Keep the Gate Open

GATE has revolutionized education in Trinidad and Tobago. Degrees are rampant all thanks to a move by government firstly in 2001 with the dollar for dollar programme then in 2004 with the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) programme. For the first time a lot of families can now boast of having degree holders. No longer are Degrees, Masters and PhD’s for a chosen few. Through this avenue, doctors, lawyers, business professionals and many others were produced. Something that to many before seemed unattainable was now a reality.

For 12 years we enjoyed it but like every good thing, it came to an end. Well in this case it didn’t end but the “gate” has closed in a bit. So what does that mean for the generation of students coming up? Yes, the gate is still open but to enter it, we have to put in a little something. Our children have a right to education too so parents have to make sure that they get it. And if we have to help the government, then so be it. We should be thankful that the entire financial burden of tertiary education doesn’t fall on us and the government is still assisting. Citizens from many countries around the world are not as fortunate as we are in T&T.

How do we then ensure that our children are not deprived? How do we keep the "gate" open? Start saving for college. We hear it all the time on American tv. Families have a college fund and it costs way more to get a degree in the US. We need to do the same. Start saving for your children’s education if you’re not already doing it. Who knows how long the existing GATE arrangement will last. It could get better or worse. Don’t chance your child’s future on a possible political decision. Save, Save, Save!!!

Classtube

“Daddy, I want to learn to play keyboard”. A decade or so ago I would have had to go searching for a reasonably priced keyboard class. Location, class times, transportation, teacher would all have to be considered and these a just a few of the issues that would need working out. But no more.

Welcome to the classroom of the 21st century. Classtube if you will.

We live in the information age. This is a mantra that I live by. I say it all the time to remind myself of it. It is so extraordinary that anything we want to know, anything we want to learn is at our fingertips. Information is easily accessible, convenient and instantaneous. The internet has changed the world. We need to embrace it and run with it.

Youtube.com is one of the greatest avenues for sharing that has ever been created. It is free to give and receive information. It can be your own personal tutor for diy home projects, repairing your vehicle, developing yourself academically or learning to play the keyboard.

If you didn’t understand the first time, you can go back and watch it again. If you don’t like the tutor, you can change him or her. You no longer need to spend money to learn the things you want to learn and even more than that, you don’t need to pay to get certain things done anymore. Just watch a video and you can do it yourself. Watch it, do it. It all adds up to savings.

How has youtube and the internet changed your life?

Making Market

Ahh yes! It is Sunday morning and I’m off to the market to get the usual. You know, green seasonings like celery, chive, shadon beni and pimento peppers. The only difference is I’m not going to the regular market but to my backyard to reap these from my kitchen garden.

A market list includes all these and so much more. Dasheen bush, ochro, hot pepper for the Sunday callaloo; carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber for the fresh salad…all of these add up to a fortune on a Sunday morning. And these are just a sample of the produce that we purchase at the market. 

These items however, can be grown at home in a small kitchen garden or in containers. Guides for doing this can be obtained here under "Publications". You can also check out the Growbox System at this link.

While space for planting may be a challenge, teaming up with a neighbour or two is an option worth considering. You can plant 4 or 5 different crops, another neighbour 4 or 5 and another the same and when the harvest is in, produce is shared. In total each family can enjoy 15 different items and save a lot of money. If the produce is extremely bountiful, you can even share with other friends and family members.
Are there any other crops that can be planted at home and end up on a trini plate? Drop us a comment and let us know what you intend to cultivate.

Old Thing Does Bring New

An old trini saying which basically describes the scenario where someone damages an old borrowed item and has to replace it with a new one. That’s not the scenario I’m describing here though. What I’m talking about specifically is using your old car to help subsidize the cost of a new one.

I’ve been driving a Nissan for the past 8 years and it’s about time I “upgrade” as everyone keeps telling me. My decision is not based on the hankerings of my friends though. The vehicle itself has reached the point where it is costlier to keep. Mileage on the litre has decreased, oils have to be changed more regularly and the normal tune up is now demanded more often than I would prefer.

I could sell the old girl but I’ve decided to make it a taxi and get a driver. This way the vehicle will take care of itself and provide some extra cash for my installment on a new vehicle. How much cash will it provide, you ask? Taxi drivers nowadays pay the owner an average of $200 per day for 6 days per week. That works out to around $5000 monthly and that’s being prudent. It can work out to as much as $6000 per month.

So what do you think? Can an extra 5 or 6 thousand dollars a month take care of your old car and purchase a new one? I’m willing to give it a try. How about you?

Christmas is Coming

“Ah cyah wait for Christmas. Oh gosh! Soca parang, sorrel, ginger beer, pastel, black cake”. Christmas is my season.

It’s a known fact that we trinis love to celebrate and one of our most favourite seasons is Christmas so a lot of us spare no expense in decorating and stocking up on drinks and food supplies not to mention spreading some Christmas cheer with presents.

The Christmas expenses though, have a way of adding up and creating what we call “guava season” come January month. For those who don’t know, guava season is our way of describing the difficult economic times that we find ourselves in as a result of our frivolous expenditure. December’s salary is usually paid before the 25^th of the month and the majority of trinis, captivated by the spirit of the season, spend it on Christmas expenses and find difficulty meeting their financial obligations in January.

Getting around this guava season can be a simple matter of spreading out the expenses. Rather than using the November and early December salaries to meet all the Christmas expenses, try spreading them out throughout the year leading up to December. Buy a case of drinks every month, a present each month or buy decorations during the year in the off season when they’ll even be cheaper. counting this month, we have 5 salaries before December so why not give it a try. Trust me, I did it last year and guava season didn’t come in 2016 for me or my family.

What other Christmas expenses can we take care of before the season actually starts?

Dinner and a Movie

What can we do to entertain ourselves and our families on a Friday or Saturday evening these days? A little lime has gotten so expensive!

Cinema tickets cost $35 to $45 at best. For a family of four we’re multiplying everything by 4. Four times the tickets, four times the food. It can get quite costly and while going out is an experience in itself and families look forward to it, there has to be some control with regards to how often we do it.

Dinner and a movie can be enjoyed at home for a fraction of the cost. There are so many delicious meals that can be easily and quickly prepared. A ‘finger licking good’ home-made fried chicken and mashed potatoes, oven-made pizza or a spicy Italian dish of spaghetti and meat balls. These are just some ideas but this site can help spark even more creativity.

Movies can take the form of a family flick on tv, cable if you have or a dvd or internet movie. There a number of internet movie sites such as putlocker.is, solarmovie.com, genvideos.com, just to name a few. There are also full length movies on youtube.com. In essence, there are options to entertain the family at a reduced price so that having family time doesn’t have to leave you broke.

Give us some ideas on what cost-cutting activities you and your family enjoy.

Walking For Health And Wealth

Recently the taxi drivers in my area increased their fare from $4 to $5. The residents in the community groused and voiced their disagreement and displeasure with the increase but the fare has remained. $5 for a 3 minute drive, good road and no traffic. Unjust in my opinion but that's the fare. We do have an option however.

I can recall walking out of my area to get to school as a child. The fare at that time was $1 yet children and adults walked morning and evening. Travelling was for bad weather, late hours or if you had baggage like groceries etc. The distances haven’t changed, the climate hasn't changed significantly but our behaviours have. Granted, depending on where you live, walking may not be an option but if it is, give it a try.
A half an hour walk on mornings and evenings will do wonders for your health and your wealth.

When last have you taken a walk with the children or the spouse? These days all we do is go for a drive, never a walk. Next time choose a cool, relaxing walk and save some money on that monthly fuel bill.

Bulk Up and Save

Make groceries in bulk. Capitalize on the savings that can be derived from buying in larger quantities. A good idea is to team up with other households like friends, neighbours or relatives and purchase the large case of milk that has 8 packs instead of 2 pack each.

I was surprised when I compared the price of an item at the supermarket against the price per unit in a case. The savings were as much as $3 per unit on a case with just 12 units. These savings add up especially if this is done for many items.

Not everyone can afford to buy everything in bulk and store away. Teaming up with other families reduces the initial investment required for bulk buying while still taking advantage of the savings that can be derived. Since bulk buying takes up space when transporting, an arrangement can be made where your family buys a few item, and the others do the same with different items. This makes the process equal for everyone involved and overcomes the challenge of transportation space.

What are some of the items that this can work with? 

Snacks For The Little Ones

When have you last had a tamarind ball?

As a child it costed 25 cents at the neighbourhood parlour but my favourite was when my mom made them. That way I could have all I wanted whenever I wanted and I didn’t have to sneak out 25 cent pieces from the old cash pan. It was always a big hit for me and my friends.

These days a tamarind ball costs $1 and they’re smaller than they used to be. The point is snacks cost a lot these days and with the kids home for “Ju-gust” vacation, it can become quite costly keeping them satisfied snacks-wise. The snacks at the parlour not only drains your pockets but they’re really unhealthy, pumping a lot of empty calories into our children.

So why not go back to your roots for the kids’ sake. I’m talking paw paw ball, sugarcake, fudge, suck-a-bag. These are just a few of the snacks than we enjoyed as children and are sure to be a big hit with our own children as well. Here's a photo of what we did this weekend.

Let us know what homemade snacks you enjoyed as a child. Share a recipe nah...

Prepare Breakfast...For The Week

Rushing out of the house on mornings is an all too common occurrence. No time to watch the news, have coffee or even have breakfast. How do we compensate? We listen to the radio news on the way to work, we drink coffee at the office and we buy breakfast. All of these are acceptable except for the “buy breakfast”.

One quarter of a sada roti or bake with a vegetable side can cost as much as $15 TT. If you’re like me, you need at least two so that’s $30 by 5 days for the week. If I do this, as well as my wife and daughter (they’ll have one quarter each per day), that would work out to $300 per week just for breakfast. Something is definitely wrong with that. Yes, doubles are an option but doubles every day for man, wife and child just isn’t right and can be quite dangerous.

Bhagi, patchoi, spinach, fried ochro, tomato choka, fried plantains, tuna salad, chicken paste, cheese paste, aloo (potato) choka, fried aloo, pumpkin, melongene choka, saltfish buljol, smoked herring, corned beef… These are some of the many sides that are available as breakfast options some of which can be self-cultivated (read my post Making Market).

The trick is to prepare five of them on Sunday evening, put them in bowls, refrigerate and use them throughout the week. You can get recipes here.

Dough for sada roti or bake is kneaded on the nights before they are required and refrigerated. Once that is thawed out the following morning, it takes just 5 to 10 minutes to have hot, delicious bake. Click here for help on making sada roti and get baking ideas on my other post. A few more minutes to make some sandwiches, pack them to go and you’re all set.

This way everyone is little fuller, even the wallet.

How much can you save by cutting out the “breakfast buying”?

Go On a Family Vacation

Family vacations cannot be undervalued. It is a time when the entire family gets to relax and enjoy each other’s company without being concerned with school or work or anything else for that matter. Being able take your family on a vacation is worth every sacrifice that is required for it to be possible. Whether you want to spend it in the United States, England, a Caribbean island or right here in sweet T&T, for some of us, sacrifices must be made. 

Instead of taking a loan and having to fit an additional financial obligation monthly for another year or two, why not start saving now for that worthwhile holiday? You can treat it like you’re repaying a loan now and every month set aside an installment towards your family “vacay”.

The benefit is, no interest to pay. Start saving to go to that destination you’ve always wanted to visit. Hit all the rides at Disney World in Orlando, visit family in England or take in all the scenes on that Caribbean cruise.

All this and more is possible with careful planning and diligent saving. So, give it a try and peak your interest without the intere$t.

What destinations have you been dying to visit?

Ital is Vital

Our main staples in Trinidad and Tobago are rice and flour. Most of our lunch menus are rice plus something with some form of meat or fish, and breakfasts and dinners are flour and a side. Producing your own staples can make a significant impact on the money spent on groceries each month by reducing the expenditure on rice, flour and other flour based products e.g. bread, bake etc.

This can be achieved by planting some root crops. These may include yam, cassava, dasheen, potato, sweet potato, beet root, just to name a few.

With very little effort you can have your very own self-sufficient staples garden in your yard. Here you will see all the crops that can be grown in Trinidad and Tobago.

For a detailed guide on growing different root crops you can click here and look under  “Root Crop Unit”.

I have already planted cassava and dasheen. Let us know what you intend to cultivate.

Tea Anyone?

We have developed the habit of buying processed tea bags for making our tea. Bags that contain the stuff that we as trinbagonians are so fortunate to have at our fingertips. Tea bags were designed for those who did not have access to natural leaves and herbs for making tea. Yet we who do, are using them more than the people it was designed for in the first place.

Cutting back on buying tea is yet another small step towards cutting back on that monthly food expense. The benefits of tea are endless from as basic as helping to get rid of gas to health benefits like reducing blood pressure.

Herbs and leaves that can be used to make tea locally are numerous. I’ve listed some of them below. Information on locally available tea plants is very limited so please comment with any additions that you may know of so that the list can be updated.

Tea can be made from; bayleaf, dried orange peels, soursop leaves, calabash leaves, ginger, garlic,

Do family budgets work?

The short answer is, Absolutely!

A lot of times we intend to do a budget and never get around to it. "I will do one next month"... sounds familiar?

I fell victim to this for many years and have suffered the severe consequences. Needless to say the benefits of a budget are numerous. Budgeting is used to gain control of available finances, assists in achieving financial goals, helps in making financial decisions in addition to others.

Within the last few months my family and I have been constructing monthly budgets and making every effort to stick to them. While it is often difficult to stick exactly to the plan, it still remains a good point of reference for financial performance from month to month. One important point worth mentioning is that a budget should be reviewed and adjusted regularly. My family does it on a weekly basis. Doing this reveals areas that require attention and helps to ensure that set goals are achieved.

Give it a try this month and let us know how it worked out. Click here to find a template for your budget.

Keep The Utilities Low

The only utility bill that we as trinbagonians can control really is electricity. I like TTEC’s slogan, “Electricity, a cost you can control”. From bill to bill, you can actually see the difference in usage and cost.

My family recently started using a clothes drier at our house and our electricity bill rose from $110 to around $200. Sometimes avoiding its usage can be quite challenging because of the hours that we have available for doing laundry so it becomes a necessity. But as long as you can curtail its usage, it can be a big help in reducing this bill. There are other measures that can be taken to keep the "light bill" down though.

Turn off the lights when you’re not using them. Turn off the television when no one is watching. Unplug the phone chargers when they’re not in use. People don't believe that empty chargers don't use electricity but they do and leaving them plugged in makes a difference. Plus, it is dangerous.

All of these contribute significantly to the electricity bill so do whatever you can to keep it down. Give us your ideas on what can be done to keep the utility bills down.

Get Those Baking Utensils Out

Baking bread can be a game changer and Sunday evenings just feel like a good evening for baking. It can even be made into a family affair where everyone who is able gets involved in the mixing and laying out, not to mention tasting.

We’re talking about sweetbread, cake, cookies, coconut drops and then there are coconut bake, hops and oven bake. These are items that will last for at least the week once stored properly. They can be used for breakfasts, lunches, dinners and as snacks so you won’t need to worry so much about meals. They are healthier, more satisfying and making them costs way less than buying them or buying anything else for your meals.

Give it a try and let us know how it works out. Share some of your latest baked creations with us. For sides to go with your breads and bakes check out my post on breakfast.

Squeeze to Save

Like any typical trini, I love a good, ice-cold glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice on one of those scorching days here in trinbago. Not too sweet and just strong enough that I can taste the slight acidity of the grapefruit. Aaaaah!

We grew up drinking a variety of natural juices like orange, lime and lemon, passionfruit, even cashew. These were made at home without the use of any of the sophisticated equipment that we have nowadays.

These days we choose to buy Trinidad Fresh, Orchard, Fruta, Minute Maid, Barefruit. We have developed artificial tastes for artificial products that, "contains real juice".

We live in the tropics, the Caribbean, where fruits are endless and at any time of the year there are at least one or two fruits in season, yet, we choose to drink juices that came from a lab with yellow #5 colouring and this additive or that preservative.

The fruit juice industry is a thriving business, the number of different brands popping up is evidence of that. We, the consumers, are making this business as profitable as it is by turning away from what we grew up doing, what we were used to. And it is costing us financially. Besides being healthier, natural juices can save you a lot of money. Plant a few miniature fruit trees in the yard. What about a cane "patch"?

Local fruits that can be used to make juice include; mango, cashew, barbadine, soursop, tamarind, sorrel, water melon, pommecythere and all the citrus fruits.

When last have you had a glass of natural, unprocessed home-made juice? Don't be afraid to add to my list by commenting below.

Small change can mean Big money

I’ve recently started making an effort to save money through a conventional yet somewhat forgotten method, the Piggy Bank or as we trinis call it, Cash Pan.

As a child I kept a cash pan which would securely keep 25 cent pieces collected over the period of a year. At Christmas time each year I was allowed to 'bust' that pan open and purchase any toy that I could afford. This was my parents' way of teaching me to save while also giving me an appreciation for the rewards of saving. I remember being so excited to find out just how much money was accumulated over the time.

The dynamics of using the cash pan haven’t changed. Coins that are neglected in the household cannot be of benefit unless they are collected and put to use. I searched throughout the house, every cupboard and draw, the car, my wallet and not to mention my wife’s many handbags. The quantity of coins recovered was overwhelming. Since then, I have assigned special pans for coins at home and my family and I have made a conscious effort to use them.

Here's a pic of my homemade cash pans

In the period of one month, we’ve collected over $30 in 1 cent pieces alone which would normally have been disregarded. That is $30 cold, hard cash.

 I challenge you to start collecting your coins. In the post, Are you throwing your money away?, Alicemhalls commented that she has a mini suitcase full of coins.

Tell us how you intend to save your coins. Share a photo of your stash.

Are you throwing your money away?

I went to the supermarket and the bill came up to $68.98. I paid with $100 and was given $30.00 change. With 5 customers in line behind me, I politely protested to the cashier, “This change isn’t correct”. 

He turned to me with a most confused look.

I then continued, “You have two cents for me still”.

He shook his head with a grin and delivered the balance of my change. Yes there were smirks and mumbling in the line but should that hinder me from requesting two cents of MY money?

How many times have you left without full change? Leaving 2, 3, 5 even 10 or 25 cents on the counter adds up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars over time. Even if the change is given, a lot of us just leave it behind.

“Give me a dinner mint with the change nah”, a famous request at the cashier’s counter.

Cents add up and can make a tremendous difference in the long run, even 1 and 5 cent pieces. When battling difficult economic times, every little counts. Make an effort to ask for your correct change and if you are uncomfortable doing that, then only buy where exact change is given. There are businesses that deliver exact change, choose them once possible.

Don’t underestimate the power of coins. Don’t squander them. My dad had a saying, “drop by drop does full the bucket”. Keep that in mind.

How much money have you thrown away over the years?

Sense for Dollars

What does it really mean to have sense when it comes to your hard earned money?

Disposable income has increased over the years, luxury items are too numerous to name and wonton wastage of money prevails. Whether you are strapped for cash or you are one of the fortunate few that swim in the stuff, being sensible with your money is not such a bad idea. I’m not saying that you have to be a miser or be “lower than the white line on the road” but saving the pennies where possible makes spending on other things possible.

This blog is all about doing just that. The ideas and suggestions posted here are not intended to be used by anyone all the time, even though it is possible. 

However, they are presented so that at least some of the times they can be put into the mix of our lives and if necessary can make all the difference that may be needed at the time.

So I invite you to visit my blog, add to your knowledge and whenever possible, share whatever knowledge you may have when it comes to, Sense for Dollars.