It's time to tighten our belts

Seen in the Sunday Times, that Singaporeans are feeling upbeat about year 2008 and 7 out of 10 persons are expecting pay rises.

But will that be enough? I don't think so. People like me are feeling the pinch and fully aware of the rising cost of living -especially the transportation cost, the utilities cost.

Don't talk about the ridiculous ERP rates that can suka-suka increase, the petrol prices, even the prices of public transport like bus and taxi have gone up. This for most of us, cannot be avoided as we need to go work on Monday - Friday, transport is a must unless you are those lucky ones that live near your workplace. If it is food or beverage, we can have other alternative like eating roti and drinking water. Public transport is simply unavoidable!

The annual inflation is 4.2 per cent. I doubt my pay increase can't even match the inflation rate.

It's time to tighten our belts.

A light-hearted looks at the new year's ahead with Christmas jingle

Rising cost of living - Joy To The World tune

Joy to the world, my pay has come!
Let me receive my due
Let every hand, get bonuses
Then all the tills will ring
Then retailers will sing
And all in the family will want something

Joy to the world, the dollar reigns!
Let men stay in employ;
While wheat and oil, feed, meat and grains
Go up in price oh boy,
Go up in price oh boy
Go up, go up, in price, oh boy

Shopping not my cuppa tea

I had never like to shop.This is probably due to my size. Walking through the aisle is a challenge. I mean, not only have I need to avoid my clumsy self from knocking off those display items from the shelves and breaking them, I have to watch out for those kids running around the store.

Fine, this to some maybe just an excuse, don't talk about my clumsiness. With the festive seasons, the crowd is super huge. Shopping without an idea what to buy is painstakingly tough.

And with the crowd, I could not think straight as I would hear people yakking around. Kind of distracting for a person like me who gets distracted easily.

After successfully manoeuvring around the store and have an eye on something to buy, getting assistance is like a nightmare. No one seems to care or offer help. It's so ironic, when you need assistance, no one is there and when you don't, they come after you.

And then, comes the closing of a transaction, oh my god!, the queue at the cashier is long. Read somewhere that the cashier is the most important section in a store. It's human, some potential customers may want to get something from the store but seeing the queue, will turn them off. Do the retail stores aware of this fact?

(But, I do have some good experiences with cashiers. One is many months back in Robinson @ Raffles City, whereby the cashier are friendly and recommended me to shop for shoes as there's a discount sales when I am paying for a bag. Good services.
The other one is Watsons' @ Bugis. This is well-known for the long queue during weekends. I'm totally surprised that the cashier wears a smile and apologizes for having the customers to wait in a queue! Nice touch.)

Choosing a present is definitely not my cup of tea. I am a very boring person, and one cannot find a hinge of creativity in my choice of present.

I could have shop for weeks and find nothing. In the end, I would resort to giving gift vouchers. Boring huh? I totally agree.

That's what I have gotten for my family members! Haiz.

As for my friends, I have purchased something for them. Now I'm keeping my fingers' cross that they like what I have bought for them. At least not perfume, eau de toilette, gift sets from Body Shop, Crabtree & Evelyn, etc.