The 2008 Money Neutral Gift Challenge

JesaRose

Brownjasperdog - I bought some Pout make-up just before Christmas quite cheap in two gift sets. Only really wanted one thing out of each item and another item for a present so I put the rest on eBay yesterday. I didn't realise the company ceased trading on 24th December so now you can't buy it anymore I am doing quite well selling the other stuff. Made £23.99 on two items so far with an offer on another

jamtart6

I feel like the excel queen too!! I have spreadsheets left right and centre!

I am gutted though thought I had £20 in my quidco, but its my 2nd anniversary so a 2nd £5 admin fee has been taken ..... £4 of that was the bonuses they offered from the christmas cup so not too bad !

Today I was going to get some bags to send off some old mobile to tescos. They currently give 300 points per phone which is £3 instore or £12 in deals for any phone that switches on. Mine aren't that good so decicded to post them all off to there for a tidy £36 in deals. However looked at Martin's article and seems that if I went with Envirophone f I'd get:

*£15 for my best phone in Argos vouchers (which was one of the ones I was trying to earn)

* £5 for my second best phone in Argos vouchers

and then the other 2 are pants so they're going off to Tesco. But now I can't decide what to do with my 2nd best phone.... do I get £5 in Argos vouchers which I've been looking for or £12 in Tesco deals when I might not actually use the deals.... VOTE NOW!!!

sophiesmum_2

Hi jamtart
I'd go for the argos voucher if you are after them anyway. I have some clubcard vouchers and only ever get the mag subscriptions from the deals, I'm never interested in much else.

jamtart6

Well I ended up going for the Argos vouchers and if the 2 phones are accepted I will have £19.93 on an Argos card. Hurrah! If I don't end up spending it at Xmas then Mum will and give me the cash instead so everyones a winner. I also get an extra £5 for reccomending a friend to envirophone which can go towards offsetting the £240 spent on the large present for OH.

I'm really pleased with progress up to now!

Gettin_me_own_back

Hi
I would like to join your challenge, managed a very neutral (profit left over) christmas last year and am detimined thats how life will be from now on.
I am really pleased with progress so far and use 1st Nov as my cut off date.
good luck to all

Beccatje

I'm just trying to make some extra cash.
I find too often that some occasion pops up and a present is needed and I am well and truly out of cash!..
Hate that!

We've got 5 kids of whom 4 are living with us and they've got birthday's and such... We are in Holland so christmas is not as big as it is in the UK but instead we celebrate Sinterklaas, which is december 5th. That is the time when the children get loads of presents. It's comparable to christmas in the UK.
Every year I tell myself I'm going to get smart about it, and every year I get caught out.

SO: am trying to sell stuff on Ebay.
And selling books on an internet book site.

So far I've made the most by selling books.

55 euro so far on books
55 by selling an old cabinet and some toys. (please don't ask me how much that is in pounds..)

It's all going in a seperate Jar!!

More idea's are flowing between my sister and I so will keep up to date..

Becca

jamtart6

welcome one and all! i think its great that we all have each others support. What I really need to do is get back into ebaying tho! had a few bad experiences last time around so think thats putting me off and the fact that im lazzzzzzy!!! Please feel free to kick me up the backside!!

kbl

hi all, haven't been on long enough to keep up with thread at mo, hopefully will get caught up later tonight, have just bought a couple of things for a basket I'm doing for xmas, still haven't listed anything on ebay or gone out with avon catalogues, so slow start on neutral front for me. On the bright side, am much more organised in my buying, not spending a fortune, so hopefully will be able to recoup my spends fairly easily. Spent £3.74 yesterday.

ehallett

Woohoo!! Just managed to get a mystery shop that pays £5 plus gives me £15 to spend in a sports shop.

That should fill up my fiance's Valentines hamper nicely!!

Emily x

FEE_100

Love the look of this thread,I`ve already bought up cards tags and bows for next years pressies and written a list of all the people that I need to buy for so feel a bit more organised. Usually Im all over the place in December and have no time to get everything I need and feel stressed.Work in asda so shop there as i 10% off so thats great for savings. Looking forward to seeing how everyone gets on.