Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis introduces us to five handy, yet not widely known, websites that’ll save you cash

Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis is back with five top tips to help you save money using the web

As the credit crunch causes purse strings to tighten further, our Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis introduces you to five handy, yet not widely known, web tips that'll save you cash.

1. Free texts from your mobile phone

There's a clever little service from Vyke that utilises the fact it costs a fraction of the price to use mobile internet than it does to text. If you've a phone which has web or WAP access (which is most phones bought in the last three or four years) you can take advantage.

If you and your friends are Vyke members you only pay the data cost. If you are but your friend isn't, you pay 1p per text on top. Either way if you're outside your free minutes package this is a huge saving.

Full info and other ways to send SMSs at no cost in Martin's full Free Texts guide.

2. Track down eBay bargains

When listing items on eBay, spelling mistakes aren't automatically corrected so by using sites like fatfingers, goofbay and low cost bid, you can find hidden near-spells that less people will be bidding on, meaning you could get a bargain. So the next time you fancy buying a laptop, try loptop instead!

For more eBay tips and tricks, read Martin's full eBay Buying guide.

3. Get your credit report for free

You have a right to get your data from the credit reference agencies, but doing it by post costs £2. Normally to get it online you need to pay, but there's a trick to do it for free. Both Equifax and Experian highest end 'gold' credit monitoring services cost around £70 a year but they offer the first month as a free trial. Thus you can sign up for the free trial, read your report then cancel it straight away.

For more on how credit reference works and tips to get the free trials read Martin's full Your Credit Rating guide.

4. Get a free house price valuation

With the markets moving around unpredictably at the moment, there are a range of sites that'll give you a basic house price valuation for free or allow you to find out what the sales prices of other houses in your street are without forking out.

All the handy sites, including useful area facts, are in Martin's Free House Prices guide.

5. Donate cash to charity...for free

If you're strapped for cash but still want to donate to charity, there's a wonderful way to feed the starving or provide funding for mammograms without it costing you a penny. Simply visit http://www.thehungersite.com/ or http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/ (although there are many sites) and click on its donate button.

For every click you make – usually up to a maximum of once per day - the site's sponsors will make a payment to the charity, which effectively means you've donated for free.

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