Children and money with Martin Lewis
Up to £5,600 to improve your home, last minute Mother’s Day deals, two ‘free’ Alton Towers tickets and a free Guinness on St Patrick’s Day. These are our Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis’ Deals of the Week.
Remember, deals can change quickly, even while I’m on the programme. So always double-check the terms and conditions before spending. Plus, while I hope these deals will save you cash, don’t spend if you can’t afford it, don’t need it, or won’t use it.
Web exclusive: Starbucks ‘free’ £3ish Macchiato
Buy a copy of this week’s Grazia magazine (£2, Lara Stone on the cover), on page 154 you’ll find a voucher to get a free tall-sized Macchiato at Starbucks by Monday 16 March. Choose from caramel, hazelnut or maple flavours in hot or cold versions. These usually cost £3.05 for the tall. While the saving isn’t huge, it’s a decent perk if you were planning to buy the magazine anyway. One voucher per person, per visit, and it can’t be used with other offers or discounts, except My Starbucks Rewards.
Urgent: up to £5,600 to improve your home
Next Monday at noon (16 March) the Government is launching a new £70million tranche of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (HIF). The first £120 million released in July 2014 went in six weeks, last December another £30m lasted little more than a day. I think this'll go at super-speed, as many are poised waiting to apply. And as it's the last time pre-election, it could be the last ever as a new Government may decide to close it.
This is a huge cash giveaway to anyone in England or Wales to encourage energy efficiency (there’s a separate scheme in Scotland, call Home Energy Scotland). It’s part of the Green Deal scheme – but for this home improvement funding bit you don’t need to get the ‘Green Deal loan’ as you can just get the free cash. Full step-by-step help and application details in Martin’s Home Improvement Fund Help but in brief…
£5,600 sounds nice. What's it for?
Offer 1: Install two or more of 11 energy efficient measures and get up to £1,250.Includes cavity wall insulation, boiler upgrades, double-glazing, waste water heat recovery, floor insulation and more.
Offer 2: Up to £3,750 for solid wall insulation, ie, no gap in the brickwork like cavity walls. Insulating them is costly (£4k-£14k), but can hugely reduce heating bills. The HIF covers up to 2/3 of your costs.
·Add-on' offer: £500 bonus if you've moved home in past year. Make any of the improvements above and you get an extra £500 if you've moved.
'Add-on' offer: £100 of Green Deal assessment costs back. Make any of the improvements above and get £100 back – these assessments normally cost up to £150 so this should cover most of the cost.
Mother’s Day – this Sunday 15 March
Loving your mum needn’t mean having to shell out a lot of cash, but if you are going to, deals are usually available. Many of the really good ones go over a week in advance, but here are some of the top last minute ones.
Free Mother’s Day card: O2 smartphone users can get a free Mother's Day card in most WHSmith stores via the O2 Priority Moments app. Simply show the code from the app to staff at the checkout. It's due to last until Sunday 15 March, but could end before if all the codes run out so go quick if you want one. O2 did say that each WHSmith store has its own allocation of codes, and the app will show you your nearest participating store.
£25 M&S couriered flowers: Go online to M&S to get a 100 stem bouquet for £25 (was £30), including courier delivery on Mother’s Day. It includes 80 yellow daffodils and 20 purple tulips. You'll need to order by 1pm on Saturday 14 March to get them on Mother's Day (or until the 13,000 available run out).
Of course many supermarkets sell daffodils for £1 on the day too – and it’s always worth checking your local florist.
Restaurant deals
Frankie & Benny’s ‘free’ bottle of wine: Mums get a 'free' bottle of house wine (red, white or rose) or soft drinks (or chocolates in Scotland) at Frankie & Benny's when at least two mains are ordered from the main menu on Mother's Day.
Bella Italia ‘free’ pud and Prosecco for mum: When mum orders a main course at Bella Italia anytime on Mother's Day, she'll get a classic dessert for 'free' (worth £4-£6ish). But dine after 5pm and she’ll also get a ‘free’ glass of Prosecco too.
Harvester ‘free’ mum’s main: Mums can eat 'free' at Harvester on Mother's Day after 6pm when at least one other main meal is ordered.
Martin’s quickies
Two ‘free’ Alton Towers tickets: From Saturday 14 March, collect 10 tokens or codes printed in The Sun newspaper (40p weekdays, or 60p on Sat and 80p Sun – excludes Northern Ireland) every day until Tuesday 31 March to get two 'free' adult tickets to Alton Towers.
If you collect the tokens from inside the paper, you’ll need to send them off with your five preferred date bands (between 30 March and 5 November 2015) and The Sun will allocate a day you can go within your chosen band dates. You do need to be flexible with the postal application (though it’s slightly cheaper than applying online as it’s £5.24 all-in).
Or you can collect the ‘paper perk’ codes from the back of The Sun newspaper and apply online (slightly higher cost of £5.50 all-in) but you can pick any available date between 30 March and 5 November 2015.
Free pint of Guinness for St Patrick’s Day: Sign up online to Pitcher & Piano's newsletter for a code for one free pint of Guinness or Jameson Irish Mule cocktailat any of its 18 bars (most in England, with one in Swansea, Wales) until Tuesday 31 March. It’s valid on any day in March, including St Patrick’s Day.
If you’ve already signed up Pitcher & Piano should have already sent you this offer. If you haven’t seen it, check your spam box or sign up again and it’ll resend it.