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JoePublic
Posts: 83 Forumite
Hello everyone;
I thought I'd outline what I've been up to lately, this site has proved itself time after time and has turned me from a "can't be bothered it's only a few pence" type of bloke into a "Cup of Coffee, search for bargains before doing anything else" type of bloke inside a couple of weeks!
After reading the site for a while i figured i'd see what savings could be made. The first thing i did was contact SKY because i read a thread and saw a number of people complaining that they hadn't gotten free M&S Vouchers they'd been promised. I'd signed up to SKY around 12 months ago and was also offered free vouchers OR free ESPN for 3 months, being a Rugby bloke i took the latter but still figured that i'd chance my arm and ask for M&S vouchers... after a couple of emails backwards and forwards, a very nice lady in Customer Services said that she'd send me £25.00 of vouchers as a goodwill gesture seeing as i'd been nice - it's nice to be nice, and it pays well too, £25,00 KERCHING!
Next, i needed a new mobile as my old contract was set to expire, i didn't need a flashy phone so signed up to a basic deal that also gave me £200.00 of Sainsbury's vouchers FOC. My old deal cost £35pm, the new one costs £15pm so that's saved £480.00 over 2yrs + a further £200.00 at Sainsbury's PLUS the Nectar points that i'll scoop up when we spend the vouchers, £700.00 KERCHING!
The next offer i signed up to, courtesy of the MSE Email, was a switch in Tariff. We live in a teeny little village with no Gas so i could only switch the Gas as Electric is all we have here. I was already with NPower but, as per, hadn't bothered to check what tariff i was on, a quick look around saw an annual saving of £198.00 + we also get £15 Cashback + £50 LovetoShop vouchers, £263.00 KERCHING!
Also on the MSE Email was a LoveFilm offer of a 3 month trial + a £20.00 Amazon voucher. I signed up, completed the requirements outlined in the T&C and cancelled the account (twice, cos they ignored the first attempt) as soon as i could, £20.00 KERCHING!
Another upgrade, again thanks to the MSE Email, saw SKY HD added for an additional £10.25pm - that was halved by Customer Service for reasons of their own (we got a letter, i'm not going to argue) so that's a spend of £61.80 over a year but we also got £100.00 in M&S Vouchers, £38.20 KERCHING!
Finally, a small saving via the MSE Email, 2 x £6.00 Carwash Vouchers for a total spend of £1.00 = £5.00 KERCHING!
In addition to this lot i've also picked up every free reward card i can find and now have modest sums of £3.50 at Tesco, £4.40 at Sainsburys and £10.28 at Boots, not a bad return for a couple of weeks. I boosted these by signing up to various online promotions that cost nothing. A competition here, a survey there, a web tool here and a review there... all using the email address i reserve specifically for spam, and all using a PAYG mobile phone number that is never used, it's the emergency phone, it sits in a drawer.
All in all, i reckon i've picked up iro £1000.00 or so over the course of two weeks! Some of it is savings to existing bills, some of it is vouchers for shops we use anyway, but all of it is FREE and it's all thanks to this site - hoorah and thank you to all concerned! :T
I thought I'd outline what I've been up to lately, this site has proved itself time after time and has turned me from a "can't be bothered it's only a few pence" type of bloke into a "Cup of Coffee, search for bargains before doing anything else" type of bloke inside a couple of weeks!
After reading the site for a while i figured i'd see what savings could be made. The first thing i did was contact SKY because i read a thread and saw a number of people complaining that they hadn't gotten free M&S Vouchers they'd been promised. I'd signed up to SKY around 12 months ago and was also offered free vouchers OR free ESPN for 3 months, being a Rugby bloke i took the latter but still figured that i'd chance my arm and ask for M&S vouchers... after a couple of emails backwards and forwards, a very nice lady in Customer Services said that she'd send me £25.00 of vouchers as a goodwill gesture seeing as i'd been nice - it's nice to be nice, and it pays well too, £25,00 KERCHING!
Next, i needed a new mobile as my old contract was set to expire, i didn't need a flashy phone so signed up to a basic deal that also gave me £200.00 of Sainsbury's vouchers FOC. My old deal cost £35pm, the new one costs £15pm so that's saved £480.00 over 2yrs + a further £200.00 at Sainsbury's PLUS the Nectar points that i'll scoop up when we spend the vouchers, £700.00 KERCHING!
The next offer i signed up to, courtesy of the MSE Email, was a switch in Tariff. We live in a teeny little village with no Gas so i could only switch the Gas as Electric is all we have here. I was already with NPower but, as per, hadn't bothered to check what tariff i was on, a quick look around saw an annual saving of £198.00 + we also get £15 Cashback + £50 LovetoShop vouchers, £263.00 KERCHING!
Also on the MSE Email was a LoveFilm offer of a 3 month trial + a £20.00 Amazon voucher. I signed up, completed the requirements outlined in the T&C and cancelled the account (twice, cos they ignored the first attempt) as soon as i could, £20.00 KERCHING!
Another upgrade, again thanks to the MSE Email, saw SKY HD added for an additional £10.25pm - that was halved by Customer Service for reasons of their own (we got a letter, i'm not going to argue) so that's a spend of £61.80 over a year but we also got £100.00 in M&S Vouchers, £38.20 KERCHING!
Finally, a small saving via the MSE Email, 2 x £6.00 Carwash Vouchers for a total spend of £1.00 = £5.00 KERCHING!
In addition to this lot i've also picked up every free reward card i can find and now have modest sums of £3.50 at Tesco, £4.40 at Sainsburys and £10.28 at Boots, not a bad return for a couple of weeks. I boosted these by signing up to various online promotions that cost nothing. A competition here, a survey there, a web tool here and a review there... all using the email address i reserve specifically for spam, and all using a PAYG mobile phone number that is never used, it's the emergency phone, it sits in a drawer.
All in all, i reckon i've picked up iro £1000.00 or so over the course of two weeks! Some of it is savings to existing bills, some of it is vouchers for shops we use anyway, but all of it is FREE and it's all thanks to this site - hoorah and thank you to all concerned! :T
0
Comments
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Well done!! This site is helping me alot too! hope to save loads in time for my summer holiday. Soon enough I'll hopefully be picking my dream destination here.
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It pays to look around, and that proves it!
I have friends who think 'Oh I can't be bothered to shop around for the sake of £x', but it really does all add up, and if I know I can save some money simply by shopping through x site instead of y, for example, then why would you not do it!0 -
I have recently started using money off coupons that I have printed off MSE, and have been making good savings, which all add up over time.0
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Its great to hear this, well done Joe public for seeing the light! I've been doing this for years and the skys the limit in the things you can do. I was chatting to people at work this week and they are always saying they have no money but they are always getting taxis everywhere, boozing at pricey places and moaning that they have debts and no savings. A lot of them are worried about xmas and paying for stuff and I always tell them to go on this site but not everyone takes any notice. Its a shame really as its simple to make a few savings but you need that light bulb moment and to be motivated.Save £12k in 2012 no.49 £10,250/£12,000
Save £12k in 2013 no.34 £11,800/£12,000
'How much can you save' thread = £7,050
Total=£29,100
Mfi3 no. 88: Balance Jan '06 = £63,000. :mad:
Balance 23.11.09 = £nil.0 -
WOW - what great savings - I am new to the site and finding my way around but I am certainly gonna check a few things out and start making more informed choices0
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