Cash ISA warning, £3.60 shoes, important holiday checklist, 33mth 0% debt shift for all, 2 specs £14

Plus... Martin's energy briefing, cheapest iPhone 13, £15 off rail tix, student maintenance loans blow

                                                           

18 January 2023 | View in browser

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THE TOP TIPS IN THIS EMAIL Overseas holiday MoneySaving checklist, including: - The cheapest way to spend abroad - Martin's must-do travel rule - Avoid the car hire cover trap Martin's cash ISA warning New. 33-month 0% debt shift FOR ALL Martin: 'Energy wholesale rates have plummeted - how it'll really impact bills' Clothes & shoes from 95p 15%-ish broadband rises coming Two pairs of specs £14 Martin: 'Student maintenance loans blow' Cheapest EVER iPhone 13 Veganuary. Free £3 plant-based egg, £2 off Burger King & more New. £15 off rail tickets Stamp swap deadline Two million Travelodge rooms for £34 Martin podcast: 24,630 steps, sorting debts & kid finance gurus With Virgin Mobile? You're moving to O2 Amex cardholders get 8% off Nando's, £15 off Ikea & more Get £25 cashback for investing £100 One month's 'tailored' dog food for £2.50 This week's best buys, including free £175 bank bribe, 5GB Sim '£3.38/month', Car Insurance Compare+ tool Should I use the birthday present I got my friend? BEST BUYS & TOOLS MSE Cheap Mobile Finder Credit Club including free credit report 0% balance transfers Compare broadband deals MSE Car Insurance Compare+ Best bank accounts Top savings accounts Credit cards for bad credit Credit Card Eligibility Calculator Loans Eligibility Calculator Mortgage comparison Compare travel money Cheap Energy Club, with Pick Me A Tariff Best Sim-only deals

The speedy overseas holiday MoneySaving checklist - easy ways to save & avoid pitfalls Don't leave home (or the country) without it Holidays abroad are back, at least according to travel firms, with claims that bookings are massively up, and that the average family spend is around £3,500. Whether this is people wanting to escape the cost of living crisis, or simply an illustration of a financially-split nation, we don't know. What we do know is there are easy ways to save, and pitfalls to avoid when booking. So let's get you through 18 of them as quickly as possible: 1. Ensure you've a valid free GHIC if you're going to the EU. These cards (or their predecessor EHICs) give you access to state-run hospitals or GPs at the same price as a local. So if it's free for them, it's free for you. Get a GHIC for FREE. If you've already got an EHIC, five million expire this year, so check section 4b on your card and use the same link to order a new one. 2. Take two minutes to download the cheapest way to spend abroad (perfect rates and 1% cashback). App-only Chase Bank's* debit card is one of quite a few cards that give virtually-perfect exchange rates, and fee-free ATM withdrawals (max £1,500/month), yet it also gives 1% cashback on most spending in the UK and abroad, making it the winner. You NEEDN'T switch banks to get it, or even go through a hard credit check. As it's a debit card, you don't get Section 75 protection though, so if you're planning important £100+ purchases while away, a credit card gives more protection. The current top pick overseas card is Barclaycard's Reward Visa. For more options, see our Travel cards guide. 3. Just want travel cash? If you don't like plastic, or want some cash with you just in case, you can find the top rates through our TravelMoneyMax comparison. 4. Don't get flight prices straight from airlines. Check key comparison sites, as there can be other routes to cheaper prices which may be preferable. Yet to really cut flight costs, see our 28 tips for booking cheap flights. 5. Check when your passport expires - you now usually need at least six months left when you travel. Check when yours is valid to now, and see Passport rules & renewals for 40 common destinations. PS: From next month, the cost to renew a passport is increasing - see Passport fee increases. 6. Don't book a hotel on the first site you see. The same room is often sold at vastly different prices. The top hotel comparisons search all the different booking sites. Try for free cancellation too, as it means if the price of your room drops before travel, you can cancel and rebook at a cheaper rate, like Dawn who emailed us: "I checked reservation and was amazed the same room was now £116 cheaper. I reserved the new room and cancelled the original on the booking form. Really quick and easy, thank you so much". For far more help, see our 25 hotel booking tricks. 7. Package holidays can be the cheapest route and offer extra protection. These days, many web-savvy folk like to do DIY booking, yet if you're travelling to a traditional holiday destination for seven, 10 or 14 days, don't diss a package holiday. They're generally the cheapest for those types of holiday AND you get extra protection if the travel company or airline goes bust, or bad weather stops you from travelling. See Cheap package holidays. 8. Martin's must-do travel rule... Get travel insurance ASAB (As Soon As you... Book) Travel insurance isn't just to cover you for things that happen while on holiday. As Martin wrote last week... "Each spring someone asks me a heart-breaking question. Usually they've been diagnosed with cancer or another serious condition, and long-term treatment means they won't be able to go on their summer holiday. Yet the airline won't refund them. "I say 'that's what travel insurance is for.' Sometimes though, they tell me they haven't got round to getting it yet. My heart sinks as I have to tell them there's no recourse. Half the point of the cover is to protect you if things happen that stop you going, so get it ASAB." Find the cheapest, right cover for you... key links - Cheap travel insurance (under-66s) - Over-65s' travel insurance - Pre-existing conditions travel insurance Go away more than once a year? Even if just for weekends, annual policies usually win as they cover virtually all trips (with duration limits). The links above have full info on cheapest and top value policies. Hitting the pistes? Get a winter sports add-on. Italy requires you to have public liability cover on your insurance before you hit the slopes, and it's good practice anywhere. For that, you need a winter sports add-on - most firms have the option, again our best buys cover it. 9. Book now to save £100s on car hire. Early booking is almost always the cheapest route. Use Skyscanner*, Kayak*,TravelSupermarket* and Carrentals* comparison sites to find your cheapest rental. Prices have gone up a lot since the pandemic, so the sooner you sort this, the better. Our Cheap car hire guide takes you through it, then.... 10. Avoid the car hire excess insurance trap (so many get caught out). Basic car insurance is included in the hire, yet at the pick-up desk, firms often try to fear-sell you excess insurance as an add-on, claiming without it an accident could cost £1,000+ extra, even for a scratch. These add-on policies can cost an extra £150+ a week, but you can get a standalone policy for as little as £15 a week through MoneyMaxim's comparison site* and by checking our 20%-off excess insurance codes. Then when you arrive, tell the car hire firm you don't want their add-on. They may make you jump through hoops even then, asking for usually a £500 to £1,000 deposit on a credit (NOT debit) card, one that is in the name of the person who booked. If you have an issue, they'll take money from that, then you reclaim it from your standalone insurer. Full help in car hire insurance help. 11. Planning to park at the airport? Pay less by booking early. Use our discounted airport parking comparison site links, including Holiday Extras* (10% to 35% off), SkyParkSecure* (10% to 28% off) and Airparks* (10% to 20% off). For example, you can get a week's parking at Manchester Airport for as little as £44 through our links, compared to at least £400 on the day, though as these sites usually compare parking for you, do also check the provider lets you cancel or move your booking if you need to. See Cheap airport parking. 12. Grab cheap or FREE access to airport lounges. It may be a tad early, but it's worth knowing that airport lounge access can be free with certain credit cards or bank accounts, or you can get it cheaply through frequent flyer schemes, such as Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club. See Free or cheap airport lounges for our 10 need-to-knows. 13. Want to preload currency at today's rate? The cheapest debit and credit cards (see above) give you the best exchange rates ON THE DAY you spend. If you want to bag today's best rates NOW, just in case things get worse before you travel (and you've budgeted at this rate), an easy way to do that is on a top prepaid travel debit card. Or you could go half and half to hedge the risk. Rates could, of course, get better if you wait, but in today's uncertain world, who knows? 14. Beat school holiday travel price hikes. We've loads of tricks to help in our Beat school holiday price hikes blog, including: - Find hidden cheap booking dates (if your term differs from others). For example, many Leicestershire schools break up for summer a week earlier than most others - we found a seven-day Majorca holiday £160 per person cheaper that week compared to the one after. - Check other countries' holiday dates. For example, book Disney World when US kids are back at school in August - a family Disney stay was over £130 cheaper than in late July. - Fly from Scotland in the last two weeks of August - even if you don't live there. As Scottish schools generally start back earlier, you can make big savings by flying the family out from Scotland instead. We saw the same holiday flying from Glasgow for £700 less than flying from Manchester. 15. Beat airlines' seat reservation charges & sit together for FREE on BA, Easyjet, Virgin and others. A family of four could spend £100s to be certain they'll sit together on return flights - yet unless your heart's set on particular seats, it's usually unnecessary as long as you check in online as early as you can. See How to beat seat reservation charges for many airlines. 16. French, German, Belgian or Dutch Center Parcs can halve the UK price - especially in school hols. That's even after you've factored in the cost of flights or ferries, so it's worth comparing. Steve told us: "Center Parcs Longleat for four adults and four children was £3,200 in the school holidays, but France Center Parcs was £1,500, including crossing". See Center Parcs tricks for this and lots more ways to save. 17. Can you roam when not at home? Last year, three of the four main networks (not O2) reintroduced roaming charges of £1 to £2 a day for using your data allowance in the EU. Yet many smaller networks don't - see our Roaming charges and how to save guide for full info. 18. Learn to talk like a local for free. Don't be a classic 'Brit abroad' - there are clever apps to help you learn the lingo before you go, and to translate 59 languages offline when you're there. Do it now and you may get beyond 'bonjour.' Try out free language apps.

 

 

DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads Lots of scam ads litter social media and even newspaper websites - some of these lie that we or Martin promote Bitcoin, binary trading etc. See Fake ads warning.

 

 

 

Martin: Millions of cash ISA savers are being underpaid... 1. Could you earn more in normal savings? 2. Should you switch cash ISA to earn more? 3. New. Fixed cash ISA calc. Should you pay penalty, ditch & switch? The top cash ISA rates have more than trebled in the last year. Even before that, millions with cash ISAs were underpaid. Now the gap is even bigger. If you have one of these tax-free savings accounts, do my cash ISA check-up now to see if you can gain £100s more interest to reduce the bite of inflation. 1. Normal savings beat cash ISAs for most. Since 2016, the personal savings allowance (PSA) means: - Basic (20%) rate taxpayers can earn £1,000/yr interest in ANY savings tax-free. - Higher (40%) rate taxpayers can earn £500/yr interest in ANY savings tax-free. That means currently you'd need £34,500 (£17,250 at the higher tax rate) in top easy-access savings before you earned enough interest for some to start being taxed, or £23,000 in the top 2yr fix (£11,500 at the higher tax rate). Most savers have far less. If so, as all your interest is tax-free, the main focus is on moving your money to the highest interest rate, and as the table below shows, that's usually top normal savings not cash ISAs, so many should ditch & switch. As Gill emailed in November: "Thanks. I finally moved from a 0.4% cash ISA to a 4.5% two-year fix. The remaining savings will go to a 3.5% instant access. I was the definition of a lazy saver, but my eyes have been well and truly opened." Today's top cash ISA and normal savings AERs All accounts have full UK £85,000 savings safety (links via our guide, as rates change hourly, so we can try & update) Top cash ISAs (link has more options) For those that pay savings tax Top savings (link has more options)  Easy access (no notice needed to withdraw) - Yorkshire BS 2.75% (min £1) - Cynergy Bank 2.65% (min £1) - Virgin Money 3% (no min). ONLY for Virgin Money current account holders. - Tipton & Coseley BS 2.9% (min £100, pays 3.2% on balances over £25k). Open by post/branch. - Zopa 2.86% (min £1). App-based. - Nationwide 2.5% (min £1). Top big name open-to-all. 3 penalty-free withdrawals a year. ----------------- - Barclays 5.12% (max £5k). ONLY for Blue Reward custs. - HSBC 3% (max £10k). 0.65% interest in months you withdraw, ONLY for existing customers. 1-year fixes - Barclays 4% (min £1). 3 penalty-free withdrawals, 90 days' interest penalty on more. - UBL UK 3.81% (min £2,000). 90 days' interest penalty to withdraw early. - SmartSave 4.26% (min £10,000) - Atom Bank 4.25% (min £50). App-based. 2-year fixes - Virgin Money 4.11% (min £1). 90 days' interest penalty to withdraw early. - Barclays 4.1% (min £1). 3 penalty-free withdrawals, 180 days' interest penalty on more. - SmartSave 4.41% (min £10,000) - Vanquis Bank 4.4% (min £1,000) 2. If cash ISAs are a winner for you, rates have rocketed, take advantage. For those with larger savings, as a cash ISA is just a savings account you can put £20,000 in per tax year where interest is NEVER taxed - and doesn't count towards the PSA - then for saving that'd have tax taken off, they're a winner (so you could have normal savings for some of your money, cash ISAs for the rest). It can also be worthwhile having some in cash ISAs, if while you don't pay tax on savings now, you would if interest rates rose. Take easy-access savings: - The top easy-access cash ISA pays 2.75%. - The top normal savings beats it at 2.9%, but not after basic tax when it's 2.32%, or after higher tax at 1.74%. If you do have an easy-access cash ISA, beware, many are paying diddly-squat, often under 1%, so check yours. If it's pants, simply open a new top-paying cash ISA, and usually in the application form you can ask the new provider to transfer your existing cash ISA(s) to it. Don't just withdraw the money though, as then you lose the ISA status. 3. Got a fixed-term ISA? Use our new ISAs calc to see if you should ditch & switch (most should). If you took a savings fix over the last few years, rates were poor. Yet unlike normal fixes where you're locked in, fixed cash ISA rules mean you must be allowed to withdraw early - usually for an interest penalty. As rates are now much higher than they were, many would be better off accepting the penalty then transferring to a new higher-rate cash ISA. Our new fixed-rate cash ISA switch calculator will work it out for you. As Lester emailed me: "After one of your excellent programmes before Christmas, you highlighted the option to switch from a low- to high-interest cash ISA. I did with two of ours: 0.55% switched to 4.20%, and 1.45% to 3.95%. We took the interest penalty hit (150 and 180 days'), as the higher rates makes a very considerable difference." 4. Can you boost interest further? Some specialised options in our Savings section pay even more: - 50% bonus for many on universal credit or tax credits. See Help to Save. - 25% bonus for first-time buyers aged 18 to 39. See Top Lifetime ISAs. - Earn up to 7% on smaller amounts if you save monthly. See Regular savings. - Are Premium Bonds worth it now the prize rate is 3%? See Premium Bonds. - Prefer to invest? Higher returns, but more risk. See Stocks & shares ISAs.

 

Martin: 'Important. Energy wholesale rates have plummeted. There are many myths about. Watch my 6min briefing on how it'll really impact your bills.' See his latest Energy bills video explainer. Clothes, shoes and accessories 95p to £3.61 through 5% off and free delivery code. MSE Blagged. Discount retailer Everything5pounds sells a mixture of ex-high street and non-branded items, and we've blagged a code for 5% off AND free delivery (normally from £4) that works in conjunction with its up to 50% off sale, where everything's £3.80 or less. Everything5pounds sale 15%-ish broadband rises expected to be announced this week by BT, TalkTalk, Vodafone and others. Tomorrow (Wed), December 2022's inflation figures are published, which broadband firms use to base their mid-contract price rises on (plus a few % on top). Use our powerful Broadband Comparison tool to see now if you can cut costs. While you won't be immune to the hikes, 15% on top of £20/month is a lot less than 15% on top of £40/month. We'll be tracking these in our price rise announcement update. TWO pairs of specs from £14. MSE Blagged. Stack code and discounts for a spec-tacular deal. Glasses Direct Martin: Students in England dealt a blow as maintenance loans increase by just 2.8%. From September, English students will see a real-terms cut to maintenance loans of 8p in the £1 - a shortfall they or their parents will have to make up for themselves. Full details and Martin's reaction in Maintenance loans latest. New. Cheapest iPhone 13 contract we've seen - 100GB data for '£29/month'. MSE Blagged. They're not MoneySaving, but if you're going to buy one, at least do it the cheapest way. Until 11.59pm Sun, Three newbies can get this 128GB iPhone 13 with 100GB/month of data through Affordable Mobiles. It's £69 upfront, then £26/month, so £693 over the two-year contract - £633 cheaper than a similar deal from Three itself. Note: Three is responsible for the contract, Affordable Mobiles for the handset. Price rises: Most mobile firms, including Three, are likely to do big in-contract inflation-plus price rises this spring, sadly. Want a different handset or a Sim-only deal? See MSE's Cheap Mobile Finder tool. VEGANUARY. Free £3 plant-based egg, £2 off Burger King 'Bakon' burger & more. For restaurant discounts, coupons & more, see MSE Rhiannon's Veganuary blog. Tonight (Tue 8pm), ITV The Martin Lewis Money Show LIVE. Over to Martin: "Billions of extra debt has been added to credit cards, loans and overdrafts in the last few months. It's a must-watch to show you how to ensure it's all as cheap as possible - and help for those struggling. Plus another energy bills update, and lots of news you can use. Do watch or at least set the Betamax." New. Code gets £15 off flexible, weekly and monthly train season tickets costing £30 or more. 100,000 available, excludes annual season tickets - full info in Cheaper train tickets. | Related: Not sure if a season ticket's cheaper for you? Check with our Commuter Calculator.

 

 

BLAGGED FOR MSE - Clothes, shoes 95p to £3.61 via code Ends Sun 22 Jan - TWO pairs of specs from £14 Ends 26 January - Tails.com 90% off tailored dog food Ends 30 April - iPhone 13 - 100GB for '£29/month' Ends Sun 22 Jan	DID YOU MISS? - £29 Barbour prescription specs (normally £130) - 5 x Vue cinema tickets £20 - How Martin averaged 24,630 steps a day in 2022 - Free gym passes - shed pounds without shedding £££s - £24 off Amazon Prime for O2 customers

 

 

News. NatWest changes policy, so now ANYONE can apply for its big best-buy 33-month 0% (2.9% fee) or 22-month 0% NO-FEE balance transfer cards Can't afford to clear your debts? You can't afford not to check if you can shift them to 0% The key tool to cut credit card debt costs is a balance transfer, where you get a new card to repay debt on your old card(s), so you owe it instead, but at 0%. Your repayments then clear the debt rather than just mostly cover interest. Last week, in Martin's debt cost-cutting masterclass (do read it for full help to cut card, overdraft, loan & more costs), he explained the big best buys for shifting debt from NatWest/RBS were only for their existing banking customers, but that's now changed... Shift card debt to 33 months 0% (2.9% fee). All new cardholders can now apply to NatWest* (or sister banks RBS* and Ulster) to get a 0% balance transfer deal, and most importantly it's not an 'up to', so everyone accepted will get the full 33 months 0% with a one-off fee of 2.9% of the amount of debt shifted (it's 22.9% rep APR after the 0% ends). The next longest card is Barclaycard's up to 30 months 0% (2.98% fee)*, but it's an 'up to' card, so not everyone gets the full 0% length and the fee is higher. Yet if you're shifting over £2,500 and apply via our links, it gives you £25 cashback, which effectively lowers the fee and, in that case, it is competitive against NatWest (it's 22.9% rep APR after the 0% ends). Shift debt to 22 months 0% NO-FEE. NatWest's* other new-cardholder best buy is the top NO-FEE card, so if you can repay more quickly, this is an easy winner. Again, last week this was only for its existing customers, but it is now open to all (it's 21.9% rep APR after the 0% ends). This smashes the next best definite NO-FEE card from HSBC*, which is just 16 months 0% (23.9% rep APR after the 0% ends). To AVOID REJECTION, spend two minutes on our 0% eligibility calculator. This shows which of most top cards you can likely get, listing your bespoke acceptance odds for each. That way you can minimise applications, and protect your creditworthiness. While it lists loads of cards, unfortunately we've only got the data for NatWest for its existing customers so far. If you're not an existing customer, you can use NatWest's own* eligibility check. In general, using the eligibility calculator is the right tack though, as Andrea emailed Martin after his masterclass last week: "I applied for a balance transfer last year, so hadn't attempted another, as I didn't think I'd be accepted. I was reading the MSE email, saw the link for the eligibility tracker and decided there was no harm in trying. I was pre-approved and accepted for 30 months' 0% interest with a £9,500 balance, enough for me to transfer two credit card balances. Considering I only started reading the email after 11pm, this was all wrapped up before midnight! Thank you." Getting a card? ALWAYS follow the Balance Transfer Golden Rules: a) Never miss the min monthly repayment, or you could lose the 0% deal and it'll cost far more. b) Clear the card (or balance-transfer again) before the 0% ends, or the rate rockets to the set APR. c) Don't spend/withdraw cash. It usually isn't at the cheap rate and withdrawals hit your ability to get future credit. d) The balance transfer must usually be done within one to three months to get the 0% - check your card. Full help and info, including cards for poorer credit scorers, in Best balance transfers.

 

Confused over stamp swap deadline? You CAN still use non-barcoded stamps until 31 July. Despite a series of misleading Royal Mail adverts saying otherwise, non-barcoded stamps with a profile of the Queen's head can still be used for another six months. Full info in Stamp swap deadline. Two million Travelodge rooms for £34 or less. For stays to 20 Nov 2023. Travelodge 24,630 steps, sorting debts, kid finance gurus and more. Listen to the latest The Martin Lewis Podcast episode. Virgin Mobile customer? You'll be moved to O2 from March - what you need to know. It follows the merger of Virgin Media and O2 in 2021. See Virgin Mobile migration. Get £25 cashback for investing £100. If you plan to invest, this InvestEngine deal offers a tidy boost, provided you keep the £100 invested for at least 12 months. This isn't an InvestEngine recommendation - we don't do investment tips - just if you're going to use it anyway, you can get cashback. Full info in Robo-investing cashback. Amex cardholder? Get 8% off Nando's, £15 off Ikea, 15% off Disney+ and Krispy Kreme, plus more. See Amex's latest cashback offers, plus more ways to boost rewards in American Express tips & tricks. One month's 'tailored' dog food for £2.50 (normally £25) through 90% off code. MSE Blagged. Plus 30% off the second month. Add info about your dog and get a recipe especially for your four-legged friend. Newbies only. Tails dog food Ever worked for MoneySavingExpert? We're planning a get-together of MSE alumnae for the site's 20th birthday. Staff lists are a bit iffy for pre-2010 and 2013 to 2017. No promises, but if you'd like to come and fit those dates, get in touch.

 

 

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS 0% balance transfers Longest 0%: NatWest (check eligibility - for existing customers / apply*) - 33 months 0%, 2.9% fee (22.9% rep APR) No-fee 0%: NatWest (check eligibility - for existing customers / apply*) - 22 months 0% (21.9% rep APR) Best bank accounts £175 to switch, 7% savings + TOP service: First Direct 1% cashback on bills, travel & groceries: Santander Edge Top savings accounts Top easy access: Tipton & Coseley B 2.9%, min £100 Top one-year fix: SmartSave 4.26%, min £10,000 Car insurance Try our Car Insurance Compare+ tool Cheap loans Cheapest for £5,000 to £7,499: Finble 4.6% rep APR (only available through our eligibility calculator, not direct) Cheapest for £7,500 to £15,000: Finble 4% rep APR (only available through our eligibility calculator, not direct) Broadband top picks Fast fibre (55Mb+): Vodafone '£17/month' On universal credit or similar? Check discounted social tariffs Cheap Sims Up to 3GB data: Lebara, '£2.48/month' for 3GB 4GB to 9GB data: Lebara, '£3.38/month' for 5GB 10GB+ data: Lebara, '£4.20/month' for 12GB

 

THIS WEEK'S POLL Have you booked your summer holiday? Holidays have been back on the agenda this year for many. But with the cost of living increasing, many people might be deciding to spend less or to stay closer to home. So this week, we want to know if you've got a summer getaway booked and, if you have, whether you've spent more or less than you typically would? Amazon Logistics tops MSE's annual parcel delivery poll. Last week, we asked you to rate parcel delivery services, and just under 40,000 people voted. Amazon Logistics took the crown, with 63% of those who've experienced its service rating it 'great', while Evri was bottom of the pile (62% rated it as 'poor'). See the full parcel delivery poll results.

 

 

MSE NEWS - Top story: Hundreds of fixed-rate mortgages drop below 5% – but is now a good time to fix? - Out-of-contract Sky Mobile customers to be hit with 9% price hikes - Are you a pensioner? What to do if you haven't had your winter cost of living payment - High-cost credit firms SafetyNet and Tappily fall into administration - New rules to protect you from being ripped off by tax rebate claims firms

 

 

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I use the birthday present I got my friend? Last year, I got my friend a tour of a gin distillery for her birthday. I was recently clearing my emails and came across the voucher code for the tour. I checked the code and it's not been used. My friend's now out of the country, and the code will have expired by the time she's back. So is it OK to go on the tour I bought for her, rather than let the present go to waste? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I use the birthday present I got my friend? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma

 

 

MSE TEAM BLOG - MSE Forum highlights: Kids, clubs & kettles

 

 

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 18 JAN ONWARDS) Wed 18 Jan - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm Tue 24 Jan - This Morning, phone-in, ITV, 10.30am Tue 24 Jan - The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, ITV, 8pm MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECT TBC) Tue 24 Jan - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Mid-morning with Jeremy Sallis, from 10.45am

 

ORGANISE A SEED SWAP & MAKE COMPOST FROM SCRAPS... TIPS FOR GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD IN 2023 That's all for this week, but before we go... many MoneySavers have resolved to grow their own food this year, and they've been sharing their top tips in the MSE Forum. One poster warned that 'Grow your own' kits are usually a waste of money - you can buy seeds cheaply and get the rest separately. Apparently, toilet roll tubes are good for pea seedlings and other things that need root space, and you can make your own compost out of kitchen scraps. Forumites also suggest organising a seed swap if you have duplicates or unwanted packets. And if you don't have outdoor space, MoneySavers reported good results growing things in a tub indoors, or in trays on a windowsill. Find more tips in the 2023: the good (and not so good) of growing your own MSE Forum thread. We hope you save some money, stay safe, The MSE team

 

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