Enlightened Individual

Previously I mentioned briefly about shopping; in particular not to go buying each day; but instead buying in larger batches.

What I should have advised back than, which I normally do, but which slipped my mind while writing is of course the most obvious thing to do prior going to the shop: Always make a shopping list. And stick to it. Don’t make exceptions to buy groceries or items that are not in your list.

This is a valuable tool to use to save you from additional expenses. Write down what you need; ask yourself if you really need these items and buy them. Do not buy things that are not in your list. When you write a list you could also add which place you can get the item cheapest. It’s a nice exercise; and will make you aware of where the best place of shopping is.

Another good trick is to start making homemade dishes; there are a bunch of books out there on how to create good meals from almost nothing. If you want to save some money; you could check out your local library to look for cooking books suitable for you.

I know how easy and nice it is to buy these prefabricated meals; and yes; you might save some time on using them. But you would save both money and give you better health if you educate yourself a bit on cooking simple and cheap meals at home.

The prefabricated meals often contain chemicals to preserve and give artificial tastes. These chemicals are not always the best for your body. I believe a lot of the overweight problems we see today come from using chemical sweating added to soda or other food we buy. I think a lot of us would be better off preparing the food ourselves with natural vegetables and meat instead of these premade solutions. I am sure if we all educate ourselves better to create homemade food we would save both our health, and benefit financially.

I am also aware a lot of people out there is playing the lottery and hoping for the big win, saving them from the financial situation they are in today. Please don’t it to yourself. The chances of you winning are practically zero; and you are just wasting your money. Instead use some of the lottery money to pay bills as I suggested in the first posting. WAKE UP!! It’s much better if you regain control of your life. I will also start writing a bit on possibilities to earn some additional money online; but if you have a hobby like playing guitar, sewing etc you could start small businesses at home. Teaching others to play instruments or sewing dresses or fixing clothes for others. Use your talents to earn you some additional money.

Stop waiting for the big win you probably never will get and start acting to get financial sercurity.

-Kentaki-

In our last post we looked briefly upon brands and not buying more than we really need; but still not be too cheap if it is something we use a lot, and give profit with saved time, or problems with a broken item.

I also briefly mentioned that I use the computer a lot; I would also give an advice for those who use the computers some. Instead of using pirated software or buying expensive software you should have a look at open source software as an option.

In some cases you could do fine with GIMP instead of adobe Photoshop, you could do fine with OpenOffice, instead of Microsoft office etc.

I have a dual boot computer where I use both Linux and Microsoft Windows. I often find the compilers better for Linux than I do for commercial options for Windows, but I still like to be able to use both operating systems as I find both having strength and limitations. I also often write my documents in OpenOffice, but do the spell checking in Microsoft’s office system.

I believe you can save a lot of money by learning about open source options; and I believe them in some instances to be safer to use than commercial products.

The reason I believe open source might be more secure is simple; when people have the chance to view the code they are also able to detect and report security flaws. While using closed source you are limited to trust the engineers of the company. I am sure most people understand how code viewed by thousands of people might be more secure than something viewed by a few security engineers in a company.

Of course, even I know that there are limitations to open source, sometimes we get more of what we need from a commercial product; I am only saying that you as a person, and companies around the world might save lots of expenses to computers if they take the time to evaluate open source products as well.

And for those who wondered; open source and free software don’t always mean it’s free without having to pay for it. You might have to pay to use a commercial edition, or pay for the services. The free we find in open source is often meant as free and open source code; you are able to have the freedom to modify the source code, and distribute it to your friends. But most open source projects do not ask their customers for any payment and is also free without having to pay for it.

-Kentaki-

In the last post we briefly talked about reducing shopping, thinking if really need what we are buying, and avoid buying items that we only buy because we are there; but having no need for or not planned buying.

I also briefly talked about my last section about me buying a new phone. There is another thing you should be aware of when buying a phone; some companies sell phones to a reduced price if you choose to use particular subscriptions from a phone company. Keep in mind; they are not selling you a cheaper phone; they fool you to pay the phone through the subscription. The subscription might eventually be more expensive than paying a normal subscription, and the full price of the phone. Please be aware it is hidden prices in subscriptions when you get an offer of much reduced price on a phone.

It is also smart to prepay callings; many phone providers sell you cards to refill your account. This will give you more control over how much you spend on your mobile phone. You might often use more than intended if you use a subscription where you pay after you have made the calls.

It might also help you avoid people getting hands on your phone to call expensive services of any kind.

Next on the list are of course brands. When we buy we are often influenced by marketing campaigns and pay more money than we really need for a product. This is valid for food, but also for computers and clothes as well. I would guess clothes would be most important in this context. We often look at brands celebrity’s uses, and we buy a product for 10-20 times of how much we need. But do these brands really give better quality than other? Do they give something more? Most often the question is no; we simply pay additional for the brand itself.

I am not asking you to buy the cheapest alternative; but to look carefully on every option you find. If its something you don’t use often you can buy the cheapest option, if it’s something you use often you should buy something of more quality; but we still don’t look at the brand alone.

I mentioned I just bought a cheap mobile phone. Probably the cheapest available; but it was because I didn’t want a camera or mp3 player. I don’t think it reduce the quality not having these features. But when I bought my last computer I probably paid more than I should; but for a simple reason; I would use it for image processing and software development, and therefore found a computer with stronger processor, and more RAM than ordinary computers. So I simply choose more expensive computer since it could reduce time when used the computer. I am not saying always choose the cheapest; but to evaluate what you really need before you buy it.

-Kentaki-