Tesco promises savings of over £400 a year but you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription
Tesco launched Clubcard Plus– a premium version of the popular Clubcard loyalty scheme – back in 2019. As a member you’ll potentially save up to £384 a year on your groceries – as well as take advantage of other features.
The idea, much like Amazon’s Prime, is to bundle in lots of services together and build brand loyalty. I’ve taken a look at what it offers, to help you decide whether it’s worth paying for.
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.
How much does Tesco Clubcard Plus cost?
You can upgrade to Tesco Clubcard Plus for £7.99 a month. You’ll be able to cancel it for months you don’t use it as there’s no long-term commitment when you sign up.
There’s also a free trial for your first month (more on this in a bit), which means if you do keep it you’re looking at £87.89 in year one, then £95.88 in subsequent full years.
What do you get with Clubcard Plus?
10% off two big shops in-store each month. Max £200 per shop. Exclusions include:
petrol
lottery
gift vouchers
tobacco
baby formula
prescriptions
magazines
stamps
wine that is in the 25% off when you buy six bottles promotion
10% off Tesco brands on every shop including
F&F clothing
Tesco Pet
Fred & Flo
Go Cook
Go Play
Go Create
Fox and Ivy
Paperchase
Double data from Tesco Mobile for one mobile registered at your address
Fee-free overseas spending with Tesco Bank credit card
To cover the £7.99 a month you’ll need to spend £79.90 on groceries in Tesco across two transactions. That could be across one £80 shop, or two lots of £40 (or any other combinations). If that’s your regular supermarket spend that’s going to be easy to reach, possibly with just one visit.
Ideally though you’ll want to spend more to take full advantage of the 10% discount. There’s a £20 cap per shop, or £40 per month. This means if you spend £200 on two occasions in a month, it’s possible to knock £40 off at the till every month.
Once you factor in the fee you’ll really be saving at most £32.01 each month, potentially adding up to around £380 a year.
More realistically you’ll likely spend – and save – smaller amounts, though saving some regular big purchases for when you use your discount will help.
Fortunately you do get to choose which shops you use the discount for. You’ll need to go into the Clubcard app and download a code to scan at the till. However, it is in-store only and not online.
So if you do your main shop at Tesco then this is a must, as long as you are going to spend at least £80 a month across two transactions.
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Should you swap to Tesco for the discount?
If you have a Tesco near you, then I think Clubcard Plus could be a good reason to swap over – at least for a couple of trips each month.
Though it’s not usually the cheapest supermarket out there, it’s often not much more than others, and the 10% back could make enough of a difference to be worthwhile.
Double your discounts hack
You should also be able to sign up more than once per household. Yes, you’ll have to pay two lots of £7.99 every month, but if you are spending enough at Tesco it could be worth it as you’d get the discount on four shops rather than two.
Remember, as long as there is at least £79.90 spent each month on each card you are covering the fees. But only do this is you are likely to max out the two lots of £200 on the main Clubcard Plus account in your family.
Are the other features worth paying for?
If you don’t shop at Tesco then I don’t think the other features warrant the £7.99 fee on their own. But if you are already getting the fee back (and more) from Tesco groceries then it’s worth checking out what you could get.
The 10% off Tesco brands such as Tesco pets could save you a decent amount, but work out whether you can get these items for less elsewhere first.
The fee-free spending abroad credit card is a bit pointless when better bank cards exist, such as Chase Bank and Starling’s debit cards.
The double data offer on Tesco Mobile sounds good, but since it only offers 2GB or 12GB as entry-level SIM-only deals, you’re either getting too little or too much data, even with the extra thrown in. It’s better to shop around and find a SIM elsewhere.
You can apply online or via the Clubcard app. You won’t get a new Clubcard – instead you’ll operate the extra savings from the Tesco app on your phone.
Tesco Clubcard Plus free trial
If you’ve not used Clubcard Plus before or haven’t had it in the last six months and not had membership for six continuous months, then there’s currently a month free trial for Clubcard Plus.
You get all the same discounts, so it could be worth up to £40 off in the first month.
You can cancel at any time during the first month and you’ll continue to get all the discounts until the next month.
Yep, it’s easy to cancel, and there’s no commitment past each 30 days. So remember to stop it when you’re not using it (such as when you go on holiday). You can reactivate your membership when you want to get the benefits again.
Wondering whether you should shell out for Amazon Prime? Here are the pros and cons.
Amazon Prime is a popular choice of subscription, but it comes at quite a cost. Here’s what you get if you sign up and our thoughts on whether it’s worth getting and when it should be avoided.
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.
What is Amazon Prime?
Amazon Prime is a paid-for membership to the online giant that gives you a series of benefits that normal customers don’t have access to or have to pay more for. There’s a long list of these extras further down.
How much does Amazon Prime cost?
The free trial
Everyone can try Amazon Prime free for 30-days. It’s best to time your trial for when you think you’ll most need free delivery or when there’s a big promo event such as Prime Day, which tends to be in June or July each year; or Black Friday, which is on the fourth Friday of November each year.
Since every adult in the household can take out a free trial, if there’s more than one of you it’s possible to double up – or more. Once again, you can time these trials for times you’ll need to make more purchases, like ahead of an event or to prep for things like Christmas gifts.
You can repeat your trial a year after a trial has finished, so there’s the potential to do this every 13 months. And sometimes there’s even an offer earlier.
The annual membership: £95 a year
Amazon Prime costs a hefty £95 a year. This is a lot so you’ve got to use at least two or three of the perks for it to represent good value.
There used to be a couple of times a year where you could get the membership for around £59. These were usually in the run-up to Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday, though they’ve not happened in recent years. We always list these on our Amazon deals and discounts page, so bookmark it and check back!
The monthly subscription: £8.99 a month
If you don’t want to pay for the full year then you can opt for an £8.99 monthly subscription instead, which you can cancel whenever you want. It will work out cheaper than the annual plan if you pay for nine months or less, or practically the same for 10 months.
There’s an option which gets students six months free, then three years at £47.49 a year. A monthly option costs £4.49.
To get this you need to have a student card. Sadly, the loophole where anyone could get a student card is closed, though you might be able to get an alumni card.
Again, each household member can have the trial, so you can easily double up.
What you get with Amazon Prime
Here are the key extras you’ll get as part of your subscription.
Free next-day, possibly same-day, delivery
There’s no minimum spend for delivery from Amazon when you’re with Prime, except if you want same-day delivery, where there’s a £20 minimum or a £1.99 fee. If you order from Amazon a lot, the free delivery can be pretty handy.
Normally you’d have to pay extra to get things sent through if the order is under £35, or £10 for books. The minimum amount quietly changed from £25 in June 2024, up 40%. This is standard delivery, so it takes a few days.
Generally non-Prime delivery will cost £3.99 for media (books, CDs, DVDs and games) or £4.99 for everything else. You can sometimes knock these down to £2.99 if you get your order sent to an Amazon “pickup location” such as a locker or newsagent.
So if you’re mainly thinking of Prime for delivery, you’ll need to make 20 orders under £35 in a year to break even with the pickup deliveries, or 16 at the higher £4.99 charge.
However, since not everything on Amazon is sold by Amazon, there will still be items that aren’t eligible for Prime delivery.
Two Odeon tickets for £10
Once per month, Prime members can get two Odeon cinema tickets for £10 or two recliner tickets for £15 at Luxe cinemas on Mondays to Thursdays.
There are better Odeon deals and offers available, especially when you consider that tickets at some Odeon venues are typically £5 with myODEON anyway and can be booked with Meerkat Movies, making the tickets half the price.
Exclusive access to flash sales such as Prime Day
In the middle of July (16 and 17 in 2024), Amazon marks its birthday with Amazon Prime Day. This usually features some big discounts on Amazon products like Kindles, Echos and Fire TV, as well as all sorts of other items. These deals are only open to Prime members.
The Black Friday sale which tends to run for about 12 days, if not longer, is another big sale with extra offers for Prime members.
We find that most of these deals are stock clearance or encourage you to buy things you don’t need. However, there are bargains to be found, especially if you utilise some of the extra vouchers to buy things you actually need.
Early access to “Lightning Deals”
As a Prime member, you can buy the daily deals 30 minutes earlier than everyone else. Since stock is usually limited, this could be the difference between getting the item and missing out. Here’s more about how Lightning Deals work.
TV and movies with Prime Video
There are some good exclusive TV shows such as The Boys and The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, and plenty of other box sets.
There are also some decent recent and classic movies. Amazon is making more original movies and has purchased the legendary studio MGM, so we’ll see even more films appearing just on Prime.
You can stream from your computer, smart TV or devices such as a Chromecast or Fire TV stick, or download to your phone. Don’t forget though that this costs £5.99 a month on its own, which might be a better option for you.
You can’t get ad-free streaming, though. Amazon introduced an extra £2.99 monthly charge for ad-free Prime Video in January 2024.
Amazon is also increasing the sports you can watch exclusively via Prime Video. You’ve recently been able to watch live Premier League football and Champions League football with it.
The Premier League matches are only over two weekends, usually in December (in 2023 it was 5/6 December and 26/27 December). This means you don’t need Prime for the full year if you only want it for football. Unlike on TNT or Sky, you can watch every single fixture on those dates. You can read more about the cheapest ways to watch football in our summary.
Ad-free streaming with Amazon Music Prime
This included streaming service is better than it used to be. It’s ad-free and has grown to 100 million songs (similar to Spotify) so there’s plenty to keep you occupied if you don’t want to shell out extra for premium music streaming.
The problem is you can only shuffle your tunes. That’s ok if you’re mainly listening to playlists (which you can create), but it can be annoying if you want to hear an album from start to finish.
You can also listen to podcasts ad-free – including our one, Cash Chats.
There is an extra Music Unlimited service which you pay £10.99 for, and there’s a £1 discount for Prime members, however, there’s a trick to pay upfront for a year to get Music Unlimited even cheaper.
Digital books and magazines with Prime Reading
Every month Prime members get access to a few thousand ebooks and magazines to read via a Kindle, Kindle app, or even your computer. There are a few big titles, such as the Harry Potter series, but otherwise don’t expect to pick up all the novels on your reading list.
The magazine offering isn’t bad, but the titles change every month. It’s better instead to see if you can get digital magazines from your library.
There’s also “First Reads” where you can pick up a free Kindle book each month from a selection of six or so titles. But don’t expect any future award-winners. You can see previous ‘First Reads’ titles here.
Games via Prime Gaming
You’ll get a Twitch channel subscription each month, along with some free PC games to play.
Unlimited photo storage with Prime Photos
Amazon’s cloud-based storage will keep the photos you take safe if your computer or phone is lost or stolen. You also get 5GB of storage for other file types with Amazon Drive – the same you get with Apple iCloud, but less than the 15GB with Google Drive.
Free Deliveroo Plus
You can sign up for a year of Deliveroo Plus Silver, which will save you money on delivery costs, worth £3.49 a month. However, there’s still a minimum spend of £15 per order. Here’s more about Deliveroo Plus.
Access to Amazon Fresh grocery delivery services
Prime members also get to order food from their local Morrisons, Iceland or Co-op and from Amazon Fresh. It’s free delivery for baskets over £60 but charges you £2 for orders between £40 and £60 and £4 if the total is under £40 or if you want the delivery within two hours.
Free Hello Fresh delivery
Prime members get free delivery on their Hello Fresh orders for a year. Delivery usually costs £4.99 for each box.
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What you don’t get included with Amazon Prime
You’d be forgiven for expecting Prime to give you all the extra services Amazon offers. But no, you need to pay extra for the following:
Amazon Music Unlimited – an extra £9.99 a month
Kindle Unlimited – an extra £9.49 a month
Ad-free Prime Video – there’s an extra charge of £2.99 per month for this
Audible audiobooks – an extra £7.99 a month
Amazon Channels – costs vary for extra TV channels such as Paramount+ and Discovery+
What’s good about Amazon Prime
People obviously love the next-day delivery, and it’s certainly a service that other retailers find hard to compete with. And there’s much more you can get on top.
If you use most of the features that come with Amazon, you’re getting a lot for your money – effectively £7.92 a month if you pay for the year. Here’s a quick comparison of how this stacks up against some key competitors:
Prime Membership
Cost with Prime
Alternatives
Cost of Alternative
Free next-day delivery
£95
Paying for delivery charges elsewhere (three orders a month at £2 an order)
We’ve assumed three online orders a month with a charge of £2. Often you’ll get free delivery from other retailers, but charges will also vary. And, you might order more or less, and delivery charges might be different too, but this gives you an idea.
With TV and film streaming, Prime Video is cheaper than Netflix, even when subscribed for full Prime rather than on its own.
And even with the extra charge for Music Unlimited, it’s cheaper than buying the same service with Spotify if you are also using the other parts of Prime.
Prime members can also get access to extra vouchers and discounts, which are great if you are going to spend the money with Amazon anyway.
What’s bad about Amazon Prime
There’s a reason that Amazon packs so much into the membership. It doesn’t want you to spend money elsewhere. If you’ve already paid for delivery with Prime, you’re not going to want to make orders with other retailers and pay for delivery, or get it later than you could with Amazon. This stops you from shopping around. And you could easily end up spending more money as a result.
In part, that’s because Amazon isn’t always cheaper. Across my year without Amazon in 2021 I actually saved money on his purchases – even when you factor in the delivery costs.
Plus, you’re much more likely to buy more because you have Prime. Not just because you’re more likely to be on Amazon more often and open to more temptation, but also because those extra discounts encourage you to make unnecessary purchases — such as on Prime Day and during Black Friday.
You also lose the friction that added delivery costs can add to your purchase, which might usually make you think twice before buying something you don’t need.
Let’s also look again at the table above. Yes, it’s potentially a huge difference in spending, but that’s assuming you don’t also pay for the other services elsewhere.
If you do want Disney+ or Netflix, then also having Prime for film and TV won’t be saving you cash – it’s an extra cost. It’s only cheaper if you ditch the others.
And if you need to shop elsewhere (not everything is on Amazon) you’ll pay for delivery on top.
So, does Amazon Prime offer good value for money? Well, it can, as long as you use at least a couple of the services. Most people will get enough use from the free delivery and exclusive discounts on Prime Day and Prime Video to justify the £95 fee.
However, if you end up buying more and not shopping around because you have Prime, you’re likely to spend more money having Prime rather than not having it.
Don’t forget you can still shop at Amazon without Prime. Yes, you might pay between £2.99 and £4.99 for items under £25 (it’s under £10 for books). But you’d need to order something under that threshold roughly every fortnight to cover your £95 fee. Do you order low-cost items that often from Amazon?
And of course, you need to consider where else you shop. It ultimately comes down to whether you are dedicated to Amazon or happy to shop and stream elsewhere.
If you don’t want to stop completely, then maybe you could cancel your annual membership and go monthly. And then pick and choose the months you need to use it. So perhaps it’s just around Prime Day, Black Friday and when you want to binge on some new box sets. Just see how you go!
My year without Amazon
Why I cancelled Amazon Prime membership
I actively chose to go without Amazon in 2021, so I obviously cancelled my Prime membership – even though I was paying just £39 a year.
This was largely a step to proactively support other retailers (ideally on the high street). But I also wanted to make sure my money didn’t help Amazon continue to grow its profits while it manages to (legally) avoid paying a fair rate of tax here in the UK and elsewhere.
Of course, you might think that going without isn’t possible, but I’d urge you to give it a try. I found it so much easier than I thought I would, and I’ve been surprised by how much less I bought and how much less things cost at the same time.
Watch this video to see how you cancel – and why you might want to think about using Amazon less.
Other ways to save at Amazon
Make sure you check out our Amazon deals and offers. This is where we’ll list flash sales, gift card bonuses and other extras. For example, you can often get a free top-up when you buy a gift card. All this and more via the link below.
The real value of your Tesco Clubcard, Nectar, Morrisons More, Boots Advantage and Superdrug Beautycard points
If you’re like me, you’ll have a few loyalty cards on your phone and swipe away when you get to the till. But do you have any idea what the points you earn are worth?
I’m a big fan of Clubcard points as you can boost their value. I know what my Tesco points are worth as I use them frequently, but what are 2,000 Nectar points worth? Or 800 Boots? Plus there are schemes at Morrisons and Superdrug too – and they’re all different.
To help me – and you – I’ve taken a look at the biggest schemes to see what you get for your points, and how much you need to spend in order to actually use them.
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.
How much are Tesco Clubcard points worth?
Value of Tesco Clubcard points
1,000 Clubcard points = £10
500 Clubcard points = £5
100 Clubcard points = £1
1 Clubcard point = 1p
Real value of Clubcard points
Usually 1 point earned per £1
So 1 point = 1% of your shop
Minimum payout is 150 points = £1.50 in vouchers
So you need to spend £150 before you can start using points
You can earn these at Tesco shops, petrol stations, website and also via Tesco Mobile and Tesco Bank.
Points are earned on specific products rather than your whole shop
The amount you earn will vary, so you can’t assign a percentage value for 1 point
Minimum payout = 5,000 points will give you a £5 voucher
Morrisons brought back points in the summer of 2023 (having axed them two years earlier). It’s different from the likes of Clubcard and Nectar but you can find out how Morrisons More works here.
You’ll need 5,000 points to cash them out as a £5 voucher and there aren’t any ways to boost the value of the voucher.
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But you can’t part pay with points (you need enough points to cover the total of the transaction for which you are using them)
You can only spend them in Boots shops or online at Boots.com. Of course, if you can get your shampoo cheaper elsewhere, the points probably won’t make any difference.
Keep an eye out for frequent bonus deals and vouchers where you can earn double value or even more for your shop. There are often extra codes in your online account.
Tips on managing your Christmas budget and getting the best value
Christmas is usually one of the most expensive times of the year. And it tends to creep up on you faster than you think – meaning it’s a good time to start thinking about how much you’ll spend.
In fact, it’s never too late (or early) to get started on your Christmas prep.
Here, we share a Christmas money checklist of the main expenses to help you manage your finances this Christmas season.
We’ve also thrown in some tricks to help you cut costs and make sure you have enough money to cover everything.
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.
How to pay for Christmas
This first point on the checklist is possibly one of the most important. Actually it IS the most important. If you don’t know how you’ll pay for Christmas it could cause a world of pain next year.
Decide what you can afford
It’s so easy to overspend, so now is the time to work out not just how much you can afford to spend overall, but also how you want to split that between each individual person and part of Christmas.
To do this, you need to get two figures. First check your bank and savings balances to work out how much money you have now – though don’t assume you can put that all to Christmas. There will no doubt be other expenses that need to be covered in the coming months, such as holidays you want to save for. It’s also a really good idea to have an emergency stash for the unexpected costs that always crop up.
Then take a look at how much more you’re going to have in the run-up. That’s essentially your income each month after taxes, minus your expenses. Again, you might not want to allocate all this extra cash towards Christmas.
Add the existing funds you’ve set aside for Christmas to the money you expect to come in, and the figure left is the budget you have available to spend.
Work out what you want to spend
Next you need to think about what you want to spend. Think about all the aspects that usually come along each year. Obviously there are presents and food to buy, but what about travel, work parties, decorations? We’ve detailed a few of these further down this article.
Then allocate a spending amount to each one. Try to get these as accurate as possible. Once you’ve done that, get a total expected spend.
See where you can spend less
In all likelihood you’ll find this figure is larger than what you’ve budgeted for. In a minute I’ll talk about ways to perhaps find extra cash to help fill the gap. But if that doesn’t work the best option is to find where you can spend less.
That could be mean some hard decisions, but people will not want you getting into debt just to buy more presents or more food.
Talk now to friends and family about the situation (they’ll likely be feeling the pinch too). It could be you agree on price caps for presents, or even decide you’re only going to do a Secret Santa with friend groups rather than everyone buying everyone a separate present.
Look at cheaper ways to borrow
Sadly cutting back is easier said than done for many at Christmas. If you feel it’s not an option for you, and you know you will absolutely spend more than your budget, then at least find cheaper ways to borrow.
With each of these, you should still know how and when you’ll clear the debt next year before you spend. The alternative is the interest and charges will keep adding to the money you borrow, and potentially causing bigger money issues.
So where do you go? Be particularly careful with Buy Now, Pay Later. Though it seems convenient, it’s easy to lose track of how much you owe, and they could tempt you to spend even more than you can afford.
You could instead look at a 0% interest purchase credit card. Watch out for interest charges if you don’t clear the balance by the time the promotional zero per cent period ends. You need to know how you’ll repay your spending before that happens.
Or, see if there’s a credit union near you. Though there will be interest charged on your loan it should be one of the most affordable – unlike payday and other high-cost loans!
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Can you find a bit of extra cash?
Giving your budget a cash boost is a surefire way to help you cover costs.
Check for forgotten cash
Now is the time to check that you don’t have any money left in your account. It could be Clubcard or Nectar points you’ve accumulated, credit owed from your old energy supplier, or a refund to your John Lewis account. Check out this round-up of places to look for forgotten cash for more.
Get some banking bonuses
One of the best ways to make some easy cash is to switch to a new bank account. Currently, you can get £175 from First Direct and Nationwide, and £200 from Lloyds. You should be able to get the free money before Christmas, but if not it’ll certainly help when you’re low on funds in the New Year. Here’s my guide to all the different banking offers.
Get a cashback payment card
The quickest and easiest cashback card is a debit card from Chase Bank. You’ll earn 1% back on most spending.
But there’s the potential for a boosted welcome bonus if you’re confident you can manage a credit card. The likes of American Express in particular could net you a few hundred more on your initial spending. You must pay off the balance in full every month to avoid interest charges. If you don’t do this it’s a waste of money. Here’s my guide to the best cashback and reward credit card offers.
Probably the biggest expense each Christmas. But if you’re clever with your cash you can get more for your money.
Shop in the sales
Sales will help you get better value. You all know about Black Friday, which seemed to stretch for the whole of November and into December last year. It’s often a very good opportunity to buy presents.
I also love the American Express Shop Small offer that should return in December. Here you need an Amex card, but if you then spend £15 at a participating small shop you get £5 credit back to your card. Again, if you’ve not got one then now’s a good time to apply as you can take advantage of the a welcome offer for new customers.
But don’t get caught up in the hype for any sale or promotion – deals aren’t always as they seem. Always shop around and compare prices.
Plan for deliveries
Yes, we’re used to online orders reaching us pretty fast, but after Black Friday some warehouses and courier companies struggle to meet the demand. That could mean you have to pay more for guaranteed delivery or need to spend again to replace things that don’t arrive. So the lesson here is simple – don’t leave your Christmas shopping to the last minute!
There are occasions where you’re better off delaying your purchase – even after Christmas day itself! If you’re like me you won’t be able to see everyone before 25 December and end up still visiting people and giving presents right up to New Year’s Eve.
That means you can pick up some gifts – specifically anything Christmassy – for much less if you leave it late. I’ve picked up wrapping paper, chocolates, decorations, novelty jumpers and more at a fraction of the price.
Though the lowest prices will be from Boxing Day onwards, some shops will start discounting this stuff earlier in December.
These are the things that could well get forgotten, so make sure you’ve got them covered to avoid overpaying.
Cards
Ideally you’ll have picked these up in the sales last year. If not, then shop around. Personally, I’d look to get cards directly from charities themselves rather than the big shops as then more of the money goes to the causes.
Or if you really want to save money (and paper), you can create free online cards which can be emailed.
If you still send Christmas cards, make sure you buy your stamps from authorised retailers. They can’t increase the piece. Also, send them second-class to avoid the October price hike on first-class stamps.
Wrapping paper
My trick here is to buy plain paper. Whether that’s a blinging gold, bright red, shiny silver or basic brown. The reason? I can use these for other presents throughout the year. They work fine for birthdays, weddings, and pretty much everything.
Decorations
If you still need to buy things for the tree then try to wait as close to Christmas as you can. Everything from baubles to artificial trees is heavily discounted from mid-December. The Christmas before last we picked up a great tree at 50% off on 22 December.
Stock up on next year
Ok, so this is no good for this year, but it’s worth remembering come late December and early January that the biggest savings come not for this Christmas but for the next one. Come the sales you can pick up cards and wrapping paper for next to nothing. Stock up for a fraction of the price.
Buying food & drink
We spend a lot on food and drink over the festive period, but it’s possible to pick up some decent deals.
Boost your budget with Xmas Saver trick
Morrisons, Tesco, Asda and Co-op all run a special boost at Christmas for people who save with them. You can get up to 6%, and you reduce the risks that come with these schemes if you time it right. Here’s what each supermarket is doing.
Plan what you need
If you tend to waste food at Christmas, then the simple answer is to buy less – and this will save you money. Consider who you need to cater for, and work out what you’ll actually need. If you want to make sure you don’t run out then once more get supplies that either have a decent shelf life or can be frozen.
Reduced bargains
Longtime readers and listeners will know I love a good supermarket reduction. And there are very few times for these that are better than Christmas.
That’s because shops will close on Christmas Eve, and might not open again until 27 December. So that’s at least one day, possibly two days, of food that needs to be cleared out.
Of course, supermarkets are on to this and I’m sure there’s definitely less food produced with use by or best before dates of 25 and 26 December.
Even so there are enough bargains to be had as the shops try to clear the shelves. And some of the best bargains are on festive foods. So get some space in your freezer!
Alcohol deals
The supermarkets tend to have a price war on wine, beer and spirits, meaning you can get some low price booze for your celebrations. But these tend to end a few weeks before Christmas. So stock up early. You can keep an eye on the latest deals in our supermarket wine offers round-up.
Booking travel
Planning and booking your travel as early as possible can help you save money on your journeys around Christmas time.
Trains
If you know you’re heading to visit family by rail then the earlier you book your tickets the better. Well, actually, with most trains you can only book 12 weeks in advance. But that’s when the cheapest fares will be available – so snap them up! Here’s how to make sure you don’t miss out on the cheapest advance tickets.
After this date you can still save money until the day before travel. A handful even sell advance fares on the day, as long as you book them before you get to the station.
Flights
Flights are a different matter – and already the cheapest tickets are probably gone. But if you’re still to book, you’ll save money by leaving earlier in December or coming back later in January. Mainly you need to avoid the peak days, though it’s often a bit cheaper to travel on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day.
Cars
Again, book any hire car early. Look on comparison sites for the cheapest prices, and search for any cashback sites, voucher codes and other discounts.
Here’s how to find cheaper alternatives for pills and drugs that do the same job.
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Off-the-shelf medication
When you’ve got a cold, you’ll ask for Lemsip. When you’ve got a headache, you’ll ask for Nurofen. When you’ve got a hangover, you’ll ask for a Berocca.
Yes they cost more than own brand, but surely that’s because they’re better at making you feel better?
Well, it turns out there’s little or no difference between many similar medications. In truth you’re usually paying over the odds for name recognition. And this isn’t the only time you might be paying more than you need on medication and prescriptions.
To help you make a decision that’s good for your wallet as well as your health, I’ve taken a look at some of the ways you spend too much on medications and how to save some cash.
Branded medicine is one of the biggest rip-offs we fall for. The vast bulk of the time the ingredients used to make the tablet, cream or sachet are pretty much the same as those cheaper alternatives on the shelf below.
There might be slight variations, but it’s unlikely they are enough to make a difference to your ailment.
You might also have to hunt for these cheaper options, generally hidden on lower shelves with the big brands at eyeline and easy to grab.
How much can you save?
Here are a few examples of the price difference I found:
Lemsip vs own brand cold medicine
In Boots a pack of 10 Lemsip Max sachets will set you back £5.70. The own-brand alternative is just £3.49, saving you £2.21. The ingredients are almost exactly the same. And they’re cheaper again buying the own-brand options in supermarkets.
Nurofen vs own brand ibuprofen
Worse is ibuprofen. Standard Nurofen costs £2 for 16 tablets in Boots. The own-brand version is £1.69. But better still is the non-branded value pack at just 55p. And they all contain the same simple ingredient: 200g of Ibuprofen.
The only difference is likely to be in the coating, which won’t make a difference to the effectiveness of the pain relief.
Berocca vs own brand effervescent
Berocca meanwhile costs £5.90 for 15 tablets. The Boots own brand equivalent of the effervescent multivitamin is £1.99 for 20 tablets. That’s 10p per tablet rather than 39p for pretty much the same thing. In fact since the Boots tablets are bigger you actually get slightly higher doses of each vitamin.
Watch this video where I share how to see if items are the same or similar
Exact same products, different packaging
You can even find some products which are exactly the same! In my mini-investigation (i.e. trying to subtly take photos of packaging in Boots) I found an example where the tablets in different packaging were the very same.
Both Panadol Extra Advance and Panadol Period Pain are the same product. They have literally just been put in different coloured packs (you’ve guessed, it’s pink for the period painkiller).
The way to tell is to look for the product line code. This is the letters PL followed by some numbers. If the code is identical then so is the medication.
Now, these two Panadol items should therefore cost the same, right? Well there’s a 10p difference at Boots (surprisingly it’s the one aimed at women which is cheaper). Ok not much money but you get the idea.
And bigger savings are likely to be found when comparing own brand versions of meds in different shops. It’s possible that you might find the exact same formulation at a far lower price.
When I looked a few years ago, I also found that the Boots, Tesco and Asda cold and flu items had exactly the same PL number but at varying costs. So exactly the same item made in the same factory!
I think it also raises a question as to whether these targeted meds are actually anything other than marketing. You could well be better off with the standard version.
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Will a prescription be better or worse?
Hopefully your GP won’t prescribe you standard, everyday items like paracetamol that you can buy for less direct from the shop, but it’s worth double checking. Things like eyedrops, steroid creams and more might cost less without a prescription. A pharmacist will let you know if you’re not sure.
However some items will be cheaper if you can get it prescribed, so if there’s something you’re taking regularly do ask your GP if they’ll do this. And don’t forget prescription subscriptions that can work out cheaper too.
And of course, if you’re outside of England, under 18 or over 60, then you won’t pay for any prescriptions, so see if that’s an option for what you need.
The same goes if you are prescribed anything privately. If your GP will fill out a prescription from them instead, it’ll dramatically cut what you pay.
Recycle clothes and shoes to help save on something new
H&M, M&S, Schuh, John Lewis, River Island and George at Asda all have schemes that let you swap old clothes or shoes for vouchers.
It’s a great way to clear the clutter and save money at the same time. Plus it’s far better for items to go to charity or get recycled than adding to landfill.
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H&M clothes recycling scheme (£5 voucher)
Donate any bag of old clothes or unwanted garments into an H&M shop and you’ll be given a £5 voucher to spend as part of the H&M Garment Collection programme. In theory, you’ll get a voucher per bag of clothes so you can get multiple vouchers. However, there is a £25 minimum spend with each voucher.
So what can be in the bag? Well you don’t need to have any H&M products to get the voucher. And you can also donate any kind of textile, whether its curtains or knickers as the fabrics are all recycled.
You can also do the same at H&M’s Monki and & Other Stories brands. The latter also has a beauty recycling programme where you get 10% off their cosmetics if you take in your empty beauty product.
M&S and Oxfam’s Shwopping Clothes Exchange (£5 voucher/freebie)
There are three ways to get something back via Marks and Spencer and Oxfam.
Get a £5 off £35 voucher
Hand over your old gear at an Oxfam and you’ll also get a £5 voucher to spend on clothes in Marks and Spencer.
One item must be labelled M&S, and you can only use the voucher in the same calendar month. There’s a minimum £35 spend and it’s only valid on clothing, home or beauty.
I asked in a store a while ago if you can use the voucher with other offers and the checkout woman said she’d seen the vouchers be used with Sparks offers such as 20% off everything. So it’s worth grabbing one of these to use when those deals come around.
You can also trade in your old M&S school uniform and receive 20% off selected kids’ clothing as part of the Back To School Shwopping Scheme.
All you’ll need to do is hand in your pre-loved uniform at a participating M&S store and scan the QR code on the Shwop Box.
You’ll then receive a voucher for 20% off selected kids’ clothing in the M&S app which can be used online or in-store.
Get a Sparks freebies
Or if you want to drop clothes off at an M&S Store you’ll be able to scan a QR code to receive a free treat via the M&S Sparks loyalty scheme.
It can be from any retailer, and the item doesn’t have to be clothing, with shoes, handbags, belts, hats, scarves, jewellery all taken, along with things like bedding, towels, throws and napkins.
The idea is that your donation will either be sold by Oxfam or recycled.
You’ll have to pop into a shop to see if it’s running there or not, but M&S say you can do this at most M&S clothing stores. It seems to work that you can get the Sparks treat every 30 days.
When I tried it the gift was a free pastry from the in-store bakery and I had 30 days to claim it. The M&S staff member who also tried it with me got the same promotion but I was told the offer will change and will be tailored to each person.
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River Island x ReSkinned (£5 voucher)
This scheme requires you to send at least three items via courier to Reskinned. In return you’ll get a £5 voucher to use on purchases over £40 at River Island stores. They’re only valid for one month from issue, so don’t forget to use them.
Schuh “Sell Your Soles” scheme (£5 voucher)
You can get a £5 voucher to use at Schuh for every pair of shoes you donate. The shoes are donated to Recyclatex with around 98% of materials reused.
You can use your voucher online or in-store on full price items over £25.
John Lewis “Fashion Cycle” (£5 voucher)
Take five items of clothing into any John Lewis store as part of their FashionCycle scheme and you’ll get £5 off Fashion Rental, with a minimum spend of £50. They’ll accept shirts, t-shirts, jumpers, cardigans, jackets, coats, shorts, trousers, jeans, childrenswear, dresses, jumpsuits, skirts and school uniform.
You need to be a member of the free My John Lewis scheme and note that the voucher is only redeemable during the month.
Donate to Cancer Research UK via TK Maxx (no voucher)
You can take a bag of unwanted clothes to TK Maxx who will pass it on to Cancer Research to sell or recycle. Cancer Research UK will keep all the proceeds.
Donate to Zara (no voucher)
Zara will also take unwanted clothes that will be donated to those in need or sold by charitable organisations to raise funds. There’s no voucher for you if you do this.
Plan ahead so you don’t miss out on getting your turkey delivered to your door this Christmas
We may not have had Halloween yet, but the supermarkets are already thinking about Christmas! This is the busiest time of the year to get a supermarket delivery, so some supermarkets are already letting you book delivery slots for the festive season. Here’s when each supermarket will open up advance booking for Christmas deliveries in 2024.
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Tips to get a Christmas delivery slot in 2024
If you’re planning on hosting this year, make sure to pop the date in your diary and nab the time and date you want your Christmas groceries delivered. And if you do miss out on the slot you want, there’s always collection slots to check out.
In addition, it’s worth remembering that with delivery and collection orders there’s always a risk that they won’t have what you want in stock, so don’t leave it too late for anything you know is essential. In fact, I once booked a collection and there were more than 10 items missing. I popped in-store at the time of collection and found every single item available – it was a frustrating experience.
With fresh food, you can always buy it earlier and store it in your freezer if the best before or use-by date is sooner than you want to eat it. Here are our tips on the foods you can freeze.
In addition, if you’re prepared to wait to buy your veggies in the final days, a lot of supermarkets reduce their Christmas vegetable prices in the days before Christmas – they could be worth leaving off your delivery.
Don’t forget there are also ways to boost your supermarket spending power at some of the big brands with this savers stamp trick.
When can I book a supermarket Christmas delivery slot in 2024?
Asda has announced that Delivery Pass customers will be able to book a Christmas delivery slot from 15 October, and everyone else from 22 October 2024.
Iceland has confirmed that you can book your Christmas delivery slot six days ahead of your delivery, although its click and collect service will not be available for Christmas bookings this year.
Ocado opened its Christmas slots to Smart Pass customers on 23 September, and will be gradually releasing the remaining slots to everyone – although they are not quite saying when this is yet! However it’s only for those who were already Smart Pass members before 1 September this year.
There will be a minimum spend of £90 for slots booked between 20-24 December. And the good news for Smart Pass customers, is that their Christmas delivery slot is free if they sign up for a voucher via the email they receive before 30 November (delivery up to the value of £9.99).
If you are an Ocado Reserved customer, Ocado will be pausing the service between 20–27 December and 31 December–1 January.
If you have a Sainsbury’s Delivery Pass, you’ll be able to book a slot from some time in mid October, although an official date has not yet been released. Sainsbury’s will send an email to customers when they release their slots. Last year it was a week in advance of the rest.
But we do know when that is – for everyone else it’s 23 October 2024.
Christmas delivery slots will be available at Tesco for Delivery Saver customers from 5 November and for all customers from 12 November. You can sign up to Delivery Saver until 4 November for the early access to Christmas delivery slots.
Here are the pick of student discounts – and you don’t need to be a student for some!
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Whether you’re a full-time student or just someone with an NUS card (sadly our loophole where anyone could get one has been closed – though previous Totum cardholders can get an alumni card), there are some fantastic deals to be had! The key is to ask – you never know!
Sadly there are a few discounts only available via MyUniDays or Student Beans, and you can only get those if you have a .ac.uk email address.
We’ve not listed all the different retailers, but you can also save at the likes of Asos, Office and Foyles. The usual rate is around 10%, but is sometimes boosted to 20% at the start of term.
Here are our favourite discounts – there will be more!
For all students, staff and school children
Some discounts are available for staff working at universities and schools (and you don’t need to be a teacher), as well as for students at schools and colleges.
Apple student discount & up to £120 gift card
Flash your TOTUM card, proof you’ve been accepted into a university or that you work at an educational establishment and you’ll save up to 10% on a new Mac. You can also save on other items, with around 5% knocked off iPads.
If you buy something around the start of the new academic year, there’s often also a free gift card or another incentive. This year it was a gift card worth up to £120.
Buy a qualifying iMac or MacBook and you’ll get the full £120 voucher, it’s £80 with a Mac mini or iPad Air or iPad Pro.
You can use them on products or purchases on the Apple Store! This extra offer usually starts in mid-July, and this year it ends on 21 October 2024.
These discounts work with your Uni or college ID or an NUS/Totum card (which includes some non-students).
English Heritage: £12 annual membership
There are a number of routes that students can save £30 on the normal discounted price for membership, but this offer works for those ex-students who also have an NUS Totum card.
You’ll need to enter the code EHYP24TOT when paying via direct debit on the English Heritage website. You will have to show your student ID when using your pass to visit attractions.
You can save 10% on your purchases at Boots. You’ll need to have a Boots Advantage card as well as an NUS/Totum card, and you need to connect these at a Boots checkout till.
Since you only need the Advantage card to get the discount, you could share your card with other family members so they also get the money off – though it does mean they won’t earn their own Boots points.
The discount is valid until 31 August each year so you’ll need to reactivate it at the till from 1 September onwards.
This is sometimes boosted to 20%, including at the start of the academic year.
You can also stack it with other deals and offers on the Boots site.
You’ll need to sign up to the Health & Beautycard scheme (it’s free), then link your NUS/Totum card or student ID to the account in-store. It’ll then work for the academic year online and in person.
Tickets to theatre, galleries, festivals & other live events
You can also often get reduced rates for everything from theatre to opera. The Royal Exchange in Manchester and the ENO are among those that do.
Many galleries will have a reduced student price, often 50% less. And the Art Pass offers discounted student membership at the start of each academic year.
Not many festivals do, but it’s worth checking when you buy tickets to anything.
Sport
Football fan? I’ve used my NUS card to get concession tickets to see my team Crystal Palace in the past, and it’s saved me hundreds of pounds. Many clubs and other sports have similar deals.
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Eating out
You can also save on food with your Totum or other student card. This includes:
Tastecard – 3 months free
Leon – 15% off
Itsu – 15% off
Greggs – freebie with lunch deal
McDonalds – freebie with meal deal
Shopping
Though some retailers now ask for a Unidays ID or code, it’s worth trying every shop you go to. Online you might have to click through from the NUS website.
For anyone with a student email address
Ikea: £10 or £20 coupon
Verify yourself as a student at Ikea and get a coupon for £10 off when you spend £75. If you spend £150, you’ll get a £20 coupon. You’ll need to login or sign up for Ikea’s Family account and fill out the form using your student credentials. You’ll need a student email address but if you don’t have one yet you can use alternative documents.
The offer runs until 13 October and you can only use the discount once.
You can save 46% on Spotify Premium. That’s £5.99 a month rather than £11.99. This version gets rid of adverts and lets you take songs offline to your phone or tablet, meaning you don’t need wifi or your data. Here are the best Spotify deals.
Apple Music: 50% off
You’ll pay the same for Apple Music – but get Apple TV thrown in. You’ll also get this for 48 months once you’ve been validated via MyUniDays.
Software
I got my Adobe suite (things like Photoshop) at a massive discount. We’re talking hundreds of pounds! You can also save on Microsoft Office – though free alternatives like Google Docs might do the job instead.
Our podcast
Listen to Cash Chats, our award-winning podcast, presented by Editor-in-chief Andy Webb and Deputy Editor Amelia Murray.
You can get Amazon’s delivery and streaming service free for six months as a student (or 18-22 year old). Then after that you can get a full annual Amazon Prime subscription for £4.49 a month, for three years.
The easiest way to get this is using an academic email, though there are other ways to verify student status. Sadly Totum cards are no longer accepted.
Watch out for other Amazon Student offers throughout the year, such as money off codes at Black Friday or Prime Day.
The 16-25 Railcard is a great way to cut the cost of train travel. Mature students outside this age range need proof they are studying with a form completed by their Uni or college.
If you travel by tube and live in London during term time you can get an 18+ Student Oyster card. This saves 30% on travel in the capital.
There are also bus and coach student passes.
International travel
Check to see if you have an ISIC (International Student Identification Card) included with your Totum student card. If not it’s worth looking at separately.
When we went on a big trip to South America in 2013, our ISICs saved us over £200 on internal flights, excursions such as the Inca Trail and admission to museums and galleries, and we did it again on our honeymoon a few years later.
Reduce the impact money and your mental health have on one another to keep both under control.
Often people think of mental health as serious conditions such as bipolar or depression, but it’s something we should all consider – not just for ourselves but for friends and family. Mental health is pretty much how you’re feeling and functioning. It can be good, it can be just ok.
But all of us will have moments where it’s bad – even if it’s not a condition that might require longer-term management or medication. Whenever we’re feeling down, feeling stressed or feeling lonely we’re experiencing poor mental health.
And there’s a good chance any of these can impact our finances. Here are a few tips to help you keep on top of things.
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How mental health impacts your money
On a more severe end of the scale, poor mental health could mean you need to miss work, causing you to lose money. It’s common for people to get anxious when dealing with any kind of admin, but when that’s bills or bank statements it can be a larger issue.
Motivation can be a problem, leading to important money matters being ignored. Or perhaps moments of depression or mania could prompt people to spend more money (or money they don’t have.)
The worst-case scenario is that these scenarios lead to unmanageable debts – but it can work the other way too. The two are linked. Money problems can feed depression and anxiety, and that in turn can impact relationships, work and family. Big life changes can make a difference to both finances and mental health too, such as having a baby or losing a loved one.
So it’s not something we should dismiss or hide from. It’s important to take some action before anything happens.
What you can do
Here are some things you can do to manage your finances if you’re likely to experience poor mental health
Automate as much as possible – this means having standing orders and Direct Debits set up so you don’t miss payments when it gets too much to deal with your finances. You can also automate your savings.
Keep on top – When you’re feeling good, build a budget so you know exactly how much have and spend. Then use apps such as Snoop or Plum to keep track of balance and spending, or use a digital bank like Chase, Revolut or Monzo. Find out if your bank will send text or app notifications when you spend or to let you know about upcoming payments.
Use webchats – If you don’t want to pick up the phone, look for a webchat option when getting customer service from your bank.
Give access to a family member or friend – They can deal with banks and bills when you can’t – but you have to absolutely trust them with your money.
Make it harder to spend – Don’t take cards out with you and don’t let browsers remember card details. Or you can just make sure you don’t have credit cards at all. You can also look into ways to stop impulse spending.
Talk to your bank – Many banks will have a dedicated support team who can work through different options to help you manage your account.
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Get help with your finances
Get free debt help – It’s important to deal with money problems before they become a crisis, but it’s never too late to seek help. And importantly, you shouldn’t pay for this. Places like Stepchange and NationalDebtline are good options. Moneyhelper (formally the Money Advice Service) has a free tool to find free advice near you, whether that’s face-to-face, over the phone or via online chat.
