Reduce your health risks - remember you're a member

A study has concluded that gardening and DIY can reduce the health risks for the over 60s. Swedish researchers questioned 4,000 people in Stockholm about their general levels of exercise which included activities such as gardening, DIY, fruit picking or car tinkering and concluded that "a generally active daily life was, regardless of exercising regularly or not, associated with cardiovascular heath and longevity in older adults."


So head over to the iMember website at www.iMember.co.uk and see what membership benefits you can get that involve gardening or DIY. Membership of the Royal Horticultural Society not only gives you discounts to flower shows, a monthly magazine and personalised gardening advice, but also free garden admission at various venues up and down the country. If you have the iMember app downloaded on your mobile, you will be notified when you are within a certain radius of one of these gardens. You can download the app for free. For iPhone app click here for android click here

Being a member of Kew Gardens entitles you to free entry to Botanical Gardens the length and breadth of the country including the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall and Bedgebury Pinetum in Kent.

Looking at smaller membership organisations, if you are an alumni of Gloucester University and need some gardening design or planning advice, you can get 10% off the standard charges from JM Gardens in Gloucester.

Are Sunderland Athletic your football team of choice? As one of their member supporters, you can get some superb discounts from DIY chain Jewson: 20% off painting and decorating supplies, 40% off tool hire, 20% off general building materials.

There are no upper age limits to the benefits membership organisations offer, so make sure you're not missing out and sign up now to find out about all the discounts and offers, whether gardening and DIY related or not, that you are entitled to www.iMember.co.uk

Have you got the energy?

So the news is full of the big six energy companies and the huge amounts of money we're going to be paying to them over the coming months and years in order to get essential fuel into our homes. We're not left with any real choice in the matter and quite frankly comparing all the various rates and tariffs is enough  to have you contemplating moving to warmer climates to avoid having to deal with it.

Let iMember help you make a decision over which energy company to choose. Go to our website www.iMember.co.uk and you will get full details of the "extras" they will offer you to persuade you to choose them to supply your fuel needs. Quite an interesting exercise and a lot more fun than deciding how many day or night units you are going to use or deciding whether you are going to use the dishwasher during the day or just at night time....

Two of the big six think they don't need to offer us any incentives to sign our hard earned cash over to them...!! But of the other four, British Gas have two different member offers; E.on will give you Tesco clubcard reward points; SSE will give you up to £15 worth of "IcePoints" which can be used in shops such as John Lewis or Marks & Spencer; Scottish Power do not offer anything back to their consumers directly but they will make a £10 contribution to Cancer Research per customer per year providing the customer ticks the box on application.

Anyway, wander over to our website www.iMember.co.uk and get the full details of the member benefits on offer and then choose who you want to supply your fuel for the next couple of years. 

What makes the world go round?

No we haven't gone all scientific on you in today's blog - to be honest I'd get a bit stuck writing about that side of things. I'm talking about the whole way life works and how you help me, so I help you and things fall into place and the world goes round.

When Richard Brown - founder of iMember realised he had stumbled upon an idea that would save people money, another wheel was set in motion to help things tick along nicely. The beauty of iMember is that once signed up at iMember.co.uk you will be reminded of discounts and benefits you are already entitled to. 


And the organisations you belong to, having negotiated discounts and offers on your behalf with shops, theatres, restaurants....want you to use them. You have already subscribed to the organisation but they want you to stay loyal to them on renewal dates and what better way to make you feel warm and fuzzy about the AA than giving you membership rewards in the shape of discounts on everyday and also luxury items? Let's face it - roadside recovery, broken down cars...not very exciting - but necessary - reduced rate spa days at Champneys*, half price wine from Virgin wines* - very nice, thank you very much - yes perhaps I will renew my membership of the AA!

So sign up to iMember today, (IT'S FREE by the way) download the app (IT'S FREE by the way) and start enjoying the benefits and discounts you are entitled to. The world continues to go round and iMember helps it spin just a little more smoothly!

*offers correct at the time of blog writing

Think outside the box!

When we think of organisations we "belong" to, we might think of gyms and health clubs. Perhaps upon further thought we get to something like roadside recovery - the AA or RAC or Green Flag. Once your thinking has started down those avenues, maybe health insurance might pop into your head. Hmmm, if health insurance counts as an "organisation", what about home insurance - and you get that through your bank perhaps so actually, although you've never thought that you "belong" to your bank's organisation does your bank offer certain benefits that you are just not claiming?


And there are plenty of other organisations that you do belong to but you just don't think of as "membership organisations". "Mumsnet" is a great example. With many, many thousands of members, they have amassed a great number of benefits and discounts for their members. It costs nothing to join and they do have exclusive offers for their members which are emailed out weekly. I received my email only yesterday - I read it, thought - "oo, good discounts on offer there!" and promptly forgot what they were! But iMember will remind me - either by way of the mobile app if I'm out and about or if I click on "my benefits" on the website www.iMember.co.uk they are all clearly listed. Alongside, of course, all my benefits I can get from the AA, from the Running Bug, from AXA PPP, from Barclays....the list is endless.

So don't think - "iMember won't be able to help me, I don't belong to any organisations". Think outside the box, go and check out our website, get signed up and start enjoying the rewards you are entitled to!  

Avoiding Badly Targeted Rewards and Promotions

Like most people, my inbox regularly fills up with promotions, discounts, vouchers and special offers for things I don't need, want or have an interest in. That said, things have got better. Our acquiescence to personal data profiling has actually meant that that promotions aimed at us are more relevant than they used to be. See the ads down the right hand side of your Facebook page for a good example, but marketeers are still missing an important point. Just because I have searched for something on Google, or bought something from a particular store before, only tells half the story.  Because I once bought an umbrella at Superdrug doesn't mean I want to collect a thousand more loyalty points to win a pound off another one. Oh, and Facebook, please note that because I am 53 it definitely does not mean I am interested in funeral costs!

The other half of the profiling picture is to recognise that I am more than my shopping and searching. Yes, Facebook and Google are very good at monitoring what I am talking about, but there is more. I have chosen to belong to a number of organisations (so keen is my enthusiasm, I am actually prepared to pay for the privilege in most cases), which reflect my passions, my needs, and ambitions. These are trade unions, professional bodies, clubs and societies.  These tell marketers much more about who I am than my retail habits.  If rewards and promotions are to be effectively targeted at me then take a look below the shopping surface and look at who I am, by seeing what I belong to.

Time is precious - we'll not take up more than a few minutes of yours.

So when my phone rang and it was a chap from Scottish Power on the other end wanting me to swap utility suppliers my heart sank. But I was feeling magnanimous so thought I would listen to what he had to say. A lengthy 22 minutes and 59 seconds later my three year relationship with British Gas was over and Scottish Power were my new suppliers of gas and electricity saving me well over £300 a year, the nice chap said.

Good day's work I thought!  

It's so easy to save money and get discounts and benefits but it's just finding the time to shop around and get those deals. And you can't buy time (believe me I've looked in all the shops and it's just not for sale!). That's the wonderful thing about iMember - it's not an unsolicited phone call that just takes up too much of your day - it's just you and a few minutes on our super friendly website www.iMember.co.uk listing the various organisations to which you belong and that's it - JOB DONE - #tick.

With thumbnail icons on your home page at iMember we'll remind you of every benefit and discount you are entitled to simply because you're a member of an organisation. If you're out and about and you have downloaded our free app to your mobile phone, you will receive notifications of benefits when you are within a certain radius of one.  

There are thousands of discounts out there that you are entitled to just because you are a member of a particular organisation but finding the time to discover them all and then remembering them is just a task too far in most of our busy lives. Thanks to iMember you don't need to be spending the time searching for your entitlements, you can just enjoy spending the money we'll be saving you by reminding you of all your membership benefits.

iMember according to Bridget Jones*

"So I'm back. Yes, I know it's been a while and a-LOT has happened. The world has changed; Mark Darcy has gone - (no, really gone, as in not ever ever coming back); I've got two beautiful children; I don't have an answer phone any more; I don't write a diary - I blog. A few things are still the same - Daniel F***wit Cleaver is still in my life (thank goodness actually); AND my friends who I love with all my might, are still around. I am "workless" and endeavouring to face life with a big smile on my face. Am rather terrified of this technical world we live in but embracing it and it's advantages all the same. 

I was introduced to iMember by Tom (hurrah, still a singleton!) - he knows all about the latest internet stuff - at first I thought it was a dating agency - NO THANK YOU!! - but actually it turns out it's a real gem! You go to their website iMember.co.uk and list all the organisations you are a member of and then the website tells you all the membership benefits you are entitled to. You wouldn't believe the stuff I've been missing out on:- wine discounts from Laithwates via Barclays; 2 for 1 deals in restaurants and great days out with my babies from the AA; a pile of discounts from Mumsnet; and my poor rotting gym membership at David Lloyd no longer rots (no, I don't use the gym...) as I use the fabulous benefits that membership brings me. I may even renew my membership with the British Guild of Travel Writers so I can enjoy their benefits - I really was a good travel writer back in the old days!

Anyway - must dash to get the children from school; we're going to devour a huge box of cupcakes from rachael's kitchen. I got 15% off the price simply because we have private health cover with AXA PPP. iMember - what would I do without you?"

(*written by Alexandra Brown)