IF you are working from home, the furthest you need to go for something to eat is your fridge.
That means you have more free time in your lunch hour – and by using it wisely, you can save yourself a whole lot of cash over the course of a year.
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Fundraising executive Clare Elgar, from Southampton, worked out how, to the tune of more than £2,000.
Clare said: “It’s a great habit to get into.
“There are cashback offers, referral links and promo codes to be used.
“I can save for things I enjoy, like travelling.”
Here, Clare reveals how she did it, day by day.
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Motivation Monday
SET up one of the many great apps that help you grow your savings, such as Plum. Clare loves it because it helps her save in three ways.
First, Plum will “round up” her purchases to the nearest £1 and pop the spare change into her savings account each week.
Clare says: “It is like the modern version of the spare-change piggy bank.”
This month there was 80p from a Tesco shop of £8.20, another 50p from her local coffee shop and 20p from a £3.80 parking fee.
Her weekly round-ups averaged £7.62 – a total of £30.49 in spare change for January.
Second, every four to five days it will analyse Clare’s spending and set aside an amount – an average of £15.12 for her – based on what it thinks she can spare.
Finally, Plum puts aside a set amount – £22 in Clare’s case – each payday.
She says: “It’s a little-and-often savings account for me.”
YEARLY SAVINGS: £1,200
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Tell-a-friend Tuesday
SHARING is caring, especially when you get something back.
Spend Tuesday lunchtime looking into whether your credit card, energy provider or favourite takeaway app will pay you to spread the word to your friends.
Clare said: “I’m with Bulb for my household energy and have referred two people through my unique link. That’s £100 towards my own energy bills.”
She told her friends about her favourite cashback site (more on those later), TopCashback, and has pocketed around £30 from them signing up.
Some firms give your friend a bonus too.
For example, if you have an American Express Platinum Cashback credit card and refer a friend, you get £30 cashback when they sign up, while they get £25 after the first £1 spent on their card.
YEARLY SAVINGS: £160
Wise Wednesday
SWAP your wisdom for wonga by doing online surveys during lunch for firms such as Curious Cat, Populus Live, Swagbucks or Prolific Academic.
This one’s not a one-off – keep it up all year long to earn big.
Populus Live offers £1 for every 5 minutes, providing the survey is completed correctly.
That’s £12 an hour. If you spend every Wednesday lunch break doing that you’ll earn £624.
Each Swagbucks survey pays in points, which can be redeemed as gift cards.
Clare says: “A few minutes a day so far this week while waiting for the kettle to boil and I’ve got 168 points.
“With 1,360 I can get the £10 Amazon gift card I want.”
YEARLY SAVINGS: £624
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Loyalty tax Thursday
HIT back at energy, broadband, phone and insurance firms that take advantage of your loyalty.
Most have better deals for new customers so if you have been with your current company for more than a year, switch now.
Just make sure you won’t be penalised for leaving your current provider.
Start with a comparison site.
Using Confused.com to switch her insurance from Direct Line to eSure netted Clare a £30 saving on the year.
She says: “I also used Go Compare (below) to switch from Tesco to Animal Friends for pet insurance and that saved me about £15 a month.
“I switched from Green Flag to the AA for breakdown cover using Topcashback, which saved me about £80.”
By switching energy suppliers from Southern Electric to Bulb last year, Clare’s monthly bill almost halved, down from £90 to £47.
You can get extra via cashback too, as well as from saving on bills.
YEARLY SAVINGS: £806
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Free cash Friday
HIT back at energy, broadband, phone and insurance firms that take advantage of your loyalty.
Most have better deals for new customers so if you have been with your current company for more than a year, switch now.
Just make sure you won’t be penalised for leaving your current provider.
Start with a comparison site. Using Confused.com to switch her insurance from Direct Line to eSure netted Clare a £30 saving on the year.
She says: “I also used Go Compare (below) to switch from Tesco to Animal Friends for pet insurance and that saved me about £15 a month.
“I switched from Green Flag to the AA for breakdown cover using Topcashback, which saved me about £80.”
By switching energy suppliers from Southern Electric to Bulb last year, Clare’s monthly bill almost halved, down from £90 to £47.
You can get extra via cashback too, as well as from saving on bills.
YEARLY SAVINGS: £806
Numbers trick doesn’t add up
CRIMINALS are using your National Insurance number as a hook to get hold of sensitive data.
Imagine the phone rings and a robotic voice warns you that your National Insurance number has been compromised.
It is easy to believe, considering the number of high-profile data breaches that have happened lately.
The voice tells you the only way to fix the problem is to get a new number.
It says not to worry – press one on your keypad and you will be connected to somebody who can help you do just that.
You dutifully press it, and an efficient and helpful person demands a load of your details, saying you need to provide them to get a new number in the post.
What has really happened is you have just handed some of your most personal information to a con artist.
These details will then be sold to fraudsters on the dark web.
They will contact you out of the blue – seemingly knowing all about you.
And this can lead to losses ranging into the tens of thousands, or worse.
Stay safe by hanging up on automated calls. Never give away your details when someone calls you out of the blue.
Have you fallen for this scam? Check out the fraud-prevention site, cifas.org.uk for guidance on protecting your identity. And report it to Action Fraud.
Tell your bank if you gave away any of your account details or login information.
If you are worried about your NI number, call the Government helpline on 0300 200 3500.
Bit changes
TWO in five investors in Bitcoin and other crypto currencies are women.
They make up up 41.6 per cent of buyers, according to a survey.
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Blair Halliday, Head of UK at Gemini, said: “The persistent view of the crypto investor is single and male.
“This new data demonstrates an increasingly diverse base engaging with crypto, and indicates how the market is likely to evolve over the longer term.”
But crypto trading is still risky – despite Bitcoin hitting headlines for huge jumps in value.
Cash hacks
1) O2 customers can get £2 off Disney+ each month – even if they already subscribe to it.
Just add it as an extra at My O2 account or call 202 from your mobile. New O2 customers or those upgrading can add it as an extra and get six months’ Disney+ for free. It will then be £5.99 per month.
2) SENDING a lot of Valentines this year? Moonpig is known for its cheeky and fun cards.
Download the mobile app and get 40 per cent off all greeting cards with voucher code APP40MPCA. It works for new and existing customers – and there’s no expiration date either, so you can save it for birthdays, too.
Money makeover
MATTHEW Summers is on a salary of £40,000 and wants to save more.
The 34-year-old annuity specialist from Peterborough says: “It’s really hard to know how, or where, to save with interest rates so low.
“Eventually, I’d like to buy with my partner but need to save a lump sum first. The focus for now is putting money away.”
Matthew currently saves £300 a month but hopes to increase that amount.
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He has built up £3,000 in a fixed-rate bond at 2.25 per cent and £2,600 in a general savings account, both with HSBC.
He also has £1,200 in National Savings and Investments (NS&I) Premium Bonds.
But he has hefty outgoings. He pays £860 a month in rent, and he’s still paying off a mortgage with his ex-partner.
His share amounts to £170 a month for a 25-year £93,000 repayment mortgage on a variable rate of 3.59 per cent with HSBC.
“The initial fixed-rate deal expired ages ago,” he says.
They bought the three-bed house in 2009 for £150,000 and it is now worth about £230,000. But he isn’t able to sell it at the moment.
He also pays £480 a month in child maintenance and adds: “I’m in a better financial position than I was, as I don’t have any credit card debt.”
However, he does pay £290 a month for a £12,500 car loan with Oodle Car Finance at 2.5 per cent, with more than four years left to run.
He also has £800 worth of individual shares with investment platform Trading 212, across 26 companies.
He says: “I like to dabble in investing – they include start-ups and mining companies.”
Advice from Andrew Hagger, personal finance expert at moneycomms.co.uk
MATTHEW is sensible to focus on building his savings balance.
His monthly take-home pay is around £2,600, and his existing commitments amount to about £1,800.
So, with no credit card debt to worry about, there’s no reason why he can’t increase the amount he saves a month to £500.
He should consider switching his energy provider and his car insurance using a price comparison service, such as Uswitch. This could free some valuable extra funds.
Low interest rates are frustrating, but it shouldn’t be a reason not to put money aside each month.
The only way Matthew has a chance of getting a better return is by taking more risk, investing in the stock market.
But he will be lucky if he can get just 0.7 per cent for a one-year fixed-rate bond when his current one ends.
So I suggest he puts the money into Premium Bonds. The average return is approximately one per cent, although this isn’t guaranteed. But his money is safe, and he can withdraw if needed.
Maddy Tooke, Coupon Queen
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MY top five freebies this week:
1) Free online edition of February’s GoodHomes magazine to make up for the cancelled Ideal Home Show. Access yours at bit.ly/goodhomesfeb.
2) New topcashback.co.uk members get a free £10 to spend at Superdrug. Be quick – there’s 5,000 chances only. See bit.ly/topcashbacksuperdrug.
3) Free job courses with LinkedIn Learning at bit.ly/linkedincourses10.
4) Ten free Lockdown Country Activity Packs from TripAbroad to keep children entertained during lockdown. Sign up at bit.ly/tripabroad10.
5) Free kids’ craft guides from Hobbycraft at bit.ly/hobbycraftschool.
SKY HIGH
Sky is giving customers 4 freebies including a free weekly film
SWITCHED ON
How to apply for a free laptop or tablet for your child for home schooling
ruff justice
Landlords can’t automatically ban tenants from having pets thanks to new law
TAX BACK
Martin Lewis reminds everyone working from home to claim £125 back
WHEEL DEAL
Martin Lewis explains how to knock hundreds off your car insurance bill
BROADBAND BOOST
800,000 homes still missing out on free broadband WiFi – how to claim
Top 10 deals
1) Get 50 per cent off print orders at Snapfish with PRINT121. See bit.ly/snapfish40vc.
2) Cut 50 per cent off Funky Pigeon card orders on the app with code NEWAPP50. Expires Feb 27. See bit.ly/funkypigeonvc.
3) Take £10 off Lovehoney orders over £60, plus free delivery with exclusive code VAL-GET-10-OFF-60 from Vouchercloud.com. Ends Jan 31. See bit.ly/lovehoney10vc.
4) Save an extra 20 per cent on Vans outlet orders with a unique vouchercloud.com code from bit.ly/vansoutlet20. Ends Feb 15.
5) Get £10 off flower orders over £25 at Moonpig with vouchercloud.com code BLOOMS10OFF. See bit.ly/moonpigflowers10.
6) Save 25 per cent on John Greed jewellery with JG25-VCLOUD until Feb 7. See bit.ly/johngreed25cloud.
7) Get £5 off WHSmith orders over £30 or £10 off orders over £50 with code BUYNOW. Offer ends Feb 1. See bit.ly/whsmith1050.
8) Save an extra ten per cent off clearance groceries from Approved Food with moneysavingexpert.com code MSEJAN21. Code expires February 4. See bit.ly/mseapprovedfood.
9) Get 15 per cent off Co-op orders over £40 with exclusive code COOPV015C. See bit.ly/coopfood15.
10) Cut ten per cent off Thorntons orders with vouchercodes.co.uk code VCUK10. Use DELIVERY10 for free delivery on orders over £10. See bit.ly/vcthorntons10.
Mum saved £1.2k by making own loo paper out of old clothes
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