The MoneySavingExpert

A lot of you have probably already heard of Martin Lewis, the MoneySavingExpert. He's been on tv a lot over time and even if you haven't heard of him directly I bet you people will have passed on tips they got through him, his website or his newsletter. He's even got a team of people these days, dedicated to giving you sound financial tips and finding the best bargains.

I've been getting his newsletters for years now - I'm too young for a lot of their articles to be relevant to me, but I found it great for knowing when sales were coming up and keeping on top of freebies. As I embark on a new journey getting a flat with Tom, I've been finding the emails more and more useful - finding home insurance, electricity suppliers, even just getting some freebie toothpaste samples to keep the cost of living down! I find myself looking forward to the weekly emails and scouring through their freebies board regularly. Today alone I got 2 toothpaste samples (Aquafresh & Oral-B) and a Dove Conditioner sample. In the past I got a weeks' worth of Garnier body moisturiser samples and a free 3 month TasteCard too!

And that's just the free stuff! Not to mention how much I must have saved following his advice on comparison sites. My car insurance was £400 cheaper this year, which is just incredible. I don't pay Home Insurance yet, but through these emails I know exactly where will get me the cheapest quotes with the smallest amount of effort. Same will go for electricity rates when I look into that. Better yet - I'll even be getting cashback from going through a particular site! When I get a credit card I'll be looking to these emails for advice on the best rates and best rewards that come with them.
In short, I'll be running my financial life based on these emails. Of course common sense will come into it and I won't be jumping into any stupid contracts just because an email said so, I'm talking figuratively here! But you get what I mean. :)

This may all sound very boring to you - who cares about my freebies and finances? My point is not that I'm happy about my freebies (although trust me - I am!), it's that if you're not getting his emails already you should be. You may only want to for keeping on top of the latest finance news, or you could use them for keeping your own cost of living down. There's advice on the best bank accounts, credit cards, insurance companies, a budgeting tool to help assess your finances and plenty of free apps for various different things. It would be crazy not to take advantage of all there is on offer - especially as it's delivered straight to your inbox for free!

I have to say I'm a little bit in love with these emails... how about you?