Money (trival)

Sunday morning gives me a nice feeling - a relaxed and inspiring mood - suitable for writing blogs. I love Sundays...

Money (trival) blog #1 - The One with the Pedigree Dog Can Food

Recently, our usual dog can food has a price increase from $1.90 to $2.30. (Ok, I know I sound 'auntie', but hear me out...) Mummy has been searching for a cheaper price since then. Here's our (collective) research: NTUC FairPrice - $2.30, Song Shing - $2.30, ESSO Mart - $2.10 (cheapest so far) and Shop'n'Save - $2.40!
So, on the fateful Thursday, I popped into Caltex Mart hopping to see some dog food, but the kind lady says they don't sell it here, suggested us to walk down to the Frankel Pet Shop to take a look. So, mummy and I 'rackee' the Pet Shop - *wala* Pedigree Dog Food (Chicken Flavor) $2.00! That price tag shone brightly at our faces with golden trim on the sides and a 'trriinggg' chime! (watched too much HongKong comedy) Happily, Mummy told me to grab 5 cans to pass it to the cashier. And then, I was thinking, 5x400g=2000g. My eyes rolled down a shelf and saw the 700g ones pricing at only $3.20, that means that if I had gotten 3 cans of the big ones, 3x700g=2100g, I pay only $9.60, which spells a cost savings of $0.40 plus 100g extra compared to buying 5 cans of the small ones. Sooooo, *cho-to-ma-te* I told the cashier lady that we changed our minds. *wow* close call! And smart decision for both me and my mum. What an accomplishment! We went back home proudly that day... (ok ok, I am damn 'auntie'... but I like!) *kekekeke*

Money (trival) blog #2 - The One with the Last Minute Travel

They say, if you didn't plan your travel schedule at the beginning of this year for the Hari Raya-Deepavali block, you are sooooo late! So, here's our story...

Cindy suggested that we could go to KL for a short break during the Mon-Tue-Wed break 2 days ago. *yah rite* So, I agreed! (You know both of us are the 'chop-chop' people, decisions-decisions-snap-snap) But, almost immediately our idea was 'kena' slam down by Kat, saying that we are crazy to go and squeeze with the Malaysians for this is their 9-days long weakend holiday (like once in the blue moon). Hence, after staring at each other for about 2 seconds, we flipped the classified pages under Tours for ideas.

Cindy picked Hong Kong, I picked Bangkok. You see, we have nothing in common except for two things - eat and shop! So, our choice of destination has to fulfill our 2 main criteria. Well, I just came back from Hong Kong not long ago, plus we'll be squeezing with the crazy people who has grown 2 large black ears at the top of their heads if we go there. Naturally, Bangkok became our chosen destination. We checked out tickets off the Internet, did some calculations. ValueAir charges $360 for the air tickets. Any cheapest available 3-star hotel will charge $90 per night for twin-sharing. Multiply all that by 4D3N, we'll be paying about $515. In the end, we decided to go for the Asia-Euro TA with the $398 4D3N Diamond City Hotel deal. With that $117 Departure - 31 Oct 1720h, Arrival - 1 Nov 2245h. *ha-there* So who says we are late?! =)

Money (trival) blog #3 - The One with the 5% Rebate

Shop'n'Save offers a 5% Rebate to all shoppers. 5% sounds very little cost savings, ya I know. But the whole thrill is in the process of getting this 5% Rebate. Here's how it works: For every purchase that's above $10, you'll get a chop on the reward card. Eg. Single receipt of $43.70 will entitle you with 4 chops. For mummy's purchase pattern, she'll easily hit $60 plus on each visit. 2 of such visits per week will mean 12 chops. So, for customers who collectively chopped once for every single visit, they would eventually be loosing out because of the odd dollars that wasn't rounded off to the nearest ten dollars.

So, here's the deal. With each completed reward card (10 chops), you'll be rewarded with a $5 Shop'n'Save voucher. And this voucher, with no minimum purchase, has an expiry of 3 months from date of issue. Now, the thrill of this whole process is that you would want to quickly complete all 10 chops with 2 consecutive months, or else your reward card would have be void. Each time when your purchase comes up with a block of less than $10 dollars, you will be tempted to top up the few dollars in order to gain another chop. And when the voucher can only be utilised on the next visit, you will be eager to utilise your voucher very soon in order not to be short-changed in one way or another.

Now this process will soon influence addiction, greed, decision-making and sense of accomplishment. It is trival, and yet it makes up about 75% of our lives' perks.