Budget Update: August 2015

August 2015 was eventful. Boy was it eventful. Big news: I am moving to Ipoh, starting mid October. That’s right. This Klang Valley girl will move to Ipoh. To be honest I’m still gripping with this decision, but this part of why I decided to move – KL is too comfortable, to comfort zone-y. I’m too stable here. My 20s cannot be characterized by just this – experience-wise, it makes me feel that my life has peaked and going on a slow, downward trajectory. Plus, I’ve never lived outside of Klang Valley. Time to live a bit more of Malaysia. There are other reasons, too, obviously, but I won’t get into that now.

This decisions affected my spending pattern in August, obviously. Between looking for a new place and actually furnishing it, the ‘Misc Need’ category ballooned. This expense included stuff like new broom, new clothes rack, stuff like that.

So obviously I’m resigning from my current job, which scares the hell out of me (my rational side who is practical but unwilling to change is SO conflicted). Will I miss it? Yes. Without a doubt. I love calling myself a Programme Officer of an international women’s rights organisation. I love the work. I will miss the steady income and the benefits. And the traveling. Oh man, having a job which allows you to satisfy your wanderlust is like the biggest perk of all.

Yay of the month:

• Lol, I’m going to sound so auntie but I don’t care, confession time. You know one of those ongoing grocery store promotion thingy where you get a stamp for every RM30 purchase or whatever, and after xx stamps you get to redeem it for something? Well I’ve been collecting Aeon’s one, and collected 25 stamps, enough to redeem a kitchen knife. I smile every time I use it XD
• I completed a Tesco online survey thing and was promised a RM20 voucher! (Although, as of time of writing, the promised voucher have not arrived)
• Attended Bersih rally. Nothing I can add on here can add more value to the numerous, numerous commentaries on the subject. But you know one of those situational questions? Would you do x for 1 million or something like that? Like, I would lick a (relatively clean) shoe for a mil. No shame admitting also. Heck, I would do it for even 1% of that amount. What would YOU do for 1 mil? 2 mil? 10 mil? 100 mil? 999 mil? 2660 mil? Personally I think we are juuuust starting to see the length of what a person (or persons) would do for that amount. Hey darab 4.2 something tau, banyak tuuuu.

Nay of the month:

• Just a lot of anxieties. A lot of panic attacks. A lot of ‘what are you going to do with your life Suraya’ . I’ve contemplated everything from becoming a landlord to going into forex to dedicate myself to become a full time entrepreneur to selling out to whoever can buy my time for the most money in the corporate sector.
• My cash reserves in the bank are pretty low at the moment, so that makes me anxious as well.
• Gold prices went up, way up. A part of me is like, uh! Should’ve bought it! But I wouldn’t have the money anyway for a substantial investment and who am I kidding, I am an emotional investor and my heart probably cannot take the additional stress of ‘do I hold or sell???’ on a daily basis.

Things to look forward to:

• Finishing up work. Just enjoying this relative calm before the (hypothetical financial) storm while it lasts.
• Hopefully I can get out of this funk and decide on one thing, one next course of action, and pursue it with determination. The problem now is that there’s too many options. I’m looking at all possibilities. I hope a great opportunity will come up from any of those possibilities. Gotta keep positive.
• Really looking forward to the possibility of working with my sisters – we are all business brains, talking to them is damn fun.

Ipoh will be fun. Maybe I’ll finally get sick of being spoken to in Chinese all the time and pick it up. Can you imagine that? *speaks angrily in Chinese* “For the last time auntie-ah, my name is Suraya not Ah Su!”