LOS TEROPONG

This afternoon, I went to Gelugor to buy some extra dishes for lunch. So you get to listen to the public, that is the seller and the eater grumbling about price increases .... chicken gone up by 50 sen, what to do?. Soon, the price of food will also increase; perhaps an end to one of the better luxuries of Malaysian life? How can man, petrol go up only 10 sen a litre, chicken go up 50 sen per kilo (something like that, if I caught or eavesdrop correctly). Mana depa kata mau pantau? Pantau apa, harga naik juga!! This is REAL life, people. No matter what the PM say, no matter what is urged in the media, in real life, at ground level, the story is different. They can make all the comparison they like in the newspaper, in reality it is different.

As consumers, we have to be smart too. We have to change the way we shop so as to register our response to the current condition, unless you are a rich person. If you are well off, no price increase will be of any bother to you. I am comfortably off, alhamdulillah, but that does not mean I do not have to be prudent in my expenditure. With 5 kids, I have a long way to go, inspite of the wife working as well.

OK, ok, enough about me. I think people should get together as a group and buy things in bulk. This can then be distributed within the group. This may even be good for friendship and community life at large. Big hypermarkets can give good deals on many basic items such as cooking oil, soaps and amny more daily necessities. Look for offers (I do that all the time), discount vouchers introductory offers. Most importantly, manage your finances well. The wife does that for me.. and she is good at it. Men somehow enjoy driving than managing money, for me at least. But really, keep aside your monthly allocation for those annual things. Road tax, car/motor insurance, health insurance, credit card subscriptions and more, put them aside on a monthly basis. Throw in your allocation a family nasi kandar outing. Then you REALLY know how much you have to spend or to save for that matter. Try lah .. that's life. Aiyaa, tak tau lah ...