Crimbo crackers countdown

Hope78 · 12 July 2009 at 12:49AM

It's time to look ahead to our next challenge and reducing our debts/increasing our savings; as we are running until December 19th - I give to you the Crimbo Crackers Countdown! :xmastree:

To honour our traditions and maintain good MSE habits 'Crimbo Crackers Countdown' will follow the same format as our Summer Sizzler and previous Olympic Challenges

We'll be kicking off 1st July (or any date you want to join in) and finishing on 19th December - just in time to enjoy pulling some crimbo crackers and get in the last minute shopping! :rudolf:

The Levels are, in the spirit of the new year....
Bronze Cracker - £1010
Silver Cracker - £2010
Gold Cracker - £3010
Platinum Cracker - £4010

You can start at any level and if you want to upgrade/downgrade at any time - just drop me a PM and I'll change your challenge level.

I'll be updating the totals monthly
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Rules.....
Money must come from anything extra to your normal income and must be obtained lawfully!!

But how do I make more money?
Try the second post for some tips/tricks and FAQs

The third post will be the list of challengers and how everyone's doing

Usual ramblings to follow in the next two posts so please wait until I've posted them to rush and sign up!

P.S Thanks MM for allowing me to unashamedly copy your posts from one of our previous challenges!

Hope78 · 12 July 2009 at 12:51AM

Tips/tricks of trade

Sell!

Amazon
Amazon 'Sell Your Stuff'
You can sell books, CD's, DVD's, and more on Amazon. It is very easy to list them and, unlike ebay, there are no fees until you make a sale. Read more at The Amazon Thread
.................................................. .................................................. ........
Ebay
Learn how to sell
You can sell anything on Ebay (well almost!). Listing can be quite time consuming and it costs to list items even if they don't sell. Ebay can be fun and quite addictive! Read more at The Ebay Thread
.................................................. .................................................. ........
Cashback sites
Quidco - Read more on this MSE thread
RPoints
Pigsback
Greasypalm
Mutualpoints

.................................................. .................................................. ........
Mystery shopping
Become a Mystery shopper or if you already are one join another and use the extra funds towards your total.
http://www.indiefield.co.uk/
Grassroots
Retaileyes
Gapbuster
http://mshopper.5.forumer.com/
.................................................. .................................................. ........
Survey sites
ciao
valuedopinions
yougov.co.uk

This is a good focus group website:
http://www.focus4people.com/index.asp
Mostly in london, but if you are close enough to go there then you could earn some serious money. I have only matched their requirements once and wasn't accepted so I don't know yet if the focus groups are any good but it was recommended to me by someone who has done one and said it was very good and good money.
.................................................. .................................................. ........
ODDS
Another tip is to join swapit shop and collect free points, then get vouchers or goods for these free points then sell them on ebay. You can get the points from this thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...ghlight=swapit

http://www.aqa.issuebits.com/vacancies.htm
It's a completely flexible, do as much or as little as you want, part-time work from home job, all the details in the link. It's a text messaging service and you will be hired as a researcher to answer the questions people send in and you get paid 30p per text, you do it through a pc not your mobile phone. You need a degree though and the test to pass is not easy. If they are not hiring right now, check everyday because it seems to change daily.

http://www.slicethepie.com
A new website, earn money from rating music! Read the Slice the Pie thread here... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=592654
……………………………………………………………………………

Matched betting
Try here for help
Newcomer's Guide to Matched Betting

Thread for Questions about Matched Betting (no need to read the entire thread before posting your question)
.................................................. .................................................. ........

General FAQs

[FONT=&quot]Can bank charges claimed back be included?
[FONT=&quot]As before, no.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]From annie: Quote:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We have decided that bank charges refunds should not be included in total as it doesn't represent making huge effort to make extra money (luckily for those who have or are in the process of being refunded it simply takes (in most cases) a few letters) We are happy for you if you get them refunded but it doesn't seem fair for everyone. Please tell us if you have been successful as it is great and you should be congratulated. Maybe add it in brackets after your total. [/FONT]

Can I join after the 1st July?
Definitely! It is already after 1st July but I know some of us have started already. Just PM me if you want to join later with your challenge amount[/FONT]

Hope78 · 12 July 2009 at 1:07AM

Here is the list of our "Crimbo Crackers"

1. Hope78 - Bronze £708.66
2. Buffythedebtslayer - Bronze
3. painted lady - Bronze £50
4. Pollydaydream - Bronze £87.18
5. Boomdocker - Bronze £333.19
6. frasersmum123 - Bronze
7. savingforarainyday - Bronze £156
8. jo1972 - Bronze
9. SarahNeedle1872 - Silver £2258.54
10. spykey_uk - Bronze £404.79
11. meeeshymoo - Bronze
12. JesaRose - Gold £2292.39
13. yukkibear - Bronze £992.01
14. Purpleroses - Silver £1651.52
15. ruthiejane - Silver £1359.20
16. moneymakestheworldgoround - Platinum £5105.89
17. puddleglum - Bronze £322.78
18. howskint? - Bronze
19. silentsmile - Bronze £41
20. shrimpy_80 - Silver £848.01
21. jo41 - Bronze £69
22. robsmum - Bronze (1/2)
23. Little Muvva - Bronze £207
24. lmb4wcb - Bronze £53.72
25. Gwen80 - Bronze £858.11
26. DedicatedDFW - Bronze £456.81
27. jjef - Bronze £664.73
28. gargrave50 - Bronze £119.60
29. fedupandskint - Bronze £40.57
30. 310 catherine - Bronze £156.05
31. ram_murdock - Bronze
32. sweetpeas - Bronze £506.41
33. Nicki_Sue - Bronze £97
34. jacki981 - Bronze
35. so here we are - Bronze
36. kirstenc - Bronze
37. hailz86 - Bronze

Hope78 · 12 July 2009 at 1:17AM

I'm going to aim for bronze this time. I'm cutting back on Xmas and will be setting up my spending spreadsheet this weekend. I'm planning on depositing my Crackers money into an unused bank account (there is £1.11 sitting in it since 2008) and on our last day, my Xmas wish, is to pay it towards my Egg card - I'd love to clear this CC by April 2010.

This time around any monies that are paid directly into my current account as part of the challenge will be taken from the ATM and put into my other account. Let's hope it all goes to plan.

I've counted up what I've made since the end of the last challenge and looked up new total in surveys etc and since 1st July I have made £30.81 - I'm off the marks.

Hope x

Buffythedebtslayer · 12 July 2009 at 1:20AM

I will be in for this. Thanks for starting it Hope, I need a new challenge, i have taken a month off recently. I want to get back to having an aim.

so I shall go for Bronze

Buffy xxx

painted_lady · 12 July 2009 at 7:32AM

OK, I will aim for the bronze cracker. I have started already as earnt £50 on ebay yesterday.
My house is a mess so would be nice if I could make some extra from selling and declutterring.

Pollydaydream · 12 July 2009 at 8:23AM

Can I join please?

If I could make the Platinum cracker I could pay off some debts completely which would make next year so much easier than this one, but looking at my track record I suppose I'd better be more realistic and aim for bronze.

Good luck everyone.

Polly

Boomdocker · 12 July 2009 at 8:38AM

Oh joy, I was planning on listing some bits on the bay today and was lacking enthsiasm. So sign me up for Bronze and I am going to rock 'n roll, get my butt in gear and get listing.

frasersmum123 · 12 July 2009 at 8:46AM

Can I join please, I will be aiming for Bronze because everything else seems a bit too optimistic!

savingforarainyday · 12 July 2009 at 10:21AM

Count me in please.:D I think mine had better be a bronze.

This has come at the right time for me as we have let things slide a bit these last few months, and I could kick myself:o. So here's hoping this will keep me on track

Off to find some things to ebay.:D

jo1972 · 12 July 2009 at 11:05AM

I think I need to start taking a challenge seriously lol.

Could I please be included, I'll start at Bronze and hopefully move my way up

Crimbo crackers countdown

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free