Tag Archives: money

A mother’s money

Posted in Everyday Life by

It was one of those weekends when I had an impulse to just load my kids in the car and drive over to my sister’s house – which is 90 minutes away. Well, I did give her a heads-up saying that we will be coming over, hoping that she’ll provide us brunch, cause the food she cooks is always nice. *grin* We had kueytiow soup for brunch, cute bunny chocolate appams and a melon drink.

While the kids played with their cousins, my sister and I gossiped about everything. I spent at least an hour there before we made our way back home afterwards.

In the car, my son suddenly said, “Mommy, do we have crayons at home? I need to bring them for art class tomorrow”. Of course, there were no crayons in the house. He knew that but he was being smart turning an “I need to buy crayons” into an enquiry. I said we’ll get him the crayons at the local shop near our house once we get there. He then continued with another request, “I need to bring a recorder for music class too – tomorrow”.

My eyes rolled upwards.

He had the whole Saturday to tell Mr. Husband about this but he chose to inform this on a Sunday when he was working, to The Mommy. It’s a good thing I have my own income. I do not need to use my husband’s money or ask him for these things. If it was my mom back then, who had no income, she probably had to ask my dad or start opening up her coinbox to look for extra money. We ended up with a stationery mini haul. My son got what he wanted and my daughter has a new set of coloured marker pens. I got new Buncho watercolours as well to replace the dried ones we have at the moment.

Of Duit and Duit Raya Anak

Posted in Good Things, Mini Project by

As a young, novice parent, a mother of one who does not know the value of money yet … I feel obliged to make my boy’s money work for him till he knows better. This means all that he got during the recent Raya goes straight into the bank.

 

You Reap What You Sow 

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When I was a child, my Mother was a home maker. She still is now. She has no high formal education which results in no proper 9 – 5 job. She was raised in a large family with lots of siblings and together with her older sisters, they were forced out of education because of poverty. Her younger sisters however were told to stay in school for the better of all.

Hardship however taught her the value of money. And the importance of having savings. 

After being married to Father who was a civil servant, she received a monthly allowance to manage the household. Its a once a month ‘fund’ and from that she has to figure out how much to use for what. So the usual benefactors included bills, groceries, fuel and such. Being the smart woman that she is, she added another ‘category’ – children s saving accounts.

Her deposits into our accounts were not hundreds at a time but it was consistent. She also made us save part of our duit raya or birthday ang pow to put inside the tabung. She would frown if she caught us ‘taking an overdraft’ from the piggy banks and made us save double the usual portion.

She made us do chores in exchange of money. We swept, cleaned, scrubbed and mopped. So far, she hasn’t made us sell kuih in the neighbourhood but I guess we got the idea.

Since Mr Husband insists on being the sole breadwinner of this family – meaning he wants to pay for everything… this then leaves me a working mother,  to put my money into good use. Which is part of my salary after putting aside for myself and my mother, would go to my dear boy.

I also practice a form of Spontaneous Saving Technique. Everytime I get a MYR20 bill note, I would not spend it. Instead, I will keep it and put it in my boys account. Easy, right..

I have read of some people doing the weekly savings ; For instance, a $1 for the first of Jan, $2 for the next week and the increments are in a $1 until you reach week 52 of the calendar where you have to pay $52 for that week. Interesting saving tips..

I wonder though if there are any other tips out there.. for saving money.

How does one ‘ubah nasib keluarga’?

Posted in Everyday Life by

“With great power, comes great responsibilities!”

Its almost a cliché to hear a participant or contender say in a reality TV show of ‘berharap kemenangan ini untuk mengubah nasib keluarga’. Or when asked about why someone choose a certain profession to again ‘mengubah nasib keluarga’. for all I know, when I joined the medical field.. I had no intention to ‘mengubah nasib keluarga’. But now that I look at it, perhaps change has already been instignated within my own family. Through my income.

Every month I would specifically part a portion of my money to Mother for her personal use since she’s not getting much from Father. Later I learnt that she had deposited some of this ‘pocket money’ regularly to my younger brothers bank account for their future use.

When I go back to my hometown for a visit, I tend to take my family out for dining as we try out new places to eat and experiment. In a way, this activity allows a session of bonding within the family and also opening up to something new.

Occasionally, I would invest part of my income towards the maintenance of house facilities and utilities on top of restocking the family fridge.

Having done these petty things with my income, I do feel that nasib keluarga have berubah towards the better. In the next 2 months however, I may have to step up on my responsibility as the eldest child in the family. To support my younger siblings education in a private institution if he fails to get into the university of his choice.

WOW.