Saying NO to temptations

OK, I've never thought these to be the first pictures to appear on my blog posts but here you go...aren't they pretty?

THAT china ware in the bottom pic...priceless. Well, no, they come with a price tag. What are you doing in a Starb**ks when you are not actually a coffee drinker or a snacker? You may ask. The reason I was there was because of these - I hunted them down for my friends, but the mugs were so adorable...I found them hard to forget. But I'm trying to resist; I have too many cups / mug, I might break them since I'm careless, my home is running out of space, etc The debate is still raging hard this morning when I helped my friends to purchase them (which they'll reimburse me later), and by the way, these are "limited editions" exclusive to this corner of the earth (of course that darn word again!) and sold like hot cakes every year around this time when they are released (some of them the same, some are new designs). The whole city was scouring over these, and I just didn't buy them (yet). I don't think I will, even though I very much want to!

Now I invite you to join me to savor these pretties in a digital form...cross our arms in front of our chest and say no. No, it's not easy, but it has to be done, if we are to stay on course with frugality.

Over to you, how do you resist temptations? How do you convince yourself to say NO?

*Full collection photos HERE. Do not click if you are feeling weak. You've been warned.

Pay yo'self before you treat yo'self?

Have you ever thought about treating yourself to a cup of milk tea* but delaying it until next month? Well I just did last week. Today as I was thinking about March, the thought of it resurfaced again and I was caught suddenly thinking WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

That "I'll treat myself with a cuppa next week" thought is essentially what I'm writing about. It shouldn't be a treat that makes me look forward to March, no; it should be a treat when March is over AND if there's money left in the budget. 

Not only the thought hints at a sense of "entitlement", like it's only the beginning of the month not the end! Do note that the thought comes along with the subtle messages like "at the start of next month I'll have money in the budget to start with, and so I can get X and Y". Dangerous signs there, dangerous.

What I'll do is delaying treats towards the end of month, and try my very best to go without them. Then when the month comes to an end and there's a few bucks left, I'll decide whether to keep those in the pocket or let them pay for a humble treat. Pay yourself first, (maybe) treat yourself later.

It's the way it should be really!

*here refers to a special blend beverage you get from a joint instead of making my own*

First day back at work

I slept very poorly last night. Not just the fact that I had caught up with plenty of doze during the 4-day weekend, but we had a nasty fight. I loathe to end my day with negativity but it's not something I can forget at the click of a button in my head.

So far 9 NSDs in February, and 3 more should happen this week *crosses fingers*. As far as the long weekend was concerned, I made very conscious effort not to spend / delay the spending. I took advantage of the 50% off discount on metro rides during Friday and Saturday, to my grandma's place for dinner, meet up with a few relatives. It seems that even though she's deemed smart at her age, she's showing signs of aging (memory getting poorer), it's really sad. Even my mom noticed it as well. 

I had a...very unproductive holiday. No exercising goal was reached, no reading had been done. And I felt terrible about it, the monthly wrap-up will come later this week.

My nightmare of not having enough variety of food at home - partly came true. That's exactly why my folks and I headed out for tea yesterday (on my purse of course), we could have stayed home and made something but since it was the CNY, it seemed "appropriate" (darn this word and the mentality behind it) to go out to treat them.

That's it for now - am exhausted! 

*off to catch up with missed blog posts and ponder on the way forward in March*

Happy Chinese New Year!

Wishing everyone who reads this a prosperous Year of the Goat and Happy Chinese New Year!

Hurray Dividend!

I just got HK$234 from some bonds that I was holding for half a year, it 'll go straight to the side-hustle count for the month. Woot Woot!

*note to self* must open an account sometime during mid year and hopefully buy more bonds later, since I'm not really familiar with stocks yet. 

Mid Week Update of sorts

My eating has suffered in the past 1 ? 2? weeks because the schedule of my mom and mine don't sync - there are times when she's home to cook and I'm not, and vice versa. My vegetables and fruits intake fluctuated dramatically. The fruits lately sucked and I don't fancy the thought of biting into cold, dry cherries. I'll be home for dinner but not sure if she'll cook as she's just had a work shift...

Given how it is, I will make a mental note to ask her to get the house filled with greens by Wednesday as the supermarkets probably won't get restocked with nice stuff over the long PH weekend, yikes.

The weekly walks in the park has virtually fell by the wayside - no trips had been made to the park at. all. Must get back on the wagon during the weekend when out of things to do! Catching up with reading and past issues of magazines will also be on the radar. Hopefully I'll declutter a bit (WHO declutters on a New Year against the tradition?! No one.) and start getting the blog sale up. Been sitting around this forever and not started a thing.

The considerations of getting a post-grad degree had also diminished - partly because after some thoughts, I realized I am not likely to become the candidate that they're looking for - those intangible attributes that can't be bought / doesn't come automatically with qualifications on a piece of paper. The degree probably might add *some* value to my current job, but it might not. There's also the thought of taking some online courses and purchase the end-of-course certificate and add it to my CV, some certificates maybe better than nothing at all. 

Crunching the numbers

So here we are...16th of February!

A quick trip to the budget number reveals that I've spent 78.5% (!!!) of the monthly budget. The remaining days in the month will see me teetering over the edge, and I'll be clutching my wallet very, very tight. There will be a trip to the health practitioner tomorrow and it'll send me right over the budget. 

Previously I made it clear that there won't be any stockpiling purchases this month, but I've made a few slips here and there. I caught the oat biscuits (cheap and tasty) back on shelves again and got two boxes without thought. (Hey they last until December...) With the coming week is major Public Holidays (PH) I should have no problem with 3 NSDs in a row. Next week there will be a banquet (saved for), and an official lunch treat (shared with peers, also saved for) so those won't hurt my monthly budget numbers. But there's another trip to the doc next week, but we shall see.

I'm going to spill the beans about an awesome deal we had on V Day, since me and DB don't want to succumb to paying triple or double prices for poor quality set dinner and such. In the past we've deployed our twisted logic, had our mouths fed in a fast food chain and we can't be happier! Here's why:

(1) no crowds next to us

(2) no need advance booking via phone, no head-wringing moment of "OMG where should we eat at?"

(3) we never like "V Day set menu" prescribed by the restaurant and have the same food as everyone else *BORING*

(4) not dining in a restaurant means we won't be extorted $ (mind you the quality usually goes downhill on fully booked occasions like this, and Xmas)

(5) no pressure to "do what everyone else does", aka a bouquet of flowers and all that sh**

So, what did we have? *cues drumroll*

Our dinner for that night (1 big pizza + 1 baked rice) only costs HK$108, for 2! We could have gone to a fast food chain cheaper than HK$54 per person, sure. But HK$108 for 2 is a major win considering that it's not a fast food chain quality food! (Pizzas do not belong to fast food "menu" where I live.) I had a coupon for a big pizza at $69 versus the usual $149, and since we're *kind of* big eaters, we added a baked rice, it was $45 but the cashier told me the set (same size) is $39 and comes with soup/soda, that's even better! The only downside was that I had to go to the place to order (the place is far away from everywhere else) and self-deliver it home by transit instead of the motorman buzzing it to our doorstep. Sure it took quite a bit of walk and strong arm muscles but hey it's a win-win for everyone! We got our fab deal pizza dinner and can't be happier.

I also booked tickets for DB and I for a short trip somewhere in Easter - it wasn't the prime time for fab travel deals but this period is easiest to allow taking day-offs to make it into a trip. So I guess that'll have to do. Location-wise, it's not where I felt 100% attracted to go but DB really wants to go there so no problems with that. Any travel related costs shall not come under the monthly budget and shall be taken out of another pocket - which I hope will be adequate to fund it...

Career Talk

Over the past few days I've dabbled with the idea of taking up a post-grad degree. When I looked up the actual program that (1) could serve some purpose if I were able to have a career change, but (2) I don't have the slightest interest in the subject matter, the figure made my heart sank a bit. Getting past the cost factor, which I think was OK even though it exceeded my guesstimate, there are lots to think about.

The considerations were: interest, difficulty (course work), necessity/purpose, time and cost.

Personal interest was self-explanatory. It is also linked with difficulty, it's a degree which requires lots of readings and dare I say, exposure. There's also an exchange program linked in the degree but that's optional (seeing that some may have work constraints like I do), if they pick it there'll be additional costs there. As for necessity and purpose, well, if I've become a different person (in thinking), there might be good chance that I can get into a better position, but IT WILL BE / IT IS difficult to get in. There's no guarantee I can make it even after taking this degree. If I decided to take this degree, 2 years later I'd be facing an even more tricky situation: having spent time and money on the degree, should I go for it or not? 

I should probably add that the "better" position will mean a great change in my entire career lifespan. I would be working under (much) more stress, working more late, and be always, always on the go, like almost 24/7. And it's not just for a handful of years, it's the entire career span. Damned if you do, damned if you don't! There is absolutely nothing "better" about the better position except for the $$$. The goddamn $$$. More $$$ means more stress and responsibility, less freedom. Can I stand pressure? From my past experience, not very so. [Edited to add: There isn't any other benefits that I can identify to - those include getting to know the top tier seniors and networking and such - these don't add value / happiness to my life so I'm not counting it in the consideration of things.]

I think a post-grad degree might give me a sense of security in my current job, but does it have to be an over-achieving one? One that I need to pursue regardless of my interest in the subject? I doubt if I'd do well in a subject which I loathe. There are some happy mediums: subjects that I'm OK with but still not interested in, they cost cheaper and are linked to my job. On the other hand, the subjects I am interested in, they would not directly help my career either. But if I ever decided to take on a post-grad degree, shouldn't I pick something more multi-purpose (aka allowing me the chance to switch to an entire different position) besides adding qualification to my resume? Tough choice! 

The discussion went on with my dad and a relative of mine. The relative was of the opinion that I should go for it as I'm still young, if there's a time to take a chance, it's now. My dad, on the other hand said something more reflective - he said that a good career would follow me until 60 or 65, but a good family would follow me until the last day of my life. He was more of the opinion that I (a woman) should think about the future (what if) I decided to have children. He thinks I should choose whatever that makes me happy and comfortable. 

Another week of February

The first week of February had seen me working extra hard and reached the peak of exhaustion. It's already taking its toll on my energy, spirits, health and what have yous. The long hard thinking about career decisions isn't helping either. Tomorrow night I'll have a meeting after work somewhere (whoever's idea of having a meeting at dinner time, that person is just downright stupid).

In other note, I've come to the conclusion that an outfit plan every Sunday is not going to work for me - not because of the weather but because it simply is exhausting my brain. On most days when I am not meeting any one after work I just wear what I want (usually is whatever that's not going to the wash). If I have things to do after work, I would have come up with what to wear day(s) before. Waking up each morning and getting dressed is a tough task, in summer it's easy. 

This week will see a family dinner, maybe I'll contribute a dish or two, but I'm going to to take things easy on the weekend. Don't think a jog or a walk can be squeezed in. so that goal has fallen by wayside! It appears that I can hit one of my financial goals of making an extra 2-3k. Only 3 NSDs so far, 2-3 more will happen this week, so my monthly total won't exceed 10, given February is a short month, but a quick trip to the numbers found me spending 60%+ of the monthly budget already(!).

I've done no readings this week and the "eat more greens" goal is not making any progress. Hope the holidays will allow catching up with the monthly goals, the weekly goals list remains pretty much the same as last week's:

- schedule dental check up after CNY (remind DB about this since we attend appointments together)

- update the balance on passbook as well as the progress bar on the blog (I just chased after someone to return the money she owed me but so far nothing is showing up)

- start small on a side hustle (...)

- read 20 pages on the unfinished book (...)

- be in bed by 2330 (this one is ultra important)
- eat more fruits / greens
- research on a few easy peasy dishes to make this weekend
- discuss with mom about food arrangement during the 5-day long weekend, don't want nasty surprises (aka freezer stuffed to the brim but falls short of anything I want to eat), shops don't open / restock, etc

I try to keep in mind whenever I sign up for more work that I must not let any other commitments in my life suffer - be it rest, time spent with loved ones, etc. So easy to say, not exactly easy to do!

CNY is coming! Hide!

*Enters panic and crisis mode*

2014 Christmas had seen me indifferent, and I'm no feeling Chinese New Year either :( it's just 10 days away and I'm starting to panic a few days ago. It has largely to do with food.

While days off from work is always, always good, I can't stomach the thought of having the same food (puddings and turnip cakes and etc) for more than 2 days. The holiday coincided with weekend so that's a great 5 day long thing this year. More shops open on New Year than before but - you guessed it - people will flock there and they'll charge more than usual - pretty much the type of food you have on V Day when you dine out - much more pricey and quality had gone downhill.

After some thought I decided to tell my family the biggest source of panic is food. Supermarkets hardly gets a restock on the first two days...it's no surprise. And I'm super, duper panic if we run out of fresh food / food of variety. With that in mind, I've decided to keep a few things in the house to keep things interesting...I'd have instant oatmeal for a change, just to have a switch in palate, if things get desperate. I'd eat tinned food or granola bars, or plain boiled eggs with bread (if there is) if I need to. There will need to be a few things around the house to spice things up - atm I'm thinking more along the lines of dumplings with soup, instant noodles (there's enough stock for 3 persons...but 5 days? hmmm), frozen processed food (how sad), lots of greens and fruits.

Ideally I want to have lots of different food in the freezer but our small freezer just doesn't cut it, there's no way to get a bigger one giving the size of the house vs the size of most folks' house in this city. When I have my freezer one day (instead of mom being in charge...), I'd do a deep clean of that and toss out every unused thing. Now everything's in there and you just can't "see" the potential space that can be freed up to do lots of other things, yet she kept telling me there's no space for more food when I try to bring in some!

If you're reading this, I'd like to know how do you cope with the fear of not having enough food?

January's Saving Rate

This is probably a bit late but who cares ;-)

I've just finished dabbling with the figures, the calculations are based on pre-tax income I made (after retirement compulsory contributions), any extras I made (via side-hustles, allowances, vouchers, birthday money). Expenditures include the regular ones that take place monthly, and yearly categories that I've budgeted for (e.g. new eye glasses, work-related expenses, money for grannies, tax) and money for folks (this amount is almost the same amount of my monthly budget, kinda huge).

*cues drumroll* So I managed to save 45.85% of income in January! Pre-tax.

For those who wonder why I kept my calculations pre-tax when calculating the savings rate...well, that's because I"m new to the tax system and there are a lot of factors that drastically changed the amount I was paying for before, and now. I cannot calculate exactly how many % of my monthly income will go to paying tax but all I can do, right now, was putting away enough money each month and build up a cushion. 

Right now I have a savings account, a checking account that includes tax and emergency fund (so 3 accounts). I also have a fixed deposit account tucked away in another bank, that also comes with a checking account which I do not use currently. I prefer to separate emergency fund from the tax reserve fund, and another account for yearly categories/replacements (stuff like dental checkups, and replacing electrical appliances in the household), savings account for savings, checking account for regular monthly expenditures. I'm thinking maybe I need more number of accounts than I thought I need. But that's for another day!

When looking at the 45.85%, I was thinking those extra income I earned really made a difference. Guess how the number will drop if I'm relying solely on one job??? That kinda worries me...

Tick Tock Tick Tock

The clock keeps ticking...

and I kept working :-S

I came home past 10 on Tuesday, and was completely beat. Completely. Like someone has knocked me out, I couldn't manage anything except shower and went straight to slumberland.

It was some side-hustle post-work hours and silly me I thought I could squeeze both side-hustles and kill two birds with one stone! I ended up finishing job A, then stayed behind to work on job B. All these are done in the same day after finishing day job C. Earning money was not easy, but I'm grateful I had the opportunities to work extra by choice.

On the bright side, it means I should be able to hit my monthly goal of making extra 2-3k a month! *pops the champagne open* 

It feels really great not having to rely solely on one job only! #securityissues 

Sometimes I feel OK proud of myself for being active in seeking out side income sources, except via investment which I aim to touch on soon, maybe later part of the year. Because there's just so limited time to be completing jobs and it's better to make money generate money (be they how little).

Ever had a burnout?

The other day I came across this article: How Not To Have a Meltdown in 2015

(Confession: OK I'll admit that I read the transcript, being a compulsive reader non-native English speaker that I am.)

The thing is, while reading this, it hit me that I might have experienced one, whether previously or lately, it didn't matter. A burnout may not necessarily result from work stress, it can be anything: family, too much (bad) news, etc. What it matters is acknowledging it and finding my place, even if that means I'm no longer the socializing character, even if it means I enjoy solitude more and more (honestly though, I suspect it has something to do with frugality and not hanging out as much as I used to with friends). 

If you're reading the article, please share your views here. I, for one, like to know how you cope with moments like that.

Monday is the new Friday!

I'm referring to "Super Mondays" promo which has recently caught my attention.

Apparently, I think the same as most people: Mondays = going home / not hanging out. The restaurateurs had come up with "Super Mondays" promo whereby you get BOGOF on main courses, to boost their on-site traffic. Some of them do Tuesdays as well, but you guessed it: none on Friday. However only the mid-end restaurants do this offer...wish more of them did.

So what does this mean for my newly found frugality*? DB and I are dining out on Mondays now instead of Fridays, it'll allow us to try more dishes without spending more, and not to mention to avoid the crowds on Fridays! Less queue, less crowded dining experience. Can't complain :-)

*I am fully aware that dining out is not "frugal" per se, but for our situation right now (we don't live together), so dining out when we hang out is mostly the case. If we're doing this anyway, why not make the best use of BOGOF offers?

Frugal February: Refocus

I realized today being the first day of February and it being a Sunday, there's no better time than laying out goals to be achieved in the coming month. Yesterday's post is a recap, today's post will help to refocus.

Financially speaking, I still aim to make an extra 2-3k from side hustling, so far I'm positive about achieving the 2k mark. Now if you add the pocket money which will be gained (notice I didn't use the word "earn") during Chinese New Year, it could well go over the 3k mark. I need to drag myself up to work on a few bits which had been sat on forever. Oh yes and the blog sale, I hope with the 3 public holidays in mid Feb should help me iron out a bit of the logistics. If the sale went live, the extra income will go to March :-) 

One of my financial goals for 2015 is to better manage my retirement fund, well where should I begin? I'm waiting to receive a quarterly summary (of my account) from the company that manages my retirement account, so that I could create an online account platform to manage the fund. Why wait for the summary to come you may ask? Well that's because I don't want to rustle through my papers in the shelf...it'll work out easier for me to use the info from the latest report they sent me than finding my papers at home. After the account is created, I'll take closer look to their quarterly performance reports of various funds, this is the part I dreaded, but it has to be done eventually.

Since February is a short month, I'd be hitting the jackpot (literally) if I manage 14 NSDs - aka half of the month I won't be fishing a penny from the wallet. I can't quite say whether it is too ambitious or not, since there are some scheduled events coming up (big family dinner post-CNY, meeting friend from overseas, friends' gathering, office lunches, office expenses, shipping gifts overseas), but here's to hoping! Contrary to traditional practices of stocking up pantry before CNY, I will be looking out for post-CNY sales, mostly food! Many of the shops will close on PH or worse, they open but will charge you more than what normally was, dining out during this period is akin to an extortion. I'll make sure we have enough variety of food during the holidays so it won't drive me crazy to eat the same things three days in a row. It's quite dreadful coming to think about how long the CNY stretches out to be: restaurants would start having "regular" price meals just weeks before the holiday actually is, and continue for a week after the actual holiday ended. Hence the food (and variety) we need to have ready at home needs to cover more than just the handful of days(!), if we want to stay frugal and sane.

Health-wise, I'd struck gold if I can manage to hit the park 4x within this month. Meanwhile I always try to walk a lot and walk far, to make up for times when I couldn't make to the park. I'll try to make sure to keep an early bedtime during the holidays though! Unfortunately, festive holidays also means a period of indulgence when it comes to food...the festive cakes, puddings and various delicacies. Will try sticking to whole foods as much as possible. On a personal care level, I've been keeping on with moisturizing in January but need to up the ante this month - so is conditioning my hair and masking! 

In other areas, I should probably get the book reading back on the bandwagon, and finish it ASAP. I don't have to make myself read if it's an interesting book - but it isn't, but it's a useful read. As far as the housekeeping / decluttering goals is concerned, if I can map out the basic logistics of the blog sale, that's part of the decluttering done already. The other decluttering work I foresee will be in March or April when the weather is really sucky (read: humid, foggy, cold, drizzle, grey skies, hazy) and I'd do anything to stay indoors. This, together with food supply (meals at home), shall be the key in March. Oops...got sidetracked! February I will be seeing an overseas friend and perhaps a group of friends, that's enough for my schedule already but if anyone wants to meet, I may consider that...or not. It'll depend on funds and time.

Before this gets too lengthy, I'll end it with weekly goals:

- schedule dental check up after CNY (remind DB about this since we attend appointments together)

- update the balance on passbook as well as the progress bar on the blog

- set up an auto-transfer for the paycheck in Feb to the "yearly replacements" account

- start small on a side hustle

- read 12 pages on the unfinished book

- top up transit pass $200

- be in bed by 2330
- get distilled water and blank masks

Hope February will treat you to a good start!