Sept 15th

This morning my alarm buzzed annoyingly in my ear and I angrily smacked the snooze button for some extra shut eye. Suddenly I realized it was the first day of school and I jolted out of bed for a breakfast of champions. Not a bowl or Wheaties, but a piece of cheap (€0.89) processed toasted bread lathered in a creamy chocolate hazelnut blend known as Nutella. The Nutella on toast was coupled with a cup of milk with a bite. Milk’s not supposed to have a bite, but when the price is right who cares. I downed the milk and headed to an all-cottage meeting to go over our schedule for the next few weeks.

The meeting ended and everyone meandered back to their cottages to find something to do until class at 2:00. I hauled 30 mins into town on the most reliable form of transportation in the great country of Ireland. I walked… I first stopped by the Texaco Butcher and got a bulk rate price on the meat I wanted. I negotiated a great deal with Emon and joked around with him for a little while. Then I stopped by the Feeney Butcher and talked prices with the owner Sean. I talked him down a little more than Emon and settled on a price. I also got him to deliver the meat for free and package everything separately for each cottage. I walked out of the Butcher shop with my nose in the air, shoulders back, and an arrogant smirk plastered on my face. If you didn’t know better you’d have thought I went to UST. I took my confidence and tried my luck with every shop in town.

I talked with the woman at the produce store for some time. I walked in the tiny little shack and looked at all the fresh fruits and vegetables. It reminded me of a small farmers market. I mean it was a little bigger than Karen selling Sweet Corn out of her driveway, but it was no Walmart of produce. I innocently asked her if everything was produced locally. She shot me and awkward chuckle, not knowing if I seriously just asked if the bananas, oranges, and grapefruit in her shack of a store were grown locally. She looked confused and muttered to me, “Well the bananas and oranges aren’t grown here… I mean the soils too rocky…” She sarcastically reminded me that the climate is a little too cold as well. The confidence I had from the butcher suddenly left me. I quickly looked around the tiny shack and eyed a sack of potatoes. I pointed to them, and with the little pride I had left said, “Well what about those?” In a serious and frustrated voice she explained that the EU makes them certify all their fruits and vegetables. For this reason, the local farmers can’t turn much of a profit with the added regulation on top of the poor growing conditions. To get around this the farmers sell their crop under the table to their neighbors and everyone wins. She explained how everyone wins, except her. She gets cut out and is left with a lot of astronomically high priced produce from foreign lands that no one wants to buy. I didn’t know what to say… I wanted to tell her to look into the Republican Party, but that really isn’t a solution across the pond. Then I wanted to ask for a local farmer’s contact information. Instead I asked her about a discount rate if I bought in bulk. She smiled and told me to make a list to see if I could make it worth it to her.

I walked home with my price list, created a bill for each cottage, then verified prices with everyone and collected money… My prof’s wife jumped for joy when I told her I could get 4 chicken fillets for less than 5 Euros. She told me they paid almost twice as much the week before at the super store. I thought this was a humorous statement, because she was the one who handed out newspaper articles to us before we went into town about how evil super stores were destroying mom and pop stores. That’s about how it goes…

Sample Bill

Cottage 6: PAID

5 lbs. Ground Beef:
- Normal Rate: Greater than €7.5
- Bulk Rate: €7.5
- My Rate: €6.8

6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Fillets:
- Normal Rate: €9
- Bulk Rate: €7.5
- My Rate: €6.54

Total Savings: Greater than €3.16

Price: €13.34

I went to both butchers here in town and compared prices. I negotiated the best price with Feeney Butchers. He showed me his normal rate, then his posted bulk rate, and then took more off and offered to include delivery and to package everything individually for each cottage.
The meat will be delivered Monday evening. The delivery will save you time, Euros for a taxi, and ensure it remains chilled. It will be already separately packaged for each cottage, so I won’t get my filthy hands in any of your fresh meat from the butcher.
If this goes smoothly and it works out for everyone I’ll do it weekly. Also, I talked to a woman at the produce shop in Spiddal and she was interested in giving us a bulk rate as well, if we buy enough. Same goes for deli ham at one of the grocery stores in town. Let me know if this is of interest to anyone.

Cottage wide savings: €16.2

Thanks,
Ryan


The first day of class went fine. Professor Mary Clancy seems easy. She likes to talk a lot about nothing. I got to class and forgot if it was my theo or history class. I listened for hints to which class I was sitting in and could figure it out for a good 45mins. It turns out it was theo...

Me smiling and ready to get out the door and to class for the first day!