The online bookshop – Book Depository – are running a special 24 hour sale from noon on Thursday 2nd February. Every hour they will reduce the price of one book by as much as 80%. The books  involved are not yet known – but it could be worth checking out to see if you can get any bargain basement prices.e.  (They do free delivery on all orders to Ireland)

Max 3 books per person

The 24 hour sale starts at NOON on Thursday Feb 2nd 2012 . Good Luck.

More Online Shopping Discounts Here

The start of a new year is always a good time to make changes  – and with cuts in child benefits and the new household charge – many people will have less to spend in 2012.
Below   we have highlighted a few suggestions  to help you save money and cut bills and spending  in 2012.

Switch Electricity Supplier
If you are still on the old ESB rates you could easily save around €100 a year by switching to Airtricity or Bord Gais for Electricity. You could save money by just paying by Direct Debit and opting for electronic billing.
See our  Electricity Price Comparison

Switch Gas Supplier
If you are still with Bord Gais for gas – you could save  as much as €150 a year if  you switch to Flogas for your natural mains gas supply. See Gas Prices Compared

Switch Your Current Account :
Many people in Ireland are still paying  fees to their banks for operating a current account.
Bank fees are easily avoidable – just switch your account to a bank that doesn’t charge transaction fees or doesn’t make you jump through hoops to avoid them.   Some BOI customers could save around €200 euros a year in bank charges by switching to a fee free bank   See more here about Current Account Fees

Get Grants towards Insulation or new Boiler.
Grants of upto €4000 are available for insulation of your property.
Grants of €560 are also available to replace a central heating boiler with a more efficient one and upgrade the heating controls at the same time.  Most old boilers could be costing you hundreds of euros a year in higher fuel bills – so replacing it will save you money in the long run too. (Condensing  boilers could save as much as 18% in oil costs for heating and hot water)  See more here about Grants for New Boilers and Insulation

Shop Online to get lower prices. Use discount codes and vouchers for online shopping – See some Discount Codes here

Switch Your Savings Account.
Ifyou have savings you should check if you are getting the best interest rate.
See our regularly updated list of the Best Interest Rates Here.   Some deposit accounts are paying rates as low as  0.01%  – but you could get a rate as high as 4.1% . On a balance of €20,000 – that would be an increase in interest of   €818  a year (before DIRT )

Switch Phone and Broadband
You could save about €70 a year by switching your landline and broadband provider  – see more here about the cheapest broadband providers.    (This is for anytime calls and 8Mb broadband)

0%  Interest  Credit Cards

If you have a credit card balance that you are finding hard to pay off -  you could try and transfer the balance to a credit card  with 0% Interest introductory offer. On a balance of €1000 -  going interest free for 10 months could save you as much as €80 in interest charges.  See our list of 0%  Interest Credit Card Offers

Prepaid Mastercard -  If you fly on Ryanair more than twice a year – you should get a Prepaid Mastercard.  If you are booking flights from Ireland – paying with a prepaid mastercard will save you €12 per return flight in admin fees.  Find out more here about How to Get a Prepaid Mastercard

Get cash for your old Mobile Phones.
You might be pleasantly surprised at the amount your old phone is worth.
See our page about cash for old phones here.  It might not be a lot – but every little helps !

Online Surveys
Don’t waste all your time on Facebook – you could try and make a few Euros doing online  market research surveys . You won’t make loads  -  but it’s fun . Register here for  Online Surveys

Happy New Year to all our visitors – and don’t forget to keep coming back for more financial tips in 2012. You can keep up to date with Moneyguide Ireland on Facebook too .

This year the government hopes that the new Household Tax  will  bring in €160 million extra income for the government – which they will pass on to local authorities.

We have dug out  some other interesting  figures to put the  €160m  figure into perspective ……..

€160 Million is the same amount as the losses made by Quinn Insurance  in 2012 .

€160 Million is the same amount as the State’s contribution to the  Rathcormac to Fermoy toll motorway on the M8.

Just under €160 million was wasted on the Metro North project – which has now been abandoned.

€160 million is equivalent to just o.1% (1/1000th) of the combined profits of AIB and BOI from 2004 to 2008 (approx 18 Billion)

€160 million is just one tenth of the 1.6 Billion that Sean Quinn was ordered by the Commercial Court in Dublin to pay back  to the former Anglo Irish Bank.

€160 million is less than half of the average annual  property related tax relief given to developers and owner occupiers in Ireland between 2004 and 2009 (€381 million a year )

€160m is the amount of asset transfers by developers (mainly to family members)  that were reversed by NAMA or were close to being overturned by Nov 2011. (To try and stop NAMA  getting at them)

€160 million is the estimated annual cost to the state of Diesel Laundering

€160 million is roughly twice what  Real Madrid paid  Manchester United for Ronaldo.

For many people the Christmas present shopping is hopefully almost over  – but  it won’t be long before the shops start the big post-Christmas Sales.
There was a time when the “Sales”  didn’t  begin until  January – but they have gradually been starting  earlier and earlier.
The past couple of years has seen the growing trend of  shops in Ireland opening on  St Stephens Day. This year – it looks like even more shops will also be opening  on December  26th and starting their Sales.
Many online Sales start before Christmas – because the online Christmas shopping ends earlier than in the stores.

There is a list of some of the shops here that will be opening on December 26th 2011 – and details of sale start dates  online too.

December Sales Ireland

Debenhams Ireland are still offering Free delivery on all orders made on the Debenhams Ireland Website. (Offer ends Jan 4th 2012)
(Delivery is normally €5 on orders under €30 )
It is too late for ordering for Christmas now – but they have some great discounts available in all areas.

Milano are offering a main course for €2 when you buy any other main course – this offer runs to  4th December 2011 . It can’t be used on Saturdays.

Get this latest Milano Discount Code here

See more Discount Vouchers and Codes for Ireland

GAP now do online shopping with  delivery to Ireland. Shoppers on the GAP website  can get 30% Off all items until midnight on the  27th November  2011 with this special voucher code . Just in time for some Christmas shopping !

Discount Code: GAPSAVE30   –   Visit the GAP Website here

See more online shopping discounts available in Ireland here

Meteor are running a special offer – online only  which will be of interest to smartphone users such as Iphones and Blackberry.

For €15 a month you can get a SIM only deal with 1Gb of data , 200 minutes of calls and 200 texts included . This is on  billpay but with a short 30 day contract – so you are not tied in for a long time.
No phone purchase needed – free SIM.  Visit Meteor here – and click on the  Bill Pay “Order Now” button .
Then you choose a free Sim and then you select the “Bill Pay Smart Lite“  option  – which is €30 normally  – but reduced to €15 for online purchases only.  This discount will apply for 12 months. (Free Meteor to Meteor Calls too )

Meteor