A teacher is speaking out about a little-known discount scheme with deals like 60% off at TX Maxx and 50% off at Amazon .
Rhian Roberts, 29, is a primary school teacher and keen user of the Discounts For Teachers scheme.
This scheme gives money off and vouchers for things like shopping, gym membership, financial services deals, bills and more.
Current deals include £16 off a £60 shop at Sainsbury's, 50% off on certain products at Amazon, Office and Harvey Nichols and 20% discounts at Oasis.
The scheme also gives money off holidays, like 15% off at Haven and 10% discounts at Hoseasons.
Hotel stays are also included - like 15% off some stays at booking.com.
The discount scheme is not just for teachers but for anyone who works in the education sector.
This includes university staff, cleaners, administrative staff and more - and even volunteers and retired education workers can use it.
Rhian estimates she saves around £100 a month using the scheme - £50 on groceries and £50 on other shopping.
But the teacher had not heard of the scheme until a colleague announced it in her school's staff room.
"She said 'thank goodness we have got Discounts For Teachers', but a whole group of us had never heard of it before," Rhian explained.
"It's definitely meant savings in the hundreds of pounds over five years.
"It's made a huge difference since the cost of living started going up, especially as I have had a pay cut every year since starting my job, when you factor in inflation.
"I get a lot of use out of it, and I use it most weeks. It is great when buying gifts for people. I can get people things I would not be able to afford otherwise."
Rhian's favourite deal was discounted AA Breakdown cover - because her car broke down two months after buying it.
Without the cover, she said she would have been forced to pay for overnight accomodation and the cost of a mechanic - and wouldn't have been able to afford food and rent for the month.
It is free to sign up to the discount cheme, but there is an optional paid-for Ode Card that lets you earn cashback on purchases at 50 retailers.
This card is free for 12 months, then costs £2.99 a year.
But it lets users earn cashback of 3% in Waitrose and Sainsbury's and 2.5% in Asda.
In the M&S department store you can get 3%, and in John Lewis it's 5%.
It also lets users get 4% cashback in Wilko and B&Q and 5% in Argos and Halfords.
Other jobs have their own discount card schemes too.
An example is the Blue Light Card scheme open to emergency services workers - and one employee says using it saved him £2,500 in just a couple of years.
The Blue Light Card gives those in the NHS, emergency services, social care sector and armed forces discounts online and in-store.
The cards cost £4.99 for two years.
Aaron Linstead, 28, works on the frontline in an intensive care ward in London and said the discounts helped him cope mentally and financially during the pandemic.
