Friday 18th July - What small DFW things will you do today?

ziggy2407

When we start out on the DFW trail we do loads of "big stuff" that makes quite a difference to our situation. These include having our lightbulb moment, cutting up the credit cards and cancelling Sky and the gym .

But once we have done the bigger stuff, we often feel that we are not making the same amount of progress, when in fact the small steps are helping us form good financial habits and helping us get closer everyday to staying in control and becoming debt free, or staying debt free.

Examples could be hanging washing out instead of using the tumble dryer or leaving your purse/wallet at home to avoid the risk of spending .

So be proud of those small steps, they really are important. :money:

MONEY MAKING AND SAVING SITES AS OFTEN MENTIONED IN THIS FORUM:

• A Girl Called Jack, cheap recipes ( Link )
• Benefits check-up ( Link )
• Birthday Bingo, daily free game ( Link )
  
• eBid ( Link )
  
• Freecycle ( Link )
• Free Postcode Lottery (Link)
• FreeStuff ( Link )
• FreeUKStuff ( Link )
• i-Say Surveys (Link)
• List of online newspapers. At bottom of the linked page. ( Link )
• MSE Boost Your Income page. Gateway to lots of money-making links. ( Link )
• MSE Deals and Vouchers ( Link )
• MSE Wow Offers ( Link )
• My Supermarket ( Link )
• Nectar Points, AdPoints, Search Toolbar ( Link )
• OnePoll ( Link )
• Quidco ( Link )
• Reclaim PPI at no cost to yourself ( Link )
• SayNoTo0870 cheap phone number finder ( Link )
  
• Survey sites that pay for your opinions ( Link )
• Swagbucks ( Link )
• Swapit ( Link )
• Tesco Clubcard Free Movies and TV Shows Online ( Link )
  
• Toluna ( Link )
  
• TopCashBack ( Link )

ziggy2407

Good Morning All

ally - Hope you're ok, get well soon x

Hi to all of the regulars and a BIG welcome to all the newbies, this is a really FAB thread with so many lovely, caring, considerate and supportive people.

A strange day, lots going off at school due to DS leaving to start secondary in September (I cant remember my move from primary to secondary as being so frenetic - how times have changed):

Packed lunches for DH & DS - Done
Check Banks - Done
Check swapits -
Nectar Adpoints -
Sort emails (& unsubscribe where possible) -
All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer -
Re-list bits for sale - Done
Read library book -
Check www.freepostcodelottery.com - Done


Have a great day, love you all xx

C xx

foxgloves

Morning Friday people,
Only a few things from me today:
*All my usual little energy saving things.....presume everyone's on this particular mission.....let's get our energy accounts as much into credit as possible ready to help us with winter bills.
*Wrote shopping list.
*Weighed myself & input new weight onto Rosemary Conley online....have got 3 months free, so may as well make best use of it.
*Froze a portion of the dhal I made yesterday.
*Cleaned whole house using minimal products.
*Got up to date with surveys. Almost 27,000 Toluna points again already...only seems like a week or so since I claimed my last voucher. Not the most interesting use of time, but just completing a couple a day, more if they are available plus the 'Sponsored content' quick polls, does mount up.
*Cut more home grown lettuce & lemon basil for tonight's salad.
*Water greenhouse veggies - everything else has just had a soaking from a big sharp shower.
*Check online banking just to make sure things are on track & no weird surprises.
*Free leisure - finishing audiobook, watching a recorded tv prog & listening to free gardening podcasts.
*Knit present - I need to concentrate so that I get the graphic started in the right place.
That will do for today. Enjoy that Friday feeling, everyone & keep your hands on your pence!
f x

jodles16

Well I have resisted buying a new book for my kindle, enjoyed an author yesterday and considered buying the next one, but didn't as I have downloaded loads of both free and cheap books recently, have decided to make my way through!

Eating at home again today so nice little save there, need food shopping though so will be a spending day!

Will pop a wash on shortly and make the most of this great weather!

Also have found out that we will not need to pay the estate agents for selling our house as its my Parents who have bought it as an investment property therefore its a private sale! Bonus!

Have a brilliant day!

Jodles

solvencyseeker

Hello all, Happy Friday :j
Checked the forecast last night, watered everything in the garden and put washing on the line. Thunderstorm arrived 24 hours earlier than predicted and soaked the garden and my laundry - rats! Also woke up the whole house at 3.50AM as the thunder was so loud! Hot and sunny now so washing probably will be dry by the end of the day.


Today I had breakfast at home and got a lift to work. Am about to eat my packed lunch.


Have checked bank accounts, all is fine.


Got letter from motorbike insurers with a settlement offer. Very fair - we were worried that they would under value the bike. We have still lost quite a lot of money but at least this way it feels like we have salvaged something from the mess.


Later I am babysitting for my colleague's lovely baby boy. I actually want him to wake up so I can have a cuddle. I would do this for free but colleague insists on giving me gifts.


I'll take my knitting and library book with me and try to stay awake.


Best wishes to all x

solvencyseeker

foxgloves wrote: »

*All my usual little energy saving things.....presume everyone's on this particular mission.....let's get our energy accounts as much into credit as possible ready to help us with winter bills.

We really screwed up by changing suppliers last autumn (joined MSE Energy Saving Club) so we have been trying to claw back the deficit we were in. I'm not sure when is the best time to do a switch but it feels like we picked the worst possible!

Bagpuss741

Today I have/will:

1. Checked online banking
2. NSD
3. Surveys
4. Free Postcode Lottery
5. Meals from stores
6. Water veggies
7. Read more of my free kindle book
8. Received £10 halfords voucher from consumer pulse (will use it to buy a new wing mirror)

foxgloves

Solvencyseeker - I think there are people who make decent savings on swapping suppliers, but I can't say we really have. Despite claims made about how much we would save, I have to say our DDs usually stayed about the same as previously, occasionally even slightly more. The last time we swapped was a bit different in that the supplier we were with wanted to increase our DD from £77 per month dual fuel to £139, as we were underpaying. Using the meter readings I take every Sunday night & their own figures on our projected use, I was able to show them that we WERE underpaying......by £3 a month! They pretty much agreed, but refused to set a new DD below £93 a month so I terminated the contract & swapped to Co-op Energy. But....to get back to swapping to save, I think there are people who d make reasonable savings, but the only thing that's really made a difference to us (apart from leaving the rip-off merchants I've just described!), has been cutting down on our everyday usage, particularly the small wastages which may only be a tiny amount each time, but happen several times a day. Reading the meters every week has been a real eye-opener for me, as I now have 4 years of figures, so can compare the current week's usage with the previous year......my thinking being that if it's significantly more, then my DD is likely to be going up. It also means I can see the effect of, say 2 days of using the heated airer on usage. I don't mind one bit if it's a cold wet day & only way to get washing dry, but I do mind if I knew a pee down was forecast on the weather & I still put 3 loads on!! Was also able to use my figures to show mr f the impact of turning spare room radiator up to 9 just for our cat!! Being able to see differences in setting storage heaters just one notch lower is very motivating. Sorry to hear your experience of switching hasn't been a good one. Let's hope we have a nice warm Autumn & don't have to put the heating on until November x

MinnieMousesMummy

Good afternoon everyone, Its another lovely day here.

Ally - Thanks for starting the thread off today.


My list for today:

• Get a quick showerDONE
• Have a NSD
• Check online banking and move money aroundDONE
• Look into money makeover - Thanks Ally for the link
• Do benefts check up - Thanks Ally for the link
• All meals from stores
• Do a meal plan for the rest of the month
• Catch up with emails
• Do work that is in for today
• Work p.t job 6-11
• Sort through and schedule Biology course work so that I can get it done in time
• Feed all the animals
• Update list
• Sort diary for next week

I think that is everything for today, Hope everyone has a good Friday x

solvencyseeker

foxgloves wrote: »

Solvencyseeker - I think there are people who make decent savings on swapping suppliers, but I can't say we really have. Despite claims made about how much we would save, I have to say our DDs usually stayed about the same as previously, occasionally even slightly more. The last time we swapped was a bit different in that the supplier we were with wanted to increase our DD from £77 per month dual fuel to £139, as we were underpaying. Using the meter readings I take every Sunday night & their own figures on our projected use, I was able to show them that we WERE underpaying......by £3 a month! They pretty much agreed, but refused to set a new DD below £93 a month so I terminated the contract & swapped to Co-op Energy. But....to get back to swapping to save, I think there are people who d make reasonable savings, but the only thing that's really made a difference to us (apart from leaving the rip-off merchants I've just described!), has been cutting down on our everyday usage, particularly the small wastages which may only be a tiny amount each time, but happen several times a day. Reading the meters every week has been a real eye-opener for me, as I now have 4 years of figures, so can compare the current week's usage with the previous year......my thinking being that if it's significantly more, then my DD is likely to be going up. It also means I can see the effect of, say 2 days of using the heated airer on usage. I don't mind one bit if it's a cold wet day & only way to get washing dry, but I do mind if I knew a pee down was forecast on the weather & I still put 3 loads on!! Was also able to use my figures to show mr f the impact of turning spare room radiator up to 9 just for our cat!! Being able to see differences in setting storage heaters just one notch lower is very motivating. Sorry to hear your experience of switching hasn't been a good one. Let's hope we have a nice warm Autumn & don't have to put the heating on until November x

Wow Foxgloves I am impressed with your record keeping!

We have swapped several times now and have ended up paying more every time. I think the deal we got through the Energy Savers Club is a good one, because it is a fixed price for 5 years but you can get out any time without any penalties. I just think, in good old hindsight, we should have switched in spring rather than just before the winter.

I'm sure we waste energy - sons have TV's and computers in their rooms, I sometimes resort to the tumble dryer, I don't always think about making best use of the cooker when it is on and so forth.

I also definitely need to start taking meter readings more often (need to stand on head with a torch in mouth to get the gas one which is a bit offputting) and try to educate myself better.

I shall try to follow your example

Am glowing profusely so am off to try and cool down outside.

x

allydowd

MinnieMousesMummy wrote: »

Good afternoon everyone, Its another lovely day here.

Ally - Thanks for starting the thread off today.

x

It was Ziggy! Though I did write the list of links that Ziggy has kindly reposted.

PS. Nectar Adpoints is currently having a website meltdown.