Decoding Tomorrow:
Futurism and Foresights Today

I was just preparing a presentation on cost-cutting measures for a corporate client and I realised that there were many great lessons to learn from my grandma Ingrid in Sweden. So I thought I would share them with you. 

My grandma Ingrid who unfortunately passed away at age 86 in 2006 was a wonderful lady with a heart of gold. When I grew up I could never understand why she had three fridges all stuffed with lingon berries, blue berries, mushrooms, peas, four pantries packed with apple sauce, dried herbs, old potato shoots and seeds.

Well, Ingrid grew up on a farm in Sweden and experienced the Great Depression first-hand, and some of her tips come in handy today. In fact, I have noticed my own behaviours shifting lately and have been trawling through some of the values and ideas she lived life by.

The above might sound stingy, but grandma Ingrid was street-smart and avoided wasting resources, something that is totally on trend in our current 'greenie' environment. You might even say that she was a trend-setter and an early adopter. Had she been alive today she would probably have been beating the 'carbon trading drum' as loud as any.

In fact being thrifty with resources is often the same as being environmentally aware.

Here are some of her tips (with a modern twist)

1. Freeze everything - if you have left-overs, freeze them and save them for another meal. You never know when you'll need a meal. Put dates and a categorisation system on the bags so that you know whether you are opening a good 'vintage' of blue berries, spaghetti bolognese, or a bag of mushrooms.

2. When you take ice out of the freezer, make sure you re-stock and fill up the ice-freezing section again. This saves energy and ensures you always have cold ice when you need it.

3. Grow your own vegetable and fruit garden. Flowers are nice and great feng-shui, but do you grow your own potatoes, zucchini, lime, lemon or strawberries? While Ingrid's home was not self-sufficient (with a 2-month summer in Sweden it's hard to be), she grew enough things out of pots, garden beds, and window plantations to make a small African nation jealous.

4. If you have more than one kid, let them share the bath-water. Ok - it may not sound hygenic, but it saves money and water.

5. Catch public transport. I know Aussies love their cars, but how much could you save on public transport. Sure, it may not be quite as convenient as the gas-guzzling drive, but it certainly saves some dollars.

So inspired by grandma Ingrid here are three things I have done lately to cut my costs:

1. The other night I ate a 'Rudd: we're in a recession'-kebab with all the usual ingredient but instead of high-cost lamb I substituted kangaroo-meat. Now, I know Aussies don't like to eat Skippy, but the meat is very healthy and because Aussies don't like it, the cost per kilo is often half of that of Skippy's other animal friends. Alternatively, go veggo.

2. Sell your car and sign up to a car sharing scheme like www.goget.com.au . Not only is this environmentally friendly, because there are fewer cars on the road, but it is also very convenient. I have 5 goget cars parked within 4 minutes of where I live, and I do not need to worry about parking, petrol, insurance, or registration. It also saves me on average $ 600 dollars per month compared to ownership of a car. (Plus goget won the NSW innovation award in 2008 so they're kind of funky).

3.  After the latest outsourcing trend of the economic upturn, ask yourself what you can in-source. I have just taken back some non-essential luxuries and doing them in-house. While we can always cut fat, make sure they 're not the essential Omega 3-fats, but the bad fats, if you get my drift.

Some great news from Anders:

1. I am launching the 400-page 'Thinque Funky: Upgrade Your Thinking' at designEX in Melbourne on May 1 / 2009 - sharing the conference stage with people like Jamie Durie and designer Bjarke Ingels - check out the launch info on http://www.designex.info/seminars.html

2. The web-site for the manifesto is up and running since today - go visit it, be an early adopter and sign up to the special deal for the 1st 100 trend-setting pre-orders until Friday March 13th on http://www.thinquefunky.com/thinquefunkymanifesto/Buy.html

3. Conference special - buy 200 Thinque Funky manifestos at retail for your next conference and pay $ 0 for the conference speaking. On application by emailing sales@thinque.com.au