Nichelette wants her own house (and to be overdraft free)

mariagti

wow, well done on your scratch acrd wins! I must start doing them again! Your doing really well out of them! x

lilmissmup

Hi Nikki,

How did you join consumerpulse? I have been invited a few times from test and vote but not met the criteria, thing is i want to quit Test and Vote but worried i will never get invited then!

Nichelette

Thanks Maria, you should def get back into them, it mounts up. So far mine have averaged about £10 a month per card.

Lilmiss, I'll PM you about it now...

PurplePow

I'm always only getting 10p from my scratchcard!

I've been wanting to join consumer pulse for a while too, but not sure how!

edinburgher

Nichelette - just wanted to say that I've had a read through your thread and wanted to give you a big thumbs up for being so dedicated and driven towards saving and your surveys etc.

You obviously have some issues with confidence and your general employability, but I don't think you are nearly as bad as you think.

Someone who can apply the level of dedication demonstrated in this thread *will* sort out their career rut. I can relate to what you're going through (I graduated with an Arts degree and took 3-4 years to get a good job).

One small suggestion re. Paypal. As you know, it doesn't pay interest. If you find yourself in the annoying suituation where you have, say £45 in it and you don't want to pay the fee to withdraw less than £50, remember that you can add funds from your bank account. In some cases it might be quicker than waiting for another sale! What sort of jewellry do you make?

Nichelette

I'm sorry I haven't updated this is so long, but with travel I have a 10 hour day, so by the time I'm home and have eaten/showered I'm almost ready for bed and can't really be bothered to do a lot as I'm so tired.

Work is still work, but as we are really busy all day at the moment I'm getting physically exhausted. As I have to stand all day and I seem to constantly be lugging heavy things about I was so worn out yesterday my arms didn't even want to move. I was told I've served the most people for the last few weeks which probably has something to do with it too. I'm even tired now, in the middle of the day. I'd love some sleep...

Thanks for the encouragement edinburgher, I hope everything will work out, I guess time will tell. I'll look into the paypal funding thing if I need the money, but it says it usually takes about 9 days, is that right? It's just that often I find I sell something within that timeframe. Most of the jewellery I make now uses either vintage or vintage look parts. Although I've been selling it fairly well I think there is a decent market out there for it, I just need to target it. It's part of the reason why I'd like to start my own business. If I find a sign up link for consumer pulse I'll share it Gemma.

I guess I should update the money front now... I'm over the magical £2000 mark in my ISA, and I have £205 in tax to claim back as things stand at the moment, though I bet that will increase. I really want to get it back before th end of the tax year as I know I won't be able to fill my ISA, and that is a reasonable bit of the allowence.

On the free money front, my Global Test Market cheque was for £31.93 which was pretty good. I've also got up to £90 from scratchcards, another £10 from Consumer Pulse, and a whole £3 from Quidco. I'm also irritatingly 20 points from being able to get a £20 voucher from My Voice, 40 points from a £10 voucher from IPSOS, £1.45 from £25 cash from Pure Profile, and just under £4 from the Onepoll payout. It's all almost there, so hopefully I'll get some soon.

My christmas shopping is all done, so now I can look forward to paying for my MOT and car insurance in January (can't wait til I'm 25 for it to become dirt cheap, provided I keep my no claims of course...). When my car had its MOT last year it was 0.001 or 0.01, I forget which, within one of the emition tolerances, so I suspect it will be over this year and I'll need a new exhaust which will be another £100. I wish survey companies paid in Kwik Fit vouchers lol. My car has only done 26,000 miles, does that sound about how long an exhuast should last? I have no idea about these things, but it isn't like it belches out rubbish like some of the cars I've seen, I think it's still pretty clean. Damn emissions testing...

I was probably going to say something else, but I'm tired and I've forgotten... Actually, I've just remembered, it's about phones. The ok button on mine broke a long time ago, but I've been able to survive alright without it, though the down button has broken now too, which is proving to be a bit irritating at best. I need to buy a new phone, and have discovered a contract on o2, where if I set it up for 24 months (I know it's a long time), I get 600 anytime/network minutes, plus 500 texts, and unlimited landline calls for £15 a month. I still have to buy my own phone, but I always top up £10 a month which only gets me 300 free texts, so I'm starting to think it might be worth it. Am I mad, or does it sound like a good deal?

Anyway, I'm going to run off now .

ISA Total - £2,224.65

********************

Free money/vouchers from 21/10/08:

Consumer Pulse - £40
Lightspeed - £3
Free Scratchcards - £90
IPSOS - £10
Dooyoo - £25
Toluna - £12
Pinecone - £12
Ipoints - £11
Ciao - £7
Auto Insight - £7
Global Test Market - £31.93
Quidco - £3

Total - £251.93

PurplePow

OH I wouldn't do a 24 month contract!
Phone companies are always offering new deals these days and in 12 months time there might be an even cheaper deal, but you'd be stuck on that same contract!

mariagti

Im afraid it isnt the exhaust you change for emissions its the CAT or sometimes it can be the air flow sensor. Kwik fit places cant replace CAT's i dont think, it would need to go to a proper garage. CATs are quite expensive too im afraid depend what car you have but they can be a few hundred brand new. The best thing to do is take your car for a 15 min drive before you take it to be MOT'd so its all warmed up and running slower so giving out less emissions.

If you only drive short journeys then a good blast down a dual carriage way every now and again will do it good to help clear out the CAT.

HTH

xsarahahax

I am hooked on your diary lol. I am also 22 and from Croydon and have similiar goals (clear credit card debt and save for a deposit for a house!)
Good luck, you have done great so far xxx

Nichelette

Righty, my copy and paste function is playing up so I'm not going to write out my whole list again, but I've added another £10 to my ISA :P. I'll update my sig in a sec...

I've decided not to go on the contract thing at the moment, I'm just going to sort the phone out. I'm really fussy with phones and want a Samsung one ideally, so I think I've decided on the M3200. It's £80 in o2 stores, but I can get £5 off and another £10 if I trade in an old phone which I think I'll do. I also have to buy £10 credit with the phone so that will make it £75 overall, but I will also get £20 free credit so that will last me a while and kind of makes the phone £55 as I would have to buy the credit anyway.

Thanks for the car help Maria. Last time I had my MOT I only drove it a couple of miles to the garage so I'll try and give it a bit f a run around before. I tend to drive a round trip of 50 miles on the dual carriageway at least once a week so hopefully that will help. I hope I don't need a new CAT, it seems a lot to spend when the car has done so few miles, well, for its age anyway.

Thanks Sarah, if you haven't already maybe it would do you good to start a diary? They're good for keeping you focused. I live in Crawley so we're pretty close .

Anyway.... on a completely non-money related tangent I'm still exhausted. Actually, I'm only exhausted because of the hours I'm working so I guess it is kinda money realted. Anyhoo, I went to bed at 7.30 last night (I know, what am I? A five year old?), I was mostly resting til about 11/12, but when I did get to sleep I actually slept well, though I was still tired when I woke up... When I pulled up on the drive an hour ago I found the radiator from my room there, I wasn't impressed as my bed is now in the living room and my stuff is literally everywhere. I'm not a good sleeper at the best of times, so I very much doubt I'll be able to sleep tonight now. Roll on Friday. I think that will be all for now, I'm worn out, still have jewellery to make/pack, and I want to watch Eastenders lol.