gra-dult-hood n.

1. A stage in life between graduation and adulthood.
2. Gradulthood often involves jobs that don't fulfil a graduate's expectations.
3. A term coined during the recession.


Now Thats What I Call Thrift #29

Back in the student days, midweek drinking usually meant necking one pound drinks until they actually tasted pretty good. But with the transition into the Gradulthood comes a transition in weekday alcohol consumption. Getting out of bed at twelve on a Tuesday for an Owen Wilson marathon is frowned upon when you’re gainfully employed. In fact, now I’ve become a slave to the early morning alarm I find any more than three pints can lead to the next day at work becoming something of a battle.

But after a hard day sitting staring at a screen for eight hours sometimes a gradult wants to sit at home and stare at a screen to recover. And this is obviously markedly improved with a cold beer.

However, as a devoted follower of all things thrift, a crate rarely finds its way into my shopping basket.
I’ve got a strict budget - it took cheese about six months to become a permanent fixture on the roster and even that was at the expense of fruit. But this week I’m giving thrifty gradults an opportunity to grab a midweek sofa based beverage for free. I present Thrift 29: The cut short pre lash.

It’s an underhand ploy that starts off innocently enough. Volunteer your friends to have a few drinks round yours before you head out on a Saturday night – read carefully, because this is important – make it slightly later than normal, nothing weird, perhaps half an hour. Now play it cool as they file in with their shopping bags of selected drinks. As they are halfway through their stock look at your watch and announce that you better set off. They will realise the time and see that you’re right.

As they leave again, excited for the evening of festivities ahead, the bounty of excess drinks they’ve left behind will be forgotten. After all, they’re about to spend thirty quid on alcohol, why would they sweat a wasted bottle or two. And if they are, what are they going to do, bring it with them? There is something about a man carrying a Sainsbury’s bag with a couple of loose bottles of Becks in it that women just don’t go for.

Worried that they’ll just come round and get them the next day? Forget about it! Come Sunday a hungover gradult will see getting the remote as an effort, they ain’t going out of their way for a couple of rogue Peroni’s.

Pull this off and come Monday evening you’ll have a pick and mix selection of midweek beers available to you. Sometimes it takes a bit of cunning to be thrifty. I’ll drink to that.

2 comments:

  1. Important to pick your drinkers carefully though. Last time we did this we got some fruit cider and some amaretto left over... not what we were looking for to be honest!

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  2. That's the beauty of the 'cut short pre lash', it can open your eyes to drinks you would never buy yourself. Sipping a fruit cider with your feet up on a Tuesday evening? Can't complain with that!

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