Money off prosecco and free Legoland tickets!
Finally cheaper deals for prepay energy, £2.60 prosecco trick, 37% off Laura Ashley, ‘free’ Legoland tickets and ‘free’ Ikea gift. 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.
Prepay for energy? There are now two cheaper tariffs
Disgracefully, those on key, card or online prepayment meters, who include some of society’s most vulnerable, pay massively more for energy compared with those on a billed meter. If you’re on a standard prepay tariff with one of the big six (E.on, EDF, Brit Gas, SSE, Scot Power, Npower) you’ll typically pay £1,140/year. Yet switch to iSupply’s new one-year fixed tariff (the price can’t rise, but cost depends on your usage) and it’ll be on average £1,020/year – a saving of £120. Or if you want to guarantee no price rises for longer, EDF’s new tariff’sfixed until October 2017 and on average would cost £1,040. With both you need to top up gas via card and electric via key. Neither of these tariffs has exit fees (so you can switch mid-year if there’s something cheaper).
The best thing to do is use a comparison site, so you see exactly how much you’re saving. To do this use Martin’s Cheap Energy Club comparison, where you also get £30 cashback on top if you switch through it, or any Ofgem-approved comparison site.
Switching tariff is easy and straightforward, but here are the key need-to-knows:1) There’s no downtime when you switch. Your electricity and gas stay on.2) It’s the same gas, same electricity, same safety. Only customer service and price change. 3) You can switch if you’ve debt, as long as it’s under £500 per fuel (many are switched to prepay due to debts).
However, if you can switch to a billed meter there’s far more competition, so prices come down to as little as £735/yr for the same usage (again, these are switchers’ tariffs, so do a comparison). If you’re with a big-six provider you can switch meter at no cost, as long as you’re not in debt and pass its credit check.
Six bottles of prosecco for £2.60ish each trick
You’ll need to go quick with this one as I suspect it will sell out fast. There’s a corking trick to get six bottles of prosecco for £2.60ish, each through a code-stacking trick with Sainsbury’s – though to get the full discount you’ll need to be a newbie to online shopping with Sainsbury’s.
Here’s what you need to do (note due to alcohol promo laws this doesn’t work in Scotland).
1) Find reduced prosecco or champagne. Go online to Sainsbury’s where its Taste the Difference Conegliano Prosecco is now £7.50 a bottle (was £10). If not, there are other variants that this works with.
2) Buy any six bottles to get 25% off. Order and get delivered or collect six bottles by Sunday 5 June and you automatically get a further 25% discount (this works in store too, but the rest doesn’t). So six Conegliano Prosecco cost £33.75, that’s £5.63 a bottle.
3) Code for newbies. If you’ve never shopped online at Sainsbury’s before, at the checkout enter the code SCSEXTTMM and you’ll get £18 off when you spend over £60.
But the T&Cs say the £18-off discount can’t be on booze, so you’ll need to buy at least £26.25 worth of normal groceries to make it work (to get you over the £60 in total). Then you’re effectively getting six bottles for £2.63.
Stock is meant to be decent, but there’s heavy demand. In past incarnations of this deal Sainsbury’s has substituted it for a more costly version if it runs out. So select ‘no substitutions’ in your preferences to stop that happening (if you don’t, you can always reject delivery). Delivery is £1 to £6 or you can collect in store for free. And of course, please be Drinkaware.
Martin’s Quickies:
Flash 37% off Laura Ashley: Since last Wednesday Laura Ashley has had a 30% off sale, but go into its (non-outlet) stores today only (Thursday) until closing and you’ll get an extra 10% off almost everything that’s already reduced, which works out as 37% off the original price. For instance, currently the pleated floral dress is £52.50 reduced from £75 and it should be £47.25 if you go in store. The discount’s applied automatically at the till, plus, if you spend £100 or more, you'll get a free home diffuser. If you want to buy online wait until 9.30pm when until tomorrow night you’ll be able to get the 10% extra discount by entering the code SUMMER at the checkout. Delivery’s £4.50, but you can order online and collect from most stores for free.
‘Free’ £100ish Legoland tickets: From this Saturday (28 May) until Tuesday 14 June, collect 10 different codes printed on the back page of The Sun (50p weekdays, 70p Saturdays) and The Sun on Sunday (£1), to get two ‘free’ tickets to Legoland. You’ll need to enter the codes online at Sun Perks by Tuesday 28 June, though the first one must be entered by Friday 10 June. When you enter the first code you’ll automatically get five bonus codes (so you start with six in total), and once you reach 15 you can book your tickets – do this straightaway if you can as tickets are given on a first-come, first-served basis.
Bookings online will cost £1.50 – so in total it’ll cost £6.50 minimum, including the cost of the newspapers, but as adult tickets to Legoland are £50.40 on the gate, this could save you up to £94.30. There are120,000 pairs of tickets to give away, spread across dates from June to Oct 2016.
‘Free’ gift when you scan a loyalty card at Ikea: From Monday (30 May) Ikea’s prize draw, where everyone will win something, is returning. Prizes include a 60p hot dog, a £3.50 mirror, a £7 table lamp, a £50 to £1,000 gift card, or a family trip to Sweden with £500 spending money. You’ll need the ‘Ikea family card’; if you don’t have one, just grab one in store. Then use it when you pay. In the unlikely event you’re at Ikea and you decide you’re not buying anything, the cheapest item there is a 35p mug. It’s running at all stores except Croydon, Tottenham and Norwich.