＂Save money＂ saves the New Year： ＂Fighting for marriage＂ is very fashionable and economical.

　　Under the financial turmoil, will there be any changes in the way people celebrate the New Year?

　　In the past, what attracted our attention was the sky-high New Year’s Eve dinner and the luxury trip abroad … Today, we are more concerned about how to save money and how to save the New Year.

　　More and more "money-savers" are constantly emerging: joint manufacturing of New Year’s Eve, entertainment in the Spring Festival Evening of Shanzhai, exchange of new year’s goods, DIY gifts, marriage fight, group buying, couch surfing, book pressing, and online clothes scouring … Everyone has his own unique tricks and experiences. But the overall purpose is to save money.

　　Don’t think that saving money is boring. As long as you are creative, saving for the New Year can also bring you infinite joy-

　　one

　　New Year’s Eve: "United" Manufacturing

　　Zhang Tao decided to reunite with his neighbors at home in the Spring Festival of 2009, instead of eating in restaurants. This is how they lived in 2008. On New Year’s Eve, Zhang Tao and his parents took jiaozi to a neighbor’s house. Women from three families cook, wash and stir fry together, each family prepares four or five dishes, and then all of them sit around the table and watch the Spring Festival party while eating the New Year’s Eve dinner. Zhang Tao said that "joint" making New Year’s Eve dinner not only saves money, but also communicates feelings. Isn’t this much more meaningful than having a meal in a restaurant?

　　Comment: "A porridge and a meal is hard to come by; It is an inevitable choice to stimulate consumption and expand domestic demand, but it must be remembered that stimulating consumption does not mean giving up the virtue of thrift. Throughout the year, several families get together at home, cook a few side dishes, drink two glasses of wine, talk to each other about their work and life in the past year, and get rid of what they usually want to say without time. It’s really enjoyable! You can’t enjoy this feeling when you go to a restaurant. Several families get together, which is lively, friendly and economical. Why not?

　　2

　　New year’s goods exchange: in exchange for excitement

　　Years ago, Xiao Li was worried about a lot of oranges, cigarettes and shopping cards from friends, colleagues and relatives: several boxes of oranges will rot if you don’t finish eating them, cigarettes will mildew if you don’t smoke them, shopping cards in some shopping malls and supermarkets are limited in time, and some shopping malls are too far away from home … What should I do? If you leave those surplus gifts and shopping cards idle, it will be a waste of money. Can you exchange new year’s goods and gifts with others? Change something you want? At last, Xiao Li traded a box of oranges for a box of apples, another box of oranges for a box of milk, cigarettes for Dynasty dry red wine, and a shopping card for a purple sand tea set.

　　Comment: Why not try to "exchange" new year’s goods? In fact, exchange is everywhere. If we can open our minds and actively exchange with others, we will have many fresh feelings and exchange more wonderful things!

　　three

　　"spell marriage": very fashionable and economical

　　Both Mr. Liu and Mr. Zhang chose to sign the wedding in the Spring Festival, so they reached a "spelling marriage" agreement, and the wedding date was set on the same day and booked the same hotel. Next, they bought air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions and other household appliances together. Because they bought a lot, they confidently sought the lowest price from the manager. Later, they also made a five-day honeymoon trip to Guilin during the Spring Festival. The original price of a couple was 5,000 yuan/person. When two couples put together, they got a preferential price of 4,200 yuan/person, saving 800 yuan for each person. And diamond rings are also "spelled".

　　Comment: The quality of marriage is far more important than the quality of wedding. It is better to do what you can than to tighten your belt. It is really fashionable and economical to get married together and hold a wedding together to save flavor. Friends who are still considering whether to get married for the cost, what are you hesitating about? Why don’t you get on the happy express train of "spelling marriage"

　　four

　　Gift DIY: as it seems.

　　Speaking of Chinese New Year, what I have to mention is giving gifts. Sending parents, friends and superiors, people take great pains for this matter every year.

　　In major shopping malls and supermarkets, all kinds of gifts are placed in the most prominent position. Experts say that in fact, most gift boxes seem to be beautifully packaged, but in fact they are only superficial, and the things inside are flashy. At present, many supermarkets and shopping malls have counters dedicated to packaging. Customers can choose their own gifts, and then spend another 10 yuan to let the waiters in charge of packaging design and package them to show their personality. In addition, you can buy your own cartons and wrapping paper and pack them yourself. In addition to the gift itself, it also reflects a deep affection, and it is passed on to the recipient through personal packaging. Alcohol, health products, time-honored cakes, dry seafood, clothing, stationery, etc. can all do this.

　　Comment: Now all commodities are packaged. Can the Spring Festival gift be an exception? Although the Spring Festival, as a reunion complex, is getting more and more gift-oriented, some excessive "packaging" and "bundling" practices are not enough. I believe it will be more popular if you do DIY yourself and put more effort into "emotional packaging".

　　five

　　Spring Festival Gala: A "shanzhai" version

　　On the Hurun Rich List in 2008, Fan Jianchuan, the chairman of Jianchuan Industrial Group, who ranked 406th and gained great fame in the whole country because of the adoption of "Pig Strong", said that the company has thousands of employees, and since 2003, it has organized an internal party for one or two days every year. This year, affected by the financial turmoil, the company’s top management was all busy with business, so they had to cancel the gala.

　　On the contrary, in order to strengthen the cohesion of enterprises, some enterprises insist on holding parties this year, but they do not invite celebrities, but all departments write and perform themselves. In order to make everyone happy and cheer for everyone.

　　Comment: "shanzhai spirit" is an attitude. Although "shanzhai" is imitation, slowly, "shanzhai" products will also bear their own unique brand. "Shanzhai" is giving birth to an innovative culture. The "garage culture" of foreigners can give birth to a wave of industries, but why is it not possible for the "cottage culture"? Imagine living in a cottage, driving a cottage car, wearing a cottage watch, playing a cottage machine, making cottage tea and watching the cottage Spring Festival Evening. In short, "shanzhai" is synonymous with high cost performance, so why not?

　　six

　　Group buying: many hands make light work.

　　Buying new year’s goods by group is the most frugal and fashionable lifestyle at present. In some wholesale markets, many white-collar workers go together, and then buy decorations such as New Year pictures, calendars, lanterns, Spring Festival couplets and Chinese knots in bulk from merchants. There are also new year’s goods such as retail and seafood. For example, candy, single catty and bulk group purchase, the price of a large bag often differs by hundreds of yuan. In addition to centralized group buying, some people also contact manufacturers directly, which is cheaper.

　　Comments: In life, the shadow of "group buying" can be seen everywhere. The significance of this "group holding" life actually lies in making people know how to cherish and save, and also strengthening the cooperation and communication between people. It is a positive and reasonable life arrangement for pursuing greater happiness and a fashionable and healthy lifestyle. People who "fight" for life are not without money, but they have a deeper and healthier understanding of life.

　　seven

　　Spring Festival Travel: Being a "Sofa Guest"

　　In recent years, tourism, as a trendy lifestyle, has been more and more loved by people. However, financial constraints often make it difficult for the good wishes of the donkey friends to come true. "Sofabed", a new fashion travel mode that exchanges accommodation through the Internet, makes their dreams come true. Rich "donkey friends" can exchange their own houses and enjoy each other’s quality of life; Why can’t "donkey friends" who have no money act as "couch potatoes" and spend the night with each other to save travel expenses? Zhang Li of Beijing is a travel enthusiast, so he naturally doesn’t want to give up the great opportunity to go out during the Spring Festival. He met a Mr. Li who lives in Hainan on the Internet. Mr. Li’s family plans to travel to Beijing, while Zhang Li’s family plans to go to Hainan. So the two sides reached an agreement to exchange accommodation and enjoy the idle resources in each other’s home, which not only saved accommodation and meals, but also saved a lot of money, especially because they would not be trusted by tour guides to be the suckers of shopping.

　　Comment: The sofa of "Sofa Guest" makes the world very small. Although it sometimes provides only a sofa or a floor, it can connect strangers all over the world into a line. Such a trip is not only a cultural exchange, but also gives us a chance to rethink our life and life.

　　eight

　　"Book of pressing the age": Farewell to "money worship"

　　Many parents also think that giving "lucky money" to relatives, friends and children is very cliche, and it is easy for children to breed "money worship". Mr. Zhang said: How can you find friends with empty hands during the New Year? Needless to say, relatives are friends for many years. In the past, every New Year, the first thing to do was to visit relatives to send and receive lucky money. The usual practice is this: after the New Year’s Day, all families begin to take their children to visit relatives and friends, so you give my children lucky money and I will give your children lucky money. Generally, we have to settle accounts. How much should each of his children give? My family has only one child … Are you tired? It was originally an opportunity to communicate feelings, which made everyone start to calculate. So he decided not to send "lucky money" this year, but to give some useful books to relatives, friends and children.

　　Comment: Giving children lucky money has become an indispensable part of Chinese New Year. Children have become "rich" overnight, ranging from thousands of lucky money to hundreds or dozens of yuan. With money in hand, children are generous, and it is easy to develop the bad habit of spending money indiscriminately. Parents and friends might as well ask their relatives and friends to replace the lucky money with "spiritual" products and give the children a "spiritual gift" to celebrate the New Year’s Eve. "How Steel was Tempered", "Red Rock" and "One Hundred Thousand Why" are all good books to celebrate the New Year’s Eve!

　　nine

　　Online "Amoy" Clothes: New Frugalism

　　"Neo-frugalism" doesn’t mean scrimping and saving because of the reduction of money in your pocket, but enjoying life rationally and pragmatically. "I still want to buy new clothes for my family this year, but I don’t want to buy those famous brands that cost thousands of dollars. I’m going to go online to find some affordable and beautiful clothes." Xiao Jing, who has been shopping online for more than three years, said that her new clothes for the New Year have been done online. She bought a new 2008 ELAND coat online, which cost less than 1200 yuan, while in some shopping malls in the city, this coat cost more than 2000 yuan.

　　Comment: Advocating "new frugality" does not mean lowering the quality of life. In the current "extraordinary period", "expanding domestic demand to stimulate consumption" and "thrift" are not a pair of contradictions. While expanding domestic demand to stimulate consumption, everyone advocates "new frugalism", which inherits the traditional virtue of thrift. Whether you have money or not, you have to have a good year. Diligence and thrift are the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, and we can’t lose them at any time, especially during the Chinese New Year holidays. As long as we work together in Qi Xin, we will be able to survive this economic "cold current". (Ma Jing Jing)

Editor: Yan Bin