and in good condition. They will also recycle your broken phones for you and pay as much as 90% of the full value of the phone. If you prefer to get supermarket points for your phone you can trade it in at Tesco Mobile Recycle or Nectar mobiles and get points that can be used in restaurants, shops and supermarkets. Old mobiles can go to third world countries or just be recycled to make new phones so you can feel good about making some easy money and helping the planet at the same time. NEXT STEP: Click on Mopay SEE ALSO: Recycle Your Mobile for Cash
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FREE Money For Your Kids
Did you know you can save money for your children’s futures just by shopping online?
Kidstart is a new type of cashback site that will put up to 20% of the price of each of your online purchases into your child’s Trust Fund, or into their savings account. In fact, anyone can do it – grandparents, aunts, uncles, even friends can elect to have their cashback put into their favourite child’s account. Kidstart has done deals with sites like Expedia, Marks and Spencer and even the Apple Store, so you can make money on your purchases with them. All you’ve got to do is register at Kidstart and use the links on their page. It’s a great way to invest in your children’s future even if you think you don’t have any money to save. NEXT STEP: Click on KidStart SEE ALSO: Index-tracking funds
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Be Paid for your Opinion
You can make extra money just by sitting at your computer and filling out a few online surveys in your spare time.
There are websites that will pay you just for your opinions. You can make regular money, (probably around £20-30 a month) for very little effort. Every now and then you’ll have the opportunity to win some amazing prizes. There are plenty of online survey sites to choose from. But be careful, never pay anything to join a site. If they want money up front then leave and go to one of the great sites that are completely free to join. Some of the best are Panelbase, Toluna, Ciao and GreatUKSurvey. Remember to create a separate email account just for this so that your main email account doesn’t get inundated with spam. NEXT STEP: Click on Panelbase, Toluna, Ciao and GreatUKSurvey SEE ALSO: Online Surveys
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Make up to £300 Per Month From Your Driveway
Do you have a driveway or garage?
Rent it out by the day or even the year and make yourself some serious cash. Register for free at Park Let or Parkatmyhouse to find people waiting to park at your postcode. All you have to do is put your postcode and details of the space on the sites and wait for eager parkers to get in touch with you. You choose when and for how long you rent your space. It can be rented for an entire year if you never use it. You could capitalise on any special events in your area, such as games at your local football ground, and rent your drive or garage for just a few hours. It’s free money! NEXT STEP: Click on Park Let , Parkatmyhouse SEE ALSO: If you've got it - rent it!
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FREE Flights!
Get a free flight by changing your credit card.
Get Citibank’s Bmibaby credit card (typical 16.9% APR, 0% on balance transfers for 12 months with a 3% fee) and they’ll give you a free return flight when you spend £100 or more on retail purchases within 90 days of opening the account. To keep you sweet they also give you an extra return flight for every 12 months you keep the card, providing you spend at least £3,000 on the card in that year. Citibank also has an easyJet Mastercard (typical 16.9% APR, 0% on balance transfers for nine months) which offers a free flight worth £40 if you spend at least £250 on it in the first 90 days. You also get 10% off all easyJet bookings made in the first three months, plus airmiles every time you use it. Remember, though, these deals are only worth going for if you’re the kind of person who pays off their balance each month. NEXT STEP: Click on Bmibaby
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SEE ALSO: Compare and apply for a credit card
FREE Laptop, Wii or PS3
Carphone Warehouse is offering these freebies with select monthly mobile phone contracts.
Even if you don’t need a laptop, pick up the contract and then sell it on eBay to make a nice profit. It could even cover the cost of your mobile phone contract for the year. Alternatively get a Wii, Playstation 3 or a Wii Fit when you take out a similar phone contract. NEXT STEP: Click on 50 top tips for day-to-day savings SEE ALSO: Carphone Warehouse
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Sell Your Photos
Make money out of your photos through online photo agencies
Different agencies are looking for different kinds of photos. For example, Picturenation wants spontaneous photos of ordinary people at the workplace, and pictures of modern life. Fotolia wants upbeat and lively photos of people, emotions and the workplace. You might only make a few pounds to start with, but once your photos are uploaded they are available for purchase and to generate comissions for you forever. NEXT STEP: Click on Picturenation, Fotolia SEE ALSO: 10 easy ways to make quick cash
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FREE Cosmetics and Toiletries
Do you fancy some free hand-cream, or a free bottle of washing-up liquid, or shampoo?
If you’re willing to answer a few questions about them then you could get all sorts of freebies by registering with Cosmetic Research Online. It’s free to join. Just answer the (rather long) questionnaire about yourself, your family, your skin-type etc. Then they will send you products to try out (without the labels so you don’t know which brand they are). If you have children they will send you products for them to try too, including free nappies, creams and toiletries. All the trial products sent to you are quite safe. They just want to know what you think of them and whether you think they could be improved. NEXT STEP: Click on Cosmetic Research Online SEE ALSO: Make money by selling your own perfume
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Save $$$’s on Your Currency Exchange
If you’re going abroad for your holiday this year make sure you get the best deal with your travel money.
As with anything, do shop around for the best rates and never change your money at the airport or from your tour operator they have the worst deals around. According to Moneyfacts the top three foreign money providers currently are Marks & Spencer, the Post Office and Travelex. For example, if you wanted to buy €500 (at time of publishing) it would cost you £431.03 at Thomas Cook while it would be just £404.89 at Travelex, a saving of £26.14. Not only that but you don’t even have to leave the house to get your money. If you pre-order your currency online at Travelex you can have it delivered to you, or pick it up at one of their airport outlets just before you fly off to spend it. NEXT STEP: Click on Marks & Spencer, Post Office, Travelex SEE ALSO: Moneymagpie recommended comparison service
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SAVE £££’s and Support Charity
You can save money and do something good for charity just by shopping online.
Give or Take is a cashback site with a difference. It gives you 100% of the advertising revenue that the site makes when you shop with them. This way, you could end up saving money on your purchases. Then you can decide whether to take the money or give it to charity. There are loads of big online shops to choose from, like Amazon, Marks and Spencer and eBay and you have the choice of lots of charities to donate to. Even if you don’t give all of your cashback earnings away, just using the site enables them to offer this donation service to charities for free – so you’re still doing a good deed at no extra cost to yourself. NEXT STEP: Click on Give or Take SEE ALSO: Moneymagpie Smart Spending
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£5 M&S Voucher for FREE
You can get free Marks and Spencer vouchers in exchange for your old clothes.
To encourage their customers to go green and recycle their clothing, M&S has joined up with Oxfam. You can get a £5 voucher for every clothing donation to Oxfam that has at least one item from M&S. The vouchers are only valid on purchases of over £35 on beauty products, homewares or clothing, so you do have to spend a bit to get your discount. Cunning tip: To get more money off, you could donate your M&S clothes one at a time getting a voucher for every donation. You have to spend £35 per voucher, it’s great for frequent M&S shoppers, or better still why not dish them out to your mates as a pressies. NEXT STEP: Click on Be First to Hear about Freebie Deals on Free Moneymagpie Newsletter SEE ALSO: Loads More Bargains
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FREE Credit Check Fix Your Finances
Can’t get approved for a credit card?
Find out what the banks and other lenders think of you. Correct any mistakes or inaccuracies concerning your financial situation. You can discover and start improving your credit score; that’s what financial companies use to decide whether to lend you money or not. Get a free credit check from Experian. You get the first 30 days for free and there’s no obligation to remain a subscriber (at £6.99 a month). They even provide advice on improving your credit record. So sign up for FREE and check out your credit report. Just remember to unsubscribe before the 30 days are up. NEXT STEP: Click on Experian SEE ALSO: Loads More Freebies
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Save over £100 on Glasses
Save a fortune buying your glasses online.
The average spend on a pair of glasses from a high street optician is £146. If you want designer frames you can expect to pay around £300. Most online opticians, like Select Specs, Glasses Direct and Spex4less, will provide basic lenses with scratch resistance and anti-glare completely free when you buy your frames. Find a pair you like on the high street and order them online from one of the websites below. When ordering your glasses online you’ll need your prescription and the distance between your pupils (which you can get measured during your eye test). NEXT STEP: Click on Select Specs, Glasses Direct and Spex4less SEE ALSO: Loads more Bargains
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Make Money by Driving to Work
Save or even make money by doing a car share.
If you have a car and you drive to work, register with one of the car-sharing websites like Carshare, Nationalcarshare or Liftshare. You can share petrol costs with a passenger. If you have more than one passenger you can save them money on transport AND make a bit on the side yourself. You can also do a car share for one-off journeys like Manchester to Edinburgh or Birmingham to St Ives. If you don’t have a car it’s worth checking the sites for a cheaper way to get to work or visit your family. Sharing the petrol costs like this can be even cheaper than the train or plane. NEXT STEP: Click on Carshare, Nationalcarshare or Liftshare SEE ALSO: Alternatives to owning a car
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FREE Shopping
If you love to shop till you drop, mystery shopping is the perfect way to earn some cash on the side and get free meals, free hotel stays and free drinks in pubs.
The hours are really flexible, you work when you want to and all you have to do is tell the company about your shopping experience. You get paid once they receive your review and you could earn anything from £6 to £20 an hour with your spare time. Sign up with an agency like GFK, Grass Roots or JKS Mystery Shopping. However, avoid any dodgy agencies that ask you to pay them any money to register - that should be free! You don’t need any previous experience- but you must be reliable, honest and have good English. NEXT STEP: Click on GFK, Grass Roots or JKS Mystery Shopping SEE ALSO: Loads More Easy Money Making Ideas
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Save £610 On Your Food Bill
Did you know that you could fill 12 double decker buses with the amount of apples we throw away everyday in Britain?
The average family could save £610 a year by: 1) only buying as much food as they need 2) using everything they buy The website Love Food Hate Waste has loads of information on how to stop wasting money on food. There are tips on how to store food to make it last longer so it doesn’t go off before you’ve had time to use it. They’ve also got recipes for turning odds and ends into sumptuous meals. Plus there are guides to portion sizes to prevent you from buying too much in the first place. NEXT STEP: Click on Love Food Hate Waste SEE ALSO: Food shopping
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Slash the Cost of Phone Calls
Get cheaper phone calls without the hassle of changing providers.
There are companies that offer massive discounts on
international, landline and mobile calls. One of the best for UK landlines is 1899.co.uk. You pay a 3p connection charge and then the call is completely free, no matter how long you talk for. For calling mobiles during the day one of the cheapest service is 18185.co.uk which is 6p/min plus a 5p connection charge that’s less than half the BT peak price. These calls are charged straight to your credit or debit card. You must already have a phone line to use them - it doesn’t matter which company provides it. NEXT STEP: Click on 10 ways to save on your phone bills SEE ALSO: 18185.co.uk and 1899.co.uk
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30% OFF Food Prices
Food and household products are up to 30% cheaper in local outdoor markets than they are in supermarkets.
Market stall holders have lower overheads than supermarkets and they don’t have hungry shareholders demanding that they make bigger and bigger profits. You can buy more fruit and veg loose at markets and you can also haggle with the vendors to get a better deal. At the end of the day stalls will often sell off what they’ve got left for discount prices, which is when you can pick up the real bargains. Go prepared to buy in bulk and turn extra veges into soups, stews or meals for the freezer. Even big trays of fruit going for £1 at the end of the day can be frozen or juiced. NEXT STEP: Click on Save Money on Your Food Shopping SEE ALSO: Love Food Hate Waste
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50% OFF Restaurant Meals
If you fancy a great night out in a fancy restaurant you could get up to 50% off by booking in advance through sites like Toptable and 5pm.
They have lots of different offers all over the country. You can get free bottles of wine, champagne cocktails and taster menus at huge reductions as well as entire meals at half price. The added bonus is that each time you book with these sites you earn points towards a free meal. Also, if you’ve got a Young Person’s Railcard you automatically get enough points for a free meal on Toptable. All you’ve got to do is register using the link on the Young Person’s Railcard page and they’ll automatically credit your account. On Toptable you can also earn extra, extra points if you book a hotel through them - this will help you get even more free meals. NEXT STEP: Click on Toptable and 5pm SEE ALSO: Half Price Restaurant Deals
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60% OFF Designer Clothes
You never need to pay the full price for designer clothes.
There are always huge savings to be made if you know where to go. Sign up to the free alerts from the Designer Warehouse Sales in London. They have regular sales of designer men’s and women’s clothes from high-fashion labels like Galliano and Prada. Clothes sell at massive reductions of 60% or more. And don’t forget the old favourites like Bicester Village and the McArthur Glen - outlets for great discounts on designer clobber all year round. You could also check eBay for any bargains but watch out for fakes (if the description says it’s genuine Hermes but being offered for 99p then beware!). However, at least with eBay you can reduce your costs even further by selling your old clothes first to pay for the new ones. NEXT STEP: Click on Designer Warehouse Sales SEE ALSO: Fashion Despite the Budget
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Save £££’s on Batteries
Use rechargeable batteries to save money and the planet.
They do cost a little more than normal ones on the initial purchase, and you need to buy a charger. But after that you will be quids-in. For every throwaway battery a rechargeable one can be used around a thousand times so you can save hundreds of pounds in the long-run. There are lots to choose from but go for a larger capacity battery (e.g. 2700 milliamp hours or mAh) which won’t need recharging too often. These batteries are great for things that use a lot of power like digital cameras. DON’T put them in a smoke alarm as they tend to run out more suddenly than disposable ones. Go to Amazon to grab yourself a great deal like the four-pack of 2650 mAH Duracell Supreme batteries for just £6.39. NEXT STEP: Click on Amazon
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SEE ALSO: Save £££’s on Gas and Eletricity
SAVE £££’s on Car Costs
Great alternatives to owning a car.
If you’re fed up with forking out for insurance, parking permits and maintenance then you can save money by using an ondemand rental service like Streetcar or Zipcar. These companies rent out cars and vans by the hour, day, week or month. Unlike a normal rental company, the cars and vans are located in residential areas, so all you’ve got to do is go online, find your nearest one and (with luck!) walk over to it within 10 minutes. An hour’s rental costs around £5, so you can use the car for running errands, going food shopping or any other quick task that you really need a car for. When you’re finished, you just park it back where it was – no need to pay for insurance, parking or road tax. NEXT STEP: Click on Zipcar, Streetcar SEE ALSO: Make Money From Your Driveway
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FREE Birthday and Greetings Cards
Save some trees and your money with e-cards.
There are loads of websites that will send free e-cards on your behalf such as E-cards 4 Me and Miniclip. However, we love the elegant animated cards at Jacquie Lawson designed by talented St Martin’s trained artist Jacquie Lawson. For just £5.25, the price of about two shop-bought cards, you can send as many e-cards as you like from the entire gorgeous collection. Most of us spend lots of money on birthday and anniversary cards each year so this is a great way to cut costs and give the people we love something special. NEXT STEP: Click on E-cards 4 Me and Miniclip SEE ALSO: Jacquie Lawson and Great gift ideas
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Unclaimed Property Bargains
Need a new bike or fancy some jewellery?
Get your hands on a bargain at a police auction where you can bid on unclaimed stolen or confiscated items that need a new home. Visit Bumblebeeauctions - several police stations across the country use it to auction off unclaimed property. There are loads of savings to be made and many items are in great condition so take a look. All kinds of items are sold on Bumblebeeauctions but bicycles in particular often sell for well under the market value. It works like eBay with buyers bidding until a deadline. You can avoid paying postage costs by collecting the items yourself from the relevant police station. Why not use it to find bargains that you can sell on for a profit. NEXT STEP: Click on Bumblebeeauctions SEE ALSO: Lost luggage
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Half Price Wedding
The average wedding now costs a staggering £18,000.
If you really want to cut the costs of your big day, why not get your friends to contribute to the cost instead of buying you yet another toaster? A new website called You Buy my Wedding helps you do just that. You simply set up an account and then your guests log on to your personal page and pledge money. They can choose the category from invitations, flowers, bridal gown, reception, drinks, honeymoon, rings, cake and more. Once your required Wedding Fund has been achieved the company transfers that amount into your bank account minus an administration charge of 4.75%. So it does cost a bit, but at least you know you will get what you really want for your wedding. NEXT STEP: Click on You Buy my Wedding SEE ALSO: How to plan your big day
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Half Price Cinema Tickets
Buy tickets online half price for films with available seats from noon on a weekday.
Go to Lastminute.com where you can buy tickets at any one of 14 participating Vue cinemas for the bargain price of £4.99 (plus 50p booking fee). This is only for lucky Londoners, but for everyone else there are still ways to save - you can get 2 for 1 tickets with Orange Wednesdays. Orange customers can text FILM to 241 from their phone and they will be sent a code which you show at the cinema. If you’re not with Orange you can always just buy an Orange pay-as-you-go Sim card and put a small amount on it to take advantage of the offer. NEXT STEP: Click on Lastminute.com SEE ALSO: Getting the right phone deal
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HALF PRICE Printer Cartridges
Refill your printer cartridges and save yourself heaps of cash.
Don’t buy a brand new cartridge every time one runs out. Get a refill kit or take the empty cartridge to a refil store. The print quality will not be affected and refilling can reduce the cost by half. If you call into a Cartridge World store, for example, they will refill your old cartridge, test it on one of their printers and then re-package it for protection. Or look on Google Shopping for a range of nice cheap refill kits. By refilling your cartridges instead of buying new ones you can save loads. And of course it’s much better for the environment because cartridges can take more than 450 years to biodegrade. NEXT STEP: Click on Cartridge World, Google Shopping SEE ALSO: Recycling your printer cartridges
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Sneaky Amazon Discounts
Claim money back on your Amazon puchases that have been lowered within 30 days of buying.
Check the prices on the website against your receipts/invoices for the past month. Sign into your Amazon account and, when you spot a discount that you missed out on, send Amazon an email or call them on their free number 0800 496 1081, and then press option 8. It’s a fantastic way to help make sure you always get a great deal on any purchases, and don’t miss out on any of their mammoth discounts. NEXT STEP: Click on Amazon SEE ALSO: How to stay safe online
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FREE Live Shows
Get some free entertainment by going to see TV shows for absolutely nothing.
You can be in the audience for free shows, tours and live events. Just go to the BBC tickets page to sign up for free tickets. Another great site is Lost in TV where you can apply for tickets to other TV network shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and The Paul O’Grady Show. Add yourself to their mailing list to receive updates on forthcoming shows. NEXT STEP: Click on BBC tickets and Lost in TV SEE ALSO: Free Stuff
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Sneaky Discounts on Holidays, Gadgets, Books and More
Get online discounts by checking out sites like VoucherCodes and MyVoucherCodes.
They’ll give you promotional codes that online sites are running and, although occasionally unreliable, they can really come up trumps with great discounts for sites like Expedia, Amazon and Hotels.com. These codes don’t always work first time, so be persistent! You may need to enter a special code, but sometimes you just go straight to the website in question, and the discount is there for all to see. NEXT STEP: Click on vouchercodes and myvouchercodes SEE ALSO: Bag a Bargain
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Make up to £600 a month by propagating seedlings
Are you handy in the garden? Do you have a decent-sized greenhouse?
You could make £100s a month by propagating seedlings and then selling them at local car boot sales. Get cheap plant pots by going to a local nursery and offering to take some of their used ones off their hands. Many have hundreds of them lying around and might hand you a wheelbarrow-full for a tenner. Go for cheaper seeds like Foxgloves that sell well but cost little to produce. Propagate them in your greenhouse until they are big enough to sell. Then you can either find a pitch at a car boot sale or go direct to local shops and garages to offer them trays to sell. If you undercut the price charged by local gardening shops you will do well. NEXT STEP: Click on Propagating Seedlings SEE ALSO: Renting your Garden
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FREE Travel Accommodation
Couch Surfing is a great way to save lots of money on your holiday.
Once you have registered at Couchsurfing.com you can search for people all over the world who are willing to let you stay on their couch, or in their spare bed, for absolutely nothing! You choose where to stay and who to stay with. It’s a great way to save pots of money and meet new people. In fact, you are likely to find that anyone kind enough to let you crash on their couch may well want to show you around, so you’ll probably have some adventures too. NEXT STEP: Click on Couchsurfing.com SEE ALSO: Cheap Gateways
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Up to 20% Discount on Plumbing and Insulation
Summer is a good time to get plumbing or insulation work done.
In the middle of winter, when there’s a big freeze and your boiler goes wrong or you need insulation, plumbers and other workers will be in demand, and therefore more expensive. During summer plumbers and insulators tend to be less busy and more willing to negotiate on price. So if you know that your boiler needs a service or may even need mending or replacing, get in touch with at least three specialists to see what deal they could offer. It’s also worth finding out if your local council has an ‘approved list’ of suppliers. NEXT STEP: Click on Home Improvements SEE ALSO: Insulate your home for next to nothing
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FREE Food (for the Bold)
Fancy nabbing some tasty food for free?
Supermarkets throw away around 5% of their food every day simply because it has past it’s sell by date. If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, have a go at being a ‘Freegan’ and dig deep into supermarket bins to get perfectly good food for absolutely nothing. You may think it’s unhygienic, but most of this food is prepackaged and protected from any unsanitary substances. Be wary of fish or meat products, but bread, cake, dry foods and many dairy products that are packaged can be quite safe to eat after their sell-by-dates. Not all supermarkets have these bins and others may stop you delving into them. But if you thrive on a challenge, have a go at Freeganism and you can get some great food without paying a penny. NEXT STEP: Click on Foraging - eat for free
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SEE ALSO: Love Food Hate Waste
Save Petrol by Being Smooth
Save on petrol – and help the planet – by changing the way you drive.
If you stop and start a lot, break suddenly and generally drive in a jerky way, you will be using more petrol than you need to. A car consumes the most petrol when it accelerates, according to the law of physics (force equals mass times acceleration), but when it’s moving it doesn’t need much to keep going. So by keeping your driving technique smooth and not braking all the time, you keep your speed without having to accelerate. This is the most efficient way to save petrol giving you 10% 20% more mileage, which means significant savings, given the price of petrol now. NEXT STEP: Click on Alternatives to owning a car SEE ALSO: Petrol prices
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33% OFF Rail Fares
Two out of every three Britons qualify for a railcard.
They cost £24 for the year. If you’re 16-25, or a mature student, use the 16-25’s Railcard and get a third off all rail fares across Britain. If you’re over 60, holiday any time you like with the Senior Railcard and receive a third off all standard and first class train fares across Britain. For groups travelling with children make sure you have a Family and Friends Railcard. With it you can get 1/3 off your fare and as much as 60% off kids’ fares for up to four kids. The children don’t even need to be relatives, so you could be travelling with your friends’ children and still get the discount. NEXT STEP: Click on 16-15’s railcard, senior’s railcard, family and friends railcard SEE ALSO: Alternative to owing a car
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Make your Clubcard Points go 4 TIMES Further
Never spend your Tesco Clubcard points in store.
They are worth a massive four times more when you buy something from their Clubcard brochure instead. A Tesco Clubcard pays one point per pound you spend in the supermarket, so if you’re a regular customer it won’t take you long to build up your points. Once you’ve saved up enough simply exchange your vouchers for the Tesco Clubcard deal tokens to get the most value for your points. The tokens can then be used on all kinds of things including days out, restaurants or even your next holiday. NEXT STEP: Click on Tesco Clubcard SEE ALSO: Food Shopping
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SAVE £100’s on your Way to Work
By riding a bike to work instead of driving or using public transport you can save hundreds of pounds in petrol or train fares.
Not only that but you don’t need to bother with that gym membership either. It’s also much better for the environment and you can even grab yourself a cheap second hand bike at police auction sites like Bumblebeeauctions or on eBay. NEXT STEP: Click on Bumblebeeauctions, eBay SEE ALSO: Feel 10 years younger and richer
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Cash Back For Late Trains
Have the train companies compensate you for delays.
If your train arrives more than an hour late because of delays, you are entitled to a minimum of 20% on the cost of the ticket. This is usually paid in National Rail travel vouchers. If trains are delayed by more than two hours you should try claiming for a full refund. To make a claim you can either use a form obtained at the station, or one from the train on which the delay occurs. Alternatively you can write your own letter of complaint to the appropriate service provider (Virgin, etc). Attach copies (not originals) of your tickets as proof of purchase. NEXT STEP: Click on Virgin, First Great Western, South West Trains, East Midlands Train , Cross Country , National Express East Cost
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FREE Car Insurance
Alliance and Leicester is offering a year’s free car insurance if they can’t beat your current renewal.
There are, of course, strings attached. For a start it is only for people who don’t already have motor insurance with Kwik-fit Insurance, and it only relates to like-for-like cover on equivalent terms to your renewal notice. They will want a copy of your renewal invitation or notice from your previous insurer as proof - so no making up cheap renewal quotes! The big catch is that you will only get the year’s free insurance if you actually take out the second year of insurance with them. However, it might still be a good deal. NEXT STEP: Click on Cut your Car Insurance SEE ALSO: Compare the Market, Kwik-fit Insurance and Confused.com
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Turn Every Purchase into a Bargain
Make every shop earn your custom by giving you a discount or a freebie.
Times are tough on the high street and they’re likely to get tougher. So even big stores are willing to do a deal if it means the difference between getting a sale and not getting one. So give it a go. Many shops have Sales Assistants on comission who are under pressure to make a sale. Before you leave home find the cheapest price you could get on the internet for the item you want, and then ask your local shop to beat that price. What’s more many companies will give you free delivery for bulky items if you ask. And why not see if you can get a carrying case or other accessories thrown in for free. Do remember to be pleasant at all times and smile! NEXT STEP: Click on Haggling - You can do it SEE ALSO: Kelkoo
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Save £££’s on Holiday Insurance
Go online for the best holiday insurance deals.
Never go for the insurance deal offered by your tour operator, it will almost certainly be one of the most expensive deals around. Look on insurance comparison sites such as Compare the Market or MoneySupermarket for the cheapest deals. And if you go away more than once a year don’t forget to check the annual and multi-trip policy prices. NEXT STEP: Click on Compare the Market or MoneySupermarket SEE ALSO: Travel Insurance
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Save £££’s on Eletricity and Light Bulbs
Save £600+ over the lifetime of energy-saving light bulbs when you use them throughout your house.
Eco light bulbs cost a little more than traditional ones but they use 80% less electricity to run for the same amount of light. These days energy-saving bulbs come in all shapes and sizes so you can use them in every room. Robert Dyas is selling packs of three for £3. While IKEA, Ryness and B&Q are good places to try. Replace all the light bulbs in your home and you can start cutting down your electricity bills while doing some good for the environment. NEXT STEP: Click on Energy-saving light bulbs SEE ALSO: Switch your energy provider and cut your bills
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Reduce your Food Bill Improve your Health
By cutting down on your meat intake you can lower both your cholesterol levels and your food bill.
There are oodles of great vegetarian alternatives to meat that will cost you much less and still taste fantastic (no, really!) Beans and pulses are top nutrition, and dead good for bulking up a meal. They’re also a Brucey bargain, and can be used to make yummy soups and curries. Try the Love Food Hate Waste and eighth-day for loads of great recipes. If you can’t live without meat then use your freezer more. Pick up meat that is marked down because it’s near its sell-by date and freeze it for later. NEXT STEP: Click on Love Food Hate Waste, eighth-day SEE ALSO: Food and Family
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99% Discount on Water
The average cost of a litre of bottled water is £1.
It doesn’t sound a lot, but £1 will buy you 10,000 litres of tap water. UK tap water is among the safest and purest in the world. Yet we waste over £2bn every year on buying, mostly imported, bottled water. Just the packaging for bottled water causes a huge amount of waste, and that doesn’t allow for the carbon emissions it takes to get the water from the source to the supermarket. Restaurants make huge profits on bottled water because so many of us are too embarrassed to ask for tap water. Don’t pay for something that is free. Ask for tap water and drink it proudly. NEXT STEP: Click on 50 ways to save money and the planet SEE ALSO: Eating and Drinking in a ‘greener’ way
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