Tips for Saving Money

26 November 2011 at 11:54 pm (Entertainment, Family, Food, Insight, Plinky Prompts, Style, Wellbeing)
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I'm not particularly good at managing money, mostly because it's been so tight for as long as I can remember, that there hasn't been much that I could actually choose how to spend. But when hard times came knocking (hello, unemployment!), I found there were still ways to stretch those pennies further.

Security Enhanced Piggy Bank

Switch to the 'basics' foodstuffs range of your chosen supermarket (in my case, Sainsbury's), rather than the 'premium'. Some are rather mediocre quality – the coffee is too acid for our taste, the toilet paper is so thin it's not cost effective – but most are just slightly smaller than the regulars (Scotch eggs, tinned tomatoes, biscuits, chips). Cuts of meat can go either way; some end up in basics only because they're poorly cut, others have so much fat and/or gristle that the actual meat on them comes off as more expensive than more 'deluxe' ranges.

Use those loyalty cards and vouchers. I hardly ever go into a shop where I have no card to swipe these days. Nectar points are flexibly redeemable; they can stretch the grocery budget or buy gifts and little luxuries that one wouldn't afford otherwise.

When you find an offer, buy in bulk. This is ideal for non-perishables, and only storage space is the limit.

Upgrade your home insulation. We've just jumped at the opportunity to have British Gas do both the loft and the wall cavities for free. It can make a great difference to the heating system's efficiency, not to mention the utility bills!

Shop around for a good phone/internet/TV package. We are with Sky, and get HD satellite TV, unlimited broadband and essentially free landline calls (including abroad) for much less than each one would cost separately.

Consider switching to a pay-as-you-go mobile phone and a prepaid credit card, so charges will depend entirely on usage.

Plan outings around establishments' happy hours, which can reduce the bill greatly. If I bother to take the family to the Harvester before 5.30pm, we'll pay 1/3 less than after.

Entertainment doesn't have to cost a fortune. Not with libraries, book swap clubs, DVDs coming out hot on the heels of theatre releases, digital downloads available at bargain prices, and the option of entertaining at home.

Use cash as much as possible. You can't rake up an overdraught when there's nothing more in your wallet to spend. Seeing exactly how much you have allows more efficient rationing.

Don't mope. Whether it is a temporary thing, to weather some hard times, or there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, bemoaning your fate and feeling deprived all the time gets depressing and can very easily lead to some overindulgence, just to drive the blues away. I've been there. It's more effective to consider it lifestyle-building. Just like building new lifelong habits is a more effective weight loss tactic than a crash diet.

After all, the way we spend each day ends up being the way we spend our lives.

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Up the Wall

25 November 2011 at 11:45 pm (Education, Insight, People, Plinky Prompts, Rants, Relationships, Self, Wellbeing)
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I'm generally a laid-back girl, usually opting for the path of least resistance. That is the reason that the few things that drive me crazy really push me to the border of certifiability.

Stupidity 2

Actually, come to think about it, there are only two real things that drive me crazy – two major things that branch out into smaller instances, but we're looking at the big picture here.

The first is a lack of personal space and time. I need a corner, if that's all I can get, to build my book fortress and call it mine, with nobody messing with it. Sharing everything really makes me suffer. My old workstation, which I couldn't customise because someone else would be sitting there next shift, made me twitchy. Now I'm putting up with dodgy chairs instead of the comfy sofas, all for the bliss of having my computer desk as my exclusive territory.

Personal time may or may not be associated with my personal space. I really need some time alone each day, away from any kind of responsibility, to read or listen to music and decompress. That's either a half-hour sprawled on the bed with a book after the young one is tucked in, or a bimble to the supermarket with my mp3 player on, or, if I'm really lucky, a wander about town while shortstuff is at school. I become cranky and snappish if I don't get it, particularly long-term, as it tends to happen when we're visiting with my mother, who doesn't understand 'doing nothing time'.

The other thing, which makes me see red and gives me opportunities to exercise my self-control (not always successfully) is human stupidity. I used to spend considerable lengths on time on Yahoo Answers, and the sheer amounts of ignorance and idiocy spouted there were staggering. From the 'Catholic vs Christian' dichotomy to the father who was worried that his newborn daughter would become a lesbian if she breastfed, I would invariably end up debating ways to give that gene pool a good bleaching.

Now I'm on other debating communities, and some of the opinions I hear expressed there make me nearly foam at the mouth. I want to give some of the consistently WTF? authors a good shake (until their teeth rattle) and find out which planet they fell out of and if they maintain any link at all with reality. Just like the claim that public school-quality pizza is a full balanced meal. The stupid… it burns!

And then there's also the cunning stupid, when people attempt to pull a fast one and then wonder why I call them out on it. Like Jerry Springer guests. The bigger the jackass, the louder the bray.

I'll be looking for the latest edition of the Darwin Awards soon. And if I ever find any evidence that the stupid is contagious, watch me go all Ellen Ripley on the morons unfortunate enough to be within range. Really.

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Attempts at Countrification

23 November 2011 at 10:16 pm (Britain, Greece, Nature, Places, Plinky Prompts, Self, Wellbeing)
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I was born and raised in Athens. A sprawling metropolis of about four million souls, spectacularly magnificent in places and spectacularly repellent in others. I guess it spoiled me for any smaller place.

Athens

I used to say that, as a dedicated city girl, I couldn't see myself living in a smaller place. Well, I'd jump at half a chance to live in Edinburgh, despite it being about 1/10 the size of Athens, but beyond that, I'd only leave for an even bigger place, like London, Paris or New York. I couldn't even imagine then that I would end up in semi-rural Essex, coping with life out in the fringes of a modestly sized town. And really, coping is the word.

You see, I'm definitely not cut out for life in the wild. Even if that means a housing estate a short bus ride from town, as wild as a domesticated mouse. I miss being able to pop out to the shops at a moment's notice, or finding myself among people with a few minutes' walking. We're on a dorm estate, where I can go for half a mile or so without meeting a soul on the street, and I resent having to plan a bloody journey on the bus to get into town. The local lifestyle is heavily skewed in favour of drivers; walking is a desolate experience and public transport combines extortionate fares with unreliable timetables. If we didn't have a huge supermarket, that allows lots of browsing, close by, I wouldn't have anywhere at all to go, outside town limits. I'm still wondering at a retail estate with several furniture, furnishings and DIY stores, but no bookstore.

I've spent long periods of time in the real countryside, in a house without hot water or an indoor bathroom, where we still gathered our dinner ingredients from the garden. I know I'd make a lousy farmer's wife; I've even lost the feeble interest in gardening I used to have, much as I would like a chance to grow some of our own food. But I'm no good even in the faux countryside of the boonies. I just miss people too much. It's bad enough that there is absolutely nothing to do in town once the shops close. (By 6pm. Which, in high summer, means long hours of empty streets in broad daylight. Creepy.)

I know now that I could live in an even smaller town. I'd just have to be smack in the middle of it all.

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Year End To-Do's

18 November 2011 at 11:25 pm (Family, Greece, Plinky Prompts, Reading, Seasons, Self, Special Days, Style, Wellbeing)
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Perhaps setting a close deadline works better than new year resolutions.

Things to do today

I've already struck the unfeasible items off the list (read The Wheel of Time in six weeks? yeah, right), so this is only what depends solely on myself and circumstances as they are right now for its accomplishment.

1. Get myself accustomed to a daily schedule involving more sleep and exercise. With husband's new job, I have to get up earlier and shoulder more tasks during the day, so I need to rake up more energy and keep the winter blues at bay.

2. Finish the book series I've put on hold for NaNoWriMo (Cate Tiernan's Sweep). Five instalments are down, 10 remain to go. Each one is a couple of hours' worth of reading, so it may seem like a light task. It is, as long as I manage to make the time, which can be trickier than it seems, especially on full-blown work days.

3. Bring my paperwork up to date. My passport will expire in January, and my identity card is still of the kind that started to be replaced a decade ago. Unless something goes terribly wrong, we will be going back to Greece for Christmas, and I will have both taken care of while we're there, saving myself trips to London and dealings with the embassy.

4. Buy myself at least a couple of smart garments. I've grown too comfortable with the 'mum uniform' of yoga pants, t-shirts and sneakers; I need to reacquaint myself with smart clothes (especially slacks – that's going to be hard) and heels, in anticipation of working opportunities.

5. Take the little one to at least one Christmas event. Probably the arrival of Father Christmas at the local zoo, in a sleigh pulled by real live reindeer.

6. Be happier, for myself and in myself.

That's it, I guess. A short list, fully achieved, would do much better things for my self-confidence than having to work out success percentages.

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TGIE

12 November 2011 at 10:35 pm (Family, Plinky Prompts, Reading, Roleplaying, Self, Wellbeing, Women, Work, Writing)
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That's 'Thank God it's evening', for the acronymically challenged.

Relax.

I may be years out of work and even more years out of school, but don't think for a moment that a full time wife and mother like myself doesn't have a cutoff time at the end of the day. If I were on call 24/7, I'd have gone raving mad by now. (Between you and me, I am on call 24/7, but there's just enough downtime to stop me chewing furniture. On most days, at least.)

My work day is officially over once I tuck my son into bed, around 8. After that, I have about three hours to do what I enjoy. Sometimes I may get a couple more hours, but not often. My boy is an early riser every day, and sitting up till the wee hours, no matter how I enjoy it, is a bad idea if it means I will end up sleep-deprived.

The first thing I do once I turn off the nursery light is go over to the master bedroom, plop down on the bed and read for a half-hour or so. That gives the little one time to fall into deep sleep, so he won't be disturbed by comings and goings later. That slot is my only guaranteed reading time in the day, so I take full advantage of it.

Then comes shower time. I'm not a morning shower person, as I catch cold easily; on the other hand, an evening shower is the perfect way to unwind after a working day longer than any professional's. I'm not into baths; I get fidgety if I stay still for long. High pressure water and a good scrub is what I need to renew myself.

After showering, it's time for another, shorter bout of reading in bed before dressing. Although the feeling of just lying there letting my skin breathe and dry thoroughly is relaxing enough that I have fallen asleep more than once. Most often, however, I manage to get up, dress and head downstairs to enjoy the rest of my evening with writing and socialising on my beloved forums, and perhaps a DVD or some music on the side. And if there are some nibbles and drinks to share as well, all the better.

It's not much free time (I don't know if it's less than other people's, only that it's definitely less than I'd like), but it's all the more precious for that.

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