Seeing the New Year in with a Bang!

Firstly Happy New Year to you all, although I am seriously worried that the way mine started will set a trend for things to come throughout 2010!
First up, I put a load of washing on, on NYE as I went to bed and when I got up on NYD, opened the machine to find the clothes still soaking wet. A couple of hours later when I had tried everything from draining, spinning to re-washing, it became apparent that the Drum is not moving. My daughter stepped in and took the washing to hers and bought it back later for me to dry. I went to iron it last night and on the first garment the Iron went bang and blew up!

I need to weigh up the pro's and con's of getting the washing machine repaired or to buy a new one but I can't do that until I have some sort of quote from the repair man. The shop is open but the repair man is not working today so can't do anything until Monday. The Bosch website tells me it is probably the Brushes that have gone and I have been told they can cost anything from £12 to £30 odd and then there is £30 labour charge and of course VAT will be back to 17.5% just to add insult to injury!

Meanwhile I have done my research into the cost of a new machine and would like to stay with Bosch as this one has lasted a family of six for the last five years, so can't be bad. Also our dishwasher from the same brand is 10 years old and we bought it from the previous house owners, so I feel it is better to stick with a brand you know. The only problem with this is that Bosch are not the cheapest range on the market and although I could get a machine by a brand called "hec" (as in, "who the heck are they?"), I would rather pay a little bit extra for a brand that I know is good quality.

My comparisons so far are:-

Comet, cheapest Bosch is £279.99 with a 5kg drum and 3% cashback on www.topcashback.co.uk

Boots, (yes who knew Boots sold white goods?) £323.00 with a 6kg drum and 3.5% cashback and 1292 Advantage card points which would buy me a new Juicy Tube when I next run out of Lipgloss!

John Lewis £299 but no cashback.

Stangely the cheapest machines on each site are all different model numbers!

Anyway I will have to wait and see what the cost of repair is on Monday before we make a decision but this is not the start to the New Year I had planned and shows how important it is to have an Emergency Fund, so maybe that will be my New Years resolution! On the other hand, I am beginning to wish I had never cut up the credit cards, as this is the sort of thing they do come in handy for, but being strong enough not to use them for other non-essential purchases is always the problem. I spoke to a friend who actually rents her machine from a local electrical appliance shop and it costs her £10 a month but with my husband only being on a work contract
until March as far as we know, I don't want to commit, long term to a direct debit for even as little as £10 per month!

Online Christmas Shopping Part Two

I have just started asking Family and Friends what they would like for Christmas as I really need to get started if I am going to have everything bought and wrapped by 1st December! Amongst the "I haven't really thought about it" and "I haven't got a clue" (honestly if they haven't got a clue, how the hell am I supposed to know?) I was happily greeted by a rather enthusiastic teenager who said "a pink leopard print hairdryer I have seen in the boots catalogue, some shoes for clubbing and a new mascara". Thrilled to get an answer, I wasted no time in ordering this young lady some of her goodies, online today! I wouldn't have wanted to go out shopping in this disgusting rain anyway, so an online shopping experience using all the tools I mentioned in a previous post, was the order of the day!


1. Boots currently have 1/2 price on selected electrical goods from the likes of Mark Hill, Lee Stafford, Remington etc so knowing this I didn't need to use a Shopbot to compare prices of the Hairdryer, it is reduced from £54.99.
2. Boots gives 3.5% cashback on all of the cashback sites I checked, so I logged into topcashback and proceeded to the Boots site via the cashback site.
3. I ordered the hairdryer and a dior mascara and both items totalled £47.49.
4. Before proceeding to checkout I added my Boots advantage card number and this transaction earned me 188 points.
5. I selected free standard delivery, as at this time of year there is no rush to receive this parcel and delivery is scheduled for next Thursday.

To sum up:
1. I have saved the hassle of going shopping and the expense of bus, train fare or petrol. My local Boots is very small and stock is limited, I know they wouldn't have had this item and I would have had to travel some distance to buy it.
2. I have earnt 188 advantage card points by buying these items at Boots which is the equivalent of £1.80 to spend instore.
3. I have earnt 3.5% cashback which equates to £1.67 to leave on the cashback site until I wish to withdraw it.

Recessionista Tips:
1. If you can't get free delivery on the items you wish to purchase online, you will need to weigh up if it is still worth buying online for the amount of cashback that particular retailer may offer.
2. Always check back to your cashback site approx 1 week later to ensure your cashback has been added to your account.

Check out the first Xmas pressies I bought here.

The Art of Online Shopping

With so many people doing their Christmas shopping online this year, I was reminded whilst watching GMTV this morning, about a few things that I have mentioned on this blog in the past, but which are so easy to forget.

1. Firstly, compare prices on the items you wish to buy. You can do this by using a comparison site or Shopbot as they are called. Here is a link to a page on moneysavingexpert which lists various shopbots, but do remember to check more than one as they do not cover all retailers.

2. Secondly, once you have found the site which offers the item you wish to buy, use a cashbackwebsite. Cash Back websites are listed on this blog, scroll down the right hand panel. The most popular ones are Quidco and Cashbackking but again, check all of them and see which one offers a cashback deal for the retailer you are wishing to purchase your item from. Cashback can range from 1% to 10% and last year a friend of mine had earnt £98 in cashback for online purchases over the period of a year, which she withdraw for Christmas Shopping expenditure, so taking a little bit of time can really be worthwhile, you don't make or save money by not being bothered, it all takes time and effort. Always remember to check all the cashback sites as often a certain retailer many offer different percentages as cashback on different sites, whereas other retailers will offer the same percentage across all sites. Also remember you must enter the retailers site via the cashback site to get your cashback.
3. Voucher codes are a great way to save money even if you only get free delivery as this can save £3 - £5 alone, so check those sites out aswell, again there are voucher codes sites listed on this blog.
Happy Shopping

HOF is new supplier of the new England Kit - get £10 off and free delivery with voucher code

Exclusive England Football Kit Offer

As an official supplier of the new England kit House of Fraser are proud to announce they now have an active voucher code where customers can receive £10 off and receive FREE delivery – this will make House of Fraser’s price the most competitive for the new England Kit especially with the delivery offer. This includes the new official England Kit, the limited edition white embossed logo jersey and also the official Umbro anthem jacket.

Voucher code info:

Voucher code: ENGLAND09
Start date: 15/04/2009
End date: 15/05/2009 (inclusive)
Don't forget to enter the site via cashbacking and receive 2.5% back on whatever you spend at House of Fraser.

What will happen to Recessionista's?

Experts believe that we should be getting out of the Recession by the end of the year, which got me thinking, what will happen to Recessionista's? Will Recessionista's revert back to being Fashionista's? What will be the point of Blogs such as mine?

Well guys I won't be giving up! Even though the research for this Blog takes up massive amounts of my time, I find it far too much fun than to just give it up when we hit the good times again. Lets face it, there will always be Students, Single Parents on benefits or just one income, or someone out of work, who wants to save a few quid and will be grateful of being pointed in the right direction to get a bargain or discount. We all need clothes, food, heat and water but are learning how to have these essential things as cheaply as possible.

As for the rest of us, my hope for the future is that the thrifty lifestyle we have adopted over the last year will stand us in good stead for the future. I will certainly squirrel away the cash for luxury purchases that I wouldn't be able to do if all the lights were constantly on in my house, or I was too lazy to walk to the washing line and instead stuck everything in the dryer. I think a thrifty way of living which originally started out of neccessity, has now become a way of life for me and I can only see benefits for the future from this.

There is nothing wrong with the "voucher culture" society we have become, afer all, what is the point of discount codes and cashback websites giving us something for nothing if we don't take advantage of it?

A few years ago we were bragging about how much we paid for a pair of Chanel pumps but now Fashionista's are bragging about how much they saved by grabbing a pair on Ebay! Which goes to show how much fun bargain hunting, clothes swapping etc can be!

Becoming a savvy sales shopper, eliminating debt and food waste, taking care of our water consumption and switching our utility suppliers can all bring about massive savings over time - you'd be a fool not to take advantage of it!

Still thinking about a holiday?

With the current exchange rate on the Euro, it may be better to avoid the Costa's altogether this year, in fact, avoid anywhere which has the Euro as its currency.

According to GMTV this morning, on average, a family of 4 will be paying £40 for lunch in Benidorm as opposed to £22 in Bournemouth! but the opposite was true of alcohol, where Benidorm came out cheaper. So do you think you will give up a holiday abroad for one closer to home, without the guaranteed sunshine?

The travel correspondent on TV this morning, also said that cheap flights are becoming harder to find, but I am afraid I disagree. Firstly I checked out www.moneysavingexpert.com where they have a flight checker and I was very disappointed with the outcome, (I still love you Martin) as I was able to go to certain websites and find flights that were not listed at all, on the flight checker. Now lets take Malaga for instance, going to www.flymonarch.com you can find flights for a family of 4, 26th Aug - 2 Sept for £483.32 and get back just in time for the kids to return to school! The same dates with www.ba.com were coming out at £662.80. Now if you are going to book a hotel direct or rent out a villa or apartment via www.ownersdirect.co.uk you are still looking at a reasonably priced family holiday, even in the Recession! In fact with Monarch Airlines you can fly from Gatwick to Malaga (one way) for £10.49 (excluding charges) on Aug 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30 and Sept 1, 2. Obviously you can get better deals if you don't have kids and can go outside the traditional summer holiday dates.

So if Europe is still your destination of choice, then doing a bit of research can still see you getting a good priced holiday and as I have mentioned in previous posts, if using a High Street Travel Agent, do go to more than one and ask what discounts they can give you, or ask them to match a price you may have found elsewhere.
Another Option for Europe would be to go All Inclusive or Full Board to cut down the need for spending money, as that is where you are going to suffer the effects of this exchange rate fiasco.

Looking for a more Luxurious Destination? BA currently have a sale on and are offering Dubai for £799, but the dates are before the kids summer holidays and need to be booked this week. They also had an advert in The Times saying they had St.Lucia for £599 but I couldn't find this on their website, so could be a bit misleading, would have to ring them and quote the advert if interested in that destination and price.

A Recessionista's other holiday advice

Don't leave holidays essentials to the last minute

In my single days, I like to think I was a bit of a jetsetter, I went on many holidays and always went out and bought everything from antisceptic cream to toothpaste and bikini's in one foul swoop! It used to cost an absolute fortune even then and I am going back some years! So make the purchases less of a burden on the purse strings by getting one thing at a time and adding to the weekly shop, a bottle of shampoo here, suntan lotion there, and you really won't notice it! Otherwise you can do it all in one go, via Boots online and earn 3% cashback on your purchases when going via a cashback site.

Same goes for holiday clothing. We will soon be getting last years summer wardrobe out, so you can access your needs and buy gradually. Summer sales have got earlier each year and now start around June time, so you will benefit from some great Sale bargains if going away from July onwards.
Mid season sales are currently on in many shops and all your swimwear needs can be met at www.Figleaves.com where there is a 50% sale on. You can get 2% cash back with Figleaves via Quidco and Topcashback and 1% when purchasing through Paypal offers (remember retailer must be entered via cashback/paypal site).

This is how you do it! (buying onine with cash back sites and using voucher codes)

Friends of mine were in the process of buying a new computer and after all my talk of discount codes and cashbacksites on this blog, I was there to give a helping hand to save them as much cash as possible. The procedure went something like this:-
1. Clicked on to Cashbackkings and Topcashback to see which retailers selling computers gave the most cashback (everyone from Dixons to Comet to PC World, offers money back).
2. They eventually decided on a computer package from Tesco Direct, so we entered the Tesco website via Topcashback (obviously they had to register with the site before they were eligible for the cash back) and the deal was up to 5% with Tesco but with the Tesco Direct it was 3%.
3. Then we searched voucher code websites for ecoupons for Tesco and although some codes didn't work, there was one for £9 off purchase, from www.mfiles.co.uk.4. Finally they used their Tesco Clubcard and got 354 points!

The 3% equates to £10.47 which you get totally for nothing, just for using the cashbacksite. My hairdresser, who does a lot of online shopping told me that she had over £200 at Christmas! Your cashback money can be sent to you via cheque, BACS or paypal, it usually takes a few days to show in your account and is a great way of saving for a treat.

The £9 voucher code - again for nothing, except a few minutes of your time. There were lots of different codes on the site, you could have had free delivery, £7.50 off etc etc but the £9 looked like the best deal and didn't expire till April.
So as you can see, it is as easy as pie to make and save money.

Mothers Day Gifts on a Budget - Part 2

Thorntons has £5 off it’s Happy Mother’s Day Bouquet now £29.99 instead of £35 and comes delivered with a free box of chocolate caramel roses plus 20% off everything when quoting voucher code MAB2.

Order by 4pm on Friday 20th March for delivery in time for Mother’s Day.

Earn 5% Cashback with every purchase through Cashbacking.

Great Deals via CashbackKings including £50 cashback on Sky, £30 on Orange Mobile,10% off Mothers Day Flowers at Teleflorist and more!

You will know from previous posts, that I do sing the praises of Cashback sites and below is a list of the latest offers from CASHBACKKING and cashback amounts for various retailers. See panel on right and scroll down for links to more cashback websites.

SKY - You can now earn £50 Cashback if you take out a Sky+ subscription and a whopping £60 Cashback for Sky+HD (NEW CUSTOMERS ONLY).
To top off this offer Sky Digital are giving each new customer £30 worth of M&S Vouchers!
Earn up to £60 Cashback and £30 worth of M&S Vouchers with every purchase through Cashbacking.

ORANGE - Cashbacking is pleased to announce the fantastic offers and increased Cashback that are available with all the Orange products in March.
Cashback increased to £30 on all contract sales and is offering a huge £35 on all USB Mobile broadband sales!
All the Orange products are twinned, so you can click through to Orange from Cashbacking and order your mobile phone AND mobile broadband and earn Cashback on both. You don’t need to click through to buy each product seperately! One of the best aspects of the Orange product is that there are no rejections, so any sale you put through you receive Cashback on!

TELEFLORIST - To celebrate the launch of Teleflorist’s Mothers Day range, Cashbacking is offering 10% Cashback on every order placed before 31st March. To top this off, Teleflorist have provided a voucher code to get 10% off every order! Quote BUY10 when you reach the checkout.
Earn 10% Cashback with every purchase through Cashbacking.

MARKS AND SPENCER - This Mother’s Day, M&S is offering customers the chance to win one of five luxury spa breaks for their Mum!
The five luxury weekend breaks are for two people in a beautiful English Castle or Manor Hall, courtesy of Warner Leisure Hotels.
All you need to do to enter is purchase some flowers from the gorgeous range available to be entered into the draw. There are also 3000 additional prizes up for grabs to win free beauty treatments at local spas!
Earn 3% Cashback with every purchase through Cashbacking.

LITTLEWOODS DIRECT - Get £10 off your first order quote voucher code ZG561 when you reach the checkout. Minimum spend £25.
Earn 5% Cashback with every purchase through Cashbacking.

MOTHERCARE - The Mothercare Mid season sale has officially launched today with some top offers!
Save up to £100 on pushchairs!
Save up to £50 on nursery!
Save up to £50 on car seats!
Save up to 30% on clothing!
Earn 2% Cashback with every purchase through Cashbacking.

Happy shopping x

20% off at Figleaves plus cashback

If you have already booked your holiday and are looking for designer or good quality swimwear that will last more than one vacation, or are in need of some new underwear, then Figleaves have currently got 20% off of selected lines. I was very interested to see that a gorgeous Melissa Odabash bikini (of course I love this one, I am a sucker for leopard print!) is reduced from £129 to £103.20 but on the Melissa Odabash site it is still full price! MO swimwear is a favourite with Celeb's and fashionistas alike. Figleaves does cover all price ranges so there is something for everyone, I just used the high end brand as an example as I prefer quality swimwear, so don’t be put off. Figleaves delivery is £3.50 and they do free returns. Also if you buy from Figleaves via a cashback site (see previous posts for details of these sites) you can get 2% cashback from both topcashback and quidco (you can click on these sites from right hand panel). If you prefer to earn Nectar points whilst shopping at Figleaves - enter via the nectar website.

Cashback Website - Update

Futher research has shown that the Daily Mirror also has their own Cashback website at Mirrorcashback.co.uk (link in right hand panel). It is worth signing up to all the ones listed as they all seem to offer a different cashback percentage, for example if you look at Boots, on the Mirror Cashback site they only offer 1.75% whereas Cashbackkings and Topcashback are both offering 3.5%!

CashBack websites and how to use them - start earning money now!

A great way to earn cashback from your online purchases is to register with a Cashback website such as Quidco.com. Cashback websites enable you to earn money from your purchases. You pay a £5 joining fee for Quidco (which is taken out of your earnings so you don’t have to pay up front)but cashbackkings and topcashback are free to join and then you go to the retailer, bank, insurance company etc via the cashback site to earn your money as you shop. There are hundreds of merchants which are members and some are well known High Street Stores or Banks. HSBC is currently giving £40 cash back on car insurance and £50 on home, as well as for opening Bank Accounts with them. Some of the more well known retailers and the cashback they are giving are:- Tesco 7%, Argos 1.5%. Office Shoes 10%, Waterstones up to 8%, WH Smith 8%, 3 mobile up to £100, La Senza 12%, Dorothy Perkins 5%, Thomas Cook 10%, Goldsmiths 16%. You also get cash back from using the comparison sites mentioned in the right hand panel and in my previous post regarding Fuel Costs. For signing up to a deal via Moneysupermarket.com you get £20, Uswitch and Confused also offer cashback. So for example, you find a great deal via confused.com you will need to click on them via the Quidco website after you have become a member to get your cashback deal. You won’t earn anything if you are a Quidco member but click on confused.com without going via the Quidco site. When you have a spare half hour, browse through the Cashback sites to see what retailers they have on board and next time you need to send a bouquet of flowers, book a holiday with Thomas Cook, buy a face cream from Boots or get a gift from House of Fraser, remember to enter these sites via the Cashback site you have signed up to.
There are links to the cashback sites in the right hand panel.