50 TIPS TO SAVE YOU A FORTUNE

Money Mail was launched 50 years ago today to help families make their cash work harder. To celebrate here’s . . .

1. BARTER WITH INSURERS Never accept the first insurance renewal quote for household or car insurance.

First, check comparison sites (and remember that some insurers, including Aviva, don’t appear on them). Once fully armed with cheaper quotes, call your insurer and barter a better deal. It’s a little-used ploy and could save you hundreds of pounds. 2. RECYCLE INK CARTRIDGES TescO clubcard holders get up to 125 points — worth £1.25 to spend in store — for each printer cartridge recycled. The website cashforcartridges.co.uk gives around 50p for a cartridge. 3. PARK ON A DRIVEWAY (OR HIRE YOURS OUT) IF up yOu’reto 70 pc cheapergoing to toa big park event,on someone’sit can be drive venue. than And it’s use often official quicker parkingto get at away the

com, afterwards. yourparkingspace.co.uk,Websites such as justpark. and parkonmydrive.coma homeowner. can set you up with

closeThe sameto an goes entertainmentin reverse. If venueyou liveor airport,The same your websitesdrive can will make hire you out money.your drive. But make sure to tell the taxman — or you could end up in trouble. 4. IGNORE STOCK MARKET DIPS There have been crashes, crises and slumps, but every £1,000 invested in the main FTse All-share Index 30 years ago has grown to around £14,115 — that’s 9.22 pc growth per year.

had you sold at the wrong moment and missed the ten best days (which sometimes follow big dips), your returns would fall to £7,484, says investment firm Fidelity International. so plan for decades and don’t panic about a few bad weeks. 5. SIGN UP! SIGN UP! They might bombard you with emails, but some restaurant chains really are worth signing up with. Prezzo, Loch Fyne and Pizza hut are among those offering up to 40pc off meals, free main courses and starters, and a range of other perks — all free if you hand over your email address. 6. DON’T SPREAD THE COST MANy firms charge interest when you pay monthly. This can add around 15pc to 20 pc to your insurance premiums — or £100 on a £500 annual motor policy. 7. AVOID CREDIT CARD FEES hOLIdAy companies and airlines may charge 2pc for using your credit card to make a booking. you can still get protection from the consumer credit Act — which makes your bank equally liable with the retailer if something goes wrong — by paying £1 on the credit card and the rest by debit card to avoid the fees. To do this book by phone rather than the internet. 8. CALM DOWN AggressIve drivers use up to a third more fuel than gentle ones.

Boring? Well, assume you drive 10,000 miles a year. If you pay around £1.10 per litre for petrol and get 40 miles to the gallon, this would cost £1,250. Aggressive drivers doing 30 miles per gallon would pay an extra £416.

That should put a smile on your face the next time a boy racer cuts you up at the traffic lights. 9. BUY LOST GOODS WheN a police force can’t find the rightful owner of a lost or stolen item, they sell it at auction. you can get bargains on everything from bicycles to perfume. check out Bumblebee Auctions online. 10. OVER 60? TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT ALL sorts of discounts kick in when you reach 60, including National Trust and english heritage memberships. even Boots has an over 60s club with its Advantage card. It gives ten points for every £1 spent on Boots and No7 products rather than the normal four. each point is worth 1p. 11. WEAR A WOOLLY As The nights draw in, it’s tempting to turn on the central heating. But remember, for every degree you turn down your thermostat, you could save an average of £60 per year. 12. DITCH TV CHANNELS YOU NEVER WATCH cOre channels such as BBc, ITv, channel 4 and channel 5 cost nothing with Freeview through your Tv aerial, or Freesat via a satellite dish. you could be paying more than £400 a year for other channels — such as sky Movies — that you never watch. 13. BEWARE OF ‘INTEREST FREE’ CREDIT INTeresT-Free deals on credit cards or finance plans on cars or furniture are fine. But the 0 pc rate only lasts a set period. Once you start paying interest, you might as well set fire to a wad of £20 notes.

If you owed £1,000 with a typical credit card rate of 18.9 pc, you could pay close to £200 interest in the first year alone. And if you only repaid the minimum each month, you might be in debt for 14 years, paying around £930 interest in total. 14. VALUE BEATS PRICES WheN using internet best buy tables, check what is included in any table-topping deal — it could work out more costly over time.

The cheapest insurance, for instance, could cost hundreds more if you have to claim because of a hefty excess. And savings accounts with the highest rates typically confiscate months of interest if you withdraw cash as little as three times in a single year. 15. USE YOUR TAX BREAKS The standard personal tax allowance may be £11,000, but anyone with an income of less than £17,000 could receive most or all of that income tax-free.

That’s because basic-rate taxpayers can receive up to £1,000 of savings interest tax-free (higherrate payers get a £500 allowance). If you hold investments outside of an Isa, you can receive up to £5,000 income from these tax-free. 16. DON’T HOARD OR THROW AWAY — SELL! WheTher it’s a mobile phone or a child’s bike, most of your old goods have value. An iPhone 6 could fetch up to £300 if it’s in good condition.

Try selling on eBay, Amazon Marketplace, gumtree or at a secondhand high street shop such as ceX. And if you’re charitably minded, offer them on freecycle.org, a site for unwanted possessions. 17. BEWARE POUND SHOPS They lure you in with cheap shampoo, but before you know it, your basket is brimming with things that are cheaper elsewhere. For example, paracetamol costs 25p for 16 tablets at Boots, which is rather less than many pound shops charge. 18. PAY BY DIRECT DEBIT MOsT phone and energy firms charge less if you pay by direct debit. BT charges customers without a direct debit an extra £5.40 per quarter.

direct debit also provides a vital guarantee that you must be told ten days in advance of changes. If something goes wrong, your bank or building society must provide a full and immediate refund. 19. MAKE USE OF WORK REWARDS SCHEMES MANy employers have negotiated tasty discounts of 5 pc and more at major retailers such as John Lewis, Marks & spencer, currys and Boots. you should find details on your employer’s internal website or ask the hr department. 20. SET UP A CALENDAR TO PAY BILLS ON TIME use your phone or a wall calendar to prompt you to pay bills on time. Forgetfulness is a prime cause of penalty charges on missed parking fines, credit cards and other bills.

It’s also worth putting aside a slot once a month to sort out vouchers, look at bank statements, scrutinise bills and monitor investments. 21. MANAGE YOUR MOBILE IF yOu rarely make calls, cheapest options are a fiver a month or less

for a rolling contract with providers including id mobile, Life mobile, Freedompop, giffgaff, Talkmobile, BT and Virgin. or switch to pay as You go and buy time in advance. 22. TIME YOUR PURCHASES SHOP prices vary throughout the week. experts at comparison website Idealo found that monday is the best day to get a bargain because fewer people are shopping — but you should never buy flights on a Friday because they are around 13 pc more expensive.

Similarly, prices change depending on the season. always buy ski equipment in the summer and a lawn mower in the winter. 23. PILE UP YOUR PENSION EVERY penny you put in is tax-free — so essentially you avoid paying income tax on part of your earnings. as a basic-rate taxpayer, every £80 you contribute is topped up to £100.

Higher and top-rate payers can claim extra relief through their self-assessment returns, so their £100 contribution effectively costs £60 or £55. When you retire, you’ll be able to take a quarter of the pension tax-free, too. and you can time withdrawals to reduce tax bills on the rest to next to nothing. 24. CHECK YOUR TAX CODE don’T be tempted to just shove your coding notice in a drawer. If your tax code is wrong, you could pay too much tax — or pay too little and get a shock bill later. more than three million people pay the wrong amount every year. pensioners and those with multiple incomes are most at risk. 25. HANG UP THE HOME PHONE LIne rental for a phone that’s only used when you answer ppI cold calls could be costing you more than £200 a year. do you still need it? There are a handful of deals — mainly with Virgin media — that provide broadband and TV without paying for line rental. 26. SAVE CASH — AND THE PLANET knoWIng it is one thing, doing it is another. but if you only boil the water you need and switch off lights, TVs and computers when not in use, you will make a dent in your household bills. a clothes horse will pay for itself in months if you stop using the tumble dryer. 27. CHOOSE A CHEAP NIGHT OUT Far fewer people go out at the start of the week, so cinemas lure you with cheaper tickets — including two-for-one deals at many chains, including empire and odeon. 28. TRAVEL TOGETHER IT’S not just the old and young who get cheap rail travel. Family railcards and the Two Together card for couples also offer great discounts of up to a third off. and even if you haven’t got a railcard, you can often get a discount by travelling in a group at weekends. 29. MAKE YOUR ISA WORK InTereST rates might be rock bottom but Isas are still very flexible investments and the money earned in them is tax-free.

If your Isa is paying a miserly rate, transfer it to another provider. You can swap the money you’ve already saved between investment and cash Isas. You can add a further £15,240 in this year. It’s a use-it-or-lose-it allowance, so once the tax year ends that opportunity is lost for ever. 30. SWAP UNWANTED TICKETS ON FACEBOOK Facebook is teaming with families looking to swap tickets for different days out online. Simply type ‘swap’ and the name of the attraction you have tickets for into the Facebook search bar. 31. BE VOUCHER WISE SIgn up to discount websites such as groupon, Quidco and Vouchercodes. When you’re shopping online, check whether the item is listed on these sites — you can save more than 50 pc.

and if you have a smartphone, you can download apps such as Vouchercloud (vouchercloud.com) that point you to big discounts nearby on the High Street. 32. TRIM YOUR MORTGAGE paYIng a bit extra each month can cut your mortgage term and save you thousands of pounds in interest payments.

Say you owe £100,000 at 3pc: over 25 years you would pay £474 a month. by paying an extra £50 a month, you would save £6,218 in interest and reduce the term to less than 22 years. but check with your lender to see if any early-repayment charges apply.

33. USE THE MARRIAGE TAX ALLOWANCE IF You are a non-taxpayer and your partner is a basic-rate taxpayer, you can transfer some of your personal tax-free allowance to them. You can move £1,100 of your allowance, which is worth £220 a year to them. This is not available to pensioners claiming the married couple’s allowance. 34. DITCH THE ‘BIG SIX’ ENERGY GIANTS THe average family is paying around £1,063 a year on a standard tariff with one of the ‘big six’ energy firms. The cheapest deals, usually offered by smaller suppliers, cost almost £300 a year less. also, check your bills regularly and demand a rebate if you are heavily in credit — particularly at the end of the winter months. 35. BOOST YOUR PENSION IF You’re a man born before april 6, 1951 or a woman born prior to april 6, 1953, you could increase your state pension by up to £25 per week by making a class 3a national Insurance contribution.

You need to put down a lump sum, but it’s better value than buying an annuity. The deadline for doing this is april 5, 2017. 36. GIVE MONEY AWAY IT Won’T help you, but it could help your family. If you live for seven years after making a gift, it will not usually be counted as part of your estate. This could significantly reduce the inheritance tax bill when you die.

and don’t forget, certain smaller gifts are always tax exempt. These include a £3,000 annual allowance, gifts of £5,000 to a child getting married or £2,500 to grandchildren getting married, plus small gifts of up to £250 each.

37. INSTALL REMOTE HEATING CONTROLS THeSe controllers – such as Hive and nest — allow you to adjust your central heating when you are not at home, so you can set the house to warm up when you are on the way home rather than leaving it on. unlike the smart meters that are being forced on homeowners at huge expense, these really can save you money. 38. AVOID COSTLY EXTENDED WARRANTIES exTended warranties are a money-spinner for insurance companies and retailers, which means that they’re poor value for you. It’s unlikely you’ll need a repair that isn’t covered by the manufacturer’s guarantee — and even if you do, there’s likely to be a local repair shop that will fix it for less than you’ve paid for the insurance. 39. AVOID HOLIDAY CAR HIRE RIP-OFFS read the small print to check what is included and excluded. Typical extras include a second driver, child seats, airport fees and

insurance. Pay close attention to the excess you must pay if you have an accident, and buy specialist excess insurance in the UK before you go. It’ll be far cheaper than any on offer when you get there.

40. SHARES TEND TO BEAT CASH — EVENTUALLY

IF You had invested £15,000 in one rear. the FTSE have sufferedwould have But All-Share grownbya now crashin to your 1986, after money you’djust International.£182,199, says FidelityIn the average UK savings account you would have just £42,293 — that a staggering £139,906 difference.

41. PAY OFF YOUR HIGH INTEREST DEBITS FIRST

IT MAKES no sense to put monney into savings accounts if you’ve got debts other than your mortgage. Work out which has the highest rate and try to clear that first. overdrafts can be the most expensive — sometimes they are no cheaper than a payday loan. credit cards are next with rates around 20pc. By comparison, top personal loans are available at less than 4 pc.

42. SAVE INTO YOUR CURRENT ACCOUNT

BANKS often pay far more interest on current accounts than on savings accounts. For example, TSB pays 5 pc on the first £2,000 in its classic Plus account, while Nationwide pays 5 pc for a year on the first £2,500 with its FlexDirect, followed by 1 pc afterwards.

Santander’s 123 costs £5 per month and from November will cut the rate to 1.5pc on the first £20,000, but other cashback perks could still make it worthwhile.

If you’re saving monthly, go for a regular savings account. HSBC and Marks & Spencer both pay 6pc and Nationwide pays 5pc — but the catch is you have to be a current account customer. Leeds Building Society pays 2.3 pc.

43. ALWAYS NEGOTIATE NEW DEALS

WHETHEr it’s TV, internet or a mobile phone contract, if you’re looking to renew for a cheaper price, threaten to cancel. Frontline customer service staff have little power to haggle.

But if you say you want to leave, you’ll be put through to what’s known in the business as the ‘customer retention team’ — these are the people allowed to tempt you to stay with cheap deals. But you must be prepared to leave if the offer isn’t good enough.

44. AMAZON ISN’T ALWAYS CHEAPEST

AMAzON might be big, but it isn’t always the cheapest — and the best deals aren’t always the first offered. The same rule applies for buying online as for the High Street — shop around. Don’t forget to factor in the cost of postage both on deliveries and potential returns.

45. DON’T PAY FOR USING YOUR CARD OVERSEAS

GET a specialist credit card that does not charge commission for overseas use — and then always pay in the local currency. You could save around £50 for every £1,000 you spend abroad.

The options include Creation Everyday, Halifax Clarity, and MBNA Everyday Plus, which have no fees on spending or cash withdrawal.

Others with no fees on spending overseas include Post Office Platinum, Saga Platinum for the over 50s, and Nationwide Select for its current account customers.

46. PUT SAVINGS IN YOUR PARTNER’S NAME

IF YOUr partner is a nontaxpayer or pays at a lower rate than you, it makes sense to put your savings in their name to pay less tax on the interest.

47. TRACE MISSING MONEY FOR FREE

BILLIONS of pounds is sitting unclaimed in old savings accounts, pensions and at National Savings. Go to unclaimedassets.co.uk or

mylostaccount.org.uk to discover if any of it belongs to you. But beware of copycat websites that might charge — these services are provided for free.

48. PHONE THE HOTEL TO SKIP THE MIDDLEMAN

YOU might think you’ve found the best deal from a travel agent or internet comparison website, but a good old-fashioned phone call to the hotel can often result in a better offer. This is because the hotel doesn’t have to pay commission to a middleman.

It’s especially worthwhile if you are booking close to your travel date, as the hotel will want to make sure that all its rooms are in use.

49. SWAP BOOKS ONLINE

AVID readers should add read It Swap It (readitswapit.co.uk) to their lists of secondhand and charity bookshop favourites. There, you’ll find several hundred thousand of books available for free.

Simply find a title you want, ask to swap, and then the other user looks at your list and selects one to exchange. You could save up to £100 a year if you read one book a week.

50. GET TAX BACK ON YOUR UNIFORM

IF YOU wear a uniform to work — and clean, repair or replace it yourself — you can claim the tax back on your purchases for the past four years.

A basic-rate taxpayer claiming the standard allowance for 201216 could reclaim £60. You’ll need the P87 form. It may be possible to claim laundry costs, too. moneymail@dailymail.co.uk