Mortgage free by 50

Mortgagefreeby50

Used the petrol vouchers yesterday, they expired today so I'm glad we remembered! They saved £13.50 off a tank of fuel, so I've added that to the MOC savings.

While we were visiting Mr T, we had a look at seat protectors for the car and a little rear view mirror so I can keep an eye on mini-MSE. They are doing the clubcard exchange at the moment, so decided to use the points to get them. The poor girl on customer service nearly got my hormonal forked tongue when she explained to me that they can't convert the points in store, I have to go home, go on my computer, order the exchange voucher, print it off, then head back into the store to spend it. I wish it was more like the advantage card scheme where there is a machine in store to get all of the offers straight away! So, we got two items we were going to get anyway, for £10 worth of points!

The only thing we haven't got is a monitor. We don't need one just yet as one of us is by her side 24/7 at the moment, so that gives us chance to get a good deal.

We'd like a video one, the BT one looks pretty good and my brother and sis in law have been happy with theirs. I'm off to do some research, will update soon!

Tesco: £119.94, delivery £5, can convert £30 of vouchers to get it for £59.94. Tough one as the original price is £30 more than on amazon. So I feel that I'm wasting £15 worth of points just to discount the price to the going rate.

QB_Wolf

We've got a BT one (not video though) and it's brilliant, got it cheap from best buy as it was closing down. We had a cheaper one with our first, which was rubbish, then we used one someone gave us which wasn't much better, ended up leaving doors open and turning the TV down.:D

Aldi's wipes are really good and pretty cheap.

Oh and congrats BTW, our little girl is 8 wks old.:)

Mortgagefreeby50

We've had quite a productive day today, decluttering and putting stuff on Amazon and ebay. This is mainly rubbish from the loft as my DH is a hoarder! We have agreed that any profit made can go towards overpayments. He has loads of wrestling figures that he has bought from ebay at a low price and thinks are worth more, so we shall relist those too soon.

Mortgagefreeby50

I have just started a budget tracker to break down the areas of spend on the credit card and check we are on track.

We put all of our spending onto one card, which makes it easier to keep track of everything.

So, for the week beginning 13.8.12, we were £36 over budget for food, but that was the week I did the big shop for the batch cooking. So hopefully that should mean that future weeks are less.

The fuel budget was £31 over budget, but at this point I was still working and driving a lot of miles. The budget assumes a lot less driving. Also, I'll get mileage money back for those miles.

It will be a retrospective way of analysing our spending, but hopefully we will be able to see if we're way off track on a weekly basis.

Mortgagefreeby50

We ventured out to Asda today as they had a big box of nappies for £2 cheaper than the other stores and we also had a £2 voucher- signature updated!

I have just ordered some thank you cards from vista print, 20 for £13, with £5 cashback and 40% off through quidco.

Our carpet cashback has finally come through from November! It is £33 due to be paid at the next paydate from quidco.

I have found a new program to watch in the early hours- Extreme Couponing! It's amazing! I feel inspired!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Belated congratulations on your new arrival! How lovely for you all and I am glad that all is going well.

Please tell more about extreme coupon ing..!

Squirrel x

Mortgagefreeby50

Thank you, SSS!

Extreme Couponing is where these people manage to get 90% or more off their shopping by combining coupons with shop deals, like using a £1 off coupon on an item that is already discounted in store to £1 or bogof. On the program, some people got $1000 worth of groceries for free! One woman even ended with a negative total, so the shop gave her 31 cents back! It's on Discovery Real Time

They find their coupons in bulk by contacting recycling centres and getting wads of promotional leaflets.

It seems to take an organised person to do it well, as you need to keep on top of expiry dates and what offers are in store.

I'd love to give it a go!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

MFB50, I googled Extreme Couponing, so thanks for the heads up. It is amazing and whilst I guess it takes time, I need to become better with coupons.

Well done on the nappy shopping :T

Tiily x

Mortgagefreeby50

I've got good news and bad news... I have sold a book on Amazon for £5, however, I can't remember where it is!! I listed it back in Dec, and I haven't seen it since! Cue frantic searching!

Other good news, I found a £5 Tesco giftcard while I was looking

icklehelen

Just found your thread and wanted to pop in and say Congratulations!

Sounds like all is going well (I had a little girl at 35w last year and MSE was the last thing on my mind!)

Looking forward to reading your progress with both OPs and your LO!

ickle