Being a teenager is fun, there is no doubt about it. However, it would be more fun if we had more money to spend on the many attractions that are dangled in front of us every day through television and the media.
Teenagers do not have steady jobs. So unless one has a rich generous parent or relative, money is not easy to come by. We live in our pocket money or whatever we can earn doing part-time jobs.
I have to admit that my parents provide enough for me to eat and wear, those being my necessities. Besides that, I am given five ringgit as weekly pocket money. That is hardly sufficient to spend in school !et alone anything else outside. I am in no way complaining that my parents are stingy and do not give me enough. It is just that they give me only what they can afford and I know they have to be very careful not to overspend. Some of my friends do not even get five ringgit, so I am lucky in a sense.
As I said earlier, five ringgit is hardly enough considering the cost of things today. A packet of nasi lemak is fifty sen and a glass of syrup, another fifty sen. There are five school days a week, so five ringgit is just sufficient for a week, provided I do not eat anything else.
Sometimes my uncles and aunties who drop by for a visit might give me a ringgit or two. Or sometimes I wash my neighbours’ cars or do odd jobs for them. These are sources of extra income that are very handy when I need some cash. Some of my friends help out at the market after school to earn a bit of extra money.
We earn this extra money to spend on things like cassettes, videotapes, burgers, fizzy drinks and an occasional pair of shoes or pants. These things are by no means cheap, especially shoes. How I wish we were back in the old days when a pair of shoes cost five ringgit, or so as my father used to tell us. Today a trendy pair easily costs one hundred ringgit or more. So we are aware of how expensive things have become.
Magazines are both informative and fun to read. Out they are also not cheap, especially the glossy ones. Often when we cannot afford them, we would just browse over them at a -bookshop, much to the displeasure of the bookseller.
I realize that if we were to go out and buy everything that we fancy, even a working man’s salary would not be enough. So, have learned to be careful about what I buy. My policy is to buy only when it is necessary and if I have the money. Otherwise, I forget about what I desire. If cannot afford it, the chances are I do not need it.