Thursday 6th Aug - What small DFW things will you do today?

allydowd

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 important! :money:

allydowd

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 )
  
• Coupon Shop Forum list of money-off coupons (Link)
  
• eBid ( Link )
  
• Freecycle ( 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 Abbreviations Explained ( Link )
• MSE Deals and Vouchers ( Link )
• MSE Wow Offers ( Link )
• NHS Minor Ailment Service article (Link)
  
• My Supermarket ( Link )
• OnePoll ( Link )
• Quidco ( Link )
• Reclaim PPI at no cost to yourself ( Link )
• Resolver tool. Helps you draft a letter, send it, monitor replies and then escalate it to an Ombudsman or key complaint body if it's not sorted. (Link)
  
• SayNoTo0870 cheap phone number finder ( Link )
  
• Survey sites that pay for your opinions ( Link )
• Swagbucks ( Link )
• Swapit ( Link )
• Tesco Orchard product testing (Link)
  
• Tickety Split cheap train tickets (Link)
  
• Toluna ( Link )
  
• TopCashBack ( Link )
• You Need A Budget site and App (Link) New link!
  

If this list helps you today please click "Thanks".

allydowd

Morning DFW-Warriors,

Another busy day at Dowd Towers and the sun is almost shiny.

Does anyone have the COS App? What does C.O.S. stand for? I'm trying to get it but I cannae find it! Got it: "CheckoutSmart"! :rotfl: (Link)


Nillionaire Month Two (nearly month three):

:grinheart Do job-seeking. (Not going to document this on this Forum; you'll be bored stiff.)

:grinheart Took parcel to pick-up point and while there went for a walk along the sea-front and popped into the library.

:grinheart OH has decided what to spend remaining £5 High Street voucher on: food.

:grinheart Go for a run locally if the mood takes me.

:grinheart Washing out on the line.

:grinheart Charged phone in the car for free.

:grinheart Followed up on answer to free Google Picassa software problem from another forum. Free repair.

:grinheart Lunch was home-made lentil, homegrown potato and sad vegetable soup. We'll eat all the potatoes in it today and then tomorrow we'll have the remaining half served with bread.

:grinheart Free spearmint tea from leaves in the garden.

:grinheart Download and print final payslip. I do hope it's correct as our budget is very tight. The suspense is killing me but I can't print it til it arrives on the online system.

:grinheart Ate remainder of yesterday's home-made focaccia.

:grinheart Read Martin Lewis' weekly tips email. (Link)

MSE Tool:

:grinheart A tool to help you spend as less money as possible but still qualify for free SuperSaver delivery when shopping at Amazon. (Link)

Freebies:

:grinheart Free upgrade to Microsoft Office 10 if you have Windows 7 or 8. (Link) I would personally recommend waiting to upgrade until the software has been running for a while and all the glitches have been ironed out; but then I'm not a Windows-devotee so I'm biased! It's also a good idea to back up all your valuable data before you start, especially your financial plans! I would also suggest using the tool in the above link to make sure all your existing software and hardware will still work after you upgrade.

:grinheart Free print-your-own memo to help you tell when aging food needs to be thrown away and when it can still be eaten. (Link)


Keep fighting, Warriors.

allydowd

In case anyone missed it yesterday:


Safety Recall of Free EE Power Bars

A couple of weeks ago I posted details of free EE mobile phone chargers. Some of these chargers are being recalled following five incidents where devices have caught fire. Here's what to do if, like me, you have one with Model number: E1-06 stamped on it: (Link)

Martin Lewis is reporting that EE will be giving a £20 e-voucher to spend on EE's online shop to anyone who returns a power bar from the faulty batch. (Link) The BBC also report customers should get a £20 voucher. (Link) However, I can't see any mention of this on freebie EE's website.

twiggy86

Morning all!

Well that film was pants! Had a good laugh with friends though!

Bob - I have to ask... how did you know the penny was there the day before? Please tell me you hadn't seen it and not picked it up?! :rotfl:

So today I have/will:-
* Check banks
* Check FPL
* Take lunch to work
* Check asda receipt I picked up yesterday - £1.11 voucher! Printed at work of course!
* Check PayPal
* Check online energy statement
* Drink LOTS of water whilst at work
* Order train tickets for boss via TCB and hope it tracks this time
* Earn more on OnePoll
* Earn more SBs
* Dinner from stores - might make enough to freeze a batch
* Get OH to call sky
* Dust DVD shelf in second bedroom
* More crochet

Think that's everything for today. Hope you all have a good day!

greensalad

Morning!

:starmod: [strike]Cycle to work[/strike]
:starmod: [strike]Do Onepolls[/strike]
:starmod: [strike]Do a fast day for 5:2 diet (3 diet shakes = 600 calories)[/strike] 3 shakes down!
:starmod:[strike] Find osteopath letter to claim £36 back[/strike] Got it! Will post tomorrow.
:starmod: Check next osteopath appointment
:starmod: Hoover living room
:starmod: Empty suitcase from holiday

princess_pea

Morning Moneysavers,


-NSD today
- All meals from stores
- FPL and surveys to do
- Have to go and pick pooch up from the ex after work. Also have to drive said ex to his storage locker so I can get the last of my things back :mad:
- Loads to do at work as ever
- Cancel TV licence tonight as didn't do this the other day
- Start packing for my trip up north to see my family on Saturday:j


Have a lovely sunny day everyone

Ratison

Morning all,

Thanks for the start Ally. And thanks for the goat's cheese recipe yesterday. I think I might try it, I love the idea of making my own cheese! I have some YS crusty bread in the freezer (My Co-Op is a great place to go for YS bakery items) so I'm thinking about how nice that'd be with goats cheese.

FVD - catching up on your shocking news about ex-OH. Sometimes it's just a relief to know, and finally have the evidence to end something. I was in a pretty messy relationship a few years ago that I just struggled to end. One day, he did something that I realised was past what I was prepared to tolerate, and I never looked back. I did all my grieving for that relationship while I was in it, and just felt like a new person when it ended.

Anyway, therapy session over for me! My list for today:

NSD - I had far too many spends yesterday as I was travelling for work. I can claim it all back, but it sucks having to fork out in the first place.

Do any surveys - I'll look into Royal Mail after a few people mentioned them on here.

Measure up my bathroom. I have a good chunk saved up to put towards it, thankfully I have a kindly friend who said he will install and tile for very low cost, and get me a good deal on tiles.

See if I can tweak my budget to give myself even more to save this month. I have dreams of a nicer house by Christmas!

Happy Thursday everyone!

foxgloves

Morning Campers,
Well, I'd planned an indoor day today as I'm sure the weather forecast said we were in for a total wazz-down with thunder & lightning, but it's dry, warm & pleasant so I've got all the doors & windows flung open for a good (free) airing.
Today's tiny list of money saving things:
*Did/doing all my usual energy-saving measures. Energy bill should be imminent. Looking forward to seeing how much credit we've got towards the winter months. Hopefully a bit of a wodge, at least.
*Dinner as per meal plan, so made turkey burgers first thing to serve in pittas with homegrown salad, which I will pick later.
*Paid another 2 x 50p pieces into my sealed pot. It's got quite competitive. I picked mr f's sealed pot up this morning & gave it a shake, but I couldn't see down the slot. It's really heavy, but I know he's only putting coppers, 5ps & 10ps in his, so I reckon mine's going to be the cash cow when it comes to opening day :-)
*Continue knitting Christmas present.
*Checked ebay re-listings. 1 small item sold overnight.
*Re-visitnext week's meal plans which I wrote last weekend & compile shopping list.
*Make a list of everything to do in town tomorrow so I'm not paying multiple lots of parking to go back & do stuff I've forgotten.
*Did a few surveys. Anyone doing Onepoll - the series of 20p surveys we did recently obviously met with a technical hitch their end, I'm guessing, as presume other people have received the email about doing them all again...boooo! But the good news is will apparently get paid twice....hurray!
*Do a bit more of my current genealogy project so I can cancel the 2 online memberships I'm paying at the moment. I don't begrudge the money as the resources are good, but I would like to be able to syphon it into the car fund. So will probably make a nice strong cafetiere after lunch, set up in the conservatory & immerse myself in the 1700s.
OK, time to go & get the calorie book out & see what I can have for lunch. Pretty angelic week on the whole, so hopefully this pesky re-gained stone will soon come off again. It's like anything else, you just have to put your mind to it - I'm cross with myself, but keep saying 'I've successfully shed 6 stones, so I am more than capable of losing ONE!!'
Keep your hands on your pennies,
f x

greensalad

foxgloves wrote: »

*Continue knitting Christmas present.

Oooh you've reminded me, I must do this early this year! I am trying to have a more frugal Christmas as we will likely be moving in the Spring, so I need to save money. I was planning on knitting from my extensive stash. Something for Mum, both grandmas and possibly grandad too. Must rummage!

FatVonD

Afternoon

Thank you all for your messages of support, I'm moving through being a very :mad: about it all and generally acting like a bit of a madwoman :rotfl: though being home without him is still lovely and calming. I resisted reading emails until bedtime (I was still busy packing up his stuff all evening) and I am fine until I read them and then I get all :mad: again. Hopefully once he's collected his stuff tomorrow the emails will stop and I can stop being a crazy woman

Dawn, he does work but he's a yellow-badge London cab driver so only licensed to work in the boroughs of Richmond/Kingston-upon-Thames and Hounslow so doesn't make the money that the Green badge drivers can make.

Bob, my purse says, 'see a penny, pick it up, and all day you'll have good luck' so here's wishing you yours

I wanted to work from home today on account of the tube strike but today is press day so the editor organised a cab for me (only from Waterloo, not from home!) so here I am! *Too much information warning* I made sure I didn't eat or drink anything before I left home so my IBS wouldn't kick in if we got stuck in traffic with no loo in sight :rotfl: Breakfast when I got here was half a sandwich left over from yesterday. I will need to buy lunch though I've kind of lot my appetite so I may be losing some weight but I don't want to lose too much in case I end up attracting another man

Princess Pea, glad you are getting your stuff, and your life, back