Cost of Living #5

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Sorted through my clothes since I got some brand new, I have dumped the holey and have a bag to take to the Op shop. Some of it I got from the Op shop in the first place, its basically a community closet haha. I have a little toaster oven I could take there too, since I have the air fryer now, I have no use for the oven but I do use the oven tray, so I am not sure they will take it incomplete.



Rats have got into the roof. I dont want to poison, especially with my dogs, but I also dont want to have any damage from the rats. They are all over town, so many flat on the road haha. Fun to play dodge the dead rat with my dogs on walkies. It looks like some of the wall near the roof has cracked, and thats where they are coming in. Possibly from the tradesmen being up there. Its 80 year old fibro in an earthquake area, there is only so long that the walls are going to last.



I was wondering how I was saving so much money lately, enough to put away, and I realized its cos I have been back on the rice and pasta diet. My savings in money have gone straight to my waist! No wonder I outgrew all my clothes
lol.
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer said:
And my internet bill went up $15 for no reason
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Are you out of contract? Mine would've done the same if I hadn't of switched provider.

I need to go through my clothes, maybe bundle a few decent looking ones to sell and donate the rest. Same with books, any I didn't enjoy, if a good condition try to sell and donate the rest, however I rarely buy new books so I expect all will be donated.

I really need to get back into doing the surveys, free competitions and games, so hopefully by the end of the year I'll have some gift vouchers for Christmas.
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Maybe! I need to shop around.
I'm going to try see if I can stick to one black dress and just make a few different shawls for it for formal/meetings. I will keep a few of the bigger dresses.

The garden/work clothes are the clothes I go through the most! Its amazing how fast things wear in physical work, and these are hard to find at the op shop because people keep them for their own work clothes!
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer said:
Which apps and websites actually pay? I need to do this too.
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There's cashback sites, where if you shop via them you get some back. In uk it's quidco and topcashback as the main ones. For games I use mistplay but I'm not too good at actually playing the games.
Survey wise I've not had much luck with them, plenty do payout but you need to be a certain demographic to get lots of surveys.
 
TamsinValencia
TamsinValencia
I use Mistplay and swagbucks
@TamsinValencia I used to use swagbucks loads a few years ago, the lost my login details and never got around to sorting it. Once I've sorted out my email, that isn't letting me login, I'll get back on that one.
 
nightshade said:
@TamsinValencia I used to use swagbucks loads a few years ago, the lost my login details and never got around to sorting it. Once I've sorted out my email, that isn't letting me login, I'll get back on that one.
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The payout rate is decent. They have removed the Visa cards now. You have to show ID to get one, so that sucks. I just get the amazon gift cards now because there is a lot to get on there.
 
TamsinValencia said:
The payout rate is decent. They have removed the Visa cards now. You have to show ID to get one, so that sucks. I just get the amazon gift cards now because there is a lot to get on there.
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I cashout to PayPal.
 
If youre on welfare/pensions, surveys have to be reported as income, so anyone reading just keep that in mind or risk a fine!
 
The curious cat one I downloaded had a low £1 minimum payouts PayPal I think.

For me Yougov takes ages, but it's also £50 to payout. I might actually hit that this year!
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November said:
If youre on welfare/pensions, surveys have to be reported as income, so anyone reading just keep that in mind or risk a fine!
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If you earn over £1000 here then you have to report it, under that and its all yours!
 
November
November
Sweet!


Lol. The new rage/click bait. I used to feel sorry for people stuck at their parents home in their 20's /30's, but now I get that sheltered lives are a result of shelter and have a much higher quality of life overall.

Starting to think polygamy or the trendier threesomes might be the way to go. More people, more pay!



Got a letter in the mail that the power will be off for 12+hours in early February. So my freezer restock trips were badly timed, I wish I had known sooner. I will try save as much as I can, but it just depends how long the power is out as to how much I can keep. It would cost more than the meat is worth to buy ice from another town. I just pray it is not a hot day.
 
Ethan Reigns
Ethan Reigns
Use as much as you can from the freezer than add water in a big tub. It will freeze before the power goes off and will keep things frozen for the 12+ hours.
Also, try not to open it during that time. Freezers are pretty well insulated, so if it isn't being opened and closed a bunch stuff should stay fairly cold.

I've done the ice thing as well, but with ziplocks. Easier to shape so you can put several in differing locations.
 
Kendar said:
Also, try not to open it during that time. Freezers are pretty well insulated, so if it isn't being opened and closed a bunch stuff should stay fairly cold.

I've done the ice thing as well, but with ziplocks. Easier to shape so you can put several in differing locations.
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Thanks 🙂 I wasnt sure if I should unload the lot to an esky but I think you are right, leaving it in is the best bet. I have a few empty icecream tubs that are going to work well for freezing, I knew there was a good reason to eat icecream 😜
 
I got a few birthdays next month, so must remember that. However my main priority when I get paid is the car. If that passes with just the £45, then I'll use the rest of the council tax money to pay for the cruise. Reducing that down will help the next few months. After March I'll have less extras to pay so that'll help.
 
November said:
Got a letter in the mail that the power will be off for 12+hours in early February. So my freezer restock trips were badly timed, I wish I had known sooner. I will try save as much as I can, but it just depends how long the power is out as to how much I can keep. It would cost more than the meat is worth to buy ice from another town. I just pray it is not a hot day.
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I'd use a cooler to pack the food on ice. Since you know when the outage will be, you can get ice in advance.
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Well, I managed to pay my utilities this month which I'm incredibly grateful for. It's been cold, and not having heat would have been awful for me and my dogs.

Work has gotten a bit busier, but I'm still playing catch-up with bills. The storm we had a couple weeks ago knocked everything out here, and work was closed for several days. I'm hustling hard with my eBay side hustle, but not selling much. I still blame inflation. People have less and less disposable income.

However, I wasn't able to make my car payment this month. I'm already in hot water with them, and on a payment plan. I'm going to call and hope they will accept a late payment.

Beyond that, I've cancelled my current insurance, and have been shopping around for new insurance quotes... and the cost of home insurance seems insane to me. I have a small, modest house and the lowest quote I am getting is almost $400 a month.

Life is just too expensive. I don't know what a solution is. I'm working as much as I can, and still not making enough to get by.
 
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November
November
The cost of petrol to get to another town to buy ice is more than the food is worth lol. Ethan and kendar had some great suggestions for me :)
I don't have insurance, I've been saying I'll get contents insurance for the last 4 years but still haven't! I've also been saying about insuring the cat for 2 years and that hasn't happened either. I might still sort it out one day, same as with getting a pension, although I did look into that, and didn't understand it, so need someone to go through it with me.
 
Booked a tip aka household recycling centre, run for Monday. My car is full of crap so that's going to be sorted out and got rid of. I'll see what else I have that's broken etc to take as well.
Afterwards I can start selling what is in good condition that I don't want.
 
Some days I gotta remember how much I have now. I have a full belly at bedtime and its magical! Also, a bed! And dogs! I couldn't imagine this 5 years ago. What was that line from a show I saw today, something like - soon it'll be so good you'll forget it was ever bad.
 
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