Suraya's Monthly Budget Update

Budget Update: April 2024 – I Can’t Juggle

BySuraya
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Welcome to another edition of my monthly budget updates, where I break down my expenses by category and share the highlights and lowlights of the month.

So how was your April? Was it good, bad or meh?

For me, I really scaled down my work. I rejected and even ghosted many clients and would-be clients.

I don’t know if this is me being self-sacrifical (I thought I outgrowned it? wtf Suraya) but I’ve been letting income opportunities slip by. Could have made five figures at least in April 2024 but I just.. didn’t. I couldn’t balance it with a baby. I can’t juggle.

On that note, how can other parents still work from home while taking care of their children but I couldn’t? What do they do that I’m not doing?

Are you exclusively working while the baby is sleeping, or waking up at night to do your work, or have someone else in the house to look over the kids? Is that how you could do your work??? Because I find that I just can’t.

All I can say is I’m living off my savings currently and I guess that’s what’s its for. Now let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: April 2024

In April 2024, I spent RM22,404.75(!!!). The top 3 top expenses were:

  • Dates/Travel (RM12,798.75) – Hokkaido-related expenses
  • Donations & Gifts (RM4,856.40) – Parents’ electric bill, Duit raya
  • Utilities & Mortgage (RM1,371) – Half mortgage

Cumulatively, the top 3 expenses make up 85% of my total April 2024 expenses. Tbh my Dates/Travel category threw everything out of whack. Without it, I *only* spent less than RM10k. If exclude Dates/Travel AND Donations, then I *only* spent RM4.5k.

(My belief is, if you want to save money, trim first from the top 3 expenses rather than cut out a few ringgits from other already-low expenses)

My Spending Breakdown in April 2024

Here’s what I spent on in the whole month of April 2024, in their respective categories and from highest to lowest amount:

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Raya came and went

As always, puasa felt slow but still went by in a flash. We had an okay raya, which is fine (I’m not a big raya person anyway).

I spent RM3.3k on duit raya. Baby Mika received duit raya too, which we promptly put in SSPN.

#2 – Went to Sapporo

So, in a twist of events, my husband decided he’d like to come along with me and my sister to our Hokkaido trip. Since I paid for my sister, I offered to pay for his costs as well. So I paid an additional RM8k~.

Well what is money for if not for splurging on loved ones. It was his first time to Japan, too. We saw early sakura blooms, we ate lots of seafood and halal ramen, we shopped and window-shopped, we had fun 🙂

I brought back a lot of stuff as souvenirs. My favourite items were the Kyocera ceramic knife and Uniqlo down jacket 🙂 Click on the tweet to read souvenir recommendations from other people!

#3 – Good month for passive income

Cumulatively I earned ~RM5k or so in passive income in April? That’s great considering I didn’t do much work. Thank goodness for SEO funnels. Thank goodness for inbound marketing.

#4 – Sold some crypto *before* the halving

I took some profit before the halving to fund travels and Raya costs. Lucky me, I had excellent timing – I sold btc at around $70k levels I think.

*As I write this, crypto tumbled – BTC went from $6x,xxx levels to $5x,xxx levels.

#5 – Misc

Read 1 book: After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split by Lesley Hazleton

Bought for myself:

  • Hair perm session
  • Books from Bookxcess
  • LOTS of souvenirs from Japan
  • Eyebrow pencils (on clearance!)

Nay of the Month:

#1 – Istanbul flight got cancelled

Thanks to tweeting about it, I found out that yes Malindo Air/Batik Air will absolutely give me a full refund.

The cancellation is a shame though. RM1.3k return per person for Istanbul was a great price. Oh well.

#2 – Paid RM200 for my dormant LLP

I no longer have the mental capacity to proceed with closing my LLP. So the only option is to pay the yearly RM200 fee so I don’t get compound (again).

Things to Look Forward to:

  • My birthday
  • Baby Mika’s first birthday (???!!!)

Well, that was my April 2024. How was yours? What’s your yay of the month, nay of the month, and something you’re looking forward to? Tell me in the comments section 🙂

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To read about my past monthly budget update, click here. Graphs are taken from my expense-tracking app Money Lover (find out your budgeting style)


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