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Just when you thought Christmas in Discount Britain, circa 2008 recession, couldn't get any more bizarre than every company offering 20%-offs, P&O Ferries, the ferry company that operates ferries for a living, has upped the ante with the launch of its Reindeer Training School. It's good to see marketing departments haven't lost sight of the important elements of keeping business afloat.
Speaking of which, if working for yourself is either how you operate now or is looking like a distinct possibility in the near future here is a great site for creating your own business cards and more. No more hanging around those printing machines at train stations for the internet generation. On Moo.com you can create lively calling cards with a different photo on each one if you so wish. And starter packs of 50 come in at £10.99. Just remember if you want your image and your business to succeed - be sensible. Leave the wacky stuff for the, um, experts.
Check it out, watch the video, at Moo.com
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Trying to find money-saving discounts worthy of posting is becoming increasing difficult. Almost everyone is cutting prices so there's not a lot of point singling out the most desperate offers. They all seem to be. Suffice to say that come January it will surely be a case of which chain will follow Woolworths into the mire.
Some of these offers are nonetheless better than others. For instance, Threshers/Wine Rack is currently offering 40% off wine. But let's take a closer look.
The popular French table wine from the JP Chenet label - the one with the funny shaped bottle - sells at Threshers / Wine Rack for £5.99 a bottle. Tesco is shifting it for less than £4 if you buy in bulk. But cross the Channel for a better idea of the true price and you'll see it's under £2 a bottle. Even at 40% off and considering the duty that UK Customs and Excise imposes - and even admitting that it's not an entirely accurate like-for-like comparison - it is a rubbish discount compared with its true French value.
Far better then to concentrate on some true bargains. Here are some of the best and most popular free downloads of the year. These offers are genuinely worth checking out.
Most popular free Windows downloads
Most popular free Mac downloads
Also worth checking
Songbird - open source music player
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Supermarkets cheat with bogus offers
I like travelling by coach. When it works, it's comfortable and stress-free; dead time to take stock, read, sleep. When it doesn't work is when people think it is acceptable to have group sing-song at the back. But when I'm Prime Minister they'll be laws about that. In fact, the real PM probably has some of those planned for next year anyway.
Coach fans may want to check out National Express, which is doing its £5 ticket thing again. Fares are available over the holiday - and they run services on Boxing Day. There's also a 2for1 attractions section for folks who are going to London.
If you are coming to London for New Year you have to try to get up on New Year's day for the parade. It is fantastic. 'The greatest annual street parade in Europe,' apparently.
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I've been writing about saving money for This is Money since 2000. Credit card debt is a powerful motivator for saving money and I had plenty of that after leaving college. Luckily I'd cleared it just before the last recession took hold in the early 1990s - but it means I know a thing or two about the subject.
In 2004, I wrote 50 ways to save money, an article that has since been used as a benchmark for money-saving lists copied by scores, maybe hundreds, of feckless and lazy online 'writers'.
This guy simply nicked it. He's not the only one. One marketing agency took it, twiddled it around a bit then sold it on as their own work. That, sadly, is the nature of the internet and I must take it as a compliment and moan about it in a whithering manner - not unlike I am doing here - from time to time. But come on morons! Surely half the fun of writing is creating your own work.
Anyway, this morning at 6.50am when most of London was still in bed I bought a copy of the latest Big Issue from one hell-of-a-dedicated salesman. We had a chat and I went into this warm office. He's probably still out there trying to shift a few more mags for a decent dinner.
I'd urge anyone this week to buy a copy of the Big Issue. Not just because we all get a bit guilty at Christmas and feel the urge to do our annual bit for other people, well yes that's part of it but also because finally there is a list of ways to save money that is downright original. To find out more, buy a copy of the Big Issue why don't you. It's only £2.
Richard Browning
As another Don't Bother Going To Marks & Spencer Because The Underwear And Ready Meals Aren't 20%-Off Day is upon us, it could be time to consider something a little more spiritually rewarding than buying clothes and stuff: viewing art.
If you've not heard of the Art Fund - and it seems plenty of people haven't - then check this out now.
They do something called the Art Fund card, which for £45 a year for the whole family gives you free entry to 200 museums, galleries, historic houses and castles - National Trust and English Heritage - and half -price entrance to most of the big exhibitions at the country's top museums.
In more detail that is:
50% off entry to major exhibitions
Includes those at all the Tate galleries, V&A, The National Gallery and more. If you’re already entitled to concessionary tickets, you’ll still get a further 50% off at most places.
Free entry to galleries and museums
Includes many National Trust and English Heritage properties as well as places such as Kensington Palace.
Art Quarterly magazine
A subscription to Art Quarterly, our beautifully illustrated magazine, packed with news and views from the art world. Richly produced and full of lively articles by celebrated art experts and writers, Art Quarterly is a publication that people collect and go on enjoying long after new issues arrive.
Members' Events
Exclusive invitations to events, private views and behind the scenes tours. Members also receive discounted entry to art fairs and exhibitions across the country.
http://www.artfund.org/join/benefits.html
Nope. Still not interested?
If you joined the throng of deranged bargain-hunters on the High Street at the weekend only to find that the pre-Christmas sales didn't quite live up to the billing or are braced for the 1.31pm minute of madness today when everyone apparently will be shopping online at the the same time, partly to take advantage of a derisory cut in your VAT bill and free delivery, calm down: it's only a Christian religious festival.
Besides, some websites have been offering decent deals and free delivery for years. In this category, one of our long-time favourites is Play.com, which, in the spirit of slashing some prices but not others has launched something called Mega Monday with prices up to 80% off.
I can find anything with that much of a reduction but it is worth checking out nonetheless, particularly if you want Lego Batman the video game or the new Oasis album.
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High Street panic as every shop starts a sale
STOP PRESS: Buy the the Daily Mail today and you'll get a £5 voucher to use if you spend £20 or more in WH Smiths. The voucher is valid all week. And then every day for the next two weeks the paper will be printing £5 vouchers from other shops.
I've long wondered why the milk industry, which has a national delivery network of electric vehicles, friendly dedicated staff who exist at the very core of what defines Great Britain and yet only delivers milk, bread, potatoes and orange juice in milk bottles. It's that 'what defines Britain' thing all over again, I suppose. Great in theory but a bit rubbish really.
Milkmen and women could quite easily be the heroes of our environmentally aware society, instead they're impossible to track down and why the hell don't they deliver more stuff?
Well that may be changing.
Milk and more is a website from Dairy Crest that makes some bold promises. Free delivery six days a week, ordering online up to 9pm the night before. No minimum orders. All the essentials from bread to washing up liquid. Wow. But I can't seem to find many post codes that are being delivered to. It's a start and hopefully the start of something big.
Have a go and see if you can do any better...
I don't know why I'm publicising Amazon again, the stock levels they hold of my book are up and down like something I can't even think about without being sacked from my day job. Keeping stocks low and a tight rein on the supply plain is why they are so successful, I'm told. And now they look like capitalising on that success by moving into the download music business with DRM-free MP3 albums from £3.
If that sounds like algebra extracted from a txt message, it means that for three quid you can buy an album that you can then burn on to a CD or play on any music device. You can't do that with DRM (digital rights management) protected music.
For £3 there are albums by Seasick Steve and, pictured below, Take That and Leonard Cohen among others.
Check out:
£3 DRM-free album downloads at Amazon
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Squeezebox Boom - is this really best music gadget?
One of my favourite websites, Daytripper.net has this week been sending out information about whether it's still worth crossing the Channel for bargains. It's a subject close to my heart and it's great to see confirmation of what I know is true. It's not nearly as attractive as it used because of the strong euro / weak pound but if you make a day of it - and it can be a long day - it can be a fun trip and there are bargains - especially this time of year when the spirit of Christmas a mixture of goodwill and booze.
According the site's editor, David Ash, the effort is worth the hassle if you are buying:
1) Wines.
France is the place to go for wine and champagne. Wine imported to the UK is taxed at more than £1.50 a bottle so you're saving around that much before you've started.
2) Tobacco.
Savings of up to a third can be had in France on cigarettes and other tobacco products. In Belgium this rises to 45%. The Belgium border is only a few miles from Calais. Bruges is only about an hour away if always wanted see just how unlike Venice this 'Venice of the north' really is.
3) Spirits.
On average, these are 20% cheaper in France. Look out for brands that you may not have heard of over here and own-brand rums and brandy that are great value.
4) Chocolates.
Belgium is chocolates. And Tin Tin, Plastic Bertrand, Magritte (pictured), beer, the internal combustion engine and Audrey Hepburn. Posh chocolates such as Leonidas can be found for as little as £15.20/KG compared to £34/KG in London.
5) Meats.
The French are big on locally farmed meat. The choice is much more extensive than in England. Pates, dried and cold meats are good buys. Fois gras is cheaper and the range is better than what is sent over here.
6) Beer.
Belgium is the place to go for fabulous beer selections ranging from white beer to fruit beers and stupid strength beers. French beer tends to be less alcoholic. Look out for discounts and offers in supermarkets and on the ferries.
7) Fish and other seafood.
Take a freezer bag. Raw frozen prawns, for instance, can be more than half the price of UK supermarkets and in general there is a huge range of seafood on offer in the freezer cabinets.
8) Cheese.
Can be 20-50% cheaper than the UK and a massive selection is available.
9) Restaurant meals.
You can easily save 20% to 25% on eating out in style compared with our equivalent diners. The French are obsessed with cuisine. You would be foolish not stop off for a relaxing meal somewhere - and make the most of it with a decent bottle of wine.
10) PS...
P&O is offering unique offers only available to www.day-tripper.net, including a £20 day return for early bookers.
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Travel insurance deals / European breakdown cover
Richard Browning
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