CC586's diary

[Jon]

[member=920]katykicker[/member]

Make sure they're really dry first as any moisture in them is what makes them rot (and spread to others) I hang them upside down, takes a lot of room to do a shed is a good place, then either string them together or put in a mesh type bag so air can circulate around. Should last well into next year if they're dry enough. Similar for garlic as well. I also grow shallots, but they never seem to store well so make pickled onions with chillies in out of those

Just joined the world on MB'ing. I'll post later how it's gone (I'm pretty sure I did it correctly...)

woohoo

 

[katykicker]

[member=920]katykicker[/member]

Make sure they're really dry first as any moisture in them is what makes them rot (and spread to others) I hang them upside down, takes a lot of room to do a shed is a good place, then either string them together or put in a mesh type bag so air can circulate around. Should last well into next year if they're dry enough. Similar for garlic as well. I also grow shallots, but they never seem to store well so make pickled onions with chillies in out of those

Just joined the world on MB'ing. I'll post later how it's gone (I'm pretty sure I did it correctly...)

Thanks a lot - I'll see if my Mum will let me use her shed! Much appreciated.

Best of luck with the matched betting!

 

[cc586]

woohoo

It's been emotional so far!

I've had to use a different exchange to the normal one, long story, so trying to find my way round there was fun. The odds changed as I was placing the first bet which panicked me a bit, second free won at bookies for £10 more profit than it should (rule 4 - I need to find out what that is), and my bank blocked my card when trying to top up exchange account (sorted now, I rang them). The only problem I see is I need a lot more in exchange account to do this properly (and not bet on horses), maybe I need to build up a bit more before doing any more offers.

I'm trying to keep track of everything earned/saved in August (this is the diary thread after all ;D) Would be nice to get a grand, but I think it'll be less than half that.

so far

MB £17.68
Surveys/click sites etc £5.19
Savings £ 4.29

So far nowhere near on course.

 

[cc586]

Had a bit of a 'mare today when I laid a different horse to the one I'd backed (my fault, got distracted and didn't treble check). I manged to sort it, but was a bit of a waste of a free bet. I'm sticking to football and cricket from now on.

Good news is I think we've finally got the household bits under control, we were wasting so much it's unbelievable to look back on, but will now hopefully be the right side of 0 every month. Did another long dog walk yesterday (4 miles), and did 3 prolific surveys today, I do enjoy doing their surveys.

Total so far since I started keeping track of earnings / savings 16 days ago (obviously this is different from august total)

Savings £42.46 (and there's a dvla refund cheque coming for £70)
Earnings from various sites £72 odd (though only have 8.89 in my account so far)
MB £ 59.39

Total £ 171.85 plus the cheque

As long as we don't spend it, it's at least a weeks early retirement (more likely 2 if you add in 23 years of growth)

 

[katykicker]

You are off to a great start, well done!

 

[cc586]

Thanks Katy

Another week on and a few bits have come in. I banked a reissued cheque from M&G for £36.43 (my only excuse for not banking it two years ago was I was working full time) The DVLA cheque for £70 hasn't arrived yet (same reason for not banking it). I got £25 Paypal from Swagbucks (mostly bookie sign ups) and have done a load more surveys, but from now on I'm just concentrating on Prolific, Populus and maybe Panelbase as the others just pay too little (I'll do enough to get to cashout value then stop for the others).

I've also restarted my old hobby of 3D CAD design (designs are printed and sold via a 3d printing company and you get commission for sales or can 3d print your own and sell via ebay etc) To be honest, although it's harder to make instant cash that way, I prefer it to taking surveys / clicking things, so I'll share my time between them.

Did a few more bookie sign ups and MBing, though I missed taking advantage of the additional pre-season offers. After a busy weekend of bets, my losing streak at the bookies ended and I've got money all over the place now so am withdrawing it then I'll start again this weekend with a new batch.

Total so far

MB £ 106.87
Cashback / surveys money received £ 33.89
M&G cheque £ 36.43
Money saved in jar £ 56.69

Total £ 233.88 - not too shabby. Plus there's another £90 odd cashback / click / survey sites not yet paid out.

 

[katykicker]

Sounds like you are doing fantastic! Keep us updated, I love reading people's diaries I'm nosy

 

[IdeasGuy]

Good read! Thanks for sharing!

Can you punt the excess allotment produce??

Good luck

 

[cc586]

[member=920]katykicker[/member] It's good to nose! I'm enjoying nosing everyone else's money making

Thanks [member=459]IdeasGuy[/member] We're not supposed to sell on allotment grown produce, they're quite strict on that. However we do barter any excess stuff between each other and I give some to neighbours who give us various things in return.


Did my best paying survey by a long way today, ipsos 2000 points (nearly £15) for 35 mins, just a shame it's vouchers and not paypal, but we can use it for xmas presents.

 

[katykicker]

[member=920]katykicker[/member] It's good to nose! I'm enjoying nosing everyone else's money making

Thanks [member=459]IdeasGuy[/member] We're not supposed to sell on allotment grown produce, they're quite strict on that. However we do barter any excess stuff between each other and I give some to neighbours who give us various things in return.


Did my best paying survey by a long way today, ipsos 2000 points (nearly £15) for 35 mins, just a shame it's vouchers and not paypal, but we can use it for xmas presents.

If you was really hard up you might be able to sell the vouchers? I wouldn't advise eBay though - was scammed from vouchers there years ago and put me off selling vouchers since.

 

[cc586]

[member=920]katykicker[/member] It's good to nose! I'm enjoying nosing everyone else's money making

Thanks [member=459]IdeasGuy[/member] We're not supposed to sell on allotment grown produce, they're quite strict on that. However we do barter any excess stuff between each other and I give some to neighbours who give us various things in return.


Did my best paying survey by a long way today, ipsos 2000 points (nearly £15) for 35 mins, just a shame it's vouchers and not paypal, but we can use it for xmas presents.

If you was really hard up you might be able to sell the vouchers? I wouldn't advise eBay though - was scammed from vouchers there years ago and put me off selling vouchers since.

Thanks, I hadn't thought of selling them. If I do save them up for xmas, I'll have to make sure I don't end up spending the money twice. I set up a savings account to keep money made seperately, so will transfer the £15 to there.

 

[IdeasGuy]

[member=920]katykicker[/member] It's good to nose! I'm enjoying nosing everyone else's money making

We're not supposed to sell on allotment grown produce, they're quite strict on that.

Hmm, yeh that might be difficult - what if you were to create something out the produce? Chutney/ preserve etc. Technically you have used it your self and are selling the result...

 

[cc586]

[member=920]katykicker[/member] It's good to nose! I'm enjoying nosing everyone else's money making

We're not supposed to sell on allotment grown produce, they're quite strict on that.

Hmm, yeh that might be difficult - what if you were to create something out the produce? Chutney/ preserve etc. Technically you have used it your self and are selling the result...

That's a good idea. We made some strawberry jam a few weeks back and will make gooseberry jam in a few weeks. Probably end up with eight jars altogether which we'll eat / give to relatives before it goes off. Chutney is something I haven't really tried apart from red onion chutney. I don't know the regs of selling it on, though if it's just informal, every now and again at a car boot sale I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem. The biggest glut this year is beetroot. Six jars of it pickled so far and about a hundred of them left to pick!

 

[cc586]

Savings and cost cutting are still doing well, £ 77.28 so far if the spreadsheet is correct, I think it will be about £50 higher but want to get car MOT out of the way before counting it. 3 More bookie sign ups this week and a fair amount of free spins / slot credit / bingo credit have added £ 9.21. Also been trawling Topcashback and have got £35.51 on the way (at some point) for various sign up deals that gave more cashback than the initial deposit. Did a few tasks on Crowdflower, but at level 0 the pay is terrible as an hourly rate, so I'm not spending too much time on it. Loads more surveys done, though missed a £5 one on Prolific today (saw it on my phone, by the time I turned laptop on it had been filled). Signed up to bounts, but can't see how to link it to the app I was using when walking the dog. I've also started to cut down smoking, which I've tried many times before and failed, but I'm hoping by using my e-cig more and keeping the figure of £5 a day in my head, I'll get further this time.


Total (30 days)

Savings £ 77.28
Cheque £ 36.43
Free Slots / Bingo £ 9.21
Matched Betting £162.97
Survey cash rec'd £ 29.78
Survey voucher £ 10.00 (amazon)
Swagbucks £ 25.00

Total £ 350.67

I stuck £100 of that in my SIPP, so will get a tax refund of £25 added to it soon. Also, a cheque from DVLA is on the way £ 70, Surveys not cashed out yet £ 51.90 and cashback/click not yet paid £ 61.12 makes total of £ 558.69.

 

[cc586]

The saving, cost cutting, survey taking and matched betting continue. I think I prefer the matched betting side but not having the biggest pool to fund it with is slowing me down. Over the weekend I won 10 bets at the bookies, which has meant a lot of fiddling around to get money back in the exchange accounts in time to use for the free bets I've got. Plus I need to do a few more sign ups to keep the momentum going. Either that or I need to sit back and just build up my pot with weekly reloads for a month or two. Also I've blown £20 of the MB profit on bingo and slots so far, but these things happen. Overall MB profit is just over £200 now.

Survey wise, I've given up on 3 sites now that I haven't cashed out at because the pay is just too low an hour but I'm continuing with the ones who pay near minimum wage. Did a little bit more on crowdflower, about halfway to promotion to level 1and earned about a dollar so far. Car MOT and service didn't go that badly, and saving in general is doing well. Ended the month with £50 more than I normally do, that's on top of saving t least a quid a day. Still smoking, but spending on it is down to about £3 a day instead of £5.

Money coming in has been boosted by the DVLA refund cheque for £70 and a Panelbase payment of £10

Total (44 days)

Savings £ 154.89
Cheques £ 106.43
Free Slots / Bingo £ 12.36
Matched Betting £200.47
Survey cash rec'd £ 42.78
Survey voucher £ 10.00 (amazon)
Swagbucks £ 25.00

Total £ 551.93 - Plus uncashed out survey/clicksite £ 119.97

 

[cc586]

74 days in now and the saving and earning continue, though I have to admit I didn't do as much last month. I only did one sign up but had a fair few reloads. However, I've had a disastrous last few days matched betting, but it was my own fault for not double checking a few bets (it was laying the wrong thing that let me down). What should have been a good few days over the weekend was wiped out and more - 12.58 down so far since 1st Oct.

I was going to try and up the game this month and go for £1,000, but with that kind of start I doubt I'll get near. Worth a go though. I'll need to do more sign ups and hopefully not make any more mistakes.

Savings £ 226.81
Cheques £ 106.43
Free Slots / Bingo £ 20.35
Matched Betting £268.74
Survey cash rec'd £ 66.91
Survey voucher £ 10.00 (amazon)
Swagbucks £ 30.00
Topcashback £25.85

Total £ 755.09 - Plus uncashed out survey/clicksite £ 118.85

So nearly £ 900 in 2 and a half months. It's a start.

 

[cc586]

I did keep meaning to come back and update this, but life sort of got in the way. I'm surprised it's getting on for a year and a half, time just flies.

So, although I stopped doing surveys (except for Prolific, Yougov and Populus), I did continue with Matched betting. I'm sure the amount I've made is about 5,000 though I've not kept brilliant records I know an average month is 400, with better months a lot more. The extra money has certainly helped, we've had about 6 bargain holidays we wouldn't have had otherwise and I've managed to put a few thousand extra in my SIPP (which grew a bit more until the stock market had a wobble last week). However the thriftiness seems to have gone out of the window at some point. Also, in terms of retiring earlier, which is what it was supposed to be for, we've probably only knocked 6 months off, I know it could have been more.

I'm also wary of losing bookmaker accounts (lost sunbets, betvictor and betsafe so far but no big loss) so I really need to do better at putting the money away in the SIPP where it can't be touched until retirement. I'm also going to restart a few survey bits and bobs.Although not very well paying, they're easy to do in front of the telly in the evening. I did try mystery shopping, but I live in a village so the travelling makes it not worthwhile. I'm also seriously considering selling my vinyl lp collection (nearly 1000 of them from the 80's) but will probably chicken out of that one...

I'll try to post a bit more regularly and keep better records.