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Giving your cash savings a growth boost by bagging a decent rate of interest is a dim and distant memory right now. With inflation now running at 0.7%; you’ll need to beat this in order to have any chance of making your savings grow.

The ‘average’ instant access savings account pays a super stingy 0.5% a year in interest, and even if you stick your money away in a ‘fixed rate’ account for two years; you’d be be hard pushed to top 1% in interest.

Cash savings booster

While it’s possible to get higher rates on cash savings, these can come with strings attached. So for example, you can earn 2% with Nationwide’s FlexDirect current account and 3% with Natwest’s Regular Saver, which sounds pretty good right now, but both have restrictions.

Nationwide’s 2% rate only holds for the first year and only on balances up to £1,500. You’ll also need to pay in £1,000 a month. And the Natwest deal is only for existing customers and the maximum you can pay in each month is £50.

So is it time to take a punt on prize draw savings? Some banks and building societies are offering savers free monthly draws with big cash prizes. Won’t cost you a penny to enter and you may still get a dash of interest too.

Prize Draw Savings

Here’s some of the names splashing the cash along with top monthly prize.

Halifax – £100,000

This offers the biggest prizes with a monthly prize bag worth £550,000 and three top prizes of £100,000. But you’ll need at least £5,000 in one of its savings accounts to be in with a chance to win. Most accounts qualify; apart from kids’ ones, but worth checking before opening a new one.

Got a mortgage with Halifax? You can enter its free monthly draw where each month one winner gets their mortgage paid off up to £300,000.

Post Office – £10,000

You’ll need to open a Post Office savings account and stick in at least £1,000 before 30th April to get your foot in the door for this one. And you’ll need to ‘opt in’ as entry isn’t automatic. Top prize is £10,000 with four prizes of £2,500 and 200 shopping gift cards of £100.

Natwest – £1,000

If you’re a current account customer, open its Digital Regular Saver account and pay in between £1 – £50 in April, May and June, you could be in with a chance to win one of ten £1,000 prizes in the July draw. Plus you’ll get 3% on the first £1,000 saved.

Nationwide – £100

Top prize is £100 with Nationwide with its Start To Save account To be in with a chance to win, you need to pay in between £50 and £100 a month for three months before qualifying for the draw. Pays 1% interest; which is, (sadly), not a bad rate right now.

Existing savers only……

I’ve left this till last as while there’s a monthly prize pot of nearly £100,000 up for grabs, the Windfall Bond savings account from the Family Building Society is no longer open to new savers.

If you’ve already got the account; which needs a minimum of £10,000 to qualify, they’ll keep dishing out the monthly prizes which includes a top one of £50,000 with smaller ones all the way down to £1,000. But only pays 0.1% in interest.

Premium Bonds – £1,000,000

You can stash up to £50,000 in Premium Bonds for a chance to win a million every month. You won’t earn any interest; but if you’re happy to sacrifice the smidge of interest you might get sticking your money in a savings account; then it’s worth a punt and winnings are tax free.

When someone dies there’s certain things that need to be done, and knowing where to start and what to do first can be overwhelming.

Telling family and friends may be your first thought, but very soon there’s decisions to make and arrangements to organise.

Here’s a practical guide to some of the things you need to do.

Where to start

You need to get the medical certificate showing the ’cause of death’ before you can officially register the death or arrange the funeral. Depending on where the person died, you may get this from the hospital, or local GP, if the person died at home.

Registering the death

Once you’ve got the medical certificate, you can make an appointment to register the death. This is usually at the local register office and should be done within five days, or eight in Scotland. Under normal circumstances you’d make an appointment to do this in person; but right now, this is being done with telephone appointments and the death certificate sent out to you.

It’s often worth paying for extra copies of the death certificate as banks and insurance companies will want to see this when closing accounts. Costs can range from around £8 – £12 per copy.

Arranging the funeral

Before you can start doing this, you’ll need what’s known as the ‘green form’, which is the official certificate for burial or cremation. It’s usually handed to you at the register office; although right now they’re being sent out.

Most people use a funeral director to arrange the funeral, as they can organise and co-ordinate everything for you. When choosing a funeral director, remember there’s lots of small independent family run companies as well as the bigger chains.

When it comes to cost, be honest about your budget as a good funeral director will suggest different options. And do check if the person who’s died had a funeral plan in place, as this may cover some, or all of the costs.

Worth checking that whoever you use is a member of the National Association of Funeral Directors, (NAFD), or the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors, (SAIF), as these organisations both have codes of practice and strict standards for members.

How much will a funeral cost?

Funerals can be expensive and costs can vary according to where you live, as well as the type of funeral you choose.

According to SunLife, (who produce an annual report into the cost of funerals), the ‘average’ cost of a cremation is now £3,885, and £5,033 for a burial.

However this is only the basic cost, and you can pay a lot more depending on the options you choose, for example the type of coffin and whether you want flowers and cars.

In the current climate more people are choosing a ‘Direct Cremation’; which costs an average of £1,554. This is a very basic option; as there’s no service, so you can’t go along, although you can collect the ashes afterwards.

If you’re claiming certain benefits you may be able to claim a Funeral Expenses payment.

Closing down accounts

Most of us have multiple accounts, services or subscriptions to our name and these will all need closing or cancelling.

Worth making a list of all the companies you need to contact as you think of them, including banks, pension and insurance companies, energy providers along with any clubs or organisations the person belonged to.

You can contact most Government departments in one go using the ‘Tell Us Once’ service which covers state pensions, benefits, cancelling a passport and driving licence. You’ll be given a special code to access this service when you register the death.

There’s also organisations like Life Ledger where you can tell multiple organisations in one go. Most organisations, especially banks and insurance companies, have their own bereavement departments to help you close down accounts and you can find details on their website.

Wills & probate

The job of closing down the person’s estate and sorting out their last wishes falls to the person, or people named as Executors in the will.

They may need to get what’s known as a Grant of Probate to start sorting out money matters, although this isn’t always necessary.

Without a will, the estate is split up according to ‘Intestacy Law’ which sets out who gets what.

Got five minutes to find out about today’s budget? Here’s my quick run down on what it means for the pound in your pocket.

Furlough scheme extended

Furlough is now being extended to the end of September. As an employee, you’ll still get 80% of your wages, up to £2,500 a month, for the time you don’t work.

But employers will have stump up and contribute 10% to the bill in July and 20% in August and September.

Support for the self-employed

There’s two more grants as part of the Self Employment Income Support Scheme.

The 4th one covers up to 80% of your ‘average’ trading profits over a three month period and worth up to £7,500. The 5th one will cover the period from May to July but look at how much you’ve lost. With this one, if your profits are down by more than 30%, you’ll still get the 80% grant, but if it’s less than 30%, you’ll get 30% of your profits.

This time round the scheme will cover another 600,000 people as it’s being extended to those who’ve submitted a tax return for 2019 – 2020.

However once again nothing in the way of any financial support for limited company directors.

Stamp duty extension

The current stamp duty ‘holiday’ is extended from the end of March to 30th June. Means no stamp duty to pay on the first £500,000 of your home’s price tag.

After that, the ‘nil rate’ band gets cut to £250,000 until the end of September, and then it’s back at its previous £125,000 level from October.

Boost for first time buyers

The Chancellor announced plans to, ‘turn generation rent into generation buy’.

First time buyers will be able to buy their first home with just a 5% deposit with a new Government Guarantee in place to protect lenders. Will be available on properties with a price tag of up to £600,00.

Tax freezes

There’s no change in the rates of tax, national insurance or VAT.

The ‘personal allowance’; that’s the amount you can earn before paying tax, goes up from £12,500 to £12,570 next year and then gets frozen till 2026.

And the ‘higher rate’ allowance goes up from £50,000 to £50,270 next year and once again, it’s then frozen to 2026.

Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax and the Pensions Lifetime Allowance are all frozen at their current rates till 2026.

Corporation tax hike

If you’re a limited company; then you’re going to see the rate of corporation tax go up from 19% to 25% from April 2023. While it was rumoured to be going up; this is far higher than the 23% that was expected.

However small limited companies with profits of £50,000 or less will stay paying the 19% rate.

And more……

Minimum wage goes up to £8.91 an hour from April and the £20 Universal Credit weekly ‘uplift’ will be extended for another six months.

And if all this has got you reaching for a G&T, well a tiny glimmer of good news in that alcohol duty is frozen, so your bottle of plonk shouldn’t cost you any more at the till. Oh and fuel duty’s frozen too, so you shouldn’t pay more at the pump tomorrow.

If you’re on a low income and reached state pension age, you may be able to claim some extra cash in the form of Pension Credit.

What is Pension Credit?

It’s a ‘top up’ payment that boosts your weekly income to a guaranteed minimum level. And it’s tax free too. Around two million households currently claim it, but it’s reckoned around one million may be missing out.

How much is it worth?

The ‘average’ amount claimed is £58 a week; over £3,000 a year according to Government figures.

However there’s no ‘one size fits all’ payment as Pension Credit is ‘means tested’. This means how much you get depends on your income, including any pensions and benefits and any savings over £10,000 will be counted too, although not your main home.

Pension Credit comes in two parts, and you can claim one, or both.

Guarantee Credit can ‘boost’ your income to a minimum of £173.75 a week for a single person, and £265.20 for a couple.

Savings Credit is basically a reward if you’ve saved for retirement; say in a pension. It’s worth £13.97 a week for a single person and £15.62 for a couple. You must have reached state pension age before 6th April 2016 in order to start claiming Savings Credit.

Check if you can claim

No need to worry about doing the number crunching yourself. Here’s the easy way to check if you can claim. All you do is plug your details into the Government’s Pension Credit calculator

Claiming Pension Credit also opens the doors to some other discounts and benefits including a free TV licence, (if you’re over 75), along with help with council tax.

Making a claim

You can find out more about how to claim here or call the Government Pension Credit claim line on 0800 99 1234.

Payments are usually made every four weeks straight to your bank account.

If your situation changes, this can affect the level of Pension Credit you claim, so call the Pension Credit helpline and let them know.

Free toys and games worth up to £20 each are up for grabs during half term with this special offer from Uber Eats & Hasbro.

Uber Eats has teamed up with toy giant Hasbro with a free toy store app. Means free toys and games delivered to your door within just 30 minutes and all you pay is an Uber Eats delivery fee, which can vary; but usually up to around £4.

No need to order food either with this offer. You can just go on and snap up the free game, without buying anything.

The doors to this virtual toy store open at midday on Wednesday 17th February and stay open through to Saturday 20th.

How it works

Just go on the Uber Eats app; head for the Hasbro toy store and choose from one of seven toys and games including Cluedo, Game of Life, Boggle, Pit, 2 different Play-Doh sets and Yahtzee.

I’ve shopped around to see how much you’d usually pay for one of these freebies and they’re typically up to around £20 on other toy outlets or Amazon.

Promotion code

When you go on the app; the games and toys will have a ‘£6’ charge beside them. This the ‘minimum spend’ at the Hasbro Toy Store, but if you pop in this Uber Eats promotion code THEHASBROTOYSTORE all you’ll pay is the Uber Eats delivery charge.

The PR people do tell me that in some cases there could be a ‘service charge’ too, so do watch for that.

Any catches?

Ok so it’s not available nationwide; only in London and Manchester and you’ll need to live within around three miles of a Hasbro toy store to be able to order.

Only one game or toy per household and the deal is available for the first 200 orders and do remember you can’t go on to snap up your freebie till midday Wednesday!

Giving to charity when money is tight can seem tough, but here’s five easy ways to give your chosen charity a boost.

Amazon Smile

Shop on Amazon? There’s an easy way to give every time you buy.

Sign up to Amazon Smile. It’s free, links through to your Amazon account and donates 0.5% of your spending to your chosen charity. Won’t cost you a penny more and you can track how much you raise.

Not all purchases are eligible; but those that are will be clearly flagged up.

Nearly £6 million has been raised for charities this way. I’ve signed up with Cancer Research UK as my chosen charity.

The power of ‘Pennies’

Paying by card in petrol stations or shops?

You may be asked if you’d like to ’round up’ your payment to the nearest pound with the spare change going to charity.

This is ‘Pennies’, a digital charity money box that’s raised £25 million through retailers including Boots Opticians, Notcutts garden centres, Hobbycraft and Travelodge.

Donate ‘cashback’

Lots of us already earn ‘cashback’ when shopping online. So why not give those cashback savings to charity?

Sign up with the Giving Machine and when you shop online at stores including big names like M&S, John Lewis, Argos, Boots and Tesco as well as places like Moonpig and Prezzybox, they’ll donate a percentage of your spending to your chosen charity. And you can choose four charities to support.

Easyfundraising is another charity shopping site with over 4,000 stores, including big names like M&S, John Lewis, Argos, Boots and Tesco, with a small payment going to your chosen charity every time.

Raised £34 million to date so far. TopCashback offer the option to donate your usual cashback earnings to a charity of your choice including Macmillan Cancer, Samaritans and Age UK.

Gift Aid

Charities get an extra 25p for every £1 you give with Gift Aid, as means HMRC put their hand in their pocket to stump up too. And won’t cost you a penny more to sign up.

Shop at charity shops

Charities including the RNLI and Marie Curie have online stores selling homeware, gifts and cards all year round.

And when they can open their doors again, charity shops sell gifts as well as second hand items on the high street too.

What can you do if Christmas presents arrive late, damaged or just don’t turn up in time?

You may feel like shouting down the phone at the delivery company if you arrive home to find a soggy parcel in the front garden or your parcel doesn’t turn up as promised, but under consumer law, (and it’s the Consumer Rights Act that’s the bit you need to know), it’s the retailer who’s responsible, not the driver.

The Christmas countdown is ticking so where do you stand if parcels arrive late?

Late deliveries

If you were given a specific delivery date or the item was ‘guaranteed’ for Christmas delivery; you can ask for your money back including any extra postage costs.

But if you’re not given a specific delivery date, but say a three or five day window, bad news is the retailer actually has up to 30 days to deliver it to you. And if this doesn’t happen; you can get a refund including any postage costs.

Dumped or damaged parcels

Who hasn’t come home to find parcels dumped in weird and wonderful places? Not so wonderful when you’ve forked out your hard earned cash to find a rain soaked parcel on the doorstep or one thrown in your back garden.

Delivery companies often encourage you to suggest a ‘safe place’ to leave parcels if you’re not in, but doing this can wipe out your rights.

Suggest a ‘safe place’, like leaving parcels in the shed or with a neighbour, and it means companies are in the clear if it comes to problems as they’ll say they did what you asked.

However if it’s the driver who decides to leave your parcel somewhere, and there’s a problem, you can ask for a refund or replacement if it’s damaged or goes missing.

Missing deliveries

No sign of your parcel? Or are the delivery company claiming it’s been delivered when it hasn’t?

Mistakes can be made. I was once emailed a snap of my parcel by my front door as proof of delivery. Only problem was; it wasn’t my front door and I had no idea who the owner was! Got a refund on that one.

If there’s a problem get in touch with the retailer; either by email or call their customer service helpline. Or if you think the parcel’s been pinched, and sadly parcel theft is on the increase, report it to the Police too.

The high street took a double whammy this week when retail giant Arcadia went into administration, taking with it stores including Top Shop, Miss Selfridge, Top Man, Wallis and Evans and Dorothy Perkins, and then within 24 hours, Debenhams went into liquidation.

It’s sad news for struggling high streets, all the employees, with an estimated 25,000 jobs now at risk, and shoppers, who are confused about whether they can still spend gift cards, take back returns or faulty goods.

I’ve been talking and writing about this a lot including this piece for Good Housekeeping so here’s my quick run down on your consumer rights and why you should act fast!

Play gift cards now!

If the store is open, they may still accept gift cards. But it’s not unusual, as is the case with gift cards for Arcadia’s brands, to find they may only be accepted towards 50% of any purchase.

But if a store goes bust, they could prove worthless as you’ll be at the back of the queue trying to claim back your cash, behind a whole pile of ‘creditors’.

If gift cards get refused, the person who bought the card in the first place, may be able to claim their money back, through the banks’ ‘charge back’ system. But that’s providing they paid on debit or credit card.

Rush for refunds on returns

Most high street stores usually offer generous ‘returns’ policies and swap or refund unwanted items, or stuff you’ve changed your mind on.

If the store doors are open, head back armed with ‘proof of purchase’ and see if you can get your money back or even settle for an exchange.

Kicking your heels waiting for orders?

Still waiting for an order? If it doesn’t arrive, or the company goes bust, you may be able to claim your money back depending on how you paid.

If you paid by credit card, and the item cost over £100, you’ve got special powers, in the form of a handy bit of consumer legislation known as ‘Section 75’. Part of the Consumer Credit Act, this gives you super powers, as it makes both the company you paid your money to, and your credit card company ‘jointly liable’.

So if the store won’t, (or can’t), play ball, you can ask your card company for a refund. Paid by debit card? Ask your bank to do a ‘charge back’.

Faulty goods

If the store’s trading, dash back to see if you can get a refund or exchange.

If they won’t help, (and once a store’s in the hands of the administrators it’s their call), contact the manufacturer. You usually get at least a year’s guarantee on electrical items so ask the manufacturer to fix the fault.

And if you stumped up for an ‘extended warranty’; these are usually backed by insurers, which means you should still be able to get faults fixed.

So this week I’ve been scoffing posh crisps, (all in the name of consumer research of course…..), saved £80 on our house insurance, got a free Christmas present for the cats and snaffled a 30% discount on my new boots by joining a mailing list………

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Posh crisps for £1

If we’re talking snacks; then I’m always going to go crisps, not chocolate. So thought I’d give Morrisons range of ‘posh crisps’ a go.

Smoked Salmon & Prawn Cocktail, Pigs in Blankets and Aberdeen Angus Steak & Truffle crisps, which I checked out, are some of the flavours in its new ‘Best’ range. Must say they were a big hit in our house. Verdict? Meaty, mega tasty and with a great kick to boot.

Just £1 for a 150g size sharing bag; that’s around half the price of other fancy crisps like Kettle and Tyrrells, which are often around £2 for a same size pack.

Free Christmas present for the cats

With our home insurance due this month, I’ve been shopping around for a better deal. It’s something I do every year; and can’t actually remember the last time we stayed with the same insurer two years running. They usually want to hike the price on renewal and Halifax was no exception.

After a claim free year, it wanted to hike our premium by £80 on renewal so I plugged our details into a couple of comparison sites.

This time round found the best deal through Comparethemarket.com. Switched insurers and saved the extra £80 Halifax wanted and extra bonus was the arrival of ‘Sleepy Oleg’, who is a welcome, (free!), Christmas present for the cats.

Want one yourself? You need to make a ‘qualifying’ purchase before 14th December. All the info here

30% off my new boots from Esprit

It’s always worth signing up on the mailing list of your favourite websites as they often send voucher codes over. Always do this when I’m going to a new pub or restaurant, (which hopefully I’ll get to do again soon!), as they often send a voucher for a glass of wine or introductory discount.

Anyway so I spotted these fabulous chunky Chelsea Boots a couple of weeks ago on the Esprit website and when a 30% off voucher popped into my inbox; proved the best time to buy and saved myself £15.

Black Friday is a huge American import and flagged up both sides of the Atlantic by retailers as a shopping bargain bonanza with sales, deals and discounts on offer on everything from beauty to electronics, clothes and homeware.

This year it falls on Friday 27th November; with lots of online stores already kicking off their ‘Black Friday’ sales early.

Most high street stores will be shut this year, due to lockdown restrictions, but Black Friday could still be a bumper day online; as it’s reckoned we’ll shell out a whopping £6.5 billion; that’s £289 each according to TopCashback and research from the folks at budgeting app Yolt reckon 14 million of us will spend more this year, than last.

But with retailers having a tough time, you can bet they’ll put on a show to get us spending!

Think twice before splashing the cash

While savings can be made; it’s all too easy to get whipped up into a shopping frenzy that could prove costly.

One in five of us admit regrets over last year’s Black Friday purchases, and with the rising number of online scams in the wake of Covid-19, three in four of us worry about being ripped off, according to internet security company McAfee.

Throw into the mix the fact that around 95% of Black Friday ‘deals’ are cheaper at other times of the year and it’s worth thinking twice before splashing the cash.

Here’s my top five tips to stay smart on Black Friday

Boost the power of your pound

I’m all for bagging a bargain, providing it’s something you really need, or want, and not lured into spending, just because the price tag screams ‘cheap’!

So if there’s something you want; check the best price now; ahead of Black Friday.

Use price comparison sites like Idealo and Pricespy Takes seconds to find who’s selling at the best price and you can check back to compare how the same deal stacks up on Black Friday.

Factor in delivery charges too. Lots of places offer free delivery with a minimum spend, typically from around £20 upwards; although some places like Wilko want a whopping £100 minimum spend before chucking in free delivery; or you’ll pay £5.

Use Amazon’s price tracker

Shopping on Amazon? Always use its price tracker tool. This number crunches its prices all year round; so you’ll know if today’s price really is the best deal.

With tech gadgets; worth checking if you’re getting the latest model or an old one on discount. Buying older models on sale can be a great way to bag a bargain as stores shift old stock; but do check you’re comparing ‘like for like’ when checking prices.

Cash in with cashback

You can still bag cashback on sale deals.

Sign up to cashback sites like TopCashback and Quidco to earn as you spend, and pay with cashback cards if you’ve got one, and use loyalty cards or cash in points for extra savings.

Stockpile voucher codes

Sign up to your favourite websites for online discount codes and check out voucher code sites

A 30% voucher code discount will trump an ‘on the day’ 20% off Black Friday deal, and mean you’ll be better off holding back and playing your voucher code card for bigger savings another time.

In most cases you can’t ‘stack’ vouchers for multiple discounts as they’re usually only valid on full price stuff, but that said; some sites may let you do this, or may be a glitch in the system and I’ve bagged ‘double discount’ this way a few times.

Check the returns deal

Splashed out only to regret it?

Buying online means you can get a full refund simply because you’ve changed your mind, (you’ve got 14 days to cancel from the day after you receive your goods), whereas with high street stores; refunds or exchanges are down to their goodwill, unless items are faulty.

Worth checking the returns deal on postage when buying online, as if you’ve got to foot the bill; can be costly if you’re returning ‘impulse buys’ to several different stores.

Many online stores do offer free returns labels; however some like Hollister then deduct £5 from your refund for using the service.

Reckon we can all do with a bit of magic right now when it comes to boosting our bank account. Can’t promise a magic wand for a lottery or Premium Bond win, but you may have more special money powers than you think!

Here’s my top five and how to use them…….

Credit card protection

Pay by credit card for something with a price tag of between £100 and £30,000 and you get automatic legal protection if things go wrong.

Means the law’s on your side when it comes to getting a refund, as under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, if goods or services are faulty, or the company you buy from goes bust, you can ask your credit card company for a refund.

Always speak to the company you did the deal with first, but if they won’t play ball, or gone bust, contact your card company and ask to make a ‘Section 75’ claim.

Turbo charge your pension pot

It’s not often the coffers of HMRC open up to dish out free cash, but they do when it comes to pension savings, which can mean more money to splash out on your future dreams.

HMRC give you a bonus, (in the form of tax relief), as a reward for saving. Means another 20% in the pot for every £1 you save, if you’re a basic rate taxpayer, and more if you’re a higher rate tax payer.

In hard cash; that means for every £100 in your pot; you only need to stick in £80 and the Government pops in £20.

Six years for refunds on faulty goods

You can get your money back, or get a replacement on faulty goods, for up to six years after buying them, under the Consumer Rights Act.

However beyond the first six months, it’s down to you to prove the fault was there from the start. But not as tricky as it sounds; as if there’s recall on the product, or you get a second opinion from an independent source; this can often do the trick.

I got a full refund on our last washing machine when it packed up after less than two years work. All I did was write to the top bod at the company I’d bought it from, pointing out I hadn’t been doing the washing for our entire street each week, (just three of us), and flagging up the Consumer Rights Act, and they gave me a full refund.

You’ve got ‘back up’

Celebrities usually have a team of ‘people’ to help them out, and so do you!

Some home insurance policies include access to free legal helplines. Means you can get advice on anything from disputes with the neighbours to redundancy rights and all for free!

Another trick to get legal advice at a snip, is to ask Citizens Advice for a list of local solicitors offering ‘fixed fee’ appointments. These are usually ‘one off’ 30 minute appointments at much reduced rates.

Turn a ‘DIY’ trip into five star package protection

I’ve left this one till last, as in the current climate; holiday travel is off the cards right now.

But when you can take a trip again; there’s an easy way to bag five star protection for your trip. Though of course you should still always pack travel insurance!

Booking a package holiday means more rights if things go wrong, which you don’t get when buying all the bits separately, like flights, car hire and a place to stay.

But no need to buy an ‘off the peg’ package. You can turn a ‘flight only’ deal into a ‘package’ simply by adding in one day’s car hire, (which may even be cheaper than a taxi from the airport), or a night in a hotel.

Magic money powers checklist

• Check rules and consumer rights here.
• Ok so it’s never going to be fun bedtime reading, but worth checking your home insurance policy as you may discover benefits you didn’t know you had!
• Need to complain? Here’s a short cut to the top! Find email addresses for top bods at big name companies here. Used this myself with super speedy results!

Pets don’t have the luxury of free NHS treatment if they get sick. And even a minor visit to the vet can bring big bills.

Only 22% of us have pet insurance, but this still won’t guarantee free pet care, as it won’t cover everything and may mean paying for treatment up front, and reclaiming costs later.

In the current climate you can get valuable ‘breathing space’ with household bills like your mortgage, credit cards and car finance; but if squeezed budgets mean you’re living on a lower income; there’s ways to get free, or low cost treatment for your pet.

PDSA

The PDSA is the UK’s leading veterinary charity and been going since 1917.

To qualify for financial help, you’ll need to be claiming certain benefits like Universal Credit and live near one of the 48 PDSA hospitals.

Treatment is free or discounted, depending on your circumstances, and includes everything from vaccinations, worming and microchipping to emergency treatment.

Blue Cross

The Blue Cross animal charity has been helping sick and injured animals since 1897.

Once again you need to live near one of its centres and be claiming benefits, which include Housing Benefit, Universal Credit, Income Support and Working Tax Credit, to qualify for free or low cost treatment.

Blue Cross has also teamed up with ‘PawSquad’ to offer discounted online consultations 24 hours a day. If you’re claiming benefits; this costs £12 a year, and covers unlimited online consultations for up to five pets.

RSPCA

Free or low cost treatment may be available depending on your circumstances.

Pop in your postcode to find your local RSPCA hospital, as well as a list of local vets’ practices that offer reduced treatment if you’re struggling financially.

Animal Trust

This ‘not for profit’ vet company is based around the North and covers areas including Yorkshire, Manchester and North Wales.

With this one you don’t pay consultation fees; just the cost of any treatment, and there’s a full list of costs on the website.

Bill buster check list

Call your local vet in an emergency. They can agree payment plans along with other help if your pet needs urgent treatment.

In the current climate; some of the organisations above may be unable to offer the full range of treatment; so always call ahead; don’t just turn up.

Pet insurance can potentially save big bills; but it won’t cover everything. There’s usually always an ‘excess’ to pay, and some vets may charge an admin fee, to process insurance claims, so check terms and conditions carefully.

You can save money buying pet medication, as you don’t have to buy diret from your vet. Some will charge a fee for the prescription if you don’t buy from them but I’ve saved money buying prescription medication from accredited pharmacies including Viovet and Pet Prescription in the past.

You’ll need to email a copy of the prescription and vet details. You can check for a list of accredited pet medicine online outlets here.

Most of the organisations above are charities; so any donations are much appreciated.

This week I’ve been stocking up on these gorgeous tins of Steamcream, tracking down my favourite sink cleaner for the bargain price of £1.25 and snapping up gorgeous Birthday cards for under £1.

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Steamcream As you know I do love bargains on my beauty buys and I’m a big fan of these face moisturisers.

Made from natural ingredients, they’re not tested on animals and great for sensitive skin. Oh and did I mention they come in the most gorgeous funky tins too? Totally sold on these and at £13.95 a pop they’re budget friendly too!

My ‘best buy’ sink cleaner for £1 I’ve used all sorts of stuff over the years to keep the sinks sparkling. First discovered ‘Shiny Sinks’ in Lakeland but sadly it soon disappeared from their shelves; never to be seen again.

But after tracking it down, I’ve found you can buy it on Amazon, though it’s a bit pricey at over £4 a time; spares website espares also set it for £2.48, but I’ve found it for the bargain price of £1.25 at The Range.

Gorgeous cards for under £1 Always like to stock up on fabulous cards when I find them. And let’s be honest; Birthday cards can be super expensive.

Took a teeny weeny card to the till at WH Smith once, only to find it was about £4, so put it straight back and popped along the road to Card Factory where you can find fabulous ones as well as blank ones like these two sooooooo much cheaper.

Picked up these two when I popped by last week – just 99p each!

This week I saved a whopping £60 buying my favourite perfume. And I’ll be recycling the ’empty’ so I can bag £5 at Boots with its new recycling scheme. Plus an offer to slash the price of your takeaway with a little deal I’ve spotted at Waitrose.

Saved £60 on my favourite perfume…..

I’ve been a fan of Vera Wang perfume for years. My husband first bought it for me and I’ve been hooked ever since, but as with lots of perfumes, it can be super pricey.

The ‘usual’ price of a 100ml version of Vera’s ‘Eau de Parfum’ spray is around £80. But shop around and you can find it miles cheaper, and yes I do mean the real thing, not a cheap copy.

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As you can see from the screen shots above, I could have splashed out £82 buying it from the Perfume Shop But instead I shopped around and saved nearly £60 buying the same stuff from Amazon at just £23.50. Took the pic on the right after it arrived!

Other deals I spotted included AllBeauty.com who were also selling it at £23.50 and Argos just slightly more at £27.99.

Get a fiver from Boots for recycling

You can earn £5 at Boots with its new beauty recycling scheme.

For every five empty pots, tubes and containers you recycle, you’ll get 500 Advantage card points; worth £5.

Super simple to do. Just sign up to register, take a snap of your empties and pop them in the box in store. All the details here

Save on a Friday night curry

National Curry week starts on Monday 5th October and Waitrose has started the celebrations early with a deal on its Charlie Bigham’s Chicken Tikka Masala Comes with Pilau rice and serves two.

Usually £7.75 but now down to £6; saving £1.75 a time so works out at £3 a plateful; much cheaper than a takeaway. I’m a big fan of Charlie Bigham’s meals myself, tastes home made but without the hassle!

This week I’ve been snapping up, (and saving), on holiday souvenirs, bagging free photo prints and enjoying luxury chocolate at a discount…….

Funky mugs for under £20

We had a set of these in the kitchen at our Airbnb in Bournemouth so decided to prolong that ‘holiday feeling’ and buy a set of our own.

They’re ‘Air Cooled’, which is a range by independent artists, and you can buy these ones in different places, often at around £8.99 a mug, but I snapped these up on eBay for under £20 including postage.

Free photo prints

Been going through our holiday photos from our trip to Brownsea Island, which is where the shot below was taken. I’ve always been one to print out my snaps and pop them in albums collage style, and this time I’ve bagged my prints for free.

Here’s how you do it. Download the Freeprints app and you get 45 free ‘6 x 4’ cm prints each month. You only pay postage which starts from £1.49.

They’re great quality too plus you often get extra freebies like the option to order a free photo tile or free photo books.

Luxury chocolate with 10% off

Going to be honest here, this milk chocolate biscuit butter bar is one amazing chocolate bar but it’s super pricey choc at £6.99.

Ok so it’s probably not the stuff you’d scoff in one go, the way you’d tuck into a Twix, as it’s artisan handmade stuff and pretty rich.

I was given this as a gift, but you can get 10% off by signing up on the website and there’s heaps of other delicious bars to choose from too.

Save up to £10 on Zizzi pizza

Love Zizzi pizza? Sainsbury’s is now selling them for just £3.50 a time.

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Eat in at Zizzi and you can pay up to £13.10 a time to enjoy one of these, but pick them up from just £3.50 in the frozen aisle at Sainsbury’s and save nearly £10.

Discovering this gorgeous new shampoo bar, enjoying a half price lunch and escaping for a weekend away at a fabulous Airbnb.

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I’m loving this Coconut Milk Shampoo & Soap Bar – smells amazing and made by Flow Cosmetics, a company from Finland, who are big on making natural skincare stuff.

Packed this for my weekend away instead of my usual shampoo and works a treat. Ok so not cheap at £13, but if you’ve got an Amex card and buy from this website you get £5 back on spends of £10 or more with its ‘Shop Small’ deal which runs till 13th September.

Eat Out To Help Out – we booked up early for the last day of the official ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ scheme at this lovely place near St. Albans. Our first visit and thought we’d make the most of the Chancellor’s ‘meal deal’ to try somewhere new. Saved £20 between us.

And while the official scheme may be over, heaps of places are now offering their own half price deals or special discount days throughout September.

Staying Airbnb – I’m a huge fan of Airbnb. Not only do you get to stay in some great places but you meet some fabulous people too. Here’s a snap of my latest find in Lincolnshire which was a bargain at £50 a night.

This week I’ve found designer kitchen gadgets at budget prices, got a savvy trick to boost your holiday protection and spilling the beans on my best buys and freebies.

This week’s moneysaving diary

Here’s what I’ve been spending and saving on this week…………..

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Honey Scrub I love this honey and sugar body scrub which I got from Victoria’s Secret. Smells amazing, and yes it’s a body scrub, but I’ve found it doubles up as a great face scrub too. Was £15; now £5.99.

New York bathroom scales So love New York and lucky enough to have made a few trips there. The buzz never wears off so this is my way of seeing it every day from our bathroom! And soooooo much cheaper than a plane ticket! Spotted these for £14.

Free university courses Yep you heard that right. University courses usually come with a big price tag but I’ve found lots of unis around the world offering short online courses for free. Just about to start my second course on mindfulness with FutureLearn Heaps to choose from and you can learn languages, study fiction writing and psychology.

Designer kitchen gadgets without fancy prices

Love it when I find a budget version of top dollar stuff. When it comes to kitchen appliances, Smeg do make pretty funky stuff; but it comes with fancy prices. A kettle comes in at around £160 and a toaster £130.

But there’s a crafty way to save, as Aldi has just launched a super similar style version with a kettle, toaster and microwave from just £19.99.

Its retro kitchen range, which you can see here, is available for pre-order online and in stores from 23rd August. Kettle and toaster are £19.99 each and the microwave’s £44.99.

My quick trick to boost holiday protection

Still want to book a trip abroad? Here’s a quick and easy way to boost your holiday protection.

Book a package trip. Doesn’t have to be an ‘off the peg’ deal with airport transfers and a rep in the resort, as you can turn a ‘flight only’ deal into a package, just by adding in one other part. Can be car hire, (even just 24 hours to get you from the airport to where you’re staying), or a night in a hotel, and if you buy both chunks in one go, from the same company, at the same time, it counts as a package.

This then means extra protection, say if the Foreign Office changes its travel advice and warns against all but ‘essential’ travel to your destination; you should get a refund or be allowed to rebook. And do make sure you pack travel insurance too.

Eat out to help out

Have you been out and saved some cash this month?

Restaurants, pubs and cafes have dished up a whopping 35 million meals over the last two weeks with millions of us enjoying half price meals.

Here’s a quick reminder on how it works. Available Monday to Wednesday until the end of August, including bank holiday Monday. No vouchers needed to snaffle the discount as cafes, pubs and restaurants taking part flag this up on their website.

The 50% discount, (up to £10 a head), is taken off the bill automatically, and the restaurant claims its cut from the Treasury. Book ahead as lots of places are getting busy and the deal’s only on for another couple of weeks!

Way back in the early days of lockdown I went out for a walk every day, and while I’m lucky enough to live near the countryside; my daily walk over the fields and round the woods did start to feel a bit like ‘Groundhog Day’ after a while.

So once lockdown eased, I set myself the challenge of finding somewhere new every weekend. Didn’t mean driving for miles, in fact took me under an hour to get to any of the places here. Plus it doubled up as a moneysaving challenge; as most days I packed a picnic. And even paying for the occasional car park still meant days out for less than a fiver!

Here’s some of my favourite discoveries.

Grafham Water – Cambridgeshire

Ok so it may not be a proper beach but just forty minutes from home and I was on the banks of Grafham Water; England’s third largest reservoir.

You can walk all the way round, but at nine miles, we thought we’d save that for another day, so went for the picnic option as there’s heaps of picnic tables around as well as special BBQ areas.

Footpaths and tracks are traffic free and easy to follow; and you can hire, or bring your own bike, and there’s toilets, a cafe and water sports on offer.

Grafham is owned by Anglian Water, and only our spend was the car park, which cost £3.70 for three hours and up to a maximum of £6 if you stay five hours or more.

Stanwick Lakes – Northamptonshire

I got to discover lots of great places across Northamptonshire when I did a stint presenting on BBC Radio Northampton a few years back. But I certainly never found this little gem.

Stanwick Lakes has something for everyone; with a kids’ adventure playground to trails and walks round the many lakes. Follow the trails beyond the park and you can walk to Rushden Lakes one way or Irthlingborough the other.

This place is just so clean and well looked after and all thanks to Rockingham Forest Trust; the charity that manages Stanwick Lakes.

On a sunny day the kids’ play areas get busy, but just a few minutes away you can be the only one in sight walking round the lakes.

You do pay for parking, unless you arrive on foot. Costs from £3.80 for two hours to £5.80 for all day. Take a ticket at the barrier as you come in and pay at the ticket machine before leaving.

Tring Park – Hertfordshire

Tring is a lovely village with a mix of coffee shops, (don’t miss Black Goo), and gift shops that you can happily wander round for hours.

On my last visit I set out for Tring Park, a ten minute walk from the main street. Tring isn’t a big place but this was no tiny park. It was huge; with a mix of woodland, open grassland and even cows roaming freely. It’s just one of many parks, woods and open space managed by the Woodland Trust

I parked in the town centre and nipped down the lane beside Lussmans restaurant that eventually leads you into the park, but you can often get free parking in the surrounding roads.

The Chilterns – Herts/Beds/Bucks

I live at one edge of the Chilterns and while I’ve always done lots of walks around my area; it took me till lockdown to really get out and make more effort to explore more footpaths, hills and tracks within my local patch.

My poor trainers have paid the price though, as one of the soles started to come away the other week. Ok so I’ve got a couple of new pairs, but I could walk forever in my ‘tried and tested’ Esprit ones, so a spot of super glue and I’m good to go again!