2022 Frugal Living Challenge

missymoo81

Thank you, you lovely lot, I always find out things I didn’t know on these threads. I didn’t know about the stamps! They live in my purse for about 5 years! I will swap them! 

According to OH we’ve had our CT rebate thingy. Just went straight in the bank. 

As for energy prices. I was £600 in credit but have just had a £1000 bill and am
now in debit. I pay £187 per month now I’m hoping this is enough for the next bill. I didn’t realise bills were paid like that!

florianatwobob

We’ve had our CT rebate paid straight back into our accounts where DD’s have been in place. Our council has also been very proactive keeping people updated regarding how they could claim if they didn’t pay by DD. They’ve also been providing updates by social media re call volumes and progress. We did have a glitch wit having ours refunded due to a BACS issue between banks which I found out when my payment was still astray after the due date for it to be refunded has passed. That said the call handler knew what had happened AND what was being done to resolve the problem and the latest date I could expect the reprocesses refund. 

Turns out it came through about 3 days after it had been reprocessed. We’re fortunate in that we weren’t dependent on that payment but overall very impressed with how our council has handled the refunds. 

Primrose

cw18 said:

otb666 said:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/03/stamps--swap-out--scheme-opens-today---here-s-everything-you-nee/#:~:text=It's free to post your form and stamps,this off with your stamps once you're ready.
Freepost SWAP OUT'. It'll be free to post, and no other address details are needed.

Hey just spotted this time to post back stamps you have without barcode

And (even as a postie) I'm very worried about this.

The Royal Mail terms and conditions state that unused postage stamps aren't insured in the mail unless they're sent by Special Delivery.   (point 8 in the definition of valuables)

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/91/kw/insurance

I get 50 1st class stamps as my Christmas bonus every year - I've had 6 years worth of the 'bonus', but the ones from last year are barcoded.   I've never used any, as I had a stock of stamps before I started the job and I'm still working through those.   So I have 250 first class stamps @ 95p = £237.50    I have other stamps in my supply that I'm not likely to use by the deadline, so I'm working on posting £250 value.

I'm planning on speaking to others at work.   I reckon that if we all fill in individual forms and put them into separate envelopes, we can then put all our envelopes into one Special Delivery wallet - which may cost up to £10 if there are several of us.   But if there are 10 of us with a significant number to send (25 of us in the office, so that's possible) it will only cost us £1 each.    I'll check with my Mother, daughter and OH before I send in, and I can add any they have to my claim (meaning theirs are also insured).

Worth noting - the ONLY 'special' releases that need to be barcoded are the Christmas ones.   Any others (such as releases for the Queens special birthdays, or James Bond, or Coronation Street etc.,) remain valid even without the barcode.

I posted my considerable accumulation of non bar coded stamps off in three different mailings over a period of several days.  None were sent by Special Delivery.

all the new bar coded stamps arrived within a 7 day time slot. I was relieved and impressed.  Had expected there would be delays or items going missing but had told myself they were freebies in the first place so I wouldn,t actually be out of pocket financially, apart from my time of course.

In the  end perhaps Royal Mail weren't as overwhelmed by this exchange operation as I perhaps expected them to be and I suspect now the initial rush and anxiety to exchange may be slowing down, timetscales for exchange will remain quite speedy.   How many items are theoretically likely to go missing in the post I wonder? 

cw18

Primrose said:

I posted my considerable accumulation of non bar coded stamps off in three different mailings over a period of several days.  None were sent by Special Delivery.

all the new bar coded stamps arrived within a 7 day time slot. I was relieved and impressed.  Had expected there would be delays or items going missing but had told myself they were freebies in the first place so I wouldn,t actually be out of pocket financially, apart from my time of course.

In the  end perhaps Royal Mail weren't as overwhelmed by this exchange operation as I perhaps expected them to be and I suspect now the initial rush and anxiety to exchange may be slowing down, timetscales for exchange will remain quite speedy.   How many items are theoretically likely to go missing in the post I wonder? 

Mine may be mostly 'freebies' - but they will save me money in the future (more than they're worth now as the value of them will continue to rise), and were bonuses I'm entitled to and would never turn down.   In my eyes, risking them getting lost is a risk I'm not prepared to take.   Even if I end up paying the full cost of Special Delivery for just mine, that's going to be about a  £9 stake to ensure I don't lose out on £250 (at current value).

I'd like to think the risk of them going astray is very small, but no occupation is without some bad apples who can't resist temptation - and as the address these are going to is an obvious one they're a clear target     Plus, I sometimes deliver empty envelopes (and sometimes just parts of envelopes) that the sorting machines have chewed up - with the contents having become separated and lost.    That is an unfortunate event that could happen even with no staffing issues.   I probably see 1 or 2 such items a month which is a small percentage of the mail I deliver - but it's still a gamble I don't feel I want to take.    I'm not really happy that the replacements will be mailed back to me.   I know it would probably mean more work for the company, but I'd prefer to receive a voucher I have to present at a PO (along with identification) in order to claim them.   I don't expect them to send back by SD just because I've sent them in that way, but how do I prove I've not received them if they go missing on the way back ???

It just feels very wrong that the company are instructing us to send them in using a method that they clearly state doesn't give any kind of compensation if they should unfortunately get lost     I also realise they can't afford to offer free SD to everyone for this, but perhaps it might have been beneficial to have designated dates when they could be returned to Delivery Offices and be issued with a reciept that they could then bring in to another session in order to claim their replacements (assuming the DOs couldn't hold volumes of stamps).    It's unfortunate that the PO is no longer part of the same company, as the obvious solution would have been to allow people to swap them over the counter at a PO - even if they had to designate certain POs which were larger ones (and would mean some people having to travel).    That could at least have been one option open to us??

I do actually need to investigate further, as the form you can collect from a DO states that if you're doing a bulk swap (which I am) you need to download a different form to use!    I don't know if that will give further options.....   on my to-do list, having only seen the basic form a few days ago.

dustydigger

 Mr Dusty and I are on Pension Credit,and get our CT paid for us,so its not an issue for us

I have to admit that the only upside of covid was that financially we have been better off! Normally Saturdays were family days,all my 4 children and their offspring and in some cases another generation flocked to my home,and its amazing how the costs mounts up - cakes,biscuits,cans of coke, and alcohol dont come cheap.

Then being housebound - my docs warned me to guard against covid because of a really really wrecked immune system - meant I wasnt going to supermarkets any more No picking up all that junk food,sweets,magazines,expensive things which were definitely ''wants'' rather than  ''needs''.No window shopping that turned into actual buying of things,though  of course our fixed limited income and the determination to stay debt free since Feb 2018 meant I was relatively frugal.I was saving £1200 a year,so Xmas and birthdays were covered

Now that we know the full increase in our pension credit,I can set new budget targets for the coming year. I budget fortnightly. My rent and CT are paid by the govt so my whole income of £402 per fortnight will be available for living expenses,sinking funds and general savings/emergency funds

Back in 2018 I was quite active on MSE and learned so much,and have at least for the most part followed what I learned from all you brilliant people. Then I kept getting cut off the site,repeatedly having to ask admin to get me back on site till finally in Jan 2019 I was totally locked out and never knew why. I went off in a major snit and focused on a planned trip to the USA in the summer. Then the family tree started to grow (1 GD and 4 great grandkids !) and my already pathetic health declined still further ,pernicious anaemia. Apart from the physical symptoms, brain fog,lethargy and other things added to my misery.....sigh.......

So now like everyone else I am finding life less easy.I am dreading ending my fixed dual fuel contract end of June,I have several hundred pounds a year added to my outgoings due to new babies(Xmas and birthdays for the five little tykes has added £250 a year ,and I  now  have 20 people to buy Xmas presents for.

Life is getting harder,cant be smugly complacent anymore,so I was delighted to be able to participate on MSE once more. You brilliant people will make me accountable and make me an even better saver.

Tomorrow will be our ''payday'' and I will hope to share with you my revised budget ideas.

Oh,starting off well with 2 no spend days

RateTartExtraordinaire

Thanks for the link and all the tips about the swap out on stamps.
I've only got 10 stamps. It is possible I might use some but I'm not likely to use all.
I think I'll send mine off now just in case I forget before Jan 23.

Heads up to anyone that uses Zoom free basic account... 
I use Zoom for work and I host the meetings. Up until today you could have 3 people in a meeting for free over 40 minutes. But from today 2 May they have limited even those to 40 minutes and you will get a prompt to upgrade. It will affect any meetings you have scheduled before 2 May too.
It is quite pricey to subscribe to the Pro account (£119 annual before tax) and there are alternatives out there, like Teams and Skype.
But if you need to use Zoom for work like me, there are some discount coupons ZOOMCARES or ZMCARES give 20% off the cost before tax. Made it a little less painful today. 

cw18

RateTartExtraodinaire said:

But if you need to use Zoom for work like me, there are some discount coupons ZOOMCARES or ZMCARES give 20% off the cost before tax. Made it a little less painful today.

I'm afraid that if work decreed I had to use it, then work would be paying for it.......

RateTartExtraordinaire

cw18 said:

RateTartExtraodinaire said:

But if you need to use Zoom for work like me, there are some discount coupons ZOOMCARES or ZMCARES give 20% off the cost before tax. Made it a little less painful today.

I'm afraid that if work decreed I had to use it, then work would be paying for it.......

I'm my own boss...so that would be me

Thrifty_Taylor

@dustydigger just an idea, but how about in December, doing a present per family, not per person? This could include a board game/dvd & snacks/drinks, or a voucher for a meal out or entry to a place they'll like, eg theme park/cinema. If you shop at T*sco you could exchange clubcard vouchers for these places, so would be even cheaper for you.

Primrose

We,ve gone even further - a mutual agreement give up presents altogether, being at the stage in iur lives where we don't need any more consumer clutter. We settle for family Zoom or Skype calls instead for distant family.