Annual European breakdown insurance for less than £60

The big two former motoring clubs, the AA and the RAC, offer breakdown insurance that can sometimes feel like they're trying to break the bank balance.

But here's one that offers similar all-encompasing cover such as at-home recovery and tow-home from the UK and Europe for just 60 quid for a year - even for older cars.

Go to Gocompare and click on Breakdown cover.

http://www.gocompare.com/insurance/

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Save 17.5% on this beast of a shredder - £33, down from £40

Odd isn't it, that before technology took over our lives we had a whole lot less paperwork to worrry about? Time was you kept it until needed then burned it.

Now we have to destroy all evidence that we have bank accounts, buy stuff, use the phone or the cash machine but fire is an unacceptable means to destruction. No, we have to turn each sheet into 4mm strips of pet cage padding. We have to shred.

For those in the know, there's a double irony here in the form of Fred The Shred, the now multi-millionaire pensioner who oversaw the shredding of RBS.

But the rest of us can't just walk away from our responsibilities. We have to buy a machine capable of turning everything to do with our bank into rubbish.

And here's one that's looking like a decent deal.

The Fellowes Cross Cut P-48C shredder is on offer at Ryman for £32.99 (was £39.99) + delivery.

It's big and it's robust. Rather like RBS before it made the biggest loss in our banking history.

You can read some glowing reviews on Amazon (£40) with free delivery. But the advantage of Ryman is you can pick it up in store for the same discounted price.* You just need to carry it. It's a bit of a beast.

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>> Worried about ID theft? Check your status now - free trial 

>> Read more articles like this in the book

(*And the Ryman website isn't working.)

New car rental comparison service

Another site to add to our ever growing armoury of sites to check out before doing stuff is mercifully probably one worth checking out.

It's a car rental comparing tool from the people at the flights comparison service, Skyscanner. 

Here you go:

http://www.skyscanner.net/car-hire/

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Does anyone have a razor blade sharpener?

Following on from our story and blogon the cost of razor heads, we have been contacted by Mankind - that's a shop rather than everyone - urging us to try the RazorPit blade sharpener.

With a price tag of £20 it's not something to throw money at without some kind of reassurance of its efficacy.

This one, and it's not the same, gets a resounding thumbs down from American razor sharpener reviewers.

So if anyone has beard tested the RazorPit, drop a comment on this post. We need to know.

http://www.mankind.co.uk/RazorPit-Razor-Blade-Sharpener-PRODRPPS1/

 

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Probably the most useful page on the internet - Ryanair's list of charges

People love to knock Ryanair and with the ever-more imaginative ways of finding things to charge for I can't help but feel the company is getting harder to defend. Oh, yeah, it's still cheap sometimes and pretty reliable.

But with latest ruse which means you cannot now fly with Ryanair without paying to check in - £5 to check in online, £40 if you show up at the airport without having checked in online - it struck me that the most useful page on the whole of the world wide web is probably Ryanair's list of charges.

At least if would be if it was a bit clearer. For example, the 'Not Checked in Online Fine £40' is referred to as the 'Airport Boarding Card Re-issue - Booked via a Call Centre or Airport £40.'

Anyway, here's the page. Bookmark it, print it, check it regularly, memorise it or click on the image to admire it in full pop-up glory.

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs.php?sect=CHARGES

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25% off one of those trampolines that everyone seems to have

If you want to watch your kid jumping up an down in a cage in the garden this summer, and you're the, now I'm guessing here, only other family apart from mine in the country without a trampoline, Argos has knocked 25% of one of theirs this week. It's around £75, down from £100.

Kid Active trampoline at Argos

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Legoland annual pass for just £10

It's true. Although it is only for children. But if you buy and collect your pass before the end of May you'll pay but a tenner. A saving of £43 on the annual children's pass at Legoland, a park suited to younger children. The adult's pass costs £71. Day tickets for adults cost £22.

For this and more Legoland offers visit Lastminute.com

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Richard Browning

Take it away - interest free loans for musical instruments

Ever fancied yourself as the next Noel Gallagher or, I don't know, world's best band The Toy Dolls, the man who saved country, Waylon Jennings, or one of the more interesting pop acts, Katy Perry, here's something worth checking out.

Take it away is an Arts Council initiative designed to help more people get involved in learning and playing music. The scheme allows individuals to apply for a loan of up to £2,000 for the purchase of any kind of musical instrument, and pay it back in nine monthly instalments, completely interest free.

Find out more about Take it away

The scheme is open to everyone (over the age of 18), but primarily designed to help those who might otherwise be unable to afford an instrument appropriate for their needs.

Its aims are:

• to encourage children and young people to develop their interests and skills in music making
• to inspire new players of all ages to begin learning an instrument
• to enable those on lower incomes to acquire an instrument appropriate to their needs (or the needs of their children)

Noel Gallagher talks about Take it away

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Impress your children with Club Penguin coin cheats

The evolution of 21st century children goes something like this.

Teletubbies > Chuckle Brothers > Tracy Beaker > Club Penguin

If yours have reached stage four and are part of the global Arctic phenomenon - a gaming world populated by Disney's penguins - then now may be the time to learn some of the secret helpful tips (cheats) to show you're not completely out of touch. In turn, you could help your children's penguins earn coins to buy virtual rubbish for their cartoon igloos.

Ok, it's not a great way to learn about money. In fact, it's probably how our bankers learned about money. But you can't ignore progress.

Here's one site worth checking out.

Club penguin coin cheats

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Call France or Australia from a mobile for 1p a minute

So, John Humphrys was wrong. Mobile phones are something to love and cherish.

I beg to differ, of course.

But if you are of the Humphrys way of thinking then get over to the Alpha Telecom website as you may find their tariffs for certain countries are worth checking out.

Use the rate finder to see if it's for you.

Calls to much of Europe, the USA and Australia are just 1p a minute from your mobile. You need to pre-load your account then dial a prefix or register your number for automatic savings.

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Free broadband for 3 months from TalkTalk

Here's an offer from our broadband partner, Broadband Choices, which makes an already great offer really worth checking out either today or tomorrow.

Until 30 April, TalkTalk is offering 3 months free bundled broadband and phone, normal cost just £6.49 a month plus phone line rental.

TalkTalk has just been voted Best Bundled Services ISP in the value for money category in a survey by Broadband Choices. Sky and Tiscali were in 2nd and 3rd places. Check out our...

>> Broadband finder

Recession shopping: 10 things to buy now

If you have money, here's a nice little read worth perusing from across the Pond.

10 things to buy right now

Stuff you may not know about #2: Phone bills

You can save £500 a year off your phone bill. One reader claims to have saved £1,000. So what are you doing about it? Start here...

How to cut your phone bill by £500

Stuff you may not know about #1: wills

If you don't have a will and you die your children could end up in care. Get one before it's too late...

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/wills

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Alternative guide to wills

Proper guide to wills

Get rich slowly

'Few people get rich quickly, but almost anyone can get rich slowly by patiently following some simple rules.'

Spending a spending-free lunchtime reading this popular blog from an 'average guy' could be a useful diversion. Check out...

http://getrichslowly.org/blog/

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How to... become a millionaire easily

I was chatting to an economist the other day about my theories on saving money.  Most so-called money saving websites are all about spending money on stuff you don't need, which is why the global economy is in such a mess.

He told me to check out the book, Millionaire Next Door.

The author has met some of America's people with fat bank accounts and found that anyone can get rich if they don't follow the herd and live frugally. 'They don't look like millionaires'. You can spend your lunchtime reading the 280-odd reviews (link below) if you don't want to buy it. Or read this account from the New York Times.

Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley

Related

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Free safe car buying guide, free history check

Recession can bring out the worst in people. Already every year we spend £90m on stolen cars and £50m on internet motoring scams, so don't let the rogue car traders get one over on you if you're thinking of buying a used model.

Our sister site, Motors.co.uk, has produced this handy guide on how to spot a fraud.

Real or rogue - How to buy and sell safely

The site also carries out a history check on every car before it is uploaded to the site. Watch the video below.

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London discounts

According to recent statistics from the flight search website, Skyscanner, the most popular destination for flights from the UK this easter is... wait for it... no, not Florida or France or in fact anywhere in Europe or the rest of the world, but London.

People really are cutting back on foreign travel. Yet, London isn't the cheapest of destinations. There are however some interesting discounts out there. This one caught my eye. 

Save money on Madam Tussauds, London Eye and Tower Bridge 

If you are heading for the capital, the site has other offers worth a look

http://www.discount-london.com/

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Restaurant offers

South East offers

 

Comic Relief: credit where it's due

If last night's Comic Relief showed us anything at all about the British pscyhe it's that judging the talents of James Corden based on his hosting of the Brits is so wrong. He is funny after all. Seriously funny.

It also reminded me that I had a Nationwide Comic Relief credit card until they withdrew it last year. That's not so funny. 

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Donate to Comic Relief

Free currency exchange card

We're often asked what is the best way to take money abroad and with all things financial the answer takes you into a web of intrigue, commissions, opacity and, oh you know... the usual shenanigans of the money industry.

But one option that has caught our eye lately is the pre-loaded currency card that allows you to load up online when the exchange rate takes your fancy, then withdraw cash from ATMs abroad displaying the Visa, Maestro and Mastercard logos.

If this sound like it may be the way to avoiding variable charges and exchange rates then read this piece, where you'll find details of an offer to get a free one (normally a tenner).

Are currency cards any good?

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90% off at Amazon

If you've ever been to a car boot sale you'll know that almost no one is prepared to pay any more than two quid for anything. Ever.

Shoes? I'll give you two quid. Coat? Two quid, mate. TV? A 2er. Car? A capple oh kwid. A brace of oncers. Too poond. And so on.

Now of course, it's beginning to feel like no one is prepared to pay more than £2 for anything anywhere.

If that sounds like you, you may want to check out this little toy that allows you to find items on Amazon that are discounted by a certain amount.

Here you can find footwear at 90% off or more.

Or run your own searches here

Remember: Buying stuff you don't want just because it is cheap can seriously damage is stupid.

 

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Shopping vouchers

The only advice you'll ever need - don't listen to advice, says Sir Alan

I wonder? Is it now time to launch a campaign to have the word 'expert' scrubbed from the dictionary? Or if that's not possible, then at least from the internet. It maybe a rather churlish notion given that we have a popular and useful Ask an expert service on This is Money. But wasn't it 'experts' in banks who destroyed the world as we knew it?

Yes, according to Tony Shearer, former chief of finance house Singer and Friedlander, which ended up with bust Iceland bank Kaupthing Edge. The mess was caused by: 'Bad banks, run by bad people, badly.' Hardly an endorsement for financial experts, I feel. 

Listen here (about 15mins in):

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/money/money_20090225-0636a.mp3

But surely the best resume of the mood of the nation is from Sir Alan Sugar. If you do nothing else over the weekend, read this:

>> The so-called experts know double naff-all

And don't forget to donate to his charities once you've read and learned the lesson. It could be the least costly advice you'll ever get.

Richard Browning

 

 

Free investment advice

The best things, as John Lennon once told us, in life are free. Ha, try telling that to the people on 0% credit cards when the interest-free period runs out. But never mind, I now have a legitimate excuse to publish a nice big pic of the father of the beat combo and can boast a dreadfully tenuous link into this little tip...

If you have an interest in buying shares, and if you have any money you are prepared to lose if it goes wrong and if you lack the confidence to make your own decisions, you could do a lot worse than our share dealing service that offers a free investment advice helpline.

Now, I'm not saying that you should ever trust any so-called financial expert but it just maybe that a second opinion from someone who still has a job in financial services may be worth listening to.

Find out more about our share dealing service  

Credit crunch T-shirts

Anyone with any common sense and a sense of basic human decency and dignity maybe forgiven for thinking that bankers exist purely to take other people's money, cream off a percentage for the bank and a bit more for themselves, get paid an inflated monthly salary, take a share of the huge excesses of the other people's money in the form of a bonus, then disappear into the sunset for a ringside seat as the Tower of Bubble they've helped create pops.  

You'd also be forgiven for assuming there's not a lot we can do about it. Is there? Probably not. But here are two suggestions.

1. Follow the coverage of the Parliamentary grilling by the Treasury Select Committee of the bankers at the helm as their industry binged us into what may well turn out to be the 'worst recession for 100 years'.

Or ...

2. Get the T-shirt for £11.

After all what's £11 compared to £50bn? It's 0.00000002% or thereabouts.

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Time to get a better deal for your broadband (TV and phone)

Here's an interesting offer from the Argos website today. Buying this near-£5,000 TV entitles you to a be able to buy a half-price extension lead! Blimey. If I spent five grand on a telly I'd expect the company to supply a fully vetted team of domestic servants for a period of not less than three and a half years. Not a discount on a length of electrical cable.

Anyway, on the subject of TVs and the like... you can't open the papers at the moment without seeing any number of adverts for bundled up TV, phone and broadband at some extremely competitive prices. So here's the trick, if you do have a similar package already it's time to call your current provider, threaten to leave but first ask what they can offer to keep you. It works. One colleague is enjoying a range of free movie and sports channels for a year as a result.

Remember, if you do leave and are in a tied-in contract of 12 or 18 months, they may stuff you for an exit charge. And remember too that years ago Bruce Springsteen sang the prophetic '57 Channels and Nothin' On'. And now there's a whole lot more of these kinds of channels.

So remember also, that if you only want a broadband supplier you shouldn't be tempted to go for the whole caboodle. Ask yourself: how much TV do you actually watch? In spite of the ads, the market is not a BT, Virgin, Sky oligopoloy. There are scores of broadband providers. It only takes a few minutes to compare the market.

>> Check the broadband suppliers in your area

Alll done? Now sit back and enjoy...

Bruce Springsteen singing 57 Channels and Nothin' On

Richard Browning

Frozen food £1 offers

If you were reading this blog in November you'd have sorted your 15%-off snow chains and today's weather-related problems would be but a minor irritant. The snow chains are no longer on offer but, perhaps appropriately, some of the £1 frozen foods offers from Birds Eye are.

As everyone knows*, the world's best meal is fish and chips from the fish and chip shop, second is beans on toast and third is a fish finger sandwich. And you can make the latter for less this month if you're able trudge into one of the supermarkets.

Check out these £1 offers (usual price in brackets):

Omega 3 fish fingers (£1.99), Crispy chicken (2 pcs, £1.69), Arctic roll (£1.99), Oven crispy battered fish fingers (£1.99), Seaside specials (£1.79), Meatballs (£1.69), 2 Original chargrills (£1.69), 4 Original burgers (£1.39), 4 chicken burgers (£1.79), 2 chicken ¼ pounders (£1.99), Southern fried chicken / hot & spicy chicken (£1.69), Chargrills grills (£1.69), Lemon fish fingers (£1.99), Green beans (£1.79), Steam fresh veg (£1.49), Fish melts (£1.79).

Not all products are available in all stores but the dates are as follows...

Asda: until 16 February
Sainsbury: until 24 February
Morrisons: until 15 February
Iceland: until 21 February
Waitrose: until 25 February
Tesco: until 9 February

*Just an educated guess

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Cut-price England v Slovakia tickets on sale

Tickets for the England football friendly against Slovakia at Wembley on Saturday 28 March at 5.15pm are now on sale. And the prices for the family enclosure have been reduced to a 'mere' £30 for adults and £15 for children.

To buy tickets you need to step through a registraton process to receive a PIN or FAN as it's called if you've not done so already.

And if you've not been to the new Wembley Stadium it should be on anyone's list of things to do before you're bankrupt, David Beckham retires or Michael Owen is injured (too late for that one already). This could be an ideal opportunity to check it out.

Ticket info

http://www.thefa.com/England/Ticketing/GeneralInfo/Postings/2009/01/TicketInfo_Slovakia.htm

Buy tickets

http://ticketing.thefa.com/

Register

https://secure.thefa.com/Register/ENG06/Introduction.aspx?ac=ENG06

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My book is still on sale
(I wrote half of the introduction on the causes of the credit crunch on the Tube en route to Wembley to see England vs Azerbaijan - it's a long journey.)

Three months 'free' bike insurance

Here's an offer for bikers or would-be bikers that may be worth a look: a 25% reduction in the price of insurance for bikers from Bennetts, packaged up as 12 months for the pirce of nine.

http://www.bennetts.co.uk/12for9/

The offer is available until 28 February and applies to basic premiums. 
 
And here's a picture of a famous biker: Valentino Rossi; nothing to do with the offer, just a nice picture (click pic to enlarge).

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Spotify - 'free legal music honest'

There's really not a lot of point me writing about this fabulous free legal music player with a massive catalogue of tunes from most artists I can imagine because it has all already been said here:

Free music on the internet - Spotify

and here

Free legal music honest

Suffice to say, if this is the future of online music then it's looking, so far, pretty healthy.  

Create your account here - and you won't have to wait for an invitation.

Here are some of the people I have been listening to...

Things still worth buying from the USA #1: Country music

As the value of sterling against the dollar continues to topple, the attraction of visiting - or spending in - the USA is dwindling daily. But some things you simply cannot get over here are still worth hunting out. Obscure country music for one. And the Ernest Tubb shop is the place to find it.

Though the website isn't the greatest, it is a fantastic source of names that you can then paste into Google and listen and discover. There's all kinds of stuff from Dan Paisley and the Southern Grass (Warning: sound on!) to the man responsible for rescuing country music from the doldrums all those years ago: Waylon Jennings (pictured below). It's a brilliant way to waste a lunchtime - and it's all free, including the mail order catalogue, which is definitely worth getting your hands on. Get your free copy here.

 

'Be better to your neighbours and you'll have better neighbours' - Ernest Tubb

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