Save Money

How can you save with Tesco ClubCard

Where do you spend money for your groceries?? Tesco, Carrefour, Bintang, Giant, Cold Storage, Checkers or etc. There are few choices of hypermarket for me to choose near to my area but I am Tesco loyal customer. uhukssss. Most of the time, I will spend money for grocerries and related items at Tesco. Besides of from the items are arranged neatly on shelves, items sold at Tesco is fresh and made up of various options. However the most important thing is the cheaper and affordable prices they offer compared to Carrefour and Giant.

If Carrefour has Bonuslink to collect points and Giant have sticker to redeem item from their reward programme, Tesco has ClubCard for customer to enjoy the discount. Every 150 points collected will be converted to cash voucher that will be given together with ClubCard statement every quarter. Other than cash voucher, you also are given product coupons to enjoy.

ClubCard Cash vouchers and products coupons

I managed to save RM12. Small money but good for our budget

Not much I think, but this trolley worth RM400. Do the goods price increasing significantly to increment of oil price.

How To Save Money On Movies and Avoid Spending More

There are many ways to save money on movies. You may love so much watching movies at cinema or on DVDs but you a very budget to cope with the living cost. This post could provide a little relief of your movies madness.

First, lets look at the illegal approaches to watch movies with little or no money at all. They seem like the best ways to save money but you’ll may find trouble with the higher authority if you get caught. I only want to show you ways of saving money on movies and I’m not highly encourage people to follow this approach but if you want to, don’t get caught. Simple.

  • Buy pirated DVD. Buy at pasar malam (night market) or selected shopping mall which is illegal. Cost of buying a DVD: RM 5 – RM 15. I was once found 20 movies in one DVD and that is outrageous, pirates these days are really technologically advanced.
  • Rip movies from file-sharing or torrent. Watch for copyright title or else, you will face problems with lawsuits.
  • Direct download from RadipShare and FileFactory.
Here I point out for the legal ways to save money on movies (not including P2P, filesharing, illegal copies which enabling copyright infringement). You want to save some money for bigger purpose but you can’t leave your loves of movies and TV series.

  • Plan your budget. Include the appropriate amount that you want to spend for movies on your budget. Too much it will blow your money, too little and you can’t reach your satisfaction.
  • Go for super Wednesday. Both TGV and GSC cut down their prices in half on Wednesdays.
  • Chase the ticket of early bird. Buy ticket for the first show of the day (usually at 11.00 a.m.) which actually can save your money.
  • Borrow from your friend and family. I usually keep waiting for my friends or my brother to buy new DVDs, so I can borrow it.
  • Rent DVD.
    • Eflix Sdn Bhd is biggest DVD rental store in Malaysia, almost every title available in this store. Link via my88db.
    • Although the interface and the design are ugly, videos2u provides great offers on movies. Free delivery, no late charge (as shown on the banner). Read the FAQ to know the rates.
  • Don’t buy movies at all, just wait for free broadcast TV to show the movie. May consumes two years or three years.
  • Watch movies online. There are several website that provide you good link to watch movie online for free. Only the problem is that you have be patience because there’s a lot buffering, depends on youinternet connection speed. Link via watch-movies and tv-live plus SurfTheChannel.
  • Watch or buy only the good ones. Buy reading some reviews and stars on the movies that you want to buy, you may save some money instead of throwing away the DVD after you watching because it was a toilet-junk movie. IMDB and RottenTomatoes are the reliable resources of movies, they tell you which movie is good and which movie is not. Make a regular visit to IMDB top 250 films and tomatometer of 80% or higher.
  • Buy second hand DVD. You can easily buy it on eBay!Malaysia or Lelong.
If you have brilliant ideas on how to save money on movies, please don’t hesitate to help us with your opinions on the comment box below.
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Big Apple Addiction : How to reduce it and save the money

Me and my wife were once addicted to Big Apple Donut because of its sweetness flavor and delicious soft donut. We were so hooked by it that we bought everyday and spent about RM 9.50 (for 6 of donut). In a month, our expense on Big Apple almost RM 100.

We have tasted all the flavors and our all-time favorites are:

  • Alien
  • Pink Panther

Here’s are the strategies to reduce Big Apple addiction and save some money.

  • Pretend you not see the Big Apple sign whenever you pass by.
  • Don’t bring extra money wherever you go, just enough to pay parking ticket.
  • Buy only when you want to reward yourself, like pass the exam and buy Big Apple for a gift.
  • Use someone’s money, ask your friend, or your girlfriend, or your best friend to buy for you.
  • Buy twice a month.
  • Make your own homemade donuts on ehow, waynethisandthat, cooks.com
  • Don’t buy at all.
  • Buy local donut, 3 for RM1.
  • Full your tummy up with food before you go out, so you don’t have a desire to eat any food.

Are you addicted to Big Apple too? Put a suggestion how to reduce it.

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Save every cent on petrol: effective tips for early 20s

Do you feel the heat when you heard the news that crude oil has crawled to $114 per barrel? I wish I don’t want to use car for commuting to office but I live in a residence area that has unacceptable public bus services where the buses schedule is not time-efficient and I really don’t like about it. However, I surf the website and I found useful tips and advices that can be apply to my usage of petrol. Here are the notable tips on how save money that found on while surfing on the internet. If you’re not in the mood to read right now, you can watch the video instead:


How To Save Money On Gas

1. Brake slowly.
Press your brake slowly and you’ll save some petrol. If you drive fast and brake when get near to traffic light, your petrol consumption is not efficient.

2. Turn off your air condition.
By not using air condition will save you significant petrol usage and you will appreciate the air outside. But I guess it is not appropriate if you turn off air condition during the sun is seven inch from your head. We live in a country where hot and rain throughout the year, don’t get dehydrated by a mid-day sun.

3. Drive slower.
Change your attitude and your driving habit. Try not to drive too fast, you’re getting nowhere and there’s nothing to chase. I know young people love to drive fast, but the more you hammer your fuel pedal, the more petrol you’ll burn.

4. Drive Manual Transmission
The purpose of driving manual transmission is to keep low of rpm. Try shifting your gear before you reach rpm 3. Believe me, you’ll save every penny on petrol bill. I regularly use gear 2 for start and then shift to gear 4 instead to keep rpm low.

5. Turn On Autocruise.
When you hit the highway, it’s better for you to switch on auto cruise so you get better mileage when you travel to your long-distance kampong. It maintains your speed plus your petrol. My Kelisa doesn’t have that advance driving mode so I will enjoy the experience of auto cruise.

6. Avoid idling.
Your petrol is consumed where your car is going nowhere. Turn off your engine if you out of your car for over 10 minute. You’ll waste your petrol economy about 19% and it also bad for environment because stillness car produces excessive carbon dioxide, bad your health too.

7. Your petrol cap is closed tighly
Don’t you ever left your fuel cap behind or at the roof of your car. It’ll make your fuel evaporate slowly and you’ll waste RM15 for new fuel cap.(I had left it many times)

8. Inflate your tires to the specified level
My Kelisa’s standard level is 29 PSI. I check regularly on tyre pressure once every two weeks. Your deflated tyres will create dragging, make your car moves slower, fuel inefficiency, and may hurt your tyre’s life. Know your tyre inflate level saves you money.

9. Carpool
 One way to save petrol and your money by not using your car. Use other people’s car and you’ll be benefited from this. Get to know your colleague deeply during carpooling and save petrol usage for a day. Less car, less traffic.

I found a surprisingly unusual tip from opentravelinfo.com on How to Save Money on Gas – 29 Tips. One of his point of saving money is to follow big truck in front of you, it can reduces your car drag. Here I quote some of the article

”..Ride the slipstream__This driving technique has given me some excellent mileage when I used to commute long distance a long time ago. Obviously, it requires a bit of skill and it’s not exactly recommended, since you should pay attention to the road and we all know, most people who read this just don’t. However it is probably one of the best “secret” fuel saving tips I can give you. This technique is frequently used by race car drivers to gain speed and truck convoys to save fuel. Every car has a certain amount of drag (or wind resistance). This drag, the rolling resistance of your tires (see below under maintenance) and the friction in your engine are the three main causes of reduced efficiency. A car moving through the air causes the air to split around the car and turbulence behind the car (the slipstream). If you drive your car into another cars slipstream, both cars will save fuel (less turbulence). The following car saves the most gasoline. Now remember, I am not advocating to tailgate. However, you can try to find a large truck (more turbulence and a longer slipstream tail) and slip in there. Now you can still keep some distance (unlike the NASCAR driver) and still save gas. However, many people cannot regulate their speed without braking (see above). In this case you are probably better off just keeping your distance and not braking..”
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How to Buy Cheap Air Asia Ticket.

Every time you read newspaper and see that mesmerising advertisements of Air Asia ticket price;0.05 sen to fly to Bali or Phuket. You probably get excited when you read them and couldn’t wait to purchase a ticket or two. And then it hits you so hard when you realize that your chosen destination was no longer cheap and it’s really frustrated. But you can buy it low if you know how. The key success of buying cheap ticket is, to buy 3 months earlier.

Things that you need before you buy flight ticket.

1.Credit Card. You need a credit card to perform transaction. If you don’t have any, buy debit card instead.
2.The internet. Even if you want to buy ticket at the Air Asia counter, they insist you to purchase online. You really need the internet connection and you have familiar with the purchasing transaction. For the first time buyer, you can read the guidelines to buy flight ticket online.
3.Vacation plan and checklist. Be sure that you already well planned your trip to avoid unwanted things happen during vacation. It’s better to plan a vacation on a budget. Make the checklist of travelling to make sure you’re not leaving your favourite trousers or t-shirt.

Tips on buying cheap Air Asia ticket

1. Purchase 3 months early from your travel date.
After I’ve done several clicks on Air Asia website, I guess that to get a cheap price, you have to set a permanent date and buy it 3-5 months earlier. You will not enjoy the benefit of low price if you buy ticket for three days or one week earlier.

2. Look for weekdays schedule to get cheap ticket.
They only offer you cheap ticket for Monday to Friday flights. I rarely find cheap ticket on Saturday or Sunday. Lets call it luck if you find it low on weekend.

3. Avoid unneeded charges before you purchase.
Be careful when you enter the transaction process, there are some extra charges that you can avoid like express boarding and unnecessary insurance. Just unchecked the boxes before you hit the purchase button.

4.Be careful and enjoy your holiday.

Warning.
1. Don’t buy any food or any merchandise on flight, they charge you triple than usual price.
2. Don’t keep any valuable items in luggage bag, I’d lost a handphone from previous flight.
3. Air Asia practices free-seat for any flight, you have to be quick to select your favorite spot.

Air Asia is the second company that offers international and domestic flight service in Malaysia. The company is well known with unbelievable low price of ticket (I don’t really know how they managed to get profit, but Air Asia net income reached almost double this year.)

I regularly buy tickets from KLIA to Kelantan. It only costs me 35 ringgit per ticket to fly my wife’s kampong and I purchase it 4 month before the date of flight.

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Cooking our own meal. Save time vs. save money.


We know that the consumer goods are increasing recently. With the non-consumer goods are likely to escalate as well, me and my wife decided to cook at home rather than eat at restaurant.

But there’s other thing needs to consider and that is time. It is as valuable as money also. Money can be regenerated but time is irreversible. You cannot turn back the time no matter what.

Cooking at home does save you a lot of money. You can see the differences if you dining out. Let’s see if you eat restaurant, the price of a cup of rice is RM1.20. A cup of rice only costs you RM0.20 if you cook at home.

Cost of meals if we eat at restaurant:
Fish (2 persons) = RM 5.00
Chicken (2 persons) = RM6.00
Vegetable (2 persons) = RM 3.50
Total = RM14.50

And if we cook at home:
Fish (2 persons) = RM1.50 (saves RM3.50)
Chicken (2 persons) = RM2.00 (saves RM4.00)
Vegetable (2 persons) = RM1.00 (saves RM2.50)
Total = RM4.50

We save about RM 10 a day if we cook our own meals. In a year, we save about RM3600.

Cooking at home may eat up your time over an hour if you want to serve 3 dishes of food. Dining out actually save you a lot of time. Just choose any meal that you have in mind, call up waiter and order. In 15 minutes, your food is well served and ready to eat.

You save 1 hour when you eat at restaurant but cost you about RM7 per person (RM14.50/2). For one hour, you can many productivity things like writing, exercising, email answering, reading and many more.

As my opinion, eat at restaurant is for busy people whose time is precious and valuable item and it is not a good decision to cook at home despite it saves money.

For the ones who have family like us, it is the best for our money to cook at home plus we can spend time together doing the activity that we love.

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How can I get 80k by just saving RM100 every month.

Last year, I have invested in one mutual fund called Public China Ittikal Fund managed by highly acclaimed Public Mutual Bhd. Last night I try to draw the illustration of 20 years of investment to see how my money growth in that period.

Below is the table of 20 years of investment with the interest rate is considered constant 10% every year.

Why 20 years?
My previous post, I’ve stated that my goal is only 12 years of investment. But now I think 20 years is a good measurement for a long-term goal and I believe it is the best for me for not to take out that money before it hits 20. With an increment of RM 1200 deposit every year, I can get over RM80,000 when I’m 43 year-old.

What do you need to get RM80k in 20 years?
I need a steady saving of RM100 every month without a miss to get RM1200 in a year. It also needs discipline and strict budget. It’s not easy to wait for 20 years of investment; it requires patience in my heart to get over my greed to fulfil my goal.

Will the interest rate goes 10% every year?
No. It is only the drawings of 20 years of my investment with 10% steady interest rate. We should be well informed that the interest rate will go up and down throughout the years. Let’s hope it will give us the average of 10% every year.

PCIF is the favourable mutual fund in Malaysia. See why I chose PCIF as my first investment.

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Evil Inflation : the definition, the cause, how to fight.

We’ll be expecting the government will increase the price of petrol after the 2008 election due to unbearable high price of crude oils. With the consumer goods’ price was already taken its place to a higher level, we feel that the world is unfair and we wonder how these can happen.

What is inflation?
According to answers.com; A persistent increase in the level of consumer prices or a persistent decline in the purchasing power of money, caused by an increase in available currency and credit beyond the proportion of available goods and services.

To me, inflation is a significant rising in price of items I usually use, buy, and consume. These items are the needful things where I use it to survive or to continue my lifestyle. Even if the price is high, I still need to buy it.

This video can actually tells you what inflation is.

What cause inflation?
+A rise in production costs or raw materials. e.g. Crude oil prices.
+Federal Taxes on certain consumer product. E.g. Cigarettes
+International lending and national debts.

How to kick out inflation?
++Save some money.
++Spend less than you earn.
++Consider substitute items. The best example I can give is replacing regular petrol tank into natural gas tank. It is reasonably cheap and gives you more miles to your car.

What’s next after inflation?
Hyperinflation is when the government print out money paper excessively in order to satisfy the government and private spending. Example; They print out three zero digits on the RM100 paper note while it’s truth value decreasing.

And the countries had been infected by it a long time ago:
++Angola
++Argentina
++Austria
++Brazil
++Germany
++Hungary
++Turkey
Click here for full list of hyperinflation around the world.

See this video of 1200% inflation in Zimbabwe for the good example of hyperinflation.

How do people define inflation.
It’s hard to believe that inflation has hits most of the country. I hope we could pray and believe everything going to be alright.
+ Party’s over: uppity Chinese and Indian workers spur inflation
+ Inflation is Rearing its Ugly Head Again
+ Inflation is an important issue for everyone in New Zealand

How do people feel about inflation around the world?
I put the keyword ‘as inflation’ and here’s what I’ve found
+ Drug prices for elderly rise twice as much as inflation
+ As inflation subsides, disinflation seamlessly fades into deflation.
+ Gold and oil soar as inflation fears grow
+ Cameroon crisis continues as inflation surges

Inflation really knocks me off and whenever the government announce the fuel price increment, I get frustrated and curse the sky.

Can you suggest what we can do to fight inflation?
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Ringgit Paths to Heaven : 27 Feb 2008

These are the interesting links I found when I put keyword ‘recession’ in search engine:

++20 Recession-Proof ideas are the strategy on how to survive during recession.

++Diesel is hitting new records daily, and oil settled at a record high of $100.88 a barrel on Tuesday. Gas prices soar as dollar plummets.

++Recession proof you, recession proof your work, recession proof your family – 9 ways to recession-proof your life.

++freemoneyfinance.com showed his opinions on how to invest during recession.

++US President George W. Bush denied Tuesday that the US economy was in recession or would go into one despite a spate of downcast reports and gloomy indicators.

++Recession Bound? Fewer People Clicking on Google.

++The economic disaster that is military Keynesianism, Why the US has really gone broke

This post offers great and interesting links that converse about money, finance, and economy.


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Build up an emergency fund

At 2.00 a.m., I was still planning to build up emergency fund for this year. I afraid that I’m too late to build it up. My fear rose when something bad has happened to my friend and he didn’t has any reserve money for that. His car broke down, he has to pay over RM 1000 to auto mechanic because the radiator needed to be replace. Now, he has no other choice but to utilize credit card.

Therefore, I plan for my emergency fund to prevent any uncertainties come around in future.

Short Term Goal
For this year, I need to set aside at least RM 1000 for emergency fund. To achieve the short term goal, it require RM 90 a month to contribute. That about 4 %-5 % of my monthly salary. (RM3/day)

Mid Term Goal.
After total up my daily expenses, car loan payment, housing loan payment, and other things like credit card debt, student loan, and bills for six months, I need have reserve money at least RM 9000. So I have to save about RM 187.50 per month to complete my goal in four years. (RM6/ day)

I need to achieve my short term goal first and then continue saving for mid term goal.

Long Term Goal
After I complete my mid term goal, I will go on with this huge mission – to save RM 60 000. That figure equals to a year salary of my wife and I. This goal is hard to stay on the track because of the big amount plus the cost of living will escalate over the years. My wife and I will do our best to achieve this goal. This goal requires me to drop RM 300 a month in 12 years (If 8% interest compounded). (RM10/day)

I’m thinking several reasons why I need seriously to build up emergency fund plan in my life:

  • Unexpected event happens and it will cost me a lot of money. What if lighting strikes my house and damages all home applications in my house? I will have a financial distortion that month.
  • Act as a burden relief. I already have many debts surround me – 2 car loans, a housing loan, credit card, and student loan. I don’t want to add up any figures if something big happens.
  • Can be a cushion to my budget. If my refrigerator happens to be damaged and needed to repair. I don’t have to add up to my monthly budget.
  • If I get fired or lost my job. I do really need the financial backup if I lost my job and waiting for new job to land. That’s why I need backup money equivalent to 6 months of expenses.

Remember, emergency fund is only to use when only it is emergency. Do not use it as a car down payment or resource for shopping spree. Only use when emergency happens!!

Learn more about build up an emergency fund. Learn this. Or read this.

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Disposable Income, How to increase it

Disposable Income does have a significant influence. Ok, I agree. Even if your income is six figures but your debt just as equal as your income, it only brings trouble to your financial health.

Andrew Beattie mentioned 4 ways to increase my disposable income.


1. Get Raise / a second job. “Working two jobs in tandem can be physically and mentally draining, but it will bring more money in when you need it.”

At this moment, the only way I can bring more money to home is to work overtime at my office as a second job replacement. My employer pays me decent money for overtime. A second job doesn’t worth it for me. (RM 15.00 x one hour plus 12.50 meal allowance). I get double when Saturday and triple if I work on Sunday.

2. Start a Business. “Much like a raise or second job, running a business will you more demands on your time and require more effort”

My wife and I have a plan to open an online store at ebay.com.my and lelong.com.my. It is small and legitimate way to boost my income. We plan to sell miniature items that I can get easily in bulks, back at my wife’s hometown, Kota Bharu.

3. Investing Income. “Investing is a great way to increase your disposable income in the long run, but it won’t do wonders for your immediate situation”

I already invested some of my money into unit trust fund investment, PUBLIC CHINA ITTIKAL FUND. If my calculations are correct, I will get about RM86,248 when I’m at 40 just by saving RM100 per month.

4. Spend Less. “The best way to increase your disposable income is to protect the money you earn by spending less.”

I have to sacrifice my interest of buying DVDs and luxury clothes in order to achieve one of my goals (spend less and less). Other unnecessary things are dining out, go to cinema, and ASTRO TV subscription.

Conclusion ? “If you know how to spend less than you get, then you have the philosopher’s stone.” Benjamin Franklin.

Read Full Article here.

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