End of the year is suppose to bring joy and laughter and fun!! We have Christmas and then in January next year, we have the coming of the year of the Ox and Chinese New Year. It is suppose to be the time for giving and sharing. It is when you look forward to some well deserved rewards for hard work put into the year. You expect pay increments, bonuses, stocks and other non financial rewards.
But this year end turns the year into annus horribilis. The sub prime crisis of the USA has finally landed on the WW shores. Prime banks in the States are collapsing like play cards. Value of my investments has been going down and down and the end is still not in sight.
And my employer now tells me (in Nov) - no merit increment this year. Okay, I can live with that. Then in Dec - 10% pay cut, despite a healthy (so they say) cash flow. The powers that be calls this being pro-active. And the pay cut may last for the whole of 2009.
SO under the circumstances, we will need to think of new strategies to adjust our lifestyles. In Malaysia, there are many ways that one can economize
For FOOD and DRINKS:
- go for meals with friends and "forget" to bring your wallet. Okay this is an old ploy and you may have to reciprocate later or.... gasp... pay back when you get back to the office.
- on weekends, go to the larger shopping malls and "patronize" the supermarkets and hypermarkets. You can get a lot of free food samples. Noodles, biscuit, cereals and drinks. You can actually get a complete and nutritious meal doing this and cover your meal needs for Saturdays and Sundays. You can even feed the family doing this.
- on weekdays, visit McDonalds or KFC. They have a policy of free refills on the soda - Coke, Sprite, etc. Just hang around and pick on families with kids. When the family is done with their food and vacate the table, quickly grab the soft drink cup, confidently walk up to the counter and ask for a refill. I guarantee you that you will not go thirsty and at the same time, you can get your sugar rush.
- And still on McDonalds and other fast food chains. When you are there - order takeaway so tha tthe chilli and tomato sauce are in sachets that you can take away and keep. Then eat in and take the sugar, pepper, and salt sachets. McDonalds also provide grape jelly for breakfast.
- Visit friends. In our Asian culture, you can visit friends unannounced and they would normally entertain you with snacks and drinks. If you time it correctly, they may even invite you to join in their meals. Just make sure your pool of friends is large enough so as not to wear out your welcome too soon.
- ON certain festive occasions like Christmas (coming soon), Chinese New Year(in January), Aidil Fitri, Divali and so on, there are many open houses where the public is invited to visit their so called member of Parliament or Government leaders. You can get fried noodles, curries, satays, fruits and drinks there in almost unlimited amounts. Don't feel guilty - those "leaders" did not pay for these. You and I paid as taxpayers. So use this opportunity to get back some of the taxes you have paid.
- Weddings are a plenty all over town. Just follow the signs, sit down and pretend to be one of the invited guests. Stuff yourselves and then make sure you go and congratulate the bride and groom on their happy occasion.
I am sure there are many more ways to economize - but these are the major ones that are easily doable in Kuala Lumpur.
Now, if you still go hungry most of the time or is spending a large amount of money on food, then I cannot help you.
2 comments:
on the second bit about food samples at Hypermarkets. U used to let Alex do that right? Heheheheh
I am one of the people who had a foreclosure and find these tips quite helpful. Fighting the fear IS KEY (arising from anxiety of deviating from the social norm of owning a house and leading a comfortable life). This fear may be exaggerated if one does not go through the process of 'intellectualization' early on--say the first two days. You have got to know the scale of your crisis and the 'major life crisis scale' may help one know their situation as may separating their wants from needs--hard if you do not engage in 'repression' Then do something about your diet--and avoid alcohol. Craft short-term and long-term goals. Identifying your personality and using your strengths will help a lot--you can do this in a detailed way on one found on www.personalty100.com. Then use the 'ok matrix' to identify what is called your 'life position'. Most of these psychological techniques are well described in many psychology books but, '7 proven steps: how to defeat stress without going through the embarrassment of counseling', found at authorhouse.com puts them all together and more in the context of the financial crisis and in a day by day approach (day 1 to day 21). I felt it changed my outlook of life and gave me practical solutions--not fantasy but the other issues in the book about divorce, scandal also tackled in the book did not concern me so I had to skip some parts.
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