The latest pandemic, Coronavirus, has put many lives into uncertainties. From working the same hours with less pay, working fewer hours with less pay, or even job loss.
Many young people go back to live with their parents as they can’t afford the rent. But what about those who already have family or living overseas? There’s no other choice than just to survive and be as frugal as possible.
Here are 10 tips on how to live in a survival mode.
1. Go to the Supermarket Once in Two or Three Weeks
Not only do you save fuel, but you also save time when you visit the supermarket less often.
2. Buy in Bulk
As widely known, toilet papers are the most commonly bought when it comes to buying in bulk during the Coronavirus pandemic. But when it comes to food, many people got lost in panic, focusing on taste and practicality (like instant noodles and highly processed food that have a lot of sodium or sugar) instead of health.
Therefore, the first thing to be aware of is the nutrition value instead of the taste or how fast we can cook them. Read these 10 tips on how to make better food choices.
3. Grow Your Own Food
If you’ve never grown anything in your backyard, perhaps this is the best time to get to know about it. No backyard? You can use pots and put the plants on your balcony. Carrots, lettuce, potatoes are among the easiest to grow. Visit these websites to read how to get started and 5 quick guides.
4. Only Cook One-Pot Meals Instead of Cooking Things Separately
This means cook carbohydrates, protein, and vegetables all together in one pot. For example, put everything like pasta or rice (carbohydrates), meat or beans (protein) and broccoli, cauliflowers, or other vegetables all together in a pan.
5. Make Your Own Bread or Rolls
Don’t ever buy bread or rolls. Make them yourself. Not only it’s cheaper, but it’s also fresher. Nothing is better than sniffing a warm bread aroma coming out freshly of the oven. Here are some easy recipes of no-knead rolls and whole wheat bread.
6. Replace All Drinks With Only Water, Tea or Coffee
This means, no more sodas (Coke, Pepsi, etc), cordial, and all the sugary drinks. Not just adding grocery expenses, they’re also unhealthy.
7. Mend Your Cloth
A tear in your cloth shouldn’t be a reason to buy a brand new cloth as you can easily fix it. If you have a sewing machine, great. You have to use it whenever you have any clothes to mend. But if you don’t have any machine, you can always mend your clothes with hand stitches. Here is how to mend a tear, sew a button, install a zip, repair a broken zip, and shorten your pants.
8. Make Your Own All-Purpose Homemade Cleaners
For the kitchen, simply put 4 tablespoons of baking soda in one-litre warm water.
For glasses, simply mix one part of vinegar and one part of water. Put them in a spray water bottle and use it as your normal glass cleaner.
9. Make Your Own Deodorizers With Natural Ingredients
Here are 9 recipes on how to make them, including house, room, carpet, pet, car and shoe deodorisers.
10. Cut Everything You Don’t Need
This means cut the use of electricity, ditch the big 5, reconsider the top 10 things to remove and be aware of false frugality. Most importantly, know the difference between wants and needs.
