Universal credit and UK benefits are leaving people hungry and without heat, this list may help you buy more food.
It's no secret that recently in the news and around your towns you are hearing the plights of people receiving universal credit and not being able to eat and adequately heat their homes. I've made a resource of places to get help online and unconventional ways to make your shopping money stretch.
The most important areas that I've heard people need help with is the cost of food and their utility bills, so please stay a while check out my list and see if anything works for you, some things can be done over and over again to help cut the cost and a few are one-offs.
Food for less
1. My top pick is the app too good to go, it allows food left at the end of the day to be sold in 'magic bags you get £12 of food for £3.50 from various shops from local places to costa, Wenzel's,hotelsMorrisonshotel Morrison and local takeaways Morrisons offers grocery magic bags on there as well as butchers if they are in your area it really is amazing and great value for money.
You probably have already signed up for deliveroo and uber eats, but if you haven't this is the time to start.
Deliveroo
sign up deliver- get 10 off there are often promotions running so check if there are promos on restaurants or groceries you like before you use your first order. You can refer a friend and get some money off your next order. The loophole here is you and your partner at the same address can each sign up as long as each has their own debit or credit card and phone number and email so can use the offer twice. deliveroo- get 10 off
Uber Eats
Sign up Uber eats -£10 OFF This is a great offer with uber eats now delivering Iceland express ,this code allows £10 off a thirty-pound order , that could be free meat for a few dinners that you would have bought anyway at the shops. You can do this again with a partner so get essentially 20 off you could also refer your partner with your code and get another £10 off making this worth £30 of free groceries or food.
Getir
Sign up to Getir its a great app that delivers food very fast and has a good selection, it has one of the best introduction offers of all the delivery apps,£10 OFF AN ELEVEN POUND ORDER. This also gives firstthe three orders free delivery so spend a pound and have eleven quids of shopping delivered. This can be used a few times as household members can all take advantage of the offer as long as separate phones payment methods and email we used this offer 3 times that was 3 pounds spent and received £30 pounds of free food. They have milk, bread , meat ,toiletries, and household supplies.
Amazon groceries
Amazon fresh first order -£20 0FF sixty spend with code FIRST20 you can also take a prime trial for thirty days free so you can use amazon fresh without paying the subscription and just cancel before the month ends. There is also an offer for your first Morrisons order through amazon which you can also pick click and collect and these are available the same day, I find Morrisons cheaper when ordering groceries from amazon.
Go puff
Sign up to GoPuff-£10 pounds off your friends can refer family members or friends and you will also get £10 off the order as well. They are very reasonably priced compared to other delivery apps and also have a reward system called puff points, these points can be redeemed for a percentage off your order offer or £5, £10, £25 off any order.
Shopium -
This is a lovely very well trusted app that I've used alot ,it has offers for items that when you buy from the shop if you upload a receipt it will give you the cash back for the item into your bank .YOU can get items completely free as you can be reimbursed fully for the item you would have bought anyway.
Get a FREE can of Pringles! Download the Shopmium app and use my referral code 6me8e8
😊 shopmium free big can of pringles sign up
I've got a great free can of big pringles when you use my code to sign up, just purchase upload the receipt and it's completely free as you are fully reimbursed. This is done very quickly a day normally. Plus refer tour mates and they can get a free item and it £3 per person you refer.
Places to make a few extra quid into PayPal or bank account.
Swagbucks
Swagbucks sign up 300 swag points free sign up -
This site allows you to earn points that can be redeemed for PayPal or gift card, gift card codes delivered through email. I have mentioned this site as it's tested and true and has a good reputation for paying out online online, unlike a few others. The way I use this site is before I make a purchase, for example, I download a game on my phone that I want I
I will check if I can get some point downloading through Swagbucks first, I also use it when I needed life insurance quotes or to buy a now pass for a month.
There are surveys on this site and offers you can do to earn more points but I generally get quite bored with these so use them just for purchases I have to make anyway. If you have a bit more patience than myself you could easily reach £20 to £30 pounds a week in earnings, more if you have bigger purchases to make as well as completing games and surveys.
When you sign up through my link you will get 300 swag points free, I save 700 swag points which lets me redeem it for a MasterCard prepaid email code for £5. I can spend it anywhere online, I let it add up through natural purchases but you can try harder and earn more or opt for a PayPal payment instead of the MasterCard or visa code.
sign up to Slice the pie - paid to watch adverts and review music
This is one of my favourite sites for just doing a couple of minutes here and there,you will not get rich doing this but you can reach a PayPal payment threshold very easily.
The premise of this site is you get paid to write a small review after watching a tv advert or a song you submit it and get paid to your balance simple as that, there is a star rating system which once you move up the stars will get a higher price each review.
An example of how it works: watch the ad (2 minutes) fill in the review box (2 minutes) get paid into your balance and withdraw once at £10 pound10 pound to PayPal .
Rates of pay can vary for what you're reviewing ,an for a advert I get about 26 pence per one,a small soundbite I get from 6 pence to maybe 11 pence.So this definitely wont make you rich but pay does increase the more you review. If you just are short 10 pounds for the electric meter then this would come in handy,i suggest you start making a balance before you might need it .
Free money from offers -This can sometimes entail a minimum spend (not off scam sites only reputable companies that you see everywhere like on tv and would instantly no the brand ,thats what i stick to)
The Go Henry card
-Hey! We're using GoHenry, a kids' prepaid debit card & financial education app. It's great for pocket money, tasks and building money skills.
Sign up using my link and get 20 free pocket money
Free £20 credited to a prepaid card for you to spend how you like and the possibility to make it £40 pounds quite easily.
One of the best offers i have found that is reliable and does pay i also trust them as they are established and have tried the offer myself .
Sign up for a go henry account ,they make debit cards for kids that parents can control and add money to in return for chores etc, on sign up you will given a month free access to the service which costs 3.99 normally and a debit card sent to your address for your child to use this card is free . You will have a parent account to add money to it on sign up add 5 to the parent account , wait for the card to turn up activate it on your parent app and then add your 5 pounds to the childs card from the parent app Go Henry will then add a free £20 credit to the childs card automatically . The initial £5 from the parent account can be withdrawn back to the parent account leaving a free £20 to be spent on the debit card.
If you then refer someone like a sister or brother who may have a child they will get £20 free and you will also get £20 free to your childs card as the referrer. I suppose if you have family who financially are much better off they may let you infact keep the 20 pound credited to their new card aswell as the referral reward of £20 you get .
Cashapp
Instantly withdrawable free £5 to your bank account transfers in seconds.
Sign up using cashapp add my referral code to get s free 5 pound .
Have you seen Cash App? Try it using my code and we’ll each get £5. ZWJNMLR
Join Cashapp sign up here but remember to enter the referral code or no £5 free
The method I use is someone sends me £1.25 or I send them it and we will send it back and forth a few times as this offer requires a 5 pound sent to another cash app it doesn't have to be all at once so I'm happy to send the money back and forth so you can cash out your £5 pounds free. You can do this with all your friends and you will then enjoy five pounds when they send £5, and they get £5 credit too.
Just sign up and gimme a comment if you need me to help if you don't have any friends on cash app.
CREDIT AND LOAN OPTIONS
Credit available to those with bad credit or low incomes,also those in receipt of benefit
(Best choices of last resort credit in case needed (please do not get in a cycle of debt, please use as an emergency option only).
Child benefit loans
These are very much a last resort loan as you must decide if the payment upfront of £500 if you have 1 child or £1000 if you have two children, Check if it is manageable in your long term budget.
The process is you join a credit union online and then have the child benefit sent directly to the credit union you can do this by phoning the child benefit office . Once the first payment arrives at the credit union you can then apply for the loan which is not means-tested so you will be eligible as long as you are in receipt of child benefit.
It does vary between credit unions so please do look around first before deciding who to sign up with, some will not allow you to touch any of the child benefit payments and will do the loan at about 12 pounds per week repayment if for one child and the remainder of the child benefit will be placed in a svaing account with them that you can withdraw once the loan is paid off. There is another process where they take only the loan repayment amount per week and the remaining is withdrawable.
A tip if in a hurry and need the money quite urgently is if you receive the child benefit paid monthly when changing payment details to the credit union ask if payments can be changed to weekly meaning your loan will only take about a week to be paid instead of a month.
Benefit loans and advances are available.
Universal credit advances are available through the UC journal if eligible and a very much improved system for budgeting loans are very fast for those on legacy benefits, check out my post for updated info on the new budgeting loan process and timescales as they have greatly improved.
Zilch revolving line of credit
Zilch card - Join using link for free £10 giftcard.
This is a buy now pay later service but in my opinion the best of the bunch, it requires a 25% payment on a purchase and you pay the remaining three payments bi-weekly. The reason why I chose this service is that it can be used in any shop, a sweetshop, Tesco etc by adding it to your Samsung pay or apple pay.
I find other providers limit where the credit can be used forcing customers to pay higher prices at shops they would not normally purchase from just to use the credit.
You can start with a modest credit limit of £100, mine was a bit higher but on repayment has significantly increased the limit, i have used it in the past to pay phone bills and groceries at Lidl or Iceland.I think they have a free £10 offer when you sign up, please remember this is credit so please use it very cautiously and sparingly if you're finding it hard to cope already on universal credit.
A quick message -
I did want to add a note, this list is also hopefully useful to those on legacy benefits who have had a hard time through the pandemic also, they did not receive the uplift as did universal claimants and have faced the same hardship, which is why I have included the budgeting loan information and my updated post detailing how it's changed.
I do hope that if anyone is reading this has found ways to help their money stretch especially now with the hike affecting our energy cost they will leave a comment to help others in the same situation Whoever stumbles upon this list i hope things improve and you're not alone.
Comments
Post a Comment