Saving The Planet (or maybe just money?)

We have long promoted the benefits of working to benefit the planet - we have worked for many years with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, undertaking practical conservation tasks, up to our armpits in mud building a footpath, or even breaking the ice on a pond in the winter to do some pond clearance in the middle of a snow-storm.

For the saner amongst us out there, you really should look to save energy. Leaving appliances on standby is one of the major culprits with many televisions using over 10% of their normal power just to keep you from having to cross the room to press the on/off switch. With the advent of digital TV, this is made worse, as many set top boxes use almost as much power on standby as when being used !!

We have found an excellent little gadget - the "Bye Bye Standby" which comes as a set of plugs which can be operated remotely using wireless technology - you can either turn them off individually or as part of a group. Ideal for switching off the sky box downstairs on a night after watching a film on the upstairs TV !! This is not too pricey and we have even found that the cheapest place to purchase Bye Bye Standby is Tesco Direct. With a starter kit consisting of one remote control and 3 remote plugs, this was simple to install and should save some money in the first six months.

Now all we need is someone to offer us a solar heating system - now that would be excellent, particularly as we have a south facing roof. However, it is hard to justify over £4,000 for such a system, even if it might help save the planet.

Time to Take Stock

OK, we have been trying out this lottery scheme now for a while - and yes it is working for us - we have had a few wins over the months, although nothing to write home about alas - mind you it is nice to log onto Virtual World Direct every once in a while and see the number of people who are checking out the site having read our website or blog (thanks). It is also nice to see that we do sometimes win (unlike playing on the lottery on your own, where you are lucky to win £10 a year!!).

In fact we have introduced 111 people to the site and our syndicate has won £1050 on the EuroMillions Draw since April, but only £320 on the National Lottery draw.

I guess it is a bit like the other much better known social networking sites, such as Avon, which has proved a successful business model over the years, but does really rely on you referring other people to sign up with them in order to achieve better earnings. Surprising really that most of the people we introduce only join up as Players and not as affiliates - maybe they don't want to try and earn free entries into the lottery.

We have had a look at the new scheme which Virtual World Direct are offering - uVme and we must admit that we are confused as to what exactly it offers. It appears to be a social networking site where you can play games against other members and maybe win some money, but unlike Facebook and Faceparty, you have to pay to join the site and earn money for introducing others. Seems as though this is not well thought out - I cannot see the site appealing to many people and it is expensive to join.