something's fishy

Many of you have heard from us how expensive Bermuda is. The reason: we've been told that it costs the island big bucks to import & ship items in from America or Canada, not to mention the import duties that's slapped on by the government on virtually everything. Bermuda manufactures very little, so it imports everything. And I mean everything. I am fine with the inflated prices up to a point. The buck stops at laundry detergent.

How much would you expect to pay for plain ol' regular tide in beautiful Bermuda? In Canada it retails for about $7.00 cad for a box that weighs about 4 kilos. In Bermuda, it retails for about $30.00 USD. Everywhere! Not a typo, I assure you. I don't understand the need for laundry detergent to be so ridiculously priced. the most that box should cost (with taxes, duties, shipping & profit margin included) is $15.00 something's really fishy when tide has to be priced x 4.

I prefer to get our detergent from good ol' Toronto and yes I still like & prefer powder detergent to liquid. So, thank you GoraGuy & ShoeQueen for trying to rid me of my powdered addiction, but it's not happening. It’s a bloody good thing we got 2 boxes of tide shipped along with the rest of our stuff last year. I assumed everything on the island was expensive so we got most things shipped and have only just run out of our one year stash (replenishments are on the way this weekend). So, our laundry detergent spending for our first year in Bermuda was a measly $15 CAD. That’s how I’m fighting the Bermuda pricing war, one tide at a time. Anyone interested?

But of course this was a topic of discussion among us & friends at our Sunday bbq. After making much fun of me for my detergent frugal ways, SharkBoy & LadyBug (you know who you are) admitted that they shouldn't be ones to talk nor poke fun, since they have unashamedly loaded up their carts with shaving cream at the 24 hour Wal-Mart at 3am on their visit's back home. That’s savings of a whopping $6.00 per can. See I’m not alone!!! Since I am also Indian (not to be mistaken for an Indian giver, that's my...never mind), it's in our blood to be cheap...I’m not going to fight it & am not ashamed to say it. That’s how I justify my frugality.

Continuing on the fishy note, here's my Hubby's fishing buddy, SharkBoy with his catch. Yup, that's a shark he caught last week. He & Ladybug (who often share their fishing spoils with us) came by to show it off, rigor mortis state and all but boy did that thing smell fishy!