Change Your Lifestyle

or rather, Ubah Gaya Hidup Anda

Wise words from a friend

Perhaps it IS time to change. I finally felt the pinch of reality when I was at Shell filling up my usual amount of RM30 fuel. That amount used to be good enough for three quarters of my tank when the fuel price was 192 cents/liter. After the price hike with the fuel price amounting to 270 cents/liter, my fuel gauge merely passed the half a tank mark. Now that’s got to suck.

Can I adapt? Going out less often, eating out less often, saving money often? I’ve not been shopping in quite a while but I still find my savings dwindling away. In fact, when the fuel was raised to 192 cents/liter (in the past) I cut down on my clubbing excursions to only once a month! That was quite drastic but it came naturally once I was attached and I got older. However, there seems to be a vicious cycle to everything. When something ends, something new emerges. Of course, having a boyfriend is not cost free but we do share the same traits of being financially conscious and well, perhaps being stingy in a way, but not towards each other. The one thing I wish for our convenience was a good public transport system from his place to mine and vice versa. Traveling on the LDP twice a week may not seem like very often, but the effect is quite pronounced.

The problem with saving money does not only stem from the rising cost of living. Like a curse, I seem to be spending quite a large sum of my budget on unavoidable circumstances. When you think you’ve got everything under control, like driving a car smoothly on a traffic free road, something comes along and ruins your joy. Take for instance, last month my hiking shoes gave way after an arduous hike and if that doesn’t sound pitiful, my bicycle tyre exploded just last week while cycling. Both met their ends within such a short period of time and I have to get them replaced. Damn

Everything is going up except for our wages. Perhaps it is wise to start spending intelligently before inflation hits us to the core.

As a response to my friend who advocates a lifestyle change, I told him that we should all sit at home and eat only bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Surprisingly enough, that is what he’s been doing over the weekend ….. I kid you not