Groupon Summer Offers

This summer check out Groupon for exclusive deals on everything from international travel to summer snacks.

Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website which gives discounts for local, national and international companies. Groupon was launched in November 2008, and by October 2010 served more than 250 markets in North America and the rest of the world, with 35 million registered users.

It works by offering a deal each day that users must sign-up for. Providing the quota is met that deal can then be purchased, offering fantastic discounts. Groupon contacts customers by daily emails for offers they may be interested in. The site has also recently launched a mobile app available on Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7. It allows users to buy deals on their phones and retrieve them by using the screen as a coupon.

With all this why not sign up today and start saving!

Basic Personal Budgeting

Money Saving Man was reading the introduction to a book today that really piqued his interest. It was on the question of personal finance and how to handle money. One of the key ways to save money is actually down to how you handle your money in the first place, so being a blog dedicated to ways to save money, we had to weigh-in with something.

This is a basic plan that will help you with your monthly finances, based upon receiving a monthly salary. It is just a skeleton and needs to be fleshed out with your own personal preferences and circumstance, but is a useful guide for all those wishing to take control of their personal finances.

Budget Structure


This is made up of your income, expenditure and savings. An obvious rule is that expenditure and savings cannot equal more than your income.

1. Income
This is the money you received from an employer, customer/s or any other income on a monthly basis. This can only be considered after tax and minus any other automatic deductions for a pension or loan repayments to your employer etc.

2. Expenditure
This is what you spend from your income each month. It is made up of bills, repayments, spending money, food etc. Most importantly it includes the buffer!

3. Savings
This is what you put away each month

First note down how much your income in total is

Walmart Coupons

No need to spend time looking through papers or magazines for those all important shopping coupons - Walmart has on-line coupons that can be printed off directly.


Current savings include $1 savings on purchases of two Big G cereals such as Cheerios or Chex, $1 savings on purchases of two S C Johnson cleaning products and $2 off any L'Oreal Healthy Look Creme Gloss Hair Colour.


Other savings can be found on DVDs, magazines, toys, personal care and fragrances. 


http://coupons.walmart.com/


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MoneySavingExpert Website Sells for £87m

The inspiration behind this blog, MoneySavingExpert.com, has just sold to MoneySupermarket for the huge sum of £87 million. 

Pending agreement from MoneySupermarket shareholders, Martin Lewis, the creator of the MoneySavingExpert brand will receive £60 million upfront, made up of cash and shares, and a further £27 million conditional on meeting targets over the next three years. Martin has already pledged to give £10 million to charity, including £1 million to Citizens Advice. Martin has stood over the years as not so much the anti-capitalist but the leading figure in how to play the system and stand up for consumer rights.

He will retain control over the website, staying on as editor-in-chief for the next three years with a view to reduced working hours thereafter. Martin paid an obscure company £100 to set up his website in 2003, which in nine years has seen an incredible leap in value owing to its nearly 40 million unique visitors a year and  five million email subscribers. Recent years of recession have simply served to further his popularity as he has appeared on several television shows as a pundit on money matters.

Money Saving Man wishes MoneySavingExpert all the best and is thankful for the inspiration!

Cheap Alternative to the New iPad

In the world of tablet PCs there has long been one king - Apple's unique iPad. But as more and more companies have jumped on the tablet bandwagon, can the iPad retain its unblemished crown?

The secret to subverting the jewel in the crown of Steve Job's legacy could never lie in challenging the technology or design of the ubiquitous gadget, but in offering something that does a similar job for a very different price. While prestige has allowed the iPad's price to creep up to £649 ($899) for the top of the range model, serious development work from Android tablet producers has allowed for good quality products to be sold at much more pocket-friendly prices.

Money Saving Man's recommendation is the Gemini JoyTAB. Not only is Gemini a British company, which assures build quality and reinvestment into a local market, but it has also managed to produce a budget Android tablet of remarkable quality. Available in 7", 8" or 10" offerings, and running the latest tablet-specific Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, customers wanting a decent everyday tablet without worrying about having the top-notch quality and prestige of the iPad will find a very interesting prospect in the affordable Gemini range.

Prices are £129.99 for the 7", £149.99 for the 8" and £199.99 for the 10" inch. You may not be getting a Retina display for those sort of prices, but you are getting solid design, including aluminium back covers to match the iPad and decent 1GHZ to 1.2GHZ processors with 512MB RAM. Memory is of course limited for the price, but upgradeable to 32GB by way of a Micro SD card.

The problem with many cheap Android tablets is that they run unofficial versions of Google's Android operating system and thus don't offer access to Google Playstore (formally Android Market). There is no such problem with the JoyTAB - you also get Gmail, Google Maps, Youtube and an Ebook reader out of the box; the 8" and 10" models even support Adobe Flash.

So does the iPad have a challenger to its crown? Probably not the crown of technology and prestige, but there may just be room for another ruler - that of value - and the Gemini series seems to be headed to the throne without opposition within the coming months. See the links below:

http://geminidevices.com/products.html
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Search/searchTerms/JOYTAB.htm

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Is it a Tablet, is it a Phone..or is it a Money Saving Trade-off?

Samsung have recently weighed in with a unique product that could save you money.  By offering the features of both a smartphone and a tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Note could save you time and money as your gadgets are centralised into one device.

By Offering a huge 5.3 inch, Super AMOLED screen, an 8 mega-pixel camera, 1080p full HD video recording & playback and the multi-touch input of both a full touch screen and advanced smart pen stylus, the Galaxy Note beats all comers on the phone market for quality of pictures, videos and display. Surfing the web is also as close to that on a tablet as you could want, and due to the huge screen also beats all other smartphones hands down.

The drawer backs of tablets have traditionally been their size and lack of features that you can't find on any high-end smartphone - who remembers the accusations of the iPad simply being a blown up iPhone you couldn't make calls on when it first came out? Well, the same is still true that, beyond Skype, you cannot use tablets as phones (the idea of trying to hold it to your ear is ridiculous enough). The Note successfully gives the best of both worlds, being a device that has tablet functionality and quality while still offering phone functions. Some reviewers have been rather negative about its size, but if you don't fancy holding it your ear then you can simply invest in a good Bluetooth headset.

Samsung have been brave in launching a hybrid between smartphones and tablets, and Apple are very unlikely to follow suit due to the desire and prestige surrounding their products that has consumers clambering over each other to own the iPhone 4S AND the iPad 3. If you have more sense than money, you might just want to invest in Samsung's vision.

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Free Car a Reality?

It may sound far-fetched to be given a car for free, but there is a chance that you could indeed be handed the keys to a shiny new motor, or at least be paid to drive your own.

This media saturated generation is obsessed with visual advertising, and a way of making a company's advertising as ubiquitous as possible is by slapping it on the side of a car. Many of us would be familiar with those garish Red Bull cars hurtling around the place with a giant can on the back.

If you are patient and willing to drive a car that may look unusual then you could stand a chance to receive a free car as part of an advertising contract - you simply pay the petrol and insurance. Minimum contracts are normally 12 months and you may be expected to drive the car for a set amount of miles; you also stand a better chance of being selected if you regularly drive through high visibility areas such as city centres or motorways.

The other option is to have advertising put on your own car. This could see you making as much as £1500 a month for attaching vinyl or magnetic advertising to your motor. If you are a regular driver and are looking for an additional source of income over a free car then this could be the option for you.

The best site for either of these options is listed below. There is a small one-off fee for joining and receiving access to their database of advertising companies, but this may prove a small investment for a sizeable return:

http://www.drivefreecar.co.uk/

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The Blessing of the Snob

The thing about being snobbish is you miss so many great ways to save money and end up managing your finances badly for the sake of pride.


One way that the non-snobbish can save money is by targeting snobbish areas and taking advantage of the deals that snobs refuse to consider for being seen as cheap. I recently discovered a hotspot for this at my local Tesco Express.

Usually discounted items in supermarkets are snapped up when they start to be offered near the close of the day,  and this will normally happen no matter the locale of the particular store you visit. The thing with local chain stores is that they will not attract out of town shoppers due to their limited range of items, and thus the local demographic will make up their clientèle almost exclusively.

In richer areas this can lead to discounted items being over looked as some (but not all) people living in those areas would rather not buy them. I have started to find this incredibly helpful recently - I picked up three roast meals retailing at £3 each for 30p each! Most food can be frozen and eaten at a later date, so picking up something on its sell-by date is not going to be an issue if you plan to eat it within a few weeks of purchase.

Being peckish on the way home has also become a decidedly cheaper experience as I have regularly found sandwiches stacked up for as little as 20p each. Find those hotspot areas and start saving yourself money!

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£100 Off Villa Holidays

Smooth Radio have a promotion code that will save you £100 off of a holiday with James Villas.


The blurb goes as below:


"With the widest choice of villa holidays everyone's happy on a James Villa Holiday
Established in 1984, James Villa Holidays now offer more than 2,500 handpicked villas across 60 destinations in Europe, Florida, Egypt and beyond.

They offer the widest choice of accommodation styles, plus flights from 27 UK airports. So whether you're looking for something off the beaten track or in the heart of the action, James Villa Holidays has something for everyone.

Their collections include: 
Villas with pools - a wide range of properties with their own private pool
Leisure Resorts - all the benefits of villa living, but with a wealth of facilities on the doorstep in a village style setting, with helpful reception staff to assist your needs. 
Florida - villas and Leisure Resorts throughout Florida. Disney Area villas in Orlando are within a 25 minute drive of the main attractions. They also have properties along the Gulf Coast and in Miami 
Luxury villas - within the Villas with pools, Leisure Resorts and Florida collections they also feature luxury villas - truly spectacular properties that offer the ultimate in comfort and indulgence"


Go to the holidays page, click on the link and enter the following promotional code: JVH505


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Halifax Cash for Switching Accounts Extended

Good news is that in response to huge demand, Halifax are extending their offer of £100 for switching your bank account over to them.

I can't give an exact date, but a little bird told me that it will be extended to at least March. I suspect that this may be at least mid, if not late March. To reiterate, the offer is a free deposit of £100 into your new account the day you switch. All you need to do is ring up your local branch and make an appointment to go in and switch, bringing your current bank details (preferably your bank card and a statement), passport and proof of address.

Halifax will arrange transfer of your direct debits and standing orders, and if you bring a payslip, your salary. Just make sure that you time this correctly or you could find debits bouncing on your empty old account. Switch to their Reward account and you'll be paid £5 for every time £1000 or more is paid in each month. The Ultimate Reward account will cost you £10 a month, but brings a host of benefits including travel insurance, breakdown cover and mobile phone insurance.

Here's the link to find your local branch:

http://www.halifax.co.uk/branchfinder/search.asp

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The Tricks of the Trade - Supermarkets

Sometimes saving money is about not buying things...

In the first of a series of posts on the tricks that supermarkets use to get us to spend money we shouldn't be spending, Money Saving Man lets you into this little secret:

"Supermarkets put usual items in strategic places. They don't put them at the front so we can walk in, buy bread and walk out again, but they put them further to the back of the store so that we have to walk past offers and more unusual but attractive items to get to them.


This can result in a larger shopping bill than intended or needed, and is one of the ways supermarkets go out of their way to get us to go out of ours".

More coming soon...

Free Laptop Plus Cash-back Mobile Phone Deal

In an attempt to gain your custom in the lucrative but crowded mobile phone market, third party retailers are throwing in as many goodies as they can into their pay monthly deals.

The top deal I have found is at Dial a Phone. Reason being because you can get a decent little phone, a lovely laptop AND staggered cash-back. Opt for Orange's Dolphin 26 over 24 months and you'll get 400 minutes, unlimited texts, a free HP laptop, an LG GM360 and £70 cash-back - all for £26 a month. That's hard to beat.

The LG GM360 is a solid little handset. Its no iPhone, but it does offer a 5 Mega-pixel Schneider lens equipped camera and some nice quirky features (favourite contacts appear on the home screen as little characters - touch them to call, send a text, edit their profile etc). The real star of this deal however, is the HP DM1-4027SA. Any pay monthly mobile phone deal offering a free laptop is not going to give you a top of the range machine, but passing over useless netbooks and breeze block size low-enders finds you the delightful little HP. With an 11.6" screen it is in the ranges of larger netbooks, but is marketed as a portable laptop. With 4GB of RAM and a 320 GB hard drive it is fairly fast with a decent amount of storage for a machine of its size, but the real treat is the Beats audio technology speakers. They are simply superb and the best you will find on any laptop.

If you are in the market for a new contract, don't mind not having a top-end phone and wouldn't mind a free laptop then this may be the deal for you. Or if you are looking for a new laptop and find yourself near the end of your mobile contract at the same time then this also could be just what you're looking for. For those who want a better phone you can get a similar deal with the competent Samsung Ace for £31 a month at the same site.

The link for the LG/HP/Cash-back deal is on the Mobiles link page.

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Rewarding Surveys

A great way to save money on shopping or even earn some extra cash in your spare time is to take paid surveys.

The very nature of surveys necessitates that real people take them rather than relying on the statistical forecasts of a computer or other mechanical processes. There are several websites out there offering to reward you for taking part in surveys on behalf of their clients, but the best ones are listed below:

Valued Opinions - Offers Tesco, Amazon, Boots and Marks & Spencer vouchers, amongst others. Take surveys to build up cash equivalent and then redeem as vouchers to save on your shopping, gifts, hotels stays or cosmetics. Individual survey opportunities sent by email.

Toluna - Offers Debenhams, Amazon, HMV and Halfords vouchers, amongst others. Take surveys to build up points and redeem for vouchers to save on shopping, gifts, music or automotive items. Individual survey opportunities sent by email.

Survey Network - Get  rewarded with cash for taking surveys. Normal rewards between 0.50 and 1.50 GBP per individual survey. Payment will be made by PayPal. Multiple survey opportunities sent by email.

Check the Surveys page for the links.

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Switch Your Current Account and Receive Cash

There has never been a better time to switch your current account as banks continue to clamber for business.

My recommended deal out there would be the Reward current account from Halifax. You are paid £100 for switching, which is credited as soon as your new account opens and then £5 a month every time you pay in over £1000, which for those working shouldn't be a problem.

There is an overdraft facility, but if you are one liable to regularly go into the red then this is probably not the account for you, as you'll be hit for £1 everyday that you remain overdrawn. You can apply on-line, as well in branch, but be quick because the offer ends at midnight on 19th February 2012.

Other than that, it is pretty par for the course - you get a Visa debit card, 24/7 telephone and on-line banking and a £300 ATM withdrawal limit. See the Banking & Finance page for the link.

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Eat Like a Rich Man, Spend Like a...Average Joe

Sometimes the way to save money is to take advantage of something that we all know about but rarely give much thought to.

Such is the way with supermarket discounts; specifically the section that all supermarkets have where they put yellow discount stickers on their food because it is about to pass it's sell-by date. If you are shrewd about it you can actually save money and eat better. The key is not just glancing at what's on offer when you happen to stroll by, but finding out when the particular supermarket applies its final discounts.

The final discounts are applied on the last day the food is sell-able (the sell-by date), and are applied in the evening so as to get the most money possible before the items join the 500 million tons of food that is wasted every year. For example, in my local Sainsbury's, by trial and error I know that they can start to receive their final discounts anywhere between 6 and 8pm. Shopping between these times has lead to picking up a £12 joint of beef for less than £2, four pints of milk for 30p, Taste the Difference meals for under £2 and many other great bargains. In practice, you may find particular days are more productive than others also.

I know many are thinking how I eat that much in one night, but the answer is to immediately freeze what you buy. I was surprised that thawed out milk seems to last just as long as fresh milk, but should at least get you a few more days out of it once its defrosted. Drinking milk with a sell-by date of the 31st of December on January the 12th is an interesting experience!

If you time it right and factor it into your shopping budget you could find yourself eating well and saving money at the same time. Getting to know the staff member that actually does the discounting is always a bonus. Although normal regulations rule against discounting on request, I have found that being friendly to my regular 'discount pixie' actually allowed me to search the shelves myself and bring whatever I wanted for a quick price slash. Try it yourself and let us know what happens...

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2FOR1 at London's Top Attractions

Although entry to London's top attractions would normally costs you an arm and a leg (possibly two legs) these days, National Rail continues its fantastic 2FOR1 scheme into 2012.

That means pay for one and the other gets in free, or effectively both of you get in half-price (if your mates are stingy). The catch is that you technically have to travel by train to render the print-off voucher valid on presentation. Those who live in London know what a nightmare it is travelling into central London, so most of us would opt for jumping on the tube anyway. That's the problem, Oyster cards are not accepted! Its run by National Rail of course, and they wouldn't be making any money out of it if we all took the tube to get there.

But you can be smart: just top up your oyster at a station that has a London Overground line and you can use their ticket machines, which give you a receipt. The key thing is the receipt bares the National Rail symbol and the chances are you should be able to use it to validate your voucher on entry to your chosen attraction. I have only tried this at London Zoo, but usually they just accept the print-off voucher without asking for a National Rail ticket. The one time they did, me and my wife's top-up receipts were accepted without question.

As with many money saving deals, its worth a try. Check the Leisure & Entertainment page for a link to the Days Out Guide website.

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Honey's Medicinal Properties

Before you start thinking that Money Saving Man has gone all 'alternative', there are valid money-saving reasons behind a post on natural remedies.

The drug and medicine industry is a large and profitable one, and as with all large and profitable industries, the consumer is sometimes not informed about what is best for them, but which product is best for them.

Honey has been used medicinally for thousands of years - the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, Chinese and Romans all used honey for its medicinal values. From wound dressings to disorders of the bowels, honey was a regular feature on the prescriptions of ancient physicians.

As shifts in thinking, most prominent in the twentieth century, took effect, traditional remedies took a back seat to modern drugs. No longer was the natural world seen as a source of sustenance and vitality, but man was seen as the answer to his own problems. There was no longer a perceived need to search the bounty of creation for health and healing, but man was now thought to hold the key to life and well-being within himself.

What this meant was a loss of confidence in cheap, free or at least  freely available natural remedies and a dependence upon doctors, prescriptions and the drug companies that produced the prescribed medicines. Time wouldn't allow us to go into all of honey's potential uses, but one that is pertinent in its money-saving abilities is the use of honey as an antacid.

This is not a call to throw away the Gaviscon, but after a meal before bed the other day I decided to take a teaspoon of honey. Eating so late and then going straight to bed would normally cause me heartburn to varying degrees, but with the honey I slept peacefully. If heartburn/acid reflux is a regular problem for you then honey may save you a few quid on that £5 bottle of medicine.

This is not medical advice and of course, no treatment should be sought without the advice of a physician - you have been warned!

Relevant websites:
http://www.honey4allergies.com/medicinal.htm
http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/
http://www.manukahoney.co.uk/

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NHS Staff Discounts

The NHS is the third largest employer in the world (after the Chinese army and the Indian railway), yet many of its thousands of employees are not taking advantage of the discounts available to staff.

www.nhsdiscounts.com offers savings on electricals, leisure & entertainment, holidays & travel, health & beauty, department & retail stores, finance & insurance, cars & motoring, home & garden, fashion, gifts and weddings. Phew! Now that's a lot of areas.

Deals include 50% off at Domino's Pizza, and although only NHS employees can sign up to the NHS discounts website friends can also benefit. Offers are redeemed through the employee's account, but of course can be passed on in some cases. Where an employee ID needs to be presented, the friend who works for the NHS can simply attend while the non-employed friend can pick up the bill and enjoy the benefits.

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Cheap Mobile Tariffs Plus Cash-back

The mobile phone market is more competitive than ever.

The iPhone has seen strong rivals emerge in the form of HTC and Samsung and can no longer win customers simply by it's technology or ubiquitous media campaigns. The death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has done even more to divert eyes over to other manufacturers.

There are now a range of mobile phone retailers who have gone all out to win custom, including offering a variety of free gifts, including 'cash-back'. Instead of getting a second laptop, games console or tablet, many consumers are realising that being given money to buy something is quite appealing. It must be made clear that there are two types of cash-back: 1. Standard 'cash-back' 2. 'Automatic (or 'auto') cash-back'.

Many find themselves frustrated by signing up to a deal promising cash-back, only to discover that the amount quoted will be paid in instalments, spaced out over periods of six months e.g. £20 after six months, £20 after 12 months for a total of £40 cash-back.  If you don't want to receive your money like this then opt for automatic cash-back.

Although called 'automatic', this simply means that the money you receive will not be spread out across the duration of your contract. In reality there will still be a period before you receive a cheque for the full amount/the full amount is credited into your bank account. With the top two websites for automatic cash-back this is after either 27 or 30 days, but to call it a month is more accurate.

The bonus of automatic cash-back mobile contracts is not only that you get money for buying something, but that you have several options for what to do with the cash. Sites such as www.dialaphone.co.uk give you an 'effective cost' of the contract - what this means is they have offset the cash-back against the total cost of the price plan over the duration of your contract. In theory you could hold onto the cash-back and use it to pay/contribute to your monthly bill and thus achieve a lower monthly charge.

Another option, which is particularly useful if you go for a higher cash-back deal, is to sell the basic handset you receive with the contract and buy a better one. Taking advantage of the January sales can lead to paying a competitive monthly tariff with a quality handset, while still having some extra cash in your pocket. For example you could get a Samsung E2550 from www.phones4u.co.uk, with £400 automatic cashback, and use £199.95 to buy a Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY in their Pay As You Go sale. You would then be getting a decent phone for £36 a month with 600 minutes and unlimited texts, PLUS £200 still in your pocket!

Decide on what you want out of a mobile phone contract - decent phone, maximum cash-back or maximum minutes/texts - and then make an informed choice. Strike while the iron is hot in the January sales and the current highly competitive market and you could find yourself walking away with a great deal, cash in your pocket and a smile on your face.

Top sites:
http://www.phones4u.co.uk/special-offers/cashback/?intcid=salebanner-autocash
http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/gift/automatic_cashback/FG_CB1/

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