Martin's Money Makers
Bag cheap Christmas train tickets now, beauty freebies, free Microsoft Office software and a duty-free mythbuster. These are our Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis’ Quick Deals.
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.
Now’s the time to bag the cheapest Christmas train tickets
Rail firms must confirm timetables 12 weeks ahead, and most roughly launch their cheap advance tickets then too. There are limited numbers for each journey, so to bag 'em, book soonest. They're starting to be available now until at least 28 December - eg, 23 December off-peak London-Manchester £20 (£81 on the day), but keep checking over the next 10 days or so if a cheap deal isn’t around – you can also use TheTrainsline’s alert service for your journey.
Yet the cheapest fares on some routes are already disappearing and post-Christmas tickets aren’t yet available in most cases so if you’re staying away over Christmas and possibly the New Year, you’ll need to weigh up whether it’s cheaper to book two singles separately, or wait to book a return. Generally, I’d bag the cheap single fare now if you spot it and wait for a cheap return as soon as they go on sale, but there aren’t any guarantees.
Magazine beauty freebies
The November editions of three women’s magazines come with some great beauty ‘freebies’ and as they’re usually worth more than the magazine, it’s worth buying even if you won’t read it, as it’s cheaper than buying the product directly. It’s worth noting if you’ve a subscription, you don’t get them, only the shop-bought ones have them.
- £11 Nails Inc polish: Buy Glamour £2, Ellie Goulding on the front, and you’ll get a full-size 10ml Nails Inc polish in one of four colours - dark purple (Grosvenor Crescent), pink (Notting Hill Gate), red (Victoria & Albert) and beige (Colville Mews).
- £8 L’Occitane hand cream: Pick up Marie Claire £3.99, with Claire Danes on the front, and you’ll get one of six 30ml L’Occitane hand creams in Vanilla Bouquet, Delightful Rose, Pivoine Flora, Zesty Lime, Lavender and Verbena cooling gel.
- £12ish Ren skincare set: GrabInStyle, £3.99, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini on the front, and you’ll get a Ren skincare set which includes V-Cense night cream (10ml), Vita Mineral daily supplement moisturising cream (10ml), and Vita Mineral Active 7 eye gel (3ml).
Free Microsoft Office software
If you're a student or working in education (university, college or school) and have an academic email address that can receive external email, you may be able to get the free Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher and Access, on up to five PCs or Macs (the last two are PC-only).
To get it, enter your academic email address on the Office website. You’ll be asked to log in through your institution’s online portal and if you’re eligible, you’ll be redirected to a page where you can download the software.
You DO have to show your boarding pass at duty free
In summer a scandal was revealed that most airport retailers were wrongly forcing people to show their boarding passes. Many complied thinking it was done for security but in reality, it allowed shops to claim back VAT on goods bought by those travelling outside the EU, so there was uproar that the savings weren’t being passed on to customers.
At the time, I was very vocal on the subject, including here on This Morning, and urged passengers not to show their boarding passes at shops such as WHSmith, Boots and others. Yet while I mentioned it at the time, many people missed the point that this is about airport retailers not duty free. Lots of duty-free staff have contacted me saying they get abuse from people who won’t show their boarding passes. So to clear it up - if you’re buying any goods, specifically from the duty-free stores, you do need to show your boarding pass, but in airport shops like Boots and WHSmith, you don’t.