Weekly grocery shopping causes discontentment

Nearing the fasting month next week,families are doing weekly grocery shopping.i no longer shop at upmarket supermarkets like Aeon or Jaya grocer.To get a good bargain,i shop at Giant supermart,Lotus and small mini marts like Star Grocer,Hero mart and the thrift shop 2 Eco shop.i dont know how young families with 4 kids can support a non working wife with house,car mortgage,medical and rising food bills.on the average my weekly shopping for meat,fruit n vegetables is at least rm100 a week.thats for cooking for 2 people 3 meals per day.how about non food essentials that i buy from 2 Eco shop like shampoo,body wash,floor detergent,tissues,dish washing liquid and biscuits.i get my cat litter,cat food n wet wipes from 2 Ecoshop as it is fairly priced and my stationery,glasses n plastic boxes from Daiso. The govts management of the economy is causing it difficult to maintain a decent lifestyle on a fixed budget as the ringgit depreciates so that even price of garlic n onion has shot up.i only dine out at food court n street food once a week.now with increase of SST to 8 percent this month,the cost of living will go up again as manufacturers will pass on the cost of electricity,transport n etc to us consumers.the cost to service the car for maintenance has gone up to the cost of hiring a plumber n electrician for repairs. my car maintenance this month blew a hole in my budget.the car jerked badly when i engaged reverse gear.the mechanic at the workshop suggested changing gear oil which i havent done for 3 years.if the problem still persists,he suggested replacing gear box and i nearly fainted at the cost of a new gearbox at rm 13k.Now im stressed out at the exorbitant bill.maybe time to use public transport.or buy a motorised trike. started feeling self pity but i recalled that im not in as pitiful a state as the homeless old men i saw sleeping on pavements on cardboard boxes in Petaling street at 10pm.i have a nice home to stay in and shelter from the rain n cold at nite. today when i was ordering food at the hawker centre,i praised the wok hey of the fried rice and the elderly cook chatted with me.he is in his early 80s and works 12 hours from 10am to 10pm. his only helper is his elderly wife.he said if you are still healthy to be able to work at this age,i count myself lucky.Im contented coz i grew up in the world war years with barely enough to eat and fear for our lives when the soldiers came searching from house to house for new recruits talking to the older generation who lived with so much less keeps me grounded and thankful for what i have now. im thankful for good health which my younger colleague,a cancer warrior is still undergoing chemotherapy.i felt sad to hear she fainted alone at home and when she recovered consciousness,she had to call her family to take her to hospital. i like the idea in China of communal kitchen that serves healthy food for the elderly and community centre where they can go for physiotherapy or activity to prevent dementia due to isolation.Malaysia needs a better model of elderly care especially those who are old and homeless like those i see in Petaling Street.its mostly the males as i dont see many females.