Money Matters

As I've said in the last post, I'm facing quite some problem with $$ lately. It has always been my sister's dream to travel to Taiwan someday, or maybe even live there if given the chance. But that's her dream, not mine. Well, the thing is, she couldn't find anyone to accompany her for the trip as all her friends are either busy or doesn't have that kind of budget. So it all comes down to me, her good ol' lil' sister.

I've only started working since November last year. And after a few months of splurging on shopping, I've finally decided to set aside a sum of money every month, but this is not for "in case of emergency" (am never that kind of person :"p). That sum of money, I save up to get myself a car. And since I've only started saving for a few months, it wasn't really a big amount. But i thought, well the car can wait, the money should be able to afford a fairly comfortable trip to Taiwan. So we went on and got ourselves returning air ticket to Taiwan. We got a pretty good deal actually, RM 600 for two-way ticket to Taiwan and no it's not AirAsia, it's Malaysia Airline.

And then I got a letter. A letter from PTPTN (a government study loan i applied for during my diploma) which says that if i don't pay back the amount I'm suppose to pay back up until now within 14 days of receiving the letter, they'll inform the immigration and stop me from going abroad.

Good timing eh... I wonder if PTPTN has put a trace on my credit card transaction. Damn.

So i went to the bank, and take out all my savings, make my way to CIMB, and pay back to PTPTN. And here I am, with a return air ticket charged on my credit card bill, and no money at all to pay for the trip. Well actually that's not true, I still have a RM91.67 balance, and some cash. BUT it's NO WHERE near the amount i need to afford the trip.

To make things worst, I went to KL to attend my best friend's convocation and I missed my flight home. And freakin' MAS charged me RM339 for the next flight home! It's even more expensive than my ticket to Taiwan! And for RM339, all I get is a glass of pink guava juice and a pack of peanuts. And I don't even eat peanuts.

Thank God the trip is on mid November, which means that I still have 3 months to save up for the trip.

So I have decided that for the next 3 months, I'll cut down from dining in restaurants, it's either eat at home, hawker food or not eating at all. No more shopping, no more wasting money on things that I don't really need. But I can already see the plan breaking down cos I've just booked myself a seat for the buffet at the Spice Garden, Rasa Sayang Shangri-la Hotel. But wait, I can justify myself! It is a good deal as normally it would be RM120 per pax, but now they're doing promotion for RM60 per pax!! And the food in the photos look oh-so-nice..

Anyway, hopefully there's not too many good deals running around, or-else I'll have to auction off the tickets here pretty soon.