The downshift

Last 6 months have all being about wondering "should I stay or should I go?" Well, after a long time spent planning, considering pros & cons, I've finally moved to Brazil and today is the anniversary of my first month since arrival. I have to say that the credit crunch has helped me in taking the decision, first came the redundancy, the struggle to find a decent paid job, then came the downshift. Being on a reduced income has driven me to start considering the downshift. So what do I mean by downshifting, to give an idea I've enclosed an article from www.moneysavingsexpert.com "...Over the years, supermarkets have hypnotised us into spending more and moving up the brand chain. Many people gradually buy increasingly more expensive versions of the same thing The downshift challenge, which provides ENORMOUS savings, has a simple premise:
Drop one brand level on everything and see if you can tell the difference. If you can't, stick with the cheaper product.Let's applaud the sheer marketing genius of this. The system allows supermarkets to justify huge price variations. Think about it for a second: when you're in Tesco(the biggest supermarket in Uk), you assume Tesco Finest is glam and gorgeous and Tesco Value is cheap and nasty, so the immense price difference feels legitimate. Yet who actually decides this? Tesco of course! Its packaging and product placement are all designed to support this myth.
Don’t get me wrong, there are differences in ingredients and production quality. Yet it isn’t uniform: just because the salmon en croute is great, it doesn’t mean the same brand's gourmet mousse, made in a different factory in another part of the world, is too.Don’t worry, I'm not about to argue you should buy no-frills everything; your bottom certainly requires smoother toilet paper! The aim's to downshift only where you can't tell the difference and, for many families, this alone can save 15% a year on shopping bills.
The Downshift Challenge in-store.

The next time you shop, swap one of everything to something just one brand level lower. So if you usually buy four cans of Tesco's own-brand baked beans, this time buy three and one Tesco Value. If you use luxury lavender shower gel, drop to Asda’s own brand.
The Downshift Challenge online.

The supermarket comparison site mySupermarket* now includes a downshift challenge section based exactly on this theory. So when you enter your shopping trolley, as well as comparing the price across online supermarkets, it gives you the downshifted option.

This is a quick system and a great way to see the scale of the savings, even if you don't shop online.

The impact is enormous:

Drop one brand level on everything and the average bill's cut by a third. On a £100 weekly shop, that's £1,700 a year less.


Again, there was a standard 33% average saving by dropping one brand level for every product. This consistency indicates that supermarkets deliberately devise their price structures this way. It's worth noting the biggest downshift savings aren't from premium brands to manufacturer brands, but for those already lower down the brand chain to begin with.The downshift challenge isn’t about automatically dropping a brand level, it’s about seeing if you can notice any difference. If you don’t like the lower brand level or the drop in quality is too severe, all but those who are in drastic need of urgent savings should switch back. Yet you'll be surprised at how few things you notice the change.

However there's an important point to watch for when trying downshifted goods:

Taste with your mouth, not with your eyes

The packaging and look of a product has a big psychological effect: just knowing something is more expensive means, after years of retail hypnosis, we assume it’s better. Taste with that knowledge, and you often prefer it. If you can taste the food blind, great. If not, at least don't have the packaging out when you do.
Yes I did try the downshift challange and i've to consider that there is some merit on the above statement. My challange continued and I first sold my motorbike, then my 1 year old car and I've started using the public service. Sometimes it felt funny, amuzing,eco friendly, relaxing. Yes relaxing you don't need to bother to incoming traffic, mad cyclists, suicidal pedestrians, arrogant assholes driving their Suv for the school run or to carry a lady Godiva chocobox but then a huge list of horrible situations come to mind: crammed buses, sweaty people, smelly bloke, high testoterone kids always ready for a "friendly" fight and the list goes on and on. So let me shout w the suv. Let's go back to the downshift, most of you would agree I had my big share of it, did I stop there? No here it comes the biggest of all, from LONDON to Londrina. Did I go a step too far?