Suraya's Monthly Budget Update

Budget Update: July 2021 – Busy with work

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!

How was your July? Mine was busy. I had so much work, but nothing I couldn’t cope with. I’m very thankful, Alhamdulillah.

Btw, I can’t confirm this at all, but I think the reason why I got so much work is because of karma. Maybe it’s unrelated and a mere coincidence and my brain just desperately looking to assign any reason to justify, but it’s the best reason I can think of.

No one asked, but I just want to clarify something – when it comes to sponsored posts and collaborations, I am really choosy with the types of clients I choose to work with.

Even though I say Not Financial Advice all the time, I am aware some of you do take it as such, so it is my responsibility to minimise harm. Whatever I write – even in the sponsored posts – are drafted to be as objective as possible.

However, I am not without fault. If and when you find areas that can be improved, please do me a favour and tell me about it.

Okay, sorry for the long ramble. It’s just, I really do love my work and I want to continue doing this for a long time, so your feedback is really important to me, I don’t want to ‘sell out’ without even noticing. So tell me if you see that happening, okay?

Let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: July 2021

In June 2021, I spent RM9, 876.12. The top 3 top expenses were:

  • Donations & Gifts (RM4,551.55) – Korban x 4 portions, Parents’ electric bill, Tenaganita, Happy Bank, Rider tips
  • Misc Needs (RM1,762.16) – Mostly income tax
  • Utilities & Rent (RM1,287.26) – Gotta keep a roof over our heads

Cumulatively, the top 3 expenses make up 80% of my total July 2021 expenses.

My Spending Breakdown in July 2021

Here’s what I spent on in the whole month of July 2021, in their respective categories and from highest to lowest amount:

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Completed 2 doses of vaccination!

I am now fully vaccinated! Technically got the second jab on 1 August, but I’m so happy and don’t want to wait until August budget update to tell everyone, so here it is!

#2 – Paid Income tax

Glad to have this done, after procrastinating on it!

In total, I paid RM1,618.86. I would put this under Nay of the Month, but I am quite happy I got to make use of many tax deductions and rebates and reliefs. Those significantly reduced my total amount payable.

If you haven’t paid your income tax, I gotchu: Personal Income Tax 2021: All You Should Know to File Your Taxes Right

#3 – Took care of my mental health

Like many people, I felt angry and helpless from seeing rising daily cases. So I redirected my stress to exercise and painting.

#4 – Had a lot of collaborations

July 2021 was a crazy month, work-wise – I collaborated with so many financial organisations. What I’m most grateful for is all of them reached out to me.

In July 2021, I published:

There are a few more collaborative content in the pipeline. Stay tuned and as always, thanks for the support 🙂

#5 – Gave 3 talks

I did:

#6 – My fridge magically fixed itself

My freezer stopped working. Lo and behold it started working again after we tried the ol’ ‘have you switched it off and turn it back on again’ trick (overnight), after being ghosted by the technician.

Good lah. Kind of thankful for the no-show. Saved up at least a few hundred ringgit?

#7 – Misc

Read three books:

  • Girl Up: Kick Ass, Claim Your Woman Card, and Crush Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates
  • The Zoomable Universe: A Step-By-Step Tour Through Cosmic Scale, from the Infinite to the Infinitesimal by Caleb Scharf
  • The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living by Mark Boyle (this book impacted me so much, it inspired the Thought Experiment: Can We Live Without Money In Malaysia? article)

Noteworthy shows:

Bought for myself:

  • A new chopping board
  • Nail polish and eyebrow pencil from So.lek
  • Clothes from Marquise Collections
  • A new Paint by number set
  • Steam games

Nay of the Month:

#1 – Cat peed on the bed

My cats peed on the bed so many times last month. It was so frustrating. I had to restock Febreze.

In desperation, I bought cat spike mats to put on the bed. So far it is working, they haven’t peed on the bed again since. Let’s hope this will work forever.

#2 – Ordered way too many food delivery..

GrabFood’s HOTDEALS is my kryptonite, man. It’s so hard to resist, so I didn’t. Usually we only order out a couple of times a month, but in July, we (well, I) ordered at least 10 times. Whatever calories I lost with more frequent exercise, I gained back.

Oh well. My weight is the last thing I want to think about now. Plus we considered it as dates.

#3 – Lost some money in DeFi

Some of the tokens reduced ~85% in value since last month 🙂 DeFi is a great way to put your cryptoassets to work, but this is the reminder I needed – profit is not guaranteed. I need to learn more and improve my skills!

Things to Look Forward to:

  • I am still frustrated by the high number of daily cases, but comforted by our high vaccination rate. Is it too much to hope for relaxed guidelines by end of the year? I want to see my parents and have nice family meals together.

Well, that was my July 2021. 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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