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Cutting Down ‘Extra’ Cost

Mr. SKS — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:00:23 +0000

Cutting Down ‘Extra’ Cost is one of the items listed on “10 Things About My New Year Resolution”. Listing down resolutions were easy but making sure they are achieved is entirely different story… and it ain’t easy! It gets difficult if you do not know where and how to begin.

Cutting Down ‘Extra’ Cost is another way of saying becoming more concern about every penny spent. And this is the most difficult part. How do I ensure that every penny spent is recorded? From this I would not only know the details of each transaction but… I could also identify the pattern of my own outflow. Now that I know what is the main barrier, I could find the most suitable tools that can actually work with me. I’ve decided to keep track of all my daily outflows on my Blackberry (finally, I’ve decided to use it for something sensible rather than just social networking). Then, every weekend I would transfer the data to my Excel Spreedsheet on my notebook. And these data can further be interpreted in various means.

After nearly three weeks I’ve been tracking records of expenses, I figured out how to eliminate those ‘extra’ cost incurred. They are as follow:

Avoid Using Maybank-Zing Card

The service charge for auto-reload via credit card is RM 2 for every transaction. On average, my Zing Card is auto-reload three times monthly. That would cost me RM 6 monthly on average.

Avoid interest or service charges on credit cards

Try to self-limit my expenses via credit card. This will enable me to make full payment of the bill every month and hence avoid any interest or service charges incurred. Currently on average, the amount of my service charges for two credit cards is RM 50 per month.

Unsubscribe to RM 3 for cellular bill detail transactions

Eversince the local Telcos have introduced the itemised online bill, it’s time to say goodbye to regular ”mail bill”. With this, I am not only save RM 3 per month but also contribute in saving trees. ^_^

Do not use different ATM cards on different ATM machines

Did you know that if you make withdrawals from your ATM card at different ATM machines, it will costs you RM 1 per transaction? For example, a Maybank ATM card holder make withdrawals at CIMB ATM Machines. Have you ever notice it? As for me, I normally made five transaction per month on average and this would cost me RM 5 per month.

Reduce utilities consumption at home

There are several ways to reduce your utility bills at home. For example, if your home would be vacant during office hours, try increase the thermostat of your refrigerator. Turn it a couple degrees over since nobody for the next 8 hours or so would be at home to open the fridge. Another example is to charge your cellphones, ipod, or any portable devices that you frequently use while you’re in the office. There are a lot of other examples and you can just google it. If you can save RM 10 per month on your utility bills, that would have been good enough. *wink*

Unsubscribe to RM3 Caller Tunes

Don’t be foolish to pay for 45 second music that you won’t be able to hear. This is totally unnecessary. Unsubscribe immediately! This can save you RM 3 per month.

Avoid Using Touch ‘n Go card on shopping mall car park

To certain people, this is pretty convenient. I know the feeling because I’ve been using it a lot. And RM 0.20 service charge seems a little negligible. Just celah gigi, right? However, if there are 15 transaction per month, that would cost you RM 3 and now it no longer seems like celah gigi.

Shampoo your own hair

I usually go for a haircut once a month. If you go to salon and if you’re intended to get a normal haircut, do not get trick to get your hair shampooed. They will make excuses for you to say ‘Yes’. Extra service means extra cost. But you have the right to say ‘No’. By saying ‘No’, I can save RM 15 per visit.

So, in conclusion,

I can save RM 95 per month.
I can save RM 1,140 per year.
I can save RM 31,920 until I retire.

The Dream Begins

Mr. SKS — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:28:44 +0000

Around mid-year 2009, on one usual morning day, I woke up to the idea of “Being My Own Boss”. I didn’t know where it came from but, it suddenly did. Maybe I was just lazy to wake up early in the morning and race to the office before the punch card machine printed red on my card.

Maybe this is why I wanted to run my own company. Plus, the thought of having the flexible time to enter the office at any time also contribute to my eagerness to open up my own company. I thought, running my own business is great! But then it got me thinking, what kind of business would I run? I need to think smart and hard.

“What kind of business? What to sell? What to offer? Who would buy?” These sorts of questions have been looping in my mind for several days and couldn’t find the right one. I also didn’t know where to start. Off course there are several ways to start a business, but I wanted to chose the right path. The one that has higher chances to success without any major bumpy roads along the way. And this (choosing the path) I have to be extra cautious. I need to do a lot of research, research, and research.

Photo by Lutviah. Edited by Neomick.

Breaking The Silence

Mr. SKS — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:41:29 +0000

WAR CRIME – An activist group called “Breaking The Silence” published a publication report claiming on human rights during the 22-days of Gaza Invasion Operation.

Kuala Krai’s By-Election

Mr. SKS — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:26:55 +0000

POLITICS – PAS wins against BN and retained the Manek Urai’s state seat with a slim majority of 65 votes compared to 1,352 votes in last year’s general election. Read more on The Star.

Adapting “Clean Culture”

Mr. SKS — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:30:15 +0000

As the country (Malaysia) is growing and expanding exponentially either economically or politically, however, its people does not reflect nor react accordingly. Any one of Malaysians who has been to its small island neighbouring country would agree if I say the neighbour is cleaner than Malaysia. You may respond by telling me that the neighbouris much more smaller (in size) compared to Malaysia and that it is easily managed and monitored. However, when you dig deeper, you would see that the root of its success lies within the civic mind of its people. They have what I would call a “Clean Culture” which Malaysia is struggling to adapt.

Off course a “Clean Culture” does not come overnight. It needs such good oneself discipline to practice everyday. This will later became a habit and hence be at one naturally. But human is complex biologically and emotionally complicated. We can evolve and adapt to changes around us but we require some time. I do not think heavy smokers can quit smoking in one day, can they? Maybe that’s why the neighbour’s government imposes strict law to ensure its people does not littering, smoking, and even chew gums in public places. Too strict actually..! But it works. Maybe it is true that the neighbour is easily managed and monitored. Otherwise how else could they fine people who chew gums?

For Malaysia to do the same as its neighbour, I do not think that it will be easy. Not saying that it is impossible, it just ain’t easy. We can impose several laws or guidelines for the people to follow, but what if they don’t? Do we have enough enforcers (for the whole states) to make sure that we exercise them? And how much would it cost? The answer is I DON’T THINK SO. So what can we do other than conduct massive awareness campaign? We already witnessed the failure of several campaign programs: The Famous Amos Smell of Unflush Public Toilets, The Beautiful Art of Phone Booth Vandalism, and even Landscaping Public Beaches with Garbages. I do not think that the government can do anything to overcome this problem until the people can finally uses their sound mind. Let us treat the environment or any other public places as our home. We wouldn’t want to live in a mess, stinking and uncomfortable “habitat”. It is time to show that Malaysia Boleh! My Malaysia, My Home.

As the country (Malaysia) is growing and expanding exponentially either economically or politically, however, its people does not reflect nor react accordingly. Any one of Malaysians who has been to its small island neighbouring country would agree if I say the neighbour is cleaner than Malaysia. You may respond by telling me that the neighbour is much more smaller (in size) compared to Malaysia and that it is easily managed and monitored. However, when you dig deeper, you would see that the root of its success lies within the civic mind of its people. They have what I would call a “Clean Culture” which Malaysia is struggling to adapt.

Off course a “Clean Culture” does not come overnight. It needs such good oneself discipline to be practiced everyday. This will later became a habit and hence be at one naturally. But human is complex biologically and emotionally complicated. We can evolve and adapt to changes around us but we require some time. I do not think heavy smokers can quit smoking in just one day, can they? Maybe that’s why the neighbour’s government imposes strict law to ensure its people does not littering, smoking, and even chew gums in public places. Too strict actually..! But it works. Maybe it is true that the neighbour is easily managed and monitored. Otherwise how else could they fine people who chew gums?

For Malaysia to do the same as its neighbour, I do not think that it will be easy. Not saying that it is impossible, it just ain’t easy. We can impose several laws or guidelines for the people to follow, but what if they don’t? Do we have enough enforcers (for the whole states) to make sure that we exercise them? And how much would it cost? The answer is I DON’T THINK SO. So what can we do other than conducting massive awareness campaigns? We already witnessed the failure of several campaign programs: The Famous Amos Smell of Unflush Public Toilets, The Beautiful Art of Phone Booth Vandalism, and even Landscaping Public Beaches with Garbages. I do not think that the government can do anything to overcome this problem until the people can finally uses their sound mind. Let us treat the environment or any other public places as our home. We wouldn’t want to live in a mess, stinking and uncomfortable “habitat”. It is time to show that Malaysia Boleh! My Malaysia, My Home.

Swine Flu Screen Check

Mr. SKS — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:41:43 +0000

Since virus Influenza A/H1N1 (Swine flu) is said to be detected in Sarawak, major enforcement are being carried out. When I first arrived in Bintulu this evening, medical staff on ground are already on standby to screen-check every passenger that disembarked from the plane.

We were handed a piece of form by the medical staff right after the immigration check point. The form is used to collect personnel travel history for the last 7 days. We then submitted the form and were checked by digital thermometer for any fever symptom. Alhamdulillah… the results were found to be negative.

Fever or above normal body temperature is the first symptom that can be detected (in any cases) if there is anything infected your body system. It is a normal body reflex towards any “bendasing” (lupa pulak perkataan ni in English) that enters your body involuntarily.

Missed Call Alert and Voice Mails

Mr. SKS — Wed, 06 May 2009 07:25:53 +0000

Missed Call Alert (MCA) and Voice Mails (VM) play an important role on your mobile subscriber especially when you are out of your coverage area or you are in NO situation to answer any phone calls. With this nifty service, one could call the other party once they received your VM or when they are available.

When you are in a plane getting home after a business trip, or you are in the cinema with no coverage, or you are in a mosque doing your prayers, MCA and/or VM will automatically generates / sends you an alert that shows you time and the number of callers via pop-up or SMS (depending upon your service provider and mobille phone) immediately when you are in your coverage area. Unfortunately, these services are slowly to be forgotten by mobile users. One rather wait for different time to re-dial the unreachable user. Kenape yek? If it is because of cost spent talking to the machine, I do not think it would be any cheaper because the machine only records for 30 sec per message. Perhaps, one could even cut some bills having the other party to call back. Hmm… *fingers tapping*

Slept in GSC

Mr. SKS — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:33:33 +0000

I’ve been wanting and waiting to watch this movie way before I was offshored. I’d never thought that I could be here in Kuala Lumpur at this time around. The schedule is pack and it seems continuous all the way to January 2010. And now that I’m back, it’s like a dream come true. I was excited and anxious at the same time. It has been almost sixty days of me without cinema. I didn’t think I could survive that at first but suprisingly, I can!

Last week, me and CK went to Berjaya Times Square to watch WOLVERINE right after we had our dinner at Wendy’s. The opening of the movie was great. It showed how Logan first gets his claws and what he had been using it on. However, somewhere in the middle of the movie, I felt asleep for like 10-15 mins. D*mn! I kinda missed the part where he got his metal claws. This is way beyond weird. I never slept in the middle of a movie eventhough it was a boring film like TWILIGHT. Sixty days without cinema has made me from cinema-goers to cinema-dozer. Hopefully it wouldn’t happen again. Right CK?

Snippets

CK — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:11:36 +0000

It has been a ‘while’ since we last updated this blog…as usual, Mr. SKS is busy with work, and i’m busy with my thesis and my sister’s wedding. now, after the wedding, i finally can breathe and have some space for myself. i’m not promising anything, but i’ll try to dedicate more time to this blog as i promised Mr. SKS that i would manage and update this blog when he’s not on shore..

so, here are some updates on what’s happening in my life for the past few months (i guess)…

currently, my thesis is progressing well (i hope). i’m in the writting stage..i have lots and lots and lots of datelines..that makes me ’super’ busy…
for the last 2-3 months, i was busy preparing for my sister’s wedding (6&7 March)…and alhamdulillah..everything went well (i’ll try my best to make an entry on the reception, but meanwhile check MiZLeO’s blog out- http://kata-ku-kata.blogspot.com/2009/03/weddingweddingwedding.html). congratulations ina..u know i’ll miss you..
to add to my ‘busy’ness, angah (my labmate) also got married on the same day (i’m the one who’s responsible for the hantaran stuff..) anyway, congratulations angah and sam(Axim, their bestfriend has the details…hehe…).
my nephew, umair hakimi is now 1 year old (i’ll put up some of his pics in my next entry..) and he’s driving me crazy and crazier each day…
and finally, the most surprising news of the decade..i DRIVE!!!hehe..yes..you are not dreaming or imagining things..i actually drive…i drove to shah alam for the past 3 days..and of course, thanks to my unofficial driving teacher-MiZLeO ( she actually made an entry for me), cos she’s willing to take the risks of having heart attacks during the rides…hahaha…

that’s it for now…i’m looking forward to make the next next next entries…i hope i manage to do so…

Angel

Mr. SKS — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:49:31 +0000

I know that this song has been like “forever” but honestly, it always stays fresh to me. Surprisingly, I didn’t even feel tired hearing to this song. Eventhough there are a few versions of the song (sang by different singers: Robbie Williams, Jessica Simpsons, David Archuleta) but I prefer the one which is sang by Robbie Williams. He delivered the song more naturally. As if he really meant every single word he sang. Check out the video on YouTube which he sang live at Knebworth, England and let see if you can get what I mean.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQxZztI7264[/youtube]