Every week, she gets $10 voucher, she usually redeems for $10 Cold Storage voucher and this voucher only lasts for 2 weeks. It has a very short expiry.
Since we are going overseas on her business trip soon, we needed to spend this voucher quickly. So we decided to drop by Cold Storage to stock up on stuff.
I'm sure most of us know, Cold Storage is the more expensive option for buying ANY form of grocery or toiletries. NTUC, Giant or Sheng Shiong would be better options...
But since I have a voucher, we might as well use it.
For years, I tried to shop for discounts, if a can of mushrooms were normal price, I would not buy it and wait a little for it to be on promo to save another 20 cents per can. I would buy discounted meats which are "Reduced to Clear".
I would go to Swanson's at Chinatown to buy toiletries cos they have cheap parallel imports.
If I liked a certain brand of chips, I would wait for it to be on promo before stocking up on them...
This used to be the frugal way. Save a little bit everywhere and it all adds up.
Today we went to Cold Storage to try to use up the $10 voucher.
The problem was... there was almost NOTHING to buy...
I usually stocked up on food, I used to get canned food or frozen food for weekend cheats for easy preparation. Although I rarely used canned foods in my daily cooking, they are useful so I do keep some stock of those in my cabinets.
However, I have hardly used any canned food for the past month.
I've been getting a surplus of food for "free".
Free vegetables, free bread, I have made friends with other "freegans" who regularly get large supplies of food and they are willing to pass me food ON TOP of the vegetables I collect.
So I walked past the food section and thought... "No point stocking up on food. I have a surplus every week."
Then I walked past the canned food and preserved food... same issue. I struggle to finish the daily supplies, and hardly have the opportunity to use my stored supplies.
We came down to the conclusion that we needed to get stuff that we are fussy over, or it's hard to get for free, stuff which is not for our usual dinner cos dinner is already settled. Like maybe, I like a certain brand and quality of soy sauce, or a certain brand of chips. Or a certain brand of toothpaste or shampoo...
Even coffee powder I get for free from hotel rooms when I travel with my wife on her biz trips.
So today, we ended up buying 6 packets of chips which we like, but they weren't on discount. But we just took them anyway... and a pack of biscuits... I told my wife that I could get her biscuits for her office snacks for free, but she wanted something specific so... whatever.
And the strange thing was... I would NEVER have bought these items at Cold Storage, cos previously, I would buy them at the other supermarkets cos they are usually 10-20 cents cheaper in the other supermarkets.
6 packets of chips will last us 6 weeks, which means... in the next 6 weeks, we will have to find $60 worth of OTHER stuff to buy, cos we can't stock up on chips anymore.
Which means, likely, we will end up buying toothpaste, shampoo, air freshener, other toiletries, etc... which would likely be more expensive than Swanson's...
And... we would STILL buy it. Otherwise, there would be hardly anything else we would be able to spend the vouchers on.
Furthermore, I am fully confident, that eventually, I will run out of things to use the voucher on... cos shampoo lasts for months, toothpaste as well, etc etc...
I still have my NS50 vouchers which I still haven't used, still have vouchers from of some malls which I haven't used...
Not to mention, eventually, I am also confident that I will be able to obtain free stocks of other supplies/toiletries, etc etc. Even for the brands which I am fussy about. I may not be able to obtain them ALL the time, but if I manage to get stocks which can last me for 6 months, means I have even less to buy for 6 months.
And I still have to hit $1000 spending every month on my UOB cards... It seems like my target to reduce spending for these cards may be within reach. End of last year, I had a goal to try to cut $500 off my discretionary spending for this year. I think that as I slowly get more involved in getting stuff for free, I will eventually be able to attain this target.
This is all a slow process of growth, I don't expect to phase 100% into getting everything for free, but I try to slowly get more connections and learn where I can obtain free stuff, and I believe that as my journey goes along, I will be able to find more and more avenues to get the stuff I want for free.
And whilst I was walking in the Cold Storage, a thought went through my mind... "Have I become too crazy in this "freegan" thing? I have almost no interest in stuff anymore. Have I become fanatical?"
And as I thought about it more... my next thoughts were...
"But... I'm rational. If something is free, why should I pay for it? If so, then isn't everyone else who isn't getting stuff for free irrational? Why am I crazy? Aren't the people who pay money for stuff they can obtain for free the folks who are crazy?"
2 points here.
1) I'm fully aware that I'm living off the wastage of others. Because they waste, and I am happy to accept their excess which they would discard anyway, I am willing to do this so I can obtain the stuff for "free".
2) Some people will say, "If everyone does this... blah blah blah"... Let's be realistic, not everyone will do this. I'm doing this now, most people aren't doing this. Even if you read about it, you likely won't do it. So let's not even talk about "If everyone does this..."
Now, I'm not intending to go full "freegan" like some of the more prominent folks in the community.
I started out as wanting to save money whenever possible, and I still do.
For the stuff which I feel are efficient to get for free, I will get it for free.
If something is cheap and hard to find for free, I'll still use money to buy it.
If something is expensive and hard to find for free... It's likely something which I wouldn't really need in my life.
So now, I've come down to a very interesting situation. Food at home has become relatively free. I still go out and eat on weekends, but food costs have dropped significantly. This, combo-ed with the AIA Vitality App, our personal items, have also become "free".
It has been really enlightening and interesting, cos I never expected my life to have changed so much in just a couple of months. And it is even more exciting what new things I will find out in the months to come, and where this journey will take me.
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