Yesterday I did something I always do at the start of the month and if you're trying to save money, this is a habit worth stealing.

Before buying anything, I "shop my kitchen" first. I check what I already have and what actually needs refilling. I'm not really talking about meals here, more the boring life admin stuff like cleaning products, pantry staples, dog food, bin bags... all the things you don't think about until you suddenly run out.

There is nothing that annoys me more than running out of something at the exact moment I need it. So inconvenient!

So at the start of each month, I do one bigger restock order for the essentials. For anything I'm not particularly fussy about, I buy it from Viva (Dubai's version of Aldi).

It's cheap, and over time it saves a small fortune. Yesterday I did a little experiment. My total shop at Viva came to 252.34 AED.

Out of curiosity, I opened Instashop and priced up the exact same basket at Spinneys. That total came to 585.50 AED.

That's a difference of 333.16 AED... for one shop.

It doesn't sound life-changing in isolation, but over a year that's 3,997.92 AED saved, which is basically a flight ✈️

This is the kind of saving that doesn't require extreme budgeting or giving up everything you enjoy. It's just being a bit more intentional with the everyday stuff that quietly drains your money.

Try it next time and see how much you save!

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