Yahoo Finance Free cash for savers and £25 Paris trips: this week's deals and discounts
There’s a great bunch of money-saving deals and discounts for you to grab this week, including cheap chocs, cut-price flights, and a warning for Asda Price Guarantee voucher-holders.
But don’t forget, a bargain is only a good deal if you were planning to splash out on it anyway.
Take friends and family to Europe for £25
Take up to eight of your friends or family to Paris or Brussels and the more tickets you buy, the more you’ll save.
Eurostar’s latest offer means you could get to Paris for just £25 this autumn. If there are two of you, the tickets start at £28. For three people the price falls to £27, but if there are four or more of you, then you’ll be able to get tickets at £25.
You need to book for Paris or Brussels by 24 September for travel between 2 October and 12 December 2018 and return tickets are available for the same price. Details here.
Get free cash for saving
If you’re on a low income, you can get up to £1,200 from the government added to your savings.
The Help to Save scheme launched earlier this year is now available to around 3.5million people. It hands savers 50p for every £1 they save over four years.
the maximum you can save under the scheme is £2,400 which means the government will hand you an extra £1,200.
The Help to Save scheme is open to UK residents who are: receiving working tax credits or child tax credit payments, or claiming universal credit and have a household or individual income of at least £542.88 for their last monthly assessment. To apply, visit HelpToSave.
Toys at half-price
Debenhams has a toy sale at the moment with around 250 items cut by 50% or more. There are discounts on the like of Paw Patrol, My Little Pony, Playmobil and Fisher-Price toys.
See the full range of offers.
Free gym passes
You can now get a free one-day gym pass through Three Mobile’s reward app Wuntu. There’s also the chance to win one of five three-month memberships with PayAsUGym.
Food hints for students
Food writer Jack Monroe has put together a really useful list of staples that “I try to have in my cupboard at all times”.
The author, whose latest best-selling book is “Cooking on A Bootstrap”, specialises in cheap and cheerful, easy recipes. Check out her handy hints at Student Essentials, for Under a Fiver.
Do you qualify for free prescriptions?
It’s now easy to find out whether you qualify for free prescriptions through a new NHS tool.
Prescriptions are free for residents in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. But in England you’ll usually pay £8.80 an item, unless you have an exemption.
The tool will tell you if you do, and even if you don’t qualify, it will give you information to save on medicine costs, such as getting a prescription prepayment certificate.
MoneySavingExpert has all the details.
Now you can get two tubs of chocolates for £7
It’s Tesco’s turn to offer choices at bargain prices! It’s currently handing out two 720g tubs of Cadbury Roses, Cadbury Heroes, Quality Street and Celebrations for just £7. The offer runs until Tuesday 18 September.
Tip of the week
If you’re a first-time buyer or moving home and looking for a great mortgage deal, you may be tempted by a £1,000 cash back offer that the Halifax has just reintroduced.
But not so fast, you could end up paying more by taking up the offer, warns Mark Harris, boss of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients.
“Cash back is a useful tool for lenders in appealing to customers rather than having to cut mortgage rates,” he points out.
“£1,000 will be particularly attractive for cash-strapped first-time buyers, but it’s important to work out the total cost of a mortgage when comparing deals.
“Don’t be swayed by cashback which may cost you more in the long run.”
