The stereotypical ‘cheapskate’ is now ascendant. We may have pointed and laughed at his pathetic, penny-pinching ways in the past, but in 2016, the ‘tightwad’ is in vogue. Scrooge’s rise is, of course, in tandem with the surge of everything in Malaysia – with the notable exception of our salaries, and the value of our below-sea-level Ringgit. From skyrocketing transport costs, to skyscraping food prices – maintaining a pulse in Malaysia is now more expensive than ever: so there’s no better time than the present to be calculating, miserly and ascetic. Let us follow in the torn-shoe footsteps of the cheapskate:
Feast on economy rice, or fast food
Swallow your gourmand pride – and a whole lot of inexpensive mixed rice and fast food (but go easy on the latter). Your cheapo fare may not be food porn fodder for Instagram, and you may feel like you’re eating a lot of humble pie, but cheapskate food can be delicious, filling, nutritious and – above all – humane to your wallet. You’ll be amazed how much you’ll save.
If you’re a uni/college student, whip out your 1Malaysia Student Discount Card for EVERYTHING
Develop a tick of flashing your 1Malaysia Student Discount Card wherever you go, and reap the following benefits:
- KLIA Transit: 30% discount on one-way tickets
- Malaysia Airlines: 10% to 25% discount on economy tickets
- FireFly: 50% discount on Y class fare
- Rapid KL: 33% discount for bus, LRT and Monorail
- Kinokuniya Bookstore: 10% discount on regular-priced books
- MPH Bookstores: 10% discount on regular-priced items
- Mydin: Special price on selected non-food items
- The Chicken Rice Shop: Special student meal @ RM9.90 nett
- A&W: 50% discount on regular and large root beers
- KFC: 5% discount for purchases below RM20
- Little Taiwan: 10% discount on minimum RM30 purchase from a la carte menu
- Focus Point: 20% to 50% discount on selected frames and sunglasses
- Optical 88: 5% to 10% discount on all items
For more on the 1Malaysia Student Discount Card, click here.
Hit the shopping aisles AFTER 8PM
Hyper and Supermarkets tend to mark down their cooked food items after 8pm – so that’s when you move in for the kill. Aeon, for example, knocks 30% to 40% off the prices of its cooked meals after the magic hour – and voila, your dinner! This is also the time shop assistants roam the aisles affixing discounted price stickers to perishable items about to pass their ‘sell by’ date. Be a good cheapskate and tail him/her all over the store.
Charge your phone for free in public places
If you thought being cheap meant only stealing packets of salt from McDonalds, you’re an amateur cheapskate. You haven’t reached the black-belt level of miserliness until you’ve made it a habit to charge your phone in public places, such as your phone provider’s service centers. Your savings may not be significant, but it’s abiding by the cheapskate principle that’s paramount.
Buy second hand stuff only
Purchasing brand new things goes against everything a cheapskate stands for. So if you’re in the market for clothes, visit car boot sales (find out where at GoodCycle or MalaysiaCBS), or flea (a.k.a. ‘bundle’) markets in, for instance, Chow Kit. If it’s books you crave, then head on to online second hand bookstores like BookUp.my, BookBazaar.com.my and MyBookDeals.com. And for almost everything else, haunt RM5 Japanese stores like the ubiquitous Daiso and Hinode; or Amcorp Mall’s weird and wonderful weekend bazaar.
*Based on an article published by Shu Wen in Asia’s leading education portal, www.easyuni.my. Images courtesy of Easyuni.my.