Budget Update: June 2020

Budget Update: June 2020

There goes half the year. How’s everybody doing? Still alive right. Thankfully we were spared from the murder hornet and the swine flu storylines.

In terms of spending, the data says that I spent a total of RM7,508.45 in June 2020. The top 3 highest-expense categories were (yet again) Donations & Gifts, Utilities & Rent and Business. The Donations & Gifts data is simultaneously true AND a bit misleading – read more under the Yay of the Month section.

In terms of earning, well let’s just admit that I failed spectacularly in achieving my lofty ‘moonshot’ new year’s resolution goal, ‘earning RM100k by June’. Not even half that. But my earnings weren’t that bad to be honest, considering everything. I still have the rest of the year to work on it. Plus my investment value and net worth still went up, so that lessens the sting a little bit.

Talking about investments. Will it keep going up though? We’re acting like everything is okay (well, the stock market is). I’m not buying it – I do think we’re in a horrible, horrible bubble which is about to pop, and recession will be something we’re forced to deal with, instead of pretending it’s not there.

But of course, I’m no economist, and I know many parties are working hard to AVOID the worst-case scenario from happening.

What are your thoughts about everything? Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future?

My Spending Breakdown in June 2020

In this section, I’m sharing what I spent on in the whole month, in their respective categories. From highest to lowest, my expenses were:

Yay of the Month:

• Did you, um, saw my Bernama TV appearance by any chance?

• Had a mini-miracle. The payment for a weirdly easy and generous job that I got unexpectedly and out of the blue came through, and almost fully covered the amount I gifted towards my parents’ (large) pending electric bill. Times like these make me feel abundant and full of faith that God will ultimately provide.

Fast forward to a few days ago. Decided to pay off bil electric tertunggak rumah parents. Ribu2 jugak la. Close one eye bayar oneshot habis

Semalam payment client tu masuk. Almost the same amount dengan bil tu

Rezeki ni kan, bila tuhan nak kasi, senang sangat

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror) June 13, 2020

• My application for the Geran Khas Prihatin, worth RM3,000, was approved. Obviously I’m over the moon about this mini windfall. As of writing time, the money has not been deposited yet into my account, but I’m already planning how to spend it.

 

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My application for Geran Khas Prihatin, the special grant for small businesses lulus… I want to redistribute this money to the Malaysian economy while improving my biz. Suggestions? Note: if you applied, check at gkp.hasil.gov.my #gkp #gerankhasprihatin #bisneskecil #smallbusinessmalaysia #lhdn

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror) on Jun 2, 2020 at 11:45pm PDT

• Completed my online-based kursus kahwin! I’m super happy about this MCO side-effect – it was both faster AND cheaper. And most importantly, it saved me the time needed to do research and look for recommendations.

Got my online kursus kahwin date sorted out!

So happy. Its faster (4 hours instead of 1.5 days), cheaper (RM50 instead of ~RM80++) and NO NEED TO HEAR LEWD SEXUAL JOKES FROM USTAZ

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror) June 12, 2020

• Rehomed some books I had lying around and earned RM125 🙂

 

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Done today: audited books collection and sold off 20+ books, oneshot. Added RM125 to this month’s income ✌️ . Sure, I could have gotten more for the books. But this method is also an extremely efficient and fast way of selling off clutter in the home – taken within hours. I’m happy, buyer happy, everybody happy 😁 . Next up: audit wardrobe. I did it in bundle format the last time with great success, too #jualbuku #sellingtips #speedselling #sold #timeismoney #followmeontwitter

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror) on Jun 17, 2020 at 12:45am PDT

• Added a new budget category, just to track wedding-related expenses. You’ll see it reflected in the next few months in my budget updates.
• This isn’t new, but I’ve really been enjoying cooking at home, mostly after being inspired by various homecook-related content. In the last few months, I’ve made at least 10 new recipes, including chili with black beans, cajun fish, leek & potato soup and more. My obsession with not wasting food or ingredients also perfected a new grocery-tracking system, which I wrote about here: I Figured Out The Perfect System to Stop Food Waste
• MPH Distributors ordered more copies of Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 2 to stock in bookstores!! Obviously happy about this!!!

Today’s blessing-in-an-email: MPH Distributors ordered more copies of #MYMoneyStories vol 2 to stock up in bookstores nationwide 🥰🥰🥰 pic.twitter.com/ur37tuuQiN

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror) June 30, 2020

• Another blessing of the month: a couple of new clients, plus the fact that some of my previous clients contacted me again for repeat work. I melt when this happens… You liked my previous work? You really, actually want to work with me again? Uuuu okay I’ll do my best!!
• Bought reusable cloth masks for myself, and also as father’s day gifts. Hope the masks actually get used…
• Managed to (finally) complete reading one book, after not being able to focus for months! Loved Douglas Edwards’ personal anecdotes in I’m Feeling Lucky: Confessions of Google Employee Number 59. He really gave the readers an insight into how it’s like working for Google during its early days, pre-IPO. At one point, he fantasised about Google stock going up to $10 per share. At this section, I quickly checked the current ticker for GOOG. It’s… $1450 per share now, as of time of writing. Google made Mr Edwards a rich man, no doubt about it.

Nay of the Month:

• My cats have been vomiting more often nowadays, and I don’t know what caused it. The only difference to their diet is I recently got them one of those Ciao cat treats (which they LOVE). I know what you’re thinking and no, the expiry date seems fine and they even vomit on days when I don’t give them treats. Don’t know what’s the issue to be honest. Will keep monitoring them.
• Speaking of cats, my online order of cat toys and cat grass have been stuck at the post office for a couple of weeks now. Have to make the time to pick them up uuuggghhh so mafaaaan
• Groceries bill was kinda high at over RM800. I’m sure it’ll average out okay, and to be fair I’ve been eating in A WHOLE LOT MORE than before, so it’s okay? Idk.

Things to Look Forward to:

• Enjoying my parents’ joy in planning my wedding, which can now (should be able to) go up to 250 guests instead of 20. Yeah, it’s my day, but hey. They’re happy. Plus I can afford it, so why not.
• Learning online courses which I bought but haven’t gone through yet! Will I ever! We shall see!
• Keeping this momentum going and read another book. I don’t want to lose my ability to focus again!

What are YOU looking forward to, now that we’re in the second half of the year? How are you with your financial goals? Let me know 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 (how expense tracking works)