Highest savings fixes in 3yrs, £10 Baileys, FREE £240, Budget news, Black Fri predictions, cheapest O2 Sim

Plus… Mortgage rates to fall? £90 spring bulbs £18, declutter for max cash, top 0% card ends

Plus... Mortgage rates to fall? £90 spring bulbs £18, declutter for max cash, top 0% card ends

                                                           

27 October 2026 | View in browser

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The top tips this week Highest fixed savings we've seen in 3yrs... - Top fixes now pay up to 5.4% - Top easy-access pay up to 5% - Specialist higher rates (incl gilts) - Saving for 5yrs+? Consider investing Ends Wed. Cheapest O2 50GB Sim How to declutter for max cash! Budget day: What we know already Black Fri predictions, eg, Amazon, John Lewis Martin: Base rate rise could see mortgages fall! FREE £240 cash £10 for one-litre Baileys (normally £22) Ends Thu. Cheapest long 0% debt shift £90 spring bulb bundle for £18 Halifax customer? Urgent warning Question pod. Do I pay tax if I sell on eBay? Martin pod. Savers: use gilts to earn 8%? £150 Warm Home Discount letter heads-up Half-term helpers: Halloween freebies & more 5,000 FREE Ideal Christmas Show tix Warning. Booking days out over half-term? 'I'm so thankful for your carpet washer code' Urgent. Use Eurostar loyalty points NOW Best buys: 150Mb Sky fibre £20/mth, 5.9% loan & more MMD: Can I ask for my saxophone back after 20yrs? Quick deals: £92 No7 beauty £39 & more

Savings update: Rates on the up!  Fixed savings now let you lock in a guaranteed rate of up to 5.4% - the highest we've seen for three years - The top easy-access accounts are up to 5% (with some catches) - If you pay tax on savings, could buying a UK gilt instead net you up to 8%? - Putting money away for the longer term? Investing is likely to outperform saving Jump to: Top fixes | Top easy-access | Specialist higher rates (including gilts) | Saving for longer? Consider investing Martin: "This is a crucial moment for interest rates..." Before the great MSE team take you through the top deals, it's worth understanding that the next 10 days are big ones in the money world. First we've got the Budget tomorrow (Wed) - I'll live-post explanations. Then... remember, remember 5 November, the date the Bank of England is widely expected to increase the UK base rate from its current 3.75% to 4%. For net savers, that looks like good news, but exactly what happens to savings rates will depend on the product: Top easy-access savings, which let you put money in and take it out willy-nilly, tend to move with UK base rates. Fixed savings rates, however, depend on the market's view of future interest rates. And the market - by which I mean swap rates (the City's view of the future cost of funding) - has already priced in four base rate rises over the next year, so up to 4.75%. That's why we've already seen fixed savings rates increase to their highest in 3yrs. So a base rate rise is likely to see easy-access rates rise more than fixed rates. More so, many economists think the market is overdoing it and the base rate will only go up twice next year before dropping. If so, we could actually see the rate you can fix at shave down a touch. I explained why in detail in my ITV show last week (talking mortgages - where unlike savings, lower rates are a positive - but the reason is the same for both) so do watch my Why a UK rate rise may see mortgage [and savings] fixes fall clip. This means that for those who are constantly focused on the best rates, fixes look decent right now, though they could always rise a tad higher if the Nov base rate rise happens as predicted. While grabbing a top easy-access savings account now means the rate should rise anyway if the base rate does. Yet in truth, many people reading this who have savings will have pants accounts anyway, paying far less - at which point, forget playing at the edges, just ditch and switch to the deals below to boost what you earn! Now it's on to the very best savings deals on the market. We'll go through them by type, yet remember, you don't need all your money in one account. You can have multiple easy-access and fixed-rate accounts and so, when we're talking about what's right, we're really talking about 'what's right for a particular chunk of your savings', not necessarily all of it. All accounts below have full UK savings safety protection of £120,000 per person, per institution. All interest rates are AER. Top easy-access (variable) savings This is the benchmark by which all others are measured - so we'll start here, even if it's not where everyone should end up. These are bog-standard accounts where you can put money in and take it out whenever you like. If you've got one, check what it earns - if it's less than 4%, open a new top-paying account and just move your money across. All rates are variable, so they'll likely move with UK base rate changes, and with providers' whims, so you need to monitor the rate - unlike with fixes, where your rate's guaranteed for a set period. As for which wins, it depends on how much and exactly what access you want. With some of these accounts the difference is just 0.01% - that's only 10p difference a year per £1,000 saved. So don't let that overly sway you if the terms aren't as good.  Top easy-access standard savings (AERs) Variable rates, so they can change once you start saving, check regularly Account & rate Amounts Things to watch Oxbury Bank's 4.57% Up to £120k Top rate with a decent max deposit, though only available to newbies. Tembo's 4.55%* Up to £20k Decent all-rounder, though capped at £20,000. Includes a 1yr 1.55% bonus paid after a year so must keep min £1 in for that long to get it. Cahoot's 5% Sunny Day Saver Up to £3k Good rate, but only on a smaller amount. Though if you have a partner, you can open two accounts (one of them joint) so can get £6,000 in there.  Monument Bank's 4.56%  £25k to £2m Only for those with bigger savings. Zopa's 4.56% Up to £50k You can only make three withdrawals a year or the interest rate drops. Cahoot's 4.52% Simple Saver Up to £500k Top big-name option. A rare account that allows joint savings. However it only lasts a year, then you'll be moved to a pants rate. So diarise to leave. Chase's 4.5%* Up to £1m Includes a 2.25% 1yr bonus. It's a current-account linked saver. Earn 4.87% in a top easy-access cash ISA. A cash ISA is just a savings account you can put up to £20,000 per tax year in, where the interest is NEVER taxed. The current tax year started on 6 Apr, so if you haven't put new money in an ISA since then, your allowance for this year is unused - though do consider if you would want it for a shares ISA. Even if you don't need the savings tax benefit, as easy-access cash ISA rates are generally higher right now, you can just use it for normal savings... - Trading 212 pays 4.87%* (min £1, max £20k) with unlimited withdrawals. The rate includes a 1yr 1.27% bonus for newbies putting new money in (ie, not for ISA transfers from previous tax years). - For those wanting to transfer existing cash ISA money in too, Chip pays 4.86% (min £1, max £20k), again including a 1yr 1.36% newbie bonus. Though here, you'll be charged a 10-31 day interest penalty when you close the account or transfer out. Next best for transfers is Moneybox's 4.53% (min £500, max £20k), which includes a 1yr 1.08% bonus for newbies but only allows three withdrawals a year. Yet if you do pay tax on savings interest, that's when ISAs come into their own. The top easy-access cash ISA rate is 4.87%, the top standard easy-access savings is 4.55%. That looks fairly close, but if you pay tax on savings, while the ISA still gives you 4.87%, the standard savings is equivalent to just 3.64% after basic rate tax (2.73% after higher rate, 2.5% after top rate). Remember, though, many needn't pay tax on savings interest, as there are substantial tax-free allowances. Watch Martin quickly take you through them in the video below, and see our How savings tax works guide for full help. Far more best buys in Top savings and Top Cash ISAs. Top fixed-rate savings Unlike easy-access savings, where the rate can move both with UK base rates, and with the providers' own competitive whims, with fixed savings accounts the strength is the rate is guaranteed for the period of the fix - so it's good for certainty and if you're the type of person that doesn't like constantly chopping and changing. The cost with most fixes, though not fixed cash ISAs, is that you have to lock the money away, so it needs to be money you won't touch for that time. Fixed rates normally get stronger the longer you fix. While that's still true right now, there isn't loads in it, which suggests the market's long-term view is interest rates will be pretty stable. So if you want to save, can comfortably lock money away and strongly value certainty, fixing - and fixing for longer - looks a decent option.  But remember, if you go for a longer fix and rates rise in the meantime, your money's locked away, you can't move it to up the rate (except in a cash ISA fix). Yet you can hedge your bets with several fixes of different lengths. If you can lock away money for longer, say 5+yrs, and you've got a cash emergency fund, savings probably aren't right for you. Read Martin's beginner's guide to investing - you're in the sweet spot for that, and done right, it could be far more lucrative. Top fixed-rate savings are over 5% if you're happy to lock money away. See our full list of top fixed savings, but in brief... - 1yr fix: Afin Bank 5.15%* (min £1k), Chetwood Bank 5.13% (min £1k). - 2yr fix: Chetwood Bank 5.25% (min £1k), OakNorth Bank 5.21%* (min £1). - 3+yr fixes: 3yrs Chetwood Bank 5.25% (min £1k), 5yrs GB Bank 5.37% (min £1k). Govt-backed NS&I's British Savings Bonds also pay decent rates - 4.99% for 1yr; 5.07% for 2yrs; 5.1% for 3yrs; 5.17% for 5yrs -  with deposits guaranteed up to £1m by HM Treasury. It has separate fixed products depending on if you want interest paid back into the fix annually or paid to your current account monthly, which is an important decision if you pay tax on savings interest. See Should I choose monthly or annual interest? Grab a FREE £150 if you've got £15,000+ you can lock away in savings for 2yrs Newbies to savings marketplace Raisin - which lets you save and move money between different banks after filling in just one form - can get £150 by opening a Raisin* account using code OCT150 by Saturday, then opening a 2yr+ savings fix, and funding it with £15,000+ in a single deposit by 14 Nov. The cashback will be paid within 28 days. Its top 2yr fix is Morgan Stanley's 5.2%* (you save with the bank, not Raisin, so get its savings safety protection), which is beatable, until you factor in the cashback... on £15,000 over 2yrs you'd get an effective rate of 5.67%. Full info in Raisin £150 cashback. Top cash ISA fixes have a special power. The big benefit of fixed savings is the rate is locked in, it can't move, so you know exactly what it'll pay. On pre-tax rate alone, normal savings win, though of course for those who'd pay tax on the interest, cash ISA fixes are far better. And unlike normal fixes, cash ISA fixes can't lock your money away, so you can always access it, normally by closing the account, though you will need to pay an interest-rate penalty (eg, 90-180 days of interest for shorter fixes, 270-360 days for longer fixes). So if there's a chance you'll need to access the money during the term, cash ISA fixes offer a get-out-of-jail-free card. See our full list of top fixed cash ISAs, but in brief... - 1yr ISA fixes: Zopa Bank 5% (min £1, 90-day withdrawal penalty), UBL UK 4.98% (min £2k, 90-day penalty) - 2yr ISA fixes: Castle Trust Bank 5.1% (min £1k, 180-day penalty), UBL UK 5.1% (min £2k, 180-day penalty) - 3yr+ ISA fixes: 3yrs Castle Trust Bank 5.15% (min £1k, 270-day penalty), 5yrs Aldermore 5.25%* (min £1k, 180-day penalty). Also remember, you always have a right to transfer a cash ISA to a new provider. When these mature, you'll likely be moved to a poorly-paying easy-access account, so diarise to do a transfer then to up the rate. Many should consider investing If you've already got an emergency fund (eg, three-to-six months' bills) and cash that you know you won't need to touch for the next 5+yrs, you should think seriously about investing at least some of it. Over the long term, investing returns tend to comfortably out perform saving, and we as a country tend to under-invest. For inspiration, watch the video below, then go to Martin's Investing for beginners guide for full info. Watch audience shock when Martin showed investment vs savings returns... Top ways to further boost savings interest Those are the standard savings options above, yet there are some more specialised choices that can help you earn more: 50% bonus for many on Universal Credit (UC). If you're on UC and earn anything from working, you can open a Help to Save account on the Gov.uk website. Once open, you can continue to use it even if you stop being eligible for UC. You can save up to £50/mth and, after two years, you get a 50% bonus on the max you had in - even if you've withdrawn the money. There's nowt else close to it. After you get the first two-year bonus, you can do it again for two more years and get another 50% bonus. See full how Help to Save works. 25% bonus for first-time buyers aged 18 to 39. A Lifetime ISA (LISA) is a tax-free savings or investment account anyone aged 18 to 39 can open. You can put in up to £4,000/yr till you're 50 and get a 25% bonus added to it (so max £1,000/yr). This can be used as a deposit for your first home (as long as it costs under £450,000, you're getting a mortgage and you've had the LISA open at least a year). Alternatively, you can take the money out when aged 60. The problem: If you want to take money out before you're 60, and it's not towards your first mortgage on a qualifying property, you effectively have to pay a penalty. This works out at you getting roughly 6.25% LESS than you put in. See Top LISAs. Earn up to 8% if you can save monthly. As the name suggests, the top regular savings accounts pay high interest on money put aside each month. Usually the maximum you can put in is up to £300/mth, though there's nothing stopping you opening a whole range of regular savers with different institutions. To put lump-sum savings in, just arrange to drip-feed the maximum amount from those savings in each month. See Regular savings. Premium Bonds - save up to £50,000 tax free. Premium Bonds are savings where the interest is dictated by a lottery. The prize fund rate is 4.35% and while a few will win a million, for everyone that does many have to win less. So someone with typical luck, even with the maximum £50,000 saved, will get 3.85% - far less than normal savings. Yet if you've used up your ISA allowance and would otherwise be paying tax on savings, Premium Bonds come into their own. Read our full Premium Bonds: who are winners and losers? guide for more. New. Savers, can you earn up to the equivalent of 8% in gilts? 'Short-dated gilts held to maturity' are the type of thing that investment advisers suggest to their clients with savings. They are potentially more lucrative but still very low risk. If it sounds like gobbledygook, don't worry, Martin's on a mission to explain it and spread how gilts work a little further. Gilts are UK government bonds, but the big advantage they have is they are Capital Gains Tax-free. This can give them huge advantage over savings for those who'd pay tax on them. Sound like you? - Step 1: Watch Martin's Up to 8% on gilts quick video explainer to see if they may be suitable. - Step 2: If they are suitable, listen to the full pros, cons, risks and how to do it in his full new How to buy gilts and maximise earnings podcast where he's joined by a specialist to take it step by step. You can listen on BBC Sounds | Apple | Spotify and elsewhere. Martin hopes to bring you a guide and a calculator on short dated gilts soon.

 

 

DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads Lots of scam ads litter social media and even newspaper websites - some of these lie that we or Martin promote Bitcoin, binary trading etc. See Fake ads warning.

 

 

 

Ends Wed. O2 launches its cheapest ever 50GB Sim - if you value a big-name network & need big data, it's just '£5/mth'   Or get 100GB for '£6.50/mth' - if you're out of contract, check, ditch and switch This time last year we were kicking up a huge fuss about O2, after it hiked prices by more than it said it would when customers first signed up. Martin went ballistic at the time, saying it "made a mockery of regulator Ofcom's rules" - which say you must be told at sign-up about any planned price hikes. Many O2 customers told us they switched away or haggled a lower price. O2 now appears to be trying to entice customers back with the cheapest 50GB Sim deal we've ever seen from it. And while it can be beaten by some of the smaller piggybacking networks, it's currently the cheapest 50GB Sim on the O2 network - something you don't see all that often. If that's important to you, and you're one of the 14 million people out of contract and free to switch, now's a good time to compare deals to see if you can save... Step 1: Can you switch & save? Check by dialling just five digits. Just text 'INFO' for free to 85075 (some providers will ask for your date of birth to help confirm your identity). The service will then tell you if there are any early termination/cancellation charges - if there aren't, you're free to move. It won't work for some on 'multiple phone' contracts, in which case if you've been with the same provider for more than two years, you're likely out of contract, though do check. As Janet emailed: "I was paying £79/mth to EE for myself and two grandchildren. Last month, I followed your advice and switched all three to Lebara monthly sims. I now pay less than £8/mth for all three [saving £852/yr]. Many thanks - what a huge saving." Step 2: Switch to the best new Sim to save. There are actually only four mobile network operators (MNOs) in the UK - EE, O2, Three and Vodafone. All others are mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which piggyback on their signals and tend to be a lot cheaper. Our Cheap Sim Finder lets you filter for deals using your current network's signal if you choose. Here's an example of what's available right now on each network's signal using piggybacking. Cheapest Sim-only deal examples Use our Data Calc if you're unsure how much you use Ends Wed. O2 2 / 5 ("poor") customer service - 50GB at average '£5.46/mth' over 1yr contract (£8/mth (rising to £10.50/mth on 1 Apr 2027) plus a £48 Amazon or shopping voucher). Cheapest similar deal on the same network: Tesco Mobile, 50GB at £10/mth iD Mobile on Three's signal  3.2 / 5 ("OK") customer service - 40GB at average '£3.30/mth' over 1yr contract (3mths at £4/mth, then £8/mth, plus £44.50 Amazon or shopping voucher). - 120GB at average '£7.42/mth' over 1yr contract (3mths at £2.50/mth, then £10/mth, plus £8.50 Amazon or shopping voucher). Cheapest similar deal on the main network: Three, 30GB at '£8.95/mth.' Lebara on Vodafone's signal 4.3 / 5 ("good") customer service - 50GB at average '£3.25/mth' over 1yr (8mths at £1.70/mth, then £7.90/mth), but 1mth rolling contract. Cheapest similar deal on the main network: Vodafone, 50GB at '£6.80/mth.' TalkMobile on Vodafone's signal 4.2 / 5 ("good") customer service - 100GB at average '£6.45/mth' over 1yr (£8.95/mth, plus a £30 prepaid Mastercard or shopping voucher) Cheapest similar deal on the main network: Vodafone, 120GB at '£7.13/mth.' Spusu on EE's signal 4.4/ 5 ("good") customer service - 5GB at a straight £4.50/mth on 1mth rolling contract. Cheapest similar deal on the main network: EE, 20GB at £9/mth (PAYG). Step 3: To keep your number when switching, text 'PAC' for free to 65075. You'll then get a code to give your new provider, which will transfer your number - usually within one working day. (Do note: some providers may ask for your date of birth to confirm your identity, and this won't work if you're on a contract with more than one phone.) In fact, sometimes when you do this, they fight to try to keep you by offering a much better deal. You could shortcut the process and try this first to see if they do (if you'd rather stick with your current provider). For more help, see Mobile phone haggling.

 

Tomorrow (Wed) is Budget day! How to follow and what's been announced already...  From 12:30pm, follow Martin's live plain-English analysis on X, and watch his instant analysis video on his YouTube channel (do subscribe) not long after the Chancellor sits down. Then gradually through the day, see MSE News for the details on the major consumer finance policy announcements. In fact, we already know a few things ahead of tomorrow... - 'Awful' Carer's Allowance cliff edge set to be scrapped - Mileage allowance for drivers using cars for work to rise - Self-employed new dads to get £194/week paternity pay - New free or cheap loan scheme to buy solar panels, heat pumps and more confirmed. Then a must-watch... 7:15pm Thu - The Martin Lewis Money Show Live: Budget Special. Martin's got no show tonight - instead it's back on Thursday 7:15pm for a Budget special. Clearly he doesn't know everything it'll cover yet, but he'll definitely take you through step-by-step what it really means for the pounds in your pocket, and how to best utilise or minimise the impact of any changes that come. Catch up via ITVX. What Black Friday deals can you expect this year? Amazon, Apple, John Lewis, Boots & more. Even though it's a month away, some deals are expected to launch soon. See our 40+ Black Friday predictions. Martin video. Why a rise in UK rates could see mortgage fixes fall! Fixes have got costlier over the past 6mths even though UK base rates have stayed flat. So what happens next? A snip from the full Mortgage Mayhem Help Martin Lewis Money Show. Related: Understand Loan-To-Value! and last week's How to find the best mortgage help. It's back. Easy FREE £240 cash - biggest upfront bank switch bonus from a fee-free account this year. This offer ended at the start of Oct but it's back again... Newbies switching to the fee-free Santander Everyday account* get a FREE £240 cash within 90 days. To get the cash, pay in £1,500 within 60 days, set up 2+ Direct Debits and put £200 at least once in its linked 1yr 8% variable regular saver. Alternatively, if you're willing to jump through some more hoops, you can still get £300 to switch and stick with the Barclays Bank Account*. Full info and options in Top bank accounts. Battle of the Baileys is on... get a 1L bottle for £10 (normally £22). It didn't hit this price point till Dec in 2025, but three retailers are already offering £10 Baileys. Please be Drinkaware.   Ends 3pm Thu. The cheapest long balance transfer credit card - shift debt to 0% for 3yrs. A balance transfer's where you get a new credit card that pays off your existing cards, so you owe the new card - but at 0% interest. And the long card with by far the lowest fee - Lloyds up to 36mths 0% (2.49% fee) - is getting worse on Thu, when it drops to 35mths. It's an 'up-to' card, so you might not get the full length - our eligibility calc shows what you'll get before you apply. But if you're offered the full 36mths, it's unbeatable. Golden rules: Repay at least the monthly min & clear the card before the 0% ends, or it jumps to 24.9% rep APR interest. Full info & more options in Top balance transfers. £90 spring bulb bundle for £18 delivered. MSE Blagged. 15,000 sets available. Plant now and they should flower for spring next year. Via Thompson & Morgan. Halifax customer? Your online/app banking will be axed THIS WEEK (Sat 31 Oct). Watch our quick explainer on how to switch to Lloyds Bank. Do I pay tax if I sell on eBay? | How to start a credit score? | Doing a budget can change your life! Answers to these listener questions & more in Martin's latest Question Time podcast. Listen via BBC Sounds | Apple | Spotify etc. Savers can you use gilts to earn 8%? | Standing charge to be scapped & budget preview. As well as that explanation of how gilts work, Martin goes through the likely changes coming to energy standing charges and what else he's looking out for in the Budget in the latest episode of Martin's Big Topics pod. Listen via BBC Sounds | Apple | Spotify etc.

 

 

BLAGGED FOR MSE - £90 spring bulb bundle for £18 delivered 15,000 available	DID YOU MISS? - Supermarket coupons: Free £6 cider, free £2 tofu & more - Plug-in solar panels - what are they and are they worth it? - Ends Mon. Smyths 'up to 50% off' toy sale - £397 of beauty in £75 M&S Advent calendar - Disney+ hikes prices AGAIN by up to £24/yr - can you cut costs?

 

 

Seven tips to declutter for max cash (incl new Ikea help)!  "I challenged myself to sell enough for a little Christmas weekend break by decluttering. I've made £821!" At this time of year, we always suggest a home stocktake. Walk round the house and find everything you haven't used since last Christmas, and for each one, ask yourself: 'Do I need it? Is it worth keeping?'. If not, flog it (or give it to charity)! This is a great time to tackle that pile of doom and sell winter coats, festive jumpers, LEGO, consoles and much more. The trick is using the right site for the right job (though committed sellers often list on a few sites and delete them from the others if they sell). So below we'll take you through how to get the best buck for your stuff - but first... 1. Do you pay tax if you sell your old items? Martin explains this in detail in his new pod: 'Do I pay tax if I sell on eBay?. In a nutshell, no - you don't if you're just selling your old stuff. Yet if you're buying or making things to sell you're classed as a trader, and if you make £1,000yr+ from that, your income is taxable. Full help in our Do I pay tax on online earnings? guide. 2. Vinted: For selling clothes and other cheaper bits fast. 70% of 424 MoneySavers said Vinted was the quickest place to sell clothes, shoes and accessories in our recent poll (though after making a sale it often takes 10 days to actually get the cash). It's quick to upload, and you can tempt buyers by offering bulk-buy discounts. Though the customer service is AI-run, so think twice before selling owt pricey. See How to earn £100s via Vinted, including algorithm tricks, making use of reverse image search and how DMs can boost sales. Forumite Milliemoohippo says: "I challenged myself to sell enough for a little Christmas weekend break by decluttering our house in the summer and selling on Vinted. I am blown away with what I have achieved, I made £821!!" 3. eBay: For tech, collectables & pricier items. Customer service is more established than Vinted's, so it's good for selling higher-value things. Use our 40+ eBay-selling secrets guide, which includes the best time to list, how to check the going rate using your phone's camera, and how you could be sitting on a hidden goldmine of retro goods such as digicams. Forumite GadgetGuru says: "I've sold around 90 items on eBay over the year, probably over £10k - my gaming computer, external SSD drives and my action camera collection, plus small bits and pieces as well." 4. Facebook Marketplace: Shift bulky furniture for free. With no fees for buyers and fast sales, Facebook Marketplace should be your first port of call for selling bulky and/or breakable collection-only items. While you need to be prepared for the odd no-show, you'll get cash in hand if the buyer's happy with your item - meaning same-day payouts. Our Facebook selling tips include what sells best and how to price your wares. 5. Can't face the faff of listing items? Try trade-in sites for tech (mobiles, CDs, DVDs, games, books, etc). While eBay often nets max cash, for speed and ease - especially if you're selling lots of items - plug 'em into trade-in sites to see how much you'd get. Eg, we found one site paying £184 for a 128GB iPhone 14. See Sell Old Mobiles and how to sell old games, CDs, DVDs and books. 6. New. IKEA launches second-hand marketplace for unwanted furniture. The Swedish flat-pack retailer's new collection-only reselling site could be worth a look. Launched this month, right now it has no fees, and you get 15% extra if you take your payout as an IKEA gift card rather than cash. For our full comparison of how it compares to other platforms, see Get cash for your Kallax. 7. From wine corks to pine cones, your junk may be others' treasure. A surprising range of items that many would normally throw out can actually be sold online, sometimes for big money. As forumite sidewayssyd says: "I had 12 copies of Autocourse magazine from the 60s/70s. One was really rare and made almost £970. The rest made £100 to £150 each." But even more basic items can be flogged too. Eg, we found empty jam jars fetching an average 35p each, wine corks 8p and pine cones 13p. There have even been dozens of sales of old loo roll tubes in the past 3mths too. See our Flog your rubbish guide for the full list of what we've seen sell and how to do it. PS: We've focused on ways to make money from stuff you don't use. But if you'd prefer to support a worthy cause, donate to a charity shop instead (it's best to call first, to see what they are and aren't accepting).

 

Millions of £150 Warm Home Discount letters being sent by the Govt. Are you due one? Around six million households now qualify for this winter's £150 discount off electricity bills. It's automatic in Eng, Wal and most of Scot (not available in NI) - though some still need to apply. Letters are being sent now (until Jan 27) - full help, incl how to tell if your letter is genuine, in Warm Home Discount news. Half-term helpers: Kids eat 'free' or for £1, Halloween freebies & more. Avoid spending horror-shows - MSE Hope shows you how to have a spook-tacular spend-free or cheap half-term. 5,000 FREE pairs of £16ish Ideal Christmas Show tickets. London Olympia, 26-29 Nov. Also gets free entry to The Cake & Bake Show at the same venue. Free tickets Warning. Booking days out over half-term? Third-party ticket sites often don't include big discounts for families, students, carers & more. Always check if you can save by booking direct. See our full concessions analysis. 'I ordered a carpet washer using MSE's Blagged code - I'm so thankful.' Success of the week. Something a little different this week from MoneySaver Joanne, who emailed us: "I saw the link to get a Vax carpet washer [now sold out]. I was so thankful as I'd been thinking with my arthritis that I really needed an upright carpet cleaner. I ordered & just three days later, it arrived. Thank you to everyone who works so hard to help us save money and get amazing offers... No more fear of tackling carpet issues due to my health issues." Be first in line to hear about new MSE deals by adding Vax (or 100s of other retailers) as a 'Favourite' on the MSE app (not on desktop). And if we've helped you save on anything, please let us know. Last chance. Got Eurostar loyalty points? Use 'em before Thu (29 Oct) to max your miles.

 

 

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS Top 0% balance transfers Top definite 0% card: HSBC (check eligibility; existing customers use this link), 36mths 0%, 3.09% fee, 24.9% rep APR No-fee: Barclaycard (check eligibility) 12mths 0% 24.9% rep APR Best bank accounts Free up to £300: Barclays New. Free £240: Santander Broadband top picks Fast fibre (100Mb+): Sky '£20.05/mth' Superfast fibre (500Mb+): Vodafone '£22.96/mth' Ultrafast fibre (900Mb+): Sky '£23.80/mth' On Universal Credit or similar? Check all discounted social tariffs Insurance Car: Use our Compare+ Car Insurance tool Home: Use our Compare+ Home Insurance tool Travel: Use our Compare+ Travel Insurance tool Cheap loans £5,000 to £7,499: M&S Bank (check eligibility), 6.9% representative APR £7,500 to £15,000: M&S Bank (check eligibility), 5.9% representative APR Top savings accounts Top easy-access savings: Cahoot 5%, min £1 Top easy-access ISA: Trading 212 4.87%, min £1 Top one-year fix: Afin Bank 5.15%, min £1,000 Top energy deals Use our whole-of-market Cheap Energy Club Cheap Sims Up to 3GB data: Lebara, '£2.80/mth' for 3GB 4GB to 9GB data: Lebara, '£2.85/mth' for 5GB 10GB to 30GB data: Lebara, '£2.99/mth' for 10GB 31GB+ data: Lebara, '£3.25/mth' for 50GB

 

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA Can I ask to have my saxophone back after two decades? As a school kid, I learned to play the saxophone, passed a few grades and eventually bought my own. When I went to uni, I lost interest and lent it to a family friend who'd make use of it. Two decades later, I'd like to start playing again - but a similar saxophone now costs at least £800. I'm still in touch with the friend and know they still have it, so would it be rude to ask for it back? Or is there an unspoken 'statute of limitations' on reclaiming something you lent out years ago? Enter the Money Moral Maze: Can I ask for my saxophone back? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma (MMD) | View past MMDs

 

QUICK DEALS - Boots: £39 (normally £85) for £92 of No7 skincare in 'Star Gift' - Costa Coffee: £1 regular-sized drink (normally £2-£4) at 1,600+ Co-op stores this Fri - Wine: 25% off six or more bottles at five supermarkets - Odeon: Five tickets for £25 for any 2D movie till 15 Nov, claim by Fri - Cooplands: FREE hot drink at 150+ locations in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the North East See more of the latest deals & vouchers.

 

 

MSE TEAM BLOG - Forum highlights: Pear trees, comping wins and a 'Sealed Pot Challenge' update

 

 

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 28 OCT ONWARDS) Thu 29 Oct - The Martin Lewis Money Show Live: Budget Special, ITV1, 7:15pm Tue 3 Nov - This Morning, ITV1, 10:20am

 

 

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