Life: I Have Complicated Life or I Make It Complicated?

I have been trapped in this dilemma for too long that I could not even remember when it first started. Many people advise me while I am in a relationship, enjoy the joyous, precious and memorable moment together. Yes, it is true. I could never deny that but love is love. We need to do reality check from time to time. Tonnes of worries clouded my mind when I was thinking to commit myself in a relationship. Friends told me I think too much, colleagues said that just go with the flow, my heart tells me please come back to reality, and, and, and....I am just too confused. Honestly, my thoughts is rather orthodox and so unconventional. For me, I love being fed than to fed. 

 If I planned to go on a long journey with this guy, I have to consider this:

- his earnings is lesser than mine for now. Yes, for now it's okay but will the figure in the pay check will not increase much or that's it. That's his limitations. Without a preferred education level these days is a disadvantage and of course, your pay will never be good.

- i am pursuing my master's degree in a few months time and I hope (crossing my fingers) to graduate with MBA soon and he is only a high school graduate. Obviously, there is going to be gaps between us - communication, understanding, perception, knowledge, maturity, etc. The question is, will the relationship survive or it will just be another history?

- my parents will never wanted to accept him if his qualification is so much lower than mine. My cousin's wife left him because they weren't level headed. His wife has a PhD whereas he himself only has a basic degree. At times, his wife thinks he does not fathom what she meant and he never gets her right when it comes to understanding. 

Do I abandon this relationship or do I foresee everything and proceed? 

Will my future be better without him or removing him out from the picture is a better start? 

  

I don't want a househusband in the future, definitely. I want him to be the man of the house and is wise enough to make his own decisions. 

Hmph....I make my life complicated isn't it?

My Second Day At Work and Love Letter, Again, From House Owner

Ever wonder why I always receive love letter from my house owner? Yeah, you're not wrong. I am staying outside alone due to my commitment to work. LOL. But I fail, I fail again not in handling my daily task but my brain cells do not want to switch to alert mode this morning. The refreshing, revitalizing, and rejuvenating morning cool air makes me feel I wanna go for a jog.......in my dream. ZzzzzzZzzzzzz.........Don't disturb me! Shoosh....

So I went to work like a zombie masking in panda eyes and clad in nasi kandar uniform without realising that the unkempt hair never looked better than Guy Sebastion's. Looking at how horrendous I was today, my supervisor gave me an uglier look (uglier than me) cause I was actually sitting on her laps without noticing (Okay....I am kidding. I might break her legs due to her petite size in nature). She's roaring like a tiger threatening to chow down on us and make Motorola sandwiches if me and the other new girl didn't get the laptop from the person in-charged pronto!

Despite all the crazy, maniac day, my house owner is so sweet and lovely that he always 'light' up my gloomy day with his love letters. For some reasons, he likes me so much that every month he will drop me a letter and it will be nicely and proportionately placed in a nenvelope rack where each time when we open the door, you will see it. 

 

Three oh-so-lovely envelopes for three months. See....I am not wrong when I said he loves me so much. 

Okay so lemme do the reading for you. He says, Miss Kim, oh, Miss Kim. 

Your PBA BILL is RM2.20 for these two months and kindly pay together with your next month rental! Not forgetting your TNB (not Tiu Nia Bu, ok) is RM6 only! Kindly pay together with your next month rental.

WIlliam Shakespears must have committed suicide seeing this.

Pay, pay, pay.

Money, money, money. Always sunny. In a rich man's world. Money, money, money, must be gloomy, in a poor man's world. 

How can. ABBA is saying the same thing.

Hey, hey, boss, ar.....I got like this only......can pay next year ar? Coz Lilian Too says hor next year it's gonna be a financially stable year for me ma. So can ar? I only got like this nia. You mau u can take lo. I eat grass tomolo lo. 

Some Useful Tips of Bargaining When You're Travelling

I have been travelling to a few places around the globe and there are some bargaining skills that I have had  developed across the timeline. Here is a few guidelines that you might need when you out there mouth-battling with the seller on those bags you like.

1) When you're at the bazaar or flea market, please make sure with your tourist guides or locals if the spot allows you to negotiate about price. Not all bazaars welcome buyers to talk about price.

2) If can, please bring along a small calculator. It will come in handy when you're negotiating price because you're talking about two different currency here.

3) Beware of replica goods such as bags, clothes, shoes, etc. Certain countries have excellent craftmanship in imitating branded goods that you will not see the difference between the original and the replica ones. i.e. China. Knowing that you are a tourist, and you are interested in one of those LV bags, they tend to mark up 300-400% of the actual selling price assuming that you did not know that the bags are fakes.

4) Do not jump into conclusion purchasing your favourites without making a survey with other similar stalls. Who knows the stall next to the one you standing can actually offer you lower price for the same item.

5) Often when you interested with the particular item, the seller will ask you how much that you can pay. In this case, ask back the seller how much that he can offer. Take it from there. Negotiate the price the lowest possible that you think the item might worth.

6) If the seller insisted not to accept your suggested price (must be reasonable), walk off. He will chase/shout/call you back if he's able to lower down to your price.

7) Do not bargain or even ask for the price of the goods if you have no intention to buy. Your act will tick off most sellers and you will get yourself in trouble (if you unlucky enough).

8) Show them the money. If the goods you bargain is about 100 yuan (RM50), show them 100 yuan. This help to soften them to sell you at your price.

9) Be smart. Some cunning sellers might want you to pay using your own currency if they know you have insufficient cash in their currency. You might have to pay higher than ever using your own currency esp for travellers from Europe countries. Try computing yourself whether it is worth paying or not.

10) Sometimes it is okay to lie which I do most of the time. Go to a stall, and you offer your price. If they cannot accept the price, try talk your way out by telling small white lies. Say, the stall at the end is selling cheaper at this price (which is not true) and why can't you? For some sellers, being under pressure means they do not want to lose their business to their competitors. And might fall into your trap. LOL. But sometimes this won't work because they have reached a consensus which the lowest price you can go for the item is that price.

11) Be patient. Do not rush into buying anything unless you got the best price. If you appear like you in a hurry, you will be duped by them without you knowing it. Remember, all sellers are businessmen. They are good in dealing with money.

12) Befriend with them. You can negotiate easily when you are having a friend-to-friend conversation. Some sellers can be soften by having striking up a friendly conversation with them. I was supposed to pay 200 yuan for a handbag but I spent 30mins in her stall and it ended up good when she gave me at 100 yuan.

Here is an equation that it might work in country like China.

Your purchase price = Initial seller price / 2 / 2

Meaning to say if the initial price is 500 yuan, then divide it by 2 to 250 yuan and again divide it by 2 to 125 yuan. So your purchase price should be around 115-125 yuan.

How Do I Manage My Money With My Fixed Income

Tonight would be another sleepless night for me like usual. Whenever I hit the sack, my brain cells will automatically set to "PLAY" mode and this is when all the thoughts come. Hell....it makes me staying awake, waking back and forth in my bedroom, and toss and turn in the bed. To be frank, I totally have no particular topic to write about now but in order to pass time, I need to write something. The next time I visit the clinic, I hope the doctor will not diagnosed me with insomia and prescribed me with multiple anti-depressants or maybe anti-anxiety. LOL. Guess Michael Jackson's needs some companions up there. He will be glad that we will be doing moonwalking in the skies with him. 

Okay...the thing I am so worried about is financial problem that I am gonna face in a few months time. Everyday, my mind will fill with ideas and ways to make more money to support myself, not to mention that I am very high self-maintenance. With the only mere RM2k plus in hand, I do not think I can outdo myself in life with salary. First of all, my dad wants me to pursue MBA no matter what because he thinks that MBA is of great magnitude in a few years to come. He said he has wisdom and I didn't possess one so I am not able to see the benefits and importance of doing MBA. As much as I wanted to follow his advice, I feel I am further apart from my life goal. He wants me to support my studies myself and it's gonna cost me RM20k at least in one of the public varsity. What make me worried more is the time constraint that I am gonna face when I have to work in the day and attend classes during the night. Life gonna be tough and it needs lotsa determination and commitment which I myself think I am not ready for it yet. Besides having to pay for my MBA, there is an extra loan I need to pay from PTPTN that funds my basic degree education which costs at whooping RM23.5K! If we choose not to settle it, the outcome is, very thought-provoking. We are not allowed to travel overseas even to our friendly neighborhood country, Singapore. 

No doubt, many ideas have struck me every night but there are too many factors to consider. The questions are, do I have time to do it? Can I be committed to what I am doing if I were to pursue my education? How much capital that I need to invest to start a business? Can I actually trust my business partner/ friend(s)? Can I meet customer demands or satisfaction? Will people buy my items? Argh.....there are simply just too much for me to consider and the bottom line is really simple. Be prudent in spending, and control my desires. My dad always tells me that there is always ways to overcome the financial woes it is either we cut down on expenditure, OR better yet, we can increase our income. Only two ways to balance out the financial equilibrium. So....less frustration and more sleep now for me.

INCOME = SAVINGS + HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE + CAR LOAN + HOUSE LOAN + OTHER LOAN + DESIRE

Remember the first thing to do when you get your salary or check is to deduct approximately 10% of the grand total to put in saving accounts or fixed deposit. And another few more percent will be parked under investment. The rest of the salary will go under monthly commitments and so forth. If you have some extra in the end, that's considered as your DESIRE. Now, you can buy the Guess dress you have been eyeing during the window shopping for some time.