Cost cutting time!!!!!

With all corporates adopting various cost cutting processes and the economy taking one of its worst slides ever , we are in a state of "Cash is King!!". In such a situation managing an household is equally challenging. With me being a new entrant to the state of "kudumbastan" and having been brought up to live more luxurious living, the following are some stiff measures that I have decided to adopt to save myself a few penny :) [ Note : These are just guidelines for me to follow and not an advise to anyone.. as usual documenting it here :) ]

1. Keep Swipes away!! - Fallen pray to one of the most stupidest marketing techniques, I had once been forced to say an "Yes" to a credit card vendor and since then the tight coupling had started. The freedom(so-called) provided by these cards has put me too into the vicious circle of swipe in temptation, puzzled as how to pay it back convert to an emi , realize the loss incurred in paying in intsallments suddenly and again pay back somehow and again swipe and the circle goes on... Hence no room for temptations anymore. First oath I take is to STOP swiping the card completely. Anything to be bought buy with "actual cash" (or debit card may be) and not with the virtual money that this CC provides.
2. chennai trips!! - For the homesick boy that I am , getting used to these unplanned trips to hometown has become more than a habit to me ( and now for us). Firstly because the trip is unplanned you don't get tickets and hence its either a tatkal or by bus (volvo :P) -- the costlier ones. The ric journey to and from stations in both the cities - thanks to the location of my residences in both , the auto cost is equal to (if not more ) than the normal train fare from Bangalore to chennai. So the measures on this front..
   • Reduce the trips to chennai ( decide based on need say an important wedding to attend etc)
   • Plan it well so that we get tickets in train
   • Difficult, but still try and use public transport as much as possible
   • More importantly use debit ( and not credit) cards to book your tickets
3. Multiplex culture!! The multiplex culture has impacted majority of youth and I am no exception. Picking up some of the most ordinary flicks, booking tickets online( again swipe :D ) , popcorn plus pepsi during interval ( I cannot settle for anything less than a Jumbo-combo you see :))) and again after the flick a dinner( italian, swiss, continental... !!) to finish things off adding some extra fat to the tummy and some extra debt to be cleared in next CC bill ( or another flexi pay -- emi option may be??) . The measure is to cut on the multiplex cost, confine oneself to the DVDs and reduce the trips to multiplex immensely.
4. Communication Kills!! Its essential we have communication skills but the modern day cost of communication kills!!. The measure is to cut down on vetti chat calls, forwarding of jokes, setting of hello/caller tunes. Use phone only for communicating. Be precise and convey what is required and cut down on time of the calls. Opt for the basic packages when it comes to internet connections , when broadband packages were offerred I was particular about the high speed conns( 2 Mbps, unlimited download etc) ,simple reason being I should be able to connect remotely from home and work :P , but obviously for the lazy boy that I am I rarely do that. And when I do it can be done with a low speed connection.
5. Walk : Both for health and for pocket its always good to walk. Always prefer walking to vehicle when the distance is walkable , atleast the environment will have few ppms of CO less :)
6. Provisions, vegetables and Milk: Would never have been applicable to me 4 months back , but now these three are the most incurred expenses. The measure is to buy vegetables and provisions in bulk( provisions once a month and vegetable once for a week may be) . Buy vegetables from vegetable market , it should work both cost effective and qualitative. And get a milk card or coupon for milk may be..

Apart from these the usual ones that apply to everyone switch off lights, geysers etc when not in use... blah blah.... but ultimately let me see if I can be left with some cash in hand at the end of the day!!!