Two very useful websites for saving money

I thought that today I'd give you all a break from medical news, and tell you instead about two websites that I use regularly to save money whilst shopping online. If you are lucky you can combine them and save even more!

The first is HotUKDeals, at http://www.hotukdeals.com/. This site has two main features. Members of the site post deals that they have come across for a wide range of goods, so if you are looking for almost anything it's worth checking this site first, as all the research leg-work has already been done for you. However, deals which feature on this site do tend to run out quickly, so you need to be prompt! The second aspect of this site is that it lists voucher codes for a range of suppliers. To give a simple example, I was due for an eye-test last week so I looked on HotUKDeals and found a half price discount code at Dolland & Aitchison. I printed it out and took it in and saved £13.50 just for taking the time to visit this site.

The second site worth book-marking is Quidco, at http://www.quidco.com/. Quidco is a really clever idea which makes use of the fact that every time you use Google or another search engine to find something which you subsequently buy, that site is paid commission (called referrer commission). It is basically one of the main mechanisms that search sites use to fund themselves. The neat thing about Quidco is that it acts as a member's co-operative and the commission earned is paid to you, less a small annual fee (about £5), which is deducted from your earnings to cover costs. I was staggered to find that last year I saved over £380 from using Quidco. That's quite a lot for a small amount of effort, I think you'll agree?!