Stop paying £9+ for your mobile!, Tesco £5 off £15, 4.25% savings, 3x FREE £200ish, slash car cover costs, £10k council tax refund, free Lego

Plus... Beat home ins 30% hikes, free spud & beans, new cost of living payment, FREE £50 investment

                                                           

25 April 2023 | View in browser

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THE TOP TIPS IN THIS EMAIL Stop paying £9+/mth for your mobile, including: - Huge 100GB data £8.75/mth - Latest iPhone 14 '£35/mth' - Haggling tactics to save big Warning. Can you beat home insurance 30% hikes? Check NOW to save £100s 'My daughter got a £10k council tax refund for her MS & future bills wiped. Thanks' £301 cost of living help starts today THREE banks now pay £200ish to switch Supermarket coupons: Free £2 Tango drink, Tesco £5 off Try MSE's unique Car Insurance Compare+ tool Check your new energy direct debit is fair Millions missing out on special discounted cheap broadband FREE jacket potato and beans Invest £50, get a FREE £50 back Martin podcast: 10 ways to pimp your pension & warranty schmarranty Are you keeping the right food in the fridge? FREE Lego mini toy Ends Thu. Get short-term 4.25% savings + £25 FREE FREE Ideal Home Show Scotland tickets Spend £1.20 for a FREE National Trust family pass (normally £26) This week's best buys, including 30mth 0% debt shift, '£19/mth' fibre broadband, Car Insurance Compare+ tool Should I return one of the duplicate orders I received after bad delivery service? 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

Many can save £100s/yr in minutes  Do you pay over £9/mth for your mobile? You're likely being stiffed, & April hikes mean it's got worse   Or buying a new phone? Cheapest-ever big-data iPhone 14 and Samsung S23 deals Let's start this with some crucial facts about mobile bills... - April hikes will increase bills up to 17%, even if you're in contract. - There are 14 million of you who are out of contract, and can switch. - Some pay hefty 'with-handset' rates, though their handsets are paid off. - The cheapest new Sims for switchers have been dropping in price though...  Below we'll show you how to save, like Jo, who tweeted to say she's saving £500+/yr: "Thanks @MartinSLewis, checked my mobile contract and it had just run out a month ago. I stayed with the same provider as Sim-only, saving £44 a month." Why most shouldn't pay more than £9/mth The answer is pretty simple. Right now, you can get a 100GB Sim for £8.75/mth, enough data for almost everyone, and like most Sims it's unlimited UK calls and texts too. So if you're paying more, the question is, why? There are some legit reasons, but they don't apply to most... 1. You're locked into a contract (& paying off a handset). 2. You roam abroad a lot (see Cheap mobile roaming). 3. You need a gobsmacking lot of data (see Unlimited data Sims). 4. You want to stick on one network, in which case maybe a quid or two more is worth it, but not much more (see cheap 'my network' Sims). Yet in the Twitter poll Martin's just done, 88% of people said they pay over £8/mth, 60% pay over £15/mth and 34% pay over £30/mth. So big savings can be had, provided you're one of the 14 million households that are out of contract. Find your cheapest Sim at speed Use our Cheap Sim comparison (a Sim is the chip in your phone that dictates your data, calls & texts allowance). Here are some examples... Top newbies' Sim-only deals All have unlimited mins & texts Ends Sun. Lycamobile  (on O2's signal) 5GB/mth for '£3.35/mth' It's 80p/mth for six months, then £5.90/mth. Over 12 months, it's equivalent to £3.35/mth, but it's a one-month contract so you can cancel at any time. We've little feedback on the no-frills firm's service, so you have to decide if a good service record is important to you. TalkMobile (Vodafone's no-frills provider) 20GB/mth for '£4.62/mth' It's £7.95/mth, but you can claim a £40 Amazon voucher. Factor that in and it's equivalent to £4.62/mth over the 12-month contract. Ends Sun. Smarty (Three's no-frills network) 50GB/mth for £8/mth MSE Blagged It's a straight £8/mth. It's a one-month rolling contract, so you can cancel at any time. Ends Sun. Three 100GB/mth for '£8.75/mth' MSE Blagged It's £15/mth, but you'll get AUTOMATIC £75 cashback within three months. Factored in, it's equivalent to £8.75/mth over the 12-month contract. Key quick tips for switching Sim... - Phone's locked to a network? It must be unlocked for free. - Not sure how much data you use? Use our Data Calculator. - Want to keep your number? Just text 'PAC' to 65075 to get your Porting Authorisation Code. Give it to your new provider and your number will be moved over within one working day. Want to switch Sim and keep your current signal? There are only four UK networks: EE, O2, Three and Vodafone. All others piggyback on their signals. So you can move to a cheaper provider and keep the same signal, but as always, when switching... - If you've a 5G phone, check that the new provider offers 5G. - Features such as Wi-Fi calling or 4G calling may not be available. Our Cheap Sims tool allows you to filter by network, so you can find the cheapest deal for the provider you want, and it flags up what each offers, so if they're important to you - check. This table shows you cheap 10GB+ deals for each network, but use the link to see others. Network (& other providers that use it) Cheapest deal with that network's signal (min 10GB data) EE (includes 1pMobile, Your Co-op, Ecotalk, Zevvle) 1pMobile, 10GB PAYG Sim £10/mth O2 (includes Giffgaff, Tesco, Sky, Lycamobile, Virgin) Lycamobile, 10GB Sim '£4.50/mth' Three (includes iD Mobile, Honest Mobile, Smarty, FreedomPop, Superdrug) iD Mobile, 20GB Sim '£4.67/mth'  Vodafone (includes Voxi, Lebara, Asda, TalkMobile) Lebara, 12GB Sim '£4.45/mth' All come with unlimited mins & texts. Cheapest handsets - iPhone, Samsung etc Sticking with your current handset is cheap and green, but if you need or really want (& can afford) a new phone, there are ways to cut costs. If you can, try to avoid always ping-ponging to the latest handset. That pumps up prices, and model-to-model changes these days aren't huge (cynics'd say it's just marketing to keep pushing prices). So try... - The Find me a phone tool to pick the cheapest phone based on your need. - Or if on a budget, the Find me the best phone & deal within my budget tool. - If you know what phone you want, use our Cheapest new handset tool. Cheapest deals for popular handsets All unlimited mins and texts & all MSE Blagged (as we've managed to negotiate deals undercutting market leaders) Cheapest iPhones iPhone 14 (128GB)released 2022 Three 100GB data (via Affordable Mobiles) Total £845 over two-year contract (£29 upfront, then £34/mth)  If you bought the handset alone, it'd be £849 from Apple, never mind the big monthly data package. Ends Fri. iPhone 13 (128GB) released 2021 Three 100GB data  (via MobilePhonesDirect) Total £795 over two-year contract (£99 upfront, then £29/mth) If you bought the handset alone from Apple, it's £749. Cheapest Samsungs Samsung Galaxy S23 (128GB) released 2022 Three 100GB data (Mobileshop via Samsung) Total £768 over two-year contract (£0 upfront, then £32/mth) If you bought the handset alone, it'd be £849 from Samsung. Ends Fri. Samsung Galaxy S22 (128GB) released 2021 Three unlimited data (via MobilePhonesDirect) Total £593 over two-year contract  (£89 upfront, then £21/mth) If you bought the handset alone, it'd be £769 from Samsung. The resellers listed are big, and generally have good feedback. Your contract is with the network, so it's responsible for the tariff, though your handset consumer rights lie with the reseller. Contracts now often beat buying separate phone & Sim. It used to be that buying a handset outright and pairing it with a cheap Sim was always a winner. Yet as you can see in the table, over the last few years we've seen some resellers' contract deals massively undercutting that. Our tool includes both options. Refurbs are often far cheaper. Top-grade refurbished models are often just returned from customers who have changed their mind. For example, a "pristine" refurb iPhone 12 64GB is £325 vs £649 new. In our Handset comparison tool filters, just opt to include refurbished phones and you can compare refurbs against new phones to find the cheapest way to get one. Quick tip: Don't get a new handset just because yours has run out of space If your phone's run out of room for photos, videos, games and apps, check if you can easily boost storage without the cost of upgrading. See 14 ways to boost mobile storage. Haggle, get cashback & flog old handsets... Yes, it's now that bit at the bottom, where we group together all the tips and bits we want to tell you that don't really fit in the sections above... Happy where you are? Haggle to cut costs. Mobile firms are among the easiest to haggle with - success rates for those who try are more than 60%. So use the tools above to benchmark your top deal, then see our Mobile haggling tips for how to get your provider to beat it. As Georgina emailed: "Thanks for helping me save over £100 a year on my Sim-only contract. O2 were charging me £13/mth for 5GB, but via your helpful comparison page I found Virgin Media (O2 network) was 5GB for £6/mth. I quoted this to O2, and after a bit of haggling, I got the £6/mth deal, plus 3mths Disney+ free." Flog old mobiles - for example, £227 for an iPhone 11 64GB. If your phone is still usable, there are sound financial and environmental reasons to recycle your old handset, given they can give off potentially noxious substances as they decay. You could pop the handset on eBay, or for ease, use one of the dozen mobile phone-buying companies out there. To find the best payer, there are comparison sites including Sell My Mobile*, Compare My Mobile* and Compare and Recycle - use at least a couple for the widest possible search. Firms usually promise payment via bank transfer within one day of receiving your phone. If something goes wrong, unfortunately you've little protection, so check reviews first. More info in our Sell your old mobiles guide. Add a spending cap to stop eye-watering bills. If you use up your monthly data allowance, extra data often isn't cheap. But simply add a spending cap to your account, and you'll never spend more than you can afford. See how to set a personalised spending cap. Members of cashback sites may be able to get deals even cheaper. These sites often give cashback on Sim-only and handset deals, and in some cases, they can undercut promotional deals elsewhere. But don't assume they're the same deal - they can be structured differently, so check carefully. See Top cashback sites for more. Stop overpaying for mobile insurance. Whether you're after a new phone or not, millions are overpaying by £100s to insure their mobile phone. Our Mobile insurance guide will take you through the options - for example, a family of four all with smartphones could get high-grade insurance from just £12.50/mth.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Warning. Home insurance costs predicted to rise 30% So check NOW if you can LOCK IN a price & save £100s Big consultancy Ernst & Young now predicts home insurance costs will rise 30% this year, due to increases in claim costs: building materials, replacement items, labour and more. So EVERYONE should check now if they can save - as if you can lock in today's premium, you can forestall rises for a year. Our Cheap home insurance guide shows how you can save, but here's a brief summary of the key tips (though there are far more in the guide). Not at renewal? It's still worth a check Check to see if you can find prices cheaper. If you can make a substantial saving, provided you haven't claimed this year, you can cancel your policy and usually get a pro-rata refund if you paid upfront, minus a £35ish admin fee (and you don't earn this year's no-claims discounts). See switch home insurance mid-year for more help. Step 1. Establish what cover you need. Everyone, including renters, should consider contents insurance, but buildings insurance is usually only for freehold homeowners (as it's usually the management company or landlord's responsibility - check your lease). To work out what's covered by each, imagine turning your home upside down. If it falls, it's contents. If it stays, it's usually buildings. - Contents insurance: beware underinsuring. Many underinsure, thinking: "I'd never claim for everything"... but if you only insure half your contents' worth, you may only get half the payout. Use a contents calculator. - Buildings insurance: beware overinsuring. Many wrongly insure for their home's market value, but what counts is how much it'd cost to rebuild if it were knocked down or gutted by fire. Use a rebuild cost calculator to find out. Step 2. COMBINE comparison sites for 100s of quotes in minutes. Whichever cover you're going for, this is the route. Comparison sites zip your info to dozens of insurers and brokers at once. Yet don't just use one as a) They can cover different insurers, and b) They often have different prices for the same firm. Our current order is 1) Compare The Market*, 2) Confused.com*, 3) MoneySupermarket* (see how we order it). These sites are best for those with standard circumstances - if that's not you, and you find it tough to get quotes, see help if you're struggling to get insurance. Step 3. See if you can beat your cheapest comparison site price. If you've time, adding insurers comparisons miss, promo deals and cashback sites can bag you a cheaper price. - Biggie Direct Line* doesn't appear on comparisons and can be competitive for some. - Urban Jungle* gives a £15 Amazon voucher after seven months when you use the code MSE_OFFER. - If you're a member of cashback sites Quidco or Topcashback, you can do a comparison through them, and get up to £37 back. But check prices are the same through these comparisons as the main ones. See cashback help info. Step 4. Haggle. If you want to stick with your existing firm, tell it you want to stay, but ask if it can match your cheapest price from steps 2 and 3 - it will often work. See home insurance haggling help. Step 5. Ensure the policy's right for you before buying. Go through the main terms to check you're happy, and check the firm you're buying from is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (that shouldn't usually be a problem through the methods above). And remember, if you have a claim unfairly rejected, that means you've a right to escalate any complaints to the free Financial Ombudsman if the insurer doesn't deal with them.

 

Millions to get £301 'benefits' cost of living payment from today. Find WHO GETS WHAT WHEN in Cost of living payment. THREE banks now pay you £200ish to switch to 'em. Competition's hotting up - there's NatWest's FREE £200 plus £3/mth cashback*, the new HSBC FREE £200*, and First Direct's FREE £175, top service & 7% linked saver*. Do read the full info and reviews, including crucial eligibility info, in Best bank accounts. Supermarket coupons: Tesco £5 off frozen food, Free £2 Tango drink, 50% off Costa latte. Grocery prices continue to soar, but our updated list of 60+ coupons & cashback can help cut costs. Car insurance prices up hugely - try MSE's unique Car Insurance Compare+ tool. Our Compare+ tool's now a year old. It doesn't just give quotes, uniquely we designed in bespoke tips to slash your price further and we've been swamped with messages like David's: "My renewal jumped to £840. Using your tool I renewed with another company for £464 - cheaper than last year. Winner. I checked 3 weeks before renewal, as the tool advised. Spot on. This dropped the price further. Great job guys, £376 saved." Now the £66/mth energy support's ended - check your new direct debit is fair. Many are seeing direct debits hiked due to the support ending, plus many suppliers are reviewing usage. Use our supplier-by-supplier info. Millions missing out on special discounted cheap broadband. A new report from Ofcom says something we've long told you: if you're on universal credit, pension credit, or equivalent benefits, you're eligible for a far cheaper broadband social tariff. And uniquely (we think) our Broadband comparison lets you compare them alongside the best open-market deals. FREE jacket potato and beans at Morrisons cafés. Normally £5. See how to get it in Morrisons deals, and please spread the word to others who'd appreciate the help. Ends Tue 2 May. Invest £50, get a FREE £50 back. It's the last chance to grab this frankly ridiculous Wealthify deal. Newbies putting £50+ into Wealthify's robo-investments get £50 cashback after a year. So invest £50, wait, and then you get your money back,  and whatever the investment's worth in a year is a win. Even if it flops, at worst you break even. For full details, including up to £700 back if you've more to invest, see Robo-investing cashback. 10 ways to pimp your pension (& warranty schmarranty). This and more in the new The Martin Lewis Podcast - listen through BBC Sounds, Spotify, Apple and more.

 

 

BLAGGED FOR MSE - 50GB Smarty Sim (Three network) for £8/mth Ends Sun - 100GB Three Sim '£8.75/mth' Ends Sun - iPhone 14 - 100GB data for '£35/mth' Ends Tue 2 May - iPhone 13 - 100GB data for '£33/mth' Ends Fri - Samsung S23 - unlimited data for £32/mth Ends Fri 5 May - Samsung S22 - unlimited data for '£25/mth' Ends Fri	DID YOU MISS? - Easy-access savings now 3.55% - highest since 2009 - Can you buy new clothes second-hand? - Free Asda £5 - New beauty 'dupes', such as £46 bronzer vs £4.50 - Revealed: who's behind the 'Martin Lewis' scams

 

 

'My daughter got a £10,000 council tax refund for her multiple sclerosis, and future bills wiped. Thank you' 100,000s with STROKES, ALZHEIMER'S, DEMENTIA & more may be missing out on big council tax discounts. Please spread word In 2016, we started campaigning about the severe mental impairment (SMI) council tax discount after I was shocked to find out how underclaimed it was. Our mystery shopping exercise found many frontline council staff didn't know about it, or got the rules wrong - a tragedy, as this is a crucial discount for many desperately in need of help. Thankfully we now receive a flow of successes, and things have somewhat improved, though many still caveat that they only heard of SMI discounts through us. So the battle continues... How does the SMI discount work? Severe mental impairment's a horrid term, so let's stick to SMI. If you or someone you know is likely due it, do read our full SMI help. In brief though, you must meet two eligibility criteria. - You need to be medically certified as being 'SMI'. It's defined as 'a severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning that appears to be permanent'. This can come from dementia, profound learning difficulties, brain injuries, severe strokes, some with severe Parkinson's and more (such as MS, as below). It's up to a doctor. - You're receiving (or are eligible for) a qualifying benefit. This includes means-tested and non means-tested benefits, eg, attendance allowance, disability living allowance, personal independence payment, severe disablement allowance and some parts of universal credit. In England & Wales, you must be getting them. In Scotland, just being eligible can be enough. See all qualifying benefits. The discount size depends on who you live with. Council tax is discounted based on how many qualifying adults live in a house. Having SMI means you don't count towards this (like full-time students & under-18s), so... - SMI living alone: house gets 100% council tax discount (ie, you pay nowt) - SMI living with an adult carer: house gets 50% council tax discount - SMI living with one qualifying adult: house gets single person reduction of 25% council tax discount - SMI living with two or more qualifying adults: the house pays full council tax, so no council tax discount And just to be clear, if there are under-18s, full-time students or others with an SMI in the house as well, they don't usually change the situation above (as they don't count towards council tax either) - so for example a house where someone with an SMI lives with a full time student still gets the 100% discount (there can be some other complex examples where its a 50% discount - see our full Council tax discounts help (including my new video) for more). It can sometimes be backdated. No legal rule requires local authorities to backdate, though some do, back to the first diagnosis. Though in 2019, wonderfully, the Welsh Government took up our recommendations, streamlined the process, printed brochures to help aid awareness and ensured all Welsh councils' payments are backdatable. This can be worth £1,000s. A few days ago, I was moved by this email Ronnie sent to the site (thanks Ronnie), so much so it inspired me to write this note: "We watched your programme a few months ago on SMI. Our daughter has MS, and has been affected cognitively by the disease since 2009. We looked into it, gathered her medical records and a new letter from her doctor, and applied for a rebate. They told us she no longer had to pay her council tax and would get back £938 [for this year]. "We were delighted, but noted you'd mentioned some councils give back payments, so gathered her evidence back to when she had a severe attack, and claimed for those years. The result was a total of £10,297. As her parents, we've tried to keep the wolf from her door, but this money and the savings going forward are immense, and we can only thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you do. We'll be listening in to all of your future programmes."

 

Are you keeping the RIGHT food in the fridge? Tomorrow's 'Stop Food Waste Day', so check out our tips to save food (and money), including where's best to keep bread, fruit, veg and more to prolong their lifespan. It's one of our 12 ways to STOP wasting food and drink. FREE Lego mini toy. At some toy shops this weekend, limited stock. See where to find free Lego. Ends midday Thu. Get short-term 4.25% savings + £25 FREE (if you've £10k+ to save...). Isbank's 4.25% 9mth fix* is only a smidge behind Shawbrook's 4.3% AER (min £1,000) top rate. Yet if you're new to savings marketplace Raisin and open Isbank's account through it (the link takes you there), you get £25 cashback if you use the code RAISIN25 in registration step 4 by 11.59am on Thu and put £10,000+ in by 31 May. Put £10,000 in and the effective interest rate would be 4.59%. Full info on how it works, plus longer fixes, in our Raisin write-up. Both accounts have full UK £85,000 savings safety protection. 20,000 FREE (normally £15ish) Ideal Home Show Scotland tickets. From 26 to 29 May. Ideal Home Show Spend £1.20 on a paper and get a FREE National Trust family pass (normally £26). In selected newspapers, till Sat. Excludes Scotland. National Trust family pass

 

 

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS 0% balance transfers Longest 0%: NatWest - 30 months 0% 2.99% fee (23.9% rep APR) No-fee 0%: NatWest - 19 months 0% (23.9% rep APR) Best bank accounts £200 to switch + £36/yr cashback: NatWest / RBS £200 to switch + 5% regular saver: HSBC Top savings accounts Top easy access: Chip 3.55%, min £1 Top one-year fix: SmartSave 4.71%, min £10,000 Car insurance Try our Car Insurance Compare+ tool   Cheap loans Cheapest for £5,000 to £7,499: AIB (NI) (apply), 5.6% rep APR Cheapest for £7,500 to £15,000: HSBC (check eligibility - existing customers only / apply*), 4.8% rep APR Broadband top picks Standard (10Mb+): Shell Energy '£18.55/mth' Fibre (30Mb+): Shell Energy '£19.66/mth' Fast fibre (55Mb+): Shell Energy '£19.71/mth' On universal credit or similar? Check all discounted social tariffs Cheap Sims Up to 3GB data: Lycamobile, '£2.38/mth' for 3GB 4GB to 9GB data: Lycamobile, '£3.35/mth' for 5GB 10GB+ data: Smarty, £8/mth for 50GB

 

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK Have you been moved on to a prepayment meter for gas or electric? The energy regulator Ofgem is looking into reports of suppliers not playing by the rules when moving customers on to prepayment meters. If you've been moved on to a one - by choice or otherwise - Ofgem would like to hear from you through Citizens Advice's online form. Or if you can't do it online, you can call 0800 464 3374 between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Friday to share your experience. Struggling to pay for energy? See our Energy bill help guide.

 

THIS WEEK'S POLL How much is your time worth when buying insurance? With car and home insurance policy costs predicted to rise this year, it's more important than ever to use our Cheap home insurance and Cheap car insurance cost-cutting systems to find the cheapest quote you can. One of our tips is to use more than one comparison site - yet we know entering the same details on different sites can be a chore. So this week, we want to know how much of saving you'd want to find to make going to another comparison site worth the time. Vote in this week's poll. Over a third of MoneySavers have more than £85,000 in cash savings. Last week, we asked how much money you have in cash savings, and whether the money is safe (it is, normally up to £85,000 per financial institution - see more in Are my savings safe?). More than 7,000 people responded. Just over a third (37%) have more than £85,000 and one in four (25%) of them hold more than £85,000 with just one bank - potentially leaving them unprotected if it went bust. See the full poll results.

 

 

MSE NEWS - Top story: Boost prepay energy customer? Watch out for higher bills after meter error - Barclays to close 95 bank branches this year - British Airways extends Covid travel vouchers until September 2024

 

 

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Should I return one of the duplicate orders I received after bad delivery service? I placed an order worth about £50 with a major retailer, which it sent using a courier that is well known for bad service. The order was delivered to the wrong address. After getting no response from the courier, I contacted the retailer, which sent a replacement (using a different courier). The original parcel has since been dumped outside my house. Should I bother arranging a return, or keep both as I'm fed up with firms using terrible couriers and think they should take responsibility for their poor choices? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I return one of the duplicate orders I received after bad delivery service? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma

 

 

MSE TEAM BLOG - MSE Forum highlights: Butts, tut tuts & food for mutts

 

 

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 26 APR ONWARDS) Wed 26 Apr - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm Tue 2 May - This Morning, phone-in, ITV, 10.20am MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECTS TBC) Tue 2 May - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Mid-morning with Jeremy Sallis, from 10.45am Thu 4 May - BBC Radio Leicester, Mid-morning with Summaya Mughal, from 11.35am

 

CAT LITTER INSTEAD OF CORN FLAKES - WHAT ARE YOUR STRANGEST SUPERMARKET SUBSTITUTIONS? That's all for this week, but before we go... almost half of supermarket deliveries have included a substitute item according to a recent survey, so we asked about the strangest supermarket substitution you've received - and you didn't disappoint. We heard from MoneySavers who got gin and tonic for cat food, dish cloths instead of peanuts, garlic mayo for chocolate spread and cat litter rather than corn flakes. Feeling confused? Spare a thought for the shopper who ordered a kiwi and got... Kiwi shoe polish! Share your downright peculiar supermarket substitutions in our Facebook and Twitter conversations. We hope you save some money, The MSE team

 

Important. Please read how MoneySavingExpert.com works We think it's important you understand the strengths and limitations of this email and the site. We're a journalistic website, and aim to provide the best MoneySaving guides, tips, tools and techniques - but can't promise to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong. What you need to know This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances - and remember we focus on rates not service. We don't as a general policy investigate the solvency of companies mentioned, how likely they are to go bust, but there is a risk any company can struggle and it's rarely made public until it's too late (see the Section 75 guide for protection tips). We often link to other websites, but can't be responsible for their content. Always remember anyone can post on the MSE forums, so it can be very different from our opinion. Please read the Full Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, How This Site is Financed and Editorial Code. Martin Lewis is a registered trade mark belonging to Martin S Lewis. More about MoneySavingExpert and Martin Lewis What is MoneySavingExpert.com? Founded in February 2003, it is now the UK's biggest consumer help website, with more than 12 million users each month and about 8.5 million receiving this email. In September 2012 it became part of the MoneySupermarket Group PLC. Its focus is simple - saving cash and fighting for financial justice on anything and everything. The site has over 80 full-time staff, more than a third of whom are editorial - researching, analysing and writing to continually find ways to save money. More info: See About MSE. Who is Martin Lewis? Martin Lewis CBE is the founder and executive chair of MSE, as well as the founder of the MMHPI charity. He's an ultra-focused MoneySaving journalist and consumer campaigner with his own prime-time ITV programme The Martin Lewis Money Show, Radio 5 Live Wednesday show Ask Martin Lewis and weekly slot on This Morning, among others. More info: See Martin Lewis' biography. What do the links with an * mean? Any links with an * by them are affiliated, which means get a product via this link and a contribution may be made to MoneySavingExpert.com, which helps it stay free to use. You shouldn't notice any difference; the links don't impact the products at all and the editorial line (the things we write) isn't changed due to them. If it isn't possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, it's still included in the same way. More info: See How This Site is Financed. As we believe transparency is important, we're including the following 'un-affiliated' web-addresses for content too: Unaffiliated web-addresses for links in this email sellmymobile.com, comparemymobile.com, comparethemarket.com, confused.com, moneysupermarket.com, directline.com, myurbanjungle.com, natwest.com, hsbc.co.uk, firstdirect.com, raisin.co.uk Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Note MoneySupermarket.com Financial Group Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 303190). MoneySavingExpert.com Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales. Company Registration Number: 8021764. Registered office: One Dean Street, London, W1D 3RB. MoneySavingExpert.com Limited is an appointed representative of MoneySupermarket.com Financial Group Limited. To change your email or stop receiving the weekly tips (unsubscribe): Go to: www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.