Budget Update: July 2019
Budget Update: July 2019
I spent over RM7k in July 2019. It’s an okay amount, considering I’m super blessed with work at the moment.
Let’s talk about work. Aside from business writing work – my main source of income outside of Ringgit Oh Ringgit – I’ve seen a noticeable increase in sponsored post inquiries from potential clients. Is this a side effect from higher focus by the government to improve the nation’s financial literacy?
If yes, and I do think so, then woah it’s in your benefit to jump into the personal finance blogging space. Go check out my 6 Personal Finance Blog Ideas, Absolutely Free for You to Take article.
Yay of the Month:
- Lots of work. Yay income yaaaay.
- Interviewed by Financial Literacy for Youths: Malaysia. During our talk, my interviewer Ayena mentioned how FLY Malaysia holds financial literacy and skills-upgrading programmes for vulnerable communities. That’s amazing – these are college students were talking about! FLY Malaysia could do with a few more sponsors – contact me if this aligns with your company’s CSR initiative. Happy to link you guys up
- Finally managed to open my ASB myPortal account so I can check my balance anytime. It’s been in my to-do list for years I think. Happy with the amount I have in there – past Suraya have been a good girl, socking her money out of sight, out of mind like that.
- A lot of progress with Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 1 – my head spins thinking about it. First, MPH Distributors added on 100 copies to their original order of 750 copies. Then, they told me it’s available in ALL MAJOR BOOKSTORES IN MALAYSIA. Then, Suraya Pauzi tweeted that she saw it on the bestsellers shelves at KLIA??? Oh my god what even…
Yes, I can confirm that! This is at the KLIA domestic terminal bookshop pic.twitter.com/nBwYM2BzqD
— Suraya Pauzi (@surayapauzi1) July 31, 2019
- Not just that! Borders Bookstore at The Curve also reached out and asked if I’d like to do a book launch there? The best part was telling all the fellow authors in the book. So happy to be in this journey with them <3
- Being part of the panel at Affin Hwang Investment Forum. Quite happy to get nice feedback about my talking points afterwards 🙂
- Went to Good Vibes Festival. It was okay. Am I old or Genting itself was more fun than GVF?
- Spent 23% of my July 2019 expenses on donations. The bulk of it went to replacing my parents’ automatic gate system, which went kaput a few years ago. I paid half, my other sister paid half.
- Treated myself to a shopping spree. After last month’s decluttering challenge, I bought myself three new pans, two new pillows, two pairs of shoes from a Fitflop warehouse sale, and seven articles of clothing from my sister’s shop. Been wanting to replace those items for a while now.
- Only managed to read one book in July 2019 – Linchpin: Are You Indespensable by Seth Godin. It was okay. Basically talk about the importance of being the type of person who are good at problem-solving.
- Unexpectedly fell in love with the bag I complained about last month? It finally arrived, and it’s so beautiful! It was still expensive for my taste though so I’m going to use this bag until it tears apart, watch me.
- Found the lost gym pants I was looking for! Yay I don’t need to shell out RM100+ to replace it. Sometimes I forget how organisation helps you to save money. The less stuff you lose, the less money you spend to replace them.
- Keto diet is going well! Getting my cheekbones back hahaha. Also my knee is no longer painful so that’s great!
Nay of the Month:
- Almost locked myself out of my home. Spent RM80 to replace the door keys. It was an annoying, but necessary expense to make. I know that if I’m locked out, I’ll have to spend way more than that. Am saving myself from tons of frustrations too.
- Didn’t manage to open up a Tabung Haji account at Bank Islam. Was informed that the system no longer link to each other and I’d have to go to Tabung Haji to get that done. It’s not the easiest chore to do during the peak Haji season, so it’ll have to wait a bit.
- Fell sick. Not horrible, but definitely caught some strong bug somewhere. I’m fine now though.
- Buying luggage allocation from Malindo Airlines is frustrating AF. At one point, I cried while on the phone with their customer support team, I was so frustrated. It’s still not resolved.
- I finally got myself a Netflix account. That’s good and all, but I also had to increase my data plan. Am paying RM110 a month now for 100GB data + 2000 minutes of calls, instead of my usual RM70 per month for 30GB data + 2000 minutes of calls.
- Had smoking relapse. I smoked a couple of packs of cigarettes after being smoke-free for 7 months. Sigh. Will do better.
Things to Look Forward to:
- Taking my parents and family on a family trip to Perth in August! Malindo better get back to me about the luggage allocation because I heard its cold and we all need clothes to bring with us.
- Going up north for Affin Hwang Investment Forum – Penang edition! Visit http://ahc-conferences.com for more info 🙂
- The writing competition for Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 2 has ended and I received really good submissions! Will start the same book publishing process all over again. There’s a lot of work involved but its fulfilling work, no complaints.
- Booked myself for a writing retreat in Ipoh! It’s in October, so there’s still a couple more months left to wait, but I’m excited 🙂
- I’ll be on BFM radio soon. More details will be shared in my social media pages soon!
Oh! There will be some sponsored content in Ringgit Oh Ringgit in the next month. I’ve worked really hard to make the content interesting, and can’t wait for you to check them out. One of them – and this makes me a bit nervous because it’s out of my comfort zone – is a video. Another content includes a RM100 lucky draw. Look out for them okay? 🙂
Here’s to a great August!
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To read about my past monthly budget update, click here. Graphs are taken from my expense-tracking app Money Lover (how expense tracking works)
I’m so happy for you. So many good things happen to you. ☺️☺️☺️
Thank you for tumpang-ing my happiness Nurul Ain 🙂 🙂 Sometimes I forget how many people have been along for the ride! Its very sweet when the happiness is shared, I’m very grateful for everything
Congrats Suraya! Always look forward to read your post. 🙂
Thank you so much, Jacyntha! Appreciate your love!
P/s – Nice entries you have there at imjacyntha.wordpress.com 🙂 Your braces post especially reminded me of my own experience! Nostalgic sikit haha
Hahah! Thanks for visiting my blog! Still a long way to go for my braces but it’ll be worth it!