I remember I went to Hong Kong in the year of 2001. That was
so many years ago, to be exact 13 years. My family and I went there by
following the local travel agency and as expected we’re introduced to many DFS.
The main point of mentioning the past is that: even 13 years ago when the staff
in DFS heard that we are tourist from Malaysia, all of them for sure will give
us a poker face. Why? Well, to them: We Malaysian (ashamed to admit it) is a
bunch of frugal, can’t spend monkeys.
Not to mention, we are the Penangnites. Penang is full of
delicious food, old heritage buildings, but also frugal people. Perhaps more
and more Penangnites are willing to spend nowadays; nonetheless our buying
power still isn’t on par with the KLnites. Most frugal Penagnites will only buy
clothes when New Year is around, and of course their famous place to shop will
always be the market or night market, everything more than RM50 is consider
expensive. I’m not criticizing Penangnites as cheapskate, but I guess this is
our lifestyle. There will always be some anomalies, though.
And so this explains finely the history of my frugality. XD
To be honest, I guess I’m still not towards the extreme of
frugality. I did spent too, and for sure I don’t follow the “Only buy clothes
around the New Year” rule.
I used to spend without thinking, especially regarding my
collection of traditional clothing. I remember my most expensive one is RM550
and I bought it when I was 16. My friends were shocked when they knew the price
and I had to lie to my parents about the real price of the dress. In fact, even
now when I spent too much I also have of think of other ways to tell my
parents. Yes, sweet lies, I know it’s bad; still I couldn’t have any choices.
Maybe because of that, and the fear of hearing unstoppable nagging, I started
to become frugal. XD
I have to admit I’m not a risk taker nor a business minded
person, so I guess my only choice to save money is to become frugal. I always
like this phrase: “learn to earn it, before you know how to spend”. Indeed,
with the increasing of age, we have more and more responsibilities that needed
to bear i.e. Car, Housing, Parents, Marriage, Children and etc. Thus, without
knowing how to earn or save, how will we be able to bear such burden?
Especially in this fast-pace, God knows what happen world.
Of course, sometimes we need to take a break from
“abstinence”, and enjoy a little pleasure of guiltiness~
No matter what, the most important thing is to be moderate
in everything and have a happy mindset~^^
