Spend just ONE hour to save £1,000s with our crash course in pain-free savings

If you're preparing to cut your costs and bust your bills, you've got to take some time. Yet in just an hour you can make huge cuts in your annual costs if you go back to basics and tackle the core household spends - though admittedly some of our tips are 'checks' to see if you need to do something that'll take longer.

We're not saying this is all ha-ha, hee-hee. Saving money should be seen as a job, but as families who've never tried before can save £1,000+ over the year, it's likely to be many people's best paid hour.

1. Married or in a civil partnership? You could claim up to £662 in just 5 mins. Here's a quick win to get you started. If you're married or in a civil partnership and one of you is a non-taxpayer, you could claim up to £662 via marriage tax allowance. John emailed us: "Thanks, I got £470 back for a 5-min phone call." 
   
   
2. Unhappy with your current bank, or just fancy some free cash? Take 10 mins to switch bank and earn up to £200. Banks have rekindled the switching price war. If you're unhappy with your current service, First Direct gives £125 free cash and has come top in every customer service poll we've ever done. Or if you just want to max the free cash, HSBC gives £150 to switch + £50 if you stay a year.
   
   It takes just 7 working days to switch, and all payments are automatically moved to your new account. Full info & options in Top Bank Accounts.
   
   
3. Check if you're paying interest on credit card debts - and if so, use our 2-minute tool to find YOUR best new 0% deal. You can save £100s with a balance transfer card. It repays debts on old cards for you, so you owe it instead, but at 0%.
   
   Yet don't apply over and over again. That adds a mark to your credit file, and if you get rejected and need to apply again, it makes it harder. Our Balance Transfer Eligibility Calculator shows which of the top cards you're most likely to get, without hitting your file.
   
   
4. Grab your energy bills and give them a 4m 30s check-up - most people can typically save £325/yr. If like 60% of people you're languishing on a Big 6 standard tariff, you're likely massively overpaying. Switching to the cheapest deal can net a typical £325/yr in savings.
   
   And switching's easy. It's the same gas, same electricity - only price and service change, and no one comes to your door. So do a comparison using our Cheap Energy Club  - savings can be huge, as @RockyKL tweeted: "Just used MSE Cheap Energy Club and saved £475/yr by switching. Should have done this ages ago. Brilliant intuitive system, thanks."
   
   
5. Wear a uniform? Be smart with your time and in 5 mins see if you're due £100s in a tax rebate. If you or anyone in your family normally puts on a work uniform (or used to) - from branded T-shirts to nurses' kits - and you wash it yourself, you may be due up to 4 years' tax back. For full info and templates to reclaim FOR FREE, see Uniform Tax Back.
   
   
6. Fight car insurance rip-off renewals by taking 10 mins to see if you can get a better deal. Insurers rely on people's laziness to jack up prices, so always check other deals before you renew. Even if you're midway through your contract, provided you've not claimed it can still pay to switch once you factor in a c. £50 admin fee.
   
   Our Cheap Car Insurance guide has full help. Yet at speed... Combine comparison sites to get a wide spread of quotes - our current order's: 1) Confused.com* 2) MoneySupermarket* 3) Gocompare* 4) Compare The Market* - then check Direct Line* and Aviva*, which they miss. As @SarahKenny77 tweeted: "@MartinSLewis, just saved £600 on my car insurance using your MSE tips. Amazing. Thank you."
   
   
7. Then spend 10 mins checking if you can slash your home insurance costs too. The same rule applies - NEVER simply auto-renew. Use our Cheap Home Insurance system to fight back. Combine comparison sites to get 100s of quotes in mins. Our current search order's MoneySupermaket*, Compare The Market*, Gocompare*, Confused.com*, and compare against the two biggies - Direct Line* and Aviva* - which won't appear on them.
   
   
8. Find out when your broadband contract ends - if you're out of contract, 5 mins could save you £300+/yr with a hot deal. If you haven't switched in the last 12 months, you're likely paying up to £300/yr too much. Taking advantage of hot short-lived promos such as Vodafone's straight £20/mth fast fibre deal is the key to big savings.
   
   The best deals for you depend on where you live so use our Broadband Unbundled tool to compare broadband, phone and TV deals in your area from 13 top providers incl BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin.
   
   
9. Spend what could be the 10 most profitable mins of your life seeing if you were mis-sold PPI. With many getting £10,000+, don't assume "this doesn't apply to me". Even people who rejected insurance had it wrongly added to loans, credit cards, overdrafts, catalogue accounts and store cards without knowing. Plus new rules mean even those who knew they had it were still likely mis-sold.
   
   Yet time's running out, and while the 29 Aug 2019 PPI reclaim deadline may seem ages away, there's likely to be a huge rush, so check now. Full help, FAQs and free reclaim tools and templates in Reclaim PPI for FREE.
   
   
10. Give your wallet a 2-minute 'workout'. Knowing which card can be right for you is a minefield. But as with balance transfers above, having the right card can save £100s. Our Credit Club's Wallet Workout is a simple chatbot that analyses your spending habits and helps find out which are the best cards for you.
     
11. Ask yourself the 'water bills question'. It takes just 5 mins and could save you £100s. Live in England or Wales? Does your home have more bedrooms than people, or the same number? If so, getting a water meter could save you £100s - so check using a water meter calc. Rita emailed: "Thanks to Martin I saved £17/mth [£204/yr] by installing a water meter."
    
    
12. In just 5 mins see if you can slash your mortgage by £1,000s. Despite the recent base rate increase, rates for fixed mortgages in particular are still low, yet millions are overpaying on standard rates. For instance someone on the average 4.75% standard variable rate borrowing £150,000 over 25yrs would save over £6,000 over two years (before fees) by switching to the best 2yr fix. Read the MSE Remortgage Guide and use our Mortga ge Best Buys tool to see if you can save.
    
    
13. Make a 5-minute phone call to see if you're owed £3,600 back on your student loan. 100,000s have overpaid on their student loan without realising, by paying too early, still paying once it was paid off, or paying when they weren't earning enough. Yet you can claim it back, as Pete discovered: "I just read your student loan tip in the weekly email. I phoned the Student Loans Company and it said I was owed £3,660 that I'd overpaid in 2010." See Student Loans Overpayments to save.
    
    
14. Got more time? Give your finances a thorough check-up with our budgeting tips.
    
    

    PS: If you add it all up it's about 80 mins, but because not everything applies to everyone we reckon an hour's fine for most.

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    The Martin Lewis Money Show, ITV at 8pm, Mon 15 Jan
    Savers' special: How to boost your savings interest to the max

    Over to Martin... "After last night's terrifying live show (watch it back), next week it's savings - Premium Bonds, paying off your mortgage, fixed accounts, best ISAs and more. If you've got any money squirrelled away I'll be showing you how to boost it. Do watch, or set the Betamax."