Thursday, November 12, 2009

My Ten-Dollar Weekend

Start cracking those books, kids. Cutting coupons to buy groceries simply isn't fun. If there's a valid argument for studying smart to get into an economically viable course such as geology ( forget about medicine which is purely altruistic! ), it's that being poor actually sucks.

Seriously sucks. With my finances at low ebb after the Shanghai tsunami and the annual Christmas blowout just around the corner, I've been tightening the belt just a bit. Not forgetting the small fortune I've spent redecorating my new pad.

Yeah, my accountant's been calling non-stop.

For this month I might actually owe the credit card monster which is a scary thought since I have been pretty good about regularly covering all my expenses. Borrowing from my trust-fund baby ex seemed a possibility but I decided to save that for the times I actually need to outrun the creditors ( or ah longs are they are called here ). Even thought of having a garage sale. Pity I can't sell the pumpkins I'm growing on Farmville.

Fortunately I had my brother's endless lectures on financial frugality to remind me so I knew exactly what I had to do.

So I decided to scrimp and have my ten-dollar weekend. Fortunately I already have all the mundane essentials covered from laundry to housing rent ( cardboard boxes are hard to get! ) so I only needed to spend the remaining on supplies for the weekend.

So what do indigent bachelors ( well, sort of ) get up to on weekends?

Broke
Be charitable dammit!

Stay home obviously since petrol for the car costs! And it would stop me from giving in to the sudden impulse shopping bit. With Christmas decorations already up here for the past month, it would definitely be safe to avoid them. After all I already have my super-cheap economical Christmas tree at only thirty bucks.

Definitely no eating out for the day of course. Fortunately I have a surprisingly well-stocked pantry. You know those week-old leftovers? Just nuke them, pray hard that salmonella's only in the imagination and dig in. Nothing like mooncakes and peanut butter jelly cream crackers for lunch. Of course I try to splurge a bit for dinner which means my regular three-dollar kolok mee and tea.

Actually that only comes up to less than three so I can actually eat twice on a good day.

Then of course I accept any freebies given out. There's nothing quite like depending on the kindness of strangers! And with Fabulous Felix testing out his new oven, it's easy enough to just over to his soup kitchen. Of course standing in line with a rusted spoon clanging on the metal cup tends to lose its charm - but what's the poverty-stricken to do!

Care for a donation?

13 comments:

Bradley said...

maybe you can act straight and go to BrokeStraightGuys studio...
pls take it as a joke ;p

Legolas said...

Seriously, don't shame your family and take money from me before you die of malnutrition.

stargal said...

boil a big pot of barley / green beans / red beans that'll last u for 2 days. they're cheap. or better still, mix all 3 together... delish! that's practically my weekend staple! (but pls dun tell my parents! :P)

Anonymous said...

haiya phlissss ... ten ringgit is more than enough for a weekend ok! i tell u i even managed to spend tat much of money for many days.
here are my preparation for 'rainy days' :
1) always fill my food cabinet with dry food, chipsmore and noodles (with long expiry and can b nice food also) and,
2) always the small coins in the piggy bank and keep some cash notes hiding everywhere (in the books, drawers)
trust me im worse than u in term of financial management :P

Gratitude said...

Follow me, rummage the bins of Tesco or Giant. With luck, we'll even get organic stuff. :)

Bengbeng said...

porridge is always good for an emergency... just dump something in it for taste :)

Little Dove said...

I thought ten-dollar could get you 5 bowls of kolok mee over there. ;p

Twilight Man said...

OMG this Gratitude man rummage bins?? LOL!
Hey, my Christmas tree cost only RM12 and I am using it for the 3rd year! So what? Why don't you bake cookies and cakes as Xmas pressies?

Unknown said...

Well...ten dollars can buy you three good meals of mixed rice but if you know how to cook, better cook inexpensive meals like porridge, boiling thick green beans is rather healthy .....aiyah...how to donate to you???? your details please??? don't worry, i am no ah long...

said...

come on, let's go dig out some thrash bin behind those restaurant... maybe we can find some left-over~ hahaha

William said...

Set up a live camera feed. The donations will come rolling in...

conan_cat said...

the comments here made me laugh. xD yeah, why don't you consider BrokeStraightGuys? oh wait, you're not actually straight. :P maybe setting up a xtube account helps a lot. ;)

but yeah, surviving a weekend on 10bucks can really be challenge. i've locked myself at home with breads and pears and apples before. i survived, only to spend more money eating the week after, lol.

Anonymous said...

malnutrition? he? neva!