Listen up, people. When I went to London to study abroad I had no clue what I needed to bring with me. Well, I had some idea since I was from New York and the weather was somewhat similar, but those are minor details. The problem was I only had shorts in Florida. I hate pants so obviously I had none with me. Therefore, when I came to London I needed some warmer clothes. However I didn’t have enough money to go full out on expensive clothes plus I love cheap clothing and finding that in London had me worried. I call it livin like a pigeon. Instead of going for all that expensive crap why not just live comfortably and look for scraps like pigeons do? Or wander freely wherever you wanna go, not caring about what others think, it's the best way of life and I’ll show you all the best places to go to so you can live like one too.
Clothing: Let me introduce you to one of my favorite places I’ve found since I got here–Primark. Primark is great in the sense of cheap fashion. Lots of people will hate on you if you shop here but don’t trouble yourself with the haters, instead convert them. Slowly one by one take your friends or housemates to Primark and show them the magnificence of it. They truly will be changed, guaranteed. Now let's get down to the real business: What do they have at Primark you ask? Well pretty much everything you can think of. Say you forgot your favorite sexy lingerie? They have them. Forgot your favorite £2 t-shirts? They have them. What about your favorite cartoon socks? They have them. Primark has pretty much every article of clothing you can think of for cheap. The one negative about this place was that they only have a small selection of men’s clothing. “What the hell” was my first thought. They had 2 whole floors full of women’s clothing but not men’s? It was highly unfair. Now, perhaps you take a trip to a market during your London stay. I suggest you do but beware the temptation to get things. Although a market may seem cheap and you can potentially bargain a price down by being polite and familiar with the vendors, it's not. The clothing particularly, any sort of trinkets might be cheap, however clothing can be extremely expensive because it’s vintage or handmade. You don’t want to shop here if you want to save money or live cheaply in London as a lot of things will attract your attention. Maybe allow yourself to get one or two things but no more as Primark is the place to go. Toiletries/groceries: Other essential places you need to shop at to live like a pigeon are Superdrug and Boots. Both are vital for things like hygiene, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. The only issue that I've found with these places is that not all brands are the same. Medicine for example will have different looks and brands compared to back home, along with some hair and body products. All these items are much cheaper compared to other stores that are around London so Superdrug and Boots have been the best option so far. Groceries are a different matter altogether. You’d expect stores to be combined with both groceries and other necessities but many are not. Sainsbury, Tesco, and M&S Foodhall are the best cheap grocery stores in London by far. As you can refer to Georgia Bobo’s piece, “London on a Budget” all of these places have great meal deals you can purchase. Although I suggest against meal deals because why not go cheaper? Tesco has a great little thing where you can get a big thing of soup for only £1.75 and bread for 90 pence, a perfect meal, your own Panera Bread right at your convenience. Booze: The last thing you need on the list if you’re livin la vida pigeon is cheap booze. You can’t really go wrong with cheap booze and it's absolutely necessary. The best places I’ve found that you can get the cheapest booze are Tesco, Sainsbury, and some specific liquor stores like Gerry’s Wine & Spirits. You can get some large bottles of vodka, rum, and gin all for under £25 or less at all these stores. However, I suggest not going anywhere else for it, especially convenience stores as they are unlicensed and can charge any price they want compared to licensed stores which are limited to price ranges. The other suggestion I have to offer is going to pubs which have deals. A lot of places around Gower Street have great deals, like College Arms which has 2 for £6 jager bombs or Whetherspoons which has a whole pitcher of mixed drinks for about £12 (prices may vary). Although I don’t suggest going out and having a bunch of drinks at these places as the prices can rack up fast. Instead buy liquor or booze from Tesco, Sainsbury, etc and pregame at home and then get 1 or 2 drinks at the pub. Final words. If you really want to live it up like a pigeon then forget the cheap bottles of liquor like vodka and such. Instead live the real life and go buy some grain alcohol of 95% at Gerry’s. It’ll get the job done and fast at that.
0 Comments
|
|