The Thrifty Gifty Girls 'n' Guys 2009 (Organised & Money Neutral for All Occasions)

sarahf191979

Happy Rudolph Day Everyone!!

HUGS to PLM and Anyone else who needs them....

I'm so annoyed :mad: I've just spent half an hour typing out my list of pressies and how much I'd spent for the PC to crash on me :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:


Well I managed to finish the QYPE reviews this morning for the £50 Virgin Voucher:j and got a confirmation Email of them saying it will be sent out to me in Feb!! I just hope they do a few more offers like this. Thanks for the Heads up on this one Jamtart!!!

Hope your all having a Happy Rudolph Day!

Sarah
x

furrypig

happy rudolph day to everyone!

trying to catch up with all the posts whilst my 2 kids are shouting at each other instead of getting ready for bed.. the joys of motherhood!!

Very impressed with all the organisation for Christmas that's going on not to mention all the money neutral stuff!!
Here is the Rudolph day link for our fav Christmas site (other than here obviously!!) http://organizedchristmas.com/january-rudolph-club-meeting

Will be back soon after I've sorted WW3 out upstairs xxx

cheletastic

Hi everyone

Hope you don't mind me joining in - I love this thread & how organised you all are:T have been lurking for couple of days to read everything!

So far I have:-

Sorted through gift drawer
Made list of everyone to buy for throughout the year-birthdays,christmas,fathers day, mothers day, anniversaries, weddings etc
Although not Christmas I have made Birthday cards for throughout the year, I have just made Valentines card for OH (we have agreed not to do presents), I have made Mothers day present (jewellery) and card, I have made father's day card, wedding anniversary card for parents and wedding day cards for sister & sister-in-law
All cards and presents made so far are from materials I already had hanging around.
I have got 3 birthday presents & 2 christmas presents wrapped & noted in my book.

Hopefully have more done soon:rolleyes:

I am hoping to make a lot of my gifts from things I already have before I start using up vouchers etc to get the rest.

Thanks everyone for your inspiration:beer:

clarabella23

:rudolf: :rudolf: It's Rudolph Day!!!!:rudolf: :rudolf:

Sorry, got a bit excited there!
Hope everyones been in a festive mood all day!
Unfortunately, I had to work today, so I haven't had chance to photograph things, but I have a list...:j
Have sorted out dd's birthday in 2 weeks...dvd's on bogof, belle dressing up half price in matalan, and build a bear vouchers-this last one wasn't money neutral, but you got a free £5 voucher if you signed up for there club, and it's what she wanted!
Valentines day...don't have oh, but have been making some gifts up (and eating my own body weight in Haribo love hearts!) to try and sell to make a bit of dough
Easter...have thought of ideas for gifts and bought my own chocolate moulds to have a go:easter:
nephews birthdays...have 1 completely sorted, spent £2.50, should have beeen £10ish. Both other have £2 gifts from £8, need something to go with them.
Christmas...:xmastree: Bought 1 of dd's main presents half price with boots points, found another 1 at bargain price to buy when have cash from ebay. Bought mum and nan skincare boxes from boots 3 4 2, have 1 spare to sell (must get that out), bought other nan smellies found reduced at work. Budgeted for nephews $15 dollars each from disneyworld when go to florida at the end of the year. Going to grow christmas plant with dd for stepdad-not sure what yet,need a cool pot. Bought 1 sisters pressies reduced in boots with points...bought other sister a couple of little bits to wrap up- won't say what cos she might read it! Need to get main pressie...do they do adult sized princess costumes in Florida?!:rotfl:
Still need to get: dd's stocking fillers, small b'day pressies for nephews, birthday and christmas pressies for dad and grandad, b'day for stepdad, mothers and fathers day pressies, wedding pressie for big bro.
Not as much as i thought really!:p
also started making a scrapbook for dd-we decorated the 1st page together yesterday, she loved it. need to get some letters/alphabets now tho- any ideas?
Also bought lots of things for xmas crafts as hopefully having a stall on a xmas fair next year- can't wait!:D
Ebaying like crazy to make money, up to £200 so far, halfway to a voucher on qype, £20 worth of miles on dooyoo, £9 on daily scratchcards, 4500 ipoints but not sure what that will get me! saving for a digital photoframe for dad.
Hope everyones had a fun day and sorry for the huuuge post-had more than i thought!:j

JordanShannon

Hi all:hello:

Hope everyone's okay on RUDOLF DAY:xmastree: :xmassmile :rudolf: :snow_grin
Missing the festive spirit Oh dear i only have £38.46 in the bank, but on the bright side i get paid tommorrow or tuesday, so i should have a lot more money therefore i will be able to get Dave the rest of his Valentines prezzies
OH spoiled my bday present again- I've got 12hours of driving lessons and he's paying £50!!!:eek: :eek: for my provisional. He claims he doesn't know what his dad has got me as i asked him, but in the restaurant today he said 'have you got the Christmas present? You better not have let me down' (his dad didn't get me a xmas prezzie as he has no idea and a really bad imagination:rotfl: ) So i'm intrigued to know what he has got me probably a SatNav :rotfl: still only have to wait until Thursday:j

Melanie Marshall, we are NOT friends you have done SO much, my list is feeble compared to yours Love you really:blushing:

I shall have to make a long list of things to do by th 25th of February:o or before as i have just turfed out dave's Valentines box and, there's not a lot of suprising things in there so me thinks that i should treat him after all that he is doing for me:D

Going to make my list of things to do tonight and i shall give you all a tedious update of what needs doing:rotfl:

This has taken me ages to write as i'm flitting around like a greedy bird :rolleyes: half watching Supernatural, finished looking at Dave's box of suprise LOVE (he's got a pot of love and a suprise box of love and maybe even a suprise me :rotfl: (me in a box))

Hugs to all
..xx

mum2one

I've just had conformation from Qype I've done enough reviews should be getting my voucher Feb.....v exicted, sad I know but......

I was going to do some more reviews on Bview - they pay 30p a review once youve been approved, they do pay in Amazon vouchers, but I want a Sat Nav - Amazon have Tom Tom one for £80......that would be just 267 reviews.........dont know if I have the energy!!
x

furrypig

I have my little notebook and it has all the birthdays throughout the year (about 28 excluding childrens friends), wedding, mothers day etc (not put in Easter yet for some reason!). I have also written the main Christmas presents to buy for (about 38 excluding children's friends, teachers, co workers etc etc).

Of all of those listed above I have sorted out 18 people's presents completely from the overflowing present cupboard and have part sorted some other people. I am pretty pleased with this as I have the tendency tobuy because it's a bargain and not because I need it for a particular person and this has to stop!!

I am also doing my nephew 18 presents for his 18th birthday and he has 13 sorted so far so that's great too.

Not doing so well on being money neutral but all the Boots items were bought with points (which is several from this year and last year) and some other items have been recycled/swapped around. I have several boxes of things to try and sell on ebay and will start in March as away in Feb.

I have money from quidco, not much on Boots now, quite a bit on Tesco and Sainsburys cards, I have enough I thin k on Pigsback to convert to a voucher and I have fone about 34 out of 50 reviews for qype so getting there.

I bought some fantastic wrapping paper from halfcost (again thanks to mum2one xxx) which will cover all the birthdays and christmas. I have several bought cards from previous years and afew the kids chose for this year and hopefully will make a few more this year (only managed 2 last year!!).

I need to reorganise my christmas card book and check the addresses are all up to date. Also need to find the notebook that |I wrote all the christmas presents/items in that went up in the loft (had it a few days ago so muxt be somewhere!!).

I sorted out every single item in the present cupboard and have prob all the party bag bits I need for the kids, I have loads of things I am unlikely to use so will need to find homes for these/sell them/give them away.

Looking forward to hearing how everyone is doing and will get organised for Valentines,will be in the states which will be fun, back in time for Shrove Tuesday (I love the pancakes, had to make some on CHristmas morning as that's what the kids chose for breakfast!!)

Hope everyone else has had fun!! xxx

jamtart6

furrypig wrote: »

happy rudolph day to everyone!

trying to catch up with all the posts whilst my 2 kids are shouting at each other instead of getting ready for bed.. the joys of motherhood!!

Very impressed with all the organisation for Christmas that's going on not to mention all the money neutral stuff!!
Here is the Rudolph day link for our fav Christmas site (other than here obviously!!) http://organizedchristmas.com/january-rudolph-club-meeting

Will be back soon after I've sorted WW3 out upstairs xxx

I'm officially crazy...I just waved at the screen at your cute animated hello! :eek::o

pinkladymel

scattymam1 wrote: »

Thanks for that PLM about the vouchers - I'll just hang on to the cash/vouchers and put them away until the end of the year, maybe november I'll just go to one shop - like morrisons or boots, (not sure if Tesco do them) and get all my gift cards, like an intunes voucher for sis in law, a boots voucher for MIL, a Game voucher for FIL, etc; I'll not buy them now incase they go bust before next christmas - thanks.

Love your photo organisedness.

I feel like trying to teach my grandmother (young one...:eek: ) to suck eggs giving you advice as you are always so great at organising everything LOL

jamtart6

Hurrah finally made it in the nick of time! I have had a mad day working on the house, Chinese then had a sleep!!:eek: and then watched Lost...my dream boat Sawyer is back the telly HURRAH!!

Rudolph Day No.1

For Birthdays I have:

• Sorted out all my friends presents for the whole year with the exception of 2 whom I ask (I will need about £40 of real cash to cover their presents)

• Sorted out my families wrap-up presents
• ..not yet bought my family presents, need about £300 cash for them(maybe less but its better to aim high!)

For Other occasions I have:

• Bought my OH as set from Boots that he wanted and I couldn't get hold of for Valentine's Day
• Bought my Mum a Chanel body lotion with Boots points for Mother's Day

For Christmas I have:

• Bought ALL wrap-ups for family
• Bought ALL friends presents except 2 which I need £40 cash for
• ..not yet bought Family gifts but will aim to make £300 cash for them
• ..beautiful wrapping paper and gift tags bought in thr 75% sale at Boots
• stored all my gifts in a sturdy box and put in the loft until December

That'd be a total of £640 to raise before the end of the year. Hopefully can slash the cost to £500, if I make more then great;)

Out of all the presents I have bought I have spent £17 real cash so far and have £116 in my 'pot' from cashback sites, left over eBay money etc.

For making this money back I have:

• Taken photos and sorted a box of stuff out for listing on eBay Feb/March
• Done some Qype reviews
• Sold my iPod shuffle that I got free from Qype

Here is a quick peep at my stash. The whisky was bought on last years summer hols in Duty Free for my Dad's birthday. Worked out at about half the price I'd pay here. This is about 10% of the stash. The rest is tucked away in the loft





and here is the infamous notebook ...my little book of arrangement! I loves it! :j

Reminder: Your first money neutral task was to sort out your present cupboard and see who you can give what to....the deadline was today, but if you haven't managed it yet, try and set yourself a deadline of 31st January so that you don't buy uneccesary presents when you have a whole stash already at home Another money neutral challenge for February will be issued soon