Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

mcculloch29

janb5 wrote: »

Hi- would you mind telling us how you review products for Amazon? Do you have to apply?

Hello Janb5 and sorry for the delay in replying. There are two ways of getting free stuff from Amazon. Amazon have a "Vine Voices" scheme for trusted reviewers which is by invitation only. I didn't know about it before I was asked if I would like to join.

I enjoy writing reviews and hadn't posted many - only a few dozen, but people liked them and Amazon spotted this and issued me an email invite. I was invited to choose from a list of items.
Originally, the items weren't particularly inspiring, my first few reviews were children's books, I was just thrilled to get them.

However, I was offered higher value items, and now I get offered a wide range of stuff.
Looking around me, my YouView box, steam generator iron, slow cooker, food processor, soup maker, toaster, hairdryer, electric toothbrush, epilator and straighteners were from Vine as well as other items (over a number of years!) I have my first Vine printer en route, and my first Vine duvet arrived this week.

Dog food is regularly on offer and my list of free toiletries pops up regularly in the No Buying Unnecessary Toiletries thread. I am OK for shampoo for this year and probably next, along with some very nice skin care.

There is another method, which anyone can try. If you buy items from Amazon regularly, they will be listed in your list of orders. Review them, and put an email address on your Amazon public profile. If your reviews are well written, informative and helpful, readers will hopefully vote them as helpful. You will rise up the list of reviewers and eventually you may find that sellers invite you to review items by emailing you directly.

I've only had my address on my Amazon profile for some 18 months but I am offered a wide range of items by sellers.
I've had authors offer me books, I don't think I will ever have to buy another iPhone cable, case or battery pack. Some of the items are really random (Horny goat weed tablets, anyone?) but of course I don't have to say yes.
Some are really worth having - a basic, but very good tablet, a steam mop and a sheepskin rug in the last few months.
It's worth noting that one of the conditions of Vine is that I cannot give items away and certainly not sell them.

However, sellers who approach me directly are fine about me giving stuff away. Today a friend got some toys for her grandson, and yesterday my niece left the house laden down with bits and pieces for her children. My own children and grandchildren are major recipients.

That's the nice thing about it - it's like Christmas every day some weeks, though it makes minimising tricky! I give away far more than I keep, it has to be said.
Clothes from Chinese sellers are often smaller than expected so my daughter and grand-daughter come in for those. I'm size 16/18, they are 14/16 and 12/14.

I am in the top 200 list of reviewers (just!) currently, I have been much higher but I didn't have my email address on my profile then so I have no idea if I would have been offered the same stuff - I am happy with what I get and can't imagine getting much better things.

Hope that helps you.

Here is my Amazon profile which includes a list of reviews I've done:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/profile/A20CM2RUB8F2O2

fuddle

The yoghurt in the slow cooker had minimal success. Very milk like inconsistency. I suspect it is down to my slow cooker. It's new and not a crockpot but instead and tin like inner that heats up very quickly so it will cool very quickly too. I have also read powdered milk helps thicken. So next time I will add that and try out the flask method.

In the SC today are mixed beans. I need to use them up as are no good for me so i'll add them to salads for the rest of the family. I have discovered that I can eat quinoa. With it being a seed it's not a grain it's made me very happy as it's a dry ingredient that I can stock and cook with come a SHTF situation. I can use it as a base in baking and cooking... when I learn how! I need to get tapioca flour for flatbreads and savouries and coconut flour for sweet baking but the only supermarket that sells it is Ocado. I've not shopped there before and given the cost of eating primally has already upped my budget I don't know if I can absorb a weeks shop there. It's either that or buy them online and pay for postage.

LynP you have been very busy. My Sunday was very lazy in comparison!

Today I need to make eldest DD's birthday cake. I am going to run red hearts through basic sponge and decorate with fondant icing. I am not ashamed to say I bought ready to roll icing. I did the costings of how to make it with ingredients. Given I had very little of what it needed in stock, it would have been more expensive to make my own than to just buy it plus the margin for error is minimal in something I am not really very skilled at.

janb5

Hi Mcculloch 29- thank you for your great and informative reply. I suppose it is a bit of a `grey area` giving things away but if the sellers say you can than that is great. I like writing reviews too and always read the feedback before I buy a product to check out any pitfalls.xx

mcculloch29

janb5 wrote: »

Hi Mcculloch 29- thank you for your great and informative reply. I suppose it is a bit of a `grey area` giving things away but if the sellers say you can than that is great. I like writing reviews too and always read the feedback before I buy a product to check out any pitfalls.xx

Thanks, glad it helped.
I always review the items before I rehome them, so the views are mine, although if I get extra feedback from the recipient, I include that.
I forgot to add that I do sometimes review items that Amazon sell that I haven't necessarily bought from Amazon, they are ok with this as a good review assists buyers in making informed choices.
In fact, my very first review was of a book I bought in a library sale, so it wasn't even a recently released item.

janb5

Hi there- just read some of your reviews which are very pithily written. They are all neatly written without any waffle and convey an immediate picture.


Btw, My kisses at the end is because none of the smiley faces on MSE work on this PC!

candlelight_2013

We had to pop into town today because I was so fed up of a bath mat we have shedding it's coat It is black and because it sheds it makes the bathroom floor look dirty. Anyway went into Primarni and they had some really soft ones for £4 each so I bought 2.

We are having chicken casserole for our evening meal. I have lots of baby tomatoes which I stripped off our outdoor plants so I am going to put some of those in as well. I feel the need for comfort food with the weather as it is.

We did have to put another coat of paint on the kitchen walls, but it looks lovely now and still just under half a tin left. I would definitely recommend Wilko's kitchen paint and very well priced.

I have only put the heating on a couple of times so far, trying really hard to cut down on the bills. I have found lighting a couple of candles in the evening certainly warms the room up and makes it look cosy.

No washing done today because it has rained since the middle of the night and is still raining now. DGD1 spent yesterday sorting her winter clothes out and putting her summer ones away. I noticed when I went into her room there is a black sack full of stuff so I think maybe another visit to the Hospice shop. I go in so often the Manageress always gives me a kiss :)

Well I had better go and sort the veg out for the casserole, have a good day all

Candlelightx

candlelight_2013

Welcome LALA. We call DD1 Lala as a nick name because DD2 couldn't say her real name when she was little.

I think you will find lots of hints and tips on here, but also it is a chance to chat to like minded folk.

Candlelightx

silvasava

DH made a cuppa and I cut us a slice each of the ginger & treacle loaf that I hoped was a Jamaica Ginger copy. Very tasty but not quite right - couldn't taste much ginger 'cos the treacle overpowered it so I'll do a bit of 'tweaking' (technical term) next time & see how it goes before I post the final recipe. Texture was good - suitably 'sticky' and certainly will be eaten

[Deleted User]

I've been 'minimising' my aged veggies from the fridge and made a big pot of veggie curry using anything that looked past its best.Chucked it all in the slow cooker and it will all be done hopefully when I get home in about an hours time.It will, once cooled, be portioned up for the freezer and nothing has been binned :):)

Dinner tonight is YS chicken from the freezer plus left over cooked veg from yesterdays Sunday dinner, so I'll make do with that

Nothing mended today, but another square of DDs blanket made.

jamanda

fuddle wrote: »

In the SC today are mixed beans. I need to use them up as are no good for me so i'll add them to salads for the rest of the family. I have discovered that I can eat quinoa. With it being a seed it's not a grain it's made me very happy as it's a dry ingredient that I can stock and cook with come a SHTF situation. I can use it as a base in baking and cooking... when I learn how! I need to get tapioca flour for flatbreads and savouries and coconut flour for sweet baking but the only supermarket that sells it is Ocado. I've not shopped there before and given the cost of eating primally has already upped my budget I don't know if I can absorb a weeks shop there. It's either that or buy them online and pay for postage.


Fuddle, there are coconut and tapioca (I think) flour on Ama*on. I found them accidentally yesterday while I was looking for something else.


I wondered who bought them and what they were for