The Fool's Weekend Moneysaver No.7
Find out how you can save on outdoor furniture, get £25 off when you spend £125 at Amazon and snap up a flight to the USA from just £199 including taxes!
It's the Bank Holiday weekend, and rumour has it that the weather is about to take a turn for the better, hurrah! Many retailers will be trying to entice you to spend your money with them over the long weekend and be offering all manner of inducements to tempt you, from discounts to extra reward points - so if you need to make some purchases, now could be a good time to do so. And to save you some time, here's a round up of some of the offers we've heard about this week.
Books
If you're partial to spending money on books, don't forget that Amazon currently has a clearance sale on, with prices starting at just £1.50.
And if you have kids to entertain, head to your nearest Border's store on 1 or 2 September for its Family Weekend; kids can enjoy balloons, face painting and story telling. Now, that is a week away, but if you collect 4 differently dated mastheads (three from the weekday Guardian and one from the Saturday edition or Observer newspapers) between Saturday 25 August and Sunday 2 September, you'll get 20% of most purchases, too.
Kitchen
If you've got a larger kitchen appliance purchase to make, check out Amazon -- it's currently offering a whopping £25 off if you spend £125 or more on Kitchen appliances or irons. Simply enter the promotional code: AZ7D8DR6 when you check out to receive the discount. But you'll need to be quick - the offer ends on Sunday 26 August.
Garden
Homebase is currently offering 20% off selected furniture and up to 50% off kitchen units, plus due to our dismal summer it has some garden furniture at knock down prices on offer. And don't forget you can save a further 10% off anything you buy this Friday and Saturday.
B&Q has some similar offers, with 50% off selected bathrooms and kitchens.
Boots
Boots has a Triple Points promotion on until 28 August -- collect 12 points for every £1 you spend. It is also still offering 20% off anything baby related in store, including nappies (until 28 August) -- take your purchases to the till and 20% will be deducted automatically.
Travel
If you're desperate to spend some money across the pond, check out Zoom Airline -- this budget carrier has an autumn seat sale on, offering return flights including taxes to New York (JFK) from just £199, and Toronto from just £249. There are many more destinations on offer too. You'll need to be quick though -- bookings need to be made before 25 August for travel between 10 September and 15 December. And if you find an identical flight for less they'll match it.
And British Airways is also offering deals to the US and Canada with return flights to New York (JFK) starting at £257.
Superdrug's offer of the week is Nivea's Light feeling sun lotion, which you can currently snap up with two for the price of one.
Finally, one great way to save money on your weekly shop is to try switching one item you regularly buy for a cheaper brand. Many own brand or even economy products can be excellent quality and very good value -- switch a few over time and you could see a dramatic reduction in the cost of your weekly shop.
We asked our friends at MySupermarket to come up with just a few of the savings we can make by switching from a common brand name product to an own brand item:
Supermarket | Product | Brand price | Own Brand price | Difference | % Saving through Switching |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tesco | Heinz Baked Beans (4 pack) | £1.86 | £0.98 | £0.88 | 47% |
Tesco | £1.79 | £1.00 | £0.79 | 44% | |
ASDA | Weetabix Cereal (24) | £1.59 | £0.87 | £0.72 | 45% |
ASDA | Walkers Salt & Vinegar Crisps (6 pack) | £0.95 | £0.76 | £0.19 | 20% |
Sainsbury's | £0.61 | £0.42 | £0.19 | 31% | |
Sainsbury's | £1.51 | £1.15 | £0.36 | 24% | |
Ocado | £4.74 | £3.49 | £1.25 | 26% | |
Ocado | £1.59 | £0.89 | £0.70 | 44% |
As you can see there are some great savings to be made -- and the table reveals that Heinz baked beans, for example cost nearly twice the price of the Tesco's own brand beans. What's more, remember that these are not the economy brands -- they are simply the supermarket's own label products which often do just as well (if not better) in blind taste tests. Switching to the economy brands, where available could potentially save you even more.
So the next time you're doing your weekly shop, why not try just swapping one item for the store's own brand version? You may be pleasantly surprised. Happy shopping!
More: Money Talk Podcast: Bag A Bargain At The Sales | Top Tips For Buying A Used Car
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