plan postponed

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One of my friends who is in the F&B industry has big dreams of getting his 2 restaurants up to speed so he can start franchising out the business. That’s been his plan from day one when he and his wife started their first restaurant.

But now looking at the economy, he tells me he may just have to defer his plans to farm out his business on a franchise basis. There are not many right now who are willing to take the financial risk of starting a new business.

He will have to focus on building his existing business and hopefully be ready to do the franchising bit of it when the economy recovers.

break the impulse buying habit

I’ve barely done any ‘real’ shopping since Chinese New Year. Not bad, eh, for my efforts at cutting back and spending less in the face of this recession that’s just beginning to hit us!

I remember those times when I’d come back with a carload of shopping bags after having spent a day at the mall and eating so much that my diet pills were never very far away.

Now I’m more careful when deciding what I need to buy and what’s nice to buy. Impulse buying is a hard habit to kick if you’re a shopaholic like me.

But it can be conquered if you just step out of the shop for a few minutes and tell yourself you’ll come back if you can’t find a similar item for less at another store.

When I use this trick on myself, chances are I will either forget about the item or I will no longer feel the urgency to buy the item. It works for me. Try it!

yikes, how dangerous!

I love driving and sometimes on a whim, I would grab the kids and drive into the city. It’s cheaper than shopping unless we decide to pop into the downtown shopping malls which, by the way, are always beckoning to us!

The other day, while driving home from the city, we heard a cracking sound. Thinking I’d probably run over a bit of litter on the highway, I didn’t think much about it until I noticed the alerts on my dashboard lighting up.

Later I found out that one of my engine belts had snapped and my radiator tank had cracked and the fluid had all leaked out. OMG, what a shock! We could’ve met with an accident and ended up in cervical collars!

Good thing we managed to reach home without incident! I’ve had my car sent in for a full inspection today *shudders*!

learning to exhale

It hasn’t been a good past week. First off, there’s the ridiculously slow internet connection we’ve been having which means I got practically nothing done over the past few days.

I would normally have gone shopping to relieve my stress. Instead I’ve been having car problems, and of course, the intense morning heat and the torrential evening downpours haven’t helped at all.

Now times are bad so I can forget about even the most remote dreams of hopping on any European cruises to get away from it all. I’ll just have to learn to exhale instead. Om!

the sales are still on but …

There are usually no sales at this time of year. All the stores would’ve reaped in their big money during the festive season. But I notice this year, the sales are still on full-scale!

Even the big stores like Robinson’s, Parkson and brand names like British India and FJ Benjamin are slashing prices left and right. But frankly even with the discounts, many folks are keeping their wallets closed and not willing to spend.

A friend of mine, for instance, who used to be quite a shopaholic, has now gone on a frantic admin job search since her husband lost his job. And someone like her will definitely be holding back no matter how much she loves to shop!

She has 2 school-going kids and money is really tight so she is forced to think twice before spending. Reality sometimes sucks big time, doesn’t it?

in the company of love… and food

Tell me Valentine’s Day is about love (and sweet music), not food. But “If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it so that surfeiting, the appetite may sicken and so die”, so says Shakespeare.

I love Shakespeare but I’d love even more to be out there surrounded by New York Restaurants and playing out my own version of “Shakespeare in Love” (remember that movie?) complete with violin solo and all .

Okay, I’m only dreaming. I won’t be celebrating simply because I’m loving the people I love every single day of the year, not just on Valentine’s, so I guess that sorta disqualifies me.

Nevertheless, Happy Valentine’s Day to all who will be out tonight in the company of love… and food !