Boots to cut Advantage card points expiry window from June

Boots Advantage points will expire if cardholders don't use their cards for more than a year, starting from 20 June 2022.

The deadline has been halved from two years, meaning many unsuspecting cardholders may need to act now to save their points balance.

This comes as shoppers are being urged to use loyalty cards to save in the face of the worsening cost of living crisis.

Here, Which? looks at how you can protect your Advantage points and other ways to save on health and beauty products.

How to save your Boots Advantage points

With a Boots Advantage card, you can collect points when you shop at Boots which you can then spend in-store or online in the future.

You earn four points for every £1 you spend and each point is worth 1p. So if you spent £100 you would get £4 worth of points.

Thanks to a change in the scheme's terms and conditions coming in on 20 June, points will expire one year from the last time you used your Advantage card.

So if you have a Boots Advantage card and haven't used it in nearly a year, you should act before the terms and conditions change.

But you don't need to spend your points to keep them active. All you need to do is use your card when you make a Boots purchase in-store or online. So you can save your points by collecting even more points.

• Find out more:best loyalty cards compared

What else has changed with Boots Advantage cards?

If you don't already have a Boots Advantage card, it's worth signing up for one if you ever shop at Boots.

As well as earning points that you can spend, the pharmacy's Price Advantage scheme gives cardholders access to lower prices on hundreds of products.

The pharmacy chain recently extended its new Price Advantage scheme and rolled it out to Boots.com, meaning customers looking to keep their points will have more opportunities to save money while they do so.

Boots says you'll save an average of £2.65 per product, with some offering savings of up to 50%.

Discounts are now available on more than 450 items. You'll find the lower prices in store by looking for bright pink stickers. Or if you shop online you'll see alternative prices in pink above the usual prices.

Other ways to save on health and beauty

Saving money on essentials has itself become essential thanks to the cost of living crisis.

We've rounded up a few ways to keep costs down when shopping for health and beauty products.

Try longer-lasting beauty products

You can save money in the long run if you buy products that last longer. Try our Editor's Choice lipsticks, which our rigorous testing has concluded have more staying power.

• Find out more:which lipstick lasts longest?

Check supermarket prices

You might find some savings by shopping at the supermarket instead of a high street pharmacy.

Last year, we found that Sainsbury's was the cheapest place to buy a basket of 21 popular toiletry products, and Superdrug was the most expensive (followed closely by Boots).

That picture might have changed by now, but it proves it's worth shopping around for the best deals.

• Find out more:best and cheapest places to buy toiletries

Switch to own-label medicines

Although recognisable brands abound on the medicine shelves, generic products often contain exactly the same ingredients as their more expensive branded neighbours, for a fraction of the price.

For example, Boots' own-label 200mg Ibuprofen tablets cost 55p for a pack of 16, while Nurofen's equivalent is £2.29 at Boots.

• Find out more: what are the best painkillers?

Know what to look for

With a huge number of brands to choose from, it can be hard to tell which toiletry products are up to scratch.

Thankfully, in many cases, experts agree that the cheapest budget products will do just as good a job as the most expensive.

For example, as long as a toothpaste has fluoride, it'll clean your teeth. And as long as a suncream has UVA and UVB protection, it'll protect your skin.

Read our story on how to save on beauty essentials to learn more about reading beauty product labels.

• Find out more:how to save on beauty and clothing