Team Blog

There's been a bumper crop of donations to charity shops this summer, thanks to people's lockdown clear-outs. Charities want you to take advantage, so we've rounded up our top tricks and tips to help you find the best items – including where to head for designer clobber, spotting sales and buying online.

I've been digging about in pots of dirt for a few years, and I want to share with you my 'greenprint' in the form of top MoneySaving tips to grow your indoor garden from one plant into a hundred. With this as inspiration, plus sun, water and a bit of your own trial and error, your ceiling's the limit.

I wrote this round-up in March last year, at the start of the first national lockdown. But with each part of the UK now back in some form of lockdown, and many of us struggling to keep ourselves entertained, it feels like a good time to remind you of some of the best free games you can download for an iOS or an Android device.

Salons and barbers are once again temporarily closed across the UK due to lockdown restrictions. If you're in need of a haircut you might be tempted to take matters, and the scissors or clippers, into your own less-than-qualified hands – so this blog is here to offer some dos and don'ts from the MSE team and fellow MoneySavers who've tried it, plus a few video tutorials from the pros.

As getting together with overseas relatives looks unlikely this year sadly, many will be posting treats instead. Whether you want to send make-up to Melbourne, a wetsuit to Warsaw or a toy T-Rex to Texas, the obvious answer's to scurry to the post office – but the cost can add up, especially for heavier parcels.

Face coverings are now mandatory on public transport in the UK, as well as in shops, so sewing your own could save you money. I'm going to show you two ways to make masks, or alternatively where to buy the cheapest ready-made versions.

As a cat lover living in a sixth-floor flat in London, getting a cat full-time never seemed fair – especially as I like to travel occasionally. I thought I was doomed to live a miserable, cat-less existence... until I started researching dog fostering for our MoneySaving for dog owners guide, and discovered the RSPCA needed cat fosterers too.

There's nothing like watching your child take their wobbly first bike ride – the only issue is as soon as you buy your wannabe Laura Kenny one bike, they seem to outgrow it and need another. One solution to this, The Bike Club, lets you rent decent cycles from £5/month (plus joining and other fees), then swap them once they're too small. It's a nice idea, but can it really beat buying? We've crunched the numbers...

Audible has made the world of audiobooks accessible – yet buying one-off titles can be costly, sometimes £30+. If you're devouring several a month while spending time at home during the current lockdown, the cost can soon stack up.

It's my Mum's 69th birthday on Wednesday 5th February. Well, it would've been had we not lost her at 55 to cancer. We've been forced to celebrate many occasions without her for over a decade, but this year I've decided it's time for me to celebrate my MoneySaving Mum and how she taught me all I know.