Foong Speaks Her Mind

Today, I am going to take the lazy easy way out by highlighting the plight of a single mother who wrote to The Sun about her struggles in coping with the costs of living in Malaysia.

The letter is so spot on and very real. These are real people struggling to make ends meet with no other options or avenues to help them. The writer of this letter is right. The government can go on and on about telling people to change their lifestyle but how is that possible when salaries do not even increase?

Did all these filthy rich leaders with vacation homes in Europe and fat Swiss bank accounts ever stop to think that it is them who needs to change their lifestyle and stop draining the country of its resources at the expense of those with lower-income in Malaysia?

But then, I guess, most of these greedy selfish leaders are too busy stuffing their faces and adding to their fortunes to even think about others.

So anyway, here is the letter:

Single mum’s struggle to survive
I HAVE read many stories about the price increases, but so far, I feel that no one actually knows or cares about how much we, the just-below-average and under-average income earners, live.

I’ve read news articles on how people cope with their income, but most of them earn RM3,000 on average a month!

What about me and those in my shoes?

I am a single parent. I am not a charity case (though it looks like I’m being pushed into that) and I have a child who is three going on four. My ex-husband doesn’t support me. I work as an assistant officer in a factory. My net income is RM1,300 a month.

To get to work and to send my child to the babysitter, I have to drive because the public transport turns up only when it feels like it. Moreover, to get from my house to my workplace just 7km away, I have to travel on two buses that will take me 20km in all different directions before getting me there.

For your information, I live in Seremban; not too far off in a rural area, just about an hour’s drive from KL, but we have crappy public transport.

The 13-year-old Proton Wira I drive belongs to my brother-in-law. God bless him, he lets me use the car after having bought a new one late last year, so that I can get to work on time.

I rent a house for RM280 a month and my babysitter costs me RM270 a month. My utility bills come up to RM100 and my phone bill RM80. I had to cancel my credit card, which I had from my single and carefree days, and now I’m paying for it (RM160 a month) until 2010. I put money aside for my child’s milk, diapers, food, gas, rice (all these used to come to around RM250 a month) and of course, petrol! I used to spend RM120 on petrol a month. And that would leave me RM40 a month for doctor’s fees, and maybe to get a new pair of slippers for my child or whatever is needed for her. (How I’ve changed my lifestyle. I have not had a haircut in two years. Let me just say I’ve made changes to my lifestyle, drastic changes from two years ago when my ex-husband left). Still, I used to get by.

Then came the petrol price increase.

Chicken is more expensive (I’m not even going to talk about rice), as are eggs, milk, vegetables and fish. Even if I sell this old car, I still will not be able to cover my expenses for food. How much and how long do you think that RM625 (rebate from the government) will help me? I’m sick and tired of hearing our leaders say “change your lifestyle”. There is nothing more for me to change. Unless I skip some meals, maybe breakfast and lunch? But then, what if I get sick? Who will care for my daughter? How do I pay for the doctor? And if I don’t go to work (because I’m sick), I might no longer have work. Then who will pay all the expenses? Where will I live? Will the government give me a house?

As I struggle with my income, what about my friends at the factory whose salaries are RM550 a month? Among them are two widows with school-going children. They have worked as operators for five to eight years and their net salary is only about RM650 a month. Luckily, they have their own houses and don’t need to pay rent. Lucky for them too, they either walk or cycle to work. But don’t think the petrol price has not affected them.

They still have to buy food and clothes and pay for their children’s school bus fares which have all increased. But their income remains the same. What is the government going to do for them?

All I hear on news of the government is how they are trying to find ways to help civil servants. I’m not saying they don’t need help, but what about us? Is anyone doing anything for us or would you prefer we just fade away quietly? Our income will not go up, you can bet on it that the company will not increase salaries for next year as well, because it needs to cut costs or close shop! Then what will we do?

I understand that only those whose family income is below RM350 a month are entitled to welfare aid. And my friends were told that because they work, they are not entitled to welfare.

So, can someone explain to us, what is there for us to change? Please don’t tell us to get another job because we do not have the time.

I want a reply from someone who can give me good, clear answers. Not some “merry-go-round the bush” answer.

Desperate Mother
via email

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We will be suffering the whiplash from the petrol price hike and even now, costs of living are going up. Interest rates are on the rise and the prices of things are also on the rise. An example, normally RM2.50 bowl of bihun (vermicelli) soup is now RM3 (for a small bowl) and RM4.20 for a large bowl. Then there is the groceries shopping part.

Each time we go grocery shopping, it would cost us at least RM100 plus and not because we were buying fluff or anything. We were buying essential items like toiletries and food like milk powder, rice, fruits, vegetables, canned food, sauces, breakfast cereals, etc. So, we came up with a way to cut down our costs as much as possible, we do comparison shopping.

Comparison shopping is not that difficult. All you need to do is to compare the prices of several grocery stores and buy from the place with the lowest rate. I know, you will probably complain that going around one by one before buying would only mean wasting more petrol driving around. Well, I don’t mean you compare on the spot. You do it gradually, in the course of a few weeks.

Say, this week, you go shop at Giant Supermarket. You keep the receipt and make a note of all the essential items that you normally buy but did not buy at that time. Then, next week, you need to go again to buy some other items. So, you go to Tesco hypermarket instead and then check out the prices as compared to Giant. You also take note of the rest of the items you didn’t buy. You continue doing this with other supermarkets that you frequently go to. No point driving very far, just keep to those you normally frequent or are located conveniently nearby.

After all this research, you will have a list of all the items and how much they were sold at each supermarket. You will notice some are being sold much cheaper at one supermarket while some are about the same. The next time you want to go grocery shopping, refer to that list and go to the supermarket with the most items that are comparatively cheaper.

This way, you save a lot, not only a few cents, sometimes up to RM50.

We tried this and it is effective. Luckily for us the four major supermarkets, Tesco, Jaya Jusco, Giant and Sunshine are on our way so we could do the price checking. Based on my own research, I find that the best overall place to get groceries is Tesco because most of the items are comparatively cheaper. (my son’s diapers are RM10 cheaper there!!) This is followed by Sunshine, then Jaya Jusco and then Giant.

Do not be misled by Giant’s huge billboard advertisement proclaiming to have the lowest prices because they don’t. Only some of their products are cheaper but the rest are way more expensive as compared to Tesco. Sunshine Farlim / Square is pretty good on the pricing too.

As for Jaya Jusco, they have the cheapest and most varied organic produce and organic products as compared to all those small organic shops.

Parking at Tesco is still free for now, it’s free at Sunshine Farlim, free at Giant and RM1 per entry at Jaya Jusco (Queensbay Mall).

Comparison shopping is not exactly a lifestyle change but it is a way to cut down some of your expenses for essential items. Good luck!

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Thanks to the Obnoxious 5xmom for reminding me about the increase in electricity tariff from today onwards. Yet another burden for the rakyat thanks to the ever brilliant federal government. On the bright side, they are encouraging people to conserve energy which is good for the environment but I seriously doubt that this is their main motive. We all know it is just to line some people’s pockets with more $$ to last them a million lifetimes.

So, what do we do now? In this modern time, it is close to impossible to live without electricity. Just imagine, no electricity means:

• no television
• no air cond
• no washing machine
• no dvd player
• no computers
• no fans
• no lights
• no ovens
• no microwave ovens
• no telephone (especially the cordless ones)
• no handphone (can’t charge it mah…)
• no factories

Which means, there won’t be:

• jobs
• blogs
• internet
• entertainment
• gossip
• money
• etc, etc, etc

Need to save energy and not get a hefty electricity bill at the end of the month? Just follow these easy-to-follow tips…

1. Go to your friends /neighbours / relatives/ parents / in-laws’ place to watch television / sports/ DVDs on the pretext of wanting to spend some time with them / want to hang out.
2. Have a wet T-shirt contest all day every day to defeat the heat. Nothing beats wet clothes sticking to your body to cool you down (and raise the temperatures for those observing this ‘contest’) Err…only if you have a hot bod (in more ways than one), otherwise, it may cause offended eyes to try to get rid of an eyesore.
3. Hide the air-cond remote and thanks to lilian’s suggestion, sleep in the buff - naked - for cooler more comfy sleep. You will also have less one pair of clothes to wash.
4. Go get an old fashioned stove which uses coal to cook and bake. No need to use gas stove or oven. To bake, you only need big pot, a fireproof cover (preferably metal like aluminium) and some sand.
5. Really need to get away from all this heat? No worries, drop by the nearest supermarket and do a spot of window shopping in cool air conditioned atmosphere.
6. Need to blog/ surf the net? Bring your laptop to the nearest free wifi zone and surf there. Find a secluded corner so that you don’t even have to buy a drink.
7. Wear your clothes at least three times before washing. Say, wear a shirt on Monday, Wednesday and Friday before washing it. Similarly, wear a pair of pants for a week before changing and washing it.
8. Don’t use washing machine. Use your hand to scrub and dry your clothes. It is good exercise and you save electric doing that!
9. Charge your handphone in the office - it may not be much but heck, you need to save every single cent possible anyway, right?
10. Ultimately, sell house, move to a cave in the jungle and live simply without piped water, electricity or any of the luxuries that we have as compared to those living within the jungles but are unreachable.

There, ten tips on how to save electricity costs. You want to share this, can… but please, remember to credit me because I DO NOT tolerate plagiarism!

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