How to Beat the Credit Crunch – i.

or, how to live frugally! Here’s a first tip:

– Buy stuff from supermarkets that’s reduced for quick sale

I do this mainly with bread, and vegetables. Supermarkets in the UK tend to have one section with items ‘for quick sale’ in a refrigeration – section, but the rest, especially the items I’m interested in (bread, veg), are all over the place.

There’s no hard and fast rule to the ‘reduced for quick sale’ ‘refridgeration’ section – it’s always there, even throughout the day, as these goods are more perishable. So I tend not to worry about getting cheap food there, though I do look whenever I go in.

However, with bread and veg and other non-refrigerated stuff, they seem to put these out for quick sale from an hour or so before the shop closes onwards. Thus, if a supermarket (e.g. Morrisons) closes at 8PM, you go there for 7.15PM-7.30PM. That means they’ll have all their cheap bread out (between 10 and 30p for a loaf, or a bag of rolls, or a french stick etc.).

Sometimes I even get ‘luxury items’ that way – or things that I wouldn’t normally buy as they’re ridiculously priced. See below a cake I got from Sainsbury’s. Doesn’t taste that nice btw – far too sweet. But for £2 it was worth a try 🙂

I’ve Deactivated My Facebook Account :D

I’ve deactivated my Facebook just now. I’m getting a friend to see whether I have indeed ‘disappeared’ from her friends’ list.

I’m happy to downshift this year. With the ‘frugality’ also comes a quest for more simple natural pleasures I suppose. I haven’t watched regular TV (other than very selected shows on iPlayer/4oD) for the last 6 months, and thus haven’t been indoctrinated with TV and especially commercials at all. It’s made my head clearer and happier, as if I can focus much more on what I want and need.

The only way I can describe it is that I’m digging inside myself and doing stuff with what is there, rather than opening myself up to all the shit that is around and having to digest that. I’ve become much more selective, or rather: I’ve always been a selective c*nt but had become more open to let crap into my head over the last few years. Crap alongside the good stuff naturally – the good stuff has never disappeared.

The only difference now is that the void that’s being left by reducing the crap will *also* be filled with good stuff.

I.e. not just, say, 65% good and 35% crap, but 100% good 😀

(if any of the above doesn’t make sense don’t worry – it does to me 😉 )

2009: The Year of Living Frugally

Image via Wikipedia

Over the past few months, I’ve had the idea that I want to live more frugally in 2009. This is not due to the credit crunch or anything like that (I don’t need to ‘save’ any money etc.). It’s more so that I happened to come across a few money-saving tips, and I like a free lunch etc.

Combine this with my German ability to structure my life in general, I reckoned it would be fun to try and become even more frugal than what I already am – i.e. actively seeking out ways and means of saving money.

The first one which I’m going to start right now – i.e. henceforth – is a fun challenge: to eat all the contents of my fridge, freezer, and cupboards, before buying anything new. The ‘problem’ is that I’m always tempted by deals, e.g. ‘buy one get one free’, etc., so that I continue to buy buy buy whenever there’s a good food deal on. This results in cupboards that are forever bursting, but where I can never eat it all.

Naturally, it’s not really saving money to eat what’s in the cupboards; plus, you could argue that once I’ve run everything down I will have to rely on deals becoming available again, in order to ‘justify’ the overall exercise.

But I don’t mind! There will always be deals, and I am in fact curious how long it’ll take me to eat the contents of my cupboards/freezer etc.  (I reckon it will be about 2 months). Of course I’ll still buy essentials such as bread, cheese, margarine, tea, cat food.

😐  (@ published early – don’t know what happened there)