The world's finest beef for a couple of quid plus the cheapest way to get the new iPhone 7
Cheaper iPhone 7 trick, FREE peek in 1,800+ hidden property gems, household enquiry form warning, Wagyu and beauty mag freebies. 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.
iPhone 7 finance massively undercuts getting a contract
Buying the latest phone is never MoneySaving, especially when it’s an iPhone. Yet many people will do it anyway so I want to explain the cheapest route.
Tomorrow Apple’s launching its brand new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus handsets and it’s also launched its new iPhone Payments scheme which lets you buy the new unlocked handset now and then spread the cost over 20 months interest free – so you won’t pay a penny extra compared to buying the handset outright – so the cheapest iPhone is £599 bought, or £49 upfront and £27.50 a month over 20 months.
Now as I’ve said many times before, generally it’s far cheaper to buy a phone and get a sim only deal than it is to do a contract. Yet for most people shelling out for the handset in one go is too much. Yet the iPhone payments system allows you to spread the cost at no cost. And so coupled with a cheap sim from the likes of Giff Gaff or Three this can be a huge saving.
For example buying an iPhone 7 using Apple’s Payments scheme and then getting a separate Three sim with unlimited texts/calls and 4GB of data it’d cost you £815 over 24 months. But buy the handset and sim together with EE (only 2GB of data and 2,000 minutes) and it’d cost £1,204 over the 24 months – adding almost £400 extra.
The iPhone payment plan will credit score you just like any other loan (technically this is provided by Barclays) and like any other loan you’ll need to ensure you don’t miss a payment.
Free peek in 1,800+ hidden property gems across the UK
Last week I mentioned thatmany usually-closed or usually-charging English (not in London) buildings were open for free as part of Heritage Open Days. Now this weekend in London 750 venues are open and until the end of September as part of European Heritage days, a further 800+ in Scotland and 300+ in Wales will be open to the public.
Opening dates and times vary for each venue, and you may need to book in advance for some – all the details are on the websites Open House London,Doors Open Days Scotland and Open Doors Wales.
Examples of places to visit in London include the Gherkin (usually closed to the public) which is very popular every year so expect huge queues as it’s first come first served and is only open from 8am until noon on Saturday and till 2pm on Sunday; the Brunel museum which usually costs £6; and the Walthamstow Pumphouse museum, which is usually only open on Sundays.
In Scotland, examples of places to visit include Pollock House in Glasgow usually £6.50 and the Botanic Cottage in Edinburgh which usually costs £6.50. In Wales you could visit the Beaumaris Castle usually £6, Denbigh Castle, usually £4 and The Old Lock Up in Llangollen usually free but there will be special activities on these open days.
Martin’s Quickies:Free £11 Neal’s Yard and £9 Ciate nail polish in £4 mags
Buy the October edition of InStyle magazine (£3.99, Claire Boucher on the front) and you'll get either a free Neal’s Yard geranium & orange 50ml hand lotion (worth around £6.60) or 100ml body lotion (worth around £10.75 based on full sized version). And if you buy the October edition of Marie Claire (£3.99, Britney Spears on the front) you'll get a free full-size Ciate nail polish (worth £9). There are four colours to choose from (orange, grey, pink and dark red). You need to buy both magazines by Wednesday 28 September. Even if you don’t want to read the magazines, the freebies are worth more than the mags, so is worth it if you use these.
Warning! Don’t ignore your household enquiry form
Each year every UK household is sent a Household Enquiry Form from their local council to check that the right people are registered to vote (it won’t register you if you’re not on the electoral roll). Many letters are being sent now (though depending on the council you may not get it until early November) and when you get yours you must by law double-check the info is correct and send it back, even if there are no changes. So don't mistake it for junk and bin it. You must return it by the deadline your council sets, which can be anytime until the end of November. If you don’t and you repeatedly ignore the reminders you could be fined up to £1,000. If you’ve missed the deadline already, or think you’ve binned it don’t worry – contact your council ASAP and they’ll tell you what to do it, and as long as you return it by the November deadline you shouldn’t be fined.
£3 posh Wagyu beef
From today you can get two fresh Wagyu beef burgers for £2.99 (340g) from most Aldi stores (while stocks last) – this is ridiculously cheap as this cut of beef is usually one of the most expensive in the world as the cow (this one is from New Zealand) is grass-fed and massaged (it can cost around £45 for one burger in a top restaurant). Asda’s also selling fresh Wagyu burgers at £3.50 or frozen ones in Iceland at £3, though again this isn’t normally available and is only around until stocks last. In the past these burgers have been very popular, so you’ll need to get moo-ving if you want some.