Here’s a simple hack that will save you a couple of dollars here and there, even if you only do it once a year.
During the Chinese New Year festive period, retailers have a habit of jacking up prices of everything because (and here’s where you hear the common refrain) “一年一次啦!”. So poor consumers cave in and buy stuff at a premium. But there’s really no reason why you should continue to fall into this trap, especially when times are bad.
Take for instance those CNY goodies like pineapple tarts, peanut cookies and what not. $10 (or more) for a small tub may not be much, but if you buy a few, it could blow your grocery budget apart.
So here’s what I did for a change. I bought this 300g of cookies from Sheng Siong, which set me back only $2.30. Nothing fancy.
All you need to do to spice things up is to put the cookies into those red-top containers for Chinese New Year and viola! You have something presentable (and equally tasty) at a fraction of the cost.
Better still if you have one of those pretty tin cans like this:
