Matt’s Journal

I have been on and on about Quidco in the past, loving the fact you can get cashback from the purchases you usually make online.

Picture this, I’m at work and my boss comes up to me and asks me to find a new Macbook Pro for the graphic designer and a Windows laptop for her. I immediately hit the internet, looking at where would be the most beneficial place to get a cheap laptop that can also work as my boss would like.

Logging onto Quidco, I see that Apple have upped their cashback rate to 6% on purchases, meaning I can get quite a sum back if I get a new Mac from them. Getting the okay, I simply track the business purchase through Quidco, an order totalling £1200. I return to check the status of the cashback in my Quidco account about an hour later, what do you know? £61 tracked and validated there and then!

My employer is none the worse for me doing this, the price they pay is the same. It just means that with a little bit of ingenuity I can profit (albeit small amounts at a time) from being the person consulted to make the necessary arrangements for the rest of the team!

Bonus.

Since we moved into our new home, we have managed to completely outfit the whole house, set up all the utilities and generally just relaxed knowing almost everything was accounted for. There was one glaring omission from a productive household, that being our internet connection.

Calling up the estate agents before we moved in, I was prohibited from getting the phone line activated and ready for our occupation. This meant when we moved in, we would have to wait for the physical line to be activated and then order our internet once that was taken care of.

I am a cashback fiend and am always looking for a good deal. I noticed that on Quidco, a broadband company named “BeThere” were offering free broadband connection during September and £40 cashback on a successful activation. That started me off looking into their package and weighing up the pros and cons of their package…the truth was there were no cons, it was exactly what I was looking for.

It had/has:

• No minium contract period, you cancel when you wish.
• Unlimited downloads and no bandwidth throttling.
• Fixed IP address.
• Free support.
• Free router.
• Upto 24MB download speeds.

Upon ordering, BeThere send you text messages alerting you as to the status of your order. They let you know when your activation date is, when you will receive your welcome pack and pretty much everything in between.

So, as I am driving home last night, I receive a message (I only read it once I had stopped!) and I am alerted to the fact my line is ready to be used! I get home, tinker with the settings and connect our laptops to the Wi-Fi. A quick speed check shows me the extent of my connection, a wopping 11,000kbps download and a 2,000kbps upload!

I will post a speed test up here when I am home for you all to marvel at

I have started early this year, I cant abide wading through the throngs of people in the High Street so I take to the information superhighway and do it on t’internet. Amazon will see a lot of my electronic money, as will most of the websites that offer “Racing Grannies” as a present for your brother.

Watching the news a few days back, it is estimated the average consumer in the South East (I’m not far from the big smoke) will spend upto £700 on their Christmas shopping, sod that. Katie is lucky if she will get a satsuma and a lump of coal this year, let alone that My Little Pony figurine she said she loved a month ago. Joking aside, if you are frugal enough, you can save a packet if you use the right websites. I use Quidco for money back, Hotukdeals for the best deals and vouchers and Moneysavingexpert for the bits in the middle.

I’ll have a new 50″ Plasma HDTV screen if your stuck for ideas

Have some links: