Extreme Couponing – UK Style! £76.67 worth of shopping for £22.82. Plus coupons and matchups for you all.

I’ve not been extreme couponing for a few weeks as hubbys days off haven’t coincided with mine so i’ve been ordering online instead.

This does mean my stockpile has come in very handy as we’ve used from that as much as possible rather than pay full price for things.

TESCO SHOP

I did a fairly big shop in Tesco’s last night

£76.67 and after coupons I paid just £22.82

Thats savings of £53.85 or 70% which i’m quite happy with.

 

I also received a £7.61 price promise voucher

10p off every litre of fuel voucher

Plus my pizza box had a code on for £10 worth of pizza coupons

 

Here’s my receipt

I was sent a load of Tesco coupons with my recent clubcard statement and I also had a recent mailing from Tesco with some pet food coupons in.

My family, friends and neighbours also regularly send me Tesco coupons that they won’t use. I always ask at the til if it’s ok to use these and Tesco normally take them as long as they scan and i’ve purchased the item/s required to use the coupon.

So I had the following Tesco coupons:

Double points

£4 off when you spend £12 on pet products

£1 off when you spend £10 on wet catfood (which I combined with the voucher above so I got £5 off a huge box of catfood 48 pouches priced at £13)

£5 off when you spend £40 instore

£1 off birdseye fish fushions

£1 off quorn balls

£1 off when you spend £5 on cereals

50p off any purchase of andrex eco

50p off when you buy cheese

80p off when you buy any 2 uncle bens express rice

65p off a 600ml bottle of budweiser

Then I had some coupons from the tesco mag for 50p off yum cheese spread

Then some from online sources for free bottles of sprite, £1 off clover, some £1 quorn coupons, £1 off filipio oils

 

Because I was sent a lot of tesco coupons you couldn’t really duplicate my shop yourself but here are some links to coupons and the offers to use them on at Tescos

COUPONS AND MATCHUPS

FREE – Small bottle of sprite worth £1.15 – coupon here: https://www.rediscover-sprite.co.uk/rediscover/coupon

Currently on offer in tescos 2 for £2 so if you use two different email addresses and get two coupons you will not only get the items for free but you will get 30p overage as the coupons go through at £1.15 each so that will mean you can have 30p towards your other shopping.

 

FREE – £1 off clover – coupon here: http://www.facebook.com/CloverUK/app_335604323209737 (press back button once it’s printed and you’ll get another coupon print off)

Currently the Clover Seedburst is on offer in Tesco’s for £1 so FREE

 

REALLY CHEAP – £1 off Filippo Berio Olive Oil – coupon here: http://www.filippoberio.co.uk/myberio/ (use alternative email addresses to get more coupons)

Currently the Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil Special Selection 250ml is on offer for £1.59 (normally over £3) so with the coupon thats 59p a bottle

 

CHEAP – 50p off Yum products – coupon in the tescos magazine here: http://www.tescomagazine.com/media/docs/Tesco%20Mag%20May_June.pdf page 5 and yes you can print and use coupons from the online magazine and you can print as many as you like.

Currently the Yum Cheese Spreads are on offer for £1 each so with the coupon 50p a tub

Are you looking for work you can do from home?

I’ve been lucky enough to work from home now for several years.

Whilst i’m lucky to have a main ongoing contract being the editor for competitionclub a competitions listings service http://www.competitionclub.co.uk

It wasn’t always so easy for me.

 

When I first started out I only had a few hours a week work and had to somehow try and find other work to bring in enough money to cover the bills.

 

I now hear from lots of people looking for work they can do from home and that don’t know the genuine places to look so I thought i’d write a blog post and tell you of the places and ways i’ve had sucess in working from home.

 

CLICKING/SURVEYS – I gave a few of these sites a go where you click on links to get a little cash or by filling in surveys. It really isn’t worth the time and effort in my opinion. I never reach payout from any of these.

FREELANCE WEBSITES – This is where i’ve had the most sucess

Odesk is where I have managed to get the majority of my freelance work. You register and create a profile and take tests to proove how competent you are in certain areas. Then you apply for work that is available and basically bid for it against other applicants. The downside is it is open to people all over the world and there are often people from other countries willing to work for very little. You will also find work difficult to get at first as you will have no previous work history or references from that site – so you will have to do your first couple jobs at a really low rate of pay just to get some feedback and previous work history.  The payment is in dollars so you have to take that into account and calculate the equivilant in pounds when you bid for work. https://www.odesk.com/

The work available via Odesk is very varied and my previous work has included updating a websites product descriptions for £1 a pop (100 words) which might sound a bit rubbish but there were 3000 to do in total and it was flexible around my other work and very quick to do. So I made £3000 over a 6 month period.  I have also written various articles for use online, a few short stories and even managed a few twitter accounts.

There are other freelance websites based in the uk – but i’ve not had any work from them and have stuck with Odesk https://www.elance.com/?r  http://www.peopleperhour.com

MONEY FROM BLOGGING

You can make money from blogging via ad’s, sponsored posts or affiliate links.

Make sure you choose a blog platform that allows ad’s and affiliate links if you are going to try and make money using them – for example wordpress which hosts my blog do not allow these things.

Once you have a blog up and running with regular visitors you can look at sponsored reviews or blog posts – it won’t make you a huge amount but if you work hard and have a good blog you can make £100+ a month from this.

As I don’t use ad’s or affiliate links you’ll have to google search to find more info on these things.

Whilst it doesn’t make money – I find reviewing products is fun and you get to keep the product you review which is great. From product reviewing i’ve had some really nice products including: A tefal actifry, £100 worth of clothing, a huge box of herbs and spices and several different diet products.

I use a site called responsesource to send a media shoutout to PR companies with products i’d like to review  http://www.responsesource.com/ and have always had a lot of sucess in getting products to review. You do need to have a well established blog and need to give a lot of information in the form but it is worth it.

 

 

I hope this post gives inspiration and ideas to those looking to work from home,

 

Sandy

 

COMPETITION Relax in style and win an awesome chair with My Maison on Facebook

I’ve spotted a fab competition on facebook today that I just had to share with you all.

I just love funky furniture and with my bad back recently this Relax chair looks just awesome.

My Maison

The prize is a Relax Chair worth £399 in a choice of either black or white

I’ve had a little nosey on the My Maison website and this chair sounds devine:

A perfect modern addition to any home

Designed with clean slim, curved lines and wraped to a comfortably angled back, creating a private relaxing retreat

Featuring topstitched details that gives definition to its relaxed lines with generous cushioning for it a soft comortable feel

Made from high grade bonded leather

To win this chair all you have to di is visit the My Maison facebook page, make sure you are a fan of their page, fill in the entry form and share with your friends.

The competition can be reached by clicking here: http://www.facebook.com/MyMaisonUK/app_79458893817

Make sure you don’t leave it too late to enter as it closes on the 6th of June.

Good Luck!

VEG PLOT – lots of growth and a couple poorly looking plants

I’m really pleased with how my little veg plot is coming along.

Still not too much bother from slugs and snails apart from where they’ve had a bit of a munch on my turnips, which have been moved and a now recovering.

I do have a couple poorly looking plants though

First is my rather sickly looking cucumber, purchased as a plant from a garden centre. I tried hardening it off a bit in my outside rack which has a see through plastic cover. After a few days the leaves were looking really wilted and almost burnt?

I then tried it in the conservatory next to the lemon tree and kumquat and it hasn’t really picked up.

I’ve now relocated it outside in a partly shaded area and will see if it perks up a bit.

I think maybe this is more of a greenhouse type – I have now sown some cucumber crystal apple – so fingers crossed those will do better.

 

Then there is my marrow plant – which has lots of healthy new growth on but a couple of the leaves seem to have been slightly nibbled and are a bit discoloured? Not sure what it is or what to do so any advice from readers is welcomed?

 

Peas are doing brilliantly in my new raised bed though – really healthy looking plants and growing quickly and climbing well. They almost seem to grow visibly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also have 2 large well established apple trees in the garden and they are totally covered in blossom and I can see small apples starting to form – so looking forward to a bumper crop of apples.

Here are some new additions:

I’ve got some carrot seed in the deep trough, 2 chilli plants in the big black pots, some crystal apple cucumber seeds and some nipper leek seed in the long trough which are apparently ready to pick in 10 weeks as baby leeks.

I also did really well with my pixie cabbage seeds and broccolli seeds so i’ve used up the ones I had left over in some long troughs. I’ve got loads more in the small raised bed and also in individual pots.

In my covered seed area – shelving unit with see through cover I’ve got some aubergine seeds on the go as well as my scallopini squash that I thought hadn’t germinated but are just coming through now.

 

It’s still going to be a little while til I have anything to harvest – probably next week for a few radishes and perhaps a couple weeks later for some lettuces.

I’ve still got a big salad garden box of plants coming from rocket gardens that I won last year to try and make room for!

 

VEG PLOT – You can’t beat free seeds

My 2 hobbies of couponing and gardening have just met.

I managed to earn £30 worth of tesco vouchers in my most recent statement and luckily for me they have a reward you can choose which gives you a £15 Thompson and Morgan voucher for every £5 tesco voucher you exchange.

 

So I changed up £15 and got a fab £45 to spend

 

I got loads for my free money:

 

A pack of cabbage collars, and then all the following packets of seed:

Pumpkin – Jack of all trades,

Cucumber – Piccolo Di Parigi (gherkin type)

Spring onion – Pompeii (small white pickled onion type)

Cauliflower – All year round

Onion – bedfordshire champion

Squash – autumn crown

Cucumber – crystal apple (outdoor growing variety)

Pak Choi

Cabbage – Minicole

Onion – ailsa craig

Cabbage – savoy january king

Parsnip – Arrow

Aubergine – black enorma

Leek – nipper (baby leeks in 10 weeks – it says on the pack)

Cauliflower – autumn giant

Radish – Mooli

Radish – Vienna

Celery – tango

 

Phew – what a list.

My seed box is now looking really really full and i’m banning myself from buying new seed now for a year or two as what I have really should keep me going.

 

I’ve also got a salad garden box of veg plant plugs coming from rocket gardens which will have the following:

• Rocket x 20
• Mizuna x 20
• Mixture of lettuces x 30
• Dwarf French Green Beans x 8
• Beetroot x 10
• Mixed tomato plants x 5
• Cucumber x 3
• Rainbow Chard x 6
• Spinach x 10
• Spring onions x 20
• Giant red mustard x 10
• 1 pack of radish seeds

 

So my plan for the next few days is finidng lots more pots and troughs to grow it all in and possibly making another raised bed or two

 

VEG PLOT – Yippee finally looking like a little veg plot

It’s currently tipping it down here in Exeter in so called ‘Sunny Devon’

We had a lovely bout of glorious sunny weather for about a week and then rain and a couple days clear and now more rain.

Whilst it’s been clear i’ve managed to get a lot done.

Firstly – My lovely husband – who normally does no diy at all took an old futon to bits and used the wooden slats to make me a raised bed. He weatherproofed it and it’s really sturdy and quite big. Deep enough for root veg and probably aboout 1 metre across and 2 metres long.

I also went on a spending spree at Trago Mills and the nearby Plants Galore (which is actually owned and run by my two uncles – so mention their niece Sandra if you pop in and mention my blog)

I did spend quite a bit about £200 but with that I got:

10 strawberry plants,

10 pea plants of various sorts,

4 different chilli plants

1 marrow plant

2 tomato plants

1 pepper plant

Several sweetcorn plants,

6 sprout plants,

6 cauliflower plants,

6 salad onion plants

10 turnip plants,

10 lettuce plants

weatherproofer stain for the raised bed planks

hammer, saw, nails

A lemon tree – fruiting

A kumquat tree – fruiting

A small poly tunnel cloche

A round patio growbed with dome cover

pea netting and frame

several pots and planters

Labels

Pototoes, onions

Fertiliser

enviromesh

Plus some bits for my mediteranean themed patio – masonry paint in lemon yellow for the feature wall and a wall sculpture

And a lot of compost – the big raised bed took 6 x 60L bags and a small miraclegro bag, the dome one took 2 x 50L bags, then more for all the pots and things.

UPDATED PHOTOS

NEXT STEPS:

Trim all the grass and try to clear more weeds

Clear an area to put in the potatos and onions and hope i’m not too late with them

Fill the empty gaps in the small raised bed now I can see what isn’t going to come up

Sow some more radish, carrots and lettuce

 

SLUGS?

So far I seem to have been slug and snail free – but last year I did go to town with slug pellets, beer traps and handpicking and stomping on them – so hopefully they have my veg plot pegged as a no go area.

I’ll fill the beer traps up again and put out some pellets and have a walk around when the rain finally stops to see if any are about.

But I have my fingers crossed that i’ll get something in the way of veggies to eat this year.

 

SQUASH QUESTION

My scallopini squash just aren’t germinating, i’ve tried two different sowing now from several different new packets of seed. I’ve tried sowing them flat, on their edge, really damp, really dry and everything in between.

Has anyone got any ideas?