The Yadav Budget and the Mixer Grinder Without a Bill
The Yadav family has a monthly income of ₹26,000 - the father earns ₹20,000 as a clerk and the mother earns about ₹6,000 from tailoring at home. Their fixed monthly outgoings are: house rent ₹4,500; school fees for two children ₹2,000; a personal-loan instalment of ₹3,000 that ends in 10 months; milk ₹1,800; LPG ₹900; electricity ₹700; bus pass ₹800; two mobile recharges ₹600; and the grandmother's medicines ₹500. They have no savings. They want a ₹26,000 refrigerator on a '0% EMI' plan of ₹2,400 a month for 12 months. Last month the mother bought a mixer grinder for ₹1,850 from a local shop; it stopped working after 20 days, the shopkeeper refuses to help, and there is no bill - only a handwritten slip with no date, model number or warranty.
1. Prepare the monthly budget, calculate the surplus left for food and other expenses, and decide whether the refrigerator EMI can be afforded now. Give your reasoning and an alternative plan.
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Fixed commitments: 4,500 + 2,000 + 3,000 + 1,800 + 900 + 700 + 800 + 600 + 500 = ₹14,800.
Surplus available: 26,000 − 14,800 = ₹11,200. That is not spare money - it must cover vegetables, grain, pulses, oil, stationery, clothing, travel for emergencies and social obligations. Allowing about ₹7,500 for food and kitchen, ₹1,200 for stationery and miscellaneous and ₹300 for medicines that vary, roughly ₹2,200–2,500 a month is genuinely free.
The EMI is ₹2,400. That would absorb essentially the whole free margin. With zero savings, the next fever, the next school fee hike or a cylinder price rise would have to be met by borrowing - which is exactly how the existing personal loan began. The refrigerator is also partly a want: nobody is ill for want of it, whereas the grandmother's medicines and the school fees are needs. A household with no emergency fund should not add a fresh 12-month liability.
Alternative that works within the same income:
- Use the 10 months left on the personal loan. When it ends, ₹3,000 a month is freed, taking the free margin to about ₹5,200–5,500.
- Meanwhile save ₹2,000 a month for five months (₹10,000) as a part payment or emergency cushion.
- Buy a smaller or simpler model in the ₹16,000–18,000 range, or a good second-hand one with a shop guarantee, in month 6.
- Read the '0% EMI' fine print first: processing fee, forced add-on warranty or insurance and the total amount payable often make the effective cost higher than the sticker price.
2. The mixer grinder is defective and the shop refuses help. Identify which consumer rights are involved and set out the remedy steps in order. What should the family have done differently?
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Rights involved: the right to be informed - no proper bill means no date, model, serial number or warranty terms were disclosed; the right to redressal against a defective product; and the right to safety, since a faulty electrical appliance is a hazard, not just an inconvenience. The right to consumer education is also relevant: the family did not know that a cash memo is the buyer's evidence.
Steps in order:
- Assemble proof - the handwritten slip, any UPI or card record, the box, the model number, photographs of the fault and of the shop's board. A paper trail converts a verbal dispute into a claim.
- Give a written complaint to the shopkeeper, dated, with a copy kept, asking for repair, replacement or refund. Keep it factual; mention the 20-day failure.
- Escalate - register a complaint on the National Consumer Helpline (1915) and, if the shop still refuses, file before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. A claim of this size goes to the District Commission, the fee is small, and a lawyer is not compulsory. Move within two years of the purchase.
- Parallel route: the local legal aid or consumer protection cell can help draft the complaint at little cost.
What should have been done differently: insist on a proper cash memo showing date, model and serial number before paying; ask to see the warranty card and whether an authorised service centre exists in town; check for the BIS mark on electrical goods; pay by a method that leaves a record. The lesson is general: the bill is not a formality, it is the document that carries the right to redressal - without it, the burden of proving the purchase falls on the buyer.
3. Show how the family should keep a simple monthly cash book, using a few sample entries, and explain how they would use it after three months.
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A three-column cash book is enough: date, particulars, receipt, payment, balance. Every entry is made the same day, and bills are kept in one envelope.
| Date | Particulars | Receipt (₹) | Payment (₹) | Balance (₹) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Opening balance | - | - | 0 |
| 1 | Father's salary | 20,000 | - | 20,000 |
| 2 | Rent | - | 4,500 | 15,500 |
| 3 | Milk (monthly advance) | - | 1,800 | 13,700 |
| 5 | Mother's tailoring income | 2,200 | - | 15,900 |
| 8 | Vegetables and grain | - | 900 | 15,000 |
| 10 | School fees | - | 2,000 | 13,000 |
| 12 | LPG cylinder | - | 900 | 12,100 |
Why this works: it separates fixed from variable spending, so the family can see that rent, fees and the EMI cannot be changed this month, while vegetables, mobile top-ups and social spending can. At the end of each month they compare the budgeted figure with the actual figure for each head; a variance such as 'food overspent by ₹600' is the information needed to cut something specific next month rather than to feel vaguely short of money. After three months they will have a realistic food figure for the first time, a picture of how much is truly free, and the beginnings of an emergency fund - which is what makes the refrigerator decision answerable later without a new loan.