Vijay Basrur

Makeshift transportation device at polling booth

Makeshift transportation device at polling booth

Originally uploaded by Vijay Basrur

Guess this is for senior citizens. God save the ones who opt for this.

Retail Tactics

Our shopping happens usually only on a few days of the month. One of the places we frequent is a small store called Spinach in Mulund East since its close to my Mom’s place.We also frequent Mulund (E) to buy veggies & fruits since they are much fresher than anywhere close to our place. Spinach is where we buy other groceries since they accept Sodexho.

At Spinach 2 weeks back, I picked up chicken salami (from Prabhat Poultry) as there was an offer going on (6 bucks off on every packet, which is like 15%).

When we stopped by yesterday the offer was still on and I picked 2 packets this time but I casually glanced at the billing screen while the guy was billing the items. Turns out the 6 bucks was not being deducted. When I questioned him, I was told that the offer is not valid. I was like huh? You have a huge signboard which talks about the 6 bucks off. If the offer has expired, you should not have that board! He sheepishly agreed to do so.

What I have realised and I think we need to be more careful these days, especially in large self service stores, that if there is something you buy because of an ongoing offer, you better cross check it during check out. I am sure atleast 50% people don’t bother. Even I don’t bother sometimes. And that’s the margin that the retailer pockets because you fell for the discount trap!

So next time you pick a deal, make sure you check the bill.

Financial Management Woes

I have always been on the opposite end when it came to managing finances. And opposite of the side to prudent financial management. I have always seen my Dad, and then my brother, on that end.

My brother takes on from my Dad in being very meticulous not only about day to day finances (my Dad wrote daily expenses for years) but also about investments (Dad kept records of every FD and every share he purchased. Not only that he used to record dates of dividend payouts as well). My brother has been doing, if not as much as Dad, quite a bit of it himself as well.

I have always been of the opinion that “look at the overall picture” should be fine with the financial planning. I would occasionaly whip up a budget for myself (inflows, outflows etc.), get a rough idea how much I would end up with moolah in the bank and that would be it. I wouldn’t even bother to save the excel file. I did pretty OK.  Infact I still do. The only thing I keep a track of regularly is my equity investments (Thanks to ICICI Direct). I have tried my hand at a few thingies like MS Money, Buxfer, Mint etc. but never got down to being disciplined about it.

So a few weeks back my Mom poked me about how bad I am at keeping records (I am bad at filing bills/receipts etc. too) and lauded my brother (which was expected), I decided to check with my brother on how he manages to do that. Turns out he has a simple excel file that does the trick. Ofcourse this one only tracks daily expenses but gives an overview about your bank balances etc. He has a complicated one to manage his investments. The most amazing thing about tracking one’s expenses is that you can figure where you are spending money uselessly and the ones which are necessary (but you tend to forget).

Since the times are looking grim and I think it will be wise to make every penny count, I am going to give it a shot too. What better day to start than the start of the financial year.

Ironically its April Fools’ day too. Hope I don’t end up making a joke of this. Watch this space for more updates