Day 48: Being Thrifty

Free dessert. It has a good ring to it. My cousins and I went to a Chinese restaurant tonight and they offered us free dessert after our meal. We had our dinner and our tofu pudding but we still had room for the free dessert. It was free, we will take it.

I learned from my parents at a young age to be thrifty. It was while they were teaching me the value of money that they also taught me about being thrifty. I grew up in the ghetto part of Vancouver and my parents worked all the time to support us. They had to stretch every dollar they made. We played with what we had in our surroundings, no expensive toys. Shopping at Army and Navy was a lesson on money. If your $15 can be spent on a pair of shoes at Army and Navy and you see a similar pair elsewhere for $50, you really think about if its worth spending $50 on the pair of shoes. Of course you think about the quality of the shoe and depends on how often you wear the shoes.

I notice when I go shopping for clothes I'm very picky. I'm picky because I don't like spending alot of money on clothes. It has to fit me well, look nice and be affordable for me. (The 'affordable for me' is the most challenging part.) I don't like expensive brand name clothes. I think it's a complete waste of money (unless you can get the same item for 75% off). The sales like 'buy 1 get 1 free', 'get 50% off' or 'clearance' always sucker me into the store. When I was in California last spring, I went outlet shopping. There I bought lots of stuff that was 'afffordable for me'. I had to pay the extra fee cause my luggage was overweight on my flight back to Vancouver .

I like the Entertainment Book. It encourages me to spend money on places which I don't go very often. I especially like the restaurant section. But I should take advantage of the Attractions section of the book. There are coupons I would like to use like the corn maze and the aquarium. One time I went out to dinner with someone and he was very embarrassed about using one of the coupons. That was the only time I have encountered someone like that. I don't understand why anyone would be embarrassed with saving money.

I think it is in the Asian blood to be thrifty. We try to get the 'value' in everything. If its free, we will take it. If we get a free gift to sign up, we will sign up for the gift. If it's 50% off, we will try to get a better discount. If its 2 for 1, we will buy it and save the other one for another day. If there are no prices or at the night markets, we will negotiation a cheaper price. If there is a 50% discount if we bring someone, we will bring the friend along just to get the discount.