Thrifty Gifty Santas Challenge 2014

SOME GOOD STARTER POINTS.....

1. Make a list of everyone you need presents for in a dedicated Gift Notebook which you carry around incase you spot any bargains when out, and set up a spreadsheet for Birthdays, Christmas and money earned, - I do have a basic spreadsheet, if anyone wants a copy please send me a private message with an email address and I can send it out to you. (Always delete once know you've got it safe and sound).

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 on Your spreadsheet, your soon find that your budget and what you spend - hopefully by the end of the year the spend will be a lot less.

4. Try and earn the cash to cover your purchases see following post for a few thoughts

5. Keep us posted on how you are doing with your bargains, earnings and how you are

6. Subscribe to this thread - come back to us! Click Thread tools above and click ‘subscribe’ then you can get emails to your inbox whenever there is a new post!

7. At Christmas have a notepad ready, not only handy if you have children and they need to write thank you letters, but also if you need to regift an item, then your not giving it to the same person.

8. Christmas Cards - What we do is recycle the Christmas cards into gift tags for the following Christmas, you can pick up a pair of kids scissors that have the patterned edges, and these are available for under £1.00

Birthday Tags - You can also do the same with birthday cards.

Save using Expensive Tags - What I do is before I wrap the present I cut a small strip of the side,

Rose, Flower, Teddy -patterned paper - I cut around a design and use this as a matching tag.

Spotted or plain paper - Cut a strip and make it into a cloud shape

We'd love you to join us – feel free to join in whenever you feel like it.

REVIEW SITES

Dooyoo - This is a write about products sites, from places you have visited to the new must have toy, basically everything is covered for. There are two ways to earn money on this site, Write a review, and also have your reviews read by others, you also need to review others to build up loyalty. You can make suggestions for new products, I think you can suggest up to 5 per week.

Each review MUST be of good quality or your review will be locked and you WILL NOT receive payment at all. They must be over 150 words, of quality – if its nonsense, no-one will read, or rate This is most defiantly a site where, you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours, comes into play. The more you rate other reviews, they are more inclined to rate yours. It is worth checking as products do change levels, sometimes items which was 10p may be 60p for a week.

There are three levels to write in

Level 1 - Each review written is worth 60p, and each time someone reads it, 3p.

Level 2 - Review 30p and read 2p

Level 3 - Review 10p and read 1p.

You are paid in points, and can be cashed out at £20.00 for an Amazon voucher, or save to £50 for a cheque,


Caio - This company is owned by Dooyoo, this is also a review site, it is run differently and things did change on this site, I think you only get paid if you are the first reviewer. You also get some points for people reading it.


Buzz- Apologies I know very little - from what I understand is you write little snippets of reviews and also you need to review others, so when they review you , you get some points. This is an American company and earnt in dollars, which can be paid to a paypal account.

EBay by Elysia (borrowed from a Lovely Lady Elysia2003 - updated from 2013 thread)

My Quick Guide to selling on eBay.

To sell on eBay you must first have registered, and you must also have a PayPal account and a landline.

To sell you click 'Sell' at the top left hand corner. This is really quick as all the categories are chosen for you. You just have to choose which one is better suited to your product and highlight it. It’s really simple and self explanatory.

At this point, you can choose to pay an extra 6p to have you listing finish at a time which is convenient to you AND your potential customers are at home (potentially placing last minute bids). If you are listing your items during the daytime, this is most highly recommended as you will recoup much more than 6p if you item sells. The best time for listings to end is anywhere between 6.30 and 10pm. The last minute bids can really bump up the prices.

You have the option on both versions, to place the item on 'buy it now' this means that a buyer can purchase (at your stated price) at any time they require, without having to wait for the listing to end.

You need to have items weighed and get some idea of postal charges. I get my information from https://www.royalmail.co.uk.

In the My EBay 'Selling' section of the site, this is where all your information is held. You may see how much you item are listed for in red, and when it turns green you have a bid. Next to each listing is a counter of how many people are watching the item (with a view to placing a last minute bid of either just comparing to see if they can get it cheaper).

Once the listing has gone green, the item will sell, whether or not you get further bids is whether or not other people require that item and are willing to pay more.

When the listing ends, in My EBay section you will now have the option to send the winning bidder an invoice. Sometimes people pay, via PayPal before you have even sent this. This is when you know your item will be going to a good home, because they are eager to pay! Once they have paid the £ sign icon will turn blue.

You are now able to parcel up your package and post it. I like to put a little note in there, thanking them for their purchase. At this point you may leave feedback for them and mark the item as dispatched.

You have now, posted your parcels, and left feedback. You can now sit back and await the positive feedback.

If an item does not sell, you are able to re-list again. Re-listing is much more straightforward than starting the whole process again. In My EBay, on the item that did not sell, you will find the tag - re-list this item, press that and the process starts again, as if by magic!
[COLOR="rgb(46, 139, 87)"]
(Little mum2one add on - again personal thoughts)[/COLOR]
When listing decide whether you want to take advantage of 1 day, 3 day, 7 day or 10 day listing, personally it depends on the listing and the time of the year.

I find that if I can end an item on a Saturday or Sunday evening, then you tend to get the people that are at home, and have a better chance of last minute biddings.

7 day Listing - List on a Saturday or Sunday

10 day listing. Wed to end the following Sat, and Thurs to end on the Sunday.
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[COLOR="rgb(46, 139, 87)"]Listing.[/COLOR]
Try to include as much relevant information as you can,

eg - Selling Clothes
Measure all options as you can be sure someone will leave it to the last minute to send a question about measurements, I also put in the listing if it is dry clean only or machine wash.
Arm length - under arm measurement
Bust - width from front and double that
Inside Leg
Total Length
Skirt or trouser - Is it fixed waist or elastic.

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Free Listing Days
Ebay do regular free listing days on items of 99p or more, - these are good if you have a more expensive item to sell and is good for buyers as there is more choices available, so you may lower as there will be choice.

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[COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]Fees.[/COLOR]
It is not just the cost of postage, but the ebay listing fees, ebay final selling fees, (the item and postage) plus paypal - On both sites there are links to find out how much you would be paying if the item sells.

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LOYALTY POINTS

Remember to always use your cards for EVERY shop. It’s free money (well not free exactly, but if you were shopping there anyway ).

NECTAR - THROUGH SAINSBURYS
If you go onto the Nectar site and download their search bar, you are able to earn extra nectar points just for searching.
You can also get Nectar points through many retailers including British Gas, but they are all on the website.
For spending you can spend at anytime - you can spend get items on the website, such as days out, breaks, discounts on events or spend them in the supermarket.
(2 points per each £1 - 2 points =1p)


BOOTS POINTS -If you go via the Boots website you can sign up to TREAT STREET and earn points from other retailers.
A bonus within bigger Boots stores they have a Bonus machine, where you can chec your points, and also look at the available offers there is usually up to 9 offers, from bonus points, free gifts, discounts, - takes 30 seconds to look and generally a good range.
Spending you can spend these anytime in store, I like to save mine for the sales
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(Generally 4 points to £1, (4p) look out for special offers, from parenting, spend £50 get £12 rewards)


TESC0-
Sure this feels like the original scheme, collect points instore, online, petrol plus other retailers, there is more information on the website.

To redeem - vouchers are sent out 4 times a year, with this comes a rewards booklet, (or you can redeem online) - you can use instore, as certain times of the year, they offer a "double up" promotion so your voucher becomes twice the face value, every £5 now be £10.

Redeeming for offers, cineworld, Notional Trust, etc your voucher can be worth upto 4 times its face value,

(Instore 1 point per pound spend, can also get green points for recyling bags, and if there is recycling machine, (think 4 cans = 1p) petrol 1 point per £2 petrol, plus other retailers)

From experience - I have used some vouchers off a holiday, price between me paying for the holiday as Tesco part payment v me paying the lot, there was a difference in price, my difference was £12 dearer, but with looking at another site I had £50 vouchers, tripled would be £150 - but when I enquired the difference between using the voucher and not using it was £400 on a weeks holiday... so the £150 I would have used, I would have to find an additional £250... so shop around.

Morrisons - There loyalty card is for petrol, when your card is full it is worth £5 off store visit.


[COLOR="rgb(46, 139, 87)"]In general most retailers offer a loyalty program whether that is a coffee chain where you buy 6 drinks and get a free one, to a % spend in points, it is always worth collecting a loyalty card, even if it takes 12 months to get a free coffee, it would have cost you nothing so it's a bonus.[/COLOR]