Sunday, September 13, 2009

teach yourself - thrifty living by Barty Phillips

I found a book with the above title at Chapters - in the 30% off section, no less. I'll post updates from it if anything of special relevance pops up. So far the most unusual thing has been the author's use of the phrase "brood of young" to describe a human family. You definitely don't see that everyday.

From the introductory chapter - Ten Ways to Save Money Now

1. Drink tap water
2. Take a packed lunch to work (or school!)
3. Redeem all the free vouchers languishing in your purse (or on your desk/kitchen counter)
4. Give up smoking
5. Give up your store cards
6. Walk to work/the station/your bus stop
7. Make use of free daily papers on your way to work
8. Switch off your electrical equipment
9. Lengthen the life of your child's felt pens (or of your own felt pens, I presume. The book says to open the bottom of the pen, put a drop or two of vinegar into the ink tube, and shake the pen in order to revive the colour)
10. Make use of your local library

I have a feeling that the book's author, Barty Phillips, is British. It's as much the word use as the numerical savings being listed in pounds sterling that tipped me off, since certain expressions are more common in British English than in American or Canadian. I believe a 'store card' is something like an HBC Mastercard, since Phillips mentions stores charging interest on such cards while appearing to give cardholders a discount on purchases. As for #4, he makes it sound so easy! Maybe there's a teach yourself - quit smoking book by him as well?

And if only we Winnipeggers could take a subway train from 'the station' into the downtown area! Whatever happened to all that money Katz was given for rapid transit? I've heard rumors it went into fixing potholes, but the potholes seem no more fixed than they ever do seem. And now we've been handed another chunk of change from the federal government. I can only imagine where it will end up being spent.

5 comments:

  1. I wonder if Barty would say my parents have a brood of middle-agers?

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  2. I'm finding it hard to get in to the groove of packing a lunch! Not going out for meals is definately a HUGE money saver...but so much effort..

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  3. One way of helping with lunch preparation is to make an extra serving of your dinner, and pack it the night before. The biggest problem then is just remembering to take it with you in the morning! :)

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  4. Moving from full-time to part-time really kicked me in the butt. I got my first tiny paycheck the other week and after frowning at it for a significant amount of time, it really hit me that I'm going to have to change a lot of my spending habits. I'm going to be visiting your blog a lot! :P

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  5. REALLY USEFUL TIPS! 'though I'm already practicing some of them, I would surely look forward to your upcoming postings! By th way, I changed my url address to: http://www.heartstringswinnipeg.blogspot.com I had a change of heart, you know! Spread the word & continue on blogging fantastic tips! :)

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