Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Future Doesn't Look Good ...

I woke up this morning with a slight headache that I know will increase in intensity as the day goes by. I've gone through headaches like these before so I know it's only going to get worse and I'm the kind who will refuse to take any medication for it. And when it gets worse, my mood is also going to go on a downward spiral.

On top of that, today of all days I take my card statement to work. Whatever compelled me to do that, I have no idea. Maybe the fact that I saw it lying inside my post box while I was about to leave for work must have had something to do with it. And right now, I'm regretting bringing it to work, cos the moment I opened it, my headache went up five notches!

I normally leave all the financial stuff to wifey to handle cos she does a much better job at it than I do. She's very meticulous with the accounts and will keep a list of exactly how much we spend and what exactly we spend it on. It's a good system she has going there and I never get involved in it. If I need to know how much money we have left in the bank, I'll just ask her. If I need to know how much we spent on our cards, I'll just ask her. In fact, when it comes to anything that concerns our finances, she's better equipped to handle it than I am.

So, today I open my card statement at work and am amazed, shocked even, at how much we spend a month on food alone. We shop about once a week for our groceries and it now costs us twice the amount it did just a few measly months ago! I never really took any notice of the increase cos normally when we shop I'll just pay and not really bother about it. I know wifey has been telling me that things have gone up quite a bit but I thought, how much more can it be. How utterly wrong I was.

Has the price of food really gone up by that much? A bag of rice alone now costs twice what it did just a month ago. Thank god I don't eat rice all that much anymore but I still do have to buy rice cos the boys are rice eaters and so is my mom. In fact, the price of everything has pretty much gone up. Man, this is going to take a toll on my finances. As it is, making ends meet is already tough and looking at our grocery spending pattern in my statement, it's going to get tougher.

The worse thing is we don't really buy another different or extra stuff. It's basically the same stuff and what would have cost us under RM100.00 a week a couple of months back has increased by two fold today. It's no wonder we have a world wide food problem. How can anyone afford food with soaring prices like these. I earn a pretty decent salary (well, if you consider not getting a raise in almost two years decent, that is!) and I know for a fact that the times are going to get tougher. Imagine those people who earn very little and have more that 2 or 3 children. Just buying rice alone is going to be a huge problem for them. The future doesn't look really good anymore.

I think I'm going to have to start paying for all my grocery shopping in cash from now on, cos the interest alone on the outstanding payments in my card is killing me. Imagine the amount of money I could save by not using my card and saving on outstanding interest. Every cent counts these days. It's either that or I get some credit card advice on how to get a card with lower interest rates. I'm sure there are loads out there.

I guess the first place to stop would be at Low-Interest-Credit-Cards-Offers.com cos they provide some of the best top credit card offers available out there from companies such as Visa, American Express, MasterCard and Discover. You're able to search and compare up-to-date information of the best credit card offers such as instant approval, low rates, balance transfers and so much more all just at the click of a mouse. In fact why I am I even telling you guys this? Go over and see for yourself. I did and I came away impressed.

Ok, I need to take a break for awhile. My headache is getting worse and it's not only cos of the glare from my monitor.
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16 comments:

  1. It going to be a hit on average income group with all these soaring prices.:( Cooking at home would be one way of saving household expenses.

    Anyway, I have got a tag for you to tag along. when you are free, :)

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  2. Sadly to say..price of foods are really crazy now. The worse is still the price of rice. I used to buy 10kg of rice = Rm19.90. Now it cost about RM33.00..Isn't it crazy!!!???

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  3. yes nick, everything has gone up in price AGAIN! And it really sucks and totally unacceptable. On one hand, we are hearing on the news that our govt announce that our economic is growing more than expected but how come our inflation rate is rocketing out of control? Rice that use to cost RM28 per 10kg bag now cost RM35!!! Rice! Our source of food gone up 25%. And the govt have the gall to tell us to change to substitute staple food such as bread and potatoes....As if those things wont go up the moment we all decides to go on it..

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  4. Agnes C - I already feel the pinch and wifey and me have cut back on expenses quite a bit already. We do eat home these days more than we eat out. Like you said, it's much cheaper.

    Oh, a tag for me? I'll drop by soon and check it out. Thanks :D

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  5. Kadus Mama - Crazy is an understatement. The prices are just shooting up daily that soon I'm going to need a bank loan just to buy rice!

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  6. Jen - Let's not even talk about the bunch of clowns in the government la ... nothing they say can be taken at face value anymore.

    Yeah, I'm sure even the substitute staple of food will increase in price soon. Just got to work harder on those assignments I have ... LOL!

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  7. Poor Nick, get some rest okay? But I'm also here to tell u that YES..I wanna hear some GK impressing wifey stories lol!! You gonna post it here? Ooooh GK will be one hopping mad genie then ha ha!! :)

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  8. aw...headaches are terrible. Hope you are feeling better?

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  9. In Brazil, government says that there's no inflation but prices increase a lot.
    And my salary(teacher's salary) has not raised for years(about 8 years, I must add!). I'm not married, I don't have any kids. If I were married I couldn't stand it.

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  10. Marzie - LOL! Somehow I knew you'd wanna hear of his exploits ... and don't worry, let me try and recall some of his 'dirty' little stories and I'll do a post for you here ... Oh, I'm sure he'll be hopping mad but I don't care. This is for the wishes he still owes me ... hahaha ...

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  11. Meleah - Horrible is putting it mildly. I'm fine now though :D

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  12. Cidao - Yeah, that's a consolation at least (I think). I'm married and have two boys who are constantly hungry so it gets harder each day when the prices start going up!

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  13. In Australia interest rates on mortgages seem to increase every quarter, petrol prices have gone up 40% in a very short period of time and yes, food prices will obviously go up due to the freight costs of getting it from point A to B. It's just a pity our wages don't go up in accordance with everything else :)

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  14. Gypsy - It's a worldwide thing and it's really scary. One day in the near future I'm probably not going to be able to afford even buying bread! Sighhhh ...

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  15. Muahahahaha sure or not you're not worried? It's the mighty Genie King we're talking abt here u know? Anyway, looking forward to the post! ;)

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  16. Marzie - Welllll, maybe a little la ... LOL!

    But it'll be a nice fun post to do. So keep a watch out for it soon :)

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