***New*** Thrifty Gifty Money Making for Christmas and all occasions 2011***

claireylulu

Nice to see it busier here today it was very quiet yesterday.

Been out all afternoon so haven't managed much.

Just managed £3 on viva really pleased there.

Sorry to hear about your daughter rufus that is terrible.

Willow92

Hello, I'll start completing every survey I am available for. I will also start writing reviews, never done it before so I may aim for 40 from now til Christmas to see how I get on

cha97michelle

I managed £3 on viva too. I've done £8.30 today just on surveys which is pretty good.

WH bingo site has gone down, and likely to be down all over the weekend. I've managed to get up to 218 gold stars on there, but it really is not worth it unless you enjoy it is it.

NickyBo_2

Rufus - I hope your daughter and her friends are okay now. Glad they caught the nasty piece of work too.

Legend - sorry to hear about your Mum's dog, it's never easy even when it's in the dog's best interest. We had to do the same for our dog quite a few years ago and there were plenty of tears shed for a long time after.

Shoeboxes - great to hear some of you talking about the Christmas Shoeboxes. I have organised the shoebox collection at my school for the last 3 years and I'll be doing it again this year. We usually collect about 100 shoeboxes but most of the children bring in a few items rather than a full shoebox. That means I have to go begging to shoe shops for loads of boxes, then wrap them all. Last year I think I wrapped around 70 shoeboxes :eek: I've decided to get some [STRIKE]slaves[/STRIKE] volunteers from each class to be my special helpers this year, I can't face another year of wrapping so many shoeboxes!

I also fill around 10 boxes myself and then buy top-up things for the other boxes if needed. I LOVE Poundland for this. I get the multipack things like 10 notebooks for £1 then split them between all the boxes. It works out pretty cheap doing it that way. My Mum also spends a few months knitting lots of scarfs and hand puppets, so every box my school sends has a knitted scarf and puppet in

I'll have a look at the challenges and post again in a mo.

NickyBo_2

Elysia – Thanks as usual for the great challenges!

Money Saving

1. I’ll have a look at the comparison websites over the weekend and see if we can get it cheaper. Always worth a look!

2. I don’t have a tumble drier so I have to hang the washing out or put it on the radiators.

3. I’ll definitely see if I can downgrade to any more value products. I already buy quite a lots of the Tesco value range and I’m happy with them so have no problem trying to swap to more.

Money Making

1. I’ve already got a bag of DS’s old clothes ready to Ebay. I’ll start taking photos and writing descriptions ready to list towards the end of the month.

2. My personal challenges will be: to list at least 20 things on Ebay, to visit T’looney every day, to get a redeem on Maximiles by the end of the month (I need around 1000 points).

pinkfluffybabe

elysia2003 wrote: »

This challenge is a bit of a mixed bag – there’s something here for oldies and newbies alike.

Money Saving

1. Winter is most definitely on its way – check your electric/gas supplier and what tariff you are on, and if you haven’t switched for a while – compare and switch to the best deal, and get a fixed deal if you can, before the prices hike up for winter. Don’t forget to go through Quidco or TCB to make the highest savings.

I don't deal with the utilities, but my car insurance is due so I will be shopping around for that this month and hopefully getting cashback too.


2. It’s starting to get colder – but don’t just bung the washing in the tumble drier, make sure you use your washing line for as long as you can.

As above. Will continue my efforts to not buy expensive coffees at uni!


3. As suggested by Savvy – Down grade one level in your weekly/monthly shopping and make savings where you can. If you usually have finest, switching to value isn’t going to work, but it you have a brand, try T’s own, or if you usually have T’s own, try value. You may find you like something J

I've been doing this with some of my toiletries. Have bought some Superdrug Vitamin E bits to try instead of Liz Earle. Will see how I go.


Money making


1. Ebay - Have a sort out, as now is the time to be starting to list winter clothes and toys. If you aim for them to finish around the end on the month (payday) you’ll see better returns. You can get sorting and photographing now though, but if you're really inspired its free listing again this weekend.

I've been meaning to do this for ages. I've got some clothes and toiletries to go, have photographed and weighed them, just need to list them!


2. Set yourself a challenge – I know this worked with most of us last month – we set ourselves challenges, and in the main, we all completed them. Set yourself a challenge – write it down, stick it to the fridge/computer, somewhere visible, and do it!!! Suggestions include – write an opinion on T everyday this month, complete every survey going, and not fishing for the good ones, four reviews a week.

I'm going to set myself the challenge of continuing to do every survey I get and a new challenge of keeping up with Loony. I've been a bit lax lately, have now got all my vouchers and no more pending so want to get at least one more this year. I will also commit to doing 10 reviews this month on DY/Chow.


3. Go out looking for money making opportunities and not wait for them to come to you.

I've signed up for some teaching at uni this semester so that will be a wee bit extra if I get it.

4. Do you have a talent you could use? There are lots of new sites springing up where you do small jobs for £5. On most of them, the site takes £1 as commission but you can still earn £4 for not a lot. – There are smobs.co.uk (short for small jobs), fivesquid.co.uk (this is the best UK one), and fiverr.com (US). They all work on the same premise – you do a small job and you earn £5 (or $5). Offer to proof read kids homework, write a personalised poem, make a card, hem up trousers, sew in kids name labels for their uniforms, compile professional looking CV’s for people, design a logo, edit something for Youtube – the list is endless. Have a think and see what you can come up with.

I'm interested in this so will look into it further and report back!


As ever, use this like a pick and mix – sort out what you can easily achieve. We want you to stick at it, and not give in after a week. Do what you can, but remember Christmas is around the corner now, and we really need to push this month and next, so we have lots of money to treat our families with, and make Christmas magical. J

Thanks Elysia - great set of challenges and inspiration as usual!

I've reached the conclusion that I'm better at surveys and product testing than reviewing. I'll keep DY and Chow ticking over but I'm not going to reach the heights of Michelle and Elysia - I think it's because I read and write so much during the day at uni.

I seem to be getting invited to a fair few 'communities' lately so am being vocal about my opinions on those sites - hopefully win a few vouchers at some point.

Today was good - got quite a lot of silver stars, £3 on viva, £1 on VO, and something on PB that I can't remember. Surveys seem to peak on a Friday!

cha97michelle

Another late night for me, after saying I would be in bed early I am still up pottering. I just wrote another review and put it on both places.

I have just joined a new one after seeing it in a review today. A site called chacha, which is one of those companies where people text them with questions and you work at your computer to answer them. I have signed up tonight, done 30 minutes training by watching videos, and just completed the test online. I should hear back in a few days whether I got on or not.

I will feedback to you all how i get on. It doesn't pay great. 3 p for every Q i answer, but my speed during the test was 17 Qs per hour, and that is not knowing what I am doing, so I can imagine it is another site I can keep open in the background and work on.

While I was doing the test, I had to wait for Qs to appear, so I was writing my review at the same time. Good job my typing speed is so good is all I can say.

Brain fatigue is setting in now, so I am going to scaboot to bed, and will see you all in the morning. Night x

rufusdog52

1/100
Morning all

I have done my first review of the month, just a level one but its a start. Will get some rating done during the day. I am going to put my running total at the top of my post so that I can spot how many I have done by looking at my old posts so I dont get in a muddle like I did last month.

I had a SN survey this morning and a viva one. I had a load of other ones too but they didnt seem to be working.

claireylulu

Morning everyone, not a happy bunny this morning. The boys got me up at half six and then spent the next hour arguing with each other. To make matters worse I got quite far through a mys survey and the youngest pressed the reset button on the comp :mad:. Think it is going to be one of those days!

On a plus side I have done my first new review of the month posted it on chow.

Legendmum

Morning! I too am not very happy today! Next door neighbours made an awful noise coming home at about 3.30 this morning all 6 of them in the street and woke me and Connor! He had come into bed with me at some point as OH had gone on a night time road trip to Doncaster to collect a digger. Anyway he was wide awake then and we ended up phoning OH as Connor was asking for him! Didnt get back to sleep till 5 and he was up at 7!!!

Raining here so fancy a pyjama day but I have to go to Tesco as we have no milk and a few other bits! I despise Tesco on a Saturday so off to get dresseed and get in early hopefully!