Pound to £5k Challenge

Edition 85

I hope you have all had a good week and are enjoying your Summer!

Not caught up on my previous emails? You might have missed a golden opportunity from the last few weeks - tap the link below to view them!

Results Day Freebies

With exam results rolling in across the UK this month, there are a number of freebies available that are well worth knowing about! If you have any friends or family receiving results, be sure to share these with them:

Frankie & Benny’s - Free Pizza

Frankie & Benny’s are giving away free pizzas to students who purchase a soft drink and show their results to a server on:

• Thursday 14 August (A Levels)

• Thursday 21 August (GCSEs)

Nando’s - Free Starter or 1/4 Chicken

Spend £7+ at Nando’s and get a free starter or a free 1/4 chicken when you bring your results and ID on:

• Thursday 14 August (A Levels)

• Thursday 21 August (GCSEs)

Bella Italia - Free Starter & Free Dessert for the whole table

Purchase a main at Bella Italia and you will get a free starter and a free dessert (applicable for the whole table!) when you visit on:

• Thursday 14 August (A Levels)

• Thursday 21 August (GCSEs)

Bill’s - Free Dessert

Purchase a main or brunch dish at Bill’s and get a free dessert when you take a copy of your results and your ID on:

• Thursday 14 August (A Levels)

• Thursday 21 August (GCSEs)

Côte Brasserie - Free Steak Frites or Free Dessert

Purchase one full price adult prix fixe or à la carte main dish at Côte and get Free Steak Frites if you have results for French GCSE or French A Level. Not sitting French? Get a Free Dessert when purchasing one full price à la carte main dish on:

• Thursday 14 August (A Levels)

• Thursday 21 August (GCSEs)

Take your results and your ID with you

Zizzi - Free Random Prize

Zizzi are doing things a little differently, and whilst everyone who takes their results to their local branch will win a freebie it could be vastly different, as examples:

• Free Mozzarella & Garlic Bombe starters

• Free Drinks

• Free Desserts

• Free meal up to £150

This can be claimed on results day or the day after:

• Thursday 14 August (A Levels)

• Friday 15 August (A Levels)

• Thursday 21 August (GCSEs)

• Friday 22 August (GCSEs)

FREE Nuts for Sky Customers

Sky have been releasing weekly gifts for their Sky VIP customers (simply download the MySky app and you’ll get access)

These gifts have been pretty good so far and have all been at Sainsbury’s superstores, I have only missed one week that didn’t appeal to me:

1. FREE Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference pizza

2. FREE Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference ice lollies

3. FREE Love Corn corn snack (didn’t get)

4. FREE Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference sharing crisps

This week you can get a FREE bag of Whitworths Wondermix nuts

You only get 30 minutes to scan the barcode from activating it so don’t activate too early and assume you’ll need help from a colleague as they can be temperamental to scan yourselves!

Chip - £10 for £100 deposit

Similarly, Chip is a savings and investing app that I’ve used for years and like so much that I even invested in the company via a crowdfunding round a while ago

As expected, the very generous £20 bonus has disappeared BUT they are still offering £10 for new customers who save £100

Get £5 back instantly

If you haven’t used the Cheddar cashback app before, it works similarly to JamDoughnut or EverUp where you can buy a gift card for supermarkets and earn cashback into your account for doing so

Whilst the cashback rates aren’t necessarily the highest, the sign-up offer is well worth doing as you can get an INSTANT £5 + cashback

1. Download the Cheddar cashback app and create an account

2. When prompted enter the referral code “ENGINE3”

3. Purchase a gift card within 14 days

   (you can currently get 4% back at Tesco, 3.5% back at M&S, 3% back at ASDA, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, and much more)

4. Once you make your first purchase you will receive a £5 bonus plus cashback on your gift card into your account

5. You can withdraw this immediately to your connected bank account

It is a nifty little app so you may wish to keep using it after this, but if not then you can simply delete it and be £5 better off!

Free Instant £10

Zopa is a digital bank that has launched a pretty good new account that I have been testing over the last few months (it’s called “Biscuit”)

• Earn 2% AER interest on your balance

• Get 2% cashback on direct debit bills (there is a cap)

• Up to 7.1% AER on their regular saver pot

• Spend fee-free abroad

The cherry on the cake (or the biscuit…) is that at the minute you can get £10 when you open an account through a referral link; no deposit, literally just opening the account and the £10 just appears!

This is a current account without a credit facility and therefore should not impact your credit score when opening an account

I have used all of my referral links but you may find some online OR message me the word “Biscuit” and I will try and match you with a link I know has not been used yet!

Already got Zopa and want £100? Send me your referral link and let me know how many people you have referred already and I’ll share it with 10 people who have requested a link!

Moneybox - £20 to £250

Moneybox is a savings and investing app that I purchased shares in over the years as I enjoy the concept; I had my Lifetime ISA with them for some time as well and only moved it for a better rate

At the moment, they are offering a £20 - £250 cashback bonus if you invest £500+ into one of their investment products for 6 months or more

Obviously, this is relatively risky and I am contemplating testing it out myself but have not yet done so; here’s how it works:

1. Open a Stocks & Shares ISA, General Investment Account (GIA), Stocks & Shares LISA, or Junior ISA before 31 August 2025

2. Deposit £500+ before 31 August 2025 and you will get:

• Deposit £500 - £4,999: Get £20

• Deposit £5,000 - £9,999: Get £50

• Deposit £10,000 - £19,999: Get £100

• Deposit £20,000 - £49,999: Get £200

• Deposit more than £50,000: Get £250

You must maintain this balance until 28 February 2026 and will then receive the cashback within 14 days of this date so is it worth it?

For the £500 deposit, possibly as it works out as a 4% return, however it must be invested so there is some risk to it!