I have been too lazy to blog of late. Too many things to write about, too little time. Mundane life matters that no right words can describe. Or just plain don't know how and what to write.
What is occupying my mind right now is the fact that I will be returning to office next Monday, 7 September. After more than two glorious months at home (if you count the two week MC prior to giving birth), it is difficult to bring myself into thinking about office matters on a full time basis. The reason I say that is I have been in touch with office, keeping abreast with the goings on, and then retreat into the daily routine at home with the baby and forget about office.
Staying at home these two months has made me realize how much I have been relying on my maid of 8 years to take care of too many things that is really not to my liking. And my annoyance with my maid's behaviour over certain things has got to do with me annoyed with myself more than I am with her. Therefore this two months I had to set the record straight over a few things surrounding my kids and my household. Now that I have another maid dedicated to taking care of baby Harith, my management of these two maids, household, the bigger kids and baby Harith becomes all the more critical. I need to remind myself every day that I need to be in charge and in control, rather than let the maids run my life for me.
Today is the 10th day of fasting and 8 days for me, since the first two days I still had some blood discharge. The day before fasting i.e. Friday, I cooked nasi beriani and ayam kurma at the request of Zarif. The first week i.e. last week, I cooked nasi tomato and only Munirah liked it. When usually all of them love my nasi tomato, this time the response was lukewarm. Nasi ayam never fails, though. That was a hit with all three, especially Aliah who had three plates. She loved the nasi ayam chilli sauce that I made from a recipe I copied from a blog and kept saying "nak tambah lagi Ma...". I let her eat. Usually I would try and control their rice intake, this time I let her enjoy the meal. It is not often that I do these things for my kids, anyway, and when they enjoy my cooking, indulge them!
Made karipap too and that was also a hit with all three, especially Zarif, who initially was a bit cold towards my karipap. After experimenting with the dough, failing at first (too much margarine) and correcting it again, I finally got it right. I made the dough again last Friday and a total of 20 karipap was just gone with me getting to taste only 1. Zarif alone had 5, I think. Aliah stopped in the middle of her nasi eating to warn Zarif to leave some for her. I thought there were 4 leftovers from buka puasa, by the time I thought of having another one, those 4 were also gone. On that same day, I baked moist pandan and pound cake. That was one day that we did not go to the nearby Ramadhan Bazaar, he he.... as food was aplenty.
I enjoyed the cooking, amateur cook that I am, it gives me so much satisfaction that my kids are able to eat from my own cooking. This is the part where I try to differentiate my cooking from the maid's. When I work, by the time I reach home, I am just too tired to even think about menus let alone cook anything myself. And my maid is ever so willing to plan the cooking for the day. This has to change. MrM said that it is a bit too late to change the kids' menu and nutrition but to me, better late than never.
The Purpose of Life is a Life of Purpose
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Managing budgets and saving for the future - Part 2
Continuing where I left.
Now that I thought about it, my sister's advice of "sikit2 lama2 jadi Gold Rolex (when it should be jadi bukit) was the advice that got me into this savings paranoia.
I have survived so far by :
By the time Aliah was born in 2000, and subsequent promotions where I work as well as MrM, financially we began to get better. We were still living paycheck to paycheck with little nest egg built from earlier years accumulated savings here and there. I still have that cash flow spreadsheet and planned expenses through forecasting again. If I spent more this month, will this impact my cash flow for next month or next few months, then that would mean tightening our belts for the next month or months, depending on size of purchase.
Fast forward 2006. We made plans to renovate our existing home to make more rooms for each of our kids, whom at that moment were sharing one room. MrM took to the task of designing the renovation layout and communicating that to the architect to draw up the plans. The house was under my company loan needed to be refinanced and MrM will take up a bank loan for that. The refinancing gave us some money for the renovation but was not enough for the entire cost. Again my cashflow management, in my view, helped. It was through the monthly cash planning and forecasting again how many months is required to be able to buy all the house accessories that enabled us to pay via credit card first and making full payments later.
In terms of responsibility for making payments, MrM is in charge of :
While I am in charge of :
Now that Harith is born, MrM is given charge to buy formula and diapers....
And somehow this works for us. In terms of decision-making, MrM makes the major ones, like deciding on moving here to Sban, the recent renovation, while I tend to decide on the use of money that gives me short-term satisfaction. Needs would be kids clothing, school supplies, computer equipment and of course the wants such as jewelry (costume jewelry not gold or diamonds), shoes and bags and oh yes, house decor stuff....I make the travel or vacation plans, run it by MrM and if he agrees, I would arrange for the tickets, hotel, transport etc. If it is local travel, MrM would pay for food and petrol, while I take care of accommodation. Not to the exact dollars and cents but about there....
Suze Orman says that you should have savings of at least 8 months salary and that is a lot! At this age, I tend to relax a bit and spend. I would like to think that I am conservative but not frugal anymore. We do eat out, it is just that the places we go here in Sban are quite reasonable for a family our size. Occassional treats for kids would be McD or KFC or Sate Hj Samuri. Or Cozy in KL. Or Pak Lang Kopi Tiam in PD.
In some months I do save 40% of my salary. My approach is a fixed income earner approach or in other words, makan gaji punya cara. The stability of income from the organizations both of us work for helps in enabling us to manage our cash flows the way we have been.
What do I think about our current expenses? There is a lot of fat here and there and if one of us stops working, there will be major adjustments to be made. With a bit of planning on my part, we could cut our grocery bills. Harith could use cloth diapers. As a household, we could use less electricity, especially air-conditioning, and discipline the kids on switching off lights and fans after use. I do tell my kids to do that but kids will be kids and the fan in the bedroom will be on when the owner has gone to watch TV and switching on the fan there too! I have been reminding my kids that money do not grow on trees but let's just say, that it is still a journey and most times I am too tired to nag!
Much as I wish I could do something else for a living, for now I am accepting the fact that I need to continue working where I work today and try to see the positive side of things. But this would warrant an entry on its own and certainly has no relevance to managing budgets! Getting to do what I want vs. being responsible and continue working in order to be able to provide financially for kids education is always a dilemma. Aarrrghhh!
In retrospect what my mother said was true. Do not worry about money, there will be time when you will have money. I don't know. Perhaps that was her prayer for me or with her saying that I was more determined than ever to save money. A lot of money or not that is relative, I believe so. To her I think she meant having some money saved, knowing my mother. And sometimes I can't help but think that my mother does know a thing or two about these things...
Now that I thought about it, my sister's advice of "sikit2 lama2 jadi Gold Rolex (when it should be jadi bukit) was the advice that got me into this savings paranoia.
I have survived so far by :
- Not dabbling in new issuances or the secondary stock market
- Not borrowing to invest
- Managing my monthly cash flows with discipline
- Save or forecast need for something so that I can pay cash, usually vacations, certain targeted items
- Use of credit cards, albeit some time foolishly i.e. usually clothing, toys, wants but not needs, but managing the usage (ie never pay groceries or petrol with cards)
- Major expenditures paid with bonuses (for as long as there are bonuses, otherwise just duduk diam2)
- Separate bank accounts for MrM and I
- Designated household expenses between the two of us, except for groceries, where we split 50:50 or sometimes 60:40
By the time Aliah was born in 2000, and subsequent promotions where I work as well as MrM, financially we began to get better. We were still living paycheck to paycheck with little nest egg built from earlier years accumulated savings here and there. I still have that cash flow spreadsheet and planned expenses through forecasting again. If I spent more this month, will this impact my cash flow for next month or next few months, then that would mean tightening our belts for the next month or months, depending on size of purchase.
Fast forward 2006. We made plans to renovate our existing home to make more rooms for each of our kids, whom at that moment were sharing one room. MrM took to the task of designing the renovation layout and communicating that to the architect to draw up the plans. The house was under my company loan needed to be refinanced and MrM will take up a bank loan for that. The refinancing gave us some money for the renovation but was not enough for the entire cost. Again my cashflow management, in my view, helped. It was through the monthly cash planning and forecasting again how many months is required to be able to buy all the house accessories that enabled us to pay via credit card first and making full payments later.
In terms of responsibility for making payments, MrM is in charge of :
- People carrier installment (fixed )
- House loan (fixed)
- Toll and petrol (fixed)
- Cukai pintu and cukai tanah
- Wet groceries (fish and meats - fixed)
- Dry groceries (Fixed to variable, 50% of it)
- Education endowment for no 3
- His own credit card (variable to fixed depending on balance)
- Car maintenance
- Insurance and road tax for people carrier
While I am in charge of :
- Two other car installments(fixed)
- Education endowment for no 1 and 2 (taken at a younger age)
- Utility bills (fixed including education loan payments to MARA)
- Kids tuition, piano and ngaji (fixed)
- Maid and driver's salary (fixed)
- Credit cards (variable since it will be what was charged in the past month)
- Wet groceries (vegetable - fixed to variable)
- Dry groceries (fixed sb memang kena buat, variable depending on purchases, 50% of total)
- Some parts of car maintenance (like buying Syntium not fixed monthly)
- Insurance and road tax for the cars that I am paying (annually)
Now that Harith is born, MrM is given charge to buy formula and diapers....
And somehow this works for us. In terms of decision-making, MrM makes the major ones, like deciding on moving here to Sban, the recent renovation, while I tend to decide on the use of money that gives me short-term satisfaction. Needs would be kids clothing, school supplies, computer equipment and of course the wants such as jewelry (costume jewelry not gold or diamonds), shoes and bags and oh yes, house decor stuff....I make the travel or vacation plans, run it by MrM and if he agrees, I would arrange for the tickets, hotel, transport etc. If it is local travel, MrM would pay for food and petrol, while I take care of accommodation. Not to the exact dollars and cents but about there....
Suze Orman says that you should have savings of at least 8 months salary and that is a lot! At this age, I tend to relax a bit and spend. I would like to think that I am conservative but not frugal anymore. We do eat out, it is just that the places we go here in Sban are quite reasonable for a family our size. Occassional treats for kids would be McD or KFC or Sate Hj Samuri. Or Cozy in KL. Or Pak Lang Kopi Tiam in PD.
In some months I do save 40% of my salary. My approach is a fixed income earner approach or in other words, makan gaji punya cara. The stability of income from the organizations both of us work for helps in enabling us to manage our cash flows the way we have been.
What do I think about our current expenses? There is a lot of fat here and there and if one of us stops working, there will be major adjustments to be made. With a bit of planning on my part, we could cut our grocery bills. Harith could use cloth diapers. As a household, we could use less electricity, especially air-conditioning, and discipline the kids on switching off lights and fans after use. I do tell my kids to do that but kids will be kids and the fan in the bedroom will be on when the owner has gone to watch TV and switching on the fan there too! I have been reminding my kids that money do not grow on trees but let's just say, that it is still a journey and most times I am too tired to nag!
Much as I wish I could do something else for a living, for now I am accepting the fact that I need to continue working where I work today and try to see the positive side of things. But this would warrant an entry on its own and certainly has no relevance to managing budgets! Getting to do what I want vs. being responsible and continue working in order to be able to provide financially for kids education is always a dilemma. Aarrrghhh!
In retrospect what my mother said was true. Do not worry about money, there will be time when you will have money. I don't know. Perhaps that was her prayer for me or with her saying that I was more determined than ever to save money. A lot of money or not that is relative, I believe so. To her I think she meant having some money saved, knowing my mother. And sometimes I can't help but think that my mother does know a thing or two about these things...
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Managing budgets and saving for the future - Part 1
This, I would imagine, is a topic that is close to most people's hearts.
What I would like to write about is my approach in managing my monthly cash flows, meeting obligations and saving some dough for a rainy day.
Let me tell you upfront that I have never dabbled in the stock market, even at the heights of the market frenzy of the early 1990s when even people with less pay than me would be able to get an overdraft facility to apply for new share issuances. It just did not make any sense to me then that these people delved into any new issues and not realize the risks of such strategies. Sure during that period a lot of people made quick bucks with these new issue applications in the capital gains that they made the minute the shares are traded on the exchange. And my thinking has always been one would invest when you have money, NOT that one borrows to invest, even though in financial markets that is the norm. Personal finance, to me, you must have money then only you invest.
The other investing that I did not agree was the getting a loan to invest in ASN/ASB. It didn't make sense to me that I would have to borrow and assumes that ASB yearly dividend would be self paying the financing of the loan. It is a huge assumption on the dividend as well as the interest expense from the loan. The other part is the scheme would require monthly loan deductions and how could I when I can't even meet my fixed obligations.
Needless to say then during the early days of my work life money was tight and investing of any sort was not a priority to me.
But I was very disciplined with cash flow management. My first principle is there must always be enough cash at the end of the month for emergencies or treating myself (and MrM) to a dinner outing somewhere. Mind you, those days our dinner outing was either at Suzy's Corner, AliSan or Mapler at DU. Not some fancy restaurant or hotel dining. Even if we could afford once in awhile fancy dining, most of the time these were the places that we frequented.
My second principle is the art of forecasting how much I needed to save to get something. Those days my pay was RM1,800.00 monthly. I saved RM1K every month for 8 months and had that RM8K used as a downpayment for our first car, the white Proton Saga, WCM5131. I lived on RM800 less EPF deductions, which meant less than RM800. I would ration my lunch to RM2.50 per day and yes those days you could get lunch with that amount of money.
Things of course changed when we got married. Now we had double income, and we had to decide who paid for what. In the early days of our marriage prior to the arrival of our eldest, we did not really care about who is to pay for what. Today I would pay for this, then the next day MrM would pay for that. My third principle is always have your own bank account, even though I know some couples have a joint account while maintaining separate accounts, somehow for us it worked by just having our own accounts and each one of us responsible for common family commitments.
When Munirah arrived, there were milk, diapers, baby needs, nursery fees, on top of car and housing loans to pay, and other things like groceries, utility bills etc. For major purchases, we used our bonuses since monthly cash flow was tight. I remember my first bonus after getting married, we bought a dining table for 6 made of rubber wood for RM900.00. Then MrM bought with his bonus airconditioning for our bedroom, a frost free refrigerator to replace the green colored fridge that was inherited from my mother or sister I can't remember. Then was it his bonus or mine that was used to buy our first sofa set from Fella Design. Savings were nonexistent then because there just wasn't any to save and we needed to buy things for the house. I guess both MrM and I had the stability of our income flows working in the organizations that we were attached to.
Pay increases those days were meagre in the sense that it wasn't enough to make a change in our monthly cash flows. I was thankful for the increases but worried at the same time as to when my salary would reach even the RM5K mark. MrM did well workwise in the other oil and gas company and his salary catapulted fast. We were able to afford a better car and bought th Peugeot 407 in 1997. I was scared with that purchase and the monthly installments because my priority was to save and we still were not able to.
Fast forward to 1998. Zarif arrived and financial wise we were no better than before. Of course we had more income compared to Munirah's arrival but still we were not any better because we had more fixed obligations monthly. The arrival of a new baby, Munirah in playschool, it seemed that all we paid for was nursery, play school, milk, diapers and kids needs. Nursery charges make up the bulk of the kids payments plus overtime. Truth be told, I was saving RM200.00 sometimes less monthly. But I tried to save. I still stuck to my cash flow management. That after deducting all fixed obligations, then I would see how much I have that I could use for myself, vacation, toys, clothes etc. and how long I needed to save to get to a certain target such as vacation.
We used credit cards, made minimum payments, but never to a point where the balance became unmanageable. I do admit that credit cards are evil and there have been many frivolous expenses using credit cards. I always felt that I was in control of my spending where credit cards are concerned when it actual fact, I wasn't.
There was still the issue of saving money to me. I was not able to save enough. There was always a new washing machine to buy, another refrigerator or something. By early 2000 Aliah made her presence into this world, we moved to Sban, we had a maid, and there was barely enough to set aside money or even money set aside for savings will need to be used at some point.
My mother used to say, don't worry about money, if your rezeki is there, you will have money later. However, my sister advised me to save and said "sikit2 lama2 jadi Gold Rolex!" I was really into what my sister advised, question is my sikit2 is nowhere near the Gold Rolex according to my standards.
To be continued.
What I would like to write about is my approach in managing my monthly cash flows, meeting obligations and saving some dough for a rainy day.
Let me tell you upfront that I have never dabbled in the stock market, even at the heights of the market frenzy of the early 1990s when even people with less pay than me would be able to get an overdraft facility to apply for new share issuances. It just did not make any sense to me then that these people delved into any new issues and not realize the risks of such strategies. Sure during that period a lot of people made quick bucks with these new issue applications in the capital gains that they made the minute the shares are traded on the exchange. And my thinking has always been one would invest when you have money, NOT that one borrows to invest, even though in financial markets that is the norm. Personal finance, to me, you must have money then only you invest.
The other investing that I did not agree was the getting a loan to invest in ASN/ASB. It didn't make sense to me that I would have to borrow and assumes that ASB yearly dividend would be self paying the financing of the loan. It is a huge assumption on the dividend as well as the interest expense from the loan. The other part is the scheme would require monthly loan deductions and how could I when I can't even meet my fixed obligations.
Needless to say then during the early days of my work life money was tight and investing of any sort was not a priority to me.
But I was very disciplined with cash flow management. My first principle is there must always be enough cash at the end of the month for emergencies or treating myself (and MrM) to a dinner outing somewhere. Mind you, those days our dinner outing was either at Suzy's Corner, AliSan or Mapler at DU. Not some fancy restaurant or hotel dining. Even if we could afford once in awhile fancy dining, most of the time these were the places that we frequented.
My second principle is the art of forecasting how much I needed to save to get something. Those days my pay was RM1,800.00 monthly. I saved RM1K every month for 8 months and had that RM8K used as a downpayment for our first car, the white Proton Saga, WCM5131. I lived on RM800 less EPF deductions, which meant less than RM800. I would ration my lunch to RM2.50 per day and yes those days you could get lunch with that amount of money.
Things of course changed when we got married. Now we had double income, and we had to decide who paid for what. In the early days of our marriage prior to the arrival of our eldest, we did not really care about who is to pay for what. Today I would pay for this, then the next day MrM would pay for that. My third principle is always have your own bank account, even though I know some couples have a joint account while maintaining separate accounts, somehow for us it worked by just having our own accounts and each one of us responsible for common family commitments.
When Munirah arrived, there were milk, diapers, baby needs, nursery fees, on top of car and housing loans to pay, and other things like groceries, utility bills etc. For major purchases, we used our bonuses since monthly cash flow was tight. I remember my first bonus after getting married, we bought a dining table for 6 made of rubber wood for RM900.00. Then MrM bought with his bonus airconditioning for our bedroom, a frost free refrigerator to replace the green colored fridge that was inherited from my mother or sister I can't remember. Then was it his bonus or mine that was used to buy our first sofa set from Fella Design. Savings were nonexistent then because there just wasn't any to save and we needed to buy things for the house. I guess both MrM and I had the stability of our income flows working in the organizations that we were attached to.
Pay increases those days were meagre in the sense that it wasn't enough to make a change in our monthly cash flows. I was thankful for the increases but worried at the same time as to when my salary would reach even the RM5K mark. MrM did well workwise in the other oil and gas company and his salary catapulted fast. We were able to afford a better car and bought th Peugeot 407 in 1997. I was scared with that purchase and the monthly installments because my priority was to save and we still were not able to.
Fast forward to 1998. Zarif arrived and financial wise we were no better than before. Of course we had more income compared to Munirah's arrival but still we were not any better because we had more fixed obligations monthly. The arrival of a new baby, Munirah in playschool, it seemed that all we paid for was nursery, play school, milk, diapers and kids needs. Nursery charges make up the bulk of the kids payments plus overtime. Truth be told, I was saving RM200.00 sometimes less monthly. But I tried to save. I still stuck to my cash flow management. That after deducting all fixed obligations, then I would see how much I have that I could use for myself, vacation, toys, clothes etc. and how long I needed to save to get to a certain target such as vacation.
We used credit cards, made minimum payments, but never to a point where the balance became unmanageable. I do admit that credit cards are evil and there have been many frivolous expenses using credit cards. I always felt that I was in control of my spending where credit cards are concerned when it actual fact, I wasn't.
There was still the issue of saving money to me. I was not able to save enough. There was always a new washing machine to buy, another refrigerator or something. By early 2000 Aliah made her presence into this world, we moved to Sban, we had a maid, and there was barely enough to set aside money or even money set aside for savings will need to be used at some point.
My mother used to say, don't worry about money, if your rezeki is there, you will have money later. However, my sister advised me to save and said "sikit2 lama2 jadi Gold Rolex!" I was really into what my sister advised, question is my sikit2 is nowhere near the Gold Rolex according to my standards.
To be continued.
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