Glenn Beck the other day and wondered at my deja vu post! Glenn Beck was talking about Asians who save money (read Cheap) and take care of their elders. Its in their value system he said and that is what will help them through the economic crisis he said! Toodle Dee... (I am cheap and proud.. so do you think I will sail through the crisis too? Even if my bank is reluctant to give me money.. more on that to follow)Economic crisis... I turn on the TV and its all over the place.. whats more we just have too many news channels talking about the same thing.. over and over again. I stood there holding my ears waiting for the world to come crashing down on my head.. quick turn off the light..lets save some money I moaned!
And the hype.. aah the hype.. the media keeps talking about the great depression and the bread lines scaring me even more.. not to mention the impending oil crisis.. I just cant sleep at night.. I keep counting my pennies. I call the bank up and ask them to send me some money. Why they ask.."So I can spend it" I respond! What money? Its all down the stock market drain they say! Or worse.. what bank? BEEEEP!
And whats more we at North Carolina are in the midst of an oil crisis. Deja Vu? No merely some broken oil lines due to Hurricane Ike we are told. Just how long will you say that?
Cars stand in
lines on the road screaming "OIL" OIL" OIL". So yesterday M worked from home.. you know how well that went.. we were rushing off last evening to join the cars in the oil hunt.. we struck gold in about 3 miles.. but just the fact that we were out to fill gasoline as a family shows 1. our solidarity, 2. we are all bored and jobless, 3. We are all egging to send M back to office! Whichever it was that triggered action in our otherwise procrasinating household, the gas tank is full again and M is back at work! Phew! Cheeky is back to his non stop talking.. sigh!!The one person unaffected by the economic crisis is my son.. Last night he was seen flying a plane to pizza hut.. when I was bemoaning the crisis, my son reassured me "Don't worry momma, we are rich.. lets take the plane to pizza hut".. whatever gave him that idea?.. maybe we just buy him too many presents!
Aside: Istockphoto seems to have a good handle on the crisis.. just see the pictures!
The need of the day.. I need to do a course dumpster diving 101.. anyone want to help me out here? Some of you commented to my previous post about the thrill of bargaining.. and that is something I need to learn. Bargaining for dummies, is a book I have to read! So far I am no good!
Some people are born to strike the best bargains. Everywhere they tread, they can haggle their way to financial freedom! I am not one of them! I saw evidence of this in a movie once (Sindhu Bhairavi) were an actor says "if I don't reduce at least 25 paise on your price I can't sleep tonight"... although I presume that the effect must be quite heady, I just can't win a bargaining war! One of my uncles loves to strike a bargain.. so every time we go shopping for the big stuff we beg him to come along.. saves us a pretty penny!
I listen to the bargaining tales with a lot of fascination though. A friend once told us about how she struck a good bargain with the car dealer. Ours sold us a Camry and a few thousands worth of "added benefits" to keep the "interest rate we were getting". We sneakily canceled the benefits later.. but the fact that we could not talk our way out of it should tell you that we suck at bargaining. This friend went to the store to buy a premium SUV. The SUV came with a DVD player (part of the package). But she argued that she did not need one.. remove it and give me a discount she claimed. So the dealer gave her the discount and let her keep the DVD player too. I listened with my jaws wide open of course!
My tryst with bargaining was limited to the streets of TNagar and Bangalore's commercial street! I can safely say I never struck a brag-able deal! For all my talk, I can just not bargain! I have tried only once too often with the auto walas in Chennai and Bangalore. In my
hometown Coimbatore there is no haggling with them.. they are an immovable lot.. you pay the exorbitant amount of money or just choose other means of transportation! However the auto walas in Chennai and Bangalore are a little more amenable to haggling! And every time I get a raw deal! There was this guy who once brought us home in his auto from the railway station. He had spoken to us (my mom and me) in local rickshaw waala Tamil. So we presumed that while he might catch some of English numbers, he will definitely not figure Hindi out! And sure enough I kept watching his face in the rear view mirror not a flinch! So I told my mom "Saat rupai dethe hein" (Lets give him 60 bucks). Safely deposited at home, the guy turned around and told us "Nahin chalega madam, assi rupai dheejiye" (Wont work Madam, give me 80 bucks). I was of course speechless, his Hindi was a lot better than mine and I had been tricked yet again! Needless to say the guy walked away with his 80 bucks or was it a 100? How am I to know.. I was dazed and confused! (By the way.. these days it is 120 bucks for the same distance.. boy am I growing old!)That my friends is my bargaining power.. so if I hope to save any money I am in dire need of lessons! I promise not to blog about it , anyone game?
(img : http://www.literacy.lancaster.ac.uk, http://sfbay.redfin.com)
[No coming up section this time.. I might just have to rename it "Running Late" like the Indian trains or American airlines!]
11 comments:
Plne to Pizza Hut! Lol! :)
I suck at bargaining, too, so if you get some good pointers, pliss to share!
lol...
good one preethi...
and i suck at bargaining too...:(
My barganing skills or lack there off was most evident when I was vegie shopping in B'lore madiwala market. After I bought a dozen Bananas and paid for it, the woman gave me two more and said 'here keep these' That shows how good my bargaining was...
LOL!I totally agree bargaining is a talent in itself and I suck big time at it. So don't ask for pointers from me. I had a friend who once managed to sell every single thing she owned double the money and what's more she even sold her tv to the taxi driver who was helping her transport her luggage to the airport. Now that's some talent isn't it? Maybe I should go ask her. I promise to share the pointers if I manage to get some:)
I can see this happening :
Lets take the plane to pizaa hut mommy
What plane ?
The imaginary plane , we walk and say whooosh whooosh :P
Lol, everyone fails to bargain with auto man . . .My newest tactic is look at the faces of the auto man , (very rarely)you find someone with a really gullible look on his face . Climb onto his auto refuse to get down , tell him you will pay him only that much all through the auto ride. He gets sick of hearing your voice and accepts the money ! worked a time or two. . . .
MM - Yeah Plane to Pizza hut.. imagine how rich I must be!!
Suma - Join the club :)
Nomad - haha.. join the club.. has happened to me too many times :)
Fuzzy - please do... follow your friend around will ya?
Vish - you must be hard pressed for cash.. if you talk over the sounds of traffic.. not to mention the spluttering auto while holding on to the auto in a death grip as it throws you around.. I can never open my mouth once I am in it :)
lovely , like always!
A good start for the day! :)
I wrote a long post and then hit enter, and it gave a freaking error. Am wondering whether I want to type it out again
I think buying and returning something is not bargain hunting. Thats abusing the system.Because of such people, Target, Costco and other retailers have come up with such stringent rules.
Now, I am a bargain hunter. I use Price matching rules to get Bestbuy to match Walmart. I lurk on slickdeal.net and buy pretty decent stuff.
Like the kitchendaid stand beater, its normally costs $250, Lowes had a pricing error and I called and ordered it for $150. The Dyson vacuum for $200, 50% off retail. When AT&T was clearing out their first Gen iphones, I got one as well. That's called getting a bargain..Hmm seems like most of my bargains, are electronics or gadets. Yeah I am not a handbag or purse kind of girl.
PS;I was on Shilpa's blog and she wrote about moving,as did you..I am moving in 3 weeks. I will write my post about the various international moves I have and we 3 can award ourselves LOL
ROTF! :D
I have this syndrome, when I bargain (which is very rare, of course) and if they give away immediately i will be too worried if its really worth the value i paid. I will end up saying to myself a dozen times that i shud ve asked for much lesser :(
I gave you, Shilpa and myself an award. Just because..:)
PG - Thanks
Sraikh - Wow.. you rock girl.. thanks for the tips!!
Vivek - I do the exact same thing.. I believe I am always way above the right price!!
Sraikh - Thanks so much!! :)
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