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Old Posted: 05-01-2009 , 08:53 PM #8
cascais
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Leixlip, Co. Kildare
Posts: 2,392
Default i wish i could

hi jennifer,

your ideas are good but for some can t be done.
my work doesnot allow me to bring a kettle in because it is not safety tested. ( i tried before).
i now bring instant coffee to reduce on coffee spend and get the hot water from the canteen, but they are catually speaking of charging us 30c a cup for hot water !
the other solution would be cut coffee at all, but hey, i am afraid i don t have that kind of willpower !

regarding the free banking, make sure you checked they havent charged you if you are using their free banking, that happened to me before. i claimed and got the money back.

discounts :
i am very mean with money.
this means i try to get a discount every time i shop for larger unusal items ( ie when we got the kichen appliances in the old house for the kicthen, we got 5% discount and another 5% because one of the items was a demo unit).
i also managed somehow ( i still can t believe it) to get 20 % discount when i bought 200 enveloppes for the wedding ( they were sold individually), but hey if you don t ask you can t have it, and it works 95% of the time.
same for computers, printers, cameras, any of the like, buy more than 2 or 3 things or over a certain amount = ask for a discount...
.
take-aways and restaurants : never break the 1 euro tip barrier, if the change is 80 cent, he egts 80cent, but if the change is 1.20, then i only give 20 cent. mean yes, but very effective.

credit union : i am a big fan of credit unions, for various reasons, their openeing hours are way better than banks, and their rates for lending are way better too. only drawback is that savings dont earn that much % interest, but i still love it, save 20 euro a month or 500 and before you know it you ahve enough for the summer holidays or for that new tv/couch/kitchen/car...

holidays, shop around for flights, you may get the exact same flight at 2 different prices , this happened a good few times before, we just used different countries traveling comparison sites...
shop around for hotels and b&b, depending on the country, this can also save you a lot of money, ( i try to avoid pakcage holidays at all costs, and end up booking it all myself, but at least i have no bad surprises...)

presents for birthdays, anniversaries, for the crafty ones, make them yourselves, i always try to make preents for new births, weddings, and so on , as they are more personal, and also cost way less !

hope i don t sound too too mean...
all the best

cascais
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