Money Saving Amy: Welcome to a spring full of fabulous bargains and offers

“Remarksable" value

Let’s start this week's tips talking about Marks and Spencer’s “remarksable” range. Having seen this mentioned a lot lately I had to go and check it out for myself, and was amazed with the results. The first thing I spotted were bananas, a staple in our house, at 90p per kg they are also amazing value and a bunch of seven bananas cost me just 82p. I then headed to look for a few more household staples, and couldn’t believe that both a loaf of bread, and a box of cornflakes are both only 75p each! Then I had grab the beans, at 25p for a small tin, and 45p for a large tin, their amazing value, and I’d heard that they were better than Heinz. So I headed home to do a taste test on those! I can confirm, they’re very good and of course a fraction of the price.

Now the savings don’t stop there, most supermarkets offer 2.5-four per cent cash back on apps such as Jam Doughnut, but Marks and Spencer’s offer five per cent back (these stated amounts are base rates, and quite often these percentages are boosted!) therefore, shopping the value range and using a cash back gift card, could actually result in your shopping being even cheaper from Marks and Spencer’s than one of the big supermarkets. Now that’s food for thought!

Boots 90 per cent off sale!

My next money saving tip this week is that Boots sale has now reached a huge 90 per cent off so it may be worth checking your local store for some bargains, last year I grabbed some bath bombs and lip glosses and saved them for Christmas, I paid only around 50p per product! And if you’re wanting to make even more savings on the Boots sale, you can recycle five items at the Boots Scan2Recycle box in return for 500 (£5) bonus points on a £10+ spend. You can recycle your household empty toiletries such as mini sample bottles, baby wipes, nappy packets, face wipe packets, toothbrushes, toothbrush heads, sanitary towels and lots more. The full list is on the Boots Scan2Recycle website. Then as if that’s not enough of a saving, you can do a third saving, all on the same transaction, make sure you’re signed up to Airtime Rewards and pay with the card linked to your Airtime account and you’ll receive five per cent back to redeem against your phone bill! Alternatively, instead of using a card to pay so your transaction tracks on Airtime, you could instead use a Jam Doughnut gift card for three to four per cent cash back, this Jam Doughnut gift card can be used with the scan2recycle scheme too.

A brilliant side hustle

Perhaps you’re starting to think about summer plans, holidays and beach trips, and wanting to save some money in advance. I’ve got the perfect side hustle for you, mystery shopping! If you’re looking for a flexible side hustle, with the freedom to pick and choose jobs when and where you want, then this side hustle is for you. Mystery shopping can range from buying, trying and reviewing free food to free bowling and meals out, to checking products on supermarket shelves, or checking promotional posters in pubs and lots more. Here’s a quick round up of my favourite apps:

•Roamler

•Shepper

•Smart Spotter

•BeMyEye

•Field agent

I would recommend having all five of these apps, as they all have a wide range of jobs in various locations, but often lots are in supermarkets, meaning you could complete multiple jobs during your weekly food shop.

Other apps and website I recommend are:

•Pro Insight

•Silent customer

•Product tube

If you have any questions on mystery shopping, feel free to message me on my Instagram, @_moneysavingamy, where I’d be happy to help.