Found this little trick last year. Switch to Google play subscription and make sure you don't have enough Google store credit to renew so maybe unlink your card. Once the month expires it gives you another two weeks full access with a little text prompt on the main menu that renewal is due. Allow the two weeks to lapse then renew for the next month. It'll only start the month from the day you renew so the previous two weeks haven't cost you anything. Rinse and repeat 👍

I’m tired of mid contract price hikes and hassle of moving out of ISP after contract to avoid ridiculous off contract prices. I’m thinking of buying a 5G unlocked router from Amazon (£180) and using a monthly contract unlimited data sim (around £25) a month as opposed to getting fiber broadband.

Obviously, upfront cost is high but according to current prices, you breakeven after 2 and a half years, because the lowest broadband (150mbps) is around £25 a month + £3 per month increase in every April. I checked 5G speed in my iPhone inside my house and it gives a decent 200-250mbps.

My question is why not many people don’t do this? Are there reasons I’m not aware of??

Hi, I'm booking flights to Berlin for May with Ryanair and I was wondering the cheapest way to go about it? Best cashback/discount codes etc? Thanks!

For me it was right this second as I’m sat on the toilet trying to hypothesise the most efficient way to use toilet paper (what is the answer btw?)

Hey,

I'm really hoping it won't come to this but my personal circumstances have changed and I need to find somewhere to live asap. If I can't work out something ideal, I want to have a safety net of something that will just do for a period of time. I thought "bedsit" but I can't figure out how to find them. Everything on spare room.com is as much if not more than renting a whole flat.

Where the heck should I be looking?

NW UK for reference.

Edit: I'm near Liverpool.

I know about the prescription in my region. But I was wondering about anything further.

Hi all,

I feel a bit guilty writing this but who uses their TV licence nowadays? I am thinking to stop mine which I know a lot of younger people do as they don’t use it either, but I know it also helps the older generations who do still use it, and if everyone stops paying it they would probably be charged for it too.

Let me know your thoughts. I don’t want to directly not help them anymore but I honestly don’t use it either. It is a catch 22 situation

Update : thanks everyone for your comments :). I must admit I have found it a little annoying also that I pay for Netflix and the BBC are selling their programs to them (so feels like double payment). I know what to do :) thank you all!

Sorry, poorly worded title but my gas bill has shot up alarmingly recently and it's getting to thr point where I simply cannot afford to pay it. According to my provider I have used 3768kwh since 1st Jan alone. I live alone in a 2 bed property, have a smart meter and have been here for 15 years and always used more electric than gas.

I've started tracking my daily usage through the app and have noticed its clocking around £8-£12 per day when the property is unoccupied or when there's low consumption (ie a no heating, no cooking at home day).

On days when I do use heating or cook etc its hitting close to £20 a day.

I've had 2 independent gas engineers rule out leaks and there are no appliances that are constantly running that use gas.

My energy providers response is "yes it is unusually high consumption but unless its a leak, it is what it is". What are my options realistically as they are refusing to budge.

Update: thanks all. I will rule out a hot water pipe leak first, and then try my gas provider again and if they refuse to accept its a faulty meter I'll contact the ombudsman.

I wear plain coloured t-shirts more or less around the clock, and generally just buy cheap and treat as disposable. Want to invest a bit in some better quality that will a: be more comfortable and generally look nicer material etc and b: last as long as possible, with regular washing.

Which brand would people recommend?

Hi

I'm looking for some input. I'm non binary with stupidly short legs (under 5 foot).

I'm just wondering if people have tips for looking well put together and fashionable on a low-income. My weight fluctuates a lot within a 5kg range (from size 10 women's fitting perfectly to size 12 fitting a bit too snug). Does is make sense to just buy 2 sizes of everything?

Have been using vented because it has more petite second hand options but end up getting a lot of things I don't like because I can't try them on first.

I always look a bit scruffy and I want to improve this, especially because I'm poor I don't want to be judged

Loads of companies out there offering decent deals for roaming on payg e-sims, but just had an absolutely terrible experience with Lycamobile where I arrived in Bulgaria and couldn't get it to connect to data - support was shocking and absolutely no help at all. Had to hop on wi-fi networks like it was 2010 😂

For context, have a work mobile but wanted to add an e-sim so I can use my own data for holidays and hotspot for the kids.

Any recommendations? Mainly roaming Europe. Preferably on the EE network for back home.

Searched but I can't see it having been posted recently. I've just noticed in the Lidl+ app I've got a £5 off a £40 spend voucher which is valid from 29th to today. Doesn't seem to be store-specific either. Worth checking your coupons I'd you have the app & we're going to shop there anyway today.

is there any website or app comparable to https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/ but for groceries? I already know about Trolley, but AFAIK there's no alert mechanism. something like this ideally:

1. select product (ideally you don't need to select a store here, it would just have all the major ones: Tesco, ASDA, Morrisons...)
2. set price threshold or "any discount"
3. enter email
4. email arrives when price drops as specified

Hi there!

We are a shared flat in london, area w5. For a reason or another, also being a student from abroad, I know nothing about bills and providers and never had to navigate this choice so please explain like you would to a kid (with a drinking licence, but still a kid)

Our fixed price contract with Octopus ended and we ended up paying a lot with the last bill, too much.

Our gas usage is almost 1600kw

Our electricity usage is 2900/3000kw.

Which provider seems to be the best for this usage?

I'm researching PAYG sim cards and it seems nowadays they almost operate like monthly contracts. And its no longer about topping up with credit and only buying more when needed, instead you need to buy-in every month.

Are there any truly PAYG providers out there still?

I saw another thread that suggested Lyca, Giffgaff, Tesco and Asda as 'true' PAYG, but they all now dont roll over and you need to buy data every month.

Im actually just after an additional number so that I can log into my increasing amount of online accounts for my business, and amazon and google only allow you to link a set amount with each number. Perhaps I dont need to top up data each month to receive log in texts?

Hi all, my wife has had these automatically searched discount codes pop up on many websites (Argos is the example) when she's ready to check out on her android phone.

I've used Google Lens to look for the "K" icon and searched her chrome settings and installed apps but can't find it anywhere.

Id love to know what it is, I could definitely do with it too!

Image: https://imgur.com/a/Pi7tsyJ

Thanks

I make a call to EU phone numbers around 2x a month, for 10-15 minutes each time. I used to use Skype's PAYG option, but this has been killed off with no warning at the end of last year. Now Skype wants me to buy a monthly plan, which I don't want to do as it costs around 5-8x my usual monthly spend with their PAYG rates, and they don't even offer one for the specific countries I usually need to make calls to. What's the best alternative out there currently?

All the ones I've came across don't work.

I am an avid gym goer.

I do my regularly shops at Aldi and is very local to me, I also have no problem with the prices I pay. As however I am somebody who needs to hit high protein macros, what shops or websites are best for this?

I just cannot justify spending however much on protein powder and protein bars. I recently brought Grenade Bars too good to go which was good so I was wondering if there were any other websites similar.

I have no issue with out of date protein powders or bars etc either, they have so much chemicals in they probably last a lifetime.

Currently with Talk Talk, their standard offer for renewal...

From £28 a month, increasing to £31 from April 2025 then to £34 in April 2026 (average £32pm over the 2 years)

Vodafone deal on MSE, which I will probably sign up to...

The current price £22. A price rise to £25 on 1 Apr 2025. A price rise to £28 on 1 Apr 2026 (Comes with a £100 Amazon voucher, so over 24 months, average is effectively £21.59pm over 2 years.)

Of course once I sign up to Vodafone, Talk Talk might counter offer once they get the move notice from Vodafone and then it's a quick call to cancel Vodafone.

Does anyone know of any better deals? (only need around 60mb)

Any views if retention teams have more budget for give aways at the end of a month vs. a beginning of a month?

Thanks

I seem to burn through data very fast, how do I find out what is using data and stop it? Samsung Galaxy phone, provider is O2 but it was just as bad with Three.

Any recommendations on energy & cost efficient heaters to heat up a 2 bed flat with very little insulation?

Thanks

Hi all,

Interested in any suggestions for best value bulk buying beer.

I'm assuming it will be something from Aldi, or Lidl, but open to suggestions !

TIA

hi, I am looking for suggestions on which casual daily shoes to buy. My uses are walking daily and working around. Currently i am using the basic shoes from mountain warehouse they are good rain proof shoes unfortunately the soles are not good i.e - do not provide support in muddy or icy weather so hard to use them in rainy and snowy days for walking or general day to day in those weather.

Sketchers daily one is comfortable and good to walk an all rounder but not splash proof so gets wet and suitable only during months with no 'r' in them.

Looking for an all rounder as mentioned above, to walk and work day to day. I am not looking for cheap option as i went down the route and burnt myself buying ultra cheap ones. Looking for a mid range reliable one which doesnot cost my bank.

Hiya folks,

I've just moved to the UK and have no idea about ISPs and Mbps. Can anyone recommend a good, cheap ISP? I'll wfh a few days so it needs to be good enough for a few video calls a day, but otherwise I don't tend to stream much media.

Cheers in advance!

I plugged my new smart heater via the energy monitor plug on my tapo device and the app is reporting a very low usage for the whole day

I know the heater is efficient but 0.034 kWh for the whole day seems to be too low

On the bar graph of the daily usage, 1 Hour's usage does not go over, 0.005

Is this an issue with the tapo plug range or is it just me setting something up wrong?

Hi, every now and then an Amazon misprice will pop up on hotdeals. I managed to get a 6 pack of deodorant for 2 pounds. I don't see many on there now. Are there any other sites or groups that highlight them?

Sorry if not appropriate!

Looking to buy a switch for myself & partner. Has anyone bought off Facebook / eBay? I was thinking cex/ refurbished but doesn’t seem that much cheaper than new.

Thanks for any response

Hello,

I have never been great with money, even since I was small (when I would spend every last penny of my pocket money compared to my sister who would save hers). I spent years, each month paying what I needed to pay that month (school uniform, car insurance, car maintenance), and then complaining each month I have nothing left instead of saving ahead

I want to change this and have been making big changes to cut costs, and have made a very good budget with strict allocations to categories which I have stuck to. It has a section for direct debits which I have fixed to only necessities and removed unneeded ones, and a section to save ahead an amount for pre planned costs like insurance, my sons school uniform and for when he needs new clothes etc

I need some advice on this first year, when I have allocated a certain amount per month to save for the year ahead, on how to manage those costs which weren’t saved on 100% for this year. For example my car insurance is due in March and expected to be around £500 (has gone up with a LOT of local thefts unseen before the last year). With my new budget with allocated amounts for the year, I have saved £100 for car insurance (£50 a month) but because of when it is due I will be in deficit. This will be the same for the first year for eg. School uniform. Should I make a budget this first year which changes each month to take this into account/ is highly restrictive to make sure I have enough by the time it is due? Should I cut back on what I allocated to food shopping and just have a tight few months from other areas? Please can I have some suggestions to manage this?

I really appreciate your support :)