Dusty's Frugal Fortnights

dustydigger

Oops,Mr Dusty is back from town and is looking rather unamused that I am still on the computer ever since he left! fortunately I could point out the chicken and roasties already cooking,and that I had swept the kitchen floor and tidied up so hadnt totally been on MSE,but he didnt seem convinced!
So the budget will have to wait till later,as Mr D wants my help with locating all those unpronounceable little towns from across Europe for his football coupon!A sample - Padeborn,Ilves,Kasimpasa,RoPS,etc. My geography knowledge is increasing in leaps and bounds,but its time consuming and tedious. All this so Mr Dusty can immediately know where to look at results time which nation and division his football teams are from.
The things I do for that man.
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only took 20 minutes,because lots of them turned out to be English,and a whole group,more than 20 of them were Europa League,all located in one place,so a brackettand it was sorted. .
Off to make dinner though.BBQ marinated chicken for Mr D,with carrots of all things,because he says he is sick of greens!
I havent a clue what to have,as I have not had time make my veggies. So it looks like salad for me. Not feeling very enthusiastic about it,but I am always like that with salad and when I actually get round to eating it I usually enjoy it.But I dont like grating veg etc up for it!
No time now for doing the budget,maybe at teatime.

dustydigger

Dusty's Frugal Fortnight : 20th August - 2nd September
income: £291 from Mr Dusty,£71 my pension - total £362
outlay:

Save the Children DD - £3
Water Aid DD - £3
Asd@ online shop - £55
Birthday Fund - £20
Passport Fund - £10 (now £80)
NS&I (USA trip) - £50

PO Savings (mixed bag) - £20
Asd@ delivery charge - £5
Xmas bonus cards savings - £10
personal allowance - £20

Home Budget box (cash) - £141

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total outlay - £337
surplus - £25

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+ That £25 is going in the spare purse to add on to my budget next fortnight.
+ next fortnight will see the passport savings reach the target, I will get photos taken then. I did get some done,but tidying up for the USA visitors back in June tidied them so well they have never been seen since,though I have scoured the house:rotfl: Same with the paying in book for the credit union,they have given up and ordered a new passbook!:D Oh dear,my poor old brain is not what it was!
+I may use part of my personal allowance to buy another certificate for my family history files. But first I will try to see if I can get info from the records at Newcastle City Library,quite a bit of traveling on public transport but its about 5 years since I was well enough to make the trek. Going by bus (2 buses) puts me off right outside the library,but takes over 100 minutes to get there what with standing waiting and making connections. Bus then train takes a lot less time but I have to pay for the train,which hurts my frugal,rather Scrooge like feelings!And its a 10 min walk from the station,which was far too painful back then. I always had to get the bus back.Legs much better now,so using the metro looks doable.
I really need to get out and have a day without doing food shopping.:rotfl: This whole summer has just gone by,either I was too ill or it was too hot,or both,and I've never had a ''me'' day at all.

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I left my card at home yesterday when I went off to get those vitamins. Got the very last on the shelf. I want to see how far I can get without touching the current account. Will do a frugal Asd@ shop too and we have my white fish and Mr Ds salmon already in,plus some mince and some chicken wings so lets try to have a much more careful time than the last fortnight! Less spent on the Xmas savings cards too.

dustydigger

Grr! Still struggling to get to the £5 level on MySurveys,I now have 492/511 points ,but am screened out of survey after survey. Very annoying. 45 minutes yesterday spent clicking away at at least 7 surveys,all for nothing. When I finally reach the fiver voucher I will leave. Too much hassle,not worth the fiver!:DI can never believe it when I see people on MSE earning £5-£10 a day on surveys etc. I am lucky to earn a fiver a month!:D
I am now at £24/£50 on YouGov,£8/£20 and £15/£30 respectively on two other sites.And after easily making £40 on Prolific they suddenly stopped sending me surveys,or closed me out,something that never happened before.Pity,I enjoyed the sometimes offbeat surveys there. Its going to take a couple of years at this rate to cash out from these works in progress. I am amazed at the stamina some MSE folks have for earning this cash,its not for me in the long run
Off to make the dinner,then I may go to Ald! to see if they have peanut butter yet. If not I'll have to get the stuff elsewhere,at 40p a jar more,makes my scrooge like heart burn with annoyance!:rotfl::rotfl:

UncannyScot

Hi Dusty

Remember that Prolific has a seasonal slow down when the colleges and universities are on holiday They'll start to pick up again as they all go back soon.
I've found Prolific to be one of the best survey sites to be honest... particularly if using Circle pay to withdraw your hard earned survey monies

Panel base is also good and although they always take over a week to process your withdrawals you get exactly what you've accumulated, which is nice...

dustydigger

Good to know about the Prolific situation,Uncanny Scot! Completely slipped my mind it being vacation time!

I am doing well on YouGov at the moment,they are sending me several surveys,and I made £10 over the last 10 days - in comparison with £15 in the previous 6 months!One good thing is that you are rarely screened out as on most surveys.I have now reached the halfway mark £25/£50

Panel base offer quite a few,but unless you get on one immediately they notify you (around 10am usually) the quota is full almost immediately and I miss out. No time to do them till about 11.30 - 12,busy cooking etc all morning.Same with Power of Opinions,never get there in time.Again they often send surveys at around 4 pm,and I am unavailable thenand by 7pm when I am free I get screened out:(

UncannyScot

Yes, panel base can be troublesome at times. One of the things that annoys me about their surveys is it will say the survey is about gaming and as I am a gamer (mostly console but a little PC...) I will click on them usually to find that they are actually about gambling! NOT a gambler, never had any interest in it whatsoever. Sometimes it will actually be about a new game that is due for release which are always good surveys to get.
Just a matter of perseverance and patience and doing which ones you can, it soon builds up.
Hope you have a lovely day today

System

Dusty thank you so much for the link to the information on the sculptures and the history . It is something I would definitely like to go back to. The anchor like shape in the water outside the Glass Centre did have us wondering what it was , now I know. The cafe/restaurant is very nice and comes recommended in the centre should you ever visit.

Glad to hear the Iceland money will be well spent. You have inspired me to start saving for my new passport next year . I will be allocating £10 per month .

Hope you are ok and are busy with your surveys.

dustydigger

Hi Cumbria Lass,glad you enjoyed the info on the sculpture trail,it is great fun for those with children in tow,looking for all the things tucked away.
After lots of moaning about lack of surveys,I finally yesterday, on my 5th attempt, got one to make up my £5 Amaz*n voucher.:j
Checking back,it really was a big drop in money making.15thMarch - 14th May I made a very nice £25.It took till 3rd July to make the next fiver.then nothing till this week!:(

dustydigger

Went to the history group yesterday,one of those annoying sessions where you dont get anywhere.I have traced my greatgrandmother back through her father James,born 1832,and then his father Thomas,by the 1851 census supposedly born 1805,though there is a Thomas born in the right place in 1800 but no details. After 1837 a marriage certificate will show father's name,but Thomas married in 1831 and all it says is that Thomas Doby married Ann Taylor,no other details.:mad::mad:

Annoying because next generation back there are two brothers,Ralph and James, either could be my next link. I lean towards James as Thomas's father,as Thomas named his own eldest son James.Very common back then for oldest son named for paternal gramps,next son for maternal grandpop. I would put it at 90%probability its James,but no documents,so the family tree has to end there officially,and its very frustrating because I can actually go back to 1561 in records for my other ancestors before that time.:mad::mad:,apart from one more hiccup in the 1660s. During Cromwell's time church records pretty much ground to a halt,and I need to do a lot of research about that area.

Off tomorrow to Newcastle Library to see what I can find. I doubt if I will find anything new,as it has all been transcribed,but there is a much warmer feel of connection when you see the microfilm version of the local church's register.These big leather bound books covering many decades. The same names of families appear over time,and all too often the christenings of babies is followed shortly by the death record,and the little girl who grew up and eagerly married dies in childbirth in her 20s.So much tragedy or joy hidden in a dusty old record

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''Genealogy is the insanity of searching for family members with the same names again and again! - oh boy,thats so true:D

UncannyScot

Tracing family lines isn't as easy as they make look on the telly...

As I have a lot of Irish ancestry I have hit many a dead end due to lack of records.
Also a nuisance is mad Americans messaging you saying that they've traced their family history right back to the Kings of Dalraida and the Kings of Norway and have found that they're apparently related to you... erm Naw, you're not, as NONE of my family went anywhere near America...