Screenshot the Terms&Conditions you’re referencing.
I’m not going to “trust you” & your unsubstantiated anecdotal evidence more than I trust my own judgement on the risk-reward of sharing some of my data in return for a fantastic loyalty scheme.
Let’s suppose they are monetising my personal data (which you have yet to prove they are given you’re just making wild conjectures), I simply do not give a flying f*** (excuse my French) because it’s a win-win for both me & 3. I share in the pie , therefore I consent to sharing some of my anonymous & aggregated data.
Again I ask, what’s the harm caused to me from Cineworld, Dominoes Pizza, Costa etc knowing my date of birth, location, email address, and mobile network that outweighs the benefit I receive?
Let’s suppose they are monetising my personal data
Hold on, do you sincerely believe they would be giving you free stuff without even trying to get rich off your data? Why would they even allow you to toggle sharing your data in the app if they don’t monetise it to begin with?
Anyway I’ve given my opinion on this, you have yours, let’s agree to disagree. Just wanted to post a warning for the more privacy-conscious people, if any.
There’s a difference between “privacy-conscious” & paranoia. Also, my point remains that one must weight up the pros and cons, then make a decision based on one’s preferences that optimises their welfare. In my case, I willingly use the app knowing that I consent to their transparent privacy policy which allows me to control what I share. See below that NONE of my personal data is shared with 3rd parties. I prefer facts over scare-mongering
I like money, however I like spending money more. If I don’t see something as a ‘bill’, my money generally gets pissed up the wall.
So here are my workarounds
Set up a DD/SO for an ISA saving account. £25 a month minimum.
Set up a DD/SO for a stocks/shares ISA.£25 a month minimum.
Utilising both the above ISAs must be seen as a neccesity.
MoneyBox App or a similar alternative to shave off a few pennies after each transaction and automatically invests for you (Remember if you already have the above 2 ISAs you will need to open a general investment account)
The new Monzo Coin Jar facility - I am already seeing my little pot fill up.
For any drink related activity, take cash, contactless is the devil.
Always have £50+ in your wallet/purse for the above, and also any transactions that is cash only.
After spending cash in instances outlined in numbers 5 & 6, put away any loose change in a physical piggy bank.
If you take care of the pennies, the pounds will take care of themselves.
All household spending goes through me, and with two kids it’s a lot of spending. I try to get back as much as possible in rewards and things as I’m watching the money quickly leave my account and get eaten up by things like nappies, food, and entertainment.
I use Amazon prime quite a lot for bulk household items so I use subscribe and save for 15% discount. It took a while to get the right amount of products coming monthly, not too many and not too little, but with careful planning it’s possible.
Another Amazon tip is to use the no rush delivery option, it’s when you are ready to pay you can switch to no rush and it gives you a pound each time to use on videos, kindle, music etc. It means that when we want to buy a movie or a book we just use this balance instead of paying from your card. Obviously there are still items I get next day, but if you know you don’t need it fast it’s worth getting that pound. It’s also a pound per delivery, so if you’re buying a few items at the same time it’s worth splitting it by going through the checkout for each item.
I also use the Google opinion rewards app, which gives you surveys in exchange for play store credit. I don’t mind Google getting all of my location data, and this means that whenever I go to the shops I get a survey for stores I’ve visited and gives me 20 odd pence each time. For example, if I go to McDonald’s and spend a fiver, I usually get a survey request and get 20p back the next day. Then I can spend this balance on the play store, instead of using my card.
I use Boots for everything I can because the advantage card has such a high return on points, and I always get surveys from Google for them too.
If you live near a dental school and need something on a very short list of available treatments then future dentists need someone to practice on. Not for dental phobics and not all offer self referrals but it’s worth a look since dentists cost a small fortune http://www.dentalschoolscouncil.ac.uk/dental-schools/treatment/
Same principle as cheap haircuts at colleges which do hairdressing courses, another way to save cash
If you are looking to buy any gift vouchers as a present or just looking to make some purchase yourself check Zeek out! It’s a marketplace where users sell unwanted gift cards and you buy them at a price less than their face value.
Alternatively if you have gift cards you know you’re not going to use try selling them here. You’ll loose a few £ as obviously there’s no insentive for someone else to buy it but it’s better than money going down the drain when the card expires!
The gift cards range from Costa and Starbucks to Apple, new look, amazon, river island, Waitrose… the list goes on. I personally sold a CEX voucher there when I traded in some items and still got more than what CEX offered me as the cash value price!
They validate the vouchers to make sure they work / haven’t been redeemed before hand.
Booking advance (specific train only+no changes) tickets typically go on sale 12 weeks in advance. The cheapest tickets will go up around then.
Never use The Trainline to book tickets because they charge booking fees. All train operators must offer tickets for all operators on each site, so I can use the Virgin Trains website to book tickets for SouthEastern or use Southern’s website to book Scotrail tickets, etc. All train operators absorb the fees, so you get the base ticket price only, unlike Trainline and some other 3rd parties who charge fees. This is how Trainline have loads of adverts everywhere, because they’re making loads of money charging booking fees.
Check out rangers and rovers (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/rangers_and_rovers.aspx). These tickets give you unlimited rail travel within a certain area/map/rail line over a day or several days, and can work out cheaper than buying individual tickets. For example, if you want to go to Birmingham for the day from Crewe, a normal off peak return ticket is £27.60 to New Street or £29.10 to International (for the NEC). However, you can get a West Midlands Day Ranger for £26.50 and that includes any local rail services around Birmingham and the West Midlands and is valid on all train operators. Save money and more flexible. Win win!
EDIT: In regards to 2, Virgin Trains released an Alexa skill recently. It sounds like it sells Virgin Trains tickets only, but I can’t find any concrete evidence either way and I don’t own anything with Alexa, so have fun with that. It does, however, offer train times for all operators.
You probably use more toilet roll than you actually need to, I suggest you try using 1 less sheet and see how it goes, if that work try cutting out 2 sheets, keep it going until it just feels wrong and then go back up a sheet… I reckon you could save a small fortune… . Or you could only use public toilets or visit your friends when you need a number 2…
Do you already own a previous generation console? I have an Xbox 360 so all my gaming history is rather locked in to that ecosystem, meaning I’d pretty much have to buy an Xbox One if I were to get in on the current generation. However if this was my first console (or I’d skipped the previous generation or two) I think I’d go for the PS4, as it seems to have the better exclusives.
I’d go with PS4 just because their business model is about “sell you a console, sell you games, profit & repeat” where as Microsoft is getting more and more evil by turning to data collection & advertising (see the Windows 10 carnage).
, therefore I consent to sharing some of my anonymous & aggregated data.
