A little chat

I normally bring you deals and ways to make money, but I am feeling in a chatty mood tonight. Since I need to blog every day in November to meet my goals I thought I would try out a chatty post….

The biggest thing that has happened this past week is that I had my final day at work. I was so poorly, especially after heading to London the night before (more on that later!) and dragging myself to work was a real pain. Although I have had a few jobs before, they have either come to a natural end (such as heading to university 200 miles away) or I left to take the company to tribunal. This time I was leaving with no guaranteed income. My two month notice period has been a rollercoaster, with lots of emotions and anxiety. I loved my job and my boss was understanding and let me work from home a lot. But you know what I love more? The thrill of needing to make money myself and telling people how to make money. Friday was just a really calm day, I wasn’t nervous, scared or excited. It was just right.

On Thursday, Tony and I travelled to London for a couple of things: firstly to meet the CEO of investment at HSBC with The Wise Society and secondly to meet up with a group of money bloggers known as the “Show Me The Money Bloggers”. If you aren’t already a member of The Wise Society then it is worth joining – if you have investments then they want to hear from you and you can grab yourself a £20 voucher (including Amazon) for completing two short surveys. They also have events and focus groups like this one last week where you can earn vouchers and sometimes there is reimbursement for travel. We met at HSBC Investment on St James Street and I have come away knowing that I need to get rich! The building was stunning, filled with gorgeous furniture, paintings and finishings. I can’t wait until I am rich enough to be needing their services.

Meeting up with the Show Me The Money Bloggers was great as usual. This was a more informal gathering than the awards held earlier this year and there were people there from Latest Free Stuff, Be Clever With Your Cash, Student Money Saver, Debt Camel and Moneynuggets, with Mummy Money Matters joining us on Skype.

Interestingly, Sara from Debt Camel told us that her big topic at the moment is claiming compensation on pay day loans. If you, or anyone you know, has taken out a Pay Day loan then I strongly urge you to read the guide to claiming a pay day loan compensation.

In my October income report I mentioned wanting to take a holiday. Loads of you commented saying it was a great idea, so with some persuasion I decided to look for a holiday. I really wanted to go to Disneyland Paris, but even with driving there we were looking at spending around £1,000 for four nights. I spent days looking at Groupon deals, hotels where I could use my Hotels.com reward balance and last minute deals until I finally found a deal. It meant compromising by going away in December, which actually turned out really well as I would hate to be going away tomorrow when I’ve still got tonsillitis. We are heading to Marrakech for a week, all inclusive for just £189 each, a bargain!

To ease the cost of the trip (which I think is a great bargain!) we have had a great weekend with matched betting. I received £100 in free bets from horse racing refunds plus a further £85 in free bets from reload offers and Tony has done similarly well. It is still proving to be a great earner – why not join our little Facebook support group? With 49 members all at different stages of their matched betting journey, it is a great place to chat and ask questions.

Ps I am giving away £100 cash on Twitter, be sure to check it out!