Moneytalk, March: the good and the bad

This post will cover anything related to $. The monthly wrap-up will be another post.

Let me start off with something good. Previously one of my goals in March is to pump up my savings to a certain amount by March, and I've JUST achieved it, albeit marginally. The sum will all go to my down payment in future. This sum excludes my day to day cash in my wallet, my emergency fund, the account I set aside for yearly categories (more on that), any money tucked away in bonds and stock (I only hold one, looking to expand the profile). For the past few months, I have a new habit of putting *some* notes at home and replenish the wallet when the notes run out. For some reason, this worked for me, the thought of going to ATMs every week worries me and I panic at the thought of it. I intend to go to ATMs not more than 4 times a month: paying my credit cards in full, wiring money to my folks (this is safer than handing them cash), withdraw cash (to replenish). Sometimes I even do same things at once to save me time from the ATM queue, the queues can be horrible I tell you: there was once I had to wait for 10-15 minutes, it depends on where you are.

Well the not so good news was, the authorities have made people who are looking to buy their first homes much more difficult now. In the past people can walk away with 90% mortgage 10% down payment (minimum). No more of those days...it's now 30% down payment for everyone. Which, to me, is a sky-high number! I did a count, if my salary and savings rate stays the same, it'll take me close to 10 years to accrue the figure that would allow a down payment for a very, very modest house. But the amount wouldn't be enough to cover any lawyers cost, stamp duty, renovation, fitting-out, etc. It's very sad and more so when there's nothing I can do about it. 

Another piece of news is: huge change in commute pattern has taken place, I just did a very modest calculation and found that I'll probably need to pump up 50% more than my previous budget on commute. I'm curious to see how this change of commute pattern will influence my way of thinking about what transport to take; and how the item will play out in my budget. I have not revised my budget yet, as I would like to see how it play out in the first 1-2 months. Meanwhile I might need to start chanting *money buys time*, I need to look at where else I can cut back on...

Moving on, I've come to a decision regarding the talk on credit card upgrade. After a few calls to the hotline, I found out that I had nothing to lose after all! The worst case scenarios if I cannot meet the spending limit was (1) I had to call them to waive the annual card fee, which I have 70% they will do so, if not, I'll just cut the card or I can (2) downgrade it to my current card, without any charges. The upside was, I'll accumulate my points quicker, have unlimited access to the airport lounge. The even better part was, I can sign up for subsidiary cards for my family and DB, the subsidiary cards have no minimum spending per year, no annual card fee, and same unlimited access to the said lounge. Now I want to kick myself for not going for the upgrade sooner. The subsidiary cards I'll have their spending limit lowered if I should apply any, however my hesitation is whether getting the subsidiary cards will affect my credit score.

Thee coming of April will see the whole city "doing without" plastic bags, the shops will impose a levy on most plastic bags used. Some items that are frozen, fresh (think fish from the market), or bread from the bakery, will be exempted (but I don't know what else). This is a big problem for moi as I tend to buy a few items here today and a few items the next day, and I hate bringing an extra bag with me to carry groceries. Hopefully this will wean me off from buying unnecessary groceries, but this policy is a royal pain to housewives and everyone, really. Paper bags can be the new option for shopkeepers but their cost is almost double or even more than a plastic one. Talk about conundrum. 

The following paragraphs is for Pru, I figured it'll probably be best fitted under "Moneytalk" ;) Do remember I am only speaking for what I do, and some or most people may not do what I'm doing, or maybe they are doing even more. 

Every month I set aside a certain amount of my salary to be given to my parents, right now that sum is at 25%. I would adjust it every 2-3 years when I get a small raise, but the % will be 25. My folks used to say their generation would give 70% of their income to their families, but they have siblings and people were generally very poor back then. We had arguments about this before, but 25% seems to work best now, although I'm sure they want more, and that they can take more...In our culture, sons and daughters "should" (although arguably some don't) give some money to their parents regardless whether they are still living with them or not. Agreeing with the spirit behind this practice, I intend to continue this practice even after getting married or moving out one day. It's just the right thing to do and I don't question it. My folks have given me the best they can, and are as frugal as they are.

Another related "expenses" to the above, is the money for my grandparents (I call it "granny money"), it's not an obligation (read: I'm not their direct offspring, they have a handful of them and the offspring are the ones who should be giving them money like I do in the above paragraph), but it makes them happy. Plus I don't see them often, like 4-5 times a year, each time I'll give them a few hundred to let them buy what they want, eat what they want. They are not working anymore and solely rely on their savings, and if not, their offspring to support them. So whenever it's birthday of my grannies, around Chinese New Year or Mid Autumn Festival, I'll shell out some. I know some people who don't do what I'm doing, but I always say you never know how long they're still there for, and in their prime age they were working hard for the family and now it's the time they should be taken care of. 

Outsourcing your time or your hard earned money?

The other day I met up with a friend who just came back from the holiday destination that I'm soon going to, and I borrowed the travel guide from him. In the past I've also borrowed another travel guide from him too! Makes me cringe to buy books of that sort...unless it's somewhere I really, really want to go, and the book is really, really helpful. But these days there's always the Internet.

During our convo, I learned that the price he paid per person, for flight and hotel, is double than the amount of what I booked per person for me and DB. Shocker, right? And my vacation dates belongs to the peak season and his was not! I was very curious so I asked him where he stayed at. He quoted a place which they booked a private pool (!) and the nights we stayed are the same. We lived in pretty much the same area I guess...his hotel was newer, but basically the "level of stars" are the same, if not half-a-star difference. To my surprise, my friend thinks this price was fair. To me, needless to say, was not. I told DB this shocking discovery, that what they paid for one person actually pays for 2 of us to go, with same number of nights spent there in a similar area! I can't remember whether they have free breakfasts included but mine surely have!

I would further add that even though the sound of having a private pool is nice, but I'm not going to use it every day while at that destination. I don't like the idea of vegging in the hotel room when traveling, so it doesn't make any difference to me (or benefit) if the hotel carries a free gym access and a free pool access. I would love the idea of having a private pool, but anything more than 1 day is too much, who am I kidding anyway? If I'm going swimming I might just as well get to a standard pool and do some laps like a pro (ok, maybe not a pro), or if I want some sun I might as well go to the local beach. Paying for a private pool which I'll not be using everyday? No thanks. And the ludicrous part was, I thought his partner did the booking for him, but no, he told me they bought the package via an agent. An agent! If it was somewhere I'm not too familiar with, not that popular with tourists, I might do the same. But chances are that 90% I would not outsource it. 

In the past I've made booking for flights and hotels via agent, but on different occasions and never booked together. One occasion was when I was traveling with my parents and they made a booking for the hotel via the agent (a place they've been to but I haven't, so I trusted their recs, the place doesn't have much "hotels" but instead "home-stays" are plenty, and I'm not staying at anything other than a hotel when I'm with my parents). The other time I booked a flight ticket via an agent because I wasn't too sure about buying it online. 

But I'm getting better at it now...once I got past the "fear of making a mistake" stage (story to come in an upcoming post).

With outsourcing I believe that depends on the age and angle where you're looking at it from. Right now, it makes sense to me that these are things that I could easily do it myself, but when I become old one day, I might just dismiss the act of outsourcing as "giving myself some free time" or "saves me hassles", or it was just something that I'm not capable of, e.g. mechanics, renovation. But for now, as far as I'm concerned, I can book tickets and hotels myself without problems, although it means I have difficulty choosing.

Over to you, what do you / will you happily outsource?

Fail to plan, Plan to fail

My previous boss used to say this phrase every now and then during our morning meetings. It stuck in my head whenever I did something stupid.

Back >1.5 years ago, I was an avid contact lens wearer, and I made use of the sale day at the grocery to stock up on the contact lens solution because I go through a bottle in 1.5 month. That's pretty reasonable and straight forward, right?

Fast forward to now, I still have 1.75 bottles left and their expiry date is March 2015. They're standing on the bath stand mocking me for stupidly stocking up. Truth was, I wore less and less contact lenses and thus did not need as much of the solutions as I thought I would. What I thought would be efficient (saves money, since I'm going to use them anyway) had ended up costing me more, because of the unused things that's going to waste. With anything that touches the eyes expiring soon, I'm NOT going to take the risk of using them and getting an infection. That'd be another stupid mistake.

With that in mind, I decided that any stocking up behavior should not be too long-term. 6-9 months' stock is OK, but anything more than that is a no-no, that includes food. I just realized I have tons of cookies, oatmeal, cereal bars that are close to expiry / expired by a few weeks, and they're still there. Another lesson not to go crazy with stocking up. I don't live in a desert or the Arctic, why do I have such FOMO or fear with not having enough? Can anyone explain that?

Another story that happened which made me want to kick myself was, a spring drizzle that I thought was nothing but enough to make my feet / shoes / coat wet! A drizzle without an umbrella and wellies is simply a recipe for disaster. As I was chasing commute today, the puddle splashed against my leggings (it's probably not good for work but it's a Friday and I don't care lol) and my feet. Talk about gross! The lesson to take away is: when in doubt (of the weather), take the short umbrella. 

Oh, did I mention someone just took my umbrella from my building? I suspected the cleaners took / stole it while they cleaned, but they (the property guards) said no. Glad it was an old one and I had extras.

Here's to no more stocking up of food for a good while until I've finished everything! For my lens solution, I'll just buy when April rolls around and won't get any more bottles until I ran out, which I expected to be few and far between.

What are your "fail to plan, plan to fail" moments?

Sometimes it's not what we think it is

A few months ago I shared that a friend of the same age (a girl), who had bought a flat with her bf and moved in together. Well, she told me she's broken up with her bf and moved back to her parent's. This was such shocking news to me, I always thought she's the one who "has it": not rich, but enough money to pay for down payment and get a mortgage (halved with her bf), a stable relationship hence the moving in part, a nice job, and a bit of cushion there from her investments.

To me, that kind of number is just astronomical (I know it was not much, but it's getting even more difficult these days). I was pretty upset at myself at that time because I kept thinking what I should have done to my money before getting a grip on it now, and how different would bank account figure be now. I still do, a bit upset at myself for what I've done with my money before. But this post just goes to show you how fickle things are...one moment a person looked like they have a stable life but the next moment they're back to square one, well, almost. At the beginning of March I had that crest-fallen feeling for 2 days and it was just enough to wreck everything - peace of mind, appetite, and health, sleep, etc.

Have you come across similar stories? Did knowing such people (and that you can be in a similar place with them, but you're not near that for now) upset you?

*To this date, I think I should thank her for inspiring me to get a grip on my finances, and started this blog. She doesn't know her story gave me such a motivation. And without this blog, I would feel alone in this journey. Thanks every one of you for reading this blog. THANK YOU.*

Something frugal, and something not that frugal

Shall we begin with the not so frugal thing about this week?

Well, I caved and bought this mook (a Japanese term referring to a book magazine with gift, usually a pouch or a tote). Do you recognize the character? She's Lilla My from the Moomin tribe! The cartoon is originated from Finland.

 

The mook is not very expensive, but surely it's not a need, but a want. The bag is made of nylon, has no zippers, but I like the way the colors combined and the cartoon on it. So much for saying to 'pay thyself' first...hahaha.

Moving onto the frugal things this week:

We went to the movies, but we chose to eat at a food court, that cut down our dinner to about US$4.5 for me, US$8 for DB. We bought bottled water because we were both coming from work, usually if it's on the weekend I'd bring my own.

I checked the travel insurance price last week from our usual provider, they offered 10% off throughout the year for their members. Today when I looked at it again, they are offering 35% off for members - YAY. It pays to wait, but I really wouldn't recommend you to wait to buy it at the last minute since the companies take time to process before they issue a green light to your insurance policy. I would suggest if you know you're needing it anyway, go check in with them every now and then, and pounce when a special offer (than usual offer) is there.

I took some time off due to a dental appointment this week, and managed to squeeze in an hour brisk walk at the park, that's gonna be the single entry in my March exercise goal, lol. The said dental appointment meant a surgery date pushed earlier (end of 2015) than the old date (2017 / 2018, which was way too far away). I have doubts about this dental operation, since it's not necessarily a life-threatening situation, and they told me they'll give me 2-3 days off after the operation. Seriously! I must have underestimated it based on my one time experience with removing a wisdom tooth. Well, at least, the operation should save me from seeking private dentist. I also scrapped plans for the dental checkup-and-wash in March, one that I have to pay for, since I have an upcoming visit to a dentist covered by my employer in May anyway. BONUS: I made progress on the Mrs. Moneypenny book (!) instead of the book I'm supposed to finish, but sorry, not sorry!

Tomorrow we'll be dining out WITH coupons, you guessed it. The other day I told DB that since we usually eat out (because we aren't sharing a home together), we might as well: (1) eat more frugal sometimes; (2) when we eat fancy / more up-scale, relatively speaking, we might as well do some hacking, that includes Super Monday deals, going on days / to places that let you multiply the points / miles on your card (travel hacking); (3) make use of coupons from newspaper and flyers. DB agreed. 

I applied for an equivalent to Nectar card in the UK - a moneyback card from a supermarket chain, I don't know why I didn't apply it sooner, I should have! I don't shop at supermarket much, if at all, but it makes sense to have it ready when I do shop there, no matter how infrequently and how small the amount usually was. I had this "ding!" moment when I was paying for the cheese fondue pack at the cashier a few weeks ago. The card took more than 3 weeks to arrive in the mail, but I'm happy that I made a sensible decision :-) Note: supermarket and grocery store are not the same thing (for me).

Upgrading my existing credit card to the "elite" status had been on my mind for months but haven't got around to actually ask about it in detail. To be honest, apart from accumulating miles quicker, it doesn't really offer that much benefits (unlimited access to airport lounges throughout the year? I don't travel more than twice a year and twice a year, the maximum amount of how frequent I can use the airport lounge with my current card, is enough for me). Second, the annual card fee was much higher than the current one, and can only be waived if I had a 150,000 spending, which is rather impossible. Don't think I'll be making the upgrade in this case.

A friend sent me some goodies from the mail - she ordered a matching set of a perfume for both of us, how sweet of her! Her parcel totally made my day week.

The past week had seen me really busy with work so this weekend will be all about catching up with blogs! This week had been not very good, hope you have a good weekend.