Once you've read this, don't forget to give your friends an early Christmas present by sending on the link!... http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/discounts
This is Money is all about helping you make more money and spend less. So what better than codes for all the latest online shopping discounts in the run-up to Christmas...
http://www.selfridges.com/index.cfm?page=1222 - 20% off at Selfridges up until 3 December
http://www.dorothyperkins.co.uk - use code DPMN29 for free delivery and 15% off anything
http://www.oasis-stores.com - use code GLAMOUR06 for 20% off anything
http://www.usc.co.uk - use code SDM20 for 20% off anything till Sunday
http://www.missselfridge.co.uk - use code MSGL15 for 15% off anything
http://www.faith.co.uk - use code 150906 for 15% off till 2nd December
http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk - use code URBAN1 to get £10 off if you spend £50
http://www.asos.co.uk - use code HSBC182116 to get 15% off
http://www.warehouse.co.uk - use code MCY291006 to get 20% off till 30th December
http://www.next.co.uk - free p&p if you use code K8004
http://www.powderrooms.com - use code 4E5KT for 20% off
http://www.hannahzakari.com - use code hzhb10 for 10% off
http://www.hqhair.com - use code BEAUTYBIBLE for 10% off
Also, bear in mind Boots' triple points offer from 1st December until Wednesday 5th December. It's equivalent to 12% off - Boots.co.uk
- Andrew Oxlade, Editor, This is Money
Some more offers - for wine lovers, by Richard Browning This is Money
Virgin Wine has a half-price offer that gets you 12 bottles of decent plonk delivered to your door for around £4 a bottle plus £6 p+p.
http://www.virginwines.com/main/rules.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674431025&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723697399723&aff=virgin&bmUID=1163146284349
Or if you join the wine club you get it even cheaper:
http://www.virginwines.com/main/rules.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674431088&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723697675297&aff=virgin&bmUID=1163146284246
I should add that the one time I used Virgin Wine just about everything they could have messed up, they did. But they apologised and offered a money-off voucher for next time. So may be worth a try.
At least the Virgin sale kicks Thresher's hateful 3 for 2 offer - that forces customers to buy three bottles at a time because a single bottle is so exhorbitant - several miles into touch.
And Thresher's much-publicised 40% discount offer is also of dubious value because the wines at Thresher's are massively overpriced in the first place - unless of course you're duped into buying three bottles. (The 40% offer requires you to pay the full price). 40% off £6.99 for a bottle of wine is still £4.20.
Read more about Thresher's offer here:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=415253&in_page_id=3&ito=1453
The Co-op is always a good bet for tracking down good wine, and their special offers often have reasonable enough bottles for £2.99.
They've also won awards for their own-brand wines:
http://www.co-op.co.uk/foodretail/news_article.php?news_ID=363
But sorry folks, the best prices are still across the Channel.
If you're going to Calais, print off the vouchers for 10% of at supermarket Auchan:
http://www.auchancalais.com/listevouchers.asp
And check out the wine prices (you need to scroll along to find the Alcools, vin page):
http://www.auchandirect.fr/
Sainsbury's Calais has some 50%-off offers
http://sainsburyscalais.co.uk/
Convenient but pricey is Carrefour at Cite de L'Europe. There's some offer coupons on their site:
http://cite-europe.carrefour.fr/
Intermarche is usually great value for wine and open Sunday mornings throughout the year but they don't show prices yet on the website.
http://www.intermarche-calais.com/
ED is stupidly good value in my experience - though the stores can get overcrowded - and has put its catalogue online:
http://www.paruvendu.fr/html/adserver/campagnes/ed.htm
Majestic pays your ferry fare if you spend £300
http://www.majestic.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=-1
The Eastenders booze warehouse never shuts
http://www.eastenders-calais.com/
Finally, check out Day Tripper for a round-up of offers and vouchers
http://www.day-tripper.net/x-xmasshopping.html
Or stop drinking:
http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/
And don't forget the websites that aggregate the vouchers
Says Nick of Sendmediscounts.co.uk: 'Shops sometimes give out coupon codes which if the user enters them, usually in a promotional code box at the checkout stage of the buying process, will reduce the sale by the amount the coupon is valid for. For example "10% off a spend of £100 or more".
'Many shops, such as John Lewis, Currys and Comet offer these, which are basically the digital version of the supermarket coupons.
'I operate a site that lists the latest codes given to us by the merchants themselves, called Sendmediscounts.co.uk. In the interests of partiality there are other similar sites around as well, such as hotukdeals, and UKFrenzy.'
Try them here:
http://www.sendmediscounts.co.uk/
http://www.hotukdeals.com/vouchers-static
http://www.ukfrenzy.co.uk/
I'm the first to put my hand up when I've got it wrong. And yes, on the face of it, it doesn't look good. But bear with me while I restate my argument.
I never claimed to have some inside track on how Standard Life shares would perform. My point was that the majority of people receiving shares only take a passing interest in the stock market and individual shares - my dad included - and that they didn't have the interest/time to keep a close eye and make an informed decision.
Shares are volatile (as if you need reminding follow the roller coaster of recent weeks). So my advice to the majority of 1.5m not experienced in share trading was to sell the Standard Life shares and put the money into a fund. Unit trusts, Oeics and investment trusts will invest your money in anything from 30 to 400 shares, spreading (and reducing) the risk.
My original blog urged readers to check out fund tips that we'd gathered from independent financial advisers. One of the recommendations was the Jupiter Emerging European Opportunities, a fund in which I invest. It has powered ahead more than 20% since last summer. The other funds tipped have all had decent performance - and taking far lower risks than holding a single stock.
So the moral of the story involves eggs, but not on my face... when investing, don't put all your eggs in one basket.
- Andrew Oxlade, Editor, This is Money
>> This is Money's share school - www.thisismoney.co.uk/shareschool
>> This is Money's latest fund tips - www.thisismoney.co.uk/fundtips
>> All This is Money's news and advice about Standard Life shares - www.thisismoney.co.uk/standardlife