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.

Controlling your Petrol Spending.

Wouldn't it be nice, if we have a pre-paid concept for petrol/diesel for our cars? We can allocate ourselves RMx amount of money each month, and just like a mobile top-up, learn to control our petrol usage so that we can't overspend.


Well, we do have something like that. Sort of. Petronas' SmartPay seem to offer exactly that until they shut down the website for maintenance. There's no mention on when they're opening back. Valid only for Petronas, it seems to be the only one of its kind, offering a pre-paid system for gas.

I like this service. It can:

a) Make us more aware of how much we spend on petrol each month.
b) Avoid overspending - the limit, much like a mobile topup, you'll have that, 'nah, I can't use it all up today, I need it for the rest of the week/month' mentality.
c) Parents who let their children drive - it's a good way to control how much they spend on petrol, as well as driving too fast. You see, if you give just enough, they're less likely to speed, as that uses up more petrol. Likewise, you don't have to worry about giving them more money than they should have, which could be spent on anything. 'Anything' in italics because you know how young people are like.

There's probably a few more benefits that I can't think of right now, but the thing is, well, it's not good dwelling on it too much since the service isn't even offered at the time being.

Click on the picture to see how SmartPay works, anyway.

What I do...

I love money management. I don't necessarily love money - it's merely a system we use to gain the lifestyle we want. But money management is all about managing your money into getting what you want, without going over budget. It's not about cutting back, it's about using it well, paying less for the same items, same commodities you want, and setting aside some each month for emergencies or investment. That's it.

Therefore, I should warn first earlier in this blog that I will not cover:

1) Credit cards - they are evil, a method used by banks to tie you in debt with their corporation forever, charging ridiculous rates for money that's not even yours to begin with. They encouraging overspending and make you believe that you deserve, no, are entitled to the lifestyle that you can't possibly afford.
2) Pitiful discounts - I scoff at anything less than 25% discount.
3) Things that you don't need. I will not post a specific deal for a specific item, either for computers, tv, whatever, no matter how cheap it is. I can guide you to the general direction, places you should consider looking and doing before making a big purchase, but I will not suggest a specific place to get something that you can do without.

With that in mind, I'll do my best to keep this blog updated as frequently as possible. So far, so good.

Now go click on that picture for Martin Lewis's Teen Cash Class: Three Lessons to Turn Anyone into a Super Savvy 21st Century Consumer. All credits go to him.

Cheaper McDonald's McValue Meal (12pm-3pm)

For a limited time, McDonald's are lowering their McValue meals, from just RM5.95 in 10 menus. I'm excited because this might ignite a bigger fast-food price war!

Sets comes with French Fries (M) and a Carbonated Drink (M), and is only valid from 12pm to 3pm every day, until promotion ends.

Click on picture for link to full menu items.

However, for the sake of it, the Chicken McNuggets set is the biggest markdown (down 36% from normal price, from RM9.35 to RM5.95!).