The Spy's blog

The Cheltenham Festival begins in just under a week, which means we are now very close to what is undisputedly the biggest and best horse racing festival in the world.
The festival takes place on the four days between 16th March and 19th March and each day tens of thousands of people will flock to the course to witness racing of the very highest quality.

There are loads of special offers available on the site at the moment as retailers battle it out to get your hard earned cash, so we thought it would be useful to list the top offers available to help give your mum a treat as well as save you some cash no matter what your budget is.

Our Top Five:

1) Photobox Mother's Day Special Offers

In a worldwide recession massively affecting the travel industry, if ever a company deserved a harmonious employer/employee relationship, then British Airways is that company. The high court ruling allowing BA to reduce the number of crew per flight may seem as if lady justice has been a little rough to the highly unionised BA crew, but to the rest of us it is an inevitable sign of the times.

You might be asking yourself whether to take advantage of the British Airways sale considering all the news lately regarding a potential strike. If you want to take advantage of the low prices but are scared of the chance that your flight might get disrupted by a strike, there is some news that might help you decide.

Firstly, my sources tell me that cabin crew have vowed not to strike over the Easter break. This in itself is promising if you're looking to grab a quick getaway over that period.

Thanks to everyone that entered our Christmas competition, and congratulations to our lucky winner: Susan Bowman from London!

Susan had this to say: "I was so excited to receive the e-mail advising me I had won the MoneySavingSpy competition. January is always a difficult month money-wise and using the MoneySavingSpy site will make my win go even further. A big thank you to all who run the site."

You're very welcome, Susan!

Check out our other competitions, you might just find yourself striking it lucky too!

Congratulations to the winner of our competition last month - Sheila North, from Brough. She walked away with £50, and had this to say:

"I was thrilled when I read your email last night telling me of my win, I didn't believe it and had to email you to confirm it! It's not often that I win anything and it couldn't have come at a better time, considering the expense of Christmas is just around the corner. I do lots of my shopping online and will certainly always check Money Saving Spy before completing any purchases."

You may recoil in a fog of British rejection of this American custom and as one of her majesty’s servants who am I to argue, but I will. What's not to like? Dress ups, sweets and dancing with danger by disturbing complete strangers in their home and asking them for food? Brilliant!

The smart money is on baccarat. Actually, this time, it's on bingo!

Ok, so it might not be as glamorous as a quick hop to Monte Carlo for a night at the tables, but online bingo is something of a web phenomenon in the UK. Push the images of blue rinses and smoky bingo halls out of your head; nowadays most players are under the age of 35 and are playing bingo online. All this frenzy around bingo means that there are lots and lots of special offers out there, and even the opportunity to make some serious cash for free.

Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned skier, skiing on the cheap has never been easy. Once you factor in equipment, clothing, lift passes, après ski and of course the holiday itself you can find yourself set back a penny or two.

We seem to be seeing ‘back to school’ ads all over the shop lately which got me thinking many of you will be parents but may be a little technophobic. So I thought it would be helpful to put together a Spy’s guide to buying a computer for your kids, since I’m assuming you’ll be looking to purchase one soon before they head back to school (yay, happy days again!)

Desktop vs. Laptop