We don’t buy fruit, have cut down on dining out

By: Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey and Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay
KOLKATA: The high diesel price majorly exhausts our resources, necessitating cutting corners to strike a balance. The fuel bill for travelling from New Alipore to New Town by private car daily now gives me a nightmare. There has been a 40% hike in our monthly expenses over the past six to eight months, though the income has remained the same.
Even with a double income, people like us are trying every way to cut costs to cope with the rising expenses. Fuel for the car is draining a lot of our income since we have double travelling expenses to bear.
At the vegetable market, I am now paying at least 50% more for almost every green vegetable. Only chandramukhi potatoes are selling at Rs 22, but even the humble brinjal is selling at Rs 80 a kg and okra at Rs 60-Rs 70 a kg. It is the same at the fish market. We have stopped buying tiger prawns since they have crossed the Rs 950 mark, up from Rs 550 post-Yaas, when there was distress sale. Good quality katla is selling at Rs 400 a kg. Fruits are the most expensive items, with mangoes having suddenly shot up to Rs 60 a kg. So we stopped buying fruits.
We have cut down on dining out and have limited getting outside food delivered home to just once a week. We are foodies and cannot limit ourselves much. So we have cut down on the number of times we allow ourselves this luxury.
My wife used to do a lot of online shopping, but we have completely stopped that as well and are sticking to necessities.
Guha, a PR consultant, lives with wife Shila Banerjee, an IT professional, and a school-going daughter Sreshtha. Their son studies in Bengaluru. Guha spoke to Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey and Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay