Chinese New Year 2009 – Are You Spending Less?

Chinese New Year 2009 is just around the corner. Everyone is hoping the new year of Ox is bringing along a bullish year ahead.

Personally, I feel Chinese New Year (CNY) for this year is quite quiet compared to the years before. Not many crowds at the shopping complex. And not many CNY goods and delicacies at the supermarket. Also, I didn’t hear many firecrackers and fireworks in the air.

Even up to today, our office only received 3 CNY cards. We used to receive between 15 to 30 CNY cards for the past few years.

The CNY business was also slower this year.

According to the recent news, 2 possible reasons are the China product safety issue and global economic uncertainty.

My family and I also spending less this year. We are learning to spend on those items which are necessary and healthy. We try to prevent wasting on foods and CNY goods.

Based on the past few years experience, we bought quite a lot of CNY goods and in the end, 10%-20% of the item ended in the dustbin. We also limit the purchase of imported delicacies especially those from China as we concern about the safety of those products.

The safety issue has a deep impact on me as every time I pick up some goods, I would automatically check the origin of the products. Though the Health Ministry has been very stringent about foods imported from China, I still feel sceptical.

As for the world economy, earlier this week, the local papers published that they’re the possibility of 45,000 job loss after CNY.

This is scary news, isn’t it?

Indirectly this news is telling my conscious mind to monitor and watch my spending. So, are you spending less on CNY 2009?

Let’s hope for a meaningful, healthy and prosperous new year ahead.