Whine or Be Smart?

When we flip open any newspaper / magazine, there are tones of reports on with headlines like “global financial crisis”, “buyout plan failed”, “unemployment” , “retrenchment”, “economy slow down”, and so on. No matter whether we read or listen to the news, the topics are revolving around the current “bad” situation on the economy. And it creates tension and fear among many.

Inevitability we are feeling the effects of the slow down of the economy. Plus, there’s nothing much as an individual we can do to stop the wave coming. Should we just press the panic button? Doing nothing but to hope the government to come out with the perfect plan to shelter all from the slow down? Or just pray that God will save us all? No! Why not we take this matter and look at more positive perspectives?

Yes. Many people may find it difficult to sustain their previous income / job with their current working habits and attitude. We aren’t in power to control the economic but what can we do here? We can re-look at the way we treat work. First, check our work attitude. Do we just sweep away all the problems under the carpet? Do we treat the customer (internal & external) with the correct attitude? Do we waste the resources in our work area? Is there any thing we can improve on our area to improve the morale/ productivity/ effectiveness of our work? I believe that with this we can create a more cost effective / productive work result. Thus, you can stand out as the star in this looming time. If you are at management level, you could even lead your colleagues out from this slow down period.

I don’t have much knowledge on economic, but I think the economy cycle happens because it is a natural effect to bring the economy back to equilibrium. Thus, at this down cycle period, many inefficient, over gearing company, division or any part of an organization will be forced to out. Hence fore, I think that staying competitive, effective and efficiency is vital for survival. Most of the time, it is be the excellent opportunity to grow and shine. Look at the famous Warren Buffet, when people are throwing their shares out for cash, he starts to buy in those he thinks is potential. He has been preparing himself for this period and he gonna gain a lot out of this.

And people please stop complaining, hoping that governments, employers, parents to shelter us. Come on, it time to get back to reality, use our creativity to earn extra income to compensate whatever lose (no increment/ bonus, lower pay, etc) you are suffering from. Some of you can stop sending your child to endless tuition classes and you can spend some time to teach the subjects you are capable of. Some of you can use your free time to work on part time. Use your creativity and effort in, I’m sure you can find the way. Don’t spend all your free time to do window shopping / watching the TV/ DVDs.

Some people are taking the extreme steps to stop many essential spending. If everybody just stop spending and in no time, all of us will be in depression. The message I want to share is spend wisely. I want to illustrate an example of saving and spending here and you analyze whether you have fallen into a similar situation.
I know many female like me wants to appear presentable / beautiful. Moneys are spent on skin care, hair care, makeup, handbag, shoes, clothing and even accessories. Let me do a simple calculation on the skin and hair care. Most of us have facial once every month, this could easily cost us RM 50-100 per session. Basic skin care (cleanser, toner and moisturizer) a normal not so branded range of skin care would cost about RM 210 for a set last about 3 months. Hair care, if you are only using shampoo and conditioner, I don’t think you can save a lot here unless you are using branded goods that costs about RM 100 or more per item. But, some like to go for saloon for the hair treatment, head massages, straightening and so on. And most obvious trap that many fall into is hair coloring and highlight. Many change the colour to follow the fashion or simply to change their look. And each colouring session at a professional saloon can range from RM 50 – 200. And with growing population is vision challenge and spend on a thing call contact lenses. More interestingly, many without any vision problem get their fashion lenses. And how much does this lenses cost? A monthly disposable (not the fashion/ colour lenses) cost about RM 40 per pair. And this excluding the cost of eye drop and the contact lenses solutions. Now switch to make up foundation, concealer, blusher, eye brow pencil, eye pencil, eye shadow, lipstick, lip gloss, mascara and the makeup remover. The cost really depend very much of the brand a person pick. For example a eye pencil can range from RM 10 – 50 per piece; lip gloss can range from RM 10 – 150 per piece.

Below I draw up and average spending on the beauty of the face alone.

*Assumption of the consumption of 3 months per individual.
*All cost is based on estimation base on my personal monitor of the merchandise pricing.

Ladies, look at the figure. Wasn’t that a very scary figure? We didn’t purchase those things daily and most of the time separately and we wouldn’t feel the pinch. But do our money spent unwisely on these. Moreover, some of the item mentioned above, we doesn’t need it. What’s wrong it one less eye shadow colour? One less facial session at the saloon but to buy mask and do facial at home? Say no to hair colour or massage. And choose the brand wisely, avoid paying high for nothing. So, watch the way we spend and choose to spend wisely. Less cosmetic is better and less food. Less movie session is better than skipping car’s maintenance session. And the list goes on. I believe you are smart enough to choose and spend wisely.

And we shut our big mouth on whining and complaining. Put the situation at a positive perspective and swing into actions!!

To eat, not to eat?

I got a shock reading a forwarded mail regarding the "pork" we are consuming. This email made claims on how the pig farms rear the pigs for commercial purpose.

In the mail it mentioned that it only takes 5-6 mths to raise the piggies to 120-180 kg. In older days it takes them 1 year to raise the pig from infancy to about 120kg. What's the secret of these pig farms to expedite the piggies growth? The called this the high-tech method. Everyday they feed the pig (infant / adult) with 1.2-1.8kg of feed. Inside the feed, more than 10% are chemical catalyst to boast the growth of the piggies. Soon, the piggies are able to grow abt 600g daily. When it reaches the size of 30kg, the piggies are feed with lots of water. At this stage it is able to grow 1.2-2kg daily. And the pigs usually are not energetic and sleeping all the time. They hardly move. All they do is sleep and eat. Just imagine the harm it brings to our body when we consume these abnormal pigs.

And the saddest part of the email. It mentioned that this kind of "high tech, commercial" farming formula is commonfor other livestocks as well.

If this is true, it make senses that we should minimise/ avoid meat consumption. Yet, we also know that the vegetables and fruits are getting less nutritions compared to 50 years ago. And similary, there are a lot of these vegetables and fruits are genetically egineered for better commercial purpose. Similarity, there are claims that these foods are harmful to us. What's more about the excessive usage of fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides and pesticides? And how can we get a balance and healthy diet?

Should we eat, or not to eat?

In memory of Maryville

Lately there are many reports on the forest fire in Victoria, Australia. One of the sad news that catches my attention is the fire had flatten the town of Maryville.

3 months ago, I was on holiday to this lovely little town. I remembered it was raining and the road it wet. It was a challenging drive through the famous black spur drive on a raining day like this. When I finally arrived to Maryville and I found that it is only a very small and tranquil town without much to see or do (on a rainny day). I am feeling cold and tired and I didn't even take a photo of the township or it's scenary. I searched thru my album and found that I only have a few photos of the birds outside one of the cafe where my family and I have a coffee break. There were news that reported that it is one of the loveliest town in Victoria. And what left in my mind is only a vague image of the town, tree and bushes of the black spur drive. I also wondering what happened to the nice people I encountered at the visitor centre of Maryville? Are they safe? I have no idea. I can only pray that they are safe and unharm.

This incident has reminded me of be grateful of what we have at the present. Seize the moment and enjoy every bit of it. Things changes and we might not have it forever. Thus, never take things for granted.