Budget Update: September 2020

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Oh damn, I beat August’s record. RM20.8k is officially the most money I’ve ever spent in a month, ever. Two categories made up 80% of the total spending in September 2020: Business (44%) and Donations & Gifts. (36%). In fact, just two transactions make up approximately 59% of the total September expense.

Shall I tell you what those are? Oh why not:

One is for a new business venture, paid RM6000 under [Business] category. I’ll share the details in due time; the paperwork is still ongoing and I don’t want to get ahead of myself
RM6230 is for renovation cost for one of the rooms at my parents’ house, which we’ll use as bridal room. I wasn’t sure whether this expense should be categorised under [Wedding] or [Donations], but I thought it would mess up my Wedding budget calculations, so Donations it is.

At the time of writing, Covid-19 cases are rising again. A part of me worries that the wedding might be cancelled if MCO 2.0 happens. That makes me sad but you know what, in all seriousness, whatever happens, happens. Just go with the flow. That’s the takeaway I get from this year.

Do you have plans that might be ruined if we implement another MCO? Tell me in the comments section, misery loves company.

My Spending Breakdown in September 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:

[Category: Business] Found out that Geran Khas Prihatin money was disbursed back in June, and spent it all. Here’s an article about it – How I Applied for and Spent the RM3000 Geran Khas Prihatin Money for Small Biz – if you’re eligible, make sure to apply and claim that money BEFORE 31 October 2020! Go take, is free money!
Also made a lot of business-related software purchases, including email marketing (join RoR newsletter!), accounting software and website hosting. Won’t bore you about that here, but you can read about it – click the GKP article link above.
[Category: Groceries] I discovered a frozen seafood merchant from Shopee, and got a big shipment. This is wonderful, because I have recently re-discovered the simple joy of cooking as an activity, and tried a lot of new recipes. I rarely buy seafood and can’t wait to experiment with these ingredients.

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I think Yoshi approved of my frozen seafood shipment :3 RM158 for an assortment of: 1.3kg salmon, 3 pcs saba, 1 pcs unagi, 500g seaweed salad, 250g squid, 500g clams, 8 pcs dory, 1kg cencaru plus 1kg Japanese rice. I rarely buy seafood, can’t wait to experiment with these ingredients and meal prep with them 😋 Bought on shopee. Amazing what you can find there nowadays #groceryhaul #shopeefinds

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror) on Sep 22, 2020 at 12:03am PDT

[Category: Wedding] Made more wedding-related purchases: makeup/hairdo service, hantaran, inai. Happily, the Spa I’ve always wanted to try is on Fave, and I got 20% PENJANA discount *on top* of platform discounts and credit card points. Nice, purchased, this treatment will count as mandi bunga (even though its not sksksksk)
We also booked honeymoon trip. In hindsight, it was a good idea to get refundable flights and accommodation. Just in case we need to cancel or postpone it.
[Category: Social] Spent almost RM500 treating family and future family to food. Money well spent, I’d say.
Being one of the speakers at TalentCorp’s Semester Break Programme

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A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror) on Sep 4, 2020 at 1:59am PDT

[Category: Misc Wants] My experience shopping with Zalora in August 2020 was so good that I purchased 3 more items from there, but ended up returning two of them. The one I kept, a pair of jeans from Dorothy Perkins, is really good value for money at just RM55 or so after all discounts.
[Category: Misc Wants] Paid six more months of Netflix (I’m under someone else’s plan). RM66 for 6 months is not a bad deal
Read one book: The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People’s Lives Better, Too) by Gretchen Rubin (The Four Tendencies Quiz is one of my favourite personality quizzes. I am a Questioner with bits of Rebel, what are you?)

Nay of the Month:

[Category: Wedding] Nikahsatu.com looks really cool but the service is really slow. They’ve delayed our card printing by at least 2 weeks. Not happy.
[Category: Food] Fell to Grab’s HOTDEALS more time than I’d like, again. Please don’t continue the deals, I am but a weak human, please no more
[Category: Misc Wants] Impulse-bought a few things: a plant, a brow gel, an eyeliner, a RM5 top from the bundle shop (this one is okay, so cheap and satisfies my shopping mood) and two games on Steam (House Flipper and Stranded Sails)

Things to Look Forward to:

Checking out all the activities planned in October, aka Financial Literacy Month, especially the ones organised by Financial Education Network!
Being part of SCxSC20 – related: 5 Sessions You’ll Want to Attend at SCxSC20
Being part of InvestSmart event
Maybe enter FPAMFLY’s Personal Finance video competition?? I mean, RM5000 cash prize is tempting!!

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CONTEST ALERT! FPAM, aka the Financial Planning Association of Malaysia is organising a personal finance video competition. RM5000 cash prize, 3 winners 😍😍 #personalfinancemalaysia #malaysiayoutuber #youtubermalaysia #fpam #financialplanningmalaysia #malaysiacontest #contestmalaysia #financialliteracyyear

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror) on Sep 16, 2020 at 11:44pm PDT