Breakdown of My RM57k House Renovation + Makeover Guys Review

Just got the keys to your bare unit and now planning your own house renovation? No plans to move anytime soon but just want to know how the heck we spent RM57k on our house renovation in Malaysia?

You’ve come at the right place – we just completed our house renovation and I’m happy to finally share the breakdown!

But first, pics. This is how my living room attached to kitchen space looks like. I am biased, but I absolutely love it!

What I want to stress is this is our
actual living space
. It’s a practical space, rather than just decorative. I’m intentionally showing these pics because tbh I’m bored of aesthetic but hyper-minimalist home pictures (so empty?? Don’t they own anything??)

As mentioned, we spent approx RM57k on our unit in 2022, which was approx 600-700 square feet newly-built apartment in Klang Valley. Your own house renovation cost will depend on many factors, but you can use this as a rough guide for your own house renovation in Malaysia.

Also, when I say we spent RM57k on our house renovation in Malaysia, that amount includes
everything
 we did and bought to make the space liveable, and not *just* the renovation cost.

Breakdown of My RM57k House Renovation

Of the RM57k, we spent:

Approx RM35k on Renovation works, including interior design, installing fixtures, etc
Approx RM20k on Furniture and Appliances, moving services
Approx RM2k in miscellaneous products/services we wanted/needed

If your first thought was, OMG! I didn’t realise home renovation can cost that much! Don’t shoot the messager, but that amount can be considered
on the lower side
.

And we were lucky the unit already came with nice flooring, toilet fixtures and basic kitchen unit. If not, that’s an additional RM10-15k more. It’s not uncommon for home renovation projects to cost six-figures.

This is true especially for subsale houses – forget interior design, forget aesthetics. First you have to make sure the house you bought is
safe to live in and things are not falling apart
. Depending on the condition of the house, you might need to change flooring, plumbing, wiring, rooftop etc. Foundational work is NOT cheap.

Anyway. Let’s do a further breakdown.

1) RM35k on Renovation works (The Makeover Guys Review)

When we received the keys to our unit, we briefly considered DIY house renovation before scrapping that idea completely.  Me? Who never touched a drill in my life? Me? With my full-time writing job? Me?

Yeah hahaha nope. We decided to engage with professional house renovation service providers.

DIY projects are worth doing because only then you realise how shit you are at the skill and realise why professionals charge the amount they do 👍
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
August 12, 2020

Having said that, cost is definitely a consideration, so I did what I usually do when faced with this kind of situation:
I requested quotations from at least 5 places that do house renovation in Malaysia.

This turned out to be quite hard, since most of the interior designers asked for lots of information. As someone who doesn’t know what I want or what the unit requires, this overwhelmed me. Maybe this would work if I had some experience in property, but I was a complete newbie.

Selecting a house renovation company

Long story short, in the end I went with The Makeover Guys, or technically speaking their sister company Easyhome. The former specialises in renovating investment properties, the latter specialise in own stay. But let’s just call them The Makeover Guys since more people are familiar with that name.

I went with The Makeover Guys for a few reasons:

I had a couple of friends who also went with The Makeover Guys and had good experience
Online reviews
 look good (4.8 out of 5 stars!)
Sean Tan aka
iherng
 the property enthusiast/ Youtuber works with them (not sure in what capacity but he promotes The Makeover Guys quite often)
Got 0% instalment plan
Can install lights, curtains, water heater, aircon (arranging with contractors to do this myself would be so mafan!)
One of their
template designs
 caught my eye (can you guess which one? :))

Most importantly, they gave me the cost estimate without overwhelming me. In fact, all I had to do was fill in the
cost estimate form on the Makeover Guys website
, and they sent me an 8-page estimate via email.

Here’s a simplified list of the works done by The Makeover Guys for our place:

Feature wall design
Lighting fixtures
2 x ceiling fans
3 x aircon
2 x water heater
Security grill
Built-in wardrobe
Built-in fridge cabinet/kitchen island
Bedside table
Wiring works
Curtains for 3 rooms
Decorations, soft furnishings and styling
Design and project management
Replastering, touchups, cleaning, disposal

After everything is done, my final bill ended up totalling RM34,316.37, divided into 3 payments:

RM17,157 (upfront payment to confirm house renovation work – 0% instalment thanks to
credit card
)
RM10,588 (0% instalment)
RM6,829.91 (I paid lumpsum)

The Makeover Guys Review

Tbh I had an amazing experience with The Makeover Guys/ Easyhome. I’m glad I went with them. I am so happy with the results and service given.

The team assigned to us were so sweet and attentive. They answered every question and concern we had (and I had a lot). They were so helpful in assisting us to add in extra fixtures, too – we added things like fridge cabinet/kitchen island, extra plug points and door grill.

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A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

In fact, the only fault of theirs that I can think of is we couldn’t start the house renovation immediately and had to wait a couple of months because they were
fully booked
!

(Another con may be if you
don’t like any of The Makeover Guy’s design templates.
 If that’s the case, better hire another interior design firm, and/or your own contractor. Then you can make it as simple or custom as you like)

If you happen to go with
The Makeover Guys
 too, whether for property investment or for own stay, you can
 get RM500 off your house renovation cost
.
Just tell Easyhome that Suraya Zainudin referred you
, that’s it, you get the discount edi 🙂

2) RM20k on Furniture and Appliances, moving services

The house renovation package from The Makeover Guys is designed to make your unit
as move-in ready as possible
. All you have to do is choose one of their templates and they will give furniture and fixture suggestions.

However, you are not ‘locked’ with their choices. You can take out whatever you think you don’t need or like.

For example, I didn’t like the bed option from Makeover Guys/ Easyhome (it’s a nice enough bed, it’s just we know our cats will scratch the hell out of the headboard). So we told them to take out the bed, and later picked out this storage bed from IKEA.

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I also didn’t like all 3 dining table and chair options they gave us (again, perfectly nice furniture, just not to our taste). So we told them to take it out and looked for those items ourselves.

Obviously, what furniture and appliances you need depends on your family’s requirements. So I’m just going to leave here a list of what *we* bought, as a household of 2. And of course, I also included the cost of professional moving services.

(At least 10 of the above, like the bed, dining table, tv console etc could have come from The Makeover Guys, but we looked for it ourselves. It would be cheaper AND less mafan to go through them, but hey.)

I have to say, selecting furniture and appliances was probably the most fun part in this whole house renovation process. I really enjoyed visiting furniture showrooms and home stores. It was fun researching and making selections that would work for us.

For example, the sofa. I had experience buying a normal fabric sofa before, and I knew I should pick another material because the cats totally destroyed it! In the end, we got this scratch and stain resistant sofa.

(Is it truly scratch resistant? I’m sorry to report while the damage is not as bad as fabric, my cats still managed to leave visible scratch marks. Just giving an honest review. The anti-stain part is good though).

For those asking, I got sofa with custom Aquaclean fabric upgrade. A few shops offer it so ask around (I found a shop near to me via Google)
pic.twitter.com/8xA7uwfyxb
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
May 9, 2022

I didn’t like the moving part, but the selecting furniture and appliances part? I would happily do these again, if given the chance 🙂

3) RM2k on Miscellaneous products/services

Aside from approx RM55k spent above there were other odds and ends spent during the house renovation process. These include:

Professional defect check
Robo vacuum cleaner
 (One of my best purchases ever! I use it daily!)
Cleaning and drilling services
Boxes for moving
Things like floor rugs, shower curtain, tablecloth etc

I didn’t put these under my house renovation costs, but they are part of it.

House renovation in Malaysia: How did we fund it and can you do it for cheaper?

Together, we spent approx RM57k on our house renovation, all of which came from our savings (we saved a lot of money from NOT doing a wedding reception). I also benefited from the 0% instalment – I didn’t
need
 the 0% instalment, which means there’s no harm for me to take it, so I did.

Can we do house renovation for cheaper? Yes. Could have selected cheaper furniture and appliances. And perhaps we could have hired a contractor instead of going with an all-inclusive interior design package with The Makeover Guys. Just install the necessary – just the lights, curtains and security grill, that’s it.

To be clear, doing house renovation in Malaysia is not cheap. Unless you can do DIY house renovation and DIY interior design, and plan to thrift all your furniture, prepare RM15-20k, minimum. And while I won’t speculate, I am aware material prices have increased quite a lot too.

Anyway, I’ll end here. If you have questions about doing house renovation in Malaysia, or have tips to share, please let me know in the comments section, I’d love to hear your experience 🙂


How Materialistic Are You? Take This Quiz to Find Out

Have you ever wondered how materialistic are you? Not in a Yes/No kinda way, but on a scale.

Well, I was reading the book
59 Seconds: Think A Little, Change a Lot by Richard Wiseman
 and randomly stumbled on a quiz to measure materialism.

(I loved the book and would recommend it. Click the link above to purchase – its on Big Bad Wolf so until stocks last!)

Am I Materialistic? A Self-Assessment

So, how materialistic are you? Take a few moments to read the following ten statements, and assign each of them a rating to indicate the degree to which they describe you.

Don’t spend too long thinking about each statement, answer honestly, and no peeking at the answers.

Rating: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Give yourself a score of 1 for each statement you strongly disagree with, 2 for disagree, 3 for neutral, 4 for agree and 5 for strongly agree.

I am impressed by people who own expensive cars and houses.

I tend to judge how well I am doing in life by the possessions I buy.

I like to buy things I don’t really need.

I like to be surrounded by expensive items.

I think that my life would be better if I owned more luxury items.

I am sometimes bothered by the fact that I can’t afford to buy certain luxury goods.

Buying expensive items makes me feel good about myself.

I seem to put more emphasis on material things than most of my friends and family.

I am prepared to pay significantly more money for branded items.

I enjoy owning items that others find impressive.

Now add up your ratings. Do you have low, medium or high materialism score?

Low scores = between 10 and 20

Medium scores = between 21 and 39

High scores = between 40 and 50

I Scored High in Materialism. What Does That Mean?

People who scored high in materialism – sorry in advance for this part of the article, you’re not going to like it.. Basically,
high scorers tend to be associated with feeling unhappy and unsatisfied with life.

According to the book, which references work by psychologists, (1) materialism takes root in early childhood, and (2) is mainly driven by low self-esteem.

I also found a
study
 which theorises that
materialistic people find it more difficult to be grateful for what they have
, which causes them to become miserable.

What causes someone to become materialistic?

According to PIDM’s
Why Don’t We Save More: Encouraging Malaysians’ Financial Resilience
 behaviourial study, there is a higher chance someone picked up their savings behaviours from their own family members.

I mean, the comparison is even comical. Look at the long grey bar (representing family) as opposed to other groups.

Ps – I find it fascinating that some people do get influenced by friends & peers and formal education, but not that many are influenced by professionals (financial planners or banks), authority figures (government and community leaders), and religion and religious figures.

So, don’t underestimate family’s influence on your personal finance. It’s by far the biggest factor on your savings behaviour.
If they subscribe to materialism, chances are you will be too, unless you intentionally opt out
.

Let people be materialistic, they can afford it!

Maybe some of you are like, so what? Materialistic people drive the economy. Plus who are you to dictate what people spend on, they know what they’re doing, if they buy luxury goods that means they can afford it!

Um, no.
It’s a misconception that only high earners buy luxury goods.

If this
Statista survey on Americans consumers
 is any indication, high income earners make up a bigger percentage, yes, but many
Low and middle income people buy premium and luxury goods as well.

Note:

Grey = low income

Black = middle income

Blue = high income

Where to go from here?

So, where do we go from here? It depends. If you scored low on the how materialistic are you quiz, you might feel a bit of a superiority complex, in a woohoo stuff doesn’t define me kinda way (I did).

If you scored high, there’s only 2 paths forward –
earn higher salary
 to accomodate your desires, or use this as an opportunity to self-reflect on yourself and who influences your buying/purchasing behaviour. I’m not going to tell you which one to choose – honestly I’m indifferent to what you do since its your life not mine.

(However I must admit I hate it when capitalistic companies sell their products by using your self-esteem against you :/

(I’m not even joking about this. According to one study entitled
Snobby Staff Can Boost Luxury Retail Sales
, ‘participants who expressed an aspiration to be associated with high-end brands also reported an
increased desire to own the luxury products after being treated poorly.
‘)

Anyway, that’s what I have for you today. Comment with your score results, if you dare 🙂


How to Buy Happiness: 5 Science-Backed Principles to Know TODAY

This is my own condensed notes of the book
Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending
 by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton.

She is the Professor of Social Psychology at the University of British Columbia, he is the Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and together they merged psychology and money, with the aim of answering the question: how to buy happiness.

When I read it, it’s like a lightbulb went off in my head. I’ve invested a lot of time and effort to learn how to increase wealth – via saving money, investing, earning – but not as much in learning how to
spend
 it.

All I know is
to be cheap
 when I didn’t have a lot, and to spend mindfully when I have a little bit more, prioritising small businesses.

It turns out money CAN buy happiness, and the best part is you can extract max happiness out of every ringgit following these 5 core principles.

How to Spend Money: 5 Core Principles of Happier Spending

The book divides each Core Principles into individual chapters. What I’m going to do is to share the most important points and research-backed conclusions from each chapter.

Core Principle #1 – Buy experiences

Takeaways:

Material things provide less happiness than experiential purchases

Buying bigger houses and nicer cars doesn’t bring that much happiness, yet they’re two of the top expense categories for many people. Spending moderately (not excessively) on these two WILL make you happier, as you have more disposable income for other spending

Go on trips. Don’t worry too much about the price – the experience matters more. Even experiences that are a little bit painful can produce lasting pleasure (ie you’ll still think fondly of that sucky camping trip)

Core Principle #2 – Make it a treat

Takeaways:

Abundance is the enemy of appreciation. When something wonderful is always available, people are less inclined to appreciate it (that’s why you never visit that famous tourist attraction in your city)

Therefore, you should
turn your favourite everyday things into occasional treats to enjoy them better

Aka if you like Starbucks, then have it but once a month, not daily. It’ll feel more special

Core Principle #3 – Buy time

Takeaways:

A lot of wealthy people are cash-rich but not time-rich.
You’d be happier with more time instead of more cash

Time affluence predicts job and life satisfaction

A lot of people waste time via commuting to and from work. You’d be happier living nearer to work

Buy time-saving devices and outsource chores you don’t like. These expenses will free up your time and allows you to enjoy things you love

Core Principle #4 – Pay now, consume later

Takeaways:

‘Buy now, pay later’ model used by credit cards and instalments
reduces happiness

Waiting and delaying consumption
increases happiness

Making upfront payment for pre-order purchases = enjoying them to the fullest

Core Principle #5 – Invest in others

Takeaways:

Spending money on others provides a bigger happiness boost than spending on oneself
 – the more people give away, the happier they felt

It generates abundance mindset, as opposed to scarcity mindset. Even giving away 1 ringgit will make you
feel
 wealthier

But the act of giving money must be a
choice
,
not by force (ie why charity feels good but paying taxes is not)

The trick: hitting as many core principles when you spend money

This part of the book blew me away. Each of the core principles work well on their own, but I didn’t think that
they can be stacked onto each other
.

For example:

Invite someone who asked you for advice/support to a neighbourhood cafe  (#5 – invest in others)

Have a lovely chat and improve relationship (#1 – buy experience)

You managed to fit in the meetup after you freed up the time by outsourcing chores, especially the ones you hate (#3 – buy time)

Pay for the coffee from prepaid card (#4 – pay now, consume later)

Enjoy an extra-special frappuccino instead of your usual daily black coffee (#2 – make it a treat)

My mind = kaboom.

So simple, yet something that I don’t do often – the intention was there but the framework was not. This book provided structure to my ‘let’s test out everything and see if it works’ method.

I don’t know about you, but I am *extremely* motivated to get the most happiness value out of my spending. Firstly, I hate buyers remorse (who doesn’t tho?).

Secondly, planning my spending around this spending doesn’t require unlimited wealth, which is an unattainable goal in the first place.

It is better for me to learn how to master my money, than let money be my master.
Just Principle #1 alone eliminated the vast majority of luxury products that I know won’t make me happy
.

What if you don’t have money to spend?

But of course, none of this matters if you don’t have
disposable
 income. Those who
make a good salary
 can simply reallocate spending priorities, but those who don’t are stuck and have way less option. You don’t need me to tell you how the minimum wage of RM1200 per month is not anywhere near the living wage. All the money goes to life’s necessities and not much else.

The battle for higher minimum wage goes on, but it’s important to know what else society can do to contribute, because this is not a single-solution problem. On a personal level, many of us can do #5 – Invest in others, but I’m also aware some of you work in government agencies or have decision-making positions in your respective companies.

Here’s how you can help chip in towards support networks. Bonus: happier people make more productive employees

Some good government policies include:

Providing safe community spaces for fun, low-cost experiences (#1 – buy experiences)

Providing affordable housing at places with abundant job opportunities, so commutes are shorter (#3 – buy time)

Actively discourage the growth of ‘buy now, pay later’ financing plans (#4 – pay now, consume later)

Allocating resources and doing Public-private partnerships to help the less privileged,
which don’t require beneficiaries to spend more time just to get the help
 (#5 – invest in others)

And some examples of how companies can actively participate:

Factor in experiential benefits, such as massage/spa vouchers and home cleaning services as job perks (#1 – buy experiences)

Regularly schedule fun and engaging office activities (#2 – make it a treat)

Allow employees opportunities to volunteer and donate to their favourite charities (#5 – invest in others)

I’m sure there are more ways, but this is a start. If you know of any other good measures, or currently implementing them to positive results, do share in the comments section 🙂

I’ll end here. Hope the points in the book helped you as much as it helped me develop an updated spending philosophy. The full book is definitely worth a read, so find it if you can (I got mine from Big Bad Wolf). Share this article with friends and family – it would be my joy to help Malaysians spend in happier ways.

If you enjoyed this article, you’ll probably enjoyed a similar ‘how to buy happiness’ article of mine, also a book summary:
How My Dream Home in Malaysia Would Look Like


[ENDED] How to Buy Your Own Damn Insurance & Takaful Course by Suraya ringgitohringgit.com

[
PLEASE READ THIS LEGAL DISCLAIMER BEFORE PURCHASING THIS PRODUCT
]

On 21 January 2023, I Suraya from RinggitOhRinggit.com conducted the How to Buy Your Own Damn Insurance/Takaful workshop. Since then, many people contacted me asking 1) when I would conduct the next one, and 2) if they could buy the recording.

Thanks to popular demand, my How to Buy Your Own Damn Insurance/Takaful course is FINALLY LAUNCHING!
The course is open for sale at 12pm on Saturday, 11 March 2023 at
https://howtobuyinsurancecourse.peatix.com/

What you get in the course:

By purchasing this product, you get:

2-hour webinar on what you need to know about buying insurance/takaful, as a consumer (+ Malay subtitle)

My Protection Action Plan worksheet

User guide, which includes a (short) agents database you may want to contact

Email blast from me when FREE or discounted financial planning services come up so you can personalise your protection to fit you/family’s needs

How much is the course?

The original price for the course is RM59, but during the launch you can get it for:

Super Early Early Bird: RM19 x 50 earliest buyers

Super Early Bird: RM29 x 100 next earliest buyers

Early Bird: RM39 x 200 next earliest buyers

Launch Price RM49 x 500 next earliest buyers (Note: Discount code is available for people who bought the Bergaji & Pokai book 🙂

Again,
the launch will start at 12pm on Saturday, 11 March 2023 at
https://howtobuyinsurancecourse.peatix.com/.

The earlier you buy, the cheaper it is 🙂

After the launch ends on 31 March 2023, or after all are sold (whichever comes earlier), the How to Buy Your Own Damn Insurance/Takaful course will be available for sale at RM59.

You should buy this course, if:

You WANT to buy insurance but want to avoid ‘being sold to’. You just want to learn about it from a neutral third party (Note: I am not an insurance agent and have no affiliation with any insurance companies)

You’re afraid of being sold the wrong products – just want to do the research first and make the products selection yourself and/or meet the agent already somewhat informed

Insurance buying overwhelms you and the idea of someone hand-holding you through this process feels right and calms you down

You should NOT buy this course, if:

You expect me to know every single protection product from every single company out there. This is impossible – new products get created and retired all the time

You expect me to give tailor-made product recommendations just for you. This workshop only costs RM1x-4x. For personalised recommendations, you need to either meet an agent (cost: free upfront but paid in RM three-to-four-figures commissions if you bought from them; whether their recommendations are truly in your best interest is another story) or hire a financial planner (cost: RM four-figures upfront; generally in your best interest, includes comprehensive financial planning)

You want to learn about every single type of protection product out there. This course only covers Life, Critical Illness, Medical and Personal Accident

Testimonials

Please see some actual testimonials from attendees of the original workshop, shared with permission 🙂 Thank you @balqis.farhana_ and @ainadyra for the kind reviews!

[
PLEASE READ THIS LEGAL DISCLAIMER BEFORE PURCHASING THIS PRODUCT
]


10 Manipulative Advertising Techniques You Should Know

They tell you to save money, but they didn’t tell you to be aware of manipulative advertising designed to take your money, did they?

Asked about the power of advertising in research surveys, most agrees that it works, but not on them – Eric Clark, journalist and author

Every day, you are bombarded with thousands of ads. Some are just for awareness. Some of them are funny and creative.
But some of them are manipulative advertising, intentionally using your own psychology against you.
You may not realise it working – and, like the quote above, may even be in denial about it – but believe me, it works.

The book
Hidden Persuasion: 33 Psychological Influence Techniques in Advertising by psychologist, art director and designer Marc Andrews and social psychologists Dr. Matthijs van Leeuwen and Prof. Dr. Rick van Baaren
 did a wonderful job in uncovering most, if not all, of the techniques used by companies, organisations, governments and their advertising agencies to persuade you into buying into their product, service or message.

In this article, I have picked out 10 such practices which I thought was especially manipulative so you can identify them yourself in your day-to-day life. You can find
12 more in this WIRED article
, great for further reading. It is my hope that
once you see the practices IRL, you cannot unsee it.

Special thanks to Mimie from Malaysian Youth Mental Health Initiative (
MINDAKAMI
) for gifting me the book 🙂

#1 – Foot-in-the-door

Beginning with
a small request paves the way for compliance to a bigger request
. Asking for a big favour at once often leads to resistance; starting with a small, related request greatly increases the success rate.

This is the tactic those donation booths like to use.

First, they’ll ask you to
sign a petition
 to show your support for children education or whatever (which monster wouldn’t sign, right?)

Then, they’ll ask if you’d like to
make monthly donations
, because obviously you are someone who cares about the issue.
They are armed with sales scripts to counter any excuse you can give.
 The only method that works is to maintain a firm ‘No’.

Important: I’m okay with donation drives, especially for good causes. But I hate this ‘trap’ that they intentionally set up.

#2 – Promised land

Buy this product and get to the Promised Land. It inspires people, even when they know that the promise is exaggerated or unrealistic.
Even unachievable desires are strong motivators for human behaviour
.

These are products that simply
over-exaggerate their claims
, to the point of humourous. For example, they might imply you’ll be irresistible to the opposite sex by using their products (perfume, deodorant, alcohol, etc). They might also be products that promise quick results with minimal efforts (weight loss treatments).

The part I don’t like here is how blatantly they
exploit basic human desires
 – to be loved and wanted. They also tend to feature sexist ads where sexually attractive women are the ‘reward’.

#3 – Astroturfing

Fake social proof is used to create an impression of popular support
. People have an innate drive to copy others’ decisions and behaviour. While people are sensitive to any majority opinion, groups that are similar or physically close have a greater impact. Young people are particularly sensitive to the effects of social proof.

Many of us ask for product and service recommendations from friends, family and online community – a form of social proof. Astroturfing is the practice where one
 intentionally misleads their audience by showing fake social proof
.

Our politicians may or may not use this service. Who can say 🙂

It’s not just buying likes. You can buy reviews as well. More about this in
Online Shopping in Malaysia: My Quest to Find REAL Recommendations & Good Products

#4 – Attractiveness

“It is amazing how complete the delusion that beauty is goodness.” (Leo Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata). When one understands what is universally considered attractive,
it can be almost faultlessly implemented in any campaign
.

Why don’t companies use Malaysian/Asian models instead of Caucasian models? Why don’t they feature more plus-size or short or dark-skinned ones?

…Because, unfortunately, many people still benchmark attractiveness to Western standards of beauty (whether they know it or not), and using conventionally (read: Western-looking) models are
more profitable
.

I’m not saying it’s right. I’m not saying the practice should continue. I’m saying, in cutthroat businesses like fashion, I completely understand why a business might want to stick with what works rather than experiment with what may not work.

#5 – Scarcity (the worst manipulative advertising IMO)

If it is hard to get, people want it more. Scarce products are more attractive than non-scarce products. People strive for a sense of freedom, and scarcity is a threat to people’s freedom of choice.
When you are made to imagine how you would feel if you could not by a product, it makes you like the product more
.

Ah, the scarcity tactic, the one I hate the most.

It comes in many forms.
Limited edition. Countdown timers. ‘Today only’. Only 1 left. ‘Get it fast before its gone’. Only 300 in the world.

You’ve seen this at all shops, both online and offline. All of them are designed to encourage you to make a
fast purchasing decision
. Sometimes they even lie about it, they have more in stock, but you don’t know that. As long as they get the sale, who cares.

#6 – Decoy

When consumers are choosing between two similar products,
introducing a decoy can push people towards the outcome of direction
. The decoy must be presented subtly as the least-favoured option.

You’ve probably seen a lot of decoy pricing in real life. Yes, sometimes the super expensive/not value-for-money option is just there for you to quickly dismiss it, therefore choosing the other option (that they wanted you to take).

This is a really good example of decoy pricing.

#7 – That’s not all

Spontaneously offering a discount or offering free extras before the sales pitch is even over. The recipient should not have an opportunity to respond to each extra offer. Offering is continued until the presentation is finished. For maximum effect, the final ‘bonus’ should be particularly desirable.

If you’ve watched
infomercials
, you’ll know how this tactic works.

First, they’ll promote an item for RMxxx. Then, THAT’S NOT ALL, you’ll also get a discount. But THAT’S NOT ALL, its free delivery! Also THAT’S NOT ALL, you also get this free item worth RMxx! Wait not yet, THAT’S NOT ALL, you’ll get TWO sets instead of one!

I’m not saying you (or your parents) shouldn’t buy from GoShop. I’m just saying you should be aware of this tactic, because it’s a formula proven to work.

#8 – Reciprocity

Receiving a gift creates the social obligation to return it
. A gift can be anything: coupons, bonus points, special discounts or something exclusive. The more people feel that the gift is a personal favour from the giver, the bigger the return.

Look, I like the coupons and discounts too. But I do NOT like when the gifts become exclusive, almost like a bribe.

Anyone working in the PR industry can attest to this – it is very common to send gift packages to members of the media and influencers, as part of ‘
relationship building
‘. In the future, they are more likely to speak favourably of the company, thus influencing their audience. Many of the products and services that get press coverage without paying for the ad space, got it thanks to this particular tactic.

Personally, I don’t like this practice and have been actively refusing gifts where I can. I simply don’t like feeling like I owe someone.

#9 – Authority

People or symbols that signify legitimate authority trigger compliance and obedience
. A fit between the message and the authority figure used is essential. Subtle visual stimuli suggesting status, expertise and authority can trigger the visual heuristic effectively.

You might think that these are easy to spot, but they’re not as obvious as lifestyle influencers encouraging the use of skin whitening products or harmful ‘health’ supplements to their audiences. Those are bad, but what is far more dangerous is when the
expert who gives recommendations and advice are someone who is respected in their fields
. Remember, it was not that long ago that doctors ‘recommended’ cigarettes!

What’s the key lesson here? Never blindly trust anyone, no matter how much authority they seem to command.

#10 – Doublespeak

“War is peace! Freedom is slavery! Ignorance is strength!” (George Orwell, 1984). It is used to
frame failure or bad outcome as good news or positive outcome
. Doublespeak is often ingrained in our daily language that we do not even detect it.

That book made such an impact to me, I included doublespeak as one of the key concepts in the
[PERSONAL] 7 Mind-Blowing Concepts That Shaped My Personal Finance Mindset
 article

Doublespeak is truly around us. The government justifying the usage (and wastage) of public funds. Making a crappy service like
Buy Now, Pay Later
 sound good (see below). They’re all examples of doublespeak.

Do you recognise these manipulative advertising practices in real life?

Important: not all advertising is manipulative advertising. The other 20+advertising tactics listed in the book
Hidden Persuasion: 33 Psychological Influence Techniques in Advertising
 contains wonderfully creative ways of highlighting the brand, product, services and message from companies, organisations and governments.

However, 10 is NOT a small number, and I did emit out a couple of other manipulative advertising tactics which I felt is too similar to the ones listed above. For example, Sex Sells is very similar to Attractiveness in #4, and Door-in-the-Face (where you intentionally ask people for a big favour before following up with a small one, thus increasing conversion) is somewhat similar to  Foot-in-the-Door in #1.

In any case, I hope these 10 examples of manipulative advertising can be a starting point in your media literacy journey. I don’t know about you, but
I am sick of Malaysians being told to use willpower alone to save money, as if environmental cues which influence our behaviours do not exist
.

I’ll stop here. Tell me your experiences with manipulative advertising, if any. Would love to have more examples in Malaysian context.

Read more:
Why We Can’t Stop Spending Money


Online Shopping for Groceries: 5 Places to Get What You Need

Knowing how to do online shopping for groceries is one of those pandemic-related skillsets we just have to learn to do. Even if you’re already fully vaccinated, chances are you have people not eligible to be vaccinated around you – children, for example – and you just want them to be safe.

Then there’s the issue of the virus still mutating, so we have no idea what it may still be capable of, as well as vaccine efficacy reducing over time… aaaaa when are things getting back to normal aaa will it ever??

So here is a compilation of online stores that allow you to do online shopping for groceries. I will share the links, what to buy from each platform, and protips to save money.

I’ve also listed out online shopping advantages and disadvantages for groceries, so you know what to expect if you’re new at this. Let’s start with:

#1 – HappyFresh

Website link:
https://www.happyfresh.my/

A groceries’ delivery platform, listing various supermarkets near you. Mine includes Lotus’s (used to be Tesco), AEON, Giant Hypermarket, Pasaraya Matahari, Marks & Spencer, as well as a couple of other local marts.

What to buy:
pick your preferred supermarket and go through the Best Deals tab.

Protip
: Make use of their vouchers and deals! Read my
HappyFresh review
 for more details.

#2 – Shopee

Website link:
 https://shopee.com.my/

Let’s not pretend you don’t know what this platform is. I love stocking up my favourite food products from here, way cheaper than other options. My repeat orders include:

pasta sauce from Sangla Foods
 (get the Pesto Genovese! So delicious)
ground coffee from Sol Coffee Roastery
 (my fav is the Sol El-Salvador Blend)
frozen berries and vegetables from Braspro
 (get frozen blueberries for the antioxidants and stuff)

What to buy:
Everything but fresh produce
. A reader commented fresh produce also can!

Protip #1
:  You can also do online shopping
Mydin Malaysia
 in Shopee.

Protip #2
: Get the
Maybank Shopee Visa Platinum card
. It lets you earn Shopee Coins which you can use towards your online shopping for groceries at Shopee

#3 – Lazada

Website link:

https://www.lazada.com.my/

You know what platform this is as well.

What to buy:
 More or less same as Shopee

Protip #1:
You can also do online shopping
Tesco Groceries
 in Lazada.

Protip #2
: Get the
Lazada Citi Platinum card
. It lets you earn Lazada Reward Points which you can use towards your online shopping for groceries at Lazada

#4 – AirAsia Grocer

Website link:

https://www.airasia.com/grocer/my/en

AirAsia has branched into online grocery shopping, and honestly it’s not bad. I’ve used them twice and am happy both times.

What to buy:
 Whichever good deal is happening that week

Protip

#1
: Use
Shopback
 to earn cashback on your purchase

Protip #2:
Redeem your BIG Points for groceries!

#5 – Pasar Segar

Website link:

https://pasarsegar.my/

What to buy:
Fresh poultry, meat and seafood that are ‘cleaned, cut and packed’ for you as well as vegetables

Protip:
Check their Bulk Buys section

Other Platforms for Online Shopping for Groceries

In addition to the options listed above, you can definitely do online shopping at
Tesco

Lotus’s, Mydin and Giant Supermarket
main websites.

There are other platforms for online grocery shopping of course, but I don’t know if I can recommend them. Both
Grab and Foodpanda have Marts
 but the prices there are more expensive. And not by a little bit, either. A lot. I would only use them to get urgently-needed items or to support a small local mart, but other than that, not really.

Online shopping advantages and disadvantages

Advantages to online shopping for groceries

There are many advantages to doing your grocery shopping online. You get to:

avoid the crowd
, therefore giving you less chance for Covid-19 transmission
save money
 (don’t forget to use the protips!)
do
price comparison
 between similar products

Disadvantages to online shopping for groceries

All those are great, but nothing is binary; there are disadvantages to online shopping for groceries as well. For example:

Your groceries will come in
excessive packaging
. Obviously this is not good for the environment.
You may face
delivery and timeslot issues
. Sometimes the timeslots run out quite fast and you have to wait for a few days until a suitable timeslot opens up.
Item unavailability.
 Sometimes the online shopping platform will call you up if a particular item is not available, and suggest replacements. Usually it’s fine, unless you NEED a particular item for a certain recipe. Then it becomes quite annoying.
Unit confusion
. You also have to be diligent over the units (kg, pieces, etc), or you may accidentally buy too much or too little.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

 Which online shopping for groceries platform do you recommend?

So which of the above online groceries platforms do you use the most? Do you use other platforms for online shopping for groceries? Have additional protips to save money and time?

Please leave a comment and share your tips with us 🙂


I Hate Fake Reviews! How to Find REAL Recommendations & Good Products

Fact: Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the heck out of e-commerce, by ‘forcing’ businesses to add or improve its distribution. Nowadays, you can get more things delivered to you than ever before.

The variety nowadays is crazy. I have bought things that I’ve never bought online before, like Harumanis mangoes from Perlis,
organic salad
 and
frozen Rotiboy buns
 (I still don’t know if this was a good decision but God was I happy). One time during the MCO, I even bought red onions and flour on Lazada (I was desperate).

However, now that things somewhat settled down, and our online purchases are no longer needs-based but rather wants-based, I am back to my cynical self.

Online shopping used to be fun, but now I’m skeptical of everything 😭 I know how often fake reviews are commissioned, how ‘growth marketers’ create fake profiles to give’user testimonies’ in social media and forums, how online sellers use psychology hacks to encourage sales 😭

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
August 3, 2020

So let’s talk a bit about this, about doing online shopping in Malaysia. It’s part of life now. Its convenience is both a feature and a bug, in relation to my personal finance, and I just want to take this opportunity to hash out my own boundaries with it.

After all, spending is fine. It’s necessary, the economy runs on consumer spending. But mindful spending – ah, that’s the challenge.

#1 – I don’t trust reviews on websites and shopping platforms

Estimates vary, but apparently
a big percentage of online reviews are fake
.

I’m passionate about this because I am STILL salty about this.

So it turns out the bag I bought for almost RM300 is sold for RM72 on Aliexpress

I don’t know whether to be sad or impressed. Oh well, lesson learned – kids, always search Google for the image before you buy something online
#dropshipping

pic.twitter.com/oz7MJNQuyl

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
June 26, 2019

Long story short,

I was looking for bags

Naturally, I started getting targeted ads (which I’m fine with)

One company’s particular branding REALLY appealed to me. They said the right words to hook me in: vegan leather, environmentally friendly, free worldwide shopping, practical and stylish

And the reviews! Seems like people raved about it! Even in the comments section!

I thought I did my due diligence well! Felt so clever!

Actually it was a dropshipped product

And the quality is bad

Result: I’m forever sceptical of user reviews now. Once bitten, now I can see it
everywhere
. For example, here’s a Japanese restaurant with
five
 5-star reviews on Klook, all submitted by one Ms Jamie Hui Leng.

#2 – I’m relying more on word-of-mouth recommendation

So if online reviews are unreliable, what works? Well, ladies and gentlemen, one of the best perks of having a (small) following on social media is the ease of getting word-of-mouth recommendations.

I’ve asked everything from stock trading apps,

Recommendation wanted: what’s a good app to practice stocks trading in Malaysia?

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
June 20, 2019

to good WFH chairs,

Can anyone recommend a good WFH chair? My back is killing me 😣

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
April 4, 2020

to finding property agents (btw still looking! To sell not to buy)

Any property agents to recommend, specialising in Klang market?

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
July 2, 2020

to gift recommendations and more

Suggestions wanted: What’s a good present for a guy? Preferably something experiential and/or practical. Budget RM50 or so

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
January 10, 2020

And once in a while I give my own recommendations too.

Ground coffee recommendation: Sols Coffee Roastery on Shopee. Second time ordering, super satisfied with product and price 👍
pic.twitter.com/W581rzvsx4

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
July 14, 2020

Can’t say this enough times: working on growing your audience on social media is one of the most fulfilling, rewarding, practical things you can ever do for yourself. There are plenty of ways to do this and honestly I’m still figuring it out, but don’t ever knock it til you try it.

#3 – I’m becoming more brand-conscious

I have a love-hate relationship with this. On one hand, choosing a brand offers reliability, especially the ones that built its name on quality products. At this age, I’m somewhat done with my ‘trying out’ phase, unless the product or service is recommended to me (see #2).

For example, when it comes to sportswear, I’ll probably buy Nike brand. I have and love all 3 leggings purchased there, and the shoes, and the socks.

The drawback is of course I’m less likely to support smaller brands with way less marketing budget, AND I’m by default supporting unethical practices of those big brands.
Nike plus a bunch of big companies have been linked to using Uighur forced labour
, something which crosses my mind every time I do yoga.

The guilt is unreal. I’m still figuring out how to go about this. Suggestions welcomed.

#4 – Buying as a form of support

One way to alleviate that guilt, I suppose, is by intentionally looking and purchasing from individual business owners. I spend a lot of time on Twitter than any other social media platform, so here are some of my go-to accounts solely for online shopping.

My fav twitter accounts to find stuff to buy, when the mood strikes:

Kak
@adibahnoor

@najihahshahrel

@_natashaanuar

Seronok scrolling through because you can see you’re buying from actual people ☺

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
August 8, 2020

When buying from these individual business owners, I try to be mindful of my cheapskate, ‘extract best value possible’ mindset. It’s okay if the products are a bit pricier, because it contributes directly to someone’s livelihood.

When you buy from small business :’)
pic.twitter.com/iRP9ZJHoIe

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
August 9, 2020

(I think I also prefer Twitter because I can look through their feed before buying. If they happen to be racists or sexists, then I don’t buy from them.)

Instagram is a whole other ballgame though. I know the small business economy there is THRIVING, but I still don’t know the best way to browse products and services, or how to find legit reviews on that platform.

Therefore, here I mostly depend on the recommendations of my
two

sisters
, who both make a living on the platform and know it way better than I do.

And now I shall wait for their texts professing utmost gratitude and eternal love for promoting them

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
September 30, 2019

(Unfortunately the texts never came. Wait almost one year already).

#5 – Knowing my weak point

I briefly touched it in #1, but yes, the more I do online shopping, the more I can see the types of online shops I buy from, and see patterns in my own purchasing behaviour.

One of the realisations was…

My confession for today is I’m exceptionally weak to brands that use ‘quality and premium products without the unnecessary costs’ as a selling point
pic.twitter.com/uskwiKKab0

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
August 17, 2020

My other weak points include:

social enterprise (helping marginalised groups like
Asli.co

sustainability in fashion like
Biji-biji
)

using local models (instead of white models)

part of #SapotLokal campaigns

and more.

I don’t buy them often though. Unfortunately my wallet is not as deep as my conscience yet (therefore why I’m attracted to value for money angle above). But something to aspire towards, hey?

I guess everyone will have weak points, when it comes to branding, and if you don’t think you have a weak point, ooo let me just assure you that you do. The whole, ‘people don’t buy products, they buy ideas of their ideal self’ mumbo-jumbo is true.

Last thoughts on online shopping

Online shopping is fun. It’s really fun.

There’s that gamification element that I really enjoy, like you’re trying to assess whether that business is really worth your patronage. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t, but you’ll always learn.

I also love it because I can see digital marketing strategies in action. As of time of writing, social media marketers are actually kind of freaking out a bit, because Facebook is going to phase out cookie tracking. You know the ads you see when you visit a website ONCE then kept following you around for ages? Yeah those will stop soon.

Good, because those tend to have really big markups lol.

Ive seen the phone case I bought for rm8 from shopee, on Facebook ads a few times now under different branding. One of them sold for rm32, another for rm89. Same case, rebranded as premium

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
June 4, 2020

But of course other marketing strategies and technologies will get better, because sales-oriented people will always want to chase that sweet internet money. They’ll just shift to other methods, no problem. How will marketers get your attention, and subsequently your money next? We shall see.

Anyway, I’ll stop this post here, with that particular ending note. Something to think about.

Related:
Why We Can’t Stop Spending Money


27 Popular Online Shopping Websites in Malaysia with the Best SALES & DEALS

All of us like deals (or
the illusion of deals
, but that’s another story), I have consolidated what I think are the best 27 online shopping websites in Malaysia for you.

I consider these the best online shopping websites in Malaysia because they have
frequent sales
, are
generous with vouchers
 or offer
additional discounts
 and
free shipping
 after your purchases reach a certain threshold.

For even bigger savings, combine the sales with financial tools like
Shopback
 (earn cashback; get RM5 if register through affiliate link),
Bigpay
 (earn points; get RM10 if register through affiliate link) and/or
cashback credit cards
 (earn cashback and/or points).

Best online shopping in Malaysia – A list of online shopping websites

This listing consists of online stores present in Malaysia, in categories:

General

Fashion

Sports

Groceries

Electronics

Beauty

Health

Travel & Experience

Hobbies

Let’s start-

#1 – General

#1 – Shopee

Link:
Shopee

There is never a day that goes by without a Shopee sale. Offering almost everything under the sun, users can spin or tap to win special Shopee prizes daily.

There are also dozens of free shipping and store-exclusive vouchers to claim on the site. At the very least, you have the chance of collecting RM0.01 per day by clicking on the Coins Rewards Page.

Save even more: Get the
Maybank Shopee Visa Platinum Card
 (min income: RM2,000 per month / RM24,000 per year).

This credit card is a rewards credit card where points collected can be redeemed on Shopee platform. You get:

5 points on every RM1 – on Shopee spends on Special Days*

4 points on every RM1 – on Dining, payWave and Entertainment spend on Special Days*

2 points on every RM1 – on Shopee spends on Normal Days

2 points on every RM1 – on Dining, payWave and Entertainment spend on Normal days

1 points on every RM1 – on utilities, education, EzyPay and insurance

1 points on every RM1 – on other spend

Note: Max 5000 points or RM50 worth per month. Excess points are converted to Maybank Treatpoints

*Special Days = every 28th of each month, 9.9, 11.11, 12.12, CNY and Raya Campaigns

#2 – Lazada

Link:
Lazada

Another Malaysian online shopping site that offers almost anything you can think of, except happiness (but online shopping is happiness, so there’s that), is Lazada.

However, if there is one niche that Lazada wins at, it is the electrical and electronic gadgets. The brands they carry are always placed at the forefront, tagged with attractive discounts.

Visit their reward directory, where you can check in for cash rebates, collect coins and earn shopping vouchers.

#3 – Mr DIY

Link:
Mr D.I.Y.

A newcomer into the world of online stores in Malaysia is Mr DIY that started as a well-loved home improvement store.

Mr DIY’s online store is considered modest, but it runs attractive monthly deals, online-exclusive sales that see price cuts of more than 50% and occasional promotions where you stand a chance to win products and vouchers.

#4 – Youbeli

Link:
Youbeli

Youbeli is the Malaysian online shop for you that consists of products from SMEs. Choices are narrowed, but you are assured quality. Similar to the giants, it has dozens of vouchers from their partners and stores for you to use.

Check out their time-sensitive, rock-bottom discounts on products on their main page.

#5 – Motherhood

Link:
Motherhood

For all things mother and baby, Motherhood.com is ahead of the game. It is one of the best websites for mothers to do online shopping while providing education and content.

They are linked to many big brands, and hence, they can provide free samples, contests, exclusive discounts and steep sales.

#2 – Fashion

#1 – Zalora

Link:
Zalora

For trend chasers and fashion observers, Zalora is Malaysia’s online store to click on for all things current. They have branched out from apparel to include beauty and lifestyle products as well.

However, I love their ongoing sales and discount codes that can range from 5% to 45% and the clearance outlet with sales up to 80%.

#2 – Love, Bonito

Link:
Love, Bonito

Love, Bonito caters for women who love modern silhouettes at every stage of her life. Find 50% off promos during their end-of-season sale. They also offer cash backs, bank and credit card discounts, free gifts when and rewards worth RM900 if you join their community.

#3 – Shein

Link:
Shein

Shein is a mega fashion online store in Malaysia from China. There are hundreds of new looks uploaded every day, along with dozens of vouchers for orders over a certain amount. There is always a sale going on, and you can play mini-games onsite to accumulate more coupons.

#3 – Sports

#1 – JD Sports

Link:
JD Sports

Probably the coolest online sports store in Malaysia, JD sports showcases the latest kicks coupled with good discounts all the time.

The all sale section has discounts up to 50%, and you can enjoy an RM30 rebate when you pay with GrabPay and RM25 off with Boost.

#2 – Sports Direct

Link:
Sports Direct

One of the best Malaysian online shops for sports items for less is at Sports Direct. They have regular sales, weekly deals and markdowns all the time. Unlike many sports stores, Sports Direct offers attire and equipment for many niche sports ranging from darts to fishing.

#3 – Decathlon

Link:
Decathlon

Decathlon is an online shop in Malaysia that specialises in sports and fitness equipment. Tip: Visit their clearance page!

#4- Snacks

#1 – Signature Market

Link:
Signature Market

Signature Market is the online store in Malaysia for snack lovers who want healthier options. There are new items in the sale section every week that go up to 80% off.

If you want a bigger bargain, check out their bundle deals where you can get already discounted items for cheaper. During special occasions, they have spin-the-wheel campaigns where you can win free snacks.

#5 – Electronics

#1 – Harvey Norman

Link:
Harvey Norman

When looking to purchase electronics, Harvey Norman is one of the best websites for online shopping for laptops and gadgets and the like. They have a clearance corner where you can get items at 70% off their regular price. And if they don’t have discounts on the item you buy, they might give you cash vouchers for your next purchase amounting to RM200.

#2 – Senheng

Link:
Senheng

The gadget-obsessed should not miss Senheng’s online store too. Head to their promotions page and you’ll see products such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops on sale.

With every product purchase, you also get gifts and cashback in the form of S-coin.

#3 – Sony

Link:
Sony

If you love Sony products, you’ll be glad to know that the online shop in Malaysia always has special rebates and gifts with purchase. They also have clearance sales that sometimes see 60% discounts.

#6 – Beauty

#1 – Hermo

Link:
Hermo

Hermo is a Malaysian online shopping hub that is made in Malaysia, featuring brands from around the world. There is always a sale on the site, but when festive seasons arrive, prices go crazy with discounts of up to 80%.

You are entitled to points for every purchase and once you have enough, use it as a rebate from your total spend.

#2 – Sephora

Link:
Sephora

Another favourite online beauty store among Malaysians is Sephora. The prices are on the higher end, but the sales are still good – nonetheless. They frequently run brand-centric promos.

If you are a Beauty Pass Member (it’s free), you’ll get invited to all the special online sales. Points will also entitle you to additional discounts.

#3 – Look Fantastic

Link:
LookFantastic

Don’t let the SGD prices on the banners scare you. These rarely-found-in-Malaysia beauty products are priced in RM. The site also pairs items with their promo codes so you don’t have to hunt for them.

#4 – Althea

Link:
Althea

Head to Althea for all things Korean beauty. They often have brand days where they run special discounts on a particular brand on a stated day. They have shopping codes that you can punch in for rebates and free delivery too.

#5 – Sasa

Link:
Sasa

Sales on the Sasa site changes every month where they switch up the items on sale. It may be fragrances this month and cleansers the next. They do provide discount codes regularly, so be sure to check and apply before payment.

#7 – Health

#1 – Watsons

Link:
Watsons

One of the drugstores in Malaysia that aced the online shopping realm is Watsons. They carry many brands and types of supplements, and you can get them at a discount when you use the codes published on the site. Sign up the be a member and download the application for even more deals.

#2 – iHerb

Link:
iHerb

On the global platform, iHerb is one of the leading online shopping sites for all things health. Their sales usually cover supplements to improve health and wellbeing.

You can also purchase trials for cheap if you cannot commit to any of their products to get the original size.

#8 – Travel and Experiences

#1 – KKday

Link:
KKday

Maybe you don’t like to buy stuff, but prefer shopping for experiences. KKday is a Malaysian online store for you to “buy” experiences by booking their tours.

They are always running bank promotions where you can get up to RM25 or 25% off your total purchase.

#2 – Easybook

Link:
Easybook.com

Where do you want to go? If your mode of transport within Southeast Asia does not involve a plane, then consider purchasing your tickets at Easybook.com. Use the vouchers to save money on your trip.

#9 – Hobbies

#1 – BookXcess

Link:
BookXcess

The Malaysian online shop that specialises in book deals is none other than BookXcess. All the books (fiction and nonfiction) are already heavily discounted, but more rebates are in store. Use the coupon codes displayed or make it a bundle before checking out to save more!

Find more places to buy books online in my
7 Budget-Friendly Online Bookstore in Malaysia
 article.

#2 – Photobook

Link:
Photobook

Photobook is an online store where you can craft personalised gifts. There are dozens of codes available for almost every type of printed gift here.

#3 – Fanatical

Link:
Fanatical

Gamers who want to purchase games at a discounted rate to play on Steam must visit Fanatical. They have game deals going up to 96% off!

What other shop offers the best online shopping websites in Malaysia?

These are the online shopping websites in Malaysia you can visit to get the best deals at any time of the year. You don’t need to wait for 8.8, 9.9, 10.10, 11.11 or 12.12 to find yourself a bargain.

Any more websites to suggest? If you have other suggestions on Malaysian online stores that are always dropping a good bargain, drop them in the comments below.

Finally, for even bigger savings, combine the sales with financial tools like
Shopback
 (earn cashback; get RM5 if register through affiliate link),
Bigpay
 (earn points; get RM10 if register through affiliate link) and/or
cashback credit cards
 (earn cashback and/or points).


Shopback Malaysia Review (I Earned Over RM6000)

Tbh, there was a bit of hesitation before doing this Shopback review. I didn’t want to give you the impression that I promote mindless spending for the sake of getting cashback.

So here’s what you need to remember before you read on:
only use Shopback for things you were going to buy anyway
. If you buy a RM100 product you didn’t need for RM50, you didn’t save RM50 – you spent RM50.

Now that’s sorted out, let’s start the article. The first section will introduce what is Shopback and how to use Shopback Malaysia extension, and the next part contain tips to maximise cashback from Shopback Malaysia.

Shopback Review: What it is and how does Shopback work

Shopback is a cashback platform which rewards users for making online purchases. All you have to do is click the merchant shop through their platform (so you are tracked), make the purchase as usual and wait for the cashback is processed and available to you.

If you don’t have a Shopback account yet, consider using
my referral link
.

Alternatively, you can also download the Shopback Malaysia Chrome extension. It will inform you if the merchant site you’re visiting has available cashback opportunities.

Is Shopback safe and legit

Yes, Shopback is safe and legit. I’ve been a user since 2015 and cumulatively earned over RM6000 from the platform, from a combination of cashback from my online purchases and from referrals. Withdrawals are easy and takes a few days at most.

When can users withdraw money from ShopBack

You can withdraw your cashback money (and referral income) from Shopback Malaysia after you accumulated at least RM10 in your account (as of writing time, May 2021).

How
does Shopback make money (also – What’s the catch with Shopback?)

Shopback makes money by helping merchants get more customers, aka you. According to the
Shopback Malaysia FAQ
,

With every successful purchase you make through ShopBack from our affiliate store of your choice, the store pays us some amount as commission. We share part of the commission with you, which is the Cashback you will see in your account. Once the store validates and approves the Cashback earned, it is yours to redeem!

Shopback’s real value for the merchant isn’t just more customers. It’s also customers who
make bigger and more frequent orders through their platform
. According to a
CNBC report
, cashback shoppers spend 1.7x more and make 62% more orders than non-cashback shoppers.

So that’s the catch with Shopback. It’s great for the merchants, but for users like you and me, we better be careful of the additional temptation and really *think* about our next Shopback purchase. We have to really think about our wants vs needs.

Heck, if you think you have a spending problem, then I recommend you to uninstall the Shopback extension altogether.

Other than that, the other catch is some cashback takes a long time. Depending on the merchant, it can sometimes take months after the purchase. So the money isn’t immediate.

5 Shopback Malaysia Tips You Must Know

#1 – Know what you regularly spend money on, and see if any shops in Shopback offer cashback

Everyone spends their money differently. Some of you live by yourself, some of you rent, some of you live with your parents. You are at different stages in your life, earn varying incomes, and have multiple identities. All these contribute to your purchasing patterns and habits.

So rather than saying ‘just use Shopback’, I’m gonna say ‘
look into what you normally spend on first, then see if Shopback fits into your life
‘.

Here are some examples; all of these have cashback categories in Shopback:

If you want to
buy stuff from China
, browse in Taobao
If you
travel
, book your
 flights, hotels and accommodation
 there. Compare from various companies, including Expedia, Agoda, Booking.com, etc
Find
 tickets, activities, SIM cards
 and more at Klook
If you want to buy
books
, find Book Depositary and Kinokuniya
If you buy
makeup
, there’s Hermo and Sephora. Related:
My 5 Rules to Make Beauty Products Affordable
If you want to get
supplements
, iHerb
If you want
clothes
, there’s FashionValet, Asos, Zalora and so many other brands. Related:
Save Money on Fashion: 5 Steps I Use to Optimise My Clothing Budget
If you want to buy an
iPhone
, the Apple store is there

Shopback has a lot more shops than the above, covering more niche areas*. But for the most part, these are the ones you would look for on regular/semi-regular basis right.

Again, if you’re going to buy them anyway, might as well get cashback while you’re at it. Note: you may be able to find better deals outside of Shopback. Shop around if you have time.

#2 – As much as possible, layer it with other cashback, time-limited promotions and points collection

Note: this do not add to your Shopback cashback. They’re extra bonus.

Listing some examples I know of:

Collect
credit card points
 when you pay by credit cards
Collect
cashback
 when you pay by cashback credit cards
Collect
airmiles
 when you pay with travel credit cards
Additional sales, including but not limited to festivals-related sales, MyCyberSales, Payday sales, Mother’s Day, etc

Know of more? Comment and I’ll add it in 🙂

#3 – Offer to make purchases on behalf of your company and friends

Employees have known of this trick for years, but worth mentioning here. If you need to buy anything for the office and you can claim it back, do it. I’ve booked flights and accommodations and gave the company the bill for the full amount and kept the Shopback cashback for myself (plus credit card points).

For friends, too. Offer to be the one who buys for the group. Important: your friends must be the type to pay you back.

#4 – Earn referrals

Shopback is pretty generous with their referral bonuses. You get RM5 for each person who registered through your link, plus they get RM5 too. They also host frequent referral bonuses, like invite 9 people get RM210. I can confirm they pay out these bonuses.

I know some people on Twitter who actively promote their referral links as a side income. Taking a leaf out of their book, here’s
my referral link
 again.

#5 – Use Shopback + Taobao to generate extra income

The basic rule for sales: Buy low, sell high(er). If you know items that have high demand and not easily available in Malaysia, why not buy them from Taobao via Shopback and sell them to people who don’t want to wait for delivery from China? You’ll get the cashback AND the profit.

To learn more, read the multi-part
Shopback + Taobao shopping guide
.

Like these Shopback review? Have more to add from your personal experience?

How’s your experience using Shopback Malaysia? I’m sure there are more tips out there that I missed, so give your Shopback review in the comments section!

If you don’t have a Shopback account yet, consider using
my referral link
 to open and start saving money on things you were going to buy anyway.


[VIDEO] Signature Market Review & Unboxing

Signature Market satisfies my (1) support Malaysian business, (2) snack craving and (3) deal stacking obsession, so I decided to make a video about it

In this order, I bought the following items:

Watch the unboxing video in my YouTube channel (Yes I have one!) (Been procrastinating for the longest time, paralysed by fear) (So yay to overcoming this fear!)

Like I said, I LOVE the deal-stacking element here. In this order, I got:

product deals up to 30% off or so,

free shipping (worth ~RM10),

free gift (worth ~RM5),

and additional RM10 off because I paid with GrabPay.

In total, I paid just RM93 for all these wholesome goodies 😀

Get 20% off your first purchase only from my link (stack this ON TOP of the above!). No minimum spend.
Click here
 or the image below to make your order 🙂

Have you ordered from Signature Market before? What do you recommend me to buy next? Let me know in the comments section!


23 Free/Cheap Things I Do to Stop Online Shopping Habit

‘Stay at home if you don’t want to spend money,’ they say. ‘Hey I wonder what sale is going on out there,’ goes my head, conveniently forgetting how I wanted to stop online shopping habit.

Do you ever have moments when you’re bored at home, and the next thing you know you’re on Shopee or whichever online store just mindlessly looking at stuff?

Hello, we same same, we friend.

But no, this can’t go on, because…

I want to stop online shopping from becoming a habit

I don’t even have an excuse why I open up shopping apps out of boredom. While typing this, I was literally
surrounded by a bunch of stuff I already bought but sparingly use
.

Guess we all look for new things because new = exciting, but I want to get out of this mindset! I don’t need new things, I should be happy with what I already have!

Lusting for new items made me so annoyed with myself that I wrote a list in my notebook about other things I can do at home instead of spending money. Requirements:

Must not require any extra money to do, at all,
Must be doable at home or within walking distance, and
If it uses up ingredients, then it must be ingredients I
already
 have

It turned out to be a long list. Here they are:

1.
Listen to music and podcasts on Spotify.
 I have a Premium Spotify account. There are
years
 worth of content in there that I could listen to. Related:
3 Ways to Get Cheaper Spotify Premium in Malaysia

2.
Finish my Udemy courses.
 Out of three Udemy courses bought in January, I have only finished two. I should tackle that last course soon. I also have tens of courses received for free.

3.
Declutter and KonMari all my stuff
. Not everything I own ‘spark joy’. I want to get rid of them and offer unwanted items still in good condition to the
 Beli Nothing Project
. Why am I so lazy to take pics and post them up, why.

4.
List things to sell.
 Similar to above, but for things that I’m too stingy to give up for free.

 5.
Read books and ebooks
. I have so many unread books…

6.
Train my pets.
 I see videos of cats responding to basic instructions like ‘paw’ and I’m so jealous but still never train my own cats. If anything, they’re training me.

7.
Clean my apartment.
 One time, I came across an article about sleepwalking and there was this one case of someone actually sleep-cleaning. As in, they clean their house while they’re asleep. Completely unconscious. Can you imagine waking up every day to a permanently clean house? How awesome, in a ‘be careful what you wish for’ kinda way.

8.
Use up random ingredients in the fridge that’s about to go bad
. Because EVERYTHING can be turned into stews and soups.

9.
Curate who I follow online.
I need to unfollow and unsubcribe people and companies that encourage me to do to things I don’t want to do, like making me feel like I don’t have enough and causing me to buy things I don’t need

10.
Wear facial masks

and facial serums
. I try to wear them a couple of times a week, but sometimes I forgot. Need to be more diligent about this, I do want nice skin.

11.
Practice my makeup skills
. There are so many Youtube and TikTok tutorials to try. It doesn’t have to be glam style either, just practice to improve my basic everyday looks.

12.
Condition my hair
. My hair is very dry, I should use this time to put on a hair mask or something.

13.
Practice speech to improve pronunciation.

14.
Move about.
 I know that exercise is proven to help combat ageing, but I still don’t walk around, use the free gym or use the condo pool as often as I should.

15
. Send tweets/emails/notes of encouragement to friends, family and other people I support.
 Make people’s day a bit brighter and all, you know?

16
. ‘Shop the closet’.
 Ie think of new ways and combinations to wear clothes I already have.

17.
Sort out pictures on my phone
. And delete images I don’t need. Oh look, that’s where I parked the car at Sunway Pyramid… 3 months ago.

18.
Learn to play the guitar?
 My partner’s guitar is just right there.

19.
Digitise academic certificates and old photo albums
. I do want to get this done because they’re heavy and bulky and getting yellow-y, but have been procrastinating on it for
years
. Something about throwing them out just seems really sad.

20.
Track other aspects of my life to optimise it
. The only thing that I regularly track is my expenses. I’d love to track my water intake, my sleeping patterns, things like that.

21.
Make reviews of products, shops, restaurants and places I like
. You know those online reviews that help people decide whether they should buy something or not? They are super helpful – all of us have benefited from them. I like the idea of contributing to that information-sharing culture.

22.
Make tea or coffee and really savour the taste and experience
. I have a mini beverage collection – there are at least 10 varieties of tea/coffee in the kitchen cabinet. I could make myself that tea that I haven’t tried in a while.

23.
Make another list
. I do like making them. A list of new income ideas? A list of new ways to monetise RoR? Lots of things to think about and jot down, so I can remember them (like this one).

Well, that’s a lot of things to do at home instead of spending money. I have no excuse to do online-shopping, do I?

What do YOU do when you try to keep yourself occupied while not spending money and stop online shopping habit? Is Shopee also your devil or is it another shop?


Teeth Whitening Price Malaysia at Dental Clinics, Whitening Strips & More

So you have a major life event coming up, and want to do teeth whitening in Malaysia. You’ve come to the right place – I’ve compiled 5 teeth whitening options you can do, the price and costs involved, and the pros and cons for each options.

Option #1 – Professional Teeth Whitening in Malaysia Dental Clinics

The first option is of course, professional teeth whitening services that’s offered by dental clinics.

Professional Teeth Whitening in Malaysia price
:  From RM500++, may go up to RM1000+

I did professional teeth whitening in 2020, just before
my wedding
. Mine costs RM849 all-in, including consultation, scaling and polishing.

I’m really happy with the results. This was my before/after shot:

During my session, my teeth went 4 shades lighter – apparently the max it will go, or close.

Let me show you the actual teeth colour scale the dentist used.

In case you’re wondering, yes that’s the maximum whitest shade your teeth will go – it is not possible to go whiter. In reality, super white teeth is abnormal!

Your final result will also depend on your teeth’s original colour. It will go a few shades lighter based on the scale.
If you start from B4 (far rights), it is not possible to get to B1 (far left).

Pros of doing professional teeth whitening in Malaysia:

It works! Your teeth colour will be visibly lighter by a few shades

Great opportunity to check overall dental hygiene because you’re at the dentist already

Cons of doing professional teeth whitening in Malaysia:

Will take a few hours to complete (mine took around 2 hours)

There may be unexpected costs – ie, need to do scaling, do dental filling, etc. This is good for your dental health though

Depending on your coffee/wine/smoking/ other stain-food intake, the lighter teeth colour will only last 6 months to 1 year or so

Note: this type of teeth whitening procedure is not the same with laser teeth whitening procedure. I believe that is more expensive and in the thousands range. If you have info about laser teeth whitening, please leave a comment below.

Option #2 – Buy Teeth Whitening Kit Malaysia

The next option is to simply buy a (reputable) teeth whitening kit.

Teeth whitening kits may come as teeth whitening gels and teeth whitening trays. Both have their fans, but I would recommend trying teeth whitening strips because they are the ones that work the best.

The strips usually come in packs of 7, 14 or 20 treatments, with each treatment containing 2 strips – one for the top and one for the bottom teeth.

Price of doing teeth whitening kit in Malaysia:
 A good kit will cost at least RM100-RM200++ depending on number of treatments (strips)

Pros of doing teeth whitening kit in Malaysia:

It does work! (but need to be disciplined to complete)

More affordable than #1

Fairly easy to mould on uneven teeth

Cons of doing teeth whitening kit in Malaysia:

May not be suitable for people with sensitive teeth/gum

Can be hard to apply and/or uncomfortable (the first time I tried applying the strips, it took a few tries to get it right)

Careful of imitation products – avoid unknown brands and fake products. You don’t know what’s in there and it might permanently damage your teeth!

Depending on your coffee/wine/smoking/ other stain-food intake, the lighter teeth colour will only last 6 months to 1 year or so

Where to buy teeth whitening kit in Malaysia:

Your dentist might sell teeth whitening kits, or simply

Buy
CrestWhite 3D strips on Shopee
 (not a bad idea to get from Shopee Mall)

I tried these teeth whitening strips twice. I had good experience doing these teeth whitening strips the first time around, but for the second time, my teeth got too sensitive mid-way (I was around 5 treatments in?). It was too uncomfortable and I couldn’t complete the rest of the treatments.

So, if you think you have sensitive teeth, get the sensitive-friendly version, or only the 14 strips (7 treatment) version.

Option #3 – Get veneers in Malaysia

If Options 1 and 2 is underwhelming for you, and what you want is the ‘perfect smile’ instead, then you might not be looking for teeth whitening in Malaysia at all. You might be looking for… veneers.

Veneers is the reason why many of  your favourite celebrities look as good as they do. When one does veneers, not only they can get the ‘perfect’ teeth, but also in the lightest shade that suites them.

You can find more examples online, but here’s one great example of veneers usage by a huge celebrity, Christiano Ronaldo. Ngl, he looks really good.

However, this kinda smile doesn’t come cheap.

Cost of veneers in Malaysia:
 According to
this dental clinic
, ‘composite veneers treatment starts from RM500 (per tooth) and above, while Porcelain veneers will cost you RM1500 (per tooth) and above.’ So you’re looking at a few thousand.

Pros of doing veneers in Malaysia:

Looks amazing

Long-lasting

Cons of doing veneers in Malaysia:

Most expensive option

Unethical providers might offer fake veneers. Please avoid them.

Note: If you want straighter teeth, you might want to do braces instead of veneers. Check out the options and costs in my
Braces Price in Malaysia: Cheapest to Most Expensive Options
 article

Option #4 – Teeth whitening toothpastes

According to my dentist and online medical sources, teeth whitening products fall under two types: contain chemicals to lighten teeth colour (hydrogen peroxide) or contain abrasives to remove stains (hydrated silica, charcoal, baking soda, microbeads etc).

Therefore, you can look for toothpastes that contain hydrogen peroxide, silica or abrasives to lighten your teeth.

Hydrogen peroxide is the same ingredient the dentist will use for professional teeth whitening (Option #1). The higher the hydrogen peroxide content, the more effective the toothpaste will be at whitening. However, higher hydrogen peroxide % may also irritate your teeth and gums more.

Price of teeth whitening toothpastes in Malaysia
: RM10++ to RM30++, depending on brand

Pros of teeth whitening toothpastes:

Most affordable option

Cons of teeth whitening toothpastes:

Don’t expect drastic change to teeth colour

Here are some teeth whitening toothpastes you can buy:

Crest 3D White Teeth Whitening Toothpaste
 on Shopee (4% hydrogen peroxide*)

Colgate Optic White Sparkling White Whitening Toothpaste
 on Shopee (removes surface stains)

Sensodyne Repair and Protect Deep Repair Whitening Toothpaste
 on Shopee (remove surface stains but good for people with sensitive teeth)

*Based on my Googling

(As a comparison, Crest 3D whitening strips (Option #2) contain
6%-14% of hydrogen peroxide
, depending on the product)

Let’s check out the last option for teeth whitening in Malaysia.

Option #5 – DIY Teeth whitener tools and products

As far as I know, most of the
DIY ways to whiten your teeth doesn’t work
, at least not in a significant or fast way.

I also tried one of these teeth whitener tools and disappointed to say it doesn’t work (that or I expected too much from 10 mins of use).

I would skip and just go with Options #1, #2, #3 or #4.

What is your favourite teeth whitening option?

Personally, I am someone who will not quit drinking coffee (or start drinking it out of a straw) so I’m always interested in teeth whitening products and services. I find it boosts my confidence, so it’s a worthwhile purchase for me.

That’s all the info I have about teeth whitening price and options in Malaysia today! If you have done teeth whitening, please share your experience and costs in the comments section. What other pros and cons did I miss?


57 Wedding Gift Ideas for Newlyweds + 79 Door Gift Ideas for Weddings in Malaysia

I’m happy with how things turned out in the end, but the thing about having your
wedding reception cancelled due to the pandemic
 is I never got closure for some wedding-related research I did.

So I’m just going to use my own blog to brain-dump 2 sets of lists:

Part 1: Wedding gift ideas (for newlyweds), and
Part 2: Wedding door gift ideas (for the guests)

I had fun compiling them and while I didn’t get the chance to use the info, hopefully it’ll help in your wedding prep instead of forgotten forever 🙂

Part 1: Wedding Gift Malaysia – Wedding Gift Ideas for the Newlyweds

These wedding gifts for the newlyweds are divided under the following subcategories:

Can’t-go-wrong wedding gift
Kitchen items
Kitchen appliances
Electronics
Bedroom/ living room/ toilet

Let’s start with..

#1 –
Can’t-go-wrong wedding gift:

Money (for honeymoon, house downpayment etc)
Gold (bar/ coin/ jewelry) (admittedly very expensive but I did say can’t go wrong with this gift)
Gift cards and vouchers – you can find AEON cash voucher, IKEA gift cards, even hotel vouchers and grocery store cash vouchers at
Giftr.my

If you honestly don’t know what’s to give, money or a gift card in a pretty angpow plus a note is a great wedding gift for Malaysians, especially in this economy. You can put a nice message like ‘towards your honeymoon’ or ‘for your new life together’ or ‘have a wonderful dinner date on me’ or something thoughtful like that.

#2 –
Kitchen items:

Otherwise, if you
have lots of TreatPoints
 prefer to gift something practical, can’t go wrong with kitchen items (and kitchen appliances, see #3).

Tableware set
Kitchen organiser set
Pots and pans
Teapot set
Baking dish
Chopping board
Tupperware
Tiffin
Knife set
Food slicer
Utensil set
Drinking glass
Mug set
Spice rack
Bougie groceries (truffle salt set? Ground coffee from coffee beans harvested under the moonlight? Idk up to you)

#3 – Kitchen appliances:

Air fryer
Microwave
Electric kettle
Rice cooker
Blender
Hand blender set
Hot water dispenser
Mixer
Juicer
Waffle maker
Toaster
Oven
Food processor
Bread maker
Steamboat kit
Fondue kit
Coffeemaker – Drip
Coffeemaker – French press
Coffeemaker – Moka pot
Coffeemaker – Aeropress

#4 –
Electronics:

The prices for some items in this category can be a bit steep but I’ve seen friends pool their money together to give a group gift instead of individual

Iron
Steam iron
Hair dryer
Electric fan
Vacuum cleaner (handheld or robo)
Humidifier
Air purifier
Electric toothbrush
Car dash cam

#5 –
Bedroom/Living room/Toilet:

Bedsheet set
House plant (plastic)
House plant (real)
Picture frame
Framed poster
Clock
Towels
Fancy bathsoaps
Fancy candles
Decorative items (vase, mirror etc)

And that’s all I have for the wedding gifts section 🙂 What do you think, was it comprehensive or there are more to add to this wedding list Malaysia listicle?

Part 2: Wedding Door Gift Malaysia – Wedding Gift Ideas for Guests

These wedding door gifts for the guests are divided under the following subcategories:

Food
Religious
Practical wedding doorgift ideas
Fun/quirky wedding doorgift ideas
Out-of-the-box door gift ideas

#1 – Food:

Candy (lollipop, etc)
Nuts – Amazing Grace sells
variety nuts packs
 for ~RM5 each
Chocolate
Muruku
Kerepek/ Rempeyek
Bahulu
Jellies
Muffin
Cookies
Popcorn
Nuts
Nut butter – Amazing Grace sells
nut butter variety mini jars
 for ~RM5.20 each
Brownies
Dates
Cotton candy
Macaron
Honey
Granola – Amazing Grace sells
40g variety granola packs
 for ~RM5 each
Jam
Chocolate spread
Boiled egg
Marshmallow
Tea (bags, leaves)
Coffee (drip or instant)
Hot chocolate

Food is always a crowdpleaser, but there’s a downside – in case your event got cancelled or postponed for whatever reason, some of them might go bad. So if there’s a chance of that happening, suggest you to take the options with longer shelf-life like jams and packed food.

Otherwise, you can consider the other door gift options, such as:

#2 – Religious:

Tasbih (manual)
Tasbih (digital)
Yasin booklet
Mini sejadah

Only applicable for Muslim weddings, obviously.

#3 – Practical wedding doorgift ideas:

Hand sanitiser
Masks
Alcohol wipes
Scented soap
Notebook
Mint
Cutlery set
Chopstick set
Pouch
Keychain
Handkerchief
Mini towel
Coaster
Small bowl
Tote bag
Pen/ Stationeries
Sewing kit
Travel-size toiletaries

#4 – Fun/quirky wedding doorgift ideas:

Succulent
Bookmarks
Salt and pepper shaker
Folding fan
Mug
Mini perfume
Room freshener
Potpouri sachets
Car freshener/perfume
Candle
Bottle opener
Body scrub
Magnets
Tealight holder
Decorative crystal
Lip balm
Stuffed animal toy

#5 – Out-of-the-box door gift ideas for Malaysia weddings:

Bread/ Buns
Soy sauce
Cili sauce
Packed drink
Cordial
Instant noodles
Ladles
(Actually most groceries items and small kitchen tools)
Voucher/ Code to redeem free products/services
Seeds/ Gardening kit
Fresh flowers

And that’s it, lots of options. Please help to add on in the comments: (1) what you would have liked as your wedding gift, and (2) awesome doorgifts you’ve received while attending a wedding in Malaysia.

Also, if you are a vendor, feel free to drop your website/ social media in the comments section as well so people can check out your wares 🙂