From freebies to money off, here are some great deals on health and beauty
From free trips to the gym to money off skincare and beauty products, here are some of the best health and beauty offers available at the moment.
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Nuffield: free 7 day pass
You can get a free seven-day pass at Nuffield gyms. It’s available at selected gyms only, and to get it, you need to sign up via the website and enter your postcode to choose a gym. You’ll be asked for some basic details and will be able to choose a date for the seven days to begin.
You can get a free day pass at Everyone Active gyms
This gets you free use of the gym, pool and fitness classes at your local Everyone Active leisure centre for one day. You can’t use it at Coral Reef Waterworld or Moorways Water Park.
Until the end of January, you can get a day pass at The Gym Group via the Lidl Plus app. You just need to go to your Lidl app and scroll down to ‘Partner offers’ on the home page.
Then you can select ‘redeem this offer’ and reveal a code. Go to The Gym Group website and find the day passes section to redeem your code.
You can get two or three full-sized products from Grüum (worth up to £43) for just the cost of delivery (£3.95).
There are several bundles to choose between, although some are often out of stock. The options include skin cleansers, shampoo bars, body wash bars and body oils, to name a few.
You have to pay £3.95 for delivery, but for a couple of products, that’s not bad.
You can get an unusual beauty subscription box from Liberty. If you deposit £25 per month into your Liberty “beauty bank” (essentially buying store credit), then you get a “Discovery Box” four times a year for £5 per month, worth a total of £300 per year.
You’ll still have the credit in your account that you deposited (except the £5 fee for each box), but it can’t be refunded or withdrawn.
What’s in the beauty box?
The box is called The Beauty Drop. You get four per year full of trial-sized products. They’re sent in January, April, July and October and they’ll be worth up to £300 throughout the year.
Remember that just because Liberty would sell the products for £300, it doesn’t mean they’re worth that for you.
The drawbacks
Your typical bank account has protection – you’re protected by up to £85,000 if your bank goes bust. However, your money in the “beauty bank” at Liberty isn’t protected. This means that if Liberty were to go bust, the money you have in the account likely won’t be refunded to you, much like a gift card.
You could mitigate this by spending the money you deposit as soon as you can and not letting a large balance rack up, but Liberty’s high prices might prevent this.
If you join Lush’s UK loyalty club then new or existing account holders can get a £3 welcome voucher if they sign into the latest version of the app before 8 October 2024.
You don’t need to do anything to trigger the coupon, though do check if it’s showing in the banner on the app or in the ‘Rewards’ section of the app.
You’ll be able to use the £3 in-store or on purchases via the app. It’ll last three months from activation.
Space NK: up to 20% off with £5 charity donation (ended)
This is a decent opportunity to stock up on beauty essentials (and luxuries) as you can get up to 20% off at Space NK until 2 June 2025
You must donate £5 to the charity Switchboard LGBT+ via Space NK’s link, and then you’ll get a unique code to use.
This includes rarely discounted brands such as Diptyque – only a handful of items are excluded, which you can see here. You can’t use the deal on gift cards or sale items either.
Vision Express: free eye test with £50 spend (expired)
Download the Lidl Plus app, and in the partner offers section you’ll find you can claim a free eye test (worth £30) and get 30% off frames, as long as you spend £50 on prescription glasses at Vision Express.
Beauty: £330 beauty advent calendar for £60 (ended)
You can get a £330 M&S beauty advent calendar for £60 when you spend £35 on full-price clothing, homeware or beauty.
The Beauty Advent Calendar 2025 includes a selection of 25 products, including some full-size products across bath and body, skincare, haircare and make-up.
Now, just because M&S say it’s worth £330 it doesn’t mean it actually is. You can see the entire contents here, so use that to work out whether it’s not just worth paying £60 for.
And of course, try to buy something you actually need to want for the initial £35 spend. Sale and clearance items are excluded from this qualifying spend.
These banks accounts are my top picks for the year
I’ve got 25 different personal current accounts right now. Yes, that’s far too many for most people, but trying them all out really helps me recommend to you the good from the bad.
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Best dummy current account for switching
If you’re looking to take advantage of switching deals, it’s often worth setting up a dummy account you’ll use purely for this purpose.
Winner: Chase
A couple of reasons why Chase wins here. First, there’s no hard credit check when you first apply. Second, once you have one account, you can set up nine more in the app – and it’s these ones you’ll want to use to switch away.
Just be sure not to switch away your only Chase account as that’ll close your whole account down and you won’t be able to reopen it. Here’s more on how to use Chase for switching.
Best bank account app
Banking apps are improving all the time and the best have features such as freezing your card if it’s lost and features to help you save.
Winner: Starling
Recent improvements to the Monzo and Revolut apps made this a close call this year. Chase is decent too. But Starling still edges ahead. All of these digital only banks have features to help you track spending and manage your card, but I think not only does Starling do it best, it does a little more on top.
You can use it on both app and desktop, you can pay in cheques with your phone, you can deposit cash at Post Offices and more.
Runner up: Monzo and Chase
It’s worth taking a look at these other digital banks as often it’s personal preference which makes one stand out over the other. You might prefer them to Starling.
Runner up: Natwest
If you’re after a high street bank then the app I like the best is from Natwest (or RBS which is basically the same). You can do most things you need to do, and it’s clearly set out. A nice extra is you can use it to take cash out at Natwest or Tesco ATMs if you don’t have your card.
Thanks to changes to Chase’s cashback last year, there are no longer any accounts which I’d recommend to use for your spending. Instead you’re better off using a cashback credit card, or the debit card from PayPal.
However, there is a runner up.
Runner up: Monzo
Though many banks offer additional cashback offers linked to specific retailers, Monzo has the easiest one to view and manage. Here’s our review of the feature.
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Santander will give you money back each month on direct debits for your bills – but sadly the top paying Santander 123 is no longer open to new customers (if you’ve already got it, then keep using it).
Instead you can choose between the Edge, Edge Up and Edge Explorer accounts, and it’s the first one that will probably earn you more cashback each year.
All three give 1% back on household bills such as Council Tax, energy and broadband, though the Edge costs £3 a month vs the Edge Up’s £5 monthly fee. That extra £24 a year for the Edge Up really cuts into your returns. The Edge Explore costs £17 but includes extra insurances, so it could be worth a look.
Though the earnings aren’t as much as they once were, this cashback via the Edge is better than nothing, and you’ll also get access to the 6% paying Edge Saver.
Runner up: Biscuit by Zopa
You can also get cashback on some bills via Zopa. It’s capped at £30 a year, the equivalent of £2.50 a month, but it covers any direct debit, so you could well use this as well as the Edge to pick up bills that are missed off.
Runner up: Monzo/Starling
If you’re more worried about budgeting than cashback then both Starling and Monzo will let you segregate money into separate pots and then assign one to pay bills direct from it.
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Best bank accounts with rewards
Some accounts will pay you each month, either in cash to your account or with a freebie. You often have to pay a monthly fee and meet other criteria.
Winner: Club Lloyds
Sadly the Halifax Reward account was gutted in September and no longer gives £5 a month.
So my top pick for 2026 is the account from Club Lloyds. You can choose either 6 cinema tickets or a year of Disney+ with Ads – but once you’ve set up standing orders you can just leave the account alone. A couple could benefit from three accounts – one personal account each and a joint one too.
As long as you deposit £2,000 a month into the account you avoid the monthly fee. This is easy to do. There’s more in my full Club Lloyds review.
Runner up: Monzo Perks
This account from Monzo offers much more, but you have to pay £7 a month to access the perks. That can be great value if you need what you get. This includes:
a Vue cinema ticket every month
a Greggs treat every week
an annual railcard
Uber One membership
You also get extra Monzo budgeting features which I think are great. More in our Monzo Perks review.
From inclusive insurance and breakdown cover to extras, sometimes it’s worth paying a fee each month for a packaged account.
Winner: Santander Edge Explorer
This account is the Edge, which I already like, plus some extras. It costs £17, £14 more than the Edge, but is cheaper than most other packaged accounts. And in return, you’ll get travel, breakdown and phone cover, 1% cashback on some debit card spending, 1% cashback on bills and access to the 6% Edge Saver. Here’s my full Santander Edge Explorer review.
Runner up: Virgin Money Club M
This account goes up from £12.50 a month to £14 from 1 February 2026, but it’s still one of the cheapest packaged options. You’ll get worldwide family travel insurance and phone cover, as well as UK and European breakdown cover for the account holders (so it’s worth opening it as a joint account). That’s decent value if you need two or three of those policies. Here’s our full Virgin Money Club M review.
Best bank account for savings
Current accounts often give you access to higher rates than elsewhere, though with limits. Here’s our guide to the best savings accounts.
Winner: First Direct
For ongoing savings the highest paying account is a regular saver that’s only open to First Direct current account holders. It pays 7% AER – and that’s fixed for 12 months. You can only add up to £300 a month into this regular saver. Read more about other regular savers here.
Winner: Santander Edge
The highest interest rate on larger balances at the moment is from Santander. As long as you have the Edge current account you can open the Edge Saver. This offers 6% on up to £4,000 – though that previously mentioned £3 a month fee needs to be factored in if it’s not covered by cashback. The rate also drops by 2.5% after a year.
If you use an overdraft you’re probably paying around 40% in interest – far more than it’d cost to borrow elsewhere. So they’re best avoided. But if you are overdrawn then it makes sense to reduce that cost ASAP.
Winner: First Direct
You can currently get a £250 0% buffer from First Direct. That’s not amazing, but it can be useful if you occasionally go a little below zero.
Runner up: Monzo/Starling
If you really need to use an overdraft then you might be able to get as low as 15% of 19% with these digital banks.
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Best ethical bank account
Winner: Triodos
This account tops the charts on Ethical Consumer’s list of ethical current accounts and it’s hard to beat. However it does come with a £3 a month fee and the app is limited. Here’s my full review.
Runner Up: Nationwide, Starling or Co-op
These banks also score well. As it’s a building society, Nationwide is committed to putting the bulk of its lending towards mortgages so it can’t invest heavily in non-ethical practices. It also has positive policies in place to avoid this.
Starling has the edge over its challenger bank rival Monzo, while Co-op is the top-ranked from the other high-street banks.
If you don’t want to have multiple accounts, and really want everything in one place, then these banks combine multiple extras.
App and perks: Monzo Perks
As long as you would spend £84 a year the perks included, the extra budgeting features on an already excellent app make Monzo Perks on of my top account for 2026. The only let down is on savings rates and there are never any switching deals.
Cashback and savings interest: Santander Edge or Edge Explorer
As long as you pay bills, you may as well get cashback on these. On top there’s access to the 6% paying Edge Saver account. The app is average though. If you need travel insurance and breakdown cover, the Edge Explorer is a good upgrade.
Interest and freebies: Club Lloyds
It’s too early to say whether First Direct Perks will be worth it in the long time, so I also think Club Lloyds is also worth a shot. The app is pretty good, and the six cinema tickets or year of Disney+ with Ads is potentially worth £60 a year and there’s a decent (though not best buy) monthly saver at 6.25%.
Ethics and loyalty: Nationwide
Finally, if you want your bank to be doing some good AND get something in return, Nationwide is well worth a shout thanks to the annual Fairer Share payment. It’s not guaranteed for 2026 but it should be worth £100 and offer access to a decent 18 month fixed saver.
The do’s and don’ts of passing on unwanted or duplicate gifts.
There’s a good chance at some point each year you’ll be given a gift you don’t want or need. Unwanted presents are frustrating and disappointing but also a bit awkward. So what do you do with it?
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What to do with an unwanted present
The worst thing you can do with an unwanted gift is just throw it away. Not only are you adding to landfill, but the money spent by the gift giver has been wasted. Not much better is just putting it out of sight in a cupboard or drawer. It’ll probably just sit there gathering dust for a few years until you have a clear-out, and then go to the tip too.
You could try to make use of whatever you’ve been given, even if you don’t like it. But why wear a jumper, use the vase or eat some chocolates that aren’t to your taste simply because you feel you should? It’s not your fault the gift wasn’t right, so you shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Saying that, you might find you later learn to love it.
You could try to sell the present, though the admin and fees associated might be enough to put you off. It’s worth having a look online just to see what similar items have gone for, but it’s something likely only worth it for higher-value items.
Perhaps the best option, if you’re brave enough, is to be honest about the present. Tell the gift-giver why it’s not right and ask if they would be able to give you a gift receipt so you could exchange it, or if they would do it for you. This will be a lot easier if the gift is something you already have than if it’s just not to your taste. Still, it’s worth a go.
But if you can’t see that working, your next best bet financially is to pass the present on, also known as regifting. This can be controversial. Imagine how you’d feel if a gift you put thought into wasn’t just unwanted, but given to someone else? Not great. But it’s better to know someone, somewhere is making use of it rather than it getting chucked away.
And if you can avoid the awkwardness, then it’s a winning strategy. You’re giving someone a gift they hopefully will like, you’re helping the environment by not chucking it away and you’re saving yourself some cash by not having to buy something new.
So here a few simple rules and tips to help you navigate the minefield of regifting.
Do: only regift to someone you think will appreciate the present
Regifting doesn’t mean you can just palm off an unwanted present to any old friend or family member. If they won’t appreciate it, you’re just passing the buck, and it could still end up in the bin.
Instead have a think about who might like it, and there’s a good chance you’ll have a few contenders. Most unwanted gifts aren’t bad gifts. They might simply not be to your taste, or perhaps be a duplicate of something you already have.
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Don’t: regift everything
It’s worth taking into account any politics within your family or friendship groups. It might be better to keep hold of something and just bring it out from time to time to avoid any rifts. Yes, that could mean keeping hold of that awful painting your gran got you. But that might be better than the potential fallout if she found out.
Also some gifts are just plain bad. The kind you can’t understand why someone would manufacture it, let alone buy it. If you’ve got one of these and there’s no one you can think of who would like it then don’t regift it.
Do: have a regifting box
It’s worth keeping any unwanted gifts together in one box or cupboard. This way if you need to buy a present you can check what you’ve got and see if there’s anything suitable.
Don’t: forget who bought you the unwanted gift
There’s a danger with regifting of whoever you gave the gift to finding out, or perhaps even getting it back themselves. You hear stories of presents being passed around the same group year after year. Neither of these scenarios are desirable.
To avoid this, make a clear note of who gave you the gift and when. Then when you regift it, make sure it’s given to someone in a different circle.
Take a good look at your unwanted present. Have they inscribed a message in a book? Is there a tag stuck to the bottom of the box that you missed? If you’re sure there are no tell-tell signs the item is regifted then it’s fine to re-gift.
Don’t: regift anything that’s been used
Any unwanted present you want to pass on has to be in as good a condition as if you’d just bought it yourself. Packaging is key here so ensure any tags are intact and the box unopened. It’s important to check use-by dates on any food or drink gifts too.
Do: remember charity shops
Finally, as we’ve mentioned a few times above, you can also give an unwanted present to a charity shop. But don’t just dump a bag outside the shop. Take it in and see what they will take and then you can deal with anything they reject.
Here’s how to watch football on TV without forking out the equivalent of a Premier League player’s daily hourly wage.
If you’re dusting off your football shirt ready for the new season, you may also be considering the cheapest ways to watch your team on TV.
This year, more than 260 Premier League games will be shown on TV, split between Sky TV, and TNT Sports (previously BT Sport).
Championship, League One and League Two fans will get most of their action on Sky Sports, with more games than ever broadcast. Plus there’s European football on TNT and Amazon Prime. And let’s not forget international matches too/
If you want to watch as many games as possible, it doesn’t come cheap. And if you don’t support one of the big teams, they’ll be featured less often, which can make it more expensive per match.
Here’s my guide to the cheapest ways to watch Premier League, EFL and other football.
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Cheapest ways to watch football on Sky Sports
Sky Sports is available on as an add on for Sky, EE TV and Virgin Media packages, or as a pay as you go pass via NOW.
If you already pay for Sky or Virgin, then it’s worth haggling to see if you can add on Sky Sports, or reduce your existing spend. However if you just want the sport channels you’ll be tied into an 18 or 24 month contract for all your other services you have with them such as broadband, as well as forced to also pay for entertainment options, really bringing the price up.
Sky Sports is currently £20 a month for 24-months direct from Sky with the standard Sky channels and Netflix adding on another £15 a month, at least.
Sadly it doesn’t look like Sky is still offering a cut price deal just for the football channels or just for the F1 channel – but keep an eye out for either’s return.
You can pay a £25 a month for a monthly rolling contract via Sky Stream as an introductory offer, but you’ll need to pay at least £18 a month on top for Sky Entertainment and Netflix. For most people you’re better off going with NOW.
With Virgin Media it’s also another £20 on top, at least for the sports channels. Again, not bad, but you’re likely over paying for the other channels.
Get day or month Sky Sports passes with NOW TV
NOW TV passes are particularly good if you don’t want to pay for other Sky or Virgin channels or Netflix (which is bundled with Sky), or if you won’t watch all year around.
Plus, combine a NOW TV pass with a cut-price broadband and phone line deal and it’ll often be much much cheaper than getting everything as part of the full Sky or Virgin packages.
If you only plan to watch a few games at home throughout the season you can buy a NOW day pass for £14.99. You get all the Sky Sports channels for 24 hours. This isn’t as good a deal as it used to be, but still a money saver if you just want to watch a single match.
A monthly pass is also available, meaning you can view more sport. But at £34.99 it’s not as cheap as adding to Sky if you pay it every month.
The good news is there are regular deals to reduce the price of a pass. These have dwindled a little over the last few years, and there are very few day pass deals.
But monthly ones do still pop up quite regularly, often dropped to between £21 and £26 a month either when you first sign up or as a retention offer if you go to cancel. Get it this low, if not lower, then it’s more comparable to what you’d pay adding it to Sky without the requirement for other channels.
More recently you might find these offers tie you in for a minimum period, perhaps as long as six months, which isn’t as flexible. But others still let you cancel when ever you want.
You can stream the NOW TV app on your TV, console or streaming stick; or on your computer or mobile device. Though you can’t record (it’s all on-demand and catch up), you can now pause and rewind live sport.
If you want HD or to share your pass you’ll need to pay more. It’s £6 a month for Boost (2x streams and 720p) and £9 a month for Boost Ultra (3x streams and 1080p). Again, there are often deals to bring the price down.
TNT Sports is available to add to TV packages from Sky, EE and Virgin, or stream direct from Discovery+. We’ve got a deals page which highlights some of the best TNT Sports deals available, but here are the cheapest options.
Free with some BT broadband packages
If you have been with BT for a while for broadband or mobile packages then it’s worth checking if you’ve got free access to the full Discovery+ package, which includes TNT Sports. If you’re not eligible you can add it for £10 a month with no long contract commitment.
Buy a month’s pass
If you don’t have or want expensive pay TV contracts, you can access TNT Sports with Discovery+ for £30.99 per month. You don’t need to commit to a contract, so you can get a month’s access whenever you need it, making it good for casual fans.
The cheapest way to watch football on Amazon Prime Video
There will be 17 Champions League games shown on Amazon Prime this season, spread across the year. It costs £95 for the full year, and obviously you get access to other Prime benefits. But there are ways to pay less if you’re only after the odd match.
Get a free Amazon Prime trial
If you’ve never had Prime, you can take out a 30-day trial for free. And if you have had a trial before, it’s still worth checking as you can normally get another one after a year, if not sooner.
Pay £5.99 a month
You can also sign up on a monthly basis, at just £5.99 a month. That’s much cheaper than the full monthly Prime price of £8.99 a month, and you’ve got the flexibility to cancel if there are no games on, and resign up when there are.
With Sky Sports and TNT Sports, rather than just add the channels to your existing service as a top-up, it’s often cheaper to switch your service to a new company.
There are always offers for current customers signing new contracts, but the best deals are usually for new customers or those who threaten to leave. You can generally save even more by going via cashback sites.
Haggle with your provider
You can add on the Sky Sports and TNT Sports channels to your existing Sky, Virgin, Talk Talk and BT TV packages, but this can get very expensive.
Look out for special offers at the start of the season, or get on the phone with your provider and haggle for a better deal.
Cancel it when you don’t need it
These big pay TV companies often let you take Sky Sports month by month, so if there aren’t any matches you want to see, or you know you won’t have time, just call up and cancel.
You can sign up again when you want to restart watching the channels. Check the terms and conditions before subscribing and see if there is a notice or minimum period.
Know someone who has TNT Sports, NOW TV or Sky? You can usually watch the channels on up to two devices (smart TV, computer, tablet, phone) simultaneously, so you could split the cost between you. Here’s myguide on sharing your subscriptions.
Watch it in the pub
Of course, you can save all that hassle and head to the pub.
Premier League fans will normally be able to find somewhere showing the games, though Championship and lower may struggle. A few pints would cost the same as a NOW TV day pass.
What matches are on which TV channel?
There’s no point signing up for all the channels showing football this year if the team you support isn’t going to be featured. Here’s a very detailed breakdown of which leagues will be show on each broadcaster this season.
Where to watch the Premier League 2025/2026 on TV?
Only selected games are broadcast on TV, though from this year all matches outside the Saturday 3pm kick off will be shown. These are picked a couple of months ahead and will be split between Sky Sports and TNT Sport. Free to air highlights will once again be on the BBC.
With no Amazon fixtures this year, and fewer on TNT Sports, Sky is going to be where you’ll catch most games.
Broadcaster
Number of games
Sky Sports
At least 215 – 32 on Saturday at 5.30pm – 32 on Sunday at 2pm – 32 on Sunday at 4.30pm – 32 on either Friday at 7.30pm or Monday at 8pm – All 30 matches on 1st, 2nd and 3rd midweek fixtures (Dec & Jan) – All 10 matches from last day of the season – Plus at least 57 rescheduled or additional matches
TNT Sports (previously BT Sport)
52 – 32 on Saturday at 12:30pm – All 20 matches from 4th and 5th midweek fixtures (Feb & Mar)
BBC
Highlights on Match of the Day
Until 2029
You can see selections on the Premier League website. Expect these to be announced on these dates (though in my experience they change a lot):
Match dates
Estimated announcement date
August/September
9 July
October
20 August
November
17 September
December/January
15 October
February
17 December
March
21 January
April
4 March
Match week 35
25 March
Match week 36
1 April
Match week 37
8 April
Match week 38
After match week 37
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Where to watch Champions League, Europa League and Europe Conference League on TV in 2025/26
Amazon Prime
17 Champions League games will be shown on Prime for the first time this season. They’ll be on Tuesday nights and Amazon have the first pick for these games.
You’ll get free to air highlights for the Champions League on the BBC until 2027.
Where to watch Football League (Championship, League One, League Two, League Cup) on TV in 2025/26
Sky Sports
Sky is the only place to watch EFL games. As with last season there are a huge number of games shown on Sky Sports. 1,059 out of 1,891 matches will be on TV. You can see what’s been picked on the EFL upcoming live games page.
It will be broadcasting the following:
328 EFL Championship games
248 League One games
248 League Two games
All play-off semi-finals and finals
All 93 EFL Carabao cup games
All 127 EFL Trophy games
Each week there will be:
Five matches in the Sky Bet Championship
Five from Sky Bet League One and League Two
This includes:
All opening and closing day fixtures
All mid week fixtures
All bank holiday fixtures
Shown across these time slots:
Saturday at 12.30pm
Friday night and Sunday 12.30pm
Some Thursday and Monday nights
ITV
You’ll be able to watch 10 live EFL matches and 10 EFL Cup matches (including the final) on ITV, along with EFL highlights.
Where to watch FA Cup on TV matches in 2025/26?
In 2025/26 the FA Cup will be completely free to watch.
Broadcaster
Games
BBC
18 fixtures including the final
ITV
20 games including the final
Where to watch Women’s Super League, Championship & FA Cup on TV in 2025/26?
Matches are split between Sky and the BBC, and some may be on YouTube too. All Women’s Championship are on YouTube.
Broadcaster
Games
Sky
Up to 44 live league games
BBC
21 live league games plus 7 FA Cup games and the League Cup final
YouTube
Some games not shown on the BBC or Sky, all Women’s Championship games
Where to watch international friendlies and qualifiers on TV?
The home nations’ men’s international qualifiers and friendly matches are split across different broadcasters, depending on which team you want to watch.
England’s women’s games are on ITV. BBC Wales has the women’s international games for Wales.
Broadcaster
Games shown
ITV
All England mens games, including World Cup qualifiers and Nations League
The average cost to watch each Premier League team
A couple of seasons ago, we looked at the potential savings you could make from mixing and matching providers rather than committing to a year of sports channels. We found that football fans could save themselves up to £850 on watching the Premier League this season.
If you pay for all the services all year you’re going to get better value if you support one of the big teams and very poor value if you support a smaller one. However, if you’re a fan of various different sports or like to watch multiple teams, it might be worthwhile.
(All this football talk reminds me of this classic Mitchell and Webb sketch…)
The list of pressures surrounding a wedding is too long to list. It’s your BIG DAY. It has to be PERFECT. But worries about everything going to plan, or if people will have a good time, are dwarfed by the general insaneness of just how much weddings can cost.
The average spend on a wedding in the UK is £30,111 – well, according to Brides Magazine. For some reason, they include the gift list in their sums (why?), as well as engagement rings and the honeymoon. Stripping them out the total cost comes to £20, 261.
Obviously, you still need to pay for the engagement ring and honeymoon; but I don’t count them as part of the wedding day itself. Nonetheless, spending £20k on one day – ONE DAY – isn’t something you’re ever likely to repeat.
I got married last year (yes, I know I promised this post ages ago) and, being dedicated to getting the best value from everything I spend, I wanted to share with you how we managed to have a pretty awesome day AND stay on budget.
We didn’t have a frugal wedding – we still spent £16,000 – but I’m confident anyone who attended would be surprised we didn’t spend a lot more, particularly for a London wedding; and that’s because we worked hard to get as much for our money as possible.
Here’s how we planned and paid for a pretty fantastic day.
Setting the budget (and the date)
When we got engaged, Becky and I were both travelling South and Central America having taken redundancy from our jobs. So, we had to start planning our wedding without knowing when we’d start working again.
This was probably the most important decision we made; we didn’t let the date decide our budget, we let our budget decide the date. We could easily have chosen a day six or twelve months away – but we knew we’d not have enough money saved up to afford the day we wanted. So we looked at existing savings and made a guess on how much we’d be able to save each month.
With this in mind, we chose a date two-and-a-half years after our engagement – a long wait by today’s standards. But any earlier and we’d have had to compromise on the day; there was no way we were going to get into debt to fund it.
Deciding the guest list
Money wasn’t the only factor that shaped our guest list – we didn’t want something so big it lost its intimacy – but it played its part.
We could only afford 70 guests for the sit-down meal, so that’s how many people we invited. It wasn’t easy – I ended up inviting my aunts and uncles, and most of my friends’ partners just to the evening – but I think this is where you can totally lose control of the budget.
You probably will lose some people this way, but hopefully most people will understand and enjoy themselves at the parts they do go to.
Choosing reception venue and food
As with any big purchase, we shopped around to compare what was on offer and the prices we’d have to pay. We looked in London, where we live, and Yorkshire, where Becky is from.
Unsurprisingly, prices jump as soon as you mention the “w” word. Working out costs is also incredibly complicated. Some venues will offer all-in, others will have different charges for the venue, staffing, catering, ceremony etc.
We eventually chose the Hawksmoor restaurant in London’s Guildhall for our wedding reception. It held special memories for us and cooks the most amazing steak.
Unlike many of the other places we looked, they operated a minimum spend system. We had to pay up-front, by instalments, £9,500 plus 12.5% service charge. We also managed to negotiate with them a refund of £2,000 if the bar spend exceeded that amount.
We calculated this cost less than a separate room and catering hire at other venues we liked, but with top quality food (it’s genuinely fantastic food – regarded as one of the best places to get steak in the UK), fantastic wait staff and a really lovely venue. Of course, this was only possible as the restaurant closes at the weekend – it’s in the City of London which is a ghost-town at weekends with all the bankers back in their country retreats. To get one of their other restaurants in Covent Garden or Mayfair to ourselves would have been far far more expensive.
All-in and after the drinks refund, £8,700 covered the venue (with a late licence ’til 2am), a few canapés, welcome cocktails, a three-course meal for 70 guests, wine, evening food (lobster roll, yum), the service charge and a couple of drinks each for another 20 evening guests. Not cheap, but I’d say outstanding value for money.
We’d have liked to have provided more free booze for our guests, but our budget didn’t allow it. However, we did save on the fizz to toast the speeches. We found it was cheaper to buy some decent supermarket prosecco (on offer, of course) and pay the corkage charge than buy bottles direct from the venue.
Getting what we wanted for far less
I could write a hell of a lot more here (if I wrote about every element in detail then this article would be well over 2,000 words – another blog post – or two – perhaps), so for the sake of brevity here are other ways we saved.
Buying the dress for less
Becky didn’t choose the dress based on the budget, but it just so happened it was cheaper for us to order this dress from the States and fly to New York to collect it than buy a traditional wedding dress! The savings made freed up cash to spend elsewhere.
My tux was also a bargain. I knew what I was after and happened to chance upon the online Moss Bros sale with one left in stock of exactly what I wanted – for just £79! Becky also found great deals on high-street dresses for the bridesmaids.
Finding the right suppliers
Any London photographer with a decent portfolio will easily cost you £1,500 to £2,000, if not more. We cut this drastically by using someone out of London. She’d taken pics at a friends wedding in Stratford the year before, which we knew were good, and she was happy to come to London for our wedding.
Cakes also don’t come cheap, but, thanks to a huge amount of research by Becky (research by Becky was key to so many of our savings), we found a relatively new baker whose prices were a fraction of others we looked at, but just as tasty, and if anything, more talented in decoration.
The quotes we got on flowers were the most ridiculous, but we found one amazing florist who was happy to work within our budget. She and Becky had very creative ideas to get the most for our money on tables, bouquets and buttonhole flowers. Less really is often more – when it’s done right.
A little bit of DIY
We were also lucky that the venue looked pretty fantastic as it was. We simply added some cheap fairy lights from Amazon to give a little sparkle.
In fact, Amazon, along with Hobby Craft, Not on the High Street and Etsy, was our friend in helping us buy decent quality materials to boost our invites and table plan.
Breaking with tradition
We didn’t buy favours for our guests, choosing instead to give them more booze. Likewise, we didn’t kit out the grooms people in matching gear.
We also asked our guests to contribute to our honeymoon rather than buy us stuff we already had. Not everyone did this, but it made our three weeks in New England far more affordable and allowed us to put more cash into the wedding day itself.
Saying no when we couldn’t afford it
I really, really wanted to hire a mariachi covers band (the ones from those Doritos’s adverts). They weren’t actually that expensive compared to what I know friends have paid for bands, but it was too much for our budget. So sadly we said no. But my carefully curated playlists did the job perfectly, so we didn’t even need a DJ – though we did shell out for a dance floor, PA system and lights.
As much as we’d have liked to have stayed in a posh hotel the first night, knowing we’d have got there about 3am and left at 10am meant it was a bit of a waste of cash – better spent on the first night of our honeymoon. In the end it was lovely to be back in our own bed.
You can read more – and find our suppliers – in this article Becky wrote for Boho Weddings (even though ours was absolutely not Boho!)
I really could keep on writing about this! But I won’t. Instead I’ll leave you with what might have been – the Mariachis singing East 17…
Wow, this was a bit of a surprise. Last night Be Clever With Your Cash won a big award – Financial Blog of the Year at the 2017 Headlinemoney Awards.
These annual awards recognise the best in personal finance journalism, with hundreds of journalists and publications nominated from the likes of the Sunday Times, Which?, Moneywise, Financial Times and Money Saving Expert.
Last year I was runner up, or highly commended, in the same category and that was amazing. And this year I thought that might be the best I could hope for – until they announced they were only going to announce a winner.
Still, it’s a fun event to attend. I knew I’d be able to catch up with lots of blogger and journalist friends, and I was able to use the gathering as an opportunity to record my latest Cash Chats podcast.
So it was a fantastic, unexpected result when the host Jeremy Bowen announced Be Clever With Your Cash as the winner!
It’s lovely to get the recognition for all the work I’ve put into the blog, but I guess it also validates that I’m giving you useful information in an entertaining way.
Picking up the award from Georgie Frost and the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen
As part of the nomination process, I had to share three different articles from 2016 which best summed up my work. So I thought it would be good to share those same posts with you.
I selected each to demonstrate that a big part of the blog is showing I put my money where my mouth is, that I really live the articles I write. I also wanted to show that brands can’t buy my endorsement or a place on the blog – Be Clever With Your Cash truly is independent.
The first is a fun look at my addiction to reduced food stickers (it was picked up by BBC Online!).
Finally, showing that blogs can start bigger stories, my investigation into dodgy iPhone handset pricing at O2 , which was then covered by Mirror Money and Moneywise.
Well, a new bunch are at it. The latest con artists called my mobile phone and pretended to be from BT. So I grabbed a camera and recorded what they said. I hope the video gives you an idea of what to look out for – and what to avoid.
I think you could tell that was a scam from the off, but people do get sucked in by these all the time. Often it’s the panic that they could lose everything that prompts them to follow the instructions.
If I’d done as the scammer said they could have taken over my computer to steal my details or, like with the recent NHS hack, locked it using what’s called ransomware.
The basics to beat scammers
Phone, email and text scams are getting more sophisticated, so you always need to be on guard. But the basics to keep safe are simple.
Be wary of any unsolicited contact
Don’t give any personal details unless you are sure it’s legitimate
Don’t download any software you’ve been instructed to over the phone, or click links in emails or texts
Hang up and call back on a different line using a number you find
Today is the fourth birthday of the blog, so as is now the tradition I wanted to share my highlights from the last 12 months and reflect on some of the big changes that took place.
The site
What really blows me away is just how many people are reading my little blog. In the 12 months up to today just under one million people read the blog. ONE MILLION! I hope I’ve been able to save people a lot more than £1 each, but even if that’s all that’s been saved, that’s still £1 million!
There’s been a big increase this year and in part I think that’s down to me moving the blog from something I did in evenings and weekends to on average two full days a week. Alongside a redesign last March, Be Clever With Your Cash has benefited from more time – and more writing.
The articles and deals
And I’ve written a lot. In the last year I’ve published 125 articles here on Be Clever With Your Cash. And the scary thing is I’ve stil hundreds of ideas I didn’t have time to write about! Plus there were so many fab deals I was able to find and share with you.
I’d also imagine you didn’t get a chance to read every single one of those – even if you are the most dedicated of readers ;). So here are my highlights from the last year:
I also started making a lot more video content for you on my YouTube channel, with this my fave. I was first with the story that morning, and the video was picked up by a few national newspaper websites. Lots more to do here in 2018 though!
I also was delighted to win Best Money Saving Blog and Best Money Vlog at the 2017 SHOMOs awards, which recognise the best of UK Money Bloggers. Ok, yes I do run the awards, but I’m not involved in the judging so it was lovely to be recognised by my peers!
More established
One of the weirdest things about how my career has changed since starting the blog is that I’m now asked to appear on TV and radio as an expert. I’m used to sitting behind the camera and microphone, not in front of it!
Though I’ve done less telly this year, I still popped up on Rip Off Britain and Right on the Money, both on BBC One. And I’ve also done a lot more radio, including talking on BBC 5 Live a few weeks back, and regular appearances on BBC Radio Berkshire and BBC Radio London.
I’ve also continued writing for Moneywise magazine and Reader’s Digest, alongside guest blogs and articles for many websites.
It’s a genuine delight for me that I get to share my ideas and passion with so many people. Hopefully 2018 will see this continue!
What do you think?
I’d love to know what you think about Be Clever With Your Cash so I can make it even better for you. If you have a few minutes, please do fill in the survey below.
I’m really proud to share with you that I won an award this week. For the second year running Be Clever With Your Cash was named Financial Blog of the Year at the 2018 Headlinemoney awards.
The Headlinemoney awards are a swanky affair and a big deal for personal finance journalists. When I won last year it was a huge shock, but I’d say this year I was even more surprised as I really thought there was no chance of getting it two years in a row.
But as the presenter, BBC journalist Sarah Smith, began by saying something along the lines (details are vague as it was all a bit of a blur) of “For the second year…” it clicked that I’d won. It’s a very surreal and humbling moment to have your name read out and then go up on stage in front of hundreds of personal finance journalists and PRs. But I was, and still am, absolutely delighted.
As part of the process, I had to submit three articles from the blog – the ones I felt demonstrated why I do what I do. So I thought it would be good to share those same posts with you.
I selected each to demonstrate that a big part of the blog is showing I put my money where my mouth is, that I really live the articles I write. I also wanted to show that brands can’t buy my endorsement or a place on the blog – Be Clever With Your Cash truly is independent. So here they are if you missed them last year.
Also, do check out some of the fantastic and lovely bloggers who were also nominated, including Charlotte (LottyEarns), Becky (Good With Money) and Jane (Skinted Minted Mum) who are all from my UK Money Bloggers community, as well as Iona (Young Money).
A little perspective
As chuffed as I am with my win, I wanted to tell you about another award on the night. My category was immediately after the Lifetime Achievement award, which this year went to Daily Express journalist Geoff Ho. If the name sounds familiar, it could well be because in June last year he stood up to the terrorists attacking London’s Borough Market. His first-person account of the attack is a difficult read, but if you can take a look it shows why he received such a rapturous standing ovation.
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