Tips for Opportunistic Buyer :)

Assalamua'laikum wbt & Good Day,

One quarter had passed for 2018 and Hola! 

This is the second entry on the third week of the first month in second quarter of 2018. 

Did your tongue feel twisted while reading the statement above? HAHA #lamejoke

I am currently very excited for my next short vacation to Indonesia in less than 10 days’ time. Never thought that I will be traveling to Indonesia for the third time after my first visit to Padang in 2014 and Jakarta last December.

 For this time, I think I would like to share on financial related matters.

I acknowledged that I am not a very  customer oriented person and that is where I always find it hard to start any business. However, I believe that I am a good strategist and opportunity identifier. Hence, after reading few financial management books, I can conclude that I can use another platform to ensure all my expenses are done smartly without jeopardizing the quality of the items or services that I desire. 

Frans Josef Glacier, South New Zealand.

Here we go!

1. I usually plan upfront for my travel and do my groceries based on that planning. As much as I can, I want to leave minimum amount of items in my refrigerator during my traveling period. On top of price, I really look in details on the expiry date of items that I would like to purchase and instill the mindset of "Better buy less items than it becomes expired later".

2. I subscribe to all kind of membership for items that I usually buy and do not mind to pay for the fee. However, for items that I rarely bought, I am fine to subscribe myself to be the member as long as it is free. I closely monitor my points and immediately convert the points before it expired.

3. For fuel, I closely monitor the promotion of PETRONAS gift card at LAZADA. This year, I had saved almost RM 50 from it. By purchasing this gift card, I got a lot of benefits in maximizing my purchase through the following:

a) Credit card points as I usually pay any online purchase using this method. 

b) Air Asia Big Points - do make sure you key in your BIG Membership No. at the end of your purchase. This point later will benefit you whenever you want to purchase any Air Asia flight. :)

c) Cash Back - by clicking LAZADA through Smart Saver, I am entitle for few percentage of cash back. You can register yourself HERE. Just use your IC No as username & password during sign up & first time login. You can change the details thereafter. 

d) MESRA Points - purchase of fuel at PETRONAS using gift card also enable you to collect  MESRA points which can be converted to cash whenever you purchase any items at PETRONAS Station.

Can you see how opportunist I am? HAHA!

4. For long lead items or items that do not have any expiry date, I usually buy in a reasonable bulk amount during any special sales. 

The view from Casablanca to Marrakesh via train.

5. For any other online purchase excluding gift card, I usually make my purchase via ShopBack to enable me to get cash back from all my online purchase. ShopBack  got plenty of online stores inside and offer rewarding amount of cash back which will be credited to our bank account once we hit a minimum available balance of RM 10. You can register yourself HERE and start browsing the site. I even request for Grab through ShopBack as any complete ride will enable me to get 20 cents. At least, something is always better than nothing. #opportunistbuyer

6. As for traveling, I usually search through Skyscanner.net and select on my preference based on the price & traveling duration. 

7. For any offline purchase, I always browse through any special offer from any credit card/ debit card provider and do my purchasing using that card to get the rewards.

I hope this sharing will benefit you and let us (who have minimum entrepreneurial skill) maximize our purchasing benefit by utilizing every available avenue. Lets be financially smart & savvy!  :)

Have a nice day. Wassalam~