I'm a Money Saving Convert!!!

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:14:44 +0200

I discovered this site after watching early morning tv after dropping off my lovely daughter at pre-school. I sat down to watch Lorraine Kelly on the tv and there was an article on claiming back unlawful bank charges for being overdrawn. Even though we have been financially lucky enough not to have been charged like this, I sat enthralled by Martin Lewis (the money saving expert!) and went straight to the PC to check out the website that he kept mentioning. So here it is, the money saving website of the century!

The address is - www.moneysavingexpert.com.

To directly quote the website - "Money saving expert Martin Lewis is an award-winning 35-year-old ultra-specialised journalist, TV & radio presenter and bestselling author. He created this site, which has over 3,000,000 users a month, in Feb 2003 and all the analysis and recommendations still come directly from him. "

Martin Lewis has developed this website to help all of us to save money, and reduce debts as much as we can. He has written books on the subject (will write about these after I get them and read them!) and is a regular on Lorraine Kelly's show to talk about how to reduce debt and live more frugally.

The website is financed by links that you can click on. The site is paid when anyone clicks on one of these links. As a user of the site, there are no fees whatsoever and you are never asked for money for anything. In fact, the site has made so much profit that a large chunk of this money is donated to charity!

You can sign up on the website to receive free email updates on a weekly basis. Rest assured though, that these emails are completely free, and are also free of any advertising or spam! I get these emails every week and they are always full of interesting information on ways to save money. (And on some pretty good freebies that are out there for the taking!).

The website itself is really easy to use, especially for a computer illiterate like myself! I'm not the best on the internet and really prefer websites that are user friendly and easy to navigate. I have never had a problem with this website and I am a really regular user now!

The home page is really easy to navigate. Along the top there are bookmarks for Home, Cards & Loans, Reclaim thousands, Shopping & Spending, Utilities & Phones, Banking & Saving, Travel & Transport, Insurance, Mortgages & Houses, Family & Health, Protect your pocket and the Forums. Many of these are basically price comparisons, but you are also given the pros and cons of each company. Martin does make recommendations but in the end the decision is yours alone for which one to go for. I find these really interesting. On the cards and loans, there is an article on "stoozing" your credit cards to make the most money. Basically this is swapping your balance onto a card that gives 0% on transfers for a set period, make your payments then when the period is up, transfer that balance to another card with a 0% offer. Apparently there are some people out there who can actually make money doing this!!!

All of the information on here is completely free. I have just recently downloaded the information off here to reclaim Payment Protection Insurance from financial institutions. The webiste has standard letters that you can download and "tweak" to your own circumstances when writing your letters. Personally I could be able to reclaim a couple of thousand quid - which would be very welcome!

There are articles on reclaiming bank chargfes, PPI, credit card charges, how to change your service providers to get the most for your money and lots of other information, all of which is really very useful.

The forums are free to browse, although you do have to register to be able to post on them. I have registered (it's free to do this) and have not had any spam emails at all, just my regular weekly update. I have also never had a bad experience in the 6 months I have used this site. On the forums there are subjects galore - how to save money "old style", recipes, crafts, how to make money; in fact almost any subject connected with saving money you can think of!

I regularly (almost daily) go on to get recipes, ideas for meals, or just have a wee chit chat with the people on the site. It has been such an eye-opener since I first visited.

Some threads are "challenges" developed by members of the site. I have signed up for the 2008 olympic challenge, which is to make extra money between January and August of this year. I have decided to go for the bronze challenge level which is to make an extra 1008 GBP before 8 August this year. You can make this extra money any way you want, as long as it is legal. Selling on ebay or amazon, car boot sales, writing reviews, anything you want, as long as you do not break the law. You can also change your level up or down. I have decided to go for the lower level and if I think I will make more, then I may just review my level and up it if I can.

Personally, I am going to be writing lots of reviews, reviewing music online, and ebay (amongst other things over here!). Hopefully I wil come close to the challenge. I may be lucky and manage it but I will just have to wait and see!

In my opinion, I cannot fault this website. It is so easy to use, very friendly, full of really useful information and definitely one I will go back to again and again. I cannot recommend this highly enough - this gets a full 5 stars from me.

After visiting this site, and bearing in mind the extortionate amount of money we spent at christmas on presents, I am now making my own greetings cards (its cheaper and more personal) and I may just try to sell a few at boot sales, and am making some christmas presents myself (again cheaper and much more personal). Maybe by the end of this year we may have just managed to cut our debts by a bit more than last year.

If you are interested in saving money, making some extra cash, changing any of your service providers, or just want some ideas from the forums, then this is a little gem of a website for all to use.

Thank you for reading this and a very happy moneysaving 2008 to you all! D xx

Comments

Hello Big World!

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:30:41 +0200

Well here goes. This is my first post ever on a blog. I'm not the most computer savvy person on this earth but thought that it was about time I bit the bullet and wrote my own blog. I do enjoy the blogs of others and thought that it was about time that I made my own so that I can aso share my thoughts with the world.

What do I say about me? Not much to say really lol. I'm a stay at home mother of 3 children; married for 8 years and enjoying my life. I love to read, and I thoroughly enjoy researching my family tree. But it is turning into a veritable forest!

I enjoy writing and one day I really hope to get my work published in a book but until then I am happy to write when and where I can. I live in the constant hope that one day I will get published!

Consumer reviews - now there is a subject that I can write about prolifically. I write reviews and they are posted on Ciao, Dooyoo and Epinions. I like to write opinions of movies I have seen and books I have read. Although I will write about anything and everything lol.

Another thing that I like is money saving. I am addicted to a certain website on www.moneysavingexpert.com. It is the brainchild of Martin Lewis, and as far as I am concerned, he is the guru of moneysaving. In fact I think I will post my review of his site later on.

Well I'm going to go and see what I can write about today! I will post later on again.

Peace and blessings to all.

D x

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bonsibabe's blog

I'm a Money Saving Convert!!!

Hello Big World!