Take advantage of high fixed rates on your savings

Now's a great time to take advantage of exceptionally high fixed interest rates on your savings if you're prepared to lock money away for at least six months. Banks are desperate for your cash as they try to pull in new funds to handle the credit crunch so now they're offering mouth-watering rates.

For those who only want to tie money up for six months, online bank Cahoot and Birmingham Midshires both pay over 6.8%. But if you're prepared to lock your money away for a year, both ICICI and Icesave are offering 7%. The rate's fixed, so guaranteed to stay that high for the period.

If you are worried about the safety of your savings then spread your money across a range of institutions puting no more than £35,000 in any one account.

For a detailed guide to all the top accounts, with extensive pros, cons and explanations read Martin’s full Top Savings guide.

Jet off to sunnier climes for just a fiver

With summer on the horizon Ryanair is offering £5 flights to a wide range of European destinations during May, June, September and October including Venice, Porto and Milan though you must book before midnight Thursday 8 May. The price includes most taxes and charges too.

You can fly from a handful of UK airports including Stansted, Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool as part of its summer sale. To quickly find these flights use the Flightchecker tool that’s designed to hunt them down in seconds.

For full details on the Ryanair sale, the FlightChecker tool and how to take advantage, go to Ryanair £5 Flight Finding.

Get £5 free credit to make cheaper mobile calls overseas

And if you're jetting off on holiday you may need to make cheap mobile phone calls back to the UK. Roaming international SIM cards, which you just insert into your phone, cut the costs of calling and making calls in many countries. Provider Sim4Travel has a special deal giving you £20 of credit for £15 on its international SIM. But hurry as it’s only available to the first 10,000 customers.

To find out more on making cheap mobile calls when abroad read Martin's Mobile Roaming article.