The main mantra that one should adopt when faced with seemingly insurmountable personal credit card debts is "maximise cash inflow, minimise cash outflow". The result of doing so should all then be channelled into paying down your credit card debt.
Maximising cash inflow
1. Work smart in your current job to increase the potential quantum of reward from your employers. This could be in the form of a promotion, an increment, a bonus etc.
2. Monetising your hobbies/talents, whether this is via writing part time for online journals, providing photography services, selling artwork online, trading collectibles (comics, cards, stamps, postcards), or any other variety of money making ventures.
3. Selling things that you no longer need i.e. books, magazines, comic books, toys.
4. Ensuring that you are making timely and accurate expense claims from your company to ensure you are not subsidising the operations of the company inadvertently.
Minimising cash outflow
1. Learn to say no. Whether it is to your nearest and dearest, or to a colleague or a distant acquaintence, it is best that you cut down on social activities, weekend getaways, and outings of any sort that involves money coming out from your wallet. This is especially true if you are the most senior of the lot, or the only guy, and your pride dictates that you either foot the bill before charging others, or (gasp..even worse) giving an all out treat.
2. Look in the mirror and if one of the reason that you have accumulated the mountain of debt is that you spend a huge sum of money on food every month, at the same time putting on excess weight that is pushing you towards obesity, it's time to go on a diet. That way, your wallet grows fatter while you get thinner (and healthier). Some dieting adjustment such as cutting down on sushi, western food like chicken chop, spaghetti or fish & chips, premium priced coffee and beverages, while increasing intake of greens (which always cost less than meat) and sticking to just plain water, is not beyond anybody.
3. Don't buy on impulse. And impulse can last for months! That DSLR camera that you want, and that you keep finding excuses to buy, can wait! It will be a guilt-free purchase if you buy it only AFTER you settle your debts. Rationalise, especially when you are at your weakest and most vulnerable, and when you are faced with various promotions, and friends who are already owning the latest gadgetary. Remember, it's not the equipment that matters, rather the artist behind the equipment that makes the difference.
4. Stop incurring fines. Drive safe on the road. Don't get into fender benders that may set you back a couple of hundred. Don't beat the red light and you don't have to bribe the policeman.
Shining a harsh light on modern living, modern society and my life in my society.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
How to make an auditor happy.
1. Tell him that he is technically sound.
2. Exempt him from writing appraisals for one year. Conversely, change all appraisals into Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) where all you need to do is select options which are already presented to you.
3. Exempt him from doing up his timesheet for one year (or even a month). This can be easily solved if technology is sped up to catch up with our expectations. An application that tracks how long you spend on an audit file would be more than sufficient to replace the tedious task of manually filling up a timesheet.
4. Give him staff that have no life and no study leave.
5. Fill up the pantry with better food and drinks, preferably things that can be categorised as intoxicants.
6. Give hum a gym, a basketball court, a pool table, or just something for him to hit, punch, kick and scold.
7. Install a stand alone air conditioner to be used when the building's centralised air conditioners are switched off.
8. Shower room. To stay fresh. And smell free.
9. Pay him more so that it doesn't seem like slave labour as compared to his ex-highschool friends who are in the IT line or is a lawyer.
2. Exempt him from writing appraisals for one year. Conversely, change all appraisals into Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) where all you need to do is select options which are already presented to you.
3. Exempt him from doing up his timesheet for one year (or even a month). This can be easily solved if technology is sped up to catch up with our expectations. An application that tracks how long you spend on an audit file would be more than sufficient to replace the tedious task of manually filling up a timesheet.
4. Give him staff that have no life and no study leave.
5. Fill up the pantry with better food and drinks, preferably things that can be categorised as intoxicants.
6. Give hum a gym, a basketball court, a pool table, or just something for him to hit, punch, kick and scold.
7. Install a stand alone air conditioner to be used when the building's centralised air conditioners are switched off.
8. Shower room. To stay fresh. And smell free.
9. Pay him more so that it doesn't seem like slave labour as compared to his ex-highschool friends who are in the IT line or is a lawyer.
Hate post #1
This is a rant. This rant is not targeted at any particular race, creed, gender or sexual preference. Rather, this is a rant targeted at people that annoys the hell out of me. People that for reasons, maybe known or unknown to them, infuriates me and makes me wonder what kind of upbringing they have that turns them into such irritating beings. Yes. My rage and annoyance goes beyond the very people that annoys me and strikes against their parents, families and ancestries.
1. People that speaks with English with a pretentious foreign accent.
...in a Starbucks coffee shop, where everyone is either reading a book or on their laptops, and only their conversation fills the lounge. It almost makes me wish Starbucks would play their boring indie music to drown out the incessant yawn-inducing small talk between the aforementioned "slangy" guys. Look, speaking like that not only peeves people within hearing distance, but it also makes you seem effeminate and gay, which is fine if you are, but it still annoys me. So there.
2. People who calls themselves photographers just because they have a credit card that allows them to buy a DSLR on credit.
A bonafide photographer knows that originality counts the most. So, taking that picture of the rice field or a hill (which you just painfully lugged your bag that contains your lenses and tripod) where probably a thousand people plus your aunt has snapped before you does not make you a photographer. Not when you still spend your days on a desk running up spreadsheets while dreaming someone pays you to snap their photos. Pictures tell a story if it is snapped by an inspired photographer. Show me a picture of a flower that you snapped just because you think it'll be interesting to prove you understand depth of field and I'll use it as a coaster for my daily drink of whisky.
3. "Click-and-post" happy people
The juggernaut of cheap cameras and the growing number of people who use Facebook has given birth to a new online societal bane, the uncensored posting of photos online. This causes a wide number of annoyance, especially if it is a photo of you that you were not aware was being taken, and is now being shared with the millions of netizens (or the 3 people that actually cares about the postings of you on Facebook).
4. People who calls other people "mate" just because they spent a year or two in Australia.
And also, those who calls another person whom they are disagreeing with "mate" or any other terms of fake affection. This is just way too condescending.
1. People that speaks with English with a pretentious foreign accent.
...in a Starbucks coffee shop, where everyone is either reading a book or on their laptops, and only their conversation fills the lounge. It almost makes me wish Starbucks would play their boring indie music to drown out the incessant yawn-inducing small talk between the aforementioned "slangy" guys. Look, speaking like that not only peeves people within hearing distance, but it also makes you seem effeminate and gay, which is fine if you are, but it still annoys me. So there.
2. People who calls themselves photographers just because they have a credit card that allows them to buy a DSLR on credit.
A bonafide photographer knows that originality counts the most. So, taking that picture of the rice field or a hill (which you just painfully lugged your bag that contains your lenses and tripod) where probably a thousand people plus your aunt has snapped before you does not make you a photographer. Not when you still spend your days on a desk running up spreadsheets while dreaming someone pays you to snap their photos. Pictures tell a story if it is snapped by an inspired photographer. Show me a picture of a flower that you snapped just because you think it'll be interesting to prove you understand depth of field and I'll use it as a coaster for my daily drink of whisky.
3. "Click-and-post" happy people
The juggernaut of cheap cameras and the growing number of people who use Facebook has given birth to a new online societal bane, the uncensored posting of photos online. This causes a wide number of annoyance, especially if it is a photo of you that you were not aware was being taken, and is now being shared with the millions of netizens (or the 3 people that actually cares about the postings of you on Facebook).
4. People who calls other people "mate" just because they spent a year or two in Australia.
And also, those who calls another person whom they are disagreeing with "mate" or any other terms of fake affection. This is just way too condescending.
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