It Doesn't Look Good!

By now most of you know that I'm a person who bitches quite a bit :D Yes, anything that pisses me off will earn due recognition here. But this year, I'm trying not to be such a grouch. I'm trying not to let things piss me off. I'm trying to find happier things to post about but ... yes with me there is always a but :D

Judging from the first six days of the year, it sure doesn't seem like I'm going to stop bitching this year. As my good buddy Adrian mentioned to me in one of his comments,

'Hi Bud!! Doing my rounds for the New Year! Just got back to work today and the early signs are not good for this year too! Thought the new year would bring a new beginning but alas it doesn't look like it'll be happening soon!! Well I hope your year is much better! Cheers bud and lets meet up soon ok! :)'

And he's absolutely right! The year ahead doesn't look very promising. I don't even know where to start with my complains for the year ... LOL! The month of January alone is going to be a strain on me financially. The boys started their new school year and buying their stuff alone is going to burn a hole in my pocket. Actually it already has burnt a huge hole in my pockets.

Last week, both wifey and me bought the school books for one of the boys and it cost us a whopping RM250.00 and even then there are still one or two more books to buy. That doesn't include the older boy and all their school fees, etc, etc.

This year we recycled quite a bit of last years stuff like their bags and uniforms and it's still costing a bomb. Just sending two boys to school is so stressful that I wonder how those people with 5 or 6 kids manage it. Either they're millionaires or they know some secrets I don't!

I haven't even included the cost of their co-curriculum activities after school. Last year, the younger boy joined a uniformed organization in his school and has been pestering us since then to get his uniform for his after school activities and this year, we just have to get it for him. This doesn't include all the extra pocket money we have to give them. The older boy has already 'demanded' an increase in allowance cos his school's canteen has increased all their food prices!

Then there is their Sunday school which starts again next week. There's a whole bunch of fees to be paid over there too and it's not cheap mind you. What happened to the days when you didn't have to pay anything for Sunday school? In my time I don't remember having to pay anything.

Now, going to Sunday school means having to buy books and stuff. Would you believe there is even a parents-teacher report card collecting session every school term? It's like sending them to a second school altogether. I won't be surprise one day they start to insist on uniforms for Sunday school!

Couple this with the increase in the price of sugar that is bound (and has already) caused a domino effect of price increases for all things with sugar in it. This is definitely going to increase our weekly grocery shopping bill by quite a bit.

I'm not really complaining about the increase in the price of sugar per se. I think it's a good thing cos people take too much sugar these days. I for one take very little sugar in my diet but what I'm pissed off about is the amount of increase in sugar related products is the same or higher than the increase of the sugar price.

Take Gardenia bread for instance. The price of sugar increased by 20 sen a kilo and Gardenia, which my family consumes faster than you can spell Gardenia, has increased their price by 30 sen! I mean, just how much sugar do they use in one loaf of bread to justify a 30 sen increase? 10 sen, I can understand, maybe even 15 sen, but 30 sen? There goes my days of supporting Gardenia. I'm going to look for other bread alternatives and I'm sure there are quite a few out there.

Come on la you people at Gardenia, I'm sure you weren't losing out much at the old price of bread and if you wanted to increase, by all means do it but not by that much. We eat a loaf or two everyday and you can imagine how much more it's going to cost us now.

And the worst part is, the moment they were off the price controlled list, their prices went up immediately and I mean like instantly. I'm sure they knew about the increase for quite a while and was just waiting for the green light. Crooks, that's what you people are! Maybe I should start baking my own bread.

I'm really bracing myself for a lot more products to start increasing their prices. I'm sure Gardenia isn't the only one that's going to make everyone pay a lot more for their necessities. I'll bet everything including the price of modern sofas will sky rocket that one fine day real soon I'm going to need a bank loan just to buy a loaf of bread. You mark my words! The only thing I am absolutely sure that will not increase is my salary!

With that said and done, does this mean that the government would now start to reduce the price of sugar free products? Hahahahahahahahahahahaha ... yeah, I'm dreaming, I know. It's probably easier brokering for world peace than getting these unscrupulous traders to reduce prices!

Ok, so I've got my first bitching session of the year done, I feel so much better now ... LOL! Some things really don't change much :D
.