I believe the majority, if not all of us, are feeling the effects of the bad news that keep coming at us. First the inflation, then the fall of so-called long-standing banks. Closer to home, the increase of electricity tariffs at a shocking "high-jump" of 21%. We are also slammed with higher public busfares. Now the latest is increase in school busfares.
Meals outside, even at foodcourt, are at least $17+ for the 2 girls and me, not even counting Bert. If we stay at home, we also incur high cost due to use of TV and PC (read as electricity bills). If we go out, we get hit by high public transport cost and expensive (and not that filling) meals and, if we are out, we tend to spend more too.
Today, I brought the girls to eHub at Downtown East. We ate "cheap" - chicken rice, then stick to a budget of $15 on arcade games.
Wanted to go bowling as there was a discount for offpeak and for kids, however, the salesgirl said all lanes were full. Feli was upset, so we went back later (like 15 mins later), and found a mini bowling lane. It's kinda cute. It's half the normal lane-length and the balls are smaller and without finger grip holds. It operates by inserting $2 coins for a game of 5 rounds. So I let Feli play that just to appease her. Tiffy tried 2 throws and I one. It is definitely not easy to keep the ball in the lane, and the skittles were tied to strings from the "ceiling" of the chute. So interesting.
After we left, we noticed a long queue at the sales counter, and the guy in front of the queue was making payment for a lane. I was a bit upset that only a while ago, this same salesgirl told me there was no lane available. Tiffy told me it didn't make money-sense to give us the lane since I only letting the 2 girls to play. I thought she made sense. Anyway, think of it this way, I save $3 per kid and $1.20 per pair of shoes i.e $8.40 verse $2 for the mini game.
I try to explain to the girls we mustn't anyhow spend. They wanted to get these little figurines with a lighted base below. It costs $10 for 3 tiny figurines. But the batteries were exorbitant...3 batteries are needed at 50c per battery, and they only last at most 2 - 3 months!! If I get the batteries, I need to buy the whole set of 10 batteries, so that was another $5. It's so ridiculous to throw away $15 just on these figurines, which most likely will be thrown aside by the kids in a couple of days.
The next few weeks when the school hols really start, would be a challenge on our pockets. The kids would want to go out, and the temptation is so high to just spend on unnecessary stuff. Especially in the present climate where we are bracing ourselves for a recession and looming retrenchments for many people, we do not know how things will pan out. Things of this world change so fast overnight. People also have such short-term memories too. How great it is to know that our God is ever steadfast and constant in His love for us. Where things of this world is so transient and fragile, we turn to God for our strength and hope. Pray that our LC family and all our family members be protected from this current state of affairs.
Love Theresa
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