I used to save money extraordinarily well. Then I changed. 2 or 3 years ago I started eating and drinking out on a regular basis, even though I rarely had anyone to do it with. I believed sooner or later doing these activities and eating and drinking all the different kinds of foods and drinks in all the different venues in and of itself would make me enjoy myself and meet people I wanted to. I was proven wrong. I've just recovered from a bit of debt. I never got into massive debt but to recover I've had to do a few things. To stop eating out. To buy tinned spaghetti, frozen chips and tinned peas in bulk because I know all too often I don't feel like cooking properly and therefore have to be prepared or I'll waste money time and time again on eating out. I've had to almost completely stop buying drinks when out and buy them in bulk so they're cheaper and drink at home before going out. It upsets me to have to do this, I believe drinking should be a social activity but in the recession and with food and drink prices rising in recent years it's no longer affordable.
One great piece of news is that my family has adopted a brilliant old trick to saving money at Christmas. We're only going to buy 2 presents each for 2 names we randomly draw out of a hat of all the participating Christmas gift exchangers. The result is Christmas will be at least half as expensive as in the past. I have one tip that may be useful to some of you. If you buy tinned food, sometimes when you cook it in the microwave it doesn't taste too great. It can be bland. Sometimes this is the case for healthier tinned foods that have less salt or fat in them. If you must continue eating these cheap foods and can't afford to not like to eat them, simply sprinkle on a bit of salt and white pepper (both easily available at all good stores) to make anything taste better.
10 Nov 2009, 12:20 pm
