Surveys 2

A couple of people have contacted me to ask about the survey sites I use so here's some of the lowdown.  I must repeat what I said in the first post about the huge numbers of screen-outs and the very low rate of pay but if you want to have a go I can suggest several sites.  Please remember that I am UK based although some of the sites I mention operate in different countries.

Have a look at https://yougov.co.uk/  This is a site which sends one or two invitations to me each week.  A survey earns me 50 points and when I have collected 50000 I get a payment of £50 via BACS.  The surveys are well written and if I get an invitation I know I will be able to complete the survey - no screen-out.  It takes about a year to earn £50 so don't get too excited!

I get a lot of invitations from Toluna but I also get a lot of screen outs which is very frustrating.  However, I complete enough surveys to get a £15 voucher every six weeks.  Until recently I had Tesco vouchers but last time had Sainsburys but they offer garden vouchers, book tokens etc.

If you care to e mail me (go to my profile and there is an e mail link) I can send you referral links.  Good luck but don't expect to get rich quick. 

I'll write about some more sites another day.

Frugally Challenged

I was reading blogs for quite a while before I took the plunge myself.  Maybe you are in that position now.  You need some sort of user name (maybe your Real Life name?) so you can leave comments on other people’s blogs.  I was reading a lot of blogs about living very frugally and I have to admit I was amazed at the lengths that some people go to in order to save money.  I was very aware (and still am) that I wouldn’t be going as far as some people so rather tongue-in-cheek, I chose the user name “Frugally Challenged”.

I was brought up in the fifties when the make-do-and-mend mentality was much more prevalent than today.  The sleeves of my school sweaters always had darns in them.  There was no choice in the food I ate – I had to eat what I was given and clean my plate and whether I liked the food was totally irrelevant.

In some ways I’m glad those days have gone.  It is only in recent years that I have learnt to listen to my body and stop eating when I am full.   My body shape tells me that is a lesson I should have learnt much sooner.  In other ways I think the ideas of my childhood were absolutely right and I am re-learning and re-adopting them.

Each of us has to choose the right level of frugality.  I am aware that my standard of living is lavish compared to many as I have an adequate pension which allows me to satisfy many of my wants as well as my needs.  However, there are still things I want to do, ambitions I want to chase, dreams I want to do more than dream.

I want to live a rich life, rich in experiences rather than possessions, but experiences can cost money so I want to live as frugally as I comfortably can.  My choices may not be yours (nor yours mine) but the choices I make are allowing me to have a great time in retirement.  I’m no frugal expert:  I am definitely Frugally Challenged.