{"id":600,"date":"2008-10-24T11:34:21","date_gmt":"2008-10-24T18:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bspcn.com\/2008\/10\/24\/40-devastatingly-simple-ways-the-web-can-save-you-big-money\/"},"modified":"2008-10-24T11:34:21","modified_gmt":"2008-10-24T18:34:21","slug":"40-devastatingly-simple-ways-the-web-can-save-you-big-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/24\/40-devastatingly-simple-ways-the-web-can-save-you-big-money\/","title":{"rendered":"40 devastatingly simple ways the web can save you big money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Gary Marshall<\/a><\/p>\n

Cut costs and beat the bills!<\/h3>\n

Capitalism is collapsing, we’re eating shoes for dinner and our houses are worth about 10p – so it’s more important than ever to ensure that we’re getting the biggest bang for our bucks.<\/p>\n

If money really talked, it’d be saying “go online and save some cash!”<\/p>\n

So we did.<\/p>\n

Here, we reveal 40 ways to use the web to beat the bills, cut your costs and get more from your money.<\/p>\n

1. Go paper-free for cheaper bills<\/strong>
Many firms, such as Norwich Union Direct<\/a> give you one discount for applying online and a further discount if you choose online-only paperless policies.<\/p>\n

2. Make free phone calls<\/strong>
Whether it’s Skype or your favourite chat software, why pick up the phone when voice and video chat is free?<\/p>\n

3. Cut your credit card rates<\/strong>
If you don’t clear the balance every month, high interest rates could be costing you a fortune. Use MoneyExtra<\/a> to find a better deal.<\/p>\n

4. Get cheaper gas and electric<\/strong>
Energy firms make a lot of money from inertia – that is, customers sticking with the package they’re on instead of switching to better deals. Use Uswitch<\/a> to compare different providers.<\/p>\n

5. Collect Airmiles<\/strong>
Airmiles aren’t just for flights – you can use them for hotel stays, too. The Airmiles website<\/a> shows you where to collect the most miles.<\/p>\n

6. Be patient and save on delivery charges<\/strong>
Many online shops such as Amazon charge a fortune for fast delivery. Go for free delivery instead – no book, game or DVD is that urgent.<\/p>\n

7. Get cheaper broadband<\/strong>
Been with the same ISP for a while? You’re probably paying too much. Broadband Genie<\/a> shows who’s got the best prices for the speed you need.<\/p>\n

8. Get loyalty discounts<\/strong>
Providers such as O2 give massive discounts for customers who take more than one service so, for example, O2 broadband is \u00a35 cheaper for existing O2 customers.<\/p>\n

9. Get cheaper insurance<\/strong>
Insurers typically attract new customers with generous deals and then stuff them when it’s time to renew. Use Confused.com<\/a> to get a better deal.<\/p>\n

10. New quotes are often cheaper than renewals<\/strong>
Like your insurer but hate the renewal price? Get a new quote from their website and demand they match it. We saved \u00a390 this week doing just that.<\/p>\n

11. Buy groceries online<\/strong>
Supermarkets are brilliant at encouraging impulse buys, so avoid temptation by ordering over the internet<\/a>. If possible, arrange midweek delivery: weekends cost more.<\/p>\n

12. Dump designers<\/strong>
Sites such as ASOS.com<\/a> can help you get designer styles without paying designer money.<\/p>\n

13. Book flights early<\/strong>
The earlier you book a flight on airlines such as EasyJet<\/a>, the less it costs.<\/p>\n

14. Use free software<\/strong>
Is OpenOffice.org<\/a> as good as Microsoft Office? Who cares? It’s free! See also: Picasa, Google Docs, Paint.net…<\/p>\n

15. Get cheaper gig tickets in advance<\/strong>
Sign up to mailing lists<\/a> to get advance notice of ticket sales for your favourite acts.<\/p>\n

16. Get cheaper last-minute tickets<\/strong>
Need tickets for a sold-out gig? Sod the scalpers: try ethical trading site Scarlet Mist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

17. Get cheap Christmas presents now<\/strong>
It’s not long till Xmas, and there are sales a-plenty from big names such as Debenhams<\/a> and Marks & Sparks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

18. Find freebies<\/strong>
The lovely people at Moneysavingexpert.com<\/a> have found freebies ranging from baby food samples to study aids and sun cream.<\/p>\n

19. Compare prices to save big<\/strong>
Never buy things from the first site you try – a quick trip to Kelkoo<\/a> will often find it cheaper.<\/p>\n

20. Use a car broker and save cash on your new car<\/strong>
Car dealers are suffering, so brokers such as Broadspeed<\/a> can get even bigger discounts on new cars than before.<\/p>\n

21. Monitor the market for cheap mortgages<\/strong>
The best deals appear and disappear in a matter of days, so use a site such as Moneysupermarket.com<\/a> to make sure you don’t miss any.<\/p>\n

22. Prioritise your debts to cut repayments<\/strong>
Shifting debt to a credit card with 0% interest on balance transfers could slash your repayments; find one on Moneysupermarket or MoneyExtra.<\/p>\n

23. Get a currency card<\/strong>
Travelling abroad? Pre-paid currency cards<\/a> can save you a stack when you pay with plastic.<\/p>\n

24. Find the cheapest petrol<\/strong>
Petrolprices.com<\/a> finds the cheapest petrol stations in your area.<\/p>\n

25. Earn more interest on your savings<\/strong>
Make sure you’re earning maximum interest at Moneysavingexpert.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

26. Get 2 for 1 cinema tickets<\/strong>
With Orange? Text 241 to get two-for-one tickets on Wednesdays.<\/p>\n

27. See films for free<\/strong>
Disney’s Film Factory<\/a> often gives away free tickets for new movies.<\/p>\n

28. Sell your story to the press<\/strong>
Did your partner leave you for a chicken? Beonpaper<\/a> is where real-life mags often get their case studies – and many of them pay.<\/p>\n

29. Get free stuff from Freecycle<\/strong>
Join your nearest Freecycle<\/a> group and discover how you can get people’s unwanted items for nowt.<\/p>\n

30. Get cashback when you shop<\/strong>
Sites such as Topcashback<\/a> can get you cash back when you buy from major retailers – although you should always check that the same things aren’t cheaper elsewhere.<\/p>\n

31. Stream music for free<\/strong>
Why buy CDs when Last.fm<\/a>‘s streaming is so good?<\/p>\n

32. Build a blog, not a website<\/strong>
Free blogging platforms such as WordPress<\/a> are often better than paid-for web space.<\/p>\n

33. Cancel the newspaper<\/strong>
They’re all online, so subscribe to their RSS feeds with NewNewsWire<\/a> or FeedDemon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

34. Find cheap restaurant deals<\/strong>
5pm.co.uk<\/a> offers cheap same-day deals for all kinds of swanky restaurants.<\/p>\n

35. Do a holiday house swap<\/strong>
Don’t pay for a hotel: swap houses<\/a> with someone instead.<\/p>\n

36. Save petrol<\/strong>
Plan your route before you travel<\/a> – it saves petrol and it’s cheaper than a sat-nav.<\/p>\n

37. Get cheaper train tickets<\/strong>
Book in advance and use services such as Raileasy<\/a> to find the lowest fares.<\/p>\n

38. Get bargain hotel rooms<\/strong>
Laterooms<\/a> can save you a packet on hotel accommodation – especially if you’re booking at the last minute.<\/p>\n

39. Find free Wi-Fi<\/strong>
Free-hotspot.com<\/a> and Wififreespot<\/a> make it easy to find free Wi-Fi – although inevitably, availability is awful outside big cities.<\/p>\n

40. Use up food before you buy more<\/strong>
Cooking By Numbers<\/a> is brilliant: tell it what odds and sods are in your fridge and it’ll come up with recipes. We got Bacon Surprise: “The surprise is that it is nothing but bacon.”<\/p>\n

Add your own money-saving tips in the comments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Gary Marshall Cut costs and beat the bills! Capitalism is collapsing, we’re eating shoes for dinner and our houses are worth about 10p – so it’s more important than ever to ensure that we’re getting the biggest bang for our bucks. If money really talked, it’d be saying “go online and save some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}