Fire Fox's Debt-Free in 2009 Diary

Fire_Fox

Just checked in with my regular survey sites and I am one away from a £10 voucher with both Valued Opinions and IPSOS! :beer: Also e-mailed Nielsen as I don't receive their weekly e-mails anymore - can't recall which survey site I joined them through but sure I was to receive £3 every third month. Need to check this out.

Fire_Fox

Had bacon sarnies for tea, to use up some Smartprice part-baked bread rolls, followed by rhubarb and orange cake to use iffy fruit. Tomorrow Mr. Fire Fox is making savoury bread and butter pudding to use up half a loaf that I froze when it went a tiny bit green on one side! :rolleyes:

Fire_Fox

Succumbed to ordering yet more lovely kitchen things! An Alessi mini juicy salif for £21 from Amazon with free delivery and my last £4.50 of cashback vouchers. Still definitely want two more saucepans - an IKEA stockpot to replace one that doesn't work on the induction hob, and a Stellar milk pot cos it would be great to cook and serve gravy in the same container. Not sure what else ...

Forgot to say that I bumped into the caretaker/ prospective landlord of our building the other day, and took the opportunity for a quick chat. Assured him that I would start paying service charges again when he took ownership as would my neighbour. In return he said he intended to replace the cleaning company and thought the place needed repainting and recarpeting. :T

I am expecting to have to pay top dollar while the communal areas are renovated, but since I haven't paid at all for two years I have sufficient money set aside. The longer the dispute about the arrears goes on and the more I learn about the legal position, the less likely it seems that the debt is recoverable. :cool: It will be interesting to see what the freeholder's solicitor makes of it all.

Fire_Fox

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Just checked in with my regular survey sites and I am one away from a £10 voucher with both Valued Opinions and IPSOS! :beer: Also e-mailed Nielsen as I don't receive their weekly e-mails anymore - can't recall which survey site I joined them through but sure I was to receive £3 every third month. Need to check this out.

Nielsen have sent me a link which doesn't appear to work, but at least they have replied. And I just completed an IPSOS survey that threatened to take fifty three minutes :eek: so I am assuming will be sufficient points to apply for a voucher. I've also joined three focus group websites recommended by the article on the main MSE site.

Fire_Fox

Just made another batch of flapjacks, this time fruit and coconut flavour. A lot of the out-of-date stuff has now gone, tho I am not convinced any money has been saved! So time to update the inventory ...

Fire_Fox wrote: »

[strike] Wholemeal spelt flour [/strike]
Strong white flour Half used
Wheatgerm (needs eating) Half used
[strike]Fruit muesli [/strike]
[strike]Nut muesli (needs eating) [/strike]
Spelt flakes (need eating)

White sugar
[strike] Demerara sugar[/strike]
Splenda sweetener
Xylitol sweetener
Golden syrup Half used

Chopped mixed nuts
Dark chocolate drops
Linseeds (need eating)
[strike]Desiccated coconut [/strike]
Raisins
[strike]Unsulphured dried apricots [/strike]
Lazy 'fresh' ginger

Strawberry jelly x 2
Apricot jam (needs eating) Half used
[strike]Blackcurrant jam (needs eating) [/strike]
Raspberry jam Half used
Cocoa powder Half used
Powdered milk

Vanilla essence
Baking powder (very out of date!)
Bicarbonate of soda (very out of date!)
Dried yeast

Frozen raspberries
Frozen blackberries
Frozen over-ripe bananas
A carrot!

Fire_Fox

My Tesco Clubcard vouchers finally came through, 3 x £18 with a booklet advising me that I could double my money if spent on wine!! :beer: And I got three vouchers for £7 total off 3 x £20 shops: as we always spend more than £60 this will make it worthwhile going to Tesco instead of Asda.

Ate up all the leftovers in the fridge for lunch - a few prawns and chinese veg, pickings from the turkey drumstick, basmati rice and sweetcorn. Just completed the survey that will take me to the £10 Valued Opinions voucher! :T

Fire_Fox

I have just failed to qualify for four surveys BUT have been put forward for my first focus group for £50!! Fingers crossed ...

Another letter advising that my management company have "spoken to a debt collection agency that is prepared to pursue this debt on our behalf." what utter rubbish, that would be unlawful without going to a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal. They must know that as they have previously said the matter would be passed to their solicitors and nothing happened. :rolleyes:

Fire_Fox

Really pleased with my Tesco shop: converted £10 of Clubcard vouchers to £20 of wine vouchers, then spent it on six bottles of wine (two x three for a tenner minus 5% multibuy) plus a bottle of dessert wine (half price) ... all of which would have cost £50 at full price!! :beer: Then used a £3 off if you spend over £20 voucher as well as the clubcard vouchers.

Then bought food, totalling £84 which is less than I usually spend in Tesco. :money: Expensive items were:
Two packs of 12 sausages £4 (two for one)
Three whole chickens £10 (offer)
Two packs of cheddar £3 (offer)
Two boxes of eggs £2.50 (reduced)
Two pizzas £3.20 (half price)
Four packs dark chocolate biscuits £3.40
Four bars dark fruit and nut chocolate £4.40
Two boxes of breakfast cereal £4
Two packs of dried plums £6.60
Three bags of raisins £2.60
Three packs of cashews £3.20
New potatoes £2

Fire_Fox

I've been avoiding updating my diary and spreadsheet as I went out drinking on Tuesday (last exam!) and wasted somewhere between £30 and £40. I don't even know how much!

I am morphing into coupon-girl as nestling on my noticeboard are
- two £18 unredeemed Clubcard vouchers
- the third £10 Tesco wine voucher
- two '£2 off a £20 spend' at Tesco AND
- three '£5 off a £30 spend' at Morrisons. :cool:

Fire_Fox

It's been a day of freebies ... my parents are back from North America bearing gifts of Kuhn Rikon Philipp Beyeler kitchen utensils AND they have donated their old external hard drive AND old digital camera to their poor student daughter! Have returned the favour with two bottles of (free) wine and one of the £5 Morrisons vouchers which we successfully used in Tesco. :money: Lastly the code from IPSOS for a £10 Amazon voucher came through and I qualified for only my second ever GlobalTestMarket survey worth 190 points.

Spent the afternoon researching the Sale of Goods Act as my nine month old laptop has developed several faults. I am now clear that I have a good case for refund or replacement because, as a student, I need use my laptop daily and a two week absence for repair would be disastrous.

"(2) If the buyer requires the seller to repair or replace the goods, the seller must—
(a) repair or, as the case may be, replace the goods within a reasonable time but
without causing significant inconvenience to the buyer;

(5) Any question as to what is a reasonable time or significant inconvenience is to be determined by reference to—
(a) the nature of the goods, and
(b) the purpose for which the goods were acquired."