With recession upon us, now is the time to save pounds by spending smarter. Follow my quick and dirty guide to getting by – on half your earnings.
FOOD
Eat Your Greens
Whatever happens, you’ll need to eat. The price of chicken, beef and lamb has rocketed in the last few months, but vegetables have stayed more constant. So start filling your shopping basket with more veg, which pound for pound are much cheaper than meat. And remember that supermarkets these days have a huge range of vegetables, so you don’t have to stick to just carrots, potatoes and swedes like mum used to.
The internet is a source of good (and free) recipes with vegetables – check out
http://www.vegetarian-and-low-calorie-recipes.com/vegetarian-meal-recipes.html
and
http://www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/recipes/easy.html
Bulk out meals with rice and bread – risotto, for example, is very filling. For all your foodstuffs, try buying in bulk from the cheaper supermarkets such as Lidl and Aldi.
If you want your meat, try pork as a better value alternative to chicken. And instead of binning your veg left-overs, just throw them in a wok with some soy sauce and chilli sauce for a very easy stir-fry. Yum.
The great coffee rip-off.
For many of us, if we added up how much we spent in a year on skinny lattes we’d probably need an extra-strong espresso just to pick ourselves off the floor. So bring a jar of instant to the office instead. Or club together with your work colleagues for shared supplies.
The same goes for sandwiches. Instead of buying on the high street try making your own the night before so you’re not in a mad rush in the morning. If you fancy some salad with your main filling add that in the morning so it doesn’t go all mushy in the fridge overnight.
Eat Out for Less
You can save a fortune on restaurant bills by not ordering wine. For a lot of us the wine list makes about as much sense as a trigonometry test (to paraphrase Seinfeld) so try giving it a miss next time. Also, do you really need that bruschetta starter when you’re having spag bol for your mains? After all, would you have that at home? Omitting wine and the starter can knock up to 30% off your bill.
It depends on your taste, but Middle Eastern restaurants are generally good value, and the tradition of sharing smaller dishes means you feel you are getting more for your money. The higher the snob value of the European-style restaurant, the more the quality varies – cheap French is not a good idea.
For pubs, pints represent better value than bottles, and if you want to hit a nightclub go extra early before the entry charges kick in. If you can’t get public transport home organise a designated driver, or order a cab well in advance to share with as many people as possible.
Style
If you want a new hairstyle but want to avoid paying £50 for it go to the free consultations that many expensive salons offer. Once you know what you want go to a cheaper place and describe it. You could also try hairdressing academies or colleges, they need models to practice on and they’re usually free. Just be sure to keep an eye on what they’re up to!
If you see a stunning outfit that’s beyond your budget try it on, make a note of the exact style and size then search on e-Bay for it. If you prefer real shops try the smaller, independent shops late on a Sunday, because you will often have a lot of scope for haggling. Don’t forget, retailers are worried by the credit crunch too.
Getting Fit
Face it, gyms are expensive. And if you’re paying a monthly membership and only going once a week, it’s likely to be very expensive indeed.
If you’re driving to the gym so you can jog on the treadmill then you probably need to re-examine your lifestyle! But if you want to live on half your salary while still getting, or staying fit, there are solutions.
If you have a flight of stairs at home, a block or a park to jog around and a perhaps an exercise ball and some weights at home you could probably get as good a workout as you got on the treadmill and the fixed weight machines. As well as your own shower. Nice.
If you prefer the camaraderie and the atmosphere of fellow gym-goers then consider taking up a martial art. The classes generally work out much cheaper than gym memberships, plus you have lots of fellow kickers and punchers to encourage you along the way. If you did, say, kickboxing 3 times a week you can be sure that after 6 months you would be pretty darn fit as well as having learned a useful skill. You would have to take out insurance but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to those pesky gym fees.
TV and Mobiles
No matter how many channels you have, it’s almost certain that in reality you only watch a very small number of them regularly. So doesn’t it makes sense to ditch the ones that just show endless American sitcoms from the 80s? (Unless they’re your thing.)
Cable and satellite companies, like Virgin Media, are experts at offering a great initial package, then slowly upping the monthly subscription fee every month. Solution? Phone up and ask for the cancellation department. In a panic they will start making you offers, and this is where your bartering skills will come in handy. It’s the same story with your mobile phone provider. No matter what your tariff, if you phone up and say you want the code to switch suppliers you will always get a better deal. Job done.
Holidays
You needn’t necessarily give up your annual breaks, but consider better value options. The pound’s recent slide has seen American and European destinations become more expensive, whereas Turkey and Egypt are still great value destinations - and they have the weather as well. Geographically they sit just on the fringes of Europe so the flights will be reasonable, and being outside the Euro zone they will still feel very cheap. Just beware – although late night flights may be a little cheaper, the cost of late night cabs could cancel out the saving.
With changes in the travel industry it’s generally a good idea to book earlier rather than later. Travel company mergers have left Thomson and Thomas Cook with market dominance, and the later you book the more desperate they assume you are, so prices will usually be higher.
Transport – 2 wheels beat 4 wheels
Try leaving the car at home for shorter journeys. Fuel consumption is disproportionately higher on shorter trips and using a bicycle may just get you fitter too. For driving, as any driving instructor will tell you, braking less harshly and driving in a higher gear is more fuel efficient and creates less wear and tear. Remember it’s cheaper to replace worn brake pads than a worn gearbox - or engine.
If you need a new set of wheels go for a ‘nearly new’ instead of brand new car. The main reason is the depreciation. A brand new vehicle will lose 50% of its value after 2 years. Try visiting a franchise dealer (one attached to a big manufacturer) as the warranties they offer are as good as those on new cars. And don’t forget to haggle! Remember the dealers are having a hard time too, and if you don’t ask you don’t get. If they won’t budge on price, focus on the warranty.
Finally….make a list
If you don’t have a list of all your direct debits and outgoings, now’s the time to make one. You’ll find it a lot easier to see where to economise if you know where the money’s going. Don’t forget to include forgotten extras like snacks. Over the course of a week write down everything you spend, so you know where that money is ending up. Start doing it tonight.
Tuesday 11 November 2008
Wednesday 5 November 2008
The drama of Obama
Barack Hussein Obama has won the 2008 US Presidential election and will be the 44th President. Congratulations to him - my American friend in Seattle is ecstatic, as are many others. I wish him well.
There is a level of hype - even hysteria - around Barack which only the election of JFK seems to compare with. To be fair there is no denying the cultural significance of his victory. Just 150 years ago a man like him would have been considered the personal property of his white owner; just 50 years ago many states would not have allowed him to sit on a bus seat designated for his white neighbour. And yet here he is, the Commander-in-Chief. It is also a rebuke some here n the UK who insisted that America was not 'ready' to elect a black man, and that white America would abandon him in the privacy of the polling booth.How close do they think that Britain is to having a black Prime Minister?
Of course it would be impolite - churlish even - to suggest that Obama only won because of the colour of his money rather than the colour of his skin. Or that his victory probably has as much to do with the present incumbent of The White House as its next resident. Or that, like Bill Clinton, the economic climate gave him an advantage. That's the past, after all. But the past informs the present. And once the hullabaloo of Obama's win gives way to the unpleasant business of the day job we will see that there are strong grounds to lower our expectations.
Obama didn't achieve much as Senator for Illinois. He never really ran anything of note. But he was known for his consistent opposition to the Iraq war. That would have made him an instant winner in Europe, but the USA isn't Europe. In fact until the economy displaced Iraq as voters' number one concern Obama was trailing McCain in the polls. It's easy to be anti-war when you don't have to make any hard decisions and people's lives don't depend on you. But Obama's desire to quit Iraq looks precipitous at best, foolish at worst. US troops will have to leave eventually. But to do so before the Iraqi Government has the stability and force of arms to govern without US support risks that government collapsing or being overthrown . Civil war could even erupt, with the victor being simply a Saddam version 2.0, and we're back to where we started. It will all have been for nothing. Any weakness on the part of the legitimate, democratically-elected government there will leave Iran as the dominant power in the country, which some people think it already is. So Obama's 'quit Iraq' strategy is naive, and his generals will probably tell him this, if they haven't already. In short, don't expect any significant improvement in Iraq in the short-term just because Obama has taken charge.
On Afghanistan Obama is more hawkish. He wants more troops and is threatening Pakistan with military action. The struggle in central Asia is as much for the soul of Pakistan as Afghanistan and nothing would do more to turn Pakistan to extremism than to carry out punitive raids there. We have to help the Pakistan government, not sign its death certificate. Obama may be blundering if he carries out his threats.
On Iran, by contrast, Obama is of a peace-loving hippie than even the Swiss could ever hope to be. Or at least that's the image he seems to want to project. His stated desire to talk to the Iranians without preconditions could be a bold and imaginative move...or he could find himself made a fool out of as the theocracy there (just a reminder that's it's NOT a democracy) ignores him and builds a nuclear weapon. Even the EU countries who shuddered as George Bush's sabre-rattling are getting nervous at Obama's conciliatory stance. Reaching out to enemies who hate you is fine, as long as you can find common ground. But I fear that this approach could leave him acting like Jimmy Carter did in Iran, as opposed to how Richard Nixon reached out to China.
Then we come to the economy. Sooner or later the penny will drop and people will realise that Obama has as few options open to him as the outgoing Administration. His early campaign promises about universal healthcare, green technology and tax cuts for 95% of Americans seem to have been quietly forgotten. But these are all crushingly expensive, and with the massive Wall St bailout, the huge $10 trillion debt and a few wars on the go, any action he takes will be severely constrained. The turning point of the Presidential campaign was McCain's ill-advised utterance that the fundamentals of the US economy were 'sound'. Obama just stayed tight-lipped and said little. He played it safe, but people mistook non-committal for calm. Not saying the wrong thing is a lot easier than saying the right thing. Unless America wants more debt, the level of spending is going to have to be slashed, as it is right across the world, and Obama (if he is smart) must know that.
So yes let's celebrate the renewing of passion in American politics, the rehabilitation of America's international reputation and possibly the arrival of a 21st Century cultural icon. But don't expect world peace, the solving of the credit crisis and cars that run on water overnight. Welcome to the real world, Obama.
There is a level of hype - even hysteria - around Barack which only the election of JFK seems to compare with. To be fair there is no denying the cultural significance of his victory. Just 150 years ago a man like him would have been considered the personal property of his white owner; just 50 years ago many states would not have allowed him to sit on a bus seat designated for his white neighbour. And yet here he is, the Commander-in-Chief. It is also a rebuke some here n the UK who insisted that America was not 'ready' to elect a black man, and that white America would abandon him in the privacy of the polling booth.How close do they think that Britain is to having a black Prime Minister?
Of course it would be impolite - churlish even - to suggest that Obama only won because of the colour of his money rather than the colour of his skin. Or that his victory probably has as much to do with the present incumbent of The White House as its next resident. Or that, like Bill Clinton, the economic climate gave him an advantage. That's the past, after all. But the past informs the present. And once the hullabaloo of Obama's win gives way to the unpleasant business of the day job we will see that there are strong grounds to lower our expectations.
Obama didn't achieve much as Senator for Illinois. He never really ran anything of note. But he was known for his consistent opposition to the Iraq war. That would have made him an instant winner in Europe, but the USA isn't Europe. In fact until the economy displaced Iraq as voters' number one concern Obama was trailing McCain in the polls. It's easy to be anti-war when you don't have to make any hard decisions and people's lives don't depend on you. But Obama's desire to quit Iraq looks precipitous at best, foolish at worst. US troops will have to leave eventually. But to do so before the Iraqi Government has the stability and force of arms to govern without US support risks that government collapsing or being overthrown . Civil war could even erupt, with the victor being simply a Saddam version 2.0, and we're back to where we started. It will all have been for nothing. Any weakness on the part of the legitimate, democratically-elected government there will leave Iran as the dominant power in the country, which some people think it already is. So Obama's 'quit Iraq' strategy is naive, and his generals will probably tell him this, if they haven't already. In short, don't expect any significant improvement in Iraq in the short-term just because Obama has taken charge.
On Afghanistan Obama is more hawkish. He wants more troops and is threatening Pakistan with military action. The struggle in central Asia is as much for the soul of Pakistan as Afghanistan and nothing would do more to turn Pakistan to extremism than to carry out punitive raids there. We have to help the Pakistan government, not sign its death certificate. Obama may be blundering if he carries out his threats.
On Iran, by contrast, Obama is of a peace-loving hippie than even the Swiss could ever hope to be. Or at least that's the image he seems to want to project. His stated desire to talk to the Iranians without preconditions could be a bold and imaginative move...or he could find himself made a fool out of as the theocracy there (just a reminder that's it's NOT a democracy) ignores him and builds a nuclear weapon. Even the EU countries who shuddered as George Bush's sabre-rattling are getting nervous at Obama's conciliatory stance. Reaching out to enemies who hate you is fine, as long as you can find common ground. But I fear that this approach could leave him acting like Jimmy Carter did in Iran, as opposed to how Richard Nixon reached out to China.
Then we come to the economy. Sooner or later the penny will drop and people will realise that Obama has as few options open to him as the outgoing Administration. His early campaign promises about universal healthcare, green technology and tax cuts for 95% of Americans seem to have been quietly forgotten. But these are all crushingly expensive, and with the massive Wall St bailout, the huge $10 trillion debt and a few wars on the go, any action he takes will be severely constrained. The turning point of the Presidential campaign was McCain's ill-advised utterance that the fundamentals of the US economy were 'sound'. Obama just stayed tight-lipped and said little. He played it safe, but people mistook non-committal for calm. Not saying the wrong thing is a lot easier than saying the right thing. Unless America wants more debt, the level of spending is going to have to be slashed, as it is right across the world, and Obama (if he is smart) must know that.
So yes let's celebrate the renewing of passion in American politics, the rehabilitation of America's international reputation and possibly the arrival of a 21st Century cultural icon. But don't expect world peace, the solving of the credit crisis and cars that run on water overnight. Welcome to the real world, Obama.
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