1 teacher + 6 weeks hols = debt free?

petite_anglaise_2

Glad to see my life is amusing people (only kidding!) and nice to see that I'm not the only saddo with a love of nice books and pens! It could be a way of determining early on in childhood whether you will become a teacher...

Careers Adviser - 'Do you have an unhealthy love of books, would you spend your last £10 on a shiny book?, Can you pass the best part of two hours in a book shop?'
Child - 'Ooh yes'
Careers Adviser - 'Do you spend a disproportionate amount of money on posh pens, beautiful thick notebooks with pretty covers and do you get excted when you can go back to school and buy a new pencilcase full of new pens and pencils?'
Child - 'Er, yes, why?'
Careers Adviser - 'When you go on holiday to France do you even buy notebooks with squared paper, and pens from French supermarkets and bookshops because they're even nicer?'
Child ' 'How do you know this - What's wrong with me?'
Careers Adviser - 'I'm sorry dear but you're going to be a teacher when you leave school. No choice I'm afraid'.


Love the idea of entering competitions. I've actually done this quite a lot and am ever optimistic but I've never won anything and the amount of effort that goes into filling in forms, posting envelopes, buying stamps, registering on websites etc. seems to outweigh the advantages, especially as I've never won anything for years. What sort of competitions are people more successful in winning?

emuk_2

petite_anglaise wrote: »

Glad to see my life is amusing people (only kidding!) and nice to see that I'm not the only saddo with a love of nice books and pens! It could be a way of determining early on in childhood whether you will become a teacher...

Careers Adviser - 'Do you have an unhealthy love of books, would you spend your last £10 on a shiny book?, Can you pass the best part of two hours in a book shop?'
Child - 'Ooh yes'
Careers Adviser - 'Do you spend a disproportionate amount of money on posh pens, beautiful thick notebooks with pretty covers and do you get excted when you can go back to school and buy a new pencilcase full of new pens and pencils?'
Child - 'Er, yes, why?'
Careers Adviser - 'When you go on holiday to France do you even buy notebooks with squared paper, and pens from French supermarkets and bookshops because they're even nicer?'
Child ' 'How do you know this - What's wrong with me?'
Careers Adviser - 'I'm sorry dear but you're going to be a teacher when you leave school. No choice I'm afraid'.


Love the idea of entering competitions. I've actually done this quite a lot and am ever optimistic but I've never won anything and the amount of effort that goes into filling in forms, posting envelopes, buying stamps, registering on websites etc. seems to outweigh the advantages, especially as I've never won anything for years. What sort of competitions are people more successful in winning?

I must say i loved pencil cases more than the pen thing...it's still a standing joke in the family, shall we bring you back a pencil case? Of course, i NEEDED about 5 pencil cases!:rotfl:

slowlyfading

Lol I used to love pencil cases as well - could (and still can!) spend ages in WHSmiths looking at pens and pencil cases and files/folders/paper. maybe I was destined to be a teacher from the start x

MrsTinks

You're telling me at 27 that I picked the wrong career??? I too have pencil case fetishes and longings after posh pens and folders... I thought I was just odd, but now you say it's because I was really destined to be a teacher and not an IT nerd? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Have about 3 weeks left in my current job - then I'll be unemployed unless I find something else... Guess matched betting is as good as anything else I can come up with to fill my spare time then I've been avoiding it as it all looked so complex but maybe I should give it a concerted try...

petite_anglaise_2

Oh yes in addition here's the progress over the last couple of days (I wouldn't hold your breath it's not exactly awe inspiring!):rotfl:

Money Saving:
* Went to Newcastle shopping with my Mum and not only did she buy me a
lovely top from M&S, she also paid for lunch at the Sage! Nice Mum. (okay
so this isn't exactly moneysaving as she was spending, but needs must!)
* Got tea bags, chewing gum, 2 packets of roasted meat cat food and more
girly stuff through the post this morning. Not really going to keep me going
forever but it's a start!
* Went through all my cupboards, the freezer, airing cupboard, food
cupboards, drawers etc. Found 6 bottles of shampoo, 2 doedorants, loads
of pasta and rice, washing powder enought to keep the north east clean
for the next 6 months, and loads more stuff that will stop me going to
Boots/Sainsburys for ages.
* Ate a yogurt with the use by date of yesterday so as not to be wasteful -
Spent rest of day worrying I was going to keel over and die, foam at
mouth, get purple spots etc. - :rotfl: but nothing happened! (tendency to
exaggerate as you can see! But figured that one day wasn't going to hurt
me. Usually I chuck anything I'm bored with even if it's still in date)


Money Making:
Got £15 payment into bank account for selling some French books and resources to a shiny new teacher on the TES website.
* Made £27 so far on Quidco and not spending anything, by signingup to free
trials, using search engines, even got a pound for signing up for trial of
Mills and Boon (oh god the lengths I'll go to for a £!)
* SIgned up to two mystery shopping sites and was offered an assignment
the very next day (too far away to do though but shows they do offer
these things)
* Made £2 on Ebay (although I've listed over 20 things - so lets just hope
there are lots of final bids just before the end of the auctions). Always
amazes me that the lovely tasteful good quality things I put up for sale no
one wants yet the old tat i put on randomly always attracts the most bids!
Got a pair of hideous Liz Clairborne earrings that would put Bet Lynch to
shame and there are 9 people watching them!
* Sold a topshop voucher I got on from Pigsback (worth £10) for £9.90 !! Unbelievable!:T

bargain_babe

Hi all, have read this thread (in one go!) and have just woken up from sleeping for the whole week (bit of a fib - actually been on my free pontins hol to camber sands - it was good, by the way!). I am a nursery nurse in the nursery department of our local primary school and am shattered! Its the first full year I've done in a full teaching capacity (on half the pay!) down to the reports and planning and stuff.

Whoever else said we needed the 6 weeks to rest is completely right, petite anglaise, how are you so awake to keep us all up to date with your (very good) money saving antics? The only advice I can give is keep looking at this site, I have saved a fortune since I started looking, we've been on free hols, a trip to Alton towers and used to go to the free cinema showings (not so many nowadays). Join Bzzagent for freebies and vouchers for you and friends and do shop and scan - just got £40 in Argos vouchers - and thats scanning my weekly shop since Christmas!

Hubby thinks I'm mad, kids know my second home is either the table for doing my 'homework' ie profiles! or the computer for coming on here but I'm loving saving money and actually having a bank balance and some savings! I love it - good luck and enjoy the hols - I'm going to!

bbxx

planbetter

Does not surprise me in the least. as a non teacher working in a school I am constantly nonplussed by how crazy most school regime's are. Surprised there are any sane teachers or assistants left I can't imagine six weeks is enough to re-install all the marbles lost over a school year. Maybe most teachers wouldn't go back if they had time to completely recover their sanity!

spud30 wrote: »

Tilly, not only am I working till Friday, but year 6 are having a leavers disco on Friday night, until 10pm.

Unfortunately, as I have a daughter in year 6, I have to go :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

So, I will be in school until 10pm on the last day of term, good ehh

Prudent

petite_anglaise wrote: »

Love the idea of entering competitions. I've actually done this quite a lot and am ever optimistic but I've never won anything and the amount of effort that goes into filling in forms, posting envelopes, buying stamps, registering on websites etc. seems to outweigh the advantages, especially as I've never won anything for years. What sort of competitions are people more successful in winning?

I rarely enter the entry form/ envelopes variety. I do too much paper work in the day to want to do it at night. I do most of mine through the comps forum on here and are either email or online entry. i use form filling software and most only take a few clicks. I do spend a fair amount of time at it, but the social side of mse accounts for quite a bit of that time I do less in term than in the holidays. I have done extra well this year as I was signed off work with back and neck injuries for 5 1/2 months after being assaulted by a pupil.

bails

petite_anglaise wrote: »

* SIgned up to two mystery shopping sites and was offered an assignment
the very next day (too far away to do though but shows they do offer
these things)

Wasn't laughing at you, just with you P.A.

I've done a bit of mystery shopping with Retail Eyes, have made a little bit of money and get free meals out with my OH so not bad! Anyone tried any of the others, as RE is quite quiet at the mo?

Don't think I've got the patience to do any more comps but might check out the board, see if anything takes my fancy...

I'm on a moneysaving/making mission again, so thanks to all of you for re-inspiring me! I have saved a load of money since I discovered this website and I spend half my life trying to get everyone I know on it!!

ps my parents are always going on about how their double garage is full to the brim with my stationery...and I moved out 14 years ago!! They're threatening to dump it in my new home, I may drown in a sea of shiny highlighters :rotfl:

petite_anglaise_2

1 -Hurray, got my first mystery shopping assignment next weekend for £10. It's literally round the corner so how hard can it be?!:j

2 - Sold two books on Amazon, okay so by the time Amazon takes their cut we're not talking a lot of profit but it's a start.

3 - Got some fab ideas from reading all the threads on here, especially on the DFW board. Question for someone - can I sell my Tesco vouchers that I've got on Ebay? And how will that work when they've got my name on? I've only got about £25 worth but really can't see the point of them. There's nothing I want to spend on on their website. Know you can get u pt o 4x the voucher price with their deals but they're all for things like Butlins holidays, theme parks, money off steak houses etc. Not into anything like this and so wondered if I can get rid of them?


Another Question -
Homes magazines that feature reader's homes
(you know the sort: Caption - ''Isabella (dressed in yummy mummy Boden) relaxes in her hand painted farrow and ball kitchen admiring the view of the organic herb garden whilst little Horatio and Candida play with their tasteful and very expensive wooden toys at the authentic distressed French diningtable; 'just a little something we picked up in a flea market on our last holiday she laughs'.''.....Sorry, got carried away, but you know what I mean!

Anyway, do these magazines pay you for being featured in their magazine or do you just do it for the ''love'' ofhaving your house featured? :rolleyes: Now there's no way I could ge mine into Homes and Gardens or Livingetc. but the mass market ones such as Good Homes magazine etc. frequently feature fairly run of the mill houses. Mine, now done up, gets a lot of nice comments and oohsand ahs from visitors etc and a friend has used it to shoot her new catologue of homewares in (though mainly to save money as it'sa new business). Any point me sending off some photos to any of the magazines? Or is this like those mothers who think their child is simply gorgeous and obvious model material when eveyone else thinks they're really not that special?!!

This is why it's dangerous to give me six weeks holiday - my brain goes into overdrive. Much better to be too tired to think during term time - keeps me out of mischief!:D
Any thoughts gratefully appreciated x