Money saving tips from Roni

For those of you who have been following my blog since I first arrived in France, remember when I had to go grocery shopping and I was complaining about how expensive food is in France?
Well, I have stopped converting every euro to RM since the conversion gives me a panic attack everytime but I find that for certain items I still do need to multiply by 5 (euro to RM) for me to gauge the value of things. For example, I nearly bought Lucas a wooden baby highchair (don't ask me why OK, since he doesn't even sit in his current highchair anymore...., it was an impulse thing - I saw the chair, it was aesthetically pleasing and I could imagine Lucas sitting in it, although getting him into the chair would have been a struggle but I didn't think about it at that time...)
Back to the highchair. For a moment I nearly called Fred to tell him about the chair (good thing I didn't...) and I remember telling myself that its such a good buy and so cheap at 129... but then I woke up and remembered that its 129 EUROS and not RM. That switch took more than 3 minutes tho' cos I was distracted by the chair. I was already thinking about how I was going to bring the boxed chair to the car when I realized I made a mistake.

Anyway, I wanted to share some money saving tips I picked up in my last 6 months here. Before some of you start laughing at me, FYI I am not exactly living the life of a "tai tai" here in France since "Tai-Taidom" involves full time maids, sleeping til noon and shopping everyday with the weekly mahjong session thrown in. In the first place even if we could afford a maid, where will I find 3 other tai tais to play mahjong with me????? :)

OK, here is what I learnt:

Make Grocery Lists. Plan weekly meals and take a list with you to the grocery store. Fred was drumming this into me since the first day I arrived. In KL, we didn't need to make any lists and would just buy whatever we wanted and we'd go to TMC every couple of days which is also not fuel efficient. It has been proven that people spend less money when they make and follow a list. The key word here is "follow the list". Its easy to get distracted and start dumping in other stuff that caught your eye. Both Fred & I are so easily distracted, we end up buying more and busting our monthly grocery budget. Also, do not go to the grocery when you are hungry!

Stop Eating Out! Going out to eat is expensive here in France! Of course this rule of thumb does not apply to Malaysia - how I miss the mamak stalls, the "tai chow", the hawker centers, Chili's, Marmalade and Delicious...
Even though groceries cost a lot of money, its still cheaper than eating out all the time. Also, when you cook meals at home, you can make them healthier for your family. Use leftovers to pack lunches for work. I usually cook more so we will have the same food for lunch the next day (this is also so I don't have to cook twice a day... )

Do not throw out the "publicites" just yet. Use them to familiarize yourself with which stores are having specials and which ones offer Buy One Get One Free so you can maximize savings.

Buy in Bulk. I found the fresh meat here in France expensive and after I complained about it in my blog, my aunt emailed me and taught me to buy more when they are on sale and freeze them. I have been buying pork chops from LeClerc (15-18 pieces for 9 euro) chicken breasts and fillets from Carrefour (6 pcs for 7 euro), beef steaks from either LeClerc or LIDL for under 2 euro a piece, frozen tiger prawns (LeClerc sells frozen tiger prawns from Malaysia, 30 pcs for 5 euro) - I was sceptical about the frozen prawns at first but after I tried them, they are as good as the fresh ones. Buying in bulk allows you to get a better price on food and household items.

Recycle or make your own toys! Lucas has so many toys he doesn't play with these days. He likes to go into the kitchen and play with the pots and pans instead. Start an arts & crafts session with your toddler instead of buying him a new toy. Lucas and I have started doing paper chains for our Christmas decorations. He happily shows his fruits of labor to his papa and is also more contented that I am spending more time with him.

Stop doing the laundry so much. Some pieces of clothing (jeans, jackets and sweaters) do NOT need to be washed each time you wear them, especially if they are layered over some other piece of clothing. If you are able to hang your clothes outside to dry, choose this option. Unfortunately for me I need to use the dryer everytime I do my washing. Make sure you wash FULL loads only. I remember my mom telling me that my maid was using the washer even for 3 or 4 pieces of Lucas' clothing and that really irked her.

Create & follow a monthly budget. There are internet tools available online to help you keep account of your monthly budget.

Plant your own vegetables. If you have a garden why not transform a part of the garden into your own vegetable patch? Every small change can save you money and in this case, planting your own vegetables can help you save (in my case it would be 0.75 for the lettuce - we consume 1 a day, 0.30 for 2 tomatoes, 0.50 for a cucumber, 0.70 for a green/ yellow pepper)

Do you have any other money saving tips? Feel free to add your suggestion to the list above.