Wishing all my readers a Happy and Prosperous Lunar New Year!

It is the time of the year again where the festive mood is in the air for those of you who celebrate Lunar New Year. :-)

Changing traditions for the Lunar New Year
As my daughter will soon be born into the year of the rat, I realise new family traditions are starting to emerge that are aligned to my and my spouse's own values and beliefs. Increasingly, the attraction of a simple, fuss-free Lunar New Year becomes more appealing with each Lunar New Year we celebrate.

Panzer's Fuss-Free Chinese New Year Celebrations
I continue to visit my parents for the reunion dinner at their place as a way to catch up with my siblings and parents whom I do not meet every day. This tradition continues in our family. However, I start to cook more meals at home and take the Chinese New Year as the time where I can put my culinary skills to the test because many hawker centres and food courts are closed during this period.

Due to my wife's pregnancy, we will be cutting down on visits to relatives and friends and be very selective to reduce travelling. This helps to save petrol and more importantly, allows us to eat less Chinese New Year goodies that tend to be sweet, fattening and unhealthy! :-)

Even for one of our friend's gathering, I will be whipping up a simple salad plus mashed potato as healthy dishes for the pot-luck being organised.

Ang-pows tend to be another place where lots of money flows out from our pockets. My spouse and I do give ang-pows to relations and close friends but we are not flashy or ostentatious. We are not concerned about "losing face" and just give what is affordable within our budgets. There is no-one to impress because if people judge us based on the amount of ang-pow we give, then so be it. Trying to keep up with the Lims, Muthis and Alis takes you on a longer route towards financial freedom.

Spending should be on the things you truly enjoy and appreciate. Even the obligatory Chinese New Year snacks for us have been reduced to the bare minimum as we are not having any visitors to our place this Lunar New Year as my wife needs more rest during her third trimester. So for me, its 12 cans of coke plus 1/2 kg of bak-kwa (barbequed pork) and perhaps some munchies and ice-cream. For the wifey, it is some pineapple tarts plus a couple of other things she likes but just enough for her own consumption as I also do not eat a great deal of such stuff.

In terms of new clothes, I have only bought 2 casual pants at John Little's sale plus some shirts bought by my wife when overseas. I am not a clothes horse so only buy new clothes during sales or if the spouse buys some shirts for me. Other than that, I hardly shop for new clothes and almost none for causal clothes. :-)

Other than furniture for my maid and for my baby, I have not spent on my own furniture except for an IKEA office chair to replace the worn down 3 year old office chair in our study.

A happy and prosperous Lunar New Year is really dependent on your own approach towards spending. You decide if you want to buy tonnes of snacks that you hardly eat and change your furniture and wardrobe. You decide if you want to do renovation for your home. You decide if you want to spend money eating at restaurants during this period or have more home cooked nutritious meals.

Your Lunar New Year, Your Budget, Your Rules!

Be well and prosper.