Butter for only RM1

Thank God for almost expiring butter, I grabbed 7 of it for only RM7. The expiry date is just a day before CNY. Since I need a lot of butter to bake my CNY cookies, this is a very good deal. Can't wait to start baking cookies. ;)

Where To Buy Cheap New Tyre

Recently, we had our car's tyres changed. We did not have much money to change into new tyre so we asked for second-hand tyre. The first tyre shop that we went, a small tyre shop did not new second-hand tyre. Their second-hand tyre is more than 5 years old! Then we went to a bigger tyre shop that sells lots of sport rims. Their second hand tyre is a brand new tyre which cost only RM95/tyre. It is a Silverstone brand. Very cheap right? How can it be that cheap? I asked. They told me the owner of a new car wanted to change to sport rim and the tyre size differs. So they have to buy new tyres to match the new sport rims. That's how we can get cheap new tyre. :D So, when you want to buy cheap new tyre, go to the tyre shop that sells lots of sport rims. ;)

Extreme Couponing on TLC

I only managed to watch Extreme Couponing on TLC once. I was amazed at how coupons can reduced the total price of the items that you purchased from hundreds of dollar to just a few cents. I wonder whether online shopping coupon codes can do the same. I know where to get free shipping codes and a few other coupon codes but those coupon does not reduced the price until more than 50%. No chance of learning how those shoppers do it coz hubby has disconnected the Astro at home. :(

Pizza Hut's Personal Pan Pizza for RM1 Only

Yesterday I ate the cheapest personal pan pizza; Beef Pepperoni Delight from Pizza Hut. I paid RM1.05 (tax included) only! Wanna know how I can get this amazing deal? Just buy 2 RM15 Hot ticket and you are entitle to buy any of Pizza Hut's Family Favorite personal pan pizza at RM1. I still have 2 more Hot Tickets, shall keep it when I crave for pizza again. Btw, offer valid till 30 Jun 2012.

How To Save Money from Breakfast

Do you realise that breakfast is quite costly? Especially the Chinese breakfast. A plate of Chicken Rice is RM3.50, Wantan Mee is RM3.00 and even the plain fried noodle with taugeh only cost RM2.00. The Malay breakfast is cheaper. You can still get Nasi Lemak for RM1.00 and Roti Canai for RM0.80/piece BUT you have to buy 2 each to get the same value as those Chinese Breakfast. The cheapest is buy a loaf of bread and eat them with jam and butter. Takkan wanna eat sliced bread every day. There is another cheapest breakfast in town. This has been the breakfast for the poor and those with many children - LEMPENG. My MIL used to feed her 11 children lempeng every day for breakfast and now I am doing the same but not every day lar. Buy a kilo of flour at RM1.35; you can make more than 10 pcs of lempeng. I'll share how to make lempeng in my next post. ;)

Gold Investment Account at UOB

For us, Malaysian who are not so rich to buy gold bullion from United States Gold Bureau, we can always invest in gold in the form of gold investment savings account. Besides MBB and PBB, you can now open a gold investment savings account at UOB too. However, there is pro and cons investing with UOB. The pro is the difference between buying and selling prices is low; it is only RM2 compared to the other 2 banks. The cons are, the minimum subsequent purchase is 5g until the other 2 banks which only requires 1g. All 3 banks requires you to have a savings or current account with them before opening the gold investment account. At UOB the minimum amount required to open a savings account is RM2k and that amount cannot be touched. At anytime if the amount in your savings account is less than RM2k, you will be charged administration fee. I think it is RM5 (or more) for each month! So, prepare at least RM5k if you want to open a gold account with UOB.

How Much To Save Each Month

As I have mentioned earlier, we do not have any savings except when we have some extra money which we will buy gold coins. That hardly happened though; like 2-3 times a year.

Hubby was telling me that our apartments are our savings. Urgh! To me, it is a liability now. Only until all loans have been paid, then only they will be our savings if we can still get tenants.

So, I was telling hubby that we MUST save an amount of money EVERY MONTH. We can’t wait for days when we have extra then only we top up our gold savings account. We must save at least RM200 each month so that by the end of the year we will have at least RM2k in our savings account in case of emergency.

Birthday Present for a 4 years old

My son turns 4 years old today. I know that to buy gold coins is the best gift for his future since gold price has always been on the raising part. I wanted to buy some gold coins but we are very tight financially this month. So, I ended up going to a toys wholesaler and came home with a bunch of toys for him which cost me less than RM30! It was a very good bargain.

He received quite a sum of Angpows from his grandparents, uncles and aunties. I am saving that for him so that when the gold price is right, I am going to transfer that amount to gold. ;)

Free Dance Class

I am so glad that my girl's school offers free dance class. My intention of sending my girls to ballet class has been cancelled since they can learn dancing for free when they go to primary school. I can save so much and can use the money to look for treatment for adult acne if ever my acne decided to haunt me back. You can never thrust your hormones.

Subsidized Petrol

My BIL is running a "Water" business; selling water filters and selling all kinds of water. In this business, you need a truck to transport the water filters and water everyday. In order to save cost on the petrol, he applied for petrol subsidy from the government. I am not so sure how much is the subsidy but what I know is for RM33 of petrol, they are paying about RM28 only. That is RM5 discount. Wah! I wish the government can give petrol subsidy for SAHM. ;)

How Much Have We Saved

I have been fully breastfeeding my baby since he was born; more than 4 months now. Hubby was asking me how much have we saved from buying milk. I am not so sure, maybe about RM600 more or less. Besides that we saved a lot from buying disposable diapers too because our baby is using cloth diapers and cloth nappy. With the saving, we could spend the money buying more books for baby since baby loves to read. Yup! I should head over to Amazon books now and search for good deals. ;)

What To Do When You Overspent Your Credit Card

When I was still working, I count the days to receiving my credit cards statement and eagerly pay all the balance due way before the due date.

Now being jobless, I wish that they don’t turn up at all! LOL. And when they do turn up, I open them with fear and trembling.

Noticed that I used the word “them”? I am using a few credit cards but each for different purposes; one for insurance, one for petrol, one for utility bills and one for shopping. The one that I dread receiving the most is the shopping credit card because I don’t usually track my spending.

Thank God there are Balance transfers. If one credit card goes way above my ability to settle full payment, I just transfer the balance to another card and save on the interest rate. Some don’t even charge interest for a few months. Isn’t that great? But that does not mean that I can continue spending like there’s not tomorrow. ;)

Desperate for Money

I spoke too soon about my apartment rental. It is now down to RM600 a month and I need to provide curtain for the main door 8’x10’, 3 window curtains, rubbish bin, bucket for their children to bathe and new water tab. Earlier they asked for a water heater, a TV and free broadband! Do you think that they are asking too much?

If they are paying like RM800 a month, I wouldn’t mind providing all those. Even though I do not have cash in hand right now but with my good credit history, I know I can get the instant credit offers if I were to apply for one.

I was pressured because he called our neighbour who is also looking for a tenant. This tenant of mine told them how much they are paying for mine and for someone who is desperate to get their apartment rented too will definitely offer a lower price. I was kinda pissed off and told the tenant that if he were to tell them that he is getting mine at RM500, they will definitely offer him RM50 lower.

I just wanna get the deal done with and agreed with his “demands”. I am desperate too. Furthermore I know he won’t be renting my apartment for long due to his vocation. As long as I do not need to pay the whole lump sum of the home loan all by myself, I am happy.

I got free window curtains from my mom’s; she changes curtains every year. The rubbish bin and the bucket, I have a few of them in my other apartment; left by the students. And my mom volunteered to sew for me the door curtain and that save me a lot of money. The ready made curtain would easily cost me RM200-RM300. I bought the curtain cloth at Kamdar, it cost me less than RM50. I save RM150!!!

Apart from that, I gave them some value added services like bringing them grocery shopping at Jaya Jusco just now because they do not have vehicle and have no family and friends around, offered them to find out the whereabouts of Bank Islam and they asked my favor to recommend them on buying good and cheap used car. I also offered my children’s toy for their girls.

I hope they will appreciate all those and stay put in my apartment. I doubt other landlord would do the same because they do not have the free time like I do.

Saving for Vacation

Am trying to earn as much as I could and save as much too so that we can go for a real vacation. Now, with our current financial situation, hubby do not want to think of going for any vacation.

I wish I as earning as much as a few months ago. If I did, we would be staying in one of Las Vegas Hotels. Anyway, no point looking back at the past. It is already the past. I am looking forward for something better.

If God can bless me with that much which was impossible before, I want to believe that He can bless us even more than that.

Amen to that! :D

Electricity Bill

Today I am surprised by the electricity bill. Really, really surprised. Last month it was only RM88.85. The months before it was almost touching RM200. After BIL shifted to his new home, it dropped back to normal; that was the amount in last month bill. So this month I am expecting more because the electricity rate increased since last month.

Much to my surprise, the bill is only RM62.60. I was so happy to see the bills. Even though I am at home most of the time, I tried my very best to save on the electricity by using my laptop battery for as long as the battery can last then only charge it when the battery gone flat.

I also blog in the living hall or at the verandah where it is windy; not need fan and well lighted; no need switch on the light. My children don't sleep in air-cond room anymore; they will cough if they do.

When you are paying the bill, you will definitely try to save as much as you could but when you are not, you used electricity like it is free.

Art Class

Due to our financial situation right now, I have stopped my girl from attending art class in town. This month, the fee has increased from RM35 to RM40. It is not only the fee that matters but the parking fee, petrol and time. Since it is in town, we will tend to have supper after her art class ended! That is extra expenses.

Well, I am not that cruel to just let her stop completely. Come this Wednesday, she will be attending art class in her own kindy. It is only RM25 per month and they will teach her from basic; colour matching and drawing skill. It will start 1 hour after her kindy ended, so I will just send her lunch when fetching her sister home and fetch her before going home from my mom's after lunch. That would save a lot of petrol and time; not forgetting art class fee too. :D

With her passion in arts, I am sure in no time I would need Art Storage. I hope that her skills will really be polished and she will create her masterpiece soon.

If she is not good in her studies, which she is VERY good at, she can always open an art class and teach. That is a good business now. If she has a fix job next time, she could do that part time and earn more money. :D

Get Cheaper Radiator Online

A few months ago, I changed my Toyota Radiator to a Denso brand. I regretted after realising that the price is more expensive than Toyota's. If only I take the time to drive to town to search for one; I would save a lot of money! But it is too late now.

If you are looking for any radiator for that matter, why not look for it online first; especially if you are living in US. Radiators.com is the largest radiator distributor in the US. Their warehouse shelves are fully lined with over 60,000 different radiators and ac condensers. I am sure their prices are very attractive too.

Gold Saving Account

That is another thing we did on our wedding anniversary. We opened a Gold Savings Account with one of the local bank. It's like buying gold but we don't have the physical gold in our hand but just the weight and value of the gold printed on our savings account book. =)

Reduce Cost with VoIP

In business, we must find ways to reduce cost so that our profit can increase. There are many ways to reduce cost in business. One of it is telephone call. If your company has office branches scattered across the country, they can share the same phone system on the same private list of extensions across all branch offices equally with VoIP phone systems.

With this system I am sure you can save a lot on your phone bills. Furthermore, Xpander delivers the most user-friendly phone systems available which focus on simplicity, reduced costs, and drastically reduced maintenance. They offer unlimited free service; support as well as improved long distance and international calling plans.

Save Money When Spending

How could one save money when they spend? Spend means spend. If you want to save money then don't spend. Right? Wrong! In certain situation we have no choice but to spend like shopping for groceries, petrol, paying for insurance, school fees etc. Besides looking for discounts and cheap sales, you can actually save using your plastic money.

This is where Cash Back Credit Cards comes in the picture. Use your credit card to spend, don't use cash and you will see some cash coming back to you. Interesting right? I have one card that is giving me cash back and it is so nice seeing those money that I spent coming back to me.

If you are already using credit cards, here is another way of saving; Balance Transfer Credit Cards. CreditBreak.com offers a range of 0% APR balance transfer credit cards. All you got to do is transfer your balance to these kinds of credit cards and save on your interest rate. I have done this before and I save a lot of money. =)