Thrifty Gifty - Money Making for Christmas & All Ocassions 2009

jamtart6 · 9 May 2009 at 10:06PM

Money Neutral FAQ's

What is this 'money neutral' of which you speak?
Have a read of this thread, to see how I managed it this year to give you an example. Basically you do surveys to earn vouchers/points, save up loyalty points, shop through cashback websites to reduced the total amount of hard cash you spend...most of us do this anyway. We're always left with a little bit left over that we have to spend, so the idea is to get 'free' money from cashback sites, survey sites and one of the best sources for this....eBay. Throw out List your old items and make some money for new ones...then use this money to spend on your gifts throughout the year...therefore the items you have bought are technically free and you are therefore, 'money neutral'. (I saw this term in a recent magazine...I'm sure the writer of the article coined it from these very threads

).

Example - I want to buy a gift for my son... it costs £100....firstly (a) do I have a voucher code or gift voucher from a survey site that I can reduce this cost by? (b) Can I purchase it from a cashback website? (c) Yep..used my vouchers...the cost is still £80 of my cold hard cash...how can I get this back?? Answer: eBay or survey sites to the value of £80. If you manage that...you are 'money neutral'.

Why a group?

We found in previous years that have other people to motivate you is really really helpful to keep the momentum going, and more people spot more good deals too

And everyone is SOOOOOOOOOO nice!

So is this just for Christmas or all special occasions?

That is entirely up to you! I managed to cover 90% of the costs of Christmas and Birthdays for 2008, but if you just want to join us for Christmas then feel free!!

Look lady...enough of the chat:p...just tell me what I've gotta to do be in it!? Where do I start???

1. Make a list of everyone you need presents for in a "Gift Notebook"

2. Keep your eye out in the sales for anything that might suit that person for their birthday or Christmas - try and buy it with loyalty points/vouchers

3. Make a note of how much you spend in the book and mark if you spend vouchers, points or cash

4. Try and earn the hard cash back via eBay (I'm not encouraging you to earn it back via Quidco, but if you do have any spare quidco funds then use it to offset what you have spent.

5. Keep us posted on how you are doing with earning your points, buying your gifts, selling on eBay etc. I will probably keep my update in my signature (in very small font!)

:AWell we'd love you to join us - so feel free to post as much as you want, if you already know you will have spare points/vouchers etc for next years gift buying then keep us posted now!:A

We love oldies, newbies, we'll take anything to be honest...we're not the fussy type!! Come on in and let us know how you are doing

Best of luck and hopefully this time next year, we will have all had a money neutral gift buying year!!! :A
Well there has been a lot of whisperings and mentions of another challenge from me, so I hereby present to you :
The Thrifty Gifty Girl's Money Making Challenge Take 2!

It is for everyone and anyone to join in. You can make as much or as little as you like. You can earn clubcard points, vouchers, review sites points, cashback, car boot sale money, money from craft sales, PIN money (see below) ANYTHING that will help you towards Christmas (or whatever occasion you are saving for)

1. Take some time to think about where to spend your time. Which websites do you frequently purchase from at Christmas? There is little point flogging your guts out on surveys/reviews to earn a £10 voucher for Auto-trader if you have no intention of ever buying anything from there. Use time wisely!
Mine are Boots.com, Amazon and Play.com. Main shops I buy things from at Christmas are Argos and Tesco and Sainsbury, so I spend time looking for the best survey sites to get these vouchers and spend my time on them.

2. Approximately work out how much you do/have/will spend on Christmas.
A quick reckoning in my head shouts "£500" - I know we will have to spend less this year as ££ is tight but it gives me an approximate figure to aim for. You don't have to cover all the cost of your Christmas with this challenge - even if you only earn £10 somehow, it is £10 more than you would have had had you never stumbled across this post!

3. Get earning! GO! OK come back a minute...
So earn in any way you can (legally of course)! All of it adds up to a cash value. £10 amazon voucher is as good as £10 in cash in my eyes.

PIN money - well I coined nicked this phrase off one of the Old Style threads. Basically if you are willing to spend £10 on a joint of meat, you get it to the till and it is only £6, you think "Brucey Bonus!" and put the other £4 in your PIN money tin - you would have spent the money anyway as you were willing to, so you should'nt notice that it is missing! An ideal thing to put it in is a Sealed Jar so you can't get your grubby mitts on it until nearer Christmas. This was an idea from the Debt Free Wannabe forum and also on the Organised Christmas thread this/last year and people tend to like it, so I'm gonna put my PIN money in a sealed jar I think and be honest and good and put it in when I'm charged less than expecting.

4. When does the challenge start?
I was going to say officially 1st September, but I sense some excitement, so lets just go for it, a couple of extra days won't matter. I declare the challenge officialy OPEN!

5. When does the challenge end?
Well I'm open to this one really. I tend to think something like the 31st October? If you think something different let me know. That gives you 9 weeks and is about 7 weeks before Christmas, so also gives you enough money and time to shop. Although all good moneysavers have probably done their shopping for 2010 by now !

5. The Tiers
Well what's a good challenge without something to aim for? If you didn't partake last time, I'd say 80% of challengers earned over £100 in the 5 weeks that it ran for. Some earned over £600!!!!:T (Yes you Rusty

). But we don't want to terrify some people, so we had tiers of achievment so everyone could join in, and there was a challenge element for all. So here is what I propose:

1. Thrifty Gifty Coal Status - £25
2. Thrifty Gifty Wrapping Paper Status - £50
3. Thrifty Gifty Ribbon Status - £75
4. Thrifty Gifty Bauble Status - £100
5. Thrifty Gifty Star Status - £150
6. Thrifty Gifty Sparkling Star Status - £200
7. Thrifty Gifty Christmas Tree Status - £300
8. Thrifty Gifty Sleigh Status - £500
9. Thrifty Gifty Angel - £750
10.Thrifty Gifty Santa Status - £1000
11.Thrifty Gifty SUPERSTAR status - £2000

(I have to put the high levels on for those who like to go for it

)

PLEASE can I add my £100 cashback that I just got from my new 02 SIM??

:D

(The small print: I have to categorically state that whilst cashback is fine to add to your total, I will be expecting some evidence of money making rather than just money spending to earn cashback. Yes Chocolate.Orange, that does mean you )

So you can state which level you will be aiming for if you like, but all I need is for you to say if you are IN or not and I'll put your names on the first post and update as we go along when I ask for updates

I have to also state I am virtually not here for the next couple of weeks, but as soon as my time frees up I'll be cracking that whip. Oh yes. I . Will!

List of Participants :

Jamtart6
Rainmac
RustyFlange
Sarahf
Skiergirl
Paddingtondoodlebug
Jemtom
Monaebrook
mum2oe
lauhen
rufusdog
Nicky_bo
furrypig
SugarSpun
Foxy219
Triggles
Cyclingyorkie

jamtart6 · 9 May 2009 at 10:08PM

Hello!
This is a very blank new thread, and all are welcome to join in! For one reason and another, I have been rubbish at money neutral this year, so have decided just to be Money Neutral for Christmas this year, as I feel like that is a challenge I can complete.

Vouchers saved: £0
Cash earnt: £0

I will update my totals when I have calculated them in the spreadsheet!

How are you doing?

chocolate.orange_2 · 9 May 2009 at 10:12PM

Same for me Jammy

Ive been naughty being more gifty than thrifty

Heres my totals :

Vouchers earnt

Cash earnt

I promise i will try harder

jamtart6 · 9 May 2009 at 10:15PM

Well well well, what do we have here....I'm not sure we can accept you into the fold........................ ah go on then seeing as it is you!

I have just been so bad, and it is all because I didnt have a little support network to report back to, so had to do something otherwise I'd be credit-carding christmas!!

Have you joined bingoport? xx

bunbun2 · 9 May 2009 at 10:20PM

thanks jammy
I will join in but am saving for our trip to Disneyland Paris in the summer. I will then start for Christmas after that. hope that is OK. I started off OK but have not done so well recently so this will hopefully get me back on track.

sylphraven · 9 May 2009 at 10:21PM

Sylphraven, reporting for Duty, Ma'am!!!

Have done quite well so far but things are slowing down, on the earning side anyway.

At last check:
spent: £450
earnt: £459.29p
Total neutral: 9.59p profit :j

Need a good ol' kick up the bum, lol

jamtart6 · 9 May 2009 at 10:22PM

yeah course, whatever you need to save for that is fine

I have just renamed the thread "occasions" too .... we will be skint by Christmas with all of the house work going on, so I really need to get bingoporting!!

bunbun2 · 9 May 2009 at 10:24PM

jamtart6 wrote: »

yeah course, whatever you need to save for that is fine I have just renamed the thread "occasions" too .... we will be skint by Christmas with all of the house work going on, so I really need to get bingoporting!!

can I have a brief intro to and explanation of bingoport as I haven't ventured there yet! thanks!

jamtart6 · 9 May 2009 at 10:27PM

I have some big boots sylphy!:D Wow you have done really well, is this from your eBay challenge that you have been doing? I NEED to get back into eBay..have so much stuff waiting to be sold here.

jamtart6 · 9 May 2009 at 10:28PM

bunbun2 wrote: »

can I have a brief intro to and explanation of bingoport as I haven't ventured there yet! thanks!

1. Register for free
2. they give you 1000pts for free
3. you play bingo for 2pts per bingo card (free)
4. you win more points
5. you earn more points by posting on their forum (can earn up to 1000pts per day = 10 posts)
6. points = vouchers e.g 8000pts is £5 amazon voucher

essentially play bingo for free to get amazon vouchers for nout :T

furrypig · 9 May 2009 at 10:31PM

bunbun2 wrote: »

can I have a brief intro to and explanation of bingoport as I haven't ventured there yet! thanks!

Hiya Bun Bun

Bingoport is online bingo that is free but you play for points and can build up your points by posting on the forum there so no money spent. Once you reach 8000 points you can exchange them for £5 amazon voucher. I joined about a month ago and have managed £15 so far!!

Get someone to refer you as it gives them points so Jammy or Sylphraven could do that (I have tried but never seem to get the points for some reason!!)

Good luck!!

Thrifty Gifty - Money Making for Christmas & All Ocassions 2009

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