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Matched Betting: Start Preparing for Cheltenham!

Matched Betting: Start Preparing for Cheltenham!

I’ve talked about matched betting on various occasions on this blog. To recap, it’s a way of making risk-free (and tax-free) cash by taking advantage of bookmaker special offers and promotions, in conjunction with the facility to ‘lay’ bets offered by betting exchanges.

Matched betting is perfectly legal and (done properly) it’s not gambling. You can read my introduction to matched betting here, and why I believe it is such a great money-making sideline for older people in particular here.

I am writing about it again now because in a few weeks (12-15 March 2019) the Cheltenham Festival will be upon us. This is arguably the best week for matched betting in the entire year. Last year I made around £500 profit taking advantage of bookmaker offers. Others I know made thousands.

For those who don’t know, the Cheltenham Festival is one of the highlights of the racing calendar, with large, top-quality fields competing for some of the biggest prizes in racing, culminating in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. And the bookmakers pull out all the stops at this time to attract new clients and get current and former clients fully involved. I expect to see a stream of offers in the coming weeks, increasing to a torrent during the Festival itself. This gives us the potential to make substantial tax-free profits by applying matched betting principles.

If you’re already a matched bettor, therefore, now is the time to ensure you have plenty of money in your exchanges (I mostly use Smarkets for its low commission fees but others prefer Betfair). And keep watching your email for offers sent by bookmakers you have accounts with.

If you’re new to matched betting, I strongly recommend joining up with a matched betting advisory service. As well as providing tutorials to get you up to speed, these services provide essential online tools, including odds-matching software and calculators. They will also alert you to a wide range of money-making opportunities, and offer support and advice if needed.

There are various advisory services you can use. I cut my teeth with Profit Accumulator and still recommend this very popular service. It’s suitable both for those brand new to matched betting and for experienced matched bettors. You can join PA free initially and they will provide details of two bookmaker offers you can take advantage of. These should make you around £45 in net profit. If you wish to proceed further, you can then pay to become a Platinum member and get access to the full range of offers and services. Platinum membership currently costs £17.99 a month, with the first month half-price.

Currently I am subscribed to MatchedBets.com, a new service with some cutting-edge features (as long as you can tolerate the rather garish colour scheme!). You can read my in-depth review of MatchedBets.com here.

Joining MatchedBets.com currently costs £18 a month or a best value £99 a year. You can also sign up for a 14-day trial for £1, which gives complete access to all tools and information on the site during that time..

If you think matched betting may be for you, I highly recommend that you sign up with either of these services today. You will then be perfectly placed to take advantage of the many money-making opportunities the Cheltenham Festival 2019 presents.

As ever, if you have any questions or comments about matched betting, Profit Accumulator or MatchedBets.com, please do post them below.

Disclosure: As well as being a member of Matchedbets.com and former member of Profit Accumulator I am also an affiliate for them. If you join and become a paying member after following any of the links in this post, I will receive a commission for introducing you. This does not affect in any way the cost of the service to you or the benefits you receive.

Note: this is an updated repost from 2018.

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Bahlsen Choco Moments Blue Monday Competition

Blue Monday Competition: Win Delicious Bahlsen Choco Moments Biscuits!

NOTE: This competition is now closed. The winner has been announced in this blog post!

The third Monday in January has been dubbed Blue Monday. It’s meant to be the most depressing day of the year, with cold days, dark nights, and a payday that still feels a million miles away.

So today, to cheer everyone up, I am running a giveaway for some delicious Bahlsen Choco Moments biscuits. This is – of course – a sponsored post.

Choco Moments are the ultimate indulgent snack. With a thick coating of rich chocolate over a crunchy biscuit base, they are the perfect melt-in-your-mouth treat to pick you up on a bad day.

They are available in two delicious flavours: Choco Moments Crunchy Hazelnut (my favourite) combines smooth, creamy milk chocolate with warm hazelnut crunch and is mouth-wateringly more-ish; while Choco Moments Crunchy Mint perfectly balances deep notes of dark chocolate with lively and refreshing crunchy mint.

To be in with a chance of winning A WHOLE SIX PACKETS of Choco Moments biscuits (both flavours included) just leave a comment below by 9 am on Friday 31st January 2019 saying why Bahlsen biscuits cheer you up. I will pick a winner at random and arrange to send them the prize.

Just one comment per person, please, and allow a few hours for me to approve your comment if you haven’t commented on my blog before. This competition is open to UK residents only.

Please check back here (or on the PAS Facebook page) after 1st February 2019 to see if you are the winner and claim your prize (you could also subscribe via the box in the right-hand column to be notified about all new posts). Due to online privacy rules I won’t be able to contact you otherwise. Note also that once the competition has closed it will not be possible to leave any further comments on this post.

If the winner doesn’t claim their prize within seven days, I reserve the right to pick another winner at random instead.

Finally, even if you don’t win this time, don’t be blue. Bahlsen Choco Moments biscuits are available at an RRP of just £1.99 in Sainsbury’s and Waitrose supermarkets!

Good luck, enjoy your coffee/tea and Bahlsen Choco Moments, and remember that from today onward the year can only improve 🙂

Disclosure: as stated above, this is a sponsored post. I am receiving some delicious Bahlsen Choco Moments biscuits as a thank-you for posting it 😀

Comments on this post are now closed.

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Competition: Win a Burt’s Bees Natural Gift Set!

By courtesy of my friends at Wow Free Stuff, I’d like to offer you the chance to win a Burt’s Bees Natural Gift Set just like the one below.

This attractive gift set contains beeswax-based natural skin-care products, including lip salve and hand salve. On average, Burt’s Bees products are 99% natural, with over half their products 100% natural. They contain no petrochemicals, phthalates, parabens or sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), and are not tested on animals.

Burt's Bees Gift Set

To enter the competition, click here to sign up for the Wow Free Stuff newsletter and like their Facebook page. Twenty-five gift sets are up for grabs, so there really are plenty of chances to win!

Entrants must be UK residents aged 18 or over. The competition ends on 1st February 2019.

Thanks to Wow Free Stuff for collaborating with me on this competition. As always, if you have any comments or questions, please do post them below.

Disclosure: As stated above, this is a sponsored post on behalf of Wow Free Stuff. I am receiving a free gift set myself and also a small payment.

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Twelve Great Ways to Generate a Sideline Income

Twelve Great Ways to Generate a Sideline Income

I thought today I’d share some of my favourite ways of making a bit of extra cash.

These are methods I have discussed previously on Pounds and Sense, so I have linked to some other relevant posts from the blog where appropriate.

1. Prolific Academic

Prolific Academic is a platform used by academic researchers world-wide to recruit participants for online studies and surveys. These are varied and interesting, and I’ve earned almost £300 to date by doing them. For more information, see my blog post Make Money and Help Academic Researchers With Prolific Academic.

2. Matched Betting

Don’t be put off by the name. Matched betting isn’t gambling. Rather, it’s a way of taking advantage of bookmaker special offers (mostly online) to generate a risk-free profit. I’ve made about £2,000 (tax-free) from matched betting, and know of other people who have made five-figure sums.

I’ve written about matched betting on various occasions on Pounds and Sense. You can read my introductory article Can You Make Money From Matched Betting? here. Note that for beginners I highly recommend subscribing to the Profit Accumulator advisory service, which has in-depth video tutorials and valuable (arguably essential) online tools for matched bettors, such as calculators and odds-matchers.

3. Online Auction Selling

There are lots of ways to make money from online auctions, generally using the world’s favourite online auction site eBay. The simplest method is to sell items from around the house you no longer need, from children’s toys and games to clothing and collectables. If you want to go beyond this, though, you can buy items cheaply from wholesalers or other sources and sell them on for profit (note that income generated this way is potentially taxable). Check out this guest post Twelve Top Tips for Selling on eBay by my fellow money blogger Luci Oliver.

4. Renting Out a Room

This is undoubtedly an old-school method, but if you have a room in your home you’re not currently using, you could make steady money from it by taking in a lodger. The government encourages this through its Rent a Room Scheme, which lets you make up to £7,500 a year tax-free by renting out a room in your home. If you don’t want a full-time lodger, another option is to take people on short stays using the well-known Airbnb platform or one of its rivals. See my blog post Boost Your Income by Renting Out a Room for more information.

5. Blogging

Could 2019 be the year you start your own money-making blog? I do, and there’s no reason you couldn’t as well!

If you’re not quite sure what to blog about, ask yourself the following  two questions:

1) Are you at least curious about the topic?

You don’t have to be an expert or 100% passionate about your blog topic to generate income. But you do need to be at least curious to learn, because if you don’t enjoy learning about your blogging topic, it’ll show in your writing, and you’ll run out of ideas. Nobody reads blogs that have no character or point of view.

2) Are other bloggers already making money in your niche?

It’s important to pick a niche that is proven to make money. The easiest way to see which blog niches are profitable is to see how many other bloggers are active in the niche in question. If nobody is competing in your space, there’s a very good chance the market is too small or unprofitable. Don’t be afraid of competition. Your experiences and distinct voice will make your blog unique. You can stand out even in a saturated market.

Starting a blog is easier than you think. Slasher Career has a great How to Start a Blog in 15 Minutes tutorial. Check it out!

Once you have a blog up and running you can monetize it in various ways, including advertising, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and so on.

I plan to say more on Pounds and Sense in the coming months about blogging, but for now you may like to start by reading my review of Blogging Secrets, an in-depth course on blogging for profit by my colleague Jenny Lord. See also this recent guest post, Five Things You Really Need to Know About Monetizing Your Blog, also by Jenny Lord.

6. Freelance Writing

This is another thing I do myself – indeed, for many years I was a full-time freelance writer (I’m semi-retired now). It’s a competitive field, but there is still plenty of money to be made. You don’t need to be Shakespeare either, just have a reasonable grasp of written English and be willing and able to write what the market wants. Check out My Top Ten Tips for Making Money as a Freelance Writer here. You can also read my posts Should You Write a Book? and How to Publish Your Own E-book on Kindle.

7. MobileXpression App

If you have a smartphone, this is a really easy way to make money from it. Just install this app (which tracks your browsing anonymously) and every few weeks you will receive a £20 Amazon voucher for your trouble (Amazon vouchers are pretty much as good as money, as you can buy almost anything there!). You can read my full review of the MobileXpression app in this post.

8. Become a Viewing Agent with Viewber

If you have a bit of time available in the day and/or at weekends, you could earn a sideline income as a viewing agent for Viewber. This company recruits freelance viewing agents to conduct property viewings on behalf of local estate agents who don’t have the staff available to do it themselves. As a Viewber (the name is also used by the company to describe its viewing agents) you will be asked to attend a property at a specified date and time to show a potential buyer or tenant round. You will receive a set fee and travel expenses for doing this. This opportunity is open to anyone and you don’t need any experience in estate agency. For full details, see my post Earn a Sideline Income as a Viewing Agent With Viewber.

9. Be a TV or Movie Extra

This is another opportunity that won’t make you rich but can certainly generate a useful sideline income and provide a lot of fun into the bargain. As an extra, you’ll make some money, get a chance to see how movies and TV shows are made, and even become immortalized on screen. For more information (including my own experiences!) see my post Earn a Sideline Income as a TV or Movie Extra.

10. Offer Your Home as a TV or Movie Location

If you don’t fancy appearing in films or TV shows yourself, maybe your home could do the job for you? Obviously this opportunity won’t be suitable for everyone. You need to live somewhere with characteristics or features that might be in demand by a production company. You definitely don’t need to live in a stately home, though. A huge range of properties is required, so wherever you live there’s a chance it could be the perfect location for an upcoming project. Read my blog post Lights! Camera! Action! How to Make Money Offering Your Home as a TV or Film Location for the full scoop!

11. Rent Your Driveway

This is another great way your home can make money for you, especially if you live in an area where parking space is at a premium. See my blog post Make a Sideline Income Renting Out Your Driveway or Garage.

12. Be a TV Show Contestant

There are stacks of cash and prizes to be won on TV quiz shows and game shows. For more information – including my ‘insider tips’ – see my blog post Who Wants to Make a Shedload of Money? How to Win Big as a TV Show Contestant.

So there you are – twelve great ways you can generate a sideline income in 2019. For many other sideline (or in some cases full-time) earning opportunities, just click through this link to the Making Money category on Pounds and Sense.

Good luck, and as always if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.

Disclosure: This post (and others on Pounds and Sense) includes affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase at the website in question, I may receive a commission for introducing you. This has no effect whatsoever on the terms or benefits you will receive.

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My Top 12 Posts of 2018

My Top Twelve Posts of 2018

As is customary for bloggers at this time of year, here are the top posts on Pounds and Sense in 2018, based on comments, page-views and social media shares. They are in no particular order. I have excluded any posts that are no longer relevant.

I hope you will enjoy revisiting these posts, or seeing them for the first time if you are new to PAS. Don’t forget, you can always subscribe using the box on the right to be notified of new posts as soon as they appear.

  1. How to Cut Your Energy Bills
  2. How to Save Money on Everyday Purchases by Haggling
  3. Can You Make a Living from Matched Betting?
  4. Make Money from Car Loans with Buy2LetCars
  5. Should You Use Equity Release to Unlock the Value of Your Home?
  6. Warner Leisure Hotels – My Thoughts and Experiences
  7. My Top 10 Tips for Making Money as a Freelance Writer
  8. Bricklane: My Review of This Property Investment Platform
  9. Property Partner: My Review of This Property Investment Platform
  10. Boost Your Income by Renting Out a Room
  11. Twelve Great Sideline Earning Opportunities for Over 50s from UK Money Bloggers
  12. How to Win Cash and Prizes with Consumer Competitions (Guest Post)

Thank you very much for your interest in Pounds and Sense. I will look forward to seeing you here again in 2019!

If you have any comments or questions, of course, please do feel free to leave them below.

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Happy Christmas 2018!

Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a happy and peaceful Christmas, and a fulfilling and prosperous new year.

Pounds and Sense was launched in December 2016, so it has been going for two years now. Thank you to everyone who has visited the blog during this time, and especially to all those people who have commented on my posts and/or signed up to be notified of new ones. You can do that by entering your name and email address in the ‘Subscribe’ box on the right (hint, hint!).

I hope you have found at least some of my posts of value, and they have helped you to save money and make money in these financially uncertain times. If you have any comments or suggestions for topics I ought to cover in the coming months, please do leave a comment below or contact me directly. The same applies if you would like to guest post on the blog or work with me on sponsored posts or promotions.

I’ll be back with more advice, tips and information (and biscuits!) soon, but for now I hope you and your family have a wonderful festive season. I’ll leave you with one of my all-time favourite Christmas songs, by Greg Lake.

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Bahlsen Choco Moments Giveaway - The Winners!

Bahlsen Choco Moments Giveaway – The Winners!

In this post last week I set out a contest/giveaway to win a packet of the brand new Bahlsen Choco Moments biscuits. To enter, you simply had to add a comment on the post in question. I then proposed to pick a winner at random.

Unfortunately I made a bit of a hash of this. I temporarily forgot that the deadline was at midnight on Tuesday 4 December, and to compound this I was out most of the day yesterday. So I didn’t put an announcement of the contest ending or switch off comments on the post (which I have now done).

What’s more, there was a rush of people entering yesterday – I assume details may have been shared on a high-traffic competitions site or some such. Even though they were technically too late to enter, I felt bad about disqualifying them all, especially as I hadn’t made clear on the blog that the contest was closed (although the Tuesday midnight deadline was clearly stated in the post).

So to try to be fair to everyone, I decided that rather than have a single prize, I would have two. The first was just for the 9 people who entered before the original deadline, and the second was for everyone who entered until comments were closed yesterday (including the original nine, who thus got two chances to win). I hope that will seem fair to everyone.

I used the random number generator at Random.org to pick the winners of both draws, so here they are:

First 9 draw – Mrs Elizabeth Sumner

Whole 26 draw – Helen B.

Please could the winners contact me privately via my Contact Me page and let me know their full postal name and address and also whether they would prefer the mint or hazelnut flavour. I will then arrange for their biscuits to be sent to them.

Thank you to everyone who entered, and commiserations to everyone who didn’t win this time. You can, of course, buy delicious Bahlsen Choco Moments biscuits via all good grocers and supermarkets and online stores such as Amazon.

Apologies again also for the confusion over the deadline. In my defence, this is the first giveaway of this type I have conducted on Pounds and Sense, and I will learn from it and try to do better next time!

And finally, thanks again to Bahlsen Biscuits for sponsoring this contest.

 

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Bahlsen Choco Moments

Giveaway: Win a Pack of New Bahlsen Choco Moments Biscuits!

This draw is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered. The winners are revealed in this post.

As a bit of fun today, I am running a giveaway for some delicious Bahlsen biscuits. This is (of course) a sponsored post.

Everybody knows the festive season is the season of indulgence when every home and office is well-stocked with tasty treats and guilt-free pleasures. It’s a chance to treat those you love to something they’ll really enjoy and can nibble on all season long.

The brand new Bahlsen Choco Moments are the ultimate treats for Christmas, the perfect way to spread joy to friends and family during the festive season.

Choco Moments from Bahlsen – the experts in chocolate biscuits – are the perfect accompaniment to festive gatherings and cosy nights in. With a thick, luxurious coating of rich chocolate with crisp, satisfying crunch, drenched over buttery biscuit, they are the perfect melt-in-your-mouth treat, and come in two delicious flavours that will fight for space in your biscuit tin.

Choco Moments Crunchy Hazelnut combines smooth, creamy milk chocolate with warm hazelnut tones that are mouth-wateringly moreish, while Choco Moments Crunchy Mint perfectly balances the deep notes of dark chocolate with lively and refreshing mint.

So prepare to spread the Christmas joy and treat your loved ones to a seriously Choco Moment – the perfect moment to unwrap this festive season.

*** To be in with a chance of winning a pack of Choco Moments Crunchy Hazelnut or Crunchy Mint – your choice! – just leave a comment below by midnight on Tuesday 4 December 2018 saying why you love Bahlsen biscuits. I will pick a winner at random on Wednesday 5 December and arrange to send them the biscuits. Even if you don’t win, you can of course pick up Bahlsen Choco Moments biscuits from all good supermarkets and grocery shops and online stores including Amazon. The winner will be revealed here and via the Pounds & Sense Twitter and Facebook pages by Thursday 6 December 2018. UK residents only, I’m afraid. ***

Good luck, and let the season of indulgence begin!

Disclosure: as stated above, this is a sponsored post. I am receiving some delicious Bahlsen Choco Moments biscuits as a thank-you for posting it 😀

UPDATE: The winners are revealed in this post!

Comments are now closed on this post.

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How to Stay Cool and Healthy in Hot Weather

How to Stay Cool and Healthy in Hot Weather

Right now the UK is sweltering in a summer heatwave that shows no sign of ending any time soon.

Many people are enjoying the warm sun, but when it goes on for days/weeks on end it can become tiring and debilitating. And for older people and those with chronic health conditions especially, it can be extremely uncomfortable and have a harmful effect on health. Heat exhaustion and (especially) heat stroke are potentially very serious conditions.

So today I thought I’d share some tips on keeping cool and healthy in the heat. I also asked some of my fellow UK bloggers for their top tips as well, so I’ll be sharing them here too.

I’ll start with my own tips, though…

1. Drink plenty of fluids, preferably water. It’s a well-known fact that in older people the sense of thirst doesn’t always work so well and it’s easy to get dehydrated without realising it. Aim to top up your fluids regularly, and have a bottle, jug or at least a glass of water beside you at all times.

2. Sprinkle water over your skin and/or clothes to help stay cool.

3. In the hot weather, fans can be lifesavers. There are plenty of different models on sale in shops and supermarkets and online stores such as Amazon. If you can, get one with variable speeds, so you can adjust it according to conditions. You can even get fans with remote controls, like this one:

4. If you work at a computer, consider buying a USB fan. I bought one for just £4 from my local Morrisons and it is keeping me cool while I write this blog post! They are also available very cheaply on Amazon – like the one below, for example.

5. Air conditioning is wonderful in this weather. But in the UK few people have it in their homes, as it’s bulky, expensive to buy and run, and would only be useful occasionally. A cheap and cheerful alternative is to freeze bottles of water (plastic not glass) and put them in front of a fan – this will help cool the air passing through. You can also buy personal air coolers such as the one below which work on the same principle. They are cheap enough, although not having tried one I can’t vouch for how effective they would be!

6. Shut windows and draw the curtains or blinds when it is hotter outside. This will help keep hot air and radiant heat from the sun out. You can open the windows for ventilation when it is cooler.

7. Check up regularly on friends, relatives and neighbours who may be less able to look after themselves.

More Cool Tips!

As mentioned above, I also asked some of my UK blogging colleagues for their tips and ideas. Here is a selection. I have put my own comments in italics after them where relevant.

Vicky Eves from the I Beat Debt blog said: “ This is a bit unorthodox, but the pet cooling mats you can get from places like B&M are amazing to either rest your feet on, or sit against. They really help!

That’s a great idea! I found a similar one on Amazon (see image link below).


Laura Dempster from Thrifty Londoner wrote: “I like to keep hydrated in the hot weather (like we all do!). If I’m going out and about sometimes I will put a water bottle in the freezer overnight. Since it’s so hot, as soon as I go outside the ice begins to melt and it means my drink stays that little bit cooler for longer.”

That’s a nice, easy tip! Just be sure to use plastic bottles rather than glass.

Nicola Kaye from Mum on a Budget wrote: “I have filled up an empty spray bottle with a mixture of water and Aloe Vera gel (shake well) – I have been spraying it on my face and neck a few times a day, it is really cooling.

Yep, great idea. It would of course work with plain water too.

Mel Trudgett of Mel’s Money Mindset commented: “When I was in my early 20s I went to Spain in the middle of August and stayed in a cheap hotel with no air-con! It was well over 45 degrees in our room overnight. I found that the only thing that helped me was putting a cold, damp cloth on my feet and one on my head. This really helped to cool me down and I was able to sleep. I still do this if my daughter has a fever. I also run cold water on my wrists (or put a frozen bottle of water on them) and that cools me down very quickly.

Claudia Vogt from Retro Claude said: “It makes your house look like a squatter’s den, but if you tape the reflective blankets that athletes use at the end of races to your windows it really helps to keep the heat out. They are only about £3 from Amazon. I know lots of mums do this with babies’ bedrooms in the heat.

Here’s an image link to the sort of thing Claudia means (I assume) on Amazon.

Victoria Elizabeth Currell of Our Life on Sea said: “I keep my blinds drawn upstairs and the windows only open a fraction during the day in the heat. Then as soon as it gets a little cooler in the evening I open my windows wide. This way it keeps the hot air out during the day and allows the cooler air in for the evening. I’ve started that this year and it has totally changed the temperature of the upstairs of my house.

Michelle Rice of Utterly Scrummy Food for Families wrote: “I put four wet face cloths in a bag in the freezer for my children to cool down after school. I also freeze their water bottles for packed lunches.”

Natalie Ray of Plutonium Sox suggested “Open water swimming! I swim in the river every Monday morning. Great for cooling down and the perfect way to start the week. It’s free too!

Appealing as it sounds, open water swimming probably isn’t for everyone, but even swimming in a pool can be a great way to cool down. I belong to the Virgin Active club in Lichfield which has both indoor and outdoor pools. I make as much use as I can of the latter!

Jane Hanson of Lady Janey wrote: “Drink lots of tea! Scientific studies have shown that hot beverages can actually cool you down on a hot day.”

I do like a nice cup of tea 🙂 The science behind this is described in this article on the Huffington Post site. Apparently it works by making you lose more heat through sweating. This won’t work so well on muggy, humid days, though.

Amanda Shortman of The Family Patch offered two suggestions: “(1) Cool down the pulse points (wrists, neck, etc) by either running under water or using a cool pack. I find this cools me down far more effectively than anything else. And (2) drink things like coconut water to try and help keep a good balance of electrolytes. I have only just started this, but I am already finding that it helps reduce some of the more extreme fatigue and dizziness I experience in this heat as opposed to simply drinking water all day. I get the small 330ml cartons and have one of those a day along with plenty of water.”

Lynn James who blogs as Mrs Mummypenny said: “Get a diddy paddling pool (we were sent a foldaway one from Aldi and it’s perfect) and cool your feet down in it. If your feet are cool the rest of your body will cool down as well. Drinks tons of water, and I mean three litres a day. Hydration is so important in this weather

Sue Foster from Suefoster.info wrote: “When I can’t sleep at night I wet a towel and wring it out, then lay it over me. This cools the body down, so I can get some sleep.”

Finally, here’s a link to a recent post by Caz, who blogs at Invisibly Me. In her post Caz sets out a range of products and resources for keeping cool in the hot weather.

Thanks to everyone who contributed suggestions, and apologies to those whose tips I wasn’t able to use, mainly because they were too similar to others listed.

As always, feel free to leave any comments or questions below. And of course, if you have any other suggestions for keeping cool in the heat, please do post them also.

Disclosure: This article includes affiliate links to some Amazon products. If you click through these and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. This will not affect the price you are charged by Amazon in any way.




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Matched Betting: Prepare Now for the Russia World Cup

Matched Betting: Prepare Now for the Russia World Cup!

I’ve discussed matched betting a few times on this blog. To recap, it’s a way of making risk-free (and tax-free) cash by taking advantage of bookmaker special offers and promotions.

Matched betting is perfectly legal and (done properly) it’s not gambling. You can read my introduction to matched betting here, and why I believe it is such a great money-making sideline for older people in particular here.

The summer is typically a quiet time for matched betting, but come next month all that is going to change. I am, of course, talking about the World Cup in Russia, which kicks off on June 14, 2018.

To be clear, you don’t have to be a big football fan to look forward to this. No, the reason to anticipate the World Cup so keenly is the host of money-making opportunities it will present for matched bettors.

For one thing, the bookies will be pulling out all the stops to attract new clients and get current and former clients back onside. I expect to see a torrent of offers on the World Cup in the next few weeks, followed by many more during the month the tournament is running. All of this gives the potential to generate substantial risk-free profits by applying matched betting principles.

Finding the best opportunities and calculating the required stakes isn’t easy if you are working alone, especially if time is at a premium. I therefore recommend signing up with my favourite matched betting advisory service, Profit Accumulator. I will talk about this in more detail later on. But let’s start with some tips and advice on making the most of the money-making opportunities the tournament presents…

Preparing for Russia 2018

First and foremost, plan ahead. Once the tournament starts there will be a hectic daily schedule, so arm yourself with a planner (all the main daily and Sunday newspapers will publish one) and do as much preparation as you can beforehand.

If you are already involved in matched betting, or planning to start, one key requirement is to ensure you have as much money as possible in your exchange/s, so you can lay bets as required. My favourite exchange is Smarkets for its low commission fees, but the best-known is (of course) Betfair.

Here are a few more tips for making the most of Russia 2018 with matched betting…

  • Keep a close eye on your email and SMS, as many good offers are sent by bookmakers this way. Some of the best offers are sent to selected customers only and not advertised on bookie websites or available generally.
  • It’s also good to check out weekly bet clubs. An example is the Sky Bet Club. This is available every week. If you bet a total of £25.00 across any sport in any market with odds of evens or above before midnight on Sunday, Sky Bet will give you a £5.00 free bet before 7 pm on Monday to use on any sport. By applying matched betting principles you should be able to make a risk-free profit of around £3 from this every week.
  • Refund offers are popular with bookmakers at the moment and should be good money-makers in the World Cup. These vary but generally involve getting a refund if a certain event or outcome happens, e.g. the crossbar is hit during a game or a match ends as a 0-0 draw. The normal way to play these is to back and lay the relevant market. If the trigger event then occurs you will get your stake refunded by the bookie and also win at the exchange, for a good net profit. If it doesn’t, you will make a (very) small loss.
  • Price boosts are another easy money maker. If a bookmaker boosts the price of a certain outcome, you may be able to lay it for shorter odds at an exchange and guarantee yourself a net profit.
  • 2 Up (various bookmakers) and 4 Means More (William Hill) are two more good opportunities for football bettors – though they work best if you can bet during the match itself, so you can trade out if in profit. Like refunds, these opportunities don’t always pay out, and if not you will make a small loss. Unlike refunds, however, you can generally do them even if you are gubbed (banned from offers). And there is no maximum stake, so winnings can be substantial. I shan’t go into any more detail in this post, but you can find out more about 2 Up here and 4 Means More here.
  • If you belong to a matched betting advisory service such as Profit Accumulator, look out for the regular emails they send out with information about offers on the day in question.

More About Profit Accumulator

Profit Accumulator is the marched betting advisory service I use myself and recommend to others. It is suitable both for those brand new to matched betting and for experienced matched bettors.

You can join PA free initially and they will provide details of two bookmaker offers you can take advantage of straight away. These should make you around £45 in net profit. If you wish to proceed further, you can then pay to become a Platinum member and get access to the full range of offers and services. These include an odds-matching tool and calculator for finding profitable bets to use with bookmaker offers and maximizing your returns from them.

A further advantage of joining Profit Accumulator is that you get access to the busy members-only forum, where you can get any questions you may have answered by more experienced members and/or the team behind PA.

If you think matched betting may be for you, I therefore highly recommend that you click through to the Profit Accumulator website to see what they offer and sign up for the free trial. By joining today you will be perfectly placed to take advantage of the flood of bookmaker offers likely to appear in the next few weeks.

As ever, if you have any questions or comments about matched betting or Profit Accumulator, please do post them below.

Disclosure: As well as being a member of Profit Accumulator I am also an affiliate for them. If you join and become a paying member after following any of the links in this post, I will receive a commission for introducing you. This does not affect in any way the cost of the service to you or the benefits you receive.



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