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Tuesday, October 27, 2009


Don't Waste Money For TNB Power Breakdown

Before I start the tips, let's enjoy a video from a young Malaysian Chinese man Namewee 黃明志 complained to Tenaga Nasional Berhad due he encountered third power breakdown in one year. I just learned a new abbreviation from him, TNB stands for Tiu Nia Bu because according to him, TNB's staff always makan pisang and minum kopi but do nothing and caused power breakdown. Is it true?

The video of 黃明志大鬧國家能源局:



BTW, power breakdown and power shutdown are different; one is planned and another one is unplanned.

Anyway, we have to pay electricity bill on time every month, late payment will be charged interest. But when power failure caused by TNB, they don't pay you because they are protected by Electricity Supply Act, do you know that? I consulted a lawyer when TNB's breakdown for 3 days in Melaka few years back whether I can sue TNB to ask for compensation due to the production lost, the lawyer asked me don't waste my money because so far there is no winnning case, always TNB wins because Electricity Supply Act protected them.

So, what's the tip I want to share in this post?

1. Pay TNB bill on time, or else late payment interest will be charged in the following bill.

2. Don't waste your energy and money to sue TNB, you can't win; to be more precise, I should say - Very Hard To Win! So, save the money, if you intend to sue TNB, the winner will be the Lawyer.

3. When call TNB to report breakdown, TNB's Hotline is 15454. To save your money, don't use your handphone to call this number because the charges is damn expensive, use fixed line to call 15454.


1 comments

Monday, October 19, 2009


Saving Money From Air Conditioner

We all know that air-cond is one of the main home appliances that consumed most electricity power. If you can save the air-cond usage, then you can save some money from electricity bills.

How much is the electricity bill for air-cond if it is ON for one hour?

If you know its calculation, you will find out that air-cond’s consumption per hour is not that “scary” but once you accumulated the usage, it is actually a big amount.

Calculation of air-cond’s usage:

1 HP (horse power) = 746W(Watt) or 0.746KW(Kilo-watt)
1 KWH (Kilo-Watt-hour) = RM0.286
0.746 KWH = RM0.21 = 21 sen per hour

If you ON 8 hours per day (night) = RM0.21 x 8 hours = RM1.71
Usage for one month = RM1.71 x 31 days = RM52.90
This is the monthly usage for 1 HP air-cond.

Summary on air-cond’s consumption in RM:

1.0 HP = RM0.21 per hour = RM52.90 per month (one day 8 hours)
1.5 HP = RM0.32 per hour = RM79 per month (one day 8 hours)
2.0 HP = RM0.42 per hour = RM105 per month (one day 8 hours)
2.5 HP = RM0.53 per hour = RM130 per month (one day 8 hours)

How to save the electricity bill from air-cond's usage? Here are some tips:

1. Don’t install big HP of air-cond if your room is small. Select the air-cond size that most suit to your room’s size. Normally a 10ft x 10ft bedroom with 1 HP air-cond is good enough.

2. There are many “energy saving” models in the market, you should consider to buy one for saving on electricity since you don’t change air-cond frequently, choose the right one for the first time.

3. Before you ON your air-cond, open the windows and door of your room for better ventilation and “release” the hot air in your room. Your room temperature will get cold faster.

4. Make sure your windows and door are fully closed when you are using air-cond. If you leave one of your windows open, you are wasting its energy.

5. Set your temperature to 24°C or higher. 24°C is a comfortable temperature, so you don’t need to set it to 18°C. If you set to 18°C, it means you are “forcing” the compressor to keep running to reach this temperature; in fact your room temperature will never reached 18°C in Malaysia. When you set to 24°C, the compressor will cut off whenever the room temperature reached that level and run again when your room's temperature is getting warmer. When the compressor is not running, you save the electricity.

6. Use timer (sleep mode) to auto off your air-cond. ON the air-cond to cool down your room’s temperature when you go to bed. You can ON for one or two hours, then auto off it and use the fans. Mid night is cooler, you don’t need to ON the air-cond and cover with the blanket. If you feel hot, don’t use blanket. When you use blanket, it means you are feeling cold, so why ON the air-cond if it's not hot?

7. Clean your air-cond filter frequently. Take out the air filter to wash and remove the dust.

8. Service your air-cond if it is blowing warm air. You need an air-cond for cold air, not a blower to blow out warm air. If your air-cond is not functioning well, it is not cost effective. You still pay the electricity bill but you don’t get what you are paying.

9. Last & also the best one – Don’t use air-cond at all.
81 comments

Wednesday, October 14, 2009


Participate Online Survey to Earn Money

Earn £ if you can spend few minutes a day to take part in online survey.

If you search for “Online Survey Earn Money” etc keywords, the results will show very long list on relevant websites that offer you money to take part in their surveys but a lot of them are scams and don’t expect them to pay you.

If you can wait for the money to grow “slowly”, then you can sign up at OnePoll.com to participate in their surveys; I “dare” to introduce to you because I’d received their cheques.

Once signed up you will get £2.50, when you refer 5 friends, you earn another £1. Login few times a week to check whether there is any new survey. You will get paid from £0.05 to £0.50 for every completed survey but normally they pay £0.05-£0.10 as reward per survey. Some idiots pay £0.05 only but we have to answer a lot of questions. Maybe you will need longer time to get £40 now because the recent surveys are offering “vouchers” and “prizes” as rewards instead of cash. I only take part in cash surveys, I’m not interested in prizes.

You can withdraw your money when you reached £40. Just fill up the form to request and wait for the postman to send the cheque to you. It takes around two weeks to get the cheque but it takes more than one month to clear the oversea cheque; and the bank charges some processing fee, suck!

It took me almost one year to get my first cheque because I forgot to participate the surveys for few months.

After receiving the cheques, one for myself and one for my wife, I introduced it to my niece because I know it really pays us. My niece told her friends about this survey but none of them believe. I told my niece not to bother what others said, the important thing is she can get the money. And finally my niece received her first cheque recently.

BTW, I DON’T get commission by introducing you to join the surveys. I just want you to have the thrill to make “online money;” after all, it’s not my money ;-)
11 comments

Make Full Settlement on Car Loan to Save Interest

You don’t save any single cent by paying extra every month in order to settle your car loan early! But you can settle your car loan early and earn interest from FD and rebate from bank by “Full Settlement.”

I financed RM20,000 to buy a Proton Saga in 1999. The interest for car loan was 7.6% at that time, very high but lower than few months before I took the loan. I signed up six years repayment term and paid RM404 as monthly installment.

How to calculate the monthly installment for car loan?

Loan amount: RM20,000
Interest: 7.6%
Term: 6 years
Interest amount per year: RM20,000 x 7.6% = RM1,520
Interest amount for 6 years: RM1,520 x 6 = RM9,120
Monthly Installment: (RM20,000 + RM9,120) / 6 years / 12 months = RM404

I have to drag for 6 years because I was afraid I couldn’t afford to pay more due to other commitments. But when I got my yearly increment, I kept the excess money in a separate account as “advance payment” for my car loan. I didn’t use the excess money to pay to the bank every month as advance payment but just kept it in Fixed Deposit. I accumulated it until the amount was equivalent to the outstanding amount of my car loan. I withdrew it and paid as “Full Settlement” of my car loan. It took me 3 years 6 months to settle my car loan although I signed up for 6 years.

Here’s a question: Why I kept all “excess money” in FD but didn’t pay to bank every month since it also can settle my car loan early? I don’t save the interest if I pay “advance payment” every month but I saved some interest when I fully settled the loan, they are different!

It means, by paying extra money to bank every month, I will take 3.5 years to settle my car loan also but I don’t save the interest, my interest paid is still RM9,120.

However, when I paid lump sum as full settlement, the bank will “rebate” the interest to me. I can’t really remember how much was it but it was around RM2,000 plus. It means the actual interest paid for my entire car loan was around RM7,000 instead of RM9,120.

So, remember, if you want to save some interests on your car loan, settle it early by full settlement; keep your extra money in FD to gain some interest while accumulating the amount for full settlement. You gain nothing if you pay extra payment to bank every month for early settlement.

You can always call to bank to check your outstanding amount; ask the bank staff, how much you need to pay if you want to make full settlement, then you will know how much you can save on interest.
4 comments

Tuesday, October 6, 2009


Always Use Your Credit Card For Payments

Try not to use your cash, use your credit card for payment whenever you are allowed.

Why use Credit Card?

Firstly, some banks offer cash rebate from 0.75% to 5% for payment made via Credit Cards.

Secondly, to collect and accumulate Credit Cards’ rewards points. Don’t underestimate this rewards points, you can redeem something from the banks when you have enough points. I seldom redeem products; my first choice is always CASH, Money, Money and Money. Second choice is CASH VOUCHER and third choice is product that I need.

Thirdly, to take part in Credit Card Contests to entitle FREE Gifts or try your luck to win prizes and CASH.

Lastly, you can keep track on how much you have spent on that month. You can check online or wait until the credit card statement sent to you; you can manage your money well if you know where your money went. Make a habit to go through every item charged to your Credit Card to prevent fraud.

So, if everything uses Credit Card to settle, what to do with your cash? Well, what I do is dump the cash into my Flexi Loan account; by doing so, I can save the daily rest interests on housing loan for one month.

Just a quick calculation for items that I pay via Credit Card every month:

Electricity Bill – RM100
Streamyx & Telephone Bills – RM55.55
Life Insurance (Own) – RM150
Life Insurance (Wife) – RM110
Education Plan (Son) – RM120
Zero Interest Installment (LCD TV) – RM270
Petrol (2 Cars) – RM300
Others – RM200

Total – RM1,305.55

This amount is my monthly “fixed cost” which is also the minimum expenses; I can collect at least 1,300 rewards points per month and save the interest of RM1,305.55 (around RM50/year) from my daily rest housing loan.

What if I have to spend more for car servicing, shopping, quick rent, assessment etc? Then I will collect more rewards points.

But bear in mind, always use your Credit Card for all payments but always treat your Credit Card as CASH, not future money and fully settle your Credit Card’s outstanding amount every month, never gave Banks have chance to earn interest from your Credit Card.
0 comments

How to Shop During Big Sales?

When I need to buy something, I will wait until Big Sales provided it is not urgent and allowed me to wait.

Always look for the highest discount tag like 80%, 70%, 50% etc. Always start to check the item you want from the highest discount items. If you can’t compromised with the quality or specs., then move to the second highest discount and so on.

But, more discount doesn’t mean it is cheapest. Compare the price with other discounted items, pick the cheapest one if all items are equally good in term of quality and specs.

If you are observant enough, some discounted items are “clearing stock” items, only few pieces available. So, go one day before the Sales Day, look for the item you need to buy. If you can “hide” the item, hide it on the pre-sale day so that you can get it immediately on the Sale Day before others spot it. “Hide” here doesn’t mean you really hide it somewhere people cannot find; eg. Shirt, you can “hide” it at the bottom of other shirts or mix it with new arrival items but make sure nobody see your “dirty” tactic.

If you are buying cloth, you can trial first; this can save your time to queue at fitting room and casher counter on the Sales Day. For other items, test its functions and check the specs first, it saves your time also.
1 comments

You Need It Or You Want It?

When you are buying something, first ask yourself: “You NEED it or you WANT it?” If you need it, no choice, you have to spend the money. If this is the case, compare the price from different sellers or shops.

If you want it, it means this item is an option or you don’t need it at all. So, why waste the money to buy something, which you don’t need at all?

Example of “thing” that you NEED or you WANT.

Example 1: Car

You need to buy a car because you need to travel a lot as a Sales Executive. You NEED a car.

Now, what car do you need/want to buy?

A new car or used car? You NEED a car but you DON’T NEED a new car, maybe you WANT a new car to show off.

If your reason to buy a new car is for less hassle on car breakdown problems and maintenance, fair enough; so, you need a new imported car or Proton?

You NEED a new car but you WANT an imported car like Toyota or Honda, you don’t want Proton because Proton looks “Cheap” and “No-class,” and you want to show off!

If you are someone who don’t earn so much, you should reverse the process of the questions above:

1. You need a car with good conditions.
2. Do you need an imported car? Not necessary but I know you want.
3. Do you need a new car? Not necessary but I know you want.
4. Your best choice is used local car like Proton or used imported car.
5. Compare the price between used local car and used imported car. Seek for more opinions from experienced people whether the cars worth the value.

Example 2: Cloth

Year-end sale, Up to 70% discount on clothing. You WANT to buy a dress because it is half-price but ask yourself, how many dresses you have in your cabinet and you seldom wear? What will happen if you don’t buy that dress? Nothing will happen! It means, you WANT the dress but you DON’T NEED it although it’s half-price. So, why spend the money for item that you don’t need at all?

If you have been wearing the old pants for years and you feel it’s getting smaller because your waist is getting wider, then you NEED to buy pants and no choice, you have to buy it. When to buy? When the shopping center is offering Big Sales!
1 comments

Thursday, October 1, 2009


Privacy Policy

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