Good Habits 8 Malaysians Ritualised Out Of Their Desperation To Save More Money

Claire, 27, is a coffee addict. "I was spending almost RM70 a week on coffee alone! That's RM280 a month! It was getting too expensive for me so I decided to buy a simple RM60 French press and a packet of ground coffee beans (RM32). That's a lot of money saved!"

Terence, 25, a customer service representative for a hardware company was spending money unnecessarily on food. "I decided I wanted to live a healthier lifestyle but I didn't know how. I saw a free fitness class in a gym one day and joined it. As my job requires me to travel, I could have the flexibility to try out different fitness centres which offers free classes while cutting down the amount of money spent on junk food which could go into a gym membership once I find one I really like".

Ronn, 30, works as an advertiser. "I had a hard time grasping with the issue of saving money as I looked at it as a chore. I turned that into a hobby by making sure I stash every crisp, new note into a box because I like the feel of it. Soon, in just a year, I have around RM7,000 worth of savings because of that little hack."

Alif is a 28-year-old expat in Malaysia. He doesn't have a car and depends on public transportation. "I look out for promotions and online coupons by searching the Internet. Apps such as Uber also has a referral programme where a new user gets credit. MyTeksi also sends texts and emails which gives huge discounts. I use this extensively to save whatever I can especially transportation costs take up a big chunk of my budget".

Chin, 32 is a sales representative for a multinational company. "My work requires me to set up meetings with clients and thus I have to use my phone a lot. My previous phone bill was okay but I found a better deal after looking at UMobile's plan".

Samantha used to overspend on shopping trips. "It was going out of control lah! Finally I decided to do something about it by withdrawing a certain amount of money, and I will not overspend the amount. I made sure I left my ATM card at home so that I won't be tempted to withdraw more at the ATM".

Vanessa, 22, an executive in a social media company picked up the habit of packing lunch once a week when I noticed my food budget was out of control! "I was spending more than RM10 a day on lunch and it was getting hard to save for my trip. So I decided to stop spending more than I want to and started packing lunch from home. It's way cheaper too!"

Lee, 21, is a university student. "The place where I stayed at has a television with cable connected but none of us watch it. Nonetheless, we're still charged monthly until my housemates and I decided to cancel it. Instead, we subscribed to Netflix and Hulu where we paid a small monthly fee to enjoy movies and TV series, right on our laptops".