Suraya's Monthly Budget Update

Budget Update: November 2015

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November 2015 felt like 3 months. I had so much time. It was such a luxurious feeling, even if it was tinged with homesickness.

I spent less than RM2k, which is pretty rare. That even includes some furniture shopping, new gym fee, pet costs, and some leftover utilities bills from last month. Lower cost of living in Ipoh FTW. If I was still living in KL, I would have been hit by LRT increase, toll increase, rental increase, among a bazilion other things. I would have been making more money at work, but even with the raise, it wouldn’t be enough to counter the rising cost of living, no doubt about it.

This is why I’m such a big advocate on trimming your expenses. You can grow your income but if you can’t keep up with the spending, its time to take a step back and reevaluate what you value in life and cut back everything else.

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Yay of the month:

  • Yoshi the kitten came into my life <3 In the span of 2 weeks, he turned from being a scrawny kitty to developing quite a belly.
  • Started Cross Fit. After last month’s unhealthy binge eating, I decided to resume some sort of fitness regime. Cross Fit is RM120 per month for unlimited classes. I must have attended at least 15 classes so far, making cost per class extremely affordable!
  • Learning coding. So far, HTML & CSS. I want to learn how to develop mobile applications – I have this amazing idea for an app and I want to try and develop it.

Nay of the month:

  • Freelancing/having own business – while it was a romantic idea, I’ve since realised how tough this actually is. My current plan is to get a job AND do freelancing/own business on the side. My pride and ego took a serious hit when my income is low. It sucked, big time.
  • Due to some delays in receiving past income, I had to take out some money from my investment account to buffer my lifestyle.
  • Still no job. There’s one that I really, really want. The interviews went really well, but in the end they decided to go with someone else. It’s making me feel down, but hey, trying to keep positive and look for other opportunities.
  • I have the opportunity to go back to telesales job (selling hotel membership) and while I’ve done it before and I know I can do it well and make a lot of money, sales jobs drains my soul. I’m stuck between the pressure of making serious money but wanting a worthwhile career.

Things to look forward to:

  • The New Year, because dividends will be coming in then. Yay monieesss
  • Taking it easy and use this opportunity to learn new skills and be in better shape. Coding and Cross Fit are proving to be extremely addictive, which surprises me.

Edit: I am using an expense-tracker app called Money Lover. I’ve used a lot of apps and this is the best one by far. It’s a Vietnamese startup and was one of top contenders during MaGIC ASEAN Track Demo Day 2015  – support your ASEAN buddies!

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2 Comments

  1. Hi,

    I’m also using this app based on your recommendation. I would like to know, if you are paying using credit cards, how do you track them.

    Thanks

    1. Hi Deen,

      There is no difference if using credit card or cash (or any other payment method). If I spend it, I track it. Maybe you can provide an example?

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