Mind the Guide

Save money

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⚡ Quick answer

  • Get supermarket loyalty cards. Without them you pay more for the same item.
  • Add them to your phone's wallet before you reach the till.
  • Boots, the biggest pharmacy, has its own card too.

The UK is very expensive 💸, so use discount cards to save a lot. Some need planning. In other cases you’re simply losing money if you don’t have one.

🛍️ Supermarket cards

These cards work in many shops:

You need to register. Download their apps and add the cards to your phone’s wallet 📲. You won’t want to set it all up at the till.

You can find big discounts, even 3 for the price of 2 🍷.

Wine shelf at Sainsbury’s. The D.V. Catena Malbec costs £14.25, or £11.25 with a Nectar card.

My favourite wine: £3 cheaper with Nectar.

💊 Boots

Boots is the most popular pharmacy in the UK. You’ll see it EVERYWHERE 👀. Like the supermarkets, it has its own discount card: the Boots Advantage Card.

🥐 Bakeries

The UK has two big bakery chains: Greggs and Gail’s. (Why do both start with G??)

  • 🥖 Greggs is the affordable one.
  • ☕ Gail’s is where Miranda from The Devil Wears Prada would get her coffee.

A Greggs shop front at night, with its blue and yellow sign lit up.

Greggs. Photo: David Howard, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Inside a Gail’s bakery: shelves of sourdough loaves, pastries on the counter and jars of tea.

Gail’s. Photo: GAIL’s Bakery, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fun fact: there’s a thing called the Gail’s Effect. If a neighbourhood gets a Gail’s, it’s getting expensive 📈. So get a flat there before prices skyrocket!