I was reading an article on CNN Money on the top ten money wasters. I guess the article is relevant to US, and not really for Malaysia (some of it). So this is my attempt not to plagiarize but to localize the article. I believe this is a good article that will help us save money – one way or the other. In fact, I somewhat practice most of the money wasters.. damn damn. I should really watch out on this and save more money!

Here’s the link to the article in CNN Money – http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/pf/1105/gallery.money_wasters/index.html

Ok now let’s summarize the money wasters…

1) ATM Fees

2) Lottery Tickets

3) Gourmet Coffee

4) Cigarettes

5) Infomercial Impulse Buy

6) Brand-name Groceries

7) Eating Out

8) Unused Gym Memberships

9) Daily Internet Deals

10) Bundled cable and Phone Services

So now – how does that actually work in Malaysia? Let’s see

1) ATM Fees – YES! It cost us RM1.00 for MEPS transaction for local bank and RM4.00 for overseas bank.. Gulp

2) Lottery Tickets – I don’t buy lottery – so that’s fine..

3) Gourmet Coffee – Damn, this is really bad. It cost approximately about RM9.00 bucks for brewed coffee. For espresso-based coffee you looking at approximately RM11 and above. Frappucino will cost about RM13!

4) Ciggies – RM10 bucks. Average smoker do about 1 pack a day – that’s approximately RM300 bucks a month!

5) Infomercial Impulse Buy – well, I don’t usually watch TV, so I am actually quite safe. I don’t know those people who watch TV all the time, whether they buy this. I would think that this is irrelevant to our market.

6) Brand-name Groceries – Ok I confess! I am probably those monkeys that would buy because of the brand. I rather get a Kellog’s Corn Flakes rather than Cap Ayam Corn Flakes.

7) Eating Out – another big time contributor to money wastage! Imagine – I can do a serving of creme brulee at a cost of roughly 2-3 bucks (and its damn good ok!). Outside you probably looking at an estimated cost of RM10-15? Damn..

8) Unused Gym Memberships – In general, it does effect a lot of Malaysians. But for me – I guess I use it more than general population.

9) Daily Internet Deals – groupon-type deals are meant to save money? No?

10) Bundled Cable and Phone Deals – We don’t really have option for Unifi don’t we?

So in a nutshell…. How how?