Countdown to Freedom

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Morning MacGirl, I laughed when I read your post ask am often to be heard saying 'can't we just have a quiet life for a while?'. Never a dull moment in the Tilly household even though I would quite like some. I have put some 'keep free' comments across some weekends, to make sure we have some quieter family time together.

I also read your comment about work/stress/exercise and it provoked a good discussion. When you come in after a day of frustration it is easy to sit down however, we have used our dog as the motivator to get out each day on the walky/jog and she is loving it. She always gets walked, but she seems to enjoy the somewhat faster pace.

I need the exercise to become part of our routine rather than something we are doing for January so hoping that getting it ingrained will help.

Right, off to tackle a few work bits and then time to jump on the phone for the day. Definitely feel it would be good to work in a UK team where your colleagues sit with you......

Good luck all, Tilly

Froggy-G

Good luck to your DH Tilly with the Sky negotiations.. Shout if you need help..

Froggy

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

On the good news front, the new cashback card enabled us to earn £100 cashback in the first 3 months. Good for OP.

Tilly x

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

DH has duly called and secured a 25% discount however, it has prompted him to rethink the whole broadband/tv/phone set up. Job for tonight: analyse pros/cons of remaining with BT for phone/broadband vs shifting all to Sky and pushing for much bigger discount off the whole lot.

The guy couldn't apply the discount at the time as system was showing up 'error' not sure either of us believed that but once we have the analysis to hand, then he will call again to either confirm the discount or the switch.

Regardless, it still means we are a minimum of £72 a year better off for the sake of 5 minutes....... Thanks for the prompt FroggyG.

Best wishes Tilly

sweetdaisy

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

I have been accepted by Shop/Sc@n so hopefully can tuck a few pennies away over the coming year from them.

I joined Shop and Scan a couple of years ago. I did it for about a month and got bored of it so sent it back to them :rotfl:(I also had problems with the scanner because my internet provider is Talk Talk, but maybe they have now fixed the problem?). After a food shop I just wanted to get all the food put away rather than spend ages scanning it all.

I now stick to doing online surveys/reviews to earn Christmas/Birthday present money as you get paid more. . . however it can be time consuming.

macgirl

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

On the good news front, the new cashback card enabled us to earn £100 cashback in the first 3 months. Good for OP.

Tilly x

That's very good - do you use the card for all groceries, fuel and general, or have you made some big purchases?

macgirl

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

I also read your comment about work/stress/exercise and it provoked a good discussion. When you come in after a day of frustration it is easy to sit down however, we have used our dog as the motivator to get out each day on the walky/jog and she is loving it. She always gets walked, but she seems to enjoy the somewhat faster pace.

It's so worth the effort - especially getting outside as the buzz afterwards is exhilarating.

DD and I have just returned from a walk/jog in the park - almost 2 miles so not bad for a 7 year old. When we got home, she collapsed on the floor and said "I feel amazing!" I'm so proud of her - how great to get the bug so young :T

Do you always work from home? I find it hard not to be distracted and find I am more productive in the office - plus I enjoy the banter. My DH only works from home if - in his words - he's trying to get blood out of a stone ie: do 2 days work in a day. He likes the peace, but it makes me wander on the internet!

Hope you're having a good day

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi MacGirl, I tend to be in the office unless I have early calls, in which case I start my day at home and stay there. As I live on con calls it can be quite isolating, however I do have a mate I walk with when in the office. More of a jog than a walk........

Great that your DD is getting the running bug - it is a marvellous gift to give her.

I intend having a shred it session this evening so wish me luck:beer:
Tilly x

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Sorry MacGirl, I missed your CC question - all spending is on CC. However I would suggest each having one either concurrently or simultaneously. We had a long haul holiday in October which we knew would be spendy so we had the cashback card ready. However, we could have benefitted by having a card each due to the cash back cap.

You live and learn and the £100 is a big help. Plus FD contacted us today to confirm we will get £250 for taking their mortgage.

What a day of free money - months ago that would have just been sucked into a card payment but now it is truly OP money.

Hope you have a good weekend.

Tilly x

abouttimetoo

Hi there Tilly, i've caught up on all your thread this week and what a cracking read it is too. Your enthusiasm and energy shines through and no doubt like many others here I can really relate to your thinking and challenges. You've made such great progress already so very well done to you!

I particularly loved your sentiment of, "we've decided the best place for our money is with us", exactly

Thanks for the tip off on your thread regarding being able to pay council tax monthly via CC in order to gain points or cashabck, I hadn't thought of that so will definately look into it

I can also relate to you liking ironing though I'm sure like me you have many female friends who just can't understand how someone can enjoy ironing. The other things I get some satisfaction from is bees waxing the wood furniture items that I have :rotfl:

I could see that Billy had been sharing his Scottishisms, I usually consider myself to be bilingual in English and Scottish but now and again he throws a one out that I don't get like the 'clapping' thing, I see you know a clammed one related to eating, where I'm from people would say they are clamming when they mean they are really hungry, however, I think it's dying out now as it's only really people of my grandmother's age would say it now

Well done on getting to grips with TCB, it's fab isn't it and like you I wished I'd known about it all along! I can understand your desire to build it up to see how much free money you have earned and maybe put it in one of your buckets, apologies if I have misunderstood you but would you not be better using it straight away as an OP and making it working for you and you could still record it on one of your lovely spreadsheets; also, TCB holds the records for some time so you could always use it's history to check. I don't consider myself as someone who does much buying on-line but it's really a case of thinking everytime you are going to buy something 'does the selling company appear on TCB' e.g. my mother needed a few small electrical items and would normally have gone to Comet/Currys/Argos etc. She still did that to see and touch the items but then used TCB to order it via their click and collect services and still had them the same day. I have one colleague who says she gets about £2000 a year this way (yes, that does say thousand) so gawd knows what she buys on line!

I also buy a few second hand books on ebay as I get through books at a rate of knots and now refuse to buy them new so I also use TCB for ebay. I've just picked up £5 CB for referring a friend so try and do that too.

Have you heard of Groupon as I think this is something else that might interest you. Its one of those companies that pass on discounts via bulk purchasing and I believe it is the biggest and most well known. They do everything from meals to holidays to furniture and I've used them many times and they are great e.g. just picked up a £40 hot stone massage for £16, they are also on TCS so you can get cashback on your discount, mad ay

Whoops, this is turning into war and peace so I'll sign off with one last thing; like you I have many conf calls which can overlap never mind back to back and again like you after many cups of tea you wonder when you will get the time to errm 'pay a visit' I laughed and laughed when I read your post with something along the lines of using the mute button, great to know that I'm not the only person to do that although I would never admit to it in real life :rotfl:

Regards
ATT