You CAN treat yourself - cash free and guilt free!

KittyKate

I've been here a while now and one thing I have noticed on the DFW board especially is the notion of not being able to treat yourself whilst paying back your debts! Rubbish! You CAN treat yourself (and I mean gift-wise, not 'time to yourself' - whilst good, it's not a nice new top or a pair of shoes!)

Here are my top 5 ways of treating myself guilt free (I still spend far too much, but these little treats mean more to me than the cash I spend! So there is hope for me yet!)

1. Catalogue freebies. Just look on the website HUKD and you will see loads of '£5/£10 off no min spend' vouchers. The 2 catalogues I use are La Redoute and Empire Stores (actually they are both under the same blanket company, Redcats, I used to work for them years ago).

When you join, get a DEBIT not CREDIT account (ie you can never owe them anything). Only buy items cheaper than the cost of the voucher - for this reason, shop in the sale section of the website. When you checkout and enter the code it will say 0.00 to pay

Now, I've had free shoes, handbags, tops for OH, belts etc - it's brilliant! And you sometimes even get a free gift on top of that too! Don't feel guilty - like I say, I used to work for this company - they make a LOT of money (their prices on electricals are shocking and their 'insurance' is useless) and it is totally legal Now - treat yourselves. You can use each code three times and there are always at least five floating around. You will also make a new friend in your courier 'cos he'll never be away!!!

2. Pigsback. I do the lot - greasypalm, quidco etc but without a doubt I prefer pigsback. Why? Well, it's easy enough to build points and you get vouchers, not cash. Cash you just throw at your debts, but vouchers you can guilt-free treat yourself! I've had countless free meals with the (very appreciative!) OH and tons of free Boots goodies

3. Website glitches - OK, these only happen every few months. Recent ones have been John Lewis and Kitbag. Both issued £5 vouchers with free delivery but set no minimum spend! Don't 100% expect to get these, but generally they honour it. I am the proud owner of a new makeup bag and set of pegs! Hurrah! (OH got a pair of flipflops for his hols!) - keep an eye on 'freebies', 'vouchers', or HUKD for these. And don't say 'oh I'll do it later' - the codes get pulled within a few hours, generally.

4. ASK! Email your favourite company, or complain to ones you're less than happy with. Be honest - moneysaving isn't about scams - but more often than not companies will send you a few vouchers or a sample.

5. Freebies Freebies Freebies! I'm sure you all go to the freebies board but for those who don't, go! Get autofill if you don't already have it (it fills in your address details on online forms) and click away - every day a little present drops through my door (!!!) - yesterday it was Bournville chocolate

Good luck with your free treats and remember you CAN afford it if you don't pay for it

atypicalblonde

I didnt know about the catalogue freebies hun that sounds good!!

catewithers

Thanks for this! Interesting about the catalogue freebies....

Sea78

Thanks - I agree about the freebies - they are always a nice little surprise I'll have a lok for those catalogue freebies too

angelfairy

Thanks for the post

going to look into the catalogue freebies...already do pigsback/quidco...

deliciosa

how can I look into this - whats the website?

Lara44

Great post KittyKate

I do all of the above and have been stocking up on Xmas pressies. In the last few months I have had nice wooly hoodies for my nephew and niece for £4 each rather than £13 each. I got 2 Polo shirts for my other nephew free from the John Lewis glitch worth £5 each (sooo suprised when they arrived). Also got for MIL free comfort pashmina and 2 body lotion and body wash free from the latest Boots £5 off voucher - I buy my mobile top ups there so not spending any extra cash. Have just got a gardeners world subscription for my Dad using clubcard points, £9 points, £36 magazine Also have 3 £10 pigsback vouchers.

Thats aside from all the freebie samples, plus they often come with vouchers which you can take off your shopping in Tescos.

bobble_hat

An excellent post, thanks KittyKate

Queen.Bess

I do pigsback and I love seeing the points mount up! It's so easy to collect them too! I've also signed DH up and through clicks alone, in 6 months he's up to £24! I'm up to £27 and it will keep growing until Christmas, when I'll cash them in for Boots or John Lewis vouchers and by Christmas presents!

I too have to say that other freebies, as found here on the 'Freebies' board are an excellent bonus! And I also got a square of Cadbury's Bournville yesterday and the other week I got a fullsize bar of the Nestle Heaven chocolate! Delicious and it was free!!

mrsbudget

KittyKate wrote: »

5. Freebies Freebies Freebies! I'm sure you all go to the freebies board but for those who don't, go! Get autofill if you don't already have it (it fills in your address details on online forms) and click away - every day a little present drops through my door (!!!) - yesterday it was Bournville chocolate

Good luck with your free treats and remember you CAN afford it if you don't pay for it

hi, how do you do the autofill if you dont mind me asking?

Thanks

avfc4life

Yes thanks for all the tips. Already do some of this but will try the rest. As the post above asks how do you get autofill