Welcome to Kanjoos-istan

Posted on April 27, 2011 Updated on April 27, 2011

Kanjoos means thrifty, frugal, bakheel, zu66, kanjoos. So you got it right. This note is a quick one on money matters because I need it more than anybody else.

1. Buy things on sale. Wait until the sale season or when people are clearing to buy your clothes, shoes, etc…also try to convince yourself that being out of fashion and having money in your pocket is always  better than being in fashion AND in debt.

2. Don’t buy things on sale. This might seem to contradict with # 1, but it doesn’t. Don’t  buy “things you don’t need” on sale. In other words, don’t fall into the “sale” scam, the “purchase-now-or-regret” scam when you know pretty well that you wouldn’t have bought that thing to start with – if it weren’t on sale.

3. Don’t change money because change disappears so fast. There’s a saying that goes like, take care of the fils and the dirhams will take care of themselves.

4. Save, save, save as though the financial crisis would have a meltdown tomorrow. And I say it again, save, save, save and if you can’t…”Save As…”

5. Don’t fall into marketers schemes to get your money. Watch your favorite shows on Youtube so you can skip advertisements. Plus they’re free.

6. The latte effect [and yes I am guilty of that, but check this out to know it’s ‘market research’]. But this is how the latte effect goes. Let’s say you spend 15 dirhams on coffee at carribou cafe every working day (I’m canceling weekend here). So that’s 75 dirhams per week, 300 dirhams per month, 3600 dirhams per year. Let’s say you keep this habit going for 5 years. That’s 18,000 dirhams.

Think of all the things you could have bought for that money if you weren’t a coffee addict.

The rest of the points are to be done at your own risk – and with people you’re close with ONLY (aka family).

8. Always get your brothers/parents to fill your phone credit. A famous trick is to send them a call request and if they’re smart enough they’ll get the point that you need credit,so they’ll fill your phone with as little as 5 dirhams….repeat process for the whole month (or the whole year).

9. When you go out, forget your wallet at home. Or don’t carry cash, only carry cards, and then go out for dinner at a place that you know doesn’t accept cards. So someone else ends up paying the bills.

10. Make them happy with small, small purchases like chocolates and milk…and they’ll make you happy with big, big purchases like fancy dinners out, and if you’re lucky enough…a car….

That’s it for today.

Ciao

P.S. I don’t always follow my own advice