Billy Luk’s Shocking Frugal Habits

In My Commissioned Lover <婚姻合伙人>, Billy Luk (陸永權) acts as a timid, belittling man who is afraid of conflict and women. In real life, Billy has a young, beautiful wife and two daughters: 7-year-old Hannah and 5-year-old Simsim.

He has been in the entertainment circle for 19 years and has experienced many ups and downs. “I’m constantly bracing myself for another low point in my career. Especially in our generation where we receive so many different communications from a multitude of channels. Even if you have worked hard for a long time, the audience only needs half a day to not like you anymore. Ever since we formed FAMA (農夫), our lows have definitely outweighed the highs, probably at a ratio of 5:1.”

In order to survive during the low periods of his career, Billy decided to live simply by cutting expenditure on clothes, eating, and living. “I would sleep in later so that when I wake up, I’m not even really sure if my first meal is breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I would start eating around 4 or 5 pm and would primarily eat bread and drink some type of powdered beverage and that would last me until around 11 pm. Afterward, I would go to the convenience store to eat a [cheap] dinner.”

Billy has now left those dark times behind and has great career and a beautiful family. His daughters are two years apart and that sometimes leads to jealousy and fighting among the two. “Jealousy is inevitable between siblings; children view their parent’s opinion as most important. At first, I was worried that they would fight for toys so I would buy the exact same presents for them. However as they grow up, they are starting to develop their own personalities and they no longer like the same things. For example, Hannah does not like pink and is a bit of a tomboy compared to Simsim. I always emphasize to them, do not go after an item just because someone else has it. Make sure you like it before you own it.”

The two girls would also complain about each other. As a father, he plays the role of a judge. “Many cases are hard to judge, so to prevent more complaints, I usually declare both of them guilty! I treat them both equally. If I have to yell at them, I will yell at both. Same with compliments.”

Many parents will have designated roles as good cop and bad cop. However, Billy prefers to alternate the roles with his wife. He hopes that his daughters will be able to recognize their faults and not always assume one parent is yelling at them for no reason.

Billy also refuses to become a “Tiger Dad” and does not pressure for them to attend particular schools or set a homework schedule for them. “I give them a lot of freedom in terms of setting their own schedule. However if they have played for too long, I will ask them, ‘Haven’t you played for a long time now?’ This allows them to reflect upon their actions and I have found it to be very effective in training their self discipline.”

Source: HK01

This article is written by Kiki for JayneStars.com.