Top 5.27% savings fix, free wills, £2 Disney+, 7 Child Benefit need-knows, £70 Eurostar, 145Mb Sky £24/mth

Plus... Chase changes!, top 0% card, car insurance UP 50%, M&S up to 50% off

                                                           

05 March 2024 | View in browser

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THE TOP TIPS IN THIS EMAIL Martin's 7 Child Benefit need-to-knows: - Why you should always register for it - Are you claiming in the wrong name? - How to avoid high-income charges Ends Thu. Grab top all-rounder 0% card Chase rules are changing - is it still top for cashback? New. Top 5.27% savings fix Disney+ £2/mth for three months FREE solicitor-drafted will if you're 55+ Ends Thu. £70 Eurostar returns Car insurance prices up 50% - check if you can save £100s M&S up to 50% off sale Ends Thu. Fast Sky broadband '£24/mth' Puma 35% off code Car finance mis-selling: Have you used our free tool? Martin's pod: Energy prices down 12.3% - should you fix? Martin: 'Govt support for financial education has been a bloody farce' Beat 13% stamp price hike 50GB Sim just '£5.45/mth' Last-minute Mother's Day gifts Trick to beat 43% Ring doorbell hikes New calls for Govt to help mortgage prisoners Are you registered to vote? This week's best buys, including £200 bank switch, 5.9% loan, 3GB Sim '£3.20/mth' Should I give my son £40,000 even though he doesn't need it? BEST BUYS & TOOLS MSE Cheap Mobile Finder Credit Club including free credit report 0% balance transfers Compare broadband deals MSE Compare+ Car Insurance 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

Martin: It ain't child's play... Seven crucial Child Benefit need-to-knows that may be worth £10,000s ALWAYS register, 200,000 wrongly penalised, grandparent credit, avoid high-income charge & did you claim pre-2000? Tomorrow, Wed, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announces what is probably his final Budget pre-general election (follow my live Xplanations from 12.30ish and MSE News after for practical info). Before I interviewed him in Jan (watch it here), I asked you what issues you wanted me to raise. By far the biggest subject, with roughly a third of the 1,000s replies, was about the unfairness of the high-income Child Benefit charge. When I then pushed him on it, he admitted its "unfairness" and asked me to write to him about it (& other issues) afterwards. I did. So before we get on to practicals for you, I thought it worth a timely reminder of the big issue put to the Chancellor before the big Budget day. Extract on Child Benefit unfairness (from my letter to the Chancellor). In our interview, I read out a question from Alan which highlights the unfairness in the way Child Benefit gains start being withdrawn depending solely on one parent/guardian's income hitting £50,000 (and is wiped at £60,000). "My son's partner tragically died 34 days after giving birth to twins. My son has taken a new job that now pays him £60,000 and is struggling with the cost of living and mortgage repayments after the loss of a second income. HMRC has asked him to repay the Child Benefit. This seems grossly unfair that a couple can bring in nearly £100,000 but a single breadwinner loses out once they earn more than half of this. Are there any plans to change this?" I can see few people arguing that it is right that Alan's son's family should lose their Child Benefit even though their total family income is lower. I was very pleased that you accepted there is an "unfairness" in the structure that penalises single-parent families, single-earner families, and families where there is one dominant earner. While I agree, as you pointed out, that there are many structural problems in the tax system, this one is exacerbated by the fact the £50,000 and £60,000 thresholds have been frozen since 2013 – which fiscally-drags 100,000s more families into this situation each year. I'm sure it would be a very popular measure if it were addressed in the Budget. I've little hope the Chancellor (or any Chancellor) can fix the structural problem so quickly. Instead, a solution would be to increase the threshold at which people start to lose Child Benefit from £50,000 to £65,000 (where it would've been had it risen with inflation), which'd remove many of the squeezed middle from the issue, while a new system is devised. 7 things YOU need to know about Child Benefit Child Benefit is for parents of ALL children under 16, and under-20s if in full-time education. It's worth £24 a week (£1,248/yr) for your first child and £15.90 a week (£827/yr) for each additional child. It counts towards the benefits cap, so for some, while you'd still get it, it can reduce other benefits. 1. Register for Child Benefit regardless of what you earn. Many don't bother registering if one parent/guardian earns over £60,000, as they'd just have to pay it all back. Yet that's often a bad idea. Even if you earn too much to gain from it, it's worth registering as: - It triggers your eligibility for national insurance credits. The state pension is a non-means tested payment you get once you hit a certain age, currently 66. The amount received is dictated by the number of national insurance (NI) years you've built up. Most (not all) people need 35+ years to get the full state pension (see are you missing NI years?). NI years are earned by being paid at least £123/week from employment. But if not, another way to get them is by caring for a child under 12. Yet it is the act of claiming Child Benefit that triggers this. - It means your child will automatically get an NI number before they hit 16. If you don't claim Child Benefit, they'll need to apply for one manually when they turn 16, which takes several weeks. - So register to claim Child Benefit, but opt out of getting it. If one of you does earn over £60,000, perhaps the easiest thing to do is claim the Child Benefit, but opt out of receiving the benefit. The link tells you how. 2. Are you one of 200,000 losing out due to the wrong partner claiming Child Benefit? HM Revenue & Customs say 200,000 parents are losing out as they're claiming Child Benefit in the wrong partner's name. Only ONE parent named on the Child Benefit application form can get the NI years (which you need to qualify for the full state pension). Often it should be the lower-earning member of the couple who applies, as if you are earning, or ever earn, under £123/wk, you'll get an NI credit you wouldn't have otherwise, potentially boosting your future state pension, which can add up to £10,000s over the years. You can fill in a form to transfer the credits over to the lower earner. It's sometimes even possible to backdate this, as David emailed... "My wife has a low-paid job, so doesn't contribute to NI, leaving her state pension record with a 10-year gap. We'd been thinking about making voluntary contributions, then I read your Child Benefit article and realised as I'd been claiming it, I could transfer all the Child Benefit credits to my wife. She got 10 years' worth of free NI credits, which would have cost us approx £7,000. A huge weight off our minds. Thanks." And likely that'd boost her state pension by around £3,000/yr. 3. Highest earner on £50,000 to £60,000? You will still gain from Child Benefit. People often mention to me they're not claiming Child Benefit because they earn over £50,000. However, for every £100 you earn over £50,000, you only pay back 1% of your Child Benefit entitlement. So that means at £55,000 you'd still be due over £1,000 a year if you've two children. It's only once your income hits £60,000 that you have to pay back the full amount. So if you earn in between, you'll still gain overall. 4. In work? If one of your family members looks after your children, they could also benefit. If you're registered for Child Benefit and a single parent (or couple, both) earning £123+/wk from employment, you'll be getting your NI years anyway. If so, you can transfer the unused Child Benefit NI credits to a relative if they're caring for your under-12-year-old child (eg, after school). While technically it's called the Specified Adult Childcare Credit, I call it the grandparents' childcare credit, as that's the most common scenario, but it works for any family member aged 16 to 66. If multiple family members contribute, you can still only transfer it to one, so pick carefully. Claims can be backdated to 2011 (including for online care during the pandemic). As Karen emailed... "I was nearly two years short on NI contributions and told I'd need to pay over £1,000 to make it up. After watching your programme about Specified Adult Childcare Credit, I filled in the form as I look after my grandchildren two days a week. I received confirmation this week that the years are now full and I don't need to pay anything to get my full state pension next June. Result! Thank you Martin." 5. You can avoid the higher income Child Benefit charge by boosting your pension contributions. The £50,000 to £60,000 threshold is based on your 'adjusted net income'. This is defined as your total taxable income less the likes of... - Pension contributions - Charitable donations under Gift Aid - Trading losses (for the self-employed) - Childcare vouchers (now closed to newbies, few have them) Therefore, to reduce or remove the high-income charges, you can increase your pension contribution. Here's an example: Polly Pension and her partner Paul Parent live together with their three under-16s. Polly is the highest earner at £52,000. As this is over the Child Benefit threshold, they'll have to pay 20% of their £2,902/yr Child Benefit (£580) as tax. If Polly top ups her workplace pension by £2,000, it'll take her below the threshold, so they won't lose the £580 Child Benefit, and because her pension is taken by her employer from pre-tax income, her take-home pay is only reduced by £1,250. So in effect, she'll get an extra £2,000 in her pension (possibly more if her company matches her contributions) at a cost of £670. The same logic applies to anyone whose pension contributions reduce their total earnings to below £60,000 - even if you still have a higher-income charge, increasing your pension may reduce it. All types of pension can be used to 'reduce' your income - see pension contributions. 6. If you face a high-income Child Benefit bill, it's YOUR responsibility to pay it via a self-assessment tax return. This can be a right pain in the bum for many with simple tax affairs, as you will have to fill in a self-assessment form (there should be a simplified form for Child Benefit, but there isn't sadly). For help, see how to pay. 7. Claimed Child Benefit for the first time BEFORE May 2000? Check if you're missing out on state pension. Since the 1978/79 financial year, those who aren't earning through paid work because they've instead taken time off work to look after their children (or to care for someone with a long-term medical condition) effectively get national insurance contributions. Yet this 'home responsibilities protection' (HRP) wasn't implemented properly for 100,000s of people between 1978 and 2010 (see are you one of 200,000+ missing out on state pension?), when it was then replaced by national insurance credits. This means many (mainly women) aged 41 to 90 who first claimed Child Benefit before May 2000 are receiving (or are due to receive) less state pension than they should. HM Revenue & Customs is writing to some affected people about it. Janet emailed me in January: "Following your show, I applied for HRP as I stayed at home after having my children. I have received £15,000+ in backdated arrears, and my pension has increased by £44 a week thanks to you."

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Ends Thu. Top all-rounder 0% credit card The top 0% spending deal on the market AND a strong 0% balance transfer deal AND you get £20 cashback. All with one application, so less credit file impact Credit cards are a bespoke tool - you need the right one for each job. Yet a few are near best-buys in more than one category, and one of the top 'debt' all-rounder cards ends soon. As it's a 2for1, it's only one application on your credit file, which is good as too many in a short time can impact your ability to access credit. The two top all-rounder cards are also the two LONGEST 0% spending deals available. That's where new purchases on the card are interest-free. As this is new borrowing, be careful, only do it for planned, NEEDED one-offs (eg, a new fridge), where you've budgeted and can afford the repayments. They also both give a 0% balance transfer - where the new card pays off debt on the existing card(s), so you now owe it, but interest-free - so your repayments clear the actual debt, not just the interest. - Use our 0% eligibility tool to see which cards will accept you, as that minimises unnecessary applications. - Balance transfers have a one-off fee as a percentage of the amount transferred. Aim for the LOWEST FEE with a 0% time long enough to clear your debt. Though if you're unsure, just play safe and go long. TOP PICK NEW CARDHOLDER 0% DEALS ALL-ROUNDER Barclaycard Link goes via our eligibility calc, or apply direct* - Up to 21mths 0% spending - Up to 20mths 0% balance transfer (3.45% fee) - 24.9% rep APR after Longest 0% spending on market, but an 'up to'. So unless you're showing as 'pre-approved' in our eligibility calc, you could be accepted and get just 10mths on spending + transfers, though it says the vast majority get the full deal (over 80% of accepted customers last month). ALL-ROUNDER Ends Thu. MBNA Link goes via our eligibility calc, not available direct - Up to 20mths 0% spending done in first 60 days - Up to 20mths 0% balance transfer (3.49% fee) - 23.9% rep APR after Next longest 0% spending on market - but only for first 60 days spending - AND £20 cashback. It's an 'up to', so again some may be accepted and get just 12mths 0% on both. Unusually, you only get the 0% spending on money spent on the card in the first 60 days - most cards do it for the whole period. To get the cashback, you must apply by Thu and then spend and/or transfer £1,000+ within 60 days of acceptance. BALANCE TRANSFER Barclaycard Link goes via our eligibility calc, or apply direct* - Up to 28mths 0% (3.45% fee) - 24.9% rep APR interest after Longest 0% balance transfer, but an 'up to'. If you're not 'pre-approved' in our eligibility calc, you could be accepted and get just 14mths 0% - though again, it says the vast majority get the full deal. BALANCE TRANSFER Virgin Money Link goes via our eligibility calc, or apply direct* - 27mths 0% (3.25% fee) - 24.9% rep APR after Longest definite 0% balance transfer. All accepted get the full 27mths 0%, so it's worth considering if you get good odds for it in the eligibility calc, and aren't pre-approved elsewhere. NO-FEE BALANCE TRANSFER NatWest  Link goes via our eligibility calc, or apply direct* - 13mths 0% - NO FEE - 24.9% rep APR after NatWest says due to web maintenance work, no applications between 9:45pm Tue & 6am Wed.  Cheapest balance transfer if you can repay quickly. No fee, so clear the debt within 13mths and it's totally free. Plus our eligibility calc can tell those pre-approved if they'll get the credit limit they need. Also offered by its sister banks RBS and Ulster Bank, but they're not in our calc. The golden rules... i) Never miss the min monthly repayment, or you could lose the 0% deal and it'll cost far more. ii) Clear the card or balance transfer again before the 0% ends, or the rate rockets to the higher APR. iii) Don't withdraw cash. It usually isn't at the cheap rate and withdrawals hit your ability to access credit. iv) Don't spend on the non-all-rounder balance transfer cards, they're not usually at the cheap rate. v) You must usually balance transfer within 60 or 90 days to get the 0%.

 

New. Top 1yr fixed 5.27% savings & it's from a big name. The Lloyds-owned MBNA 5.27% AER 1yr fix* saver (min £1,000) is the new top payer for those who can lock money away for a year, unless you've £10,000+ when SmartSave's 5.28% AER 1yr fix pays a smidge more (10p/yr more per £1,000). This beats Paragon's 5.16% AER easy-access saver (min £1,000), which allows two penalty-free withdrawals a year, though unlike the fix, its rate's variable, so can change. See Top savings. Disney+ £2/mth (normally £5) for three months. Both for new and returning customers. This and more in our seven Disney+ deals - so you can binge watch what you need, then cancel if you choose. It's FREE WILLS month - solicitor-drafted wills if you're aged 55+. It's Free Wills Month, allowing those aged 55+ to get a free solicitor-drafted (or updated) will, in the hope you'll leave something to one of its partner charities. The March event includes London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Bristol and more, the link has full info of where's covered. Not over 55? Help & options in our Cheap & free wills guide. Ends Thu. £70 Eurostar returns, plus a way to get an extra 8% off. This is the cheapest we've seen for a couple of years, it's for travel between 13 March to 23 May. Bag £70 returns to Paris, Lille and Brussels. Car insurance prices sadly up 50% - check if you can save £100s NOW. Best is to read Martin's full 'how to beat car insurance hikes' briefing from last week's email. Or, for speed, use our Compare+ Car Insurance tool. M&S up to 50% off clothes, home & beauty sale. Online & in-store on 1,000s of its own items, plus brands including White Stuff, Monsoon and French Connection. M&S sale Ends Thu. 145Mb Sky broadband '£24/mth' - about half what most pay. Newbies can get Sky's 145Mb deal for £28/mth and CLAIM a £65 prepaid Mastercard / shopping voucher. Factored in, it's equivalent to £24.40/mth over the 18mth contract. You pay £5 upfront, but you get it back as bill credit. It's available to 60% of homes. Can't get it/want to see other providers? MSE broadband comparison. Puma 35% off code. MSE Blagged. It's valid on both full-price and already-reduced sale items. Puma Car finance mis-selling: Did you buy a vehicle on PCP or HP from 2007 to Jan 2021? Free complaint tool (& don't worry if you've not heard back). New to this? The regulator's investigation over hidden commissions may mean millions are due £1,000s back. Our Car finance guide & free complaint tool takes you through it. Complained & not heard? We're speaking to all major firms to find out what they're doing - we hope to fully update next week or the week after, so please bear with. For the basics now, see Car finance complaints. Martin's pod: Energy prices DOWN 12.3%, so why are standing charges up & should you fix? All in the new The Martin Lewis Podcast. Listen via BBC Sounds, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to get your Martin fix.

 

 

BLAGGED FOR MSE - Puma 35% off code Ends Sun	DID YOU MISS? - Speedily find bargains with Amazon Warehouse Discount Finder - £6 off Pampers, 'free' £1.65 dog treats & more coupons - FREE £200 to switch bank - Martin: 'What happened to my £10m charity pledge?' update - Got Avios you won't use for flights? Swap 'em to Nectar now

 

 

Chase customer? A workaround for its new trickier cashback rules, yet it's still the... TOP cashback debit card. TOP debit card abroad. And it's EASY to get (without switching) How to use this & more to be a cashback champion... Chase burst on to the UK banking scene two years ago as a secondary current account (you don't need to switch to it) with serious perks. It's since grabbed over 2m UK customers, but now we're starting to see it chip away at its benefits. It's still a top deal, though existing customers need to know of the latest change...  FOR NEWBIES: Chase is a winner - 1% cashback & near-perfect exchange rates overseas (& overseas cashback too). Newbies to Chase* speedily get 1% cashback (max £15/mth) on almost all spending (excludes buying cars & art, gambling and so on - see the full list). It also gives you the same near-perfect rate it gets on spending in any country (so just use it to pay overseas) and as you get the 1% cashback there too, it's unbeatable (see Top overseas cards). It pays a decent-ish 4.1% AER interest on its linked easy-access saver (for better, see Top savings). Easy to get and you don't need to switch. Just get the app. You needn't switch to Chase, so can open it, then add money to spend from your main account. It's easy to get as it only does a 'soft' ID check on application, not a credit check.  HAD CHASE OVER 12 MONTHS? It's upping the minimum monthly pay-in (but we've workarounds). Since 28 Feb you now need to pay a total of £1,500/mth (was £500/mth) into the current and/or savings account to keep the 1% cashback. Those who have been maxing its monthly cashback will be doing this anyway. However... - To spend under £1,500/mth. Pay in the £1,500 then either manually or via a standing order just transfer the remainder back the next day (or keep it in the linked savings). - Don't have £1,500 to deposit? Put in what you have, let's say £750, then move it back to your main bank, then back again and you've met the £1,500. As the rule is simply you must put in £1,500 a month, what you take out doesn't matter.  BEST POSSIBLE CASHBACK: 5% for up to 5 months (max £125) with Amex credit card. Until 9 Apr, with the American Express Everyday offer, newbies can get 5% cashback for 5mths (normally 3mths) up to a max of £125 (normally £100). It's paid after a year. But you do need to spend £3,000+/yr to get any cashback and, as it's a credit card, only do it if you'll repay IN FULL each month. If not, the 31% rep APR interest dwarfs the cashback gain. After the 5mths, it's 0.5% on spending up to £10,000/yr and 1% above. So it's good for bigger spenders either by itself or with Chase. EARN CASHBACK ON BILLS TOO: Santander Edge account. Costing £3/mth, Santander Edge* pays a max £20/mth cashback across two categories. Again you needn't switch to it, so it makes a good (joint) bills account.  - 1% cashback (max £10) on bills paid via the account: Water, council tax, energy, broadband, phones, paid-for TV  - 1% cashback (max £10) on supermarket, fuel, train & bus spending This could net £80 to £100/yr for someone with average bills. If you've bigger bills, around £1,200/mth, check the separate Edge Up account - it costs £5/mth, but pays a max £30/mth cashback (up to £15/mth on both categories). To qualify, you need to pay in £500/mth to Edge or £1,500/mth into Edge Up, and have a minimum of two Direct Debits. Related: Top cashback sites.

 

Martin: 'Government support for financial education has been a bloody farce - teachers need more resources.' Martin told MPs at the Education Committee that govt must do more. Read his key points. Beat the up to 13% stamp price hike. Both 1st & 2nd class prices are rising. See how to beat stamp price hikes. 50GB Sim just '£5.45/mth'. This Talkmobile Sim (on Vodafone's signal) is £7.95/mth, and you can CLAIM a £30 Amazon voucher, cutting it to the equiv. of £5.45/mth over a 1yr contract. Want different data/network? Use Cheap Mobile Finder.  Sunday is Mother's Day: Flowers deals, £13 Baileys 1L & FREE gift cheques. It's this Sunday, but you don't have to spend a lot (or at all) to treat Mum. Ring doorbell customer? You've less than a week to beat 43% subscription price hikes. Basic subscription prices go up from Monday, but we've a trick to beat Ring rises. Parliamentary group calls on Government to help mortgage prisoners. A year on from the landmark (Martin-funded) report, there's still no action to free up to 200,000 homeowners stuck on cripplingly high rates after the Government sold off their mortgages to non-competitive lenders. See the latest Mortgage prisoner call. Are you registered to vote? It's the most vital consumer decision you can make, plus it can also help boost your credit rating. Do register to vote.

 

 

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS 0% balance transfers Longest 0%: Barclaycard (check eligibility / apply*) - up to 28mths 0%, 3.45% fee (24.9% rep APR interest) No-fee 0%: NatWest (check eligibility / apply*) - 13mths 0% (24.9% rep APR). NatWest says due to web maintenance work, no applications between 9.45pm Tue & 6am Wed. Best bank accounts £200 to switch + cashback: NatWest Reward £175 to switch + rewards: Club Lloyds Top savings accounts Top easy access: Paragon Bank 5.16%, min £1,000 Top one-year fix: SmartSave 5.28%, min £10,000 Car insurance Try our Compare+ Car Insurance tool Cheap loans Cheapest for £5,000 to £7,499: Santander (check eligibility / apply*), 7.3% rep APR Cheapest for £7,500 to £15,000: TSB (check eligibility - TSB has asked us to only link to our eligibility calculator), 5.9% rep APR Broadband top picks Fast fibre (55Mb+): Vodafone '£23.30/mth' Superfast fibre (100Mb+): Virgin Media: '£21.78/mth' On Universal Credit or similar? Check all discounted social tariffs Cheap Sims Up to 3GB data: Lebara, '£3.20/mth' for 3GB 4GB to 9GB data: Lebara, '£3.45/mth' for 5GB 10GB to 30GB data: iD Mobile, '£4.50/mth' for 30GB 31GB+ data: TalkMobile, '£5.45/mth' for 50GB

 

THIS WEEK'S POLL Do you claim Child Benefit? Child Benefit is for parents of children under 16 (or 20 and in full-time education). It can be worth more than £17,000 and gives you state pension-boosting national insurance credits - see Martin's latest need-to-knows above for more. We want to know whether you claim Child Benefit, and if not, why not? Vote in this week's poll. More than a third of MoneySavers have an electric vehicle (EV). Over 4,000 people responded to our EV ownership poll last week - 37% have an EV, with the vast majority (92%) owning a fully electric car over a plug-in hybrid. Cheaper running costs was the most common reason for buying one, followed by the environmental benefits. Of those that don't currently have one, only 21% said they'd consider an EV for their next car. See the full poll results.

 

 

MSE NEWS - Top story: Today is your last chance to apply for Pension Credit to get a £299 cost of living payment - The Body Shop to close almost half its stores as it falls into administration

 

 

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA My son wants me to give him £40,000 even though he doesn't need it - should I? After selling my recently-deceased dad's house, I gave my daughter £40,000 as a deposit on a house. As my son has a very good job and already has a house, I had my will rewritten to say that he will get the first £40,000 from my house when the time comes, to make things fair. But my son wants the money now, which I could just about afford to give him, but I don't want to as he doesn't need it and it wouldn't leave me with much. How do I resolve this without causing bad feeling? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I give my son £40,000? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma

 

A few World Book Day competitions... - Win a set of Bad Panda books - Win a Mr. Men Little Miss book - Win a bundle of 30+ children's books ... from the MSE Forum comping board - Win a set of Bigg School books - Win a set of 25 baby & toddler books - Win a children's book about gardening

 

 

MSE TEAM BLOG - Free and cheap World Book Day last-minute costume ideas - 15 free or cheap kids' book tricks - MSE Forum highlights: Duvets, doilies & duck

 

 

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (TUE 5 MAR ONWARDS) Wed 6 Mar - Budget reaction, BBC Radio 5 Live, 3pm Thu 7 Mar - Budget reaction, Good Morning Britain, ITV1, from 8am Thu 7 Mar - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm Tue 12 Mar - This Morning, phone-in, ITV1, 10.15am Tue 12 Mar - The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, ITV1, 8pm (watch previous episodes)

 

BOILED EGG AND MARS BAR ROLLS, SARDINE TOASTIES - YOUR WEIRDEST WORK LUNCH STORIES That's all for this week, but before we go... apparently 57 million more packed lunches were brought into the office last year compared to 2022. So we asked our followers to snitch on colleagues with the strangest lunches. Plenty worked with people committing the cardinal sin of microwaving fish, including kippers, tuna and sardines, the latter of which was used for a 'fish toastie'. Many complained about smelly egg sandwiches, while at least two people had a colleague who boiled eggs in the workplace kettle. The award for the strangest combo came from the person who cut up a hardboiled egg, put it in a roll with a Mars bar and microwaved it for lunch. Yet we doff our cap to the half a dozen or so who admitted to having a full roast dinner for lunch - some even posted pics as proof. Let us know your funny food stories in our Facebook and Twitter conversations. We hope you save some money, The MSE team

 

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