First came the infamous 40% petrol hike. Then came the hike in our utility bills & staple food stuffs. In view of challenging times ahead, let’s look at 10 creative ways to reduce our household bills:
 | Clue #1: Save on Electric Bills – Use electrical appliances wisely. Turn off the power of your appliances if you're not using it & unplug whatever that is not in use as this helps to save money. |
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| Clue #2: Buy in Bulk – Survey prices of goods before you buy them. List them down neatly in a table format; compare prices of goods to sniff out those who offer the best price in town & purchase specific items from the chosen location. Plan your grocery shopping well so that you don't have to waste precious fuel to run back to the same store twice just because you'd forgotten an item or two. |
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| Clue #3: Repair instead of Replace – Not every item that has worn out needs to be thrown away. Eg. a broken heel or toy. Try to fix them first before tossing them away. This way, not only do you save money, you get to help save the environment too! |
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| Clue #4: Go Absolutely Green! – Vegetable & fruit prices have both gone up. So, why not plan your own instead? Eg. you can always grow some vegetables, a mango or papaya tree in your own garden? All it takes is a little effort & time on your part – it helps you save money & eat garden fresh food (minus all the chemicals). |
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| Clue #5: Be Your Own Chef –Sharpen your cooking skills & cultivate the love for creating & cooking your own food to cater for your special diet needs. Don't worry, you can still go shopping but bring your own junk food & drinks/juices. Then head home for a hearty cooked meal. |
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| Clue #6: Polish Your Baking Skills – Invest in a reasonably good oven & start baking your own bread, cookies, etc. It’s a lot cheaper to bake your own than to buy them off the shelves. Trust me… it’s not as hard as you think. Many mums bake their own bread. It’s tastier, fresh & economical. My inventive mum used to bake her own mooncakes, cookies & etc. So, we always get our own freshly baked (not to mention customized yummies!) pastries & cakes at a fraction of the cost. |
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| Clue #7: Fashion Cycles – Hang on to your old clothes. Don’t toss them out of your wardrobe just yet. Dig deep into your wardrobe to find old, forgotten items because they may be back in trend. Add in a little creativity & you can turn something old into something new! eg. add in some decorative beads or replace dull, worn out buttons with funky, colourful ones. |
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| Clue #8: Sell Off Unwanted Items – Malaysians in general don’t need a garage sale. We just throw unwanted items away. Do you realize that we are actually throwing away “invincible cash”? Remember how we starve ourselves to buy that expensive silk blouse or a techno-gadget only to throw or give them away later (for free)? Well, it’s time to start your own used item shops right at your home front & start earning some extra cash! |
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| Clue #9: Avoid Using Electrical appliances
Laundry tip: Create 2 new categories: hand washed & machine washed. If you only have less than 5 items to throw into your washing machine, why not hand wash them instead? You get to save on your water & electric bills. As for those who own a dryer, why not tap on our sunny weather to dry out your clothes – for free?
Meal preparation tip: If possible, squeeze your own orange juice instead of using a juice extractor. Chop your own food instead of using a blender.
Cleaning tip: Spring clean your house the conventional way instead of relying on the vacuum cleaner or other cleaning appliances. |
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| Clue #10: Budgeting & Tracking – Always keep track of every cent spent, map out a budget for each item to be purchased & stick to the master plan.
taken from CIMB.com.my |
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