The Mystery of Mystery Shopping

I signed up for another mystery shopping assignment today, this time I had to go to the nominated post office and ask three specific questions and note the response. There was also a couple of questions asking me for my opinion on the state of this particular post office and in return for doing this I was offered £4 + reimbursement for the cost of purchasing something on display.

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BT changes its calling tariffs

Last week BT announced increases in their line-rental charges which means that my monthly bill will go up by 75p a month. This has caused outrage in the popular media although I am not sure why as this is the first increase in 2 years and a 7.1% increase is roughly in line with inflation over that time (it of course depends on which measure of inflation you believe!).

BT are also going to increase the discount for customers who opt for paperless billing from 50p per month to £1.25 per month. So I made sure I signed up for this today which will effectively protect me from the line-rental increase and net me a £5.50 saving for the year too!

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11% more millionaires in the world

I was reading a magazine article today that says the number of millionaires in the world rose by 11% last year to 9.6 million (defined as those people with over $1m of investable/liquid assets). And the good news is that the UK ranks number three in the world with 610,000 millionaires, just behind the US and Japan.

Whilst there are plenty of dollar millionaires in the world, billionaires are a much more exclusive group with less than 800 people worldwide achieving this status (most of which seem to own premiership football clubs!).

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Lost Change: Part IV

It was just over a year ago that I last counted the penny jar so I thought I had better count it up and get it to the bank again. I wasn’t expecting there to be much in there this time so was pleasantly surprised to find £57. Most of it was pound coins which I wasn’t expecting. I can only assume its from where I have been out drinking only to return with pockets full of change (why I can only pay for drinks with notes is still a mystery!).

What I will do, where I’ll do it and when

A visit to the gym today reminded me just how challenging it can be to stick to new years resolutions. Just a few months ago it would only have been me and a few others in an otherwise deserted gym on a Sunday morning, but because it’s January there was probably ten times that amount this morning.

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