Madame Champione du collection des coupons

I am the proud owner of the title of champion collectioner of coupons : any and all kinds.

I would like to think of these coupons as money-savers but sometime they can be counter-productive and cost me more money in the end because in trying to validate the coupon by spending the requisite minimum amount I buy junk and inutile, futile and useless crap. I do avoid that but sometime I cannot help but succumb mainly because I cannot resist the novelty or cutesy factor or purely decorative objects or because of 'what if' and 'in case'.

I do draw the line though as I tend to buy things that only a cheapskate and stingy radine like me would acquire meaning everything I buy : items of clothing, accessories, shoes, household products and alimentation etc... are all under twenty and mostly in the tens. Shrek on the other hand is a big spender but he does mostly spend to buy me gifts and to that end/effect I am mostly content.

Stretching the dough the farthest

I have found some sites that are dedicated to helping anyone with economics problem or budgeting probs to save more.

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/frugal_fun/index.html

http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/

http://www.stretcher.com/index.cfm

http://www.wackyuses.com/uses.html

http://www.tipztime.com/

I do not think I need to get ideas as I have plenty of my own already and I do not live in America but it just proves my point that there are others like me out there, looking to save whereever and to cut corners where we can.

There are boundless sites for frugal mums worldwide which gives ideas for cheap or free kids activities as well as creative and cheap ways to raise kids... Kids ultimately need parents' time, attention and to have meaningful interactions and conversations/communication and guidance not the latest electronic toys that they will be bored of after the novelty has worn off.


Shrek, this lil tidbit was for you.

Career prospects

Careers I could possibly envisage are : drumrolls .... professional shopper and budget analyst.

I handle these two with poise, calculated risks and utter expediency and efficiency if I do say so myself.

If I was to be employed as a professional personal shopper I would save my clients truckloads of money on a small or large scale. I do price comparisons to the cent and will earn my worth with bargain hunting, executing catalogue examination/ruminification and exploiting deftly all the loopholes that exist in store or enterprise or organisations policies.

I can also possibly be a 'tutelle' for someone seeing is that I would enforce budgets and carefully co-ordinate all predictions or projections of spending. I can make very little money go and stretch a long long way. I have the know-how and expertise on how to minimise expenditure and maximise purchasing power. All my decision making are all based on careful deliberation and I leave nothing to chance.

I can even take it to the ultimate level of scrooginess but everything has its price and in doing so would end up alienating entourage, friends and foes alike. The trick lies in harmonising and keeping it all balanced and in equilibrium.

As a budget analyst I know exactly what goes into the account/credits and what comes out of it/debits. I have mastered the art of saving by spending less than ones income and it is directly affected by limited expenditure. See above. I can set you free from debts. It is Possible ! For more concrete advice I will only give that away when I am paid.

Hard sell

Shrek has to be praised for having courageously fought off the insistent door to door salesman trying to weasel his way into selling us a security system we do not need thus helping a damsel (Princess Fi aka moi) in distress from committing a fatal, fatal mistake.

I was silly beyond belief and fell into the trap of leaving my contact details on a 'supposed competition' and led the security system salesman to my house. Luckily Shrek was there to save the day!!!

Nein zager aka nay sayer + hard sell = NO DEAL

Amen to that...

Sometime it does pay to be cautious and to be 'Sviss', after all it might save one from falling into the trappings of 'empty or misleading' promises and signing a dead end contract.

Clowning around

One of the reasons I prefer my current abode compared to my old one is that the current one is about a 7 minute walk to the nearest shopping centre, library and theatre, community hall. The shopping centre has attractions and animations/spectacles all year round for kids. This was one such occasion.

I also love the rather reasonable and affordable prices of my local Coop supermarket.
Maybe I can start a 'radins club of M'. On second thoughts I would rather just keep my money saving schemes to myself. Long live the discounts and discounters. muchas amoras (this is probably incorrect but one gets my drift).

You get what you despise most!!!

Radin.ch is a web site that Shrek thinks is the perfect embodiment for me. I'd tend to agree... after all being frugal is a virtue these days especially after the worldwide financial crisis which swept the world and taught us all that bankers and traders should be the next têtes de turc. They really deserve the title with merit as greed and the insatiable desire to attain higher returns ended in catastrophic havoc.

One has to be careful with how one spends money nowadays as it has been a growing trend of late to buy smartly and get more for your money's worth as exhibited by the low-cost end of the spectrum encompassing airplane tickets: easyjet,jetstar..etc, cars-Dacia Logan and all No-frills consumables- Homebrand,M-Budget,Prix-Garantie...etc...etc

The gamut of spending dictates that one must not spend more than one earns if one is to stay afloat and debt-free.

For someone who is revolted by radins (stingy folks) Shrek's entourage (family, friends and acquaintances) seems ironically overflowing and burgeoning with radins galore. Such is life's luck hey Shrek? There is a Vietnamese saying which roughly translates to 'You always get what you detest' or 'You will be blessed with your anathema'.