From debt to freedom...

Honeysucklelou2

One more birthday to go (on Friday) then hoping to start getting organised for Christmas. We went into a B&M last night which I have never been to before. It was quite overwhelming looking at the sheer amount of stock and choice. Didn't go up and down every aisle but noticed that there was a good choice of Christmas chocolate treats so might have to check those again.

Honeysucklelou2

Sadly not a NSD. I went to visit my parents who live in a bigger place than us with lots more shops. DS1 did need some more school trousers so I took advantage of being near an Asda to pop in and see if they did anything that resembled school trousers. Thankfully they did, so between purchasing the trousers and more socks for the toddler I ended up spending more than I thought. We also picked up a hat/scarf/glove set as our contribution to the Christmas shoe box Appeal.

Honeysucklelou2

Today has been a NSD:) bringing this month's total to 5. I've spent the day either cooking, doing laundry or getting things ready for work tomorrow.

I did register for Opinion outpost this evening. I'm not quite sure I fit into the world of surveys. I completed a long introductory questionnaire which then let me through to try a survey. I got to start 2 surveys but they stopped part way through and said I couldn't complete it. I signed up with Prolific Academic a couple months ago but I never seem to be eligible for their surveys. Perhaps it's because I don't watch mains/satellite TV so am limited as to how much I would know about programmes etc.

mumtoomany

I've just got into prolific, I have found they don't often send e-mails but if you check the website I often find surveys/studies. There is some sort of notification thing, don't know exactly how that works! Check with Hiddenidenity, she has mentioned it a couple of times. She seems to do well from prolific. M2m.

louby40

Prolific is a site you need to check all the time. Lots of surveys seem to go on in a morning and I’m too busy to do them then.

YouGov is ok, you £50 once you get 5000 points but it can take a few months to get there.

MeandO

I use mysurvey and ipsos HSL. The first, I get surveys for every day and they add up very quickly. They can be cashed in for a variety of vouchers or paypal money.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you for the tips on surveys. I will have to check them out more at half term when I have a bit more time and hopefully get on a little better with them.

I really don't understand the TC office. I checked my bank balance today and was very surprised to find that it was higher than I thought. Turns out that the TC office has made a one off payment into my account. I can't work out how and why, although I did ring the bank at some unearthly hour this morning to double check where the BGC had come from and the advisor confirmed that it was the TCs. I remembered what HI had posted about looking online for payments, so set up the online gateway and checked them out. There is a one-off payment listed but quite why????? I'm tempted to put it into a savings account and use to pay a chunk off the money I have to pay back.

Honeysucklelou2

I was hoping today would have been a NSD. I did manage to drive home without going near the supermarkets but had to put in more diesel after making a couple of unexpected journeys.

MeandO

Tc really are a law unto themselves aren’t they. I dread dealing with them. I would pop it into a savings account and stash it away until you know what it is for. That way you don’t have to ‘find’ it if they suddenly ask for it back!

Honeysucklelou2

Glad to have got to half term. Work has been very busy for the last couple of weeks so am thankful to have a bit of time to catch up with my own children, do laundry, housework etc.

The last couple of days have been quite spendy as DD5 had her birthday. She was desperate to take in a birthday cake for her class to share, so I cheated and got a tray bake one from Tescos. It was on offer so £1 off but cross with myself that I didn't have time or energy to make one. I did make one for the family to eat on Friday evening though. I had fun turning a basic chocolate sponge into a hedgehog cake!

Back to crunching the figures today and seeing where I can make savings to the budget and plan for Christmas. I am hoping to see DD1 for a day during half term, to see how she's getting on and see if I can top up her freezer space. She is learning to be savvy and visits the supermarket at yellow sticker time to make her budget stretch.