Best of mr-stingy

Everyone feels like a fraud sometimes. And a lot of times before I hit the “Publish” button, I worry that my writing sucks. A lot of times it does.

But every once in a while, I write something that people love. That for some unknown reason, they’ll share, tell their friends, or even write to me about. Revisiting these articles always makes me smile.

Here are 10 of my all-time best:

1. Time, Money or Love — Which is Most Important? – People have been telling me this is their favorite article of mine, ever. It’s one of my favorites too, and explores the relationships between time, money and love. Like my own “unifying theory of the universe.” If you’re new to mr-stingy and just want to read one article, I’d recommend this one.

2. Meet Nerdook: The ex-PETRONAS Engineer Who’s Now A Work-From-Home Computer Game Developer – My first “interview” post. With a classmate who left the corporate world to forge his destiny on the Internet. One of the biggest inspirations in my life.

3. How My Friend Lost 26 kg in 6 Months (and Raised Ten Thousand for Charity) – The story of how my fat friend turned his health around with intermittent fasting, carb cycling and weight training. And raised ten thousand bucks for charity along the way.

4. How I Paid Off My 58K Education Loan – My story on how I got out of 58K of education debt, through a combination of the Internet, credit cards and help from God.

5. Why I Give My Parents Money – I give money to my parents for selfish reasons. This short essay explains why.

6. What My Father Taught Me About Love – Dedicated to my father in conjunction with his seventieth birthday. He’s a man of few words, but I’ve never doubted that he loves his kids more than anything in the world.

7. 5 Career Lessons I Learned from 5 Memorable Bosses – I’ve been blessed with some truly memorable bosses in my eight years of working. These are five of the most important career lessons I’ve learned from five of them.

8. 5 Lessons to Learn from Tragic Flight MH370 – An article written on the morning of the disappearance of flight MH370: about life lessons we can learn from this tragic incident. It racked up a couple of thousand of shares within a few days and remains one of my most-shared articles ever.

9. How to Set a Monthly Budget (And Why Do It) – Monthly budgeting is one of the cornerstones of personal finance. This is the stingy guide to doing it.

10. Why You’ll Never Have an Equal Relationship – A look at how romantic relationships are never truly equal, and why that’s okay.

 

(Updated December 2015)


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33 comments

  • Hi Mr Stingy,

    I have read the articles in your blog. It is very interesting and your writing is sincere.

  • Hi,
    May I know if a PLT can pay out dividend as opposed to profit distribution.

  • Hi, I’ve always wanted to write for a living (I’m working in an office job)- can you share some ideas on what/ how to start?

    Perhaps you can share on how you got started in this? I know it would probably depend on interest, skills and I’ll like to know what is the ‘demand’ from the internet market so that I can write that aligns to those.

    More importantly, writing is therapetic for someone like me, so I would still do it without a pay. Of course, abit of motivation on top of that will certainly help..

    Thanks bro. I appreciate your contents here and I identify myself with them alot.

    Regards- SJ

    • Thanks SJ,

      My suggestion is to actually start writing without having to rely it on a living, and see how that goes first? Very often doing something you’re passionate about PLUS doing it to support your living can turn the dream into suffering.

      Give it a try first, see if you enjoy the process and if your writing gains traction with your intended market? All the best!

  • Hi Mr Stingy

    My name is Brian from Ipoh working in Singapore , have been following your blog since 2015. Love your articles a lot, alot.
    Read some of your history , known that you are from Oil and Gas Field in the Past

    We have share the Same Background as well . As i am an E&I Engineer in Oil and Gas

    Your Article has inspired me to start my own Part Time blog

    Looking forward to collaborate with you in Future if there is a chance

    • Hello Brian! Nice to hear from you. Wishing you the very best in your blog! Hoping to see some really good stuff there…

  • All the stuff you’ve written really hits home. I look forward to read more of your articles. Awesome!

  • I have only just started reading your articles, and I am enjoying every moment doing so. The publications are very well articulated – perhaps due to personal experiences and matters that come directly from the heart. I do hope that you will keep your publications rolling in – I for one, will be an ardent reader.

  • Hey,
    I guess I’m extremely late to join the club. I’ve always enjoyed reading and only recently came across online writing.It’s 4 am and I am still hooked to your content.This is also exactly something I am trying to start.I’d really like to keep in touch via e-mail.I have so many questions!Again,love the whole idea.

    • Hey Wangechi,

      Thanks for your kind words! Feel free to drop me an email and I’ll see if there’s any way I can help. 😀

  • I dunno how i came over this blog, but once I did, I found so much connections with me. It’s like I’m watching a completed form of all the ideas stuck inside my head: blogging, freelance writing, taking bold steps to materialize dreams, and yes reading blogs and stuffs from Mark Manson. When first come across this blog i was like: why does this guy thinks exactly like me, except he has practice all of them out while I’m still falling back into my sad, little comfort zone. But first time I read this blog I felt such a connection with you that makes me want to know more about you. No ulterior motives, I’m always an open person and I don’t like manipulating anyone. But I will be very blessed if I was able to keep in touch and get to know more about my inspiring senior. I don’t usually comment on blogs but this time there’s a voice telling me to do so. I hope you won’t find me weird. I’m inexperienced, but I always say out what I thought. Hopefully you’ll notice me. Btw your articles are the nearest to Mark Manson, so far I’ve come across. Yes, they are awesome. Very.

    • Thanks Zhe Wei for your very generous praise. Maybe it’s also because I shamelessly copied ideas from Mark’s website design 😉

      Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, since you’re still so young. And yeah — let’s keep in touch via email.

  • Hi. Nice article u have on the second hand car vs new car. Btw, do u kind sharing the contact of ur good mechanics who could help to check in the condition of a second hand car?
    Thanks!!

  • just want to say that have enjoyed reading your articles, thank you J.D.

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