Buying Clothes

First off, clothes will always, ALWAYS look better on the models. Human or non-human. Fact.

You always tend to have this idea that a certain piece of fabric can turn you into this desirable hottie. It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman. Thing is, fashion sells image. As in, how their clothes can give you the impression that you're part of something better. Wearing Nike makes you feel sporty, no matter the only running you've done all day is running after the bus. Wear Prada and suddenly you're this chic, glamorous, high maintainable girl. Never mind you're actually ah lian.

But, I can agree that whatever it is you want to achieve, you can do it cheaper. By doing so online and sniffing around a bit. There's loads of promotions, and warehouse sales. Just pick your poison, go on, I won't judge. Just find out if they stock the items you want in your size, and hopefully you'll lucky enough to bag a bargain on something you actually want.

I guess the purpose of this post is: a) I haven't updated in a while and now there's a lack of good, healthy competition in retail shops and b) Hey, everybody wears clothes, and it goes down in value extremely fast, so why not?

Food Observation

The same plate of mee goreng (*) costs RM1.50 in the morning and RM4 at lunch. Why is that?

(*) Depends on your local stall. Can be substituted with Nasi goreng, Mihun goreng, ect.

Saving Money on Lunch Food

Sometimes the biggest savings you can make is your choices on food. Today we cover on us office workers' biggest daily spending - our lunches.

Of course I'd first and foremost suggest bringing your own food from home, but I myself is not a big fan of this. This is because I see daily lunches with my co-workers as a chance for us to really bond. What we have for lunch, recommendations and suggestions of food and restaurants, it's a big part of our conversation, no?

Therefore, here I'll focus on how to choose what/where to eat during our lunch breaks.

1) Mamak/ Nasi Campur stall/ equivalant - Of course, this is first choice because of the price, the atmostphere, our culture, and the range of foods available for everyone. Here's how you can save money at these establishments:

a) Get air kosong - free at most places. You'll slash RM1.00++ per day, at least, that's at least RM22 per month. If you want it cold ask for ais kosong.

b) Skimp on the expensive extras: fried chicken, fried fish, ect. Especially at that mamak places where each cost like RM3.

c) On average, noodles/mee hun/ kuey teow soups are cheaper than other dishes. My local store does it for RM3.50.

d) For nasi campur, get 1 main dish (vege preferably, cheaper), then flavour your rice with other dishes (curry from the fish head curry, ect). It still tastes good without looking cheap.

2) Fast food places/ restaurants

a) Again, ask for plain water. These places charge ridiculous prices just for water.

b) Get set meals if possible.

c) If go with friends, combine all your foods so you get lots more choices, a lot more satisfying.

d) If you want, factor in restaurant promotions and discounts.

-- Here are but some tips for cheaper lunches for office workers. There's probably more - in which case I'll update. If you have your own tip you can contribute as well, I'd love to know!

Get your free RM100 worth of free ASM units.

Under 1Malaysia, the gov decided to give 100 units of ASM to first year students in local universities. 1 unit = RM1, so getting RM100 worth of fund is not bad, not bad at all.

T&C:

1) Must be a first-year undergraduate student at local public university (IPTA).

2) Only for the first 50,000 students who have already registered on mid-year.

Sources here and here.

A bit too niche, but that's still pretty nice of them.