Make your Credit Card Work for YOU!

Credit cards are not bad things if you use them wisely. I pay mine in full each month as I see no reason why I should let them charge me interest for my purchases. I make sure that I have the money to pay for whatever I buy each month which means that every purchase needs to be thought of in advanced, in short, planned.

Let me tell you this: I didn't start out this way. I have had my fair share of credit card debt in the past which I worked very hard to pay down and off. I put a running tally of my credit card balance on my fridge. It gave me a constant reminder of why I should control my spending and at the end of each month, I would happily extract the amount that I paid and watch the outstanding balance reduce. For me, that was motivating.

Well, all that, I am proud to say, is in the past. Now, I make my credit cards work for me. I'm currently using my Maybank Amex a lot as each ringgit that I charge earns 5 treats points. I also pay my bills using my Maybank Amex whenever possible such as my Streamyx, phone and DBKL bills. In addition, I make sure that I pay my bills and make purchases over the weekends so that I get to enjoy the 5% cash back rewards. The cash back is capped up to RM50 a month and that adds up to a savings of RM600 a year!

The 5 treats points given for every ringgit spent adds up pretty quickly too and with 2000 treat points, you can redeem a RM10 voucher from one of the retailers participating in the treats points program. So yeah, if you're like me, you'll be saving a huge amount of money if you make your credit cards work for you instead of what most people out there do, work hard to pay off their credit cards.

In case you belong to the latter group, you might want to think about going on a shopping diet and concentrating on paying off your credit card debt instead. You'll be surprised to see how paying twice the minimum payment is going to cut down not only on the length of time that it'll take you to finish paying your debt but also how much less interest you'd be paying the credit card company. There are many calculators out there to help you figure out how long it'll take you to pay off your debt. Click here for one such credit card calculator.

Another way you can save on paying interest on your credit cards is if you use the zero% balance transfer programmes that banks offer from time to time. You've got to be very disciplined though. No going out on ANOTHER shopping spree just because credit card A's balance is zero now. Remember, if you use your credit cards, make sure that you have the means to pay them off NOW. Don't think about paying for purchases that you make now with future income because what that's going to mean is that you'd have even less to spend when the future comes because you have to pay for a purchase that you made months ago. Wouldn't that be such a drag?

Use your credit cards wisely. Make them work for you. Don't work for them! 

Chris' Bay Area Burgers

I found this recipe for burgers online (click here for the recipe) and it was absolutely delish! The burger was nice, and full of flavour. It tastes like something you would have in a nice restaurant.

I had an extra serving which I put in the fridge and had it for lunch today. Yum!

I thank Allah for this phase of my life when I have the time to explore recipes which in the past I never had time to do.

The New Frugality by Chris Farrell

This is another book which I purchased in order to educate myself on personal financing. Some things I learned from this book about how to be frugal with regards to investing:

• Keep fees razor thin
• Use dollar cost averaging which basically means putting the same amount of money into an investment regularly over a long period
• Rebalance your portfolio regularly
• You have to realise you can't consistently beat the market.
• Invest in index funds; don't bother with actively managed mutual funds.

Past Secrets by Cathy Kelly

Past Secrets is about the lives that we lead and the secrets that we keep. The story centers around the women who live on the same street. Yes, it is kind of like Desperate Housewives and Wisteria Lane where everybody appears normal but actually has secrets.

There's Faye, a single mom, and who appears to be serious and boring to her daughter Amber but is she really serious and boring or is she keeping a secret away from Amber?

There's Maggie who came home to look after her ill mom but did she really go home to look after her mom and help her dad around the home? She'd been putting up with the wrong man and accepting less for herself for years due to her lack of self confidence. Will she be able to change her circumstances?

And then there's Christie, who possesses the gift to see the future and who everybody seems to go to with their troubles...only that Christie too has her share of secrets to keep and as secrets go, she is afraid of what others would think of her when they find out about them.

This was one of my many bookcrossing finds :)

Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny by Suze Orman

This is one of the many books that I read two months ago but failed to blog about until now.

I went out specifically searching for this book at my favorite discount bookstore, BookXcess, in Amcorp Mall. I guess it was my lucky day 'cause they had it in stock! In case you're wondering, the original price of the hardcover book which I purchased was RM99.90 but I got it for RM19.90 at BookXcess.

This is my very first Suze Orman book although I have watched her giving financial advice to women on Oprah numerous times in the past.

Women & Money contains loads of helpful financial advice. Suze wrote this book especially for women because many women are clueless when it comes to financial matters. She explains, for example, the difference between good debt and bad debt.  We hear people talking about good debt and bad debt often but do you know what they really are? Good debt is money that you borrow to buy an asset which will appreciate in value over time. Bad debt is money that you borrow not used to buy an asset. The ultimate example of bad debt is credit card debt. Going by this definition of bad debt, borrowing money to pay for a car loan constitutes as bad debt because a car doesn't appreciate in value! Now, isn't that an eye opener!

She covers a lot of areas in this book such as retirement investing, must-have documents, protecting your family and your home and the financial aspects of commitment which includes relationships/ marriage/ kids.

No doubt that many of the advice written in this book is for the American woman, but I found many of the advice useful as I only have to adapt the same concepts into my local context. It is about how to think about finances is what I take away. After acquiring the bigger idea, I can adapt what I learned to my day-to-day living.

In short, Suze asks women to imagine what's possible --- to imagine what life would be like when we make the choice to take control of our finances and not remain clueless. Power to women!

Donations and decluttering

I finally went to the charity donations box in Centrepoint today. I am happy to announce that I donated 12 pairs of shoes and 2 bags of clothes. I hope somebody makes good use of them.

I have other clothes and shoes that I intend to donate but I was thinking of taking them to the SPCA as they now have a charity shop and I thought that I'd take my nicer stuff to them so that they can sell them and make some money for the animals. I just love animals and hope that my donation will help them some.

Online Savings Account

Maybank's m2u Savers account is an online savings account that allows you to earn higher interest rates (2.1% - 2.3% per annum) compared to the conventional savings account (0.15% - 1.4% per annum).

It's easy to open an m2u Savers account if you're already a maybank2u user. You open the m2u Savers account through your existing maybank2u.com account. It took me no more than 3 minutes to set up my account (honest!) and you will see your new account in your next log in on the maybank2u.com website which is great! (Yes, I actually logged out and back in again to check that (1) the new m2u Savers account had been created and (2) that the amount that I transferred from my existing savings account is registered on my new m2u Savers account).

The new m2u Savers account that you set up is linked to your other existing savings/ current/ credit cards maybank accounts. It is also linked to your existing ATM card. 

The minimum deposit amount to open a m2u Savers account is RM250. RM250 is also the minimum amount of money that you must have in your account to keep it going.

In order to earn high interest rates, you need to have at least RM2000 in your m2u Savers account. The interest rates that you will earn is as follows:

RM2000 - RM 50000     2.1% per annum

Above RM50000            2.3% per annum

The interest is calculated on a daily basis and is credited into your account on a monthly basis. I'll be looking out for my first interest credit at the end of the month.

Keep in mind that Maybank is offering this high interest rate as this is an online banking account which means that you are not supposed to utilise the bank's over the counter services as all of your banking will be conducted via their ATM/ Check Deposit/ Cash Deposit machines. 

Maybank will impose a RM5.00  fee for the following over the counter services:

Withdrawals of less that RM5000

GIRO transactions of less than RM5000

Fund transfers of less than RM5000

In short, any transaction shy of RM5000 DON'T do it over the counter at the bank! Go use the machines!

The RM5 fee, however, will be waived if the transaction that you need to conduct amounts to RM5000 or more.

Should you not be impressed with the m2u Savers account after you have opened the account, keep in mind that a RM20.00 charge will be imposed should you want to close the account within 3 months of opening it.

Ayah

Happy Father's Day Ayah... I miss you terribly. I wish I had told you "I love you" more often when I could. You are always in my thoughts.

No more clothes and shoes shopping!!!

I've discovered many new things in my wardrobe that I haven't worn, some even have price tags on them still. So this is what I plan to do --- I'm going to put a hold on clothes and shoes shopping for awhile until I have exhausted my current supply or until I feel like giving some of my present stuff away to charity. There is no point in having an abundance of clothes and shoes and not using them. I figured that I could save a lot of money by just chilling and not going shopping as I had normally done in the past.

I am also, at the same time, weeding through my clothes and putting away the clothes that I no longer use away to be donated to charity.

Enter Half Naked and Leave Fully Dressed

As much as I simply love clothes and shopping for them, I'm not this is something I'd ever do ...

The Desigual stores in London, Stockholm and Berlin offered the first 100 customers today who arrived at their store half naked in their underwear free outfits of their choice to walk out with. The same promo is going to take place in Madrid on June 21st and Prague on June 24th. Would you dare to bare for fashion?

Or Rau by Kuan Guat Choo

This is another one of my BookCrossing finds.

This story was set in Penang. Or Rau, a girl who came from China with her family, worked for a Chinese family which consisted of only women. The Chinese family members treated her badly to the point of her wanting to commit suicide with her two young children. Lucky for her, she was saved by a teacher as she was walking into the sea with her children.  The portrayal of the first Chinese family is believable as there are still Chinese families today who abuse their maids.

I personally found this book depressing. Although I know that there are people out there who treat others badly, and that the writer's portrayal is accurate, I just feel that it's not right for any one of us to treat others so badly. What right have we got to treat others so badly that their only choice of finding freedom is in committing suicide? 

Aroma Thai

I went to Aroma Thai located in Damansara Perdana for early dins yesterday evening (as I didn't have lunch) to redeem my WeBuy voucher which I purchased (I paid RM10 for a RM25 voucher). It was quiet when I arrived at around 6 PM. In fact, I was the only customer there. People did start coming in at around 6:30 PM though.

I ordered Seafood Tom Yum (since I read many great reviews about it on the net), Fried Beef in Red Chilies, steamed rice and Lemongrass Juice. The lemongrass juice was refreshing. Unfortunately I found the beef tough and the tom yum was alright but not brilliant --- I guess that is what happens when you've been to Thailand and had the real McCoy!

The bill came up to RM35 and I topped up the RM10 at the cashier. As I was leaving the restaurant, I spotted a roach (a small one) on the floor!

Decluttering Shoes

I just watched Enough Already! With Peter Walsh on decluttering footware. Watch the video.



The woman in the video had 42 pairs of shoes to begin with and in comparison, I hate to admit this, but I have waaayyy more pairs than she does (I don't even want to count!). Yes, I'm a shoeaholic!

Inspired by Walsh's video clip, I immediately got down to decluttering my shoes (not all, but some...hey, that's a start, isn't it?) and I'm proud to say that I managed to toss out 16 pairs so far. My aim is to toss out 24 pairs...got to be more discerning when deciding which pairs to keep and which should go into the donation bin. Will keep you updated on how I get on with that goal of mine.

Kitsch Cupcakes

super yummy cupcakes

I mentioned about Kitsch Cupcakes in my earlier blog post. My very first encounter with Kitsch Cupcakes was on my first visit to Dubai last year. I happened to be in the Dubai Mall and saw this cupcake counter within one of the stores (Candylicious) and decided to buy a few to try them out. They were so pretty to look at and I was sorry to have to eat them (but I did!). Let me tell you this...It was love at first bite! The cupcakes tasted as good as they looked. The frosting tasted just the way I like it --- not too sweet.

Ever since then, whenever I am in Dubai, I make it a point to have Kitsch cupcakes. No visit to Dubai is complete without a visit to Kitsch Cupcakes.

So imagine my disappointment on my latest visit to Dubai when I discovered that they were no longer in the Dubai Mall and I had made that visit to the Dubai Mall just to buy the cupcakes!!!  Not willing to give up, I goggled them up and discovered that they had moved to new premises and are now located in their own store on Jumeirah Beach Road. I only managed to go down there a day before I was to leave Dubai but it made it wait even more worthwhile when I bit into the cupcake... ahhh...it was simply divine.....mmmm....

If you're ever in Dubai, this is a MUST have! They cost AED12 each but believe me, they are worth every Dirham that you pay for them! Yum... just writing about them is making my mouth water! Can't wait to have them again.

Tea Republic

Remember the WeBuy voucher I bought for Tea Republic in BSC (Click here if you missed it earlier)? Anyway,  I went there to redeem it today.

The Tea Republic is nicely tucked away somewhere in the back corner on the second floor of BSC's new wing  making it a nice and quiet spot. When I arrived (it was around 3:30 PM), there was only one other customer there.  I sat outside on the balcony as it was raining and the air condition inside was pretty chilly.

The quiet balcony

I had the Starfruit Tropicalitea Blend and two chicken mushroom pies for tea.

A Starfruit Tropicalitea and two Chicken Mushroom Pies for tea!

They were supposed to give me a RM5 voucher for my next visit but I think they ran out of it. The waiter suggested that I take something away worth RM5 and I chose to try the cupcake. The cupcake was not too highly exciting (not after having discovered Kitsch in Dubai!) though it did look pretty. The cupcake was packed in an eco-friendly cardboard  box for me to takeaway.

The cupcake was packed in an eco-friendly cardboard box

The takeaway cupcake

Like I said in my earlier post when I purchased the voucher, it is a good way to experience new places without having to fork out too much money. Would I go back there again? Sure! I like it because it's quiet and the Starfruit Tropicalitea concoction is great!

The best part of the deal today? I didn't even have to part with a cent. Everything was already paid for and I even found a space outside BSC to park (yup, couldn't believe my good luck coz that area is always pretty busy and the carpark in BSC was quite busy at that time as well) and so, I didn't even part with a cent today! :)

Dancing at Midnight by Julia Quinn

I haven't been blogging recently and I'm a little bit behind with blogging about the books that I've read so you can rest assured that I'll be playing catch up in my next few blog posts.

I happened to chance upon this book while I was in the bookcrossing zone in 1-Utama. I've never read any book by Julia Quinn before this though I'm aware that she has written several.

I enjoyed reading this book. It's a romantic comedy set in Jane Austen times but with present day chic litt humour.