I love money saving and I am not afraid to admit it I worship Martin Lewis. I first found his website www.moneysavingexpert.co.uk (MSE for short) about 7 years ago when I gave up work to be a stay at home mum. Over the years, all thanks to MSE we appealed to get our council tax band lowered and WON, I have done lots of Mystery Shopping, I always shop around and I never leave the house without some form of voucher in my purse. Talking to other people though, it seems not everyone knows about the deals that are out there, and I thought I would blog about some of the savings we have made this past 2 weeks. So grab a cuppa and settle down.
Home Insurance
My renewal came through at £176.00 which I thought was very good, but I was determined to beat that price. The laptop was opened and after a few minutes I got it down to £164.00. This was with exactly the same insurer, but getting a quote as a NEW customer gets you a better deal. I also went through a cashback site. I use Quidco and since I started using them I have been paid a whopping £1351.91 !!! Anyway going through Quidco will get me a further £35.00. So all in all a nice saving of £47.00 off my renewal price.
Christmas Shopping
Groan…. yep its expensive this time of year, but again if you shop wisely you can save money. I mainly do all of my Christmas shopping online, as I find it easier and you can get better deals on the internet. I try never to pay for delivery, and either hunt around on the internet for a free delivery code, or do click and collect to a local store which is normally free. I also save my Tesco Clubcard vouchers and save Nectar points which can make a big difference. So here are my bargains.
Tesco Online
Monster High Set – £36.00 (this was £44.00 on other retailers websites)
Lego Friends Set – £40.00
I had a £9.00 off voucher when you spend over £50.00 on toys, plus I had £15.00 of Tesco clubcard vouchers which I doubled up to £30.00. So total cost £76.00 – I paid £37.00 (saving £39.00)
Husband also did an order with Tesco online. As he had never ordered from them before he found a £10.00 off £50.00 spend for new customers. So 2 xbox games ordered and another £10.00 saved.
Sainburys Online
Disney dvd – £8.00
xbox game – £12.00
I had £15.00 worth of Nectar points which I redemmed, making the total cost £5.00 and another saving of £15.00
Marks and Spencer Online
Thanks to MSE I found that Marks and Spencer had 50% off some of their beauty gift sets. I ordered £50.00 worth for £25.00, and then found a code for £10.00 off £50.00 which was working as if the beauty sets were full price. So a total spend of £15.00 for £50.00 worth of Christmas presents. A fantastic saving of £35.00
Claires Accessories Online
I needed to order 2 x £10.00 gift vouchers for my friends children. I found a £10.00 off £30.00 spend, so it made sense to order another £10.00 worth of items for my daughter for Christmas for free !
Again as I went through Quidco, I will have a further £7.07 paid to me for the above shops. So all in all over a 2 week period I have managed a huge dent in the Christmas shopping and sorted out home insurance and saved an incredible £153.07 !!!!!
What are your tips for saving money around this time of year ?
