Tag

shopping

Malaysians Share Their Best Under-RM100 Purchases

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We buy things to fix a problem. Whether the problem is hunger, or boredom, or lack of focus, or social acceptance, or something else.

Often, the stuff that we buy, the solutions, they work okay (I hope this is the case for you). Sometimes they don’t work as well as claimed.

But once in a blue moon, you get lucky and found a particular product that you absolutely LOVE. It pretty much changed your life, you don’t know how you ever managed without it. You consider yourself a fan and have NO PROBLEM recommending these to others.

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HappyFresh Review: 10 Tips to Save Money and Time!

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I’m a frequent HappyFresh user. As of time of writing, I’ve made double-digit orders from them.

happyfresh review

How it works is pretty simple:

  • Go to their website or download their app (iOS and Android)
  • Pick a supermarket (selection depends on what’s near you)
  • Add groceries to your cart
  • Select delivery time
  • Make payment
  • Wait for delivery

Being a power user, here’s my HappyFresh review and some money-saving tips I can pass on 🙂

#1 – Browse the Best Deals section

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Budget Update: July 2018

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july 2018

Budget Update: July 2018

What a full month! It was full of intense emotional experiences – from the low of my grandmother’s passing to the high of Good Vibes Festival to everything in between.

I shot my first video campaign (details coming soon!). Got angry at morally-righteous LGBT haters that I made a personal finance guide for LGBTs. Decided to visit my Japanese host family and splurged on a very-costly RM1765 flight tickets just because I want to fly off from Chubu Centair International Airport in Nagoya instead of cheaper airports like Osaka. I went on shopping sprees, both online and offline. I went on dates (good, bad and GREAT) and attended many events.

All this while working my ass off – I squeezed for that brain juice so often and so hard, I’m surprised it’s still working. Thank you for being reliable braiiiin.

Despite everything, my spending was… alright? Almost RM7k for this kind of month is okay. My spending is the lowest since January 2018. In the upcoming months, have to keep it even lower – have to save money for that Japan trip in September.

I have no complaints, only gratefulness that my income can sustain this lifestyle. How was your July like?

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How Expense Tracking Looks Like (As Someone Who Doesn’t ‘Budget’)

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If you’re a regular reader here at Ringgit Oh Ringgit, you know that I share my monthly expenses every. single. month.

The reason why I prefer expense tracking rather than budgeting is simple: it just works ridiculously well for me. All I have to do is record all my expenses and suddenly my financial life is just better, more organised, data-driven.

I don’t have to stress about keeping my expenses in one particular category under a certain amount, because I know that as long as it averages out okay in the bigger picture, I’m good.

(Example: Buying groceries in bulk will increase my groceries expenses in that month but lower them in subsequent months.)

This article is how about how it works. 

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15 Things I Stopped Buying and Didn’t Miss

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This post was inspired by one of my favourite personal finance websites, The Financial Diet. Check out their version of the article here.

‘Don’t buy shit you don’t need’ – how many times have we all heard this six-word money advice? It sounds so simple, right?

The thing is, the definition of ‘shit you don’t need’ will differ greatly from person to person. What I think I don’t need and can cut from my budget is someone else’s necessity item, either required for their life/work or something they decided is worth the expense and thus budgeted in (instead of budgeted out).

Here are 15 things I have personally stopped buying and realised I didn’t miss.

#1 – A Car

Sometimes, the fact that I don’t own a car really surprises people around me. It’s considered a rights-to-passage-to-adulthood expense, something people buy as they start working.

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Why We Can’t Stop Spending Money

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Look up any commentary or news piece about poor Malaysians and the (sad) state of our finances, and you can find discussions about our self-control. Apparently, some of us lack self-control so much that we simply can’t help buying all the H&M clothes and trying out all the Starbucks drinks against our better judgement. That, said the commentators, is the reason why many of us complain too much about the cost of living, so stop complaining and just buy less lah!

This shallow reasoning makes me angry.

Are we simply going to ignore decades worth of behavioural economics research that is used to influence our purchasing behaviour and habits? Or do we just not take into account thousands of people employed in big companies whose jobs is to develop and execute sales, advertisement and marketing strategies?

And you expect me, a mere individual, to be able to resist all these combined efforts and temptations, 100% of the time? And tell me I lack willpower?

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