Save money and give to charity with these two cut-price will campaigns.
There are a few ways to get a will drawn up, but if you want a solicitor to do it for you, you’ll have to pay more than £100.
According to MoneyHelper, a single will drawn up by a solicitor could cost you between £144 and £240, while a joint will could go up to £300.
However, there are a couple of offers which run every year that could bring down those costs:
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Regular offers
Free Wills Month
Twice a year in March and October, over-55s can get a free will from participating solicitors with the Free Wills Month campaign. It’s done with several charities that sign up to take part. You’re not required to make a donation, though it’s hoped people will give something in return for the service.
You can register your interest ahead of time, then on 1 March or 1 October you’ll be able to sign up, choose which charity you’d like to write a will with and book an appointment. These can book up quickly, so be sure to get in soon if you want a free will.
Octopus Legacy: the cost of your will paid for by charity (ended)
Until 9 November 2025, Octopus Legacy has partnered with UK charities to to cover the cost of writing or updating your will, up to £150.
A simple will would be fully paid for, or you can get a discount on a will with trust. You can complete your will online yourself, or you can write it over the phone or face-to-face with one of Octopus Legacy’s Estate Planning Consultants.
Remember that these are charities — most people say thank you by choosing to leave a gift in their will. There’s no obligation to do so, but it lets you repay them for their help.
Every November, as part of Will Aid, you can get a “free” appointment with participating solicitors to draw up a will. In return they ask you donate £120 for a single will and £200 for a joint ‘mirror will’ to one of the partner charities, which includes NSPCC, Save the Children and Age UK.
You can now book for 2025. The appointments go quite fast, so you have to be quick! The Will Aid website has a postcode-based search option so you can find any solicitors taking part near you.
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Other offers
National Will Register: Register for free in May (expired)
The National Will Register is offering free will registrations in May with the code FREEWILLREG24.
It’s not a legal requirement to register your will but if you had your will done by a solicitor, they may have done this for you already. You can also just let your executor know where your will is. However, having it registered means it can be located and prevents it from being lost, misplaced or forgotten.
Moving bank can bring you savings and make it easier to manage your money. But what does it do to your credit report?
I’ve had a few readers ask me recently about the impact of switching bank or opening up new accounts on their credit score.
When you switch bank there are two things you’re doing. Opening a new current account and closing an old one. Both these actions could have an impact on your credit report.
Though for most people the odd switch won’t make much difference, the more you do it, the bigger the impact. Here’s what you need to know.
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New bank accounts and credit checks
Each time you open a new current account to switch to, the new bank will look at your credit report. There are two ways they can do this.
One is known as a ‘soft check’. For a current account, this is essentially just to verify you are who you say you are. Although it could potentially be used to let you know the chances of getting an overdraft – perhaps even a pre-approved one.
Just performing a soft check won’t appear on your file. This is also what happens when you get comparison sites to provide a load of quotes or when you check your own file.
However, most banks and lenders will instead conduct a ‘hard check’. This is where the result of the application – good or bad – will appear on your report, usually for a year. With most bank account applications it will be one of these hard checks.
I’ve shared further down the article which main banks won’t hard search a new current account, so you can use it as a dummy account for switching.
When opening a bank account can hurt your credit score
Multiple hard checks on your report
If the bank is running a hard check when you apply for an account, this mark will appear on your report. Now, if you’re just opening a new bank account that’s not really going to be much of an issue.
But if you’re opening more than one current account in a short space of time, or also opening a credit card, switching your energy, applying for a loan and so on, they’ll see multiple searches.
This could indicate to a lender that you’re desperate for credit, and therefore not a good person to accept.
That doesn’t mean you can’t do it. If you have a healthy credit report and don’t have any essential applications for credit coming up you can probably get away with a number of applications – though your score will dip, it will recover.
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Just applying for one as part of your application can have a negative impact on your credit score – even if you don’t use it.
It’s not just that if you do this the bank will conduct one of those hard searches on your report. The overdraft itself will also show future lenders that you already have access to credit and they might not want to lend you more.
There’s a chance an unused overdraft could help your credit report in the longer term if it helps you keep your credit utilisation (i.e. the percent of borrowing you’re actually using) at under 25%. But using one will cost you unless it’s at 0%.
So if you don’t need an overdraft with your new account then don’t apply for it. And I’d suggest you look elsewhere for cheaper lending IF you eventually need it.
Opening a joint account
When you open any financial product with another person, your credit files become linked. So if the person you run the account with has a bad credit score then it could bring your rating down too. And it goes both ways, so you could hurt someone else’s ability to get credit.
When closing a bank account can hurt your credit score
Losing longevity
This is one to consider if you’re switching from an older bank account. A good signal for your credit score is a long relationship with a financial provider.
Often the longest one we have is with our bank, so switching away replaces years and years of this for an account with no history.
So even if the new account is just a soft search on your credit report, switching could still see a knock-on effect.
There are a few ways around this. First, it’s all your credit accounts, including credit cards, which are looked at, and it’s often the average age. So if you have an older credit card, that mitigates moving away from a long-term bank.
Or you avoid closing the old account completely. If you open a new account and can run a partial switch rather than a full switch. This will help you move all your direct debits, standing orders and balance without you having to close the old account.
However, you won’t be able to claim any of the free cash from bank switch offers or get the benefits of the seven-day Current Account Switching Guarantee.
Alternatively, you can open a new account designed just for switching. You might have to set up a couple of direct debits or make a minimum deposit each month, but you can use this to switch for bonuses.
Now we know the impact of bank switching, it’s important to clarify a few things about credit scores. First up, there are three different scores from three different credit reference agencies. They all assess your credit report differently, so each contributing factor might have a different impact on each score.
Second, though scores can give you an idea of how healthy your credit report is, it’s the credit file itself that banks and lenders look at – not the score.
The way they will interpret the data on the report will change from institution to institution, so they might not agree with the scoring set by the credit reference agency.
And the credit report isn’t even the only thing banks will look at. For example, they might have their own data about if you’re an existing or past customer, and you’ll provide some additional information when you apply.
That means even with a great score you could get turned down for certain applications, or even if you’re rejected for one product, another might accept you.
So the point is, though credit scores are useful for us as customers, it’s what appears in the file that matters to those doing the checks. And that means don’t get too caught up in your score dropping after a bank switch.
Saying that it’s still very important to keep your credit score in mind when thinking about the latest switch offer.
In particular, if you’re planning to apply for anything major in the next six months, such as a credit card or loan, and especially a mortgage, then it makes sense to avoid opening a new account and switching for six months to a year.
Are multiple bank switches a bad idea?
The more you switch, especially in a short space of time, the bigger the drop in your credit score. So it’ll make short-term applications harder.
Experian recommends spacing out new applications for any type of credit every three months or so. At best that’s four bank switches per year. And if you factor in other things like credit cards that could reduce further.
But you can switch more than this – I once switched three accounts in the same month, and I’ve regularly opened new types of credit in concurrent months. But I also didn’t have anything important to apply for that year.
Of course, this won’t be a probem if you’ve been switching for a while as you might find you’re only eligible for new switch deals once or twice a year, if that.
Bank accounts that won’t hard credit check you
No credit check bank accounts are obviously useful if you need a new current account to switch from.
Full current accounts
Starling Bank
This digital bank will only do a soft check when you apply. They’ll use that to verify who you are and check what overdraft they could offer you, but they won’t do the full hard search unless you say you’d like the overdraft. Here’s a full Starling Bank review.
Monzo Bank
There’s also no hard check for Monzo, another digital bank, as long as you don’t go for the overdraft. Here’s a full Monzo Bank review.
Chase Bank
You can switch in and out of Chase, though if you switch away you won’t ever be able to open another. The good news is there’s a work around. Here’s a guide to using Chase Bank for switching.
Basic bank accounts
Most major banks will offer these free accounts. They won’t be subject to a credit check and you can open one with just one form of ID. You can do everything with one that you can with a standard account. However if you’re eligible for a full account you probably won’t be able to get a basic account.
Some additional accounts
If you already have a current account with a bank, it might be possible to open an extra one without a hard search. Over on the Facebook group, some readers have reported this for Lloyds, Halifax and Santander, and I had the same experience. However I’d always approach doing this with the expectation that a hard search could happen.
If you’re still paying for premium pay-TV via satellite or cable you’re paying too much.
Switching away from Sky TV, Virgin Media or EE TV to streaming alternatives can save you £100s of pounds – and you can still keep the exact same channels.
You’ll also get the added flexibility of choosing what you want to pay for and when. And you can even keep recording most channels if you want.
In this article I’ve shared why you shouldn’t be worried about ditching Sky, and how to watch the alternatives (such as NOW TV) on your TV.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
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How much Sky TV costs
Sky TV isn’t cheap. From 1 April 2026 Sky Ultimate package costs £24 a month for new customers and could go up to a massive £55 a month if you add in Sports and Cinema, coming in at £660 a year. This is on a 24-month contract, where prices will likely go up each April.
You might even be paying another £35 a month if you add on things like Kids channels, UHD viewing and multiroom. That’s potentially £90 a month and £1,080 a year.
But that’s for newbies… existing customers paying full price will see a huge increase. Ultimate, Cinema and Sports will add up to £87 a month (£1,044 a year), and with the extras like HD and skipping ads it’s £122 a month (£1,464 a year).
The Sky Essentials plan would save some money each month, though you’d only get Sky Atlantic, Netflix and Discovery+, losing all the other Sky-only channels.
I’ve also not included broadband costs here as you can easily shop around for deals elsewhere – there’s no need to get it direct from Sky or Virgin.
*initial 24 month contract price, otherwise 31 day rolling contract ** estimated price from 1 April
Sky Ultimate now comes with included streaming services
The big change from March 2026 is the addition of HBO Max and Disney+ to the Sky Ultimate package, with Hayu arriving in July.
Here’s what these extras would cost if you bought them separately (which of course you can do at any time). Like with the included Netflix, the HBO and Disney subscriptions are the basic ones which include adverts and other restrictions. You can pay the price difference to upgrade any or all of these if you wish.
Subscription
Included tier value
Standard cost
Premium cost
HBO Max
£4.99
£9.99 (£5 to upgrade)
£14.99 (£10 to upgrade)
Disney+
£5.99
£9.99 (so £4 to upgrade)
£14.99 (£9 to upgrade)
Hayu
£5.99
N/A
N/A
Netflix
£5.99
£12.99 (so £7 to upgrade)
£18.99 (so £13 to upgrade)
The three new services add up to £16.97 of value, so with Netflix Basic the total streaming part of the package is £22.96 a month. That means you’re paying only £1.04 for all the Sky channels at the introduction price, though it jumps up to £14.04 for those out of contract.
Is Sky worth the cost?
To accommodate the new streaming passes, prices have gone up by only £2 so at first sight, Sky could actually be really good value for money. But is it?
If you’ve just let your bill roll over to full price, and add on some or all of the extras, then it’s a huge amount to pay each month. And as I’ve shared below, it’s possible to get the same or similar for less.
But hopefully you’re not paying full price. £24 for all those channels and subscriptions as a new customer isn’t bad at all. And since Sky and Virgin are notoriously easy to haggle with and freebies are often thrown in – especially if you bundle your TV packages with your broadband and even your mobile phone, you will hopefully be paying something similar.
But the big question is, do you actually want or need all the channels and those four streaming services? And if you do, would you actually want them for the minimum 24 month contract you’re entering into for the lower price?
And what about other streamers, such as Prime Video and Apple TV, or the upgrades to get rid of ads on the included ones? You’ll need to pay extra for these on top, pushing your bill up.
If the answer is you’re happy to have less to watch at any one time, rotating through the streamers as and when, then you absolutely can pay less over the year by ditching the long pay TV contracts. I think you could be saving between at least £200 and £430 a year, more if you’re paying Sky’s full price.
Cancelling Sky TV
Make sure you are out of contract. It could be that you have different dates for TV and other bundled packages such as broadband or phones. If so, make sure you know what the effect of cancelling your TV could have on the price of those services.
If you have any time left to run you’ll be charged an early exit fee, which will pretty much be all the money you owe until that contract is due to end.
If you’re not out of contract for a while, make a note in your diary a month before it’s due to end to start the cancellation process in motion.
When you’re ready to cancel, you can phone Sky or use a live chat function. To leave Sky TV you need to give 31 days notice, so you’ll still pay for a month (and receive the channels) in that time.
When the service ends you’ll need to return your Sky Q or Sky Stream equipment – so you won’t be able to keep using them for other services.
How to watch free channels (including BBC, C4 & more)
The most watched TV channels are BBC, ITV and Channel 4. These are all available via Freeview. For free. And there are plenty more, including U&Dave, Dmax, Really, Food Network, HGTV, Quest and Yesterday.
Importantly you don’t need Sky to watch these. Most can get these by connecting their TV to an external aerial. If you don’t have one you can try indoor aerials which might work. Or, something called Freesat will connect to your satellite dish. You may need a separate box to connect.
And you can of course catch them live or on catch up via streaming apps on your TV such as BBC iPlayer, Channel4+, ITVx, Freeview Play and so on.
For a more traditional programme guide (EPG) experience when live viewing these channels, check out the live tab on devices like Amazon’s Fire TV (you’ll still actually watch in each broadcasters’ own app).
If you’re happy to focus mainly on these channels then you’re saving a grand a year, if not more.
How to record without Sky or Virgin
The downside with moving away from traditional Sky or Virgin is you lose your recording box.
If that’s essential to your viewing, you can buy a Freeview or Freesat box to record Freeview channels. This can cost between £165 (like the Manhattan T4-R) and £250. Sounds like a lot, but if that was to last you for four years (which it really should, if not longer), that £165 costs you £41 a year. Even when you factor that in, you’re still saving money versus Sky or Virgin.
Though I’d challenge you whether you actually need this feature. If you already watch most things on catch-up you can probably do without a box.
Even if you really hate adverts on the likes of Channel 4 or ITV, you can pay £3.99 and £5.99 a month respectively for their ad-free streaming services. Do this as and when there’s something you want to watch (rather than every month), it’ll be cheaper than buying a new box.
How to watch major Sky channels elsewhere
There are actually only a handful of channels not available to watch via Freeview. These are mainly the Sky channels (eg One, Atlantic, Comedy, Witness etc) and a few others such as U&Gold, Discovery and Nat Geo. But even these can be watched without Sky or Virgin and at a far lower price.
NOW (formally NOW TV) is the main player here. It’s actually owned by Sky and allows you to watch most of the above channels and more via your broadband connection. There are also options for Sky Cinema, Sports and Hayu (reality). I’ve written in more detail about NOW TV in my review here.
The main differences to Sky’s packages are Entertainment includes Kids and HBO Max (TV only, not movies), but not Netflix, Disney or Hayu. Meanwhile Cinema does not have Paramount+ nor the two free Vue tickets you get direct from Sky. It does however have the HBO Max movies.
You also have a single add-on bundle with NOW to cover advert skipping, better quality picture and sound and multi-room, rather than separate additions with Sky.
The great thing is you’ll be paying on a monthly basis rather than on a long contract so you can ditch it at anytime, though new introductory offers now require a 12-month minimum term.
Personally I prefer to pay full price for the first month, and then bring the prices down even more by going through the cancellation process each month. Doing this usually results in a lower price offered, often without a minimum term.
Full price per month
Typical new customer offer
Typical cancellation offer
Entertainment (incl HBO Max)
£9.99
£4.99*
£2.99-£4.99
Sports
£34.99
£26*
£18-£25
Cinema
£9.99
£2.99-£4.99
Hayu
£5.99
Add on
Boost (HD, no ads and 2 x streams)
£6
£2
Boost Ultra (4k, no ads and 4 x streams)
£9
£6
* 12 months contract
Sky vs DIY package: price difference
If you’re looking at Sky Ultimate vs NOW, price wise, it’s most fair to compare exact like for like.
If you got Entertainment, Sports, Cinema and Boost a full price from NOW it’d add up to £59.97. Along with separate subs for Netflix with Adverts, Disney+ with Adverts, Hayu, Paramount+ with Adverts and Discovery+, you’d pay another £24.94. That’s a total of £86.92 a month, or £1,043.
Full price for these via Sky – so Ultimate (with Netflix, Disney, Hayu, HBO Max and Discovery+), Sports, Cinema (with Paramount+), Kids, Multi-room, Ad skipping and Ultra HD – would total £1,464 a year. So that’s £421 more expensive.
A reduced Sky price, based on new customers, for the same package, adds up to £1,080 a year. So you may be able to haggle something similar.
However, there are three key differences. One, it’s possible to get lower NOW and prices, so the difference will be bigger. There are also plenty of deals throughout the year for the other streaming services, with the exception of Netflix.
Next, you don’t need and probably don’t want all the extras all the time. By paying for just one or two of these at any time, you’re looking at £20 a month at most (unless you add Sports). That’s £240 a year, if not less! A huge saving.
Finally Sky will lock you in to two years, and prices are likely to increase during that time which you’ll have to pay. Since most NOW and streaming prices are 31-day contacts, you can ditch them when you don’t want or can’t afford them.
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How to watch other channels from Sky
The other major mainstream channels you might want to keep that aren’t on Freeview or NOW TV are probably Discovery and TLC. Both are available from Discovery+ (£3.99 a month) or as an Amazon channel (you’ll also need Prime).
TNT Sport is also available as a monthly pass at £30.99 a month. That might be more than what you pay for the channels elsewhere, but combining it with the other savings should bring the overall cost down.
Indian channels such as are also available to stream, with Zee TV costing £7.99 a month and Hotstar (including UtSav) at £5.99.
When Sky or Virgin might be better value
There are a few exceptions though when paying for TV via Sky or Virgin could work out either better value or just a better user experience.
If you watch a lot of sport
Though occasional viewers can get a day pass for Sky Sports on NOW TV, the month pass comes in at £34.99. There are often deals that bring the price down to around £25 for a month, sometimes £20.
But if you know you are going to want and watch the main sports channels every week AND you want tojust Sky Atlantic and Netflix with Adverts via the Sky Essentials package, you might be better off with Sky or Virgin.
The cost for Sky Essentials (£15 a month as a new customer) and Sports (£20 as a new customer) would add up to £35 a month.
However, don’t forget you are tied into a long contract.
If you don’t have great broadband
On-demand streaming does require decent broadband, so you will probably want to look at upgrading to fibre if you don’t already have it. If that’s not possible – especially in rural areas – then you might need to stick with Sky (not Sky Stream) or Virgin Media for your TV.
Automating savings with AI and more is an easy way to see your savings grow
Often one of the biggest barriers to putting money into savings is simply remembering to do it. So your salary comes into your current account and stays there. Some of it goes to bills, some of it to shopping and going out. And before you know it, there’s not much (or any) left to put into savings. So nothing gets saved. And this repeats month after month.
But it is possible to break that chain so some of your money goes into savings before you can spend it – and you don’t even need to do anything each month. After the initial set up, these three methods will automatically move money out of your main account into a separate account.
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Set up standing orders
This is the simplest way to ensure you save every single month. Doing this means the money is automatically saved month after month.
You need to do three things. First, set up a separate account which is just for your savings (try for one with some kind of interest, though that’s hard right now). This doesn’t have to be a standard savings account with your current bank. It can even be a separate savings account at a different bank where it’s possible to get 7.5% with regular savers from Principality Building Society.
Then work out how much you can afford to save each month. This isn’t difficult. Just add up all your regular bills and essential outgoings such as food and petrol for a month and deduct this from how much you earn in a month. What you’ve got left is what you have to spend for the rest of the month until your next payday.
Finally, set up a standing order for that amount to come out of your current account and into your separate account on the same date every month. This is often referred to the “pay yourself first” savings method.
Personally I’d set this to be as close to payday as possible so you can’t spend the cash before you save it. If your payday tends to move when it happens on a weekend, then allow a couple of days before the standing order takes the cash. You can always change the size of the direct debit if you feel it’s too much or too little.
If you’re not confident you have enough money spare each month to save at payday then there are some apps that will help save smaller amounts as the month goes on.
Once you’ve downloaded the app you need to connect it to your bank account. Doing this gives each app access to see your bank balance and monitor regular payments in and out. The apps then use smart algorithms to analyse your spending.
Now it’s the clever bit. The apps can work out how much they think you can afford to save, and transfer that money automatically to a separate account. Slowly but surely the total saved adds up. You can, of course, use one of these as well as set up standing orders in order to save that little bit more each month.
With each of these apps you have the ability to increase or decrease how much and how often you save, and well as reject a saving if you think you need to keep hold of the money. And if you change your mind it’s easy to withdraw the money back to your current account, though it might not be until the next working day, depending on the app.
I know some people worry about the safety of this but your banking data is all encrypted to keep it safe. Your money is also protected if the companies running the apps were to go bust, though not necessarily if the bank holding the cash goes under. I’m happy with the ones listed below but if you’re not comfortable with doing this then do a bit more reading to put your mind at ease.
Here are the main artificial intelligence savings apps that will automatically move money for you:
Plum
The free version is all you need for the automatic savings, though if you choose to pay more you’ll also have access to Plum Plus which comes with more investment options. The interest rate paid on its easy-access pockets is 3% for the free version.
If you put your money into these pockets, it’s held with Investec and protected up to £120,000 by FSCS.
Sprive
Sprive is an app doing the same thing, though it has one major difference – the money saved goes towards overpaying your mortgage rather than a savings account. If your mortgage rate is higher than what you can get in savings, and if you already have a substantial emergency savings fund, this could be a better option for you.
Just bear in mind once it’s in the mortgage it’s much harder to access that cash if you need it later (you’d need to remortgage and release capital). It’s also early days so not all mortgage providers can be connected.
Chip
The AI feature on Chip stopped being free to all users in mid-2022. It now charges 45p per save so I wouldn’t use this app for auto-savings.
The final form of automated savings is something I’m calling ‘triggered’ savings. Effectively, when a certain event happens your bank will move money from your main account into a separate savings pot.
Monzo and IFTT
The main bank for this is Monzo, which has a 1p savings challenge available. Sadly this year’s challenge ended on 31 January for free customers, though if you pay for a packaged Monzo account it’s available all year.
You can also connect to an app called IFTT (If This Then That). You can set up other simple savings challenges very easily, either choose from a catalogue of pre-made options or create your own.
For instance, you could use your maps app as a trigger when you visit a certain shop, or your weather app to trigger a save every time it rains. You’re limited to two free ‘applets’ with the IFTT basic plan.
Plum
The paid version of Plum also offers some of the standard ones, eg the 1p savings challenge, but I don’t think it’s worth paying extra for this.
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Round up your spending automatically
The most common way to get money in your savings account without any effort is to use a “rounding up” system. When you spend money on your debit card, the bank will round up the transaction to the nearest pound, moving this spare change across to a savings account. For example, spend £3.75 and 25p will be moved over.
I rarely use this option myself as I tend to spend with my cashback cards instead, but I like the idea of small amounts adding up each time you shop. If you use your debit card a lot it could quickly build up a few quid every day or two.
More and more banks (listed below) offer this and you’ll need to opt-in for the rounding-up to happen. All work a little differently so make sure you understand how what you’re signing up to. And if your bank doesn’t offer this there are third-party apps you can try.
The pick of the bunch are probably NatWest and RBS as you’ll also earn 5.25% interest on the top ups for a year. Chase also offers a decent 5% on round-ups, though it restarts every 12 months.
What accounts offer round ups?
Bank of Scotland
Chase
Halifax
Lloyds
Monzo
Nationwide
Natwest
Revolut
RBS
Starling
Trading 212
TSB
The following also allow you to round up from spending at other banks
MoneyBox
Plum
The best auto saving apps
So there are a lot of options for auto saving, here are the ones I’d recommend:
PLUM
Focus on Plum in the first instance. It’ll be the most impactful. But move your money across to a better paying account at least every month, if not weekly.
MONZO
Finally, if you already use Monzo, then the IFTT feature has huge potential to add more to your savings. And it could be fun!
We review which site is best for selling DVDs, books and CDs
Over the years I’ve accumulated hundreds of CDs, books and DVDs. Yet thanks to Spotify, Netflix and my Kindle they’re just gathering dust. So if you want to sell books, CDs or DVDs then trade-in apps may be your answer. We put the market favourites to the test to see if you’ll make pennies or pounds from your unwanted items.
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Sites to sell CDs, books, games and DVDs
I looked at three different companies which all promise to buy your unwanted physical media and also compared these to what you could potentially make on eBay and Amazon Seller.
The apps I used were:
Music Magpie
We buy books
World of Books (known as Ziffit at the time of writing)
All three also work by entering details into a website if you don’t want to use a phone.
I also looked for others out there and it seems that MoMox and Zapper are not currently up and running.
How these buying sites work
Just scan the barcode with your phone and instantly receive an offer (or not) for your media.
Reach the minimum amount – one of the frustrations with some of these apps is you can’t trade in until you reach a minimum amount. This figure ranges from an achievable £5 through to £15, and when many items are offered to you for 10p, that’s quite a few to sell before you reach the threshold.
Package and post – once you’ve accepted the figures for the trade, you need to box the titles up. Most allow you to drop the box off, though some will collect by courier. There isn’t usually a charge for this.
Wait for payment – you only get paid once the items have been received and checked. With CDs, DVDs and games in particular this involves a condition check. If they aren’t of the desired quality you might get less cash, or even none at all.
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How the trade-in apps fared
Having just moved house, I was still clearing out as I unpacked boxes and found books, CDs, DVDs and sheet music books that I hadn’t touched in years. So I grabbed five of each and used the apps below to see just how much money I could make. You can sell computer games too but I didn’t have any to sell.
I’ve summarised the results in this table so you can see how Ziffit (now World of Books), Music Magpie and We Buy Books compared:
Trading app
Amount offered (for 24 items)
Minimum payout
Extra incentives
We Buy Books
£3.92
£15
10% extra with code APP10
World of Books (was Ziffit)
£3.41
£5
10% extra for new traders with code WELCOME10
Music Magpie
£1.52
£5
10% extra with code GET10EXTRA
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We Buy Books
We Buy Books accepted a few more items than the others (10 out of 20) but offered slightly lower individual prices. And the funny thing is, quite contrary to their name, they didn’t accept any of the five books I tried to sell! That said, I’ve used them to sell books before and had some success, mostly 10p offers but I did get a random £6 offer for a grown-up version of a Where’s Wally book!
I was disappointed this time with their offer prices for the sheet music books. Most offers were around 50p which I guess is better than the price they offer for most books, but the one I found could possibly sell for around £25 on Amazon, they only offered just 12p for!
Summary: OK for sheet music books and DVDs but didn’t accept any of my reading books. It would take quite a lot of products to get to the £15 minimum for payout, so not great if you only have a few items to sell.
World of Books (was Ziffit)
Ziffit, as they were known as at the time of research, were good for their offers on the sheet music books and DVDs but only offered 10p on one book and made zero offers on the CDS. In total, they made offers for 9 out of the 20 items with prices ranging from 10p to 50p, so nothing to shout about.
Summary: Good for sheet music, although don’t expect any offers higher than 50p. The £5 minimum payout is much more achievable and good if you have fewer items to sell. Not great for CDs or books in this particular case.
Music Magpie
Music Magpie would only take 7 out of 20 the items and the prices they offered were very low – in fact the best offer they gave was 40p for a Shawshank Redemption Blu Ray. They didn’t accept any of the books and offered just pennies for the sheet music books. They gave more offers for CDs than the other apps, but don’t expect anything big, the maximum was 22p.
Summary: Better than Ziffit and Music Magpie for CDs, but low prices across the board. £5 minimum payout is easier to achieve, so good if you’ve only a few items to get rid of.
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Are these trade-in apps worth it?
From my test the answer is generally no. This kind of physical media just doesn’t hold its value, and with people also not really buying these items second hand, these websites don’t always offer a price which makes it worthwhile.
But you will get larger amounts for special editions, rare items, recent releases and textbooks, though you’ll probably get more for them on eBay.
And if you’re struggling for extra cash and don’t think you have the time to eBay your unwanted items, then these sites may just be the quick answer you’re looking for.
Since none of the buying apps came up trumps, I thought I’d compare their offers to what I could get elsewhere. CEX doesn’t buy books, but you can list these on eBay and Amazon (through Amazon Seller).
Obviously this is based on an estimate of what you could potentially make. For eBay, I looked at the same items and what price they are currently offered for. And for Amazon Seller, they give you the price after fees for the lowest price the item has sold at.
Other things to take into account are the photos, listing and packing for making Ebay sales, which all takes time and it would have to be done for individual items (although you could possibly sell in bulk). For Amazon Seller, if you go down the route of FBA (fulfilled by Amazon), then there are the storage fees to take into account if the products don’t sell.
And with both eBay and Amazon, there’s no definite sale. You could be holding on to the items for months or even years.
That could be an issue, unlike with the apps mentioned above where you have a definite income (once the products have been received and assessed).
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How much could I make?
So what can I potentially make from Amazon Seller or eBay? Amazon Seller to me seems the best to go with but it requires some work. For the 20 products I’m planning to sell I could potentially make around £70 and on eBay about £60. But neither of these estimates are reality until the products sell.
Both estimates are a lot higher than the £3 odd offered by the buying apps above. The biggest difference in price I found between the trade-in apps and Amazon, was for a City of Angels music book. This was worth 43p on Ziffit and 12p on both We Buy Books and Music Magpie, yet Amazon predicts it could sell for £24.65.
That said, both Amazon Seller and eBay do require a lot more effort and man-hours than the trade-in sites, but I could make more money from them if my items go on to sell. But for convenience, the question is whether I should just take the £3.92 offered by We Buy Books!
If you don’t have any credit history or are looking to rebuild your credit report, then specialist credit cards could help.
Want to get a mortgage, credit card, loan or other form of borrowing? A healthy credit report can be the difference between acceptance and rejection, a good rate or a bad rate.
There are plenty of things you can do to strengthen your credit file – registering to vote through, paying bills on time checking your report for errors and having a bank account all help. And alongside these is to spend on a credit card.
That might seem counter-intuitive. Using a credit card is to spend money that isn’t yours. If you don’t need to borrow then surely it’s better to not have a card?
Well, what you’re doing by using a card showing you are a responsible borrower. That you can be given credit and pay it back.
Here’s more on how this helps your credit report and how to find the best credit building cards.
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Using credit cards to boost your credit file
There are some key rules you need to follow to make sure spending on a credit card helps rather than hurts your credit report.
Use them only for everyday spending
A very simple one to start. Having a credit card shouldn’t encourage you to buy things you wouldn’t normally be able to afford.
Instead use it only for everyday spending. I often suggest something like supermarket shopping or filling up on petrol. You might be able to pay some bills with your credit card too, though that won’t include your rent.
This way you’re just swapping spending on your debit card for spending on your credit card.
It helps to avoid temptation if you only take it with you when you are going to make that regular purchase, and leave it at home the rest of the time.
It doesn’t matter if you use it just once a month, or every day, it’s regular payments that matter. I would say you do want to be spending on it at least once a month though. Longer gaps will mean it takes longer to help boost your score.
Clear the card every month
It’s vital that you remember to pay off the card in full. This shows you are responsible and can pay back what your borrow. Big tick for that credit report.
But it also means you’ll avoid getting charged interest. Credit cards have high-interest rates, generally starting at 19% and going above 50%. This is added on each month to any money not cleared.
You can do this whenever you want, but it’s probably best not to do it as soon as you spend on the card as you need time for the spending to be reported to the credit reference agencies, which might just be monthly when the statement is issued.
You can do this manually via a bank transfer, but it’s probably better to set up a direct debit for the full amount. Doing this means you won’t forget, though you’ll need to ensure there’s enough cash in your linked current account to cover the payment.
If you can’t afford to pay the full amount you owe, then pay as much as you can. And that needs to be at least the minimum repayment. This varies and is set by the card provider. Fail to do this and you’ll be hit by charges and it’ll be shown on your credit file – going against the good work you’re doing to improve your credit score.
However, it’s worth pointing out that if you’ve not spent on the card and don’t owe anything, there will be no minimum to pay.
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Watch out for spending the money twice
Though you’ll be spending on things you’d normally buy, that money doesn’t leave your current account until your pay off the card.
There’s the risk that you’ll see the extra cash in your bank account and forget you need it to clear the card. So you spend it elsewhere.
If you are worried about this you can actually transfer the money from your current account into a sub account (either a “pot” or “space” or a completely different one just for credit card spending) as soon as you spend.
Then you can pay the credit card bill from this account and be guaranteed to have enough cash set aside. It might be sensible to add a little extra in there in case you forget, but to be extra safe just put a note in your diary before the direct debit is due to leave the account that the balance is high enough.
Try not to use more than 30% of your credit limit
Lenders often look at something called “credit utilisation”. This is how much of your available credit you use.
Though it’ll be different for every credit card company, a good rule of thumb is to keep that level below 30%. The closer you are to this level each month the better it reflects on your overall report.
So if you have a £500 credit limit you don’t want to owe more than £150 on that card.
However, this isn’t a target to aim for. If you don’t have normal spending which you can put on a credit card to increase your credit utilisation, or if you’re worried about budgeting if you put too much on there, then stick to what you have. It’ll be worse to spend money you don’t have just to get closer to 30%.
Focus on credit building
There are a number of other reasons credit cards can be useful – extra consumer protection, cashback and rewards, 0% spending and cutting the cost of debts. But I’d try to not get distracted.
Keep it simple by just spending and repaying, spending and repaying, and so on, month after month. Once you’re comfortable with this, and your credit report has improved, you can look at better cards.
Some get caught in the vicious circle of not having enough of a credit history to get accepted for a credit card, but needing a credit card to help improve their report in order to get one. And every rejection makes it harder still to get another card.
So how do you avoid this?
Check your eligibility
Many credit card providers will let you undertake a ‘soft’ eligibility check before a full ‘hard’ application. Do this and you’ll know whether you’ll get the card or not, or at least see your chances of acceptance.
Personally, unless there’s a very specific card you are after, I’d go via a comparison site such as Money Saving Expert’s Credit Club. This will show you your chances against a range of different cards. You can then pick the card with the highest chance of acceptance.
Though any spending and repaying on any credit card will help you improve your credit report, if you’re starting from scratch or have had problems with credit in the past you’ll probably want to look at a specific credit building card.
These are easier to get, but often come with restrictions. The interest rate for a start is likely to be higher than you’ll see on other cards. But this shouldn’t be an issue if you are clearing the balance completely each month.
You’ll also probably get a relatively low credit limit. But that is no bad thing either as it prevents you spending too much on the cards.
Watch out for representative APR
Though I’d encourage you to not get a credit card if you think you’re going to pay the interest charges, it makes sense to be aware of what you could be charged just in case.
Sadly it’s not as easy as just picking the card with the lowest rate as only 51% of successful applicants need to be offered the advertised rate – meaning 49% could pay more, sometimes a lot more.
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Best first-time credit cards
The best first-time credit card is the one you’ve got the best chance of getting (so check that eligibility). But if you’ve got a choice I think these cards are worth considering as your first credit card. They’re designed for building credit and they come with some welcome cash if you’re accepted.
1 bonus Clubcard point for every £4 spent at Tesco
1 bonus Clubcard point for every £8 spent elsewhere
£200 to £1,500 credit limit
29.9% APR
Going via TopCashback will earn you around £25 (the amount can vary). Once you have this card it offers money back when you spend – but don’t get too excited. You’d need to spend £100 a month for a year outside of Tesco to even make £1.50 – and that’s only if you are spending full multiples of £8 each time.
0% interest for six months on purchases and balance transfers
My final pick also comes with cashback when you successfully apply, this time via Quidco.
If you think you will have to pay interest then the rate will drop by 3% after year one and another 2% after year two if you make all your payments on time and stay within your credit limit. Of course, you might be able to get a lower rate straight off from another card.
Get cheap movie tickets so you don’t pay over the odds
If I can, I always try to see films at the cinema. The big screen, surround sound and darkened room make all the difference (though I’m not so fond of people chatting or checking their phones). Still, this is an expensive hobby so I do everything I can to get cheap movie tickets.
And I do pretty well at it too. It’s very rare for me to pay more than £5 or £6 – even in central London where prices are usually well over a tenner. In fact, out of the 19 films I saw at the cinema last year I managed to get the bulk of my tickets for free. Of the two were I parted with cash, one was a couple of quid to upgrade to 3D and the other wasn’t much more thanks to a 50% off voucher and off peak price.
These aren’t the only ways to get cheap movie tickets (we’ve listed all the tricks and deals in our huge cinema savings deals page) but these tricks show whatever day you want to see a movie, there’s a way to pay less – and even nothing at all.
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Midweek cinema deals
The cheapest days to go are always Monday to Thursday. Most cinemas have lower prices on these days, and cheaper still before 5pm. So it’s worth looking to see what your local cinema offers. However, there are ways to save even more so your ticket should cost less than £5.
Tuesday & Wednesday – 2 for 1 tickets with Meerkat Movies
This is a fantastic saving at most cinemas. You need to buy an insurance policy via Compare the Market (there’s a trick so this costs just £1), and you’ll then get access to Meerkat Movies for 12 months.
Meerkat Movies gives a code so you can buy one ticket and get one free. The promotion is valid on Tuesday and Wednesday, though you can only take advantage of the offer once a week.
If you subscribe to the Times you’ll get access to Times+ offers, including a rare two-for-one ticket to Everyman cinemas. You can claim one code each week and it can only be used on Wednesdays.
Amazon Prime members can get two tickets for £10 to be used Monday to Thursday. You can get a code once a month.
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Weekend only cinema deals
Cinemas charge a fair bit more from Friday to Sunday, and there are less deals that will save you money at the weekend. Personally I’d save any tickets that can be used any day of the week for the weekend (more of these in the next section).
Friday to Sunday – £3 ticket for Cineworld or Picturehouse via Three
The Three+ loyalty app has a cinema deal and at £3 a ticket it’s a decent saving for Cineworld and Picturehouse.
You can show the code at the box office to get your ticket, but if you book online there’s a 75p to 90p fee on top.
You can get the Three+ app even if you’re with a different network thanks to a trick where you top up a Three Pay-as-you-go SIM every 90 days. If you’re going on a weekly basis that could be worth it, even once a month could save you cash – depending on the full price of a ticket at your local.
These are all good deals, but I’d prioritise using these tickets for more expensive weekend showings rather than cheaper mid-week screenings so you get the best value.
Six free tickets for Vue or Odeon via Lloyds
If you open up a Lloyds Club current account you’ll be given six free cinema tickets every year. You can choose between Vue or Odeon, though you can’t mix and match.
You can only have one personal account, though couples can also get a joint account. So between the two of your that’s 18 tickets up for grabs.
There is a fee of £5 a month for this account, but it’s not charged if you pay in £2,000 a month. This might seem like a lot, but it doesn’t need to stay in your account nor be added in one go. You can transfer the money in when you get paid, then straight back out again.
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Free tickets via Sky or Vitality
If you have Sky Cinema you can get two free Vue tickets each month – though it might not be the cheapest option for your TV, so it’s not a reason to stick around.
While anyone with Vitality, perhaps health insurance via work, can claim a free Odeon or Vue ticket each month if they hit enough activity points.
Up to 40% off with other memberships
There are a number of schemes and memberships that give discounts at most big cinema chains and many independent ones too. Though the schemes look similar, prices might be different so it can be worth looking at one for two.
Often these are available via your employer’s “work perks” scheme, but Santander customers can also get access for free via Santander Boosts, and Lidl often gives free membership too via it’s Lidl Plus app.
Other ways to take advantage are paid for, though look for free trials. Tastecard is another good one that also gives restaurant discounts (here are the best deals), while Kids Pass gives additional savings for children’s attractions.
However, these don’t always work out cheaper, so check the prices at your local cinema before buying tickets via these schemes, but you can get cheap trials of both to give them a go.
Those with Octopus energy can get two Vue tickets for £8 every week. Just go to the Octoplus loyalty tab in your account. Vouchers last seven days.
The O2 Priority mobile SIM loyalty programme cinema deal is similar. You can pick up two tickets for £9, or four for £18, meaning you’ll pay just £4.50 each. From time to time it’s cut to £7 for two. Codes are released at the start of each month.
You’ll get access to O2 Priority if your phone is with O2 or broadband is via Virgin Media, though this hack means anyone can buy a PAYG SIM and top up by £10 every six months (at the most) to get access.
There’s a similar offer for Vodafone users, this time for Odeon tickets. You can get two tickets for £8 or four for £16, though with a £1 booking fee. However you can only use them in a single booking.
One Vue a month & more via Monzo for £7
£7 a month for a Vue ticket via a Monzo Perks current account isn’t going to be the best deal out there. But for the fee you also get an annual railcard, Uber One membership and a weekly Greggs freebie. Take advantage of these and that ticket could actually cost you just a few quid.
Get a membership
If you go on a weekly basis then memberships can work out cheaper. We’ve written here about the different schemes which run at Odeon, Cineworld, Curzon and Everyman.
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Other cheap movie ticket deals
There are always other special offers running that could get you cheap or free tickets. These include discounted gift cards (which you can use alongside other offers as payment) and flash sales.
We’ve listed special offers and other tricks to save at all the major and independent chains in our ultimate cinema savings page. Have a look to see what the latest offers are.
Here are the best TV, movie and comedy streaming deals to help you enjoy a cheap night in!
We’ve hunted out ongoing offers, trials and any short-lived film and streaming service deals.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
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Core streaming service deals
Disney + deals
The streaming service has all the old Disney movies as well as new series in the worlds of Star Wars and Marvel. It costs between £4.99 and £12.99 a month or you can pay less for annual passes. Find deals here.
Prime Video comes with a standard Amazon Prime membership (£8.99 a month or £95 a year), but it can also be signed up to without all those extras for £5.99 a month. However it’ll cost you £2.99 extra each month to avoid adverts.
You can get TNT via a monthly rolling contract with Discovery+. There are also some good deals to add TNT to your existing broadband or TV package, as well as deals for EE mobile customers. Again, we’ve got a dedicated page for all TNT Sports offers.
You can get a Basic only pass for £3.99 a month, or one with Eurosport on top for £6.99 a month, though there are ways to get it for free via BT and Sky. More on this dedicated Discovery+ page.
Fed up with all those subscriptions? You don’t have to pay for these – but you will have to watch adverts in most cases.
Tubi
This service from Fox was new to the UK in July 2024. You can more than 20,000 films, most of which we’ve not heard of, but there were a handful of familiar ones.
Amazon often has selected new rentals for £1.99 if you’re with Prime. If you’re not already a Prime member you can get a 30-day free trial once a year.
The first time you sign up you should be able to get money off your first rental. The discount code is usually automatically applied at checkout, but check first. It used to be 50% but has now dropped to 5% off.
Also you might find a limited choice – many of the big titles aren’t available there.
Every month until the end of Jun 2025 you’ll be able to claim a free rental via Rakuten if you have energy via Octopus. You’ll need to go via the Octoplus Rewards tab in your account to claim the voucher.
New codes are released each Friday, but you can only use one each month.
If you pay for more than one account in your household a Family plan works out cheaper at £19.99 a month. Or if you can validate your student ID you can pay just £7.99.
YouTube Premium: one month free
The standard free trial for YouTube Premium is one month (it’s occasionally increased). You’ll get ad-free viewing, the ability to download and access to YouTube Music Premium (a bit like Spotify). You can only get this if you are a new user of YouTube Premium, YouTube Music or Google Play Music. At the end of the trial it’s £11.99 a month, so cancel if you don’t want to keep paying.
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ITVX deals
ITV Hub is now ITVX. It’s free to watch most of the content, but if you pay £5.99 a month you’ll get Premium which has even more shows, access to Britbox and no adverts.
Mubi shows a selection of cult, indie and world cinema. It’s £11.99 a month but sometimes there are decent deals.
Mubi: 3 months for £1
The standard Mubi free trial is just a week, but this offer gets you access to this streaming service for three months for just £1.
The service lets you watch from a curated selection of films rather than well-known blockbusters. It’ll renew at £11.99 per month after the three months have ended, so be sure to cancel it if you don’t want to pay for it.
You can sign up direct with Arrow and get a 7 day free trial.
Shudder: 7-day free trial
You can sign up direct with Shudder and get your first 7 days for free.
Next Up: 7-day free trial for Prime members
You can also watch NextUp on Amazon Video and Prime members get 7-days for free right now. After the trial it’s £9.99 a month (unless you cancel). Sign up here.
Find out which Santander branches are set to close and what you can do if yours is closing
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
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Starting in June this year, a massive 44 Santander branches will be closing their doors for good.
As with other banks that are choosing to close branches, the move is due to more customers using online banking and apps rather than visiting their branches. We reported on the closure of 595 branches in 2025 across all the high street banks.
It’s understandable in many ways. Santander says that it’s seen a 63% increase in digital transactions since 2019, with a 66% reduction in transactions made in branches over this time.
This can be incredibly frustrating for customers, especially those who don’t want to go digital.
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What you can do if your bank closes
If your Santander branch is set to be axed, you’ve got a couple of options.
Stick with Santander
If you want to stay with Santander, then you can use your local post office. You can pay in money and cheques into your account, and withdraw cash too – though that has the same limit as if you used a cash machine. It’s not perfect, but at least it gives people in remote areas somewhere to go.
Change your bank
A better option might be to switch to a bank which has a branch near you. Of course, there’s no guarantee your new bank won’t close its branches in the future. But you’re at least protected for a while – and you might be able to take advantage of a switching bonus.
And of course, you can take your banking fully digital. There are newer banks that have been designed from the beginning to work better for you on your phone, such as Monzo or Starling.
Featured switching deal
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