Frugal Friday - 2nd December 2011

by Chiara Cavaglieri on 02 December 2011  |  1 comment
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Highlights this week include £10 off a £40 spend at New Look, last day to save 40% on brands at House of Fraser, 25% off at Marks & Spencer, up to 40% off online at Debenhams, 30% off everything at BHS and Laura Ashley, 25% off everything at Monsoon and Accessorize, free delivery at Gap, 50% sales at French Connection, Clarks and Aldo, 25% off Asos Collection and free delivery at Miss Selfridge. It’s also the last chance to earn £10 worth of Boots Advantage points this weekend, you can get a free box of Christmas cards today only, find out how to get a free letter or video message from Santa for your kids, grab part 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for only £8, or pre-order the box set of all the films for just £20!

Welcome to this week’s edition of Frugal Friday. Let’s kick things off with the best frugal picks for fashion and homewares.

Frugal fashion and homewares voucher codes and sales     

At Marks & Spencer this weekend you can save 25% on all jumpers and cardigans and selected coats, accessories and kids’ clothing, valid until Monday 5th Dec.

Now on to the rest of the new sales:

• New Look: Use code MERRYNL1 for £10 off when you spend £40.
• Miss Selfridge: Use code WEEKEND1 for free delivery when you spend £40 and remember to check the Treat of the Day deal (today buy a coat and get free ear muffs).
• House of Fraser: Last day of brand event saving you up to 40%.
• BHS: Get up to 30% off throughout the store until Sunday.
• Debenhams: Also up to 30% off throughout the store (only 10% for beauty/fragrance) with an extra 10% off online with code CH97.
• Laura Ashley: Now 30% off everything. 
• Dorothy Perkins: Save up to 30% on everything.
• Wallis: Up to 30% off everything. 
• Barratts: Everything reduced by up to 30%. 
• Monsoon: Save 25% on everything until Sunday with the code MONMD25W.
• Accessorize: Nab 25% off everything with code ACCMD25W until Sunday.
• Whistles:  Save 20% on everything until Sunday using code WHFF11.
• Banana Republic and Gap: Get free delivery on orders over £30 with code SPARKLE until 21st Dec. 
• French Connection: New sale with up to 50% off.
• Aldo: Another new sale with up to 50% off. 
• Clarks: Save up to 50% in the sale.
• Jaeger: Save up to 50% in the coat sale.  
• Asos: Save 25% on Asos Collection. 
• Jane Norman: Various offers, including up to £40 off outerwear and £10 off tops.
• Evans: Save up to 40% on going out tops and check the online 12 days of Xmas offer today.
• Urban Outfitters: Use code SANTA for 15% off the Xmas catalogue.
• Dune: Use code GLIT5 for 20% off full price items.
• Whistles: Save 20% on everything until Sunday using code WHFF11.

And see what’s left in the ongoing sales:

• American Apparel:  Save up to 70% in the sale.
• Coast: Up to £50 off party styles.
• Gap: Save 30% on sweaters.
• Motel Rocks: Use code HELLO for 10% off full price items until 9th Dec.
• Oasis: Save up to £50 on selected items.
• Office: Get up to £70 off boots. 
• USC: Save up to 30% with Mega Day promo.  
• Viyella: Get 20% off all full price items.
• Argos: Use the code MVCCLO from Myvouchercodes.co.uk for £10 off a £30 spend on clothing only, expires Monday. 

Last chance bargains and special offers

Don’t miss these deals – they won’t be around for long!

• With only three weeks until Christmas, this weekend is the last Mega Points Event at Boots. So this is your last chance to earn £10 worth of points (1,000) when you spend £50 in-store (£75 online). Offer ends Sunday 4th December.  
• Vouchercodes.co.uk has an exclusive code saving you 15% on orders over £30 at Superdrug. Enter the code XMAS5OFF at the checkout before it expires on Tuesday 6th December. And, don’t forget that you’ll earn 10 points per £1 when you spend £10 instore and online with your Beautycard, also ending on Tuesday. Look out for special offers such as 25% off fragrances, 3 for 2 Gosh make-up and half-price Oral B.
• Vouchercodes.co.uk also has an exclusive code for The Body Shop – you save 40% using the code VOUCH444 which expires on 12th December.
• Buy The Sun newspaper this Saturday and you’ll find a voucher entitling you to a free Lego Star Wars Vulture Droid toy at WHSmith or Toys R Us on that day only. The following Saturday (10th Dec) there will be a free Lego City police helicopter toy up for grabs instead.
• It is your last chance to buy The Telegraph and grab a voucher for free M&S Christmas accessories. Today (Friday) is a voucher for 20 free Christmas cards but remember you can only redeem it today (Friday).

Free letter from Santa

Get a free letter from Santa with the Royal Mail. Some companies charge as much as £10 for replies to children’s letters so this is a great freebie. Get your little ones to write a letter to Father Christmas before 14th December (make sure they include their name and gender, as well as the reply address) and send it (1st or 2nd class) to Santa’s Grotto,  Reindeerland, SAN TA1. They should get a personally addressed response before Christmas Eve!

Or for something a bit high-tech the Portable North Pole website will send you a free online video from Santa – just fill in the questions (about the recipient’s age, name, gender etc), add a photo if you want and send it via email.

Book bargains and game discounts

Browse through the top deals for bookworms this week:

• You can save up to 65% on books in the 12 Days of Christmas promo at Amazon; bestsellers include David Walliam’s Gangsta Granny for £4.55 (RRP £12.99), Home Cooking Made Easy by Lorraine Pascale for £7 (RRP £20), May I Have Your Attention Please by James Corden for £5 (RRP £18.99) and Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin for £13.50 (RRP £30).
• Heading to The Book People, top buys include Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell for £12.73 (RRP £18.99) and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney for £4.99 (RRP £12.99).
• Don’t forget to check for codes before you checkout - right now you can save 15% when you spend £30 on books (not audio or eBooks) at Waterstones with code JW6825 from Vouchercodes.co.uk (expires 5th Dec). Or use XT4324 for £2 off a £20 spend (expires 21st Dec).

And check out the best buys for gamers:

• Uncharted 3:  Drakes Deception for the PS3 is only £27.99 (RRP £49.99) at Amazon and another new PS3 game, Saints Row The Third is £29.99 (RRP £49.99) at Simply Games.
• A few stores are out of stock for the Nintendo DS game Professor Layton And The Spectre's Call but you can buy it for £25.85 (RRP £34.99) at ShopTo.
• You can also buy Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 for the Wii for £27.98 at CoolShop, saving you £12.01. And, if you’re shopping for games on Zavvi you still have time to use the exclusive code from Vouchercodes.co.uk for £4 off orders over £40 – use VCUK40 before it expires Sunday 4th December.

Best buy DVDs and boxsets

Now on to the best DVD deals this week:

Freebie of the week

Get a free music downloads from the live final of The Big Audition. Pizza Express put a competition together for live music talent and the final five were selected through a public vote of 20,000 people and performed at the live final. You can download the tracks for free by filling in your details here.

Mobile phone deal of the week 

Our pick of the bunch is the Tesco Mobile deal for the HTC Wildfire S – sign up for 24 months and you get 250minutes, 5,000 texts, 500MB data plus triple Clubcard points for only £15 per month.

Get it here or compare other top mobile deals at Recombu.

Competition of the week

Random House is giving away a Christmas bundle with 10 of their best titles from authors such as Katie Price, Christopher Paolini, Robert Harris and Julian Barnes (something for everyone then!). There is also one Amazon Kindle and one Kobo eReader up for grabs too. Enter your details to be in with a chance.

Competition ends midnight 22nd December.

Eating out

If you don’t fancy cooking for yourself this weekend, you can check out all the latest restaurant bargains in lovemoney.com’s Frugal Food blog. Read more

Eating in

If you'd prefer to stay in and cook up a delicious meal without blowing the budget, check out the original Frugal Recipes blog for some inspiration! Read more

Don’t forget: although all prices and discounts were correct on the day this article was published, offers this good are subject to change and often sell out quickly.