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Save money by being less picky and be wealthier.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

"Aiyoh, this Kimball Chilli Sauce price is up again!"

I was at NTUC Fairprice doing some grocery shopping.

"Ya lor. Price keeps going up. Now, it is $1.55 for a small bottle." 

OK, I am not sure if it was $1.55 or $1.35 by now. Such is the state of my short term memory.

Anyway, it was a conversation between an old uncle and old aunty. They looked to be in their 60s.

"NTUC is too much! Always increasing prices!" The old uncle was relentless.


I was holding on to a bottle of NTUC Fairprice housebrand chilli sauce and debating whether to take 1 bottle for $1.05 or 2 bottles for $1.85 when I heard the exchange. There was a special offer going on and I have always been a bit of a sucker for special offers.

I wondered whether to tell the old couple that they should give the NTUC Fairprice housebrand chilli sauce a chance. It looked like it was twice the size of what they were thinking of buying and a third cheaper in price! More if they were to buy two bottles. For those of you who have not tried, frankly, the housebrand chilli sauce is not bad.

So, did I do it?

I was feeling a little under the weather today and one look at the couple, I decided to mind my own business. They had faces that looked like someone just stole their CPF money. Yikes!

I feel that it is unfair to accuse NTUC Fairprice of being too much in increasing the price when it is not a brand they have control over.

In fact, NTUC Fairprice do a pretty good job of offering good quality and value for money housebranded alternatives. Here are a couple of other examples I have at home:

Is there anything special about atas branded detergent?
Is there anything special about atas branded tissue paper?

We could save quite a bit of money without compromising on our quality of life if we are less picky. We would also almost certainly become wealthier and happier people in the process.

In case you are wondering if I bought one or two bottles of chilli sauce, I did the sensible thing and bought one bottle. It is going to take me quite a while to finish one bottle, after all.

Related posts:
1. Waste not, want not, save lots with Pasar brand.
2. A visit to Fairprice could teach us about stocks.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

A cheaper way is to use toilet roll for tissue paper. It is the cheapest, sure that will save you lot of money.

AK71 said...

Hi Unknown,

Actually, I use my handkerchief most of the time. I hardly use tissue paper. ;)

You can tell from the photo of the tissue pack in the blog post that it was bought during the Chinese New Year period (actually, before). I won't be surprised if the 4 packs last me a whole year. ;p

Sillyinvestor said...

Lol,

Ak, maybe one day when you are buying your gardenia bread someone will come to you and ask u to buy fair price bread.

imdna said...

Certain housebrand products are ok but some CMI eg. the coffee, butter.

But if fairprice listed, I sure wallop.

AK71 said...

Hi Mike,

Haha... I was wondering if someone would mention this. Actually, I did try their wholemeal bread before. Cheaper by a dollar. Too tempting not to try. ;p

How was it?

I blogged about it before. This was in 2012:

"NTUC Fairprice's house brand wholemeal bread is cheaper, if I remember correctly, but it is a bit dry and not as tasty."
See: Tea with AK71: Home made sandwich.

If I choose to buy atas Gardenia bread, then, I shouldn't complain about the price especially when there are less expensive options available. ;p

AK71 said...

Hi imdna,

Oh, yes. I agree with you. Some products cannot buy housebranded alternatives.

Remember to buy Cowhead brand organic rolled oats, butter and cheese, Farmland brand hashbrown and Gardenia brand bakes. ;p

I am lucky to be a NTUC Fairprice Co-op shareholder. I think they closed the membership already or so I was told.

Sillyinvestor said...

Actually AK,

I think Giant house brand for wholemeal is better than NTUC.

Maybe you can try...

Just that Jumbo size really a bit long to finish.

AK71 said...

Hi Mike,

Yes, I agree. Actually, that's the one I talked about in the link I provided in my last reply to you. Cold Storage and Giant sell the same one. Not bad. :)

Siew Mun said...

Occasionally I still buy Ben&Jerry to destress :-p

AK71 said...

Hi Siew Mun,

I cannot live without ice cream and chocolates! -.-"

I would buy Ben & Jerry or Hagen Daz when there are special offers in the supermarkets. $10 or less per tub? I grab. ;)


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