Budget Update: April 2020

Budget Update: April 2020

Another month where only 4 categories showed up in my expense-tracking app:

Business (RM4,877.69) – mostly paid the balance of book order, and packaging for deliveries

Utilities & Rent (RM1,352.47) – ze living quarters

Misc Needs (RM565.22) – restocked cat food and cat litter, bought office chair, new stand fan and kettle (more on that under Nay section below)

Everything else

Let’s talk about something. Donations. This has been on my mind, and I just want to let it off my chest.

As you know, a lot of people are having financial hardship. A lot of people are seeking help.

I think… I’ve become increasingly desensitised to the many, many donation calls which appeared in my social media timeline. Nowadays I simply scroll past most of them, opting to take the ‘don’t see, don’t know’ approach.

As time goes on, I know that I will only give my attention and money to the donation calls that are especially gut-wrenching. The ones with emotional pictures and copywriting. They work, you and I know they do, think of the last donation you made. And as NGOs understand how well they work, they’ll use that strategy more and more.

The higher volume means I’ll get desensitised to those soon enough, too.

Feeling guilty for not doing more when I have the means to do so is a constant feature of my life now.
I’m aware how much this sounds like virtue-signalling
 – I’m pissed off at myself too because boohoo kesian Suraya wow she feels horrible, wtf Suraya this ISN’T about you, how DARE you think YOU have it rough when millions, maybe BILLIONS of people will starve. In 2020.

I don’t know, you guys. Does avoidance as a coping mechanism make me a bad person? Is choosing to prioritise my FI/RE journey a bad thing? I hate that I hate wealth inequality, yet choosing to do the exact same wealth preservation strategy the rich are making, by ‘staying invested’.

Bleak thought process? Well it’s a bleak world. I’ll try and focus on the good, but I can’t lalala my way out of this. The journey to understand my own psyche continues. I hope eventually I’ll come to a better way to cope and/or manage resources. This is part of personal finance too.

My Spending Breakdown in April 2020

Yay of the Month:

Released the latest addition of #MyMoneyStories book series –
Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 2 and Cerita Duit Orang Malaysia: Jilid 1
 🙂 Click the link or the image below to purchase. One person liked it so much, he bought 5 copies to give to friends!

And created what I thought is a win-win strategy:
affiliate system for the #MyMoneyStories
. I like the idea of creating income opportunities, and this seemed like the perfect solution for marketing as well. Read here for more details:
[INCOME OPPORTUNITY] Sell Money Stories Book Series and Earn RM1.78-RM17 per order

Low groceries expenses
. Just RM363.58. And that includes a ‘support’ purchase to Jobbie’s peanut butter (RM65 for 3 jars inc delivery). The low amount makes sense, still finishing up last month’s bulk purchases. Also less frequency in grocery shopping reduced a lot of impulse purchases.

Averaged 1 food delivery order per week. That’s an okay frequency, considering how much food is on my mind (it’s puasa after all)

Complied with stay-at-home order –
ZERO transportation cost
 for April 2020.

Held 4
collaborative webinars
in April 2020:
three with AKPK
 and one with Institut Wanita Berdaya Selangor. Their feedback on my sessions is one of the happiest moments in my career so far!!

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Feedback from 2 separate clients over the personal finance-themed webinars I conducted for them over the last few weeks. My heartttt ❤❤❤❤ You know when you do something and worry that you weren’t good enough? Getting testimonials like these that proves otherwise makes me so so so happy 😭

A post shared by
 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Apr 23, 2020 at 7:06pm PDT

Recorded, edited and published 2 YouTube videos
!!! This is a big one, I’ve feared the process for
years
. Check them out:
[VIDEO] Signature Market Review & Unboxing
 and
[VIDEO] My 8 Sources of Income As a Malaysian Blogger.
 The quote that drove me the most was: ‘You don’t have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great’. I repeated that in my head again and again and again as I cringe-watch my own work.

Many of my investments recovered
. Gold and bitcoin I can understand, but the stock market and mutual funds/unit trust/ETFs? Them rising amid looming recession doesn’t make sense. Who is buying, aside from dollar-cost-averaging folks? Where’s the money coming from? Don’t get me wrong, as an investor I’m happy. But I’m struggling to understand market sentiment.

Ringgitohringgit.com website has surpassed 2 million pageviews mark! Thank you everyone for your continued support <3

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MILESTONE: RinggitOhRinggit.com hit 2 million pageviews! . And it only took 4.5 years, with 2x articles per week (approx 500 thousand words written so far), 2-3 x daily posting across social media and countless hours figuring out how to do this blogging thing right 🙂 . Yet if it wasn’t for your support, dear audience, I would have quit a long time ago! So thank you so much for the semangat <3 . #malaysiablogger #wordpressKL #contentstrategy #personalfinancemalaysia #contentmarketingmalaysia #businessofblogging #bloggermalaysia

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 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Apr 18, 2020 at 11:57pm PDT

Finally invested in
email marketing
. This will be a painful recurring expense of $30 per month under business expenses, I hope it’ll be worth it.

Finally bit the bullet and subscribed to mailchimp’s plan! After 4.5 years of doing website, and despite *everyone* advising me to jump into email marketing sooner rather than later. Better late than never I guess

— Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)
April 29, 2020

Bought a
Pinterest marketing course
 from a blogger that I’ve followed for years! I’m happy because (1) I got it on sale, (2) I got to support her, after benefitting from her content for years, (3) I wanted to learn how to do Pinterest marketing right, and (4) it solved my ‘what should I learn’ analysis paralysis problem!

Attended a wonderful webinar, which introduced me to a free (now expired) Strengths Profile test. This is my result:

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I attended possibly the best webinar during MCO (so far) – Actionising Your Strengths for Resilience by Hanaa Wong Abdullah from Rema Synergy @remasynergy . You know that I like personal finance, especially the personal part. Money works for me, instead of the other way around, and to optimise my money management better I have to make the effort to know myself deeply, intimately. I have to know my strengths and weaknesses . Based on Ms Hanaa’s suggestion, I took the Introductiory Strengths Profile quiz (free until end of April only!) at https://strengthsprofile.com/. Completing it takes ~20 or so minutes . These are my results. I know of some, and surprised by others. What I want to do now is focus on my unrealised strengths so I can be better at what I do . Today is a good first day of Ramadan. Learned something amazing. Special thanks to @cerventus for organising the webinar 🙂

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 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Apr 23, 2020 at 10:13pm PDT

Nay of the Month:

Didn’t read any books. Couldn’t focus. Watched a lot of videos though, including Michael Moore’s latest one,
Planet of the Humans
, which argued that green technology does more harm to the environment than good. That effed me up for a few days.

The stand fan AND the kettle
broke down
 ON THE SAME DAY. The replacements took around 10 days to arrive, which meant I lugged the fan from upstairs to downstairs daily AND boiled water from the wok. My drinking water was funky tasting for the first few boils, blegh

Paid off some
pending utility bills
 that, um, ‘escaped’ my attention, amounting to~RM160. Was charged a slight interest on them. Close one eye and paid, was my fault for not staying on top of my responsibilities.

Regret purchase
: Bought an office chair which is (1) not as comfortable as I thought, and (2) ended up being a glorified cat bed. But at least my cats are happy.

Seeing all the wedding deals that I can’t take advantage of, for practical reasons

Nowadays banyak wedding-related deals. Venue, photography, baju etc. Understandable, they do it for cashflow reasons

But no matter how good the deal is… I can’t take now because all plans up in the air 🙁

— Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)
April 23, 2020

Things to Look Forward to:

My birthday..? Eh, it’ll just be another day. Cannot meet and celebrate with anyone I love. Plus puasa some more. I hereby postpone my birthday until all this is over, thank you.

Raya? Also meh about it. But at least after that can eat during daytime again.

Continuing my wedding planning? Will this partial MCO lifting also means kursus kahwin will be available again? Let’s see.

Surviving another month of staying home. MCO may be partially lifted, but I know the responsible thing to do is still to reduce exposure. Just have to take it one day at a time.

Waiting for my ‘diamond painting’ DIY kit to arrive. I just want to try something new, and under RM30 for 3 kits isn’t a bad price, even if the shipping from China will take ages to arrive. I’ll consider this my own birthday present 🙂

Well, that was the summary of my month. Full of ups and downs, I didn’t hold back my thoughts. Please tell me how you’re feeling, and don’t hold back either.

—

To read about my past monthly budget update, click
here
. Graphs are taken from my expense-tracking app Money Lover (
how expense tracking works
)


Budget Update: April 2021 – A Slow Month

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!

April 2021 was half of puasa month, which usually slows down the pace of life. We spent a lot of time staying home and, when I do venture out, spending time with family. Because we’re told to abstain from food, so naturally food is everything I think about and plan my days around.

My expenses reflected that: Both Groceries and Social expenses increased in April 2021. I’ve been having fun cooking up new dishes to try out. I made: Spanish omelette, Coriander baked dory, Creamy spinach mushroom gnocchi, Salted egg chicken, Terung berlada, Baked camembert and more. I also had fun buying various food from different vendors to bring to family gatherings, so we could share together.

All in all, it’s been a nice, peaceful puasa. I’m glad that it is, because it’s the zen I need after getting angry over the news, from #MakeSchoolASaferPlace to #KerajaanGagal to #JusticeforGanapathy

Okay, let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: April 2021

In April 2021, I spent RM5,794.72. The top 3 top expenses were:

Utilities & Rent (RM1,379.98)
 – Gotta keep a roof over our heads
Donations & Gifts

(RM1227.73)
 – Parents’ electric bill, donation to Global Sadaqah, etc
Groceries (RM771.39)
 – Stocked up on buka puasa and sahur food

My Spending Breakdown in April 2021

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

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Paid fellow writers

My fellow writers who contributed short stories to
Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 2
 and
Cerita Duit Orang Malaysia: Jilid 1
 who chose to be paid via profit-sharing method (profits of book sales after 1 year) received RM1,224.54 each! I absolutely loved writing the email to inform the writers about the money they’re due to get. They were so happy!

Wouldn’t have done it without you, dear readers. Thank you so much for your support. Hope you’ll continue to support Money Stories from Malaysians: Vol 3 as well (in progress)

#2 – High ratings on my webinar

If you’ve been following me, you know that I conduct workshops and webinars sometimes. I used to self-organise, but nowadays I only do collaborations, because I was accused of being unqualified on personal finance topics.

(petty tweet of the day)
dulu I self-organise workshop kewangan sendiri, ada komen kata I tak layak semua
so sekarang I buat workshop in collaboration dengan financial institutions/education bodies/ NGOs je
Alhamdulillah semua yang kritik tu dah senyap semua
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
April 22, 2021

And you know what? I’m good at what I do.

Today's happy news: Rated 4.6 out of 5 on my Pelaburan Di Dalam Aset Kripto webinar, organised by SIDC 🥰
Yang kelakar, buat dalam bahasa melayu tapi dapat feedback- terma dipakai patut dalam bahasa inggeris 😅😂
pic.twitter.com/VXkaXg9lre
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
April 26, 2021

#3 – Helped to promote my sisters’ boutiques

I love having sisters, it’s the best. Helping them makes me happy <3 Thanks to everyone who supported, hope you have a wonderful photo session this Raya 🙂

If you’re reading this in early May 2021, there may still time to browse and buy! See their collection here:
[Nepotism] Shop My Sisters’ Baju Raya 2021 Collection (Regular & Plus Size)

Thank you everyone who support and bought baju raya from my sisters' shops 🙏🙏❤❤ They are both solopreneurs, semua buat sendiri, from sourcing to photography to delivery
Have a look! 👉
https://t.co/gqMFUBqc01

pic.twitter.com/QM7VShK3zm
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
April 20, 2021

#4 – Went flowers shopping with mom and sisters

We managed to fit in one last family activity before puasa, so we chose Mom’s favourite place – anywhere with plants and flowers.

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#5 – Tried a personal styling service

I tried Ellegra and had fun trying on different outfits that they picked out for me! Basically I answered some questions about my preference and they send over 5 curated options to choose from, all of which I could return if I didn’t want them.

(If you want to try it out, use this
ref link
. You’ll get 50% off styling fee, and it also includes cost of delivery and returns)

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#6 – Received a big mirror

A big, full-body mirror has been on my wishlist for the longest time. I delayed for years, before ordering one, but it accidentally broke during delivery so my seller cancelled my order.

And then my sister reminded me that I left a mirror at my parents home during my moving phase years back, so would I like that back?

!!! I completely forgot all about it!

So I took it home and saved the RM300++ that I would have spent on one!

#7 – Hit 25k followers on Twitter

Thank you for following! If you haven’t please follow me here (as well as
Facebook
 and
Instagram
). The more followers I have the more I can charge my clients – this business model keeps my content free 🙂

This account hit 25k followers, thank you for the support 🥰
The breakdown is interesting: It took 5 1/2 years to get to 10k followers, but only 1y 3m to get 15k more
The pandemic effect, probably 😁anyway I hope you like personal finance cos that's mostly what I talk about!
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
April 25, 2021

#7 – Misc

Read
two books
: Bad Choices: How Algorithms Can Help You Think Smarter and Live Happier by Ali Almossawi and Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life – Strategies for Co-operation by Len Fisher
Bought a kettlebell after years of deliberating. Now if only my willpower is stronger :’)
Bought a new baju raya set (this is rare for me – I usually recycle or buy from my sisters to support). I just want to make memories

It is worth buying a new baju raya set just to be matchy matchy with husband on our first Raya together, right? 🥺
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
May 1, 2021

Nay of the Month:

#1 – A reminder that technology can fail you sometimes

Pros still outweigh the cons, but paying RM14 unnecessarily kind of sucked.

Usually technology helps to save me money. But today, the opposite:
– follow Google Maps direction from Subang-Bangsar, went through toll 4 (!!) times. Damage: almost RM10
– Grab ride glitch; the ride distance is usually RM5, but somehow showing the long way, so have to pay RM9
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
April 6, 2021

#2 – My flower plant

My plant-killing streak continues 🙁 After my kailan plants died last month, my salad plants and new flower plant died as well.

I am..sad. I don’t have any other plants, and am extremely discouraged to try again.

#3 – Google Analytics glitched

I don’t know what happened, but Google Analytics stopped tracking website data for a solid 2 weeks in April 2021.

It’s fixed now, but sucks because there is no way for me to retrieve the lost data, and now the data going forward is inaccurate 🙁

Things to Look Forward to:

Raya, and finally able to drink coffee again (I abstain coffee for 1 month, because the withdrawals are ridiculous)
My birthday! I’m turning 33!
A hair perm session which I got for super cheap but expiring in May 2021, so I have to schedule that soon

Well, that was my April 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 🙂

—

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
)


Budget Update: April 2022 – Autopilot Mode

Selamat Hari Raya and 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.

So how was your April? Was it good, bad or meh?

For me, it was so.. what’s the word.. disorienting? I started the first week of puasa with daily horrible headache due to caffeine withdrawals. For the rest of Ramadan, due to sahur, my sleep patterns went out of whack. It was so hard to focus, but somehow, I pulled through. Thanks, Autopilot Suraya.

In an effort to reduce new work, you might also notice (or not, Idk) that I took down my Hire Me page. For now, I’m not taking any more new work, just need to complete pending commitments.

(By the way, I don’t want to give the impression that I’m making shitloads of money. I don’t. I make enough to cover my current expenses, and for savings. But beyond that I value my free time more, so I don’t take more work than I have to.)

Let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: April 2022

In April 2022, I spent RM7,273.95. The top 3 top expenses were:

Utilities & Rent (RM
1,938.12
)
– Rent and bills
Home Reno + Deco
(RM1,221.51)
 – Instalments for reno package
Social (RM1036.60)
 – Buka puasa food with families

Cumulatively, the top 3 expenses make up 59% of my total April 2022 expenses. (My belief is, if you want to save money, always trim from the top 3 expenses rather than cut out a few ringgits from other already-low expenses)

My Spending Breakdown in April 2022

Here’s what I spent on in the whole month of April 2022, in their respective categories and from highest to lowest amount:

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Completed some long-term projects

Sent all the invoices out, so now I’m waiting for around RM15k in payments to hit my bank account, yay!

#2 – Renovation works are progressing!

After some delays, renovation work for our new place is finally continuing!

That means, final payment for work done will be due soon, too. Lol goodbye money received in #1.

Side note: cost to move into new place reaching RM50k. I’ll do an expense breakdown when its all over 🙂

Cost to renovate and buy essential furniture so that we can move into new place reaching RM50k now 🙂
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
April 20, 2022

#3 – Ramadan and Raya

Ramadan and Raya came and went. Selamat Hurry Raya to everyone, it was unexpected but also kinda fun 🙂 I spent almost RM3k for Raya, but this expense will be brought forward to May budget expenses.

As much I’m glad it was over, I enjoyed Ramadan. Managed to visit our families more often for buka puasa and dinner together, which was nice 🙂

The Ramadan effect also skewed the Groceries and Social expense categories – I spent less for Groceries (RM332 which was low! It’s usually around RM1000 for the both of us) and significantly more for Social (over RM1000 on buka puasa food with family).

#4 – Progressed with organising

In preparation for the upcoming move to new place, I spent some time organising accumulated items. I’m a bit of a hoarder so it was nice to finally let go of some old items that can’t even be donated.

But this is just the first step. One of these days I have to summon the motivation to list and sell preloved items, clothes and books. Can get RM500, easy.

My only dilemma now is with old laptops. Tweeted it out, got a lot of great advice in the replies.

Do I spend upwards of RM500 to fix and resell 5+ years old laptop to hopefully get RM1.5k back (no guarantee), or do I just skip all the trouble and sell it to ewaste center and get RM20-35 (guaranteed)
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
April 30, 2022

#5 – Appeared on..

#1 –  Consider This show on Astro AWANI

Can’t believe I got to talk about how it’s the government’s failure to address wealth inequality and low mean salary and that’s the cause of people wanting to access even their EPF aka retirement money on TV

Thanks to Melisa Idris and Astro AWANI team for having me and my commentary🙏

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#2 – #JadiSavvy Speaker Series

The topic was Cybersecurity for Small Businesses, organised by Accelerate by The Asia Foundation

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#6 – Misc

Read 2 books:

A Juz A Day: Summary of the Quran by Yahya Ibrahim
Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People by Vanessa Van Edwards

Completed 1 course:

Governance and Leadership course for new AFS Board Members

AFS International's Governance and Leadership course for new AFS Board Members is so comprehensive. Even includes 10 tips to be effective board member. The switch from operational to governance is a new one for me and this helps a lot, much clearer on my role in
@AFSMalaysia

pic.twitter.com/JlAFZvYCcz
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
April 26, 2022

Noteworthy shows:

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore at the cinema
The Ultimatum on Netflix
Selling Sunset Season 5 on Netflix
Death on the Nile on Hotstar
Murder on the Orient Express on Hotstar
Kongsi Raya on Netflix
The Kardashians on Hotstar

Bought for myself:

A pair of Oxwhite flats
A pair of wedges from Sketchers
A new telekung
A mini cutting board from Jalan Jalan Japan
Haircut and scalp treatment session for RM228

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Nay of the Month:

#1 – Increase in medical card cost

Medical card now costs RM170 per month 🙁 It’s annoying, but also
to be expected
 (and your agent should have told you about it), so I’ll continue to pay. It is a bit high though so I’ve also reached out to my insurer to see what options I have, who knows can tweak to better plan at less price.

I do have to say, it was fascinating to see the increase % and frequency by other people. Some increased more than 100% within a few years! See in the replies and QTs of this tweet.

Just realised my medical card increased 50% from RM113.33 to RM170 a month…
I understand why (medical inflation) but aaaa so annoying aaaaaa
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
April 26, 2022

P/s – To those who wonder why the cost is low. I got stand-alone medical card back in 2014, at around 26 years old. The coverage is low (RM190k annual limit, no lifetime limit) but I wanted the access to bougie healthcare facilities. I also have a secondary medical plan.

#2 – Paid extra Rent due to delays

We were supposed to move into new place by May, but due to the delays, we will be staying at current (rented) place for a bit longer. That means I have to fork out additional 1.5 months in Rent, paid in advance. That’s RM1800 in extra cost.

I would be annoyed, but I’m also really happy. Shopping and browsing for furniture with a partner I love, imagining our new life together, all if it was so joyful.

Things to Look Forward to:

More furniture hunting – expecting to move out to new place in June!
My birthday

Well, that was my April 2022. 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 🙂

—

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
)


Budget Update: April 2023 – Raya

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.

So how was your April? Was it good, bad or meh?

For me, April 2023 was full of worry and anxiety. There are a lot of things happening which are beyond my control, yet
could
 will affect me.

These isn’t things I’m willing to share publicly so that’s why I bought myself therapy sessions, just so I can talk about it and see how I can manage these negative feelings better. I’m just really glad I could afford therapy, for real.

Let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: April 2023

In April 2023, I spent RM9,066.77 The top 3 top expenses were:

Donations & Gifts (RM3,253.75)
 –
Parents TNB bill, Duit raya

Utilities & Mortgage (RM1,327)
 – Half mortgage and bills

Groceries (RM910.94)
 – Self-explanatory

Cumulatively, the top 3 expenses make up 62% of my total April 2023 expenses.

(My belief is, if you want to save money, trim first from the top 3 expenses rather than cut out a few ringgits from other already-low expenses)

My Spending Breakdown in April 2023

Here’s what I spent on in the whole month of April 2023, in their respective categories and from highest to lowest amount:

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Raya gatherings

Attended a lot of family Raya gatherings, my heart is full <3

(My stomach is as well!)

I also celebrated with preloved Raya outfit scored for only RM45 from Carousell so that was a win!

#2 – Transferred RM7k to EPF + PRS accounts

Multiple payments came in so I thought I’d just settle my EPF and PRS contributions for the year.

But when I checked PRS again in late April, it seems the amount went down a little bit so timing not so good :/ Oh well

Done transfer RM4k to EPF & RM3k to PRS to maximise tax relief for 2023. Awal settle ni tahun ni good job Suraya
— Suraya: bestselling Bergaji & Pokai book (@surayaror)
April 5, 2023

#3 – My book, Bergaji & Pokai got #1 bestselling spot again

It’s been on the Top 10 list for a good 5 months or so now omg that’s amazing!!

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#4 – Refunded a Steam game!

Did you know you can refund Steam games? Yes you can! T&C applies of course, but can. You can refer to the process
here
.

Was complaining to my husband that the new Steam game I bought isn't as fun as expected and he said can refund so I checked and it turns out yes can?!! Provided within 14 days of purchase & less than 2 hours game time
Have submitted refund request!
— Suraya: bestselling Bergaji & Pokai book (@surayaror)
May 3, 2023

#5 – Appeared on:

a) AWANI Niaga

Had the extreme honour to be featured on Astro Awani’s Niaga AWANI this morning. Gave my commentary on Malaysians’ financial literacy, EPF Account 2 support Facility and more. Special thank you to Tehmina Kaoosji for having me on the show!

Watch the full interview at:
https://www.astroawani.com/rancangan/niaga-awani/epf-account-2-malaysias-retirement-savings-gap-2017386

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#5 – Misc

Read 2 books:

How to Raise a Feminist: Bringing Up Kids with the Confidence to Change the World by Allison Vale and Victoria Ralfs

A Private History of Happiness: Ninety-Nine Moments of Joy from Around the World by George Myerson

Bought for myself:

6 x therapy session package

Sunscreen

Hair accessories

Some makeup and skincare products

One dress

One preloved Raya outfit

Renewed Netflix

Nay of the Month:

#1 – Guilt over duit raya

I gave less duit raya this year compared to last year (and to less people as well) and feel super guilty about it.

Yes, I understand duit raya is sedekah and its completely optional and up to my own decision but still.

#2 – Overbought therapy package?

I bought a package of six therapy sessions for RM480 and found out it comes with an expiry date of 2 months. Love my sessions but I don’t actually need to go that often. Should have just bought individual sessions (RM120 each).

I guess I should force myself to make use of them. What shall I talk about hmm…

Things to Look Forward to:

My birthday month

Well, that was my April 2023. 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 🙂

—

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
)


Budget Update: August 2015

August 2015 was eventful. Boy was it eventful. Big news: I am moving to Ipoh, starting mid October. That’s right. This Klang Valley girl will move to Ipoh. To be honest I’m still gripping with this decision, but this part of why I decided to move – KL is too comfortable, to comfort zone-y. I’m too stable here. My 20s cannot be characterized by just this – experience-wise, it makes me feel that my life has peaked and going on a slow, downward trajectory. Plus, I’ve never lived outside of Klang Valley. Time to live a bit more of Malaysia. There are other reasons, too, obviously, but I won’t get into that now.

This decisions affected my spending pattern in August, obviously. Between looking for a new place and actually furnishing it, the ‘Misc Need’ category ballooned. This expense included stuff like new broom, new clothes rack, stuff like that.

So obviously I’m resigning from my current job, which scares the hell out of me (my rational side who is practical but unwilling to change is SO conflicted). Will I miss it? Yes. Without a doubt. I love calling myself a Programme Officer of an international women’s rights organisation. I love the work. I will miss the steady income and the benefits. And the traveling. Oh man, having a job which allows you to satisfy your wanderlust is like the biggest perk of all.

Yay of the month:

Lol, I’m going to sound so auntie but I don’t care, confession time. You know one of those ongoing grocery store promotion thingy where you get a stamp for every RM30 purchase or whatever, and after xx stamps you get to redeem it for something? Well I’ve been collecting Aeon’s one, and collected 25 stamps, enough to redeem a kitchen knife. I smile every time I use it XD

I completed a Tesco online survey thing and was promised a RM20 voucher! (Although, as of time of writing, the promised voucher have not arrived)

Attended Bersih rally. Nothing I can add on here can add more value to the numerous, numerous commentaries on the subject. But you know one of those situational questions? Would you do x for 1 million or something like that? Like, I would lick a (relatively clean) shoe for a mil. No shame admitting also. Heck, I would do it for even 1% of that amount. What would YOU do for 1 mil? 2 mil? 10 mil? 100 mil? 999 mil? 2660 mil? Personally I think we are juuuust starting to see the length of what a person (or persons) would do for that amount. Hey darab 4.2 something tau, banyak tuuuu.

Nay of the month:

Just a lot of anxieties. A lot of panic attacks. A lot of ‘what are you going to do with your life Suraya’ . I’ve contemplated everything from becoming a landlord to going into forex to dedicate myself to become a full time entrepreneur to selling out to whoever can buy my time for the most money in the corporate sector.

My cash reserves in the bank are pretty low at the moment, so that makes me anxious as well.

Gold prices went up, way up. A part of me is like, uh! Should’ve bought it! But I wouldn’t have the money anyway for a substantial investment and who am I kidding, I am an emotional investor and my heart probably cannot take the additional stress of ‘do I hold or sell???’ on a daily basis.

Things to look forward to:

Finishing up work. Just enjoying this relative calm before the (hypothetical financial) storm while it lasts.

Hopefully I can get out of this funk and decide on one thing, one next course of action, and pursue it with determination. The problem now is that there’s too many options. I’m looking at all possibilities. I hope a great opportunity will come up from any of those possibilities. Gotta keep positive.

Really looking forward to the possibility of working with my sisters – we are all business brains, talking to them is damn fun.

Ipoh will be fun. Maybe I’ll finally get sick of being spoken to in Chinese all the time and pick it up. Can you imagine that? *speaks angrily in Chinese* “For the last time auntie-ah, my name is Suraya not Ah Su!”


Budget Update: August 2016

August Budget Update Summary

#win on so. many. levels. August was AWESOME. Was super productive and hustled like nobody’s business. August was my most profitable month yet! (If everyone pays) I earned RM7k! Breakdown of that income:

RM200~ Affiliate income

RM1300~ Advertising/sponsorship income

RM5500~ Writing jobs

But on the flip side I also spent a lot in August.
I spent RM5800
. Granted that includes my Japan trip (RM2500), and there were quite a few major purchases for professional use, so I ain’t that mad. I got my website banner redesigned, too. Did you notice? 🙂 What do you think of it?

Yay of the Month:

I registered my sole prop!
 You’re now reading the works of Suraya Zainudin Communications, nyeheheh. I have no idea why I didn’t do this sooner. According to available information, if you make RM3k and above per month you’re supposed to pay taxes, and I’ve always been skema about these things. I don’t want to get into trouble with the law, plus I think going to prison for tax avoidance is like, the least sexy thing a person can do. Now my Google search includes terms like: ‘what can I claim for small business’, ‘cloud accounting software’ and ‘how to do bookkeeping for small business’.

I also updated my
Hire Me
 page 🙂 It looks damn professional ok. I’m very proud of it. (Coincidentally, I think I found someone who straight out copied the page format and use it for their own freelance page. Ah, imitation is a form of flattery I guess.)

After last month’s success with my first sponsored post (
here
),
I’m happy to report that I got two more sponsored gigs
! One for a property near KL Sentral (
this one
. If I’m honest I saw this property about a year back while it was still developing and thought to myself, dang that is good location), another for a hardware bitcoin wallet (
this one
). I also sold a banner ad space 🙂 For all the ways I monetise this blog, you can check out
this post
.

Got additional writing jobs.
 I provided writing work and wrote press release and articles for various companies. I got a job offer because of this website as well – after sharing this post
about incomes and expenses of freelance writers in Malaysia
 to a FB group, I was contacted by a company and now I have a part-time role there. This will bring me additional income starting from September 🙂

Went to Osaka and Kyoto, Japan.
 Was short but sweet. Ate like a pig. Here’s the breakdown of my
trip expenses
.

Bought new pants from Uniqlo and shit it fits
. I’m kind of at the lowest weight I’ve been in a while. Well to be fair the pants stretches, but I feel good about this so let me, ok? It was RM149.90, a bit steep than my usual wardrobe budget (I shop at
thrift shops
; many of my clothes cost like, RM5 each), but I literally ran out of pants. Again.

Spayed my cat. RM150 at a nearby pet clinic.

Bought 2
personal finance books.
 One’s called ‘The Rules of Wealth’ and another’s called ‘Emotional Currency: A Woman’s Guide to Building a Healthy Relationship with Money’. Both are
really
 good. I want to do a proper review on them so watch future posts from me for that. The second one especially, woah. It helped me to realise that as much as I think I am rational with money, I make emotional and irrational decisions too (not necessarily bad, according to the author).

For vanity: bought this under eye brightening cream thing (promoted by a YouTuber – see what I mean by emotional purchases? By the end of the video, I wanted
that
 particular brand) and teeth whitening strips thing. Went for facial that I got from Groupon for less than RM30. I did learn how to groom my own eyebrows though so hopefully I don’t need my RM35 eyebrow sessions any more.

Got myself
 Personal Accident insurance
. Additional RM31.80 a month from now on. Along with my medical card (RM120.13), that’s about RM150 a month I wave goodbye to, every month. I guess it’s ok. Insurance is something you get and hope you never have to use it.

Nay of the Month:

Paid an outstanding Maxis bill
 (finally). I’m no longer blacklisted. Lesson here: Never use your name to open an account for your friends and even (irresponsible) family members. If they don’t pay, you’re stuck with the bill. I’m serious about this. Don’t open a credit card for them, don’t make hire purchase for them, don’t be their guarantor. If they love you, they’ll understand. If they claim you don’t love them because you refuse, that relationship is toxic and one-sided anyway.

This is my current dilemma. Remain on prepaid (and still enjoy this hack to
save money on prepaid)
 or switch to postpaid (more data = more value for money). I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO. I’ve never had postpaid.
 People who switched from prepaid to postpaid
, do you like it or do you regret it? Help me make a decision 🙁

I smoked. A lot. I’m quitting again. I hate having yellow teeth.

Things to Look Forward to:

A lot of job potentials in September and onwards. RM10k per month goal is still on!

Do more good. I miss my previous job as an NGO worker terribly. I miss the NGO world. I just wish the NGO world pays more. Money, or more accurately the security that money gives is important to me.

Make WangTarik.com grow! We just hit 100 likes on FB woo! (
We’re hiring Malay-language writers
! Please pass this to your friends! I’m friendly to newbie writers!)

Bring it on, September.

To read about my past monthly budget update, click
here
.


Budget Update: August 2017

 Budget Update: August 2017

Spent just little under RM6000. Aimed for under-RM5000, but I’ll take it. More than a quarter (27%) went to business-related expenses anyway.

August was quite relaxed, in a way. It was a nice mix of manageable work stress and leisure. After being self-employed for a while and not knowing how to ‘switch off from work’, so to speak, it’s nice to finally let myself enjoy non-working moments. Not there yet though – still find my mind wandering to work matters during lull moments, but it’s a step in the right direction.

I get a lot of jealousy from others over my work status. As someone who takes Uber/Grab a lot, many times my conversations with the driver went something like this:

Driver: So what do you do? Do you work here? (referring to the commercial area I stay at)

Me: Oh no I stay nearby. I work from home.

Driver: *talks about how nice it is to work from home until we reach the destination*

You see, people like to see the greener grass. They imagine working from home as this amazing thing, and don’t get me wrong, it is. It has a lot of perks. But it can also be infuriating sometimes.

They want the
flexibility
. But they don’t see the constant pressure from friends/family to drop everything in your schedule and join them for something because the ‘free’ in ‘freelancer’ must mean you’re free all the time right.

They want the
no-commute mornings and evenings
. But they don’t see how the lack of routine damages your self-discipline. Some freelancers/self-employed individuals can’t take the lack of routine so much, they pay to work at co-working spaces.

They want the
no-office politics life
. But they don’t see how lack of work banter among colleagues stunts your professional growth and you have to constantly look for it from other places. I mean, who am I supposed to bounce ideas with, the wall?

My point is – if you work the ‘normal’ 9-6 job, it’s not a bad thing. You can plan weekends and holidays well in advance. You can get advice and mentorship from your colleagues and bosses. You can expect your salary coming in at the end of the month, like clockwork.

I like being self-employed, but sometimes, I do miss the stability of salaried life.

Related:
11 things I learned about self-employment in Malaysia

Social was high – that was due to hotel room and flight to Penang to catch a friend’s wedding. Misc Wants includes a bag and a skirt I bought from my sister. The rest is okay, within limits.

Yay of the month:

Homaigod, being one of the speakers at
MaGIC’s Blockchain Disruptors event
 was surreal. I want to say I’m grateful for the opportunity, humbled etc etc etc – and yes I’m all of those things but the undeniable primary emotion was pride. The second-biggest emotion was complete terror, but if Jennifer Lawrence fell down (twice) at the Oscars and she’s doing OK then I’ll be OK too. The third is dread, actually. All the networking afterward – as awesome as it for my career – is NOT good for my introvert soul.

Oh by the way I can confirm that there are a lot of job and work
opportunities in the blockchain space
. I’m not even from the tech field and I got a few recruitment offers in August. Join the
Access Blockchain Association (Malaysia) Facebook pag
e to put blockchain stuff on your radar. It’s like the internet – applicable to most industries. If you’re a writer/journalist or a digital marketer, get in here as well. The money’s not bad.

Certified Bitcoin Professional

from the Cryptocurrency Certification Consortium. I has it. I am it.
Proof
.

I got the most perfect
dish drainer
 and ridiculously happy about it. It has a slot for the water from the dishes to drip out directly into the sink! AND it was half-price – slashed from RM100+ to about RM59.20. Ah, the things you get happy about when you get older.

Working with clients who produce products/services I like anyway is a complete joy. Not only I get to share it, but they also sometimes pay me for it. Super win-win-win for them, me and Ringgit Oh Ringgit readers. I’ve published one sponsored post by
HelloGold
 (
How to Buy Gold in Malaysia, as an Investment
) and will publish another sponsored post by
Asukabu
 later this month 🙂

Game of Thrones
 season 7 was awesome. Everyone traveled to their destinations damn fast, so much more satisfying than whole SEASONS of walking around in one location.

I got one of those
 protein powders
 to maximise after-gym gainz. RM209 for 100 servings, or RM2.09 per serving. Among the cheapest. One of the brands I surveyed costs RM7+ per serving, crazy!

Donated to Wikipedia
 and feeling extremely good about it. Like seriously thanks Wikipedia contributors for all the knowledge. Thanks sangat sangat.

Managed to
 read 4 books
 in August!
Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton
 taught me the historical events and cultural shifts leading to personal possession and wealth accumulation as coveted status chased by many in the modern world.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
 taught me to give less f*cks to things that don’t matter.
Digital Gold: The Untold Story of Bitcoin by Nathaniel Popper
 taught me the people involved during bitcoin’s early days and the series of events or rather roadbumps it experienced.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
 taught me… not sure actually. Despite 65 million copies sold I actually found it kinda boring :/

Nay of the month:

Kinda ate a lot. Gained weight. Back on
keto diet
. One of the side effects is a more focused head, so it’s not all bad.

A routine round of plugin updates
 crashed Ringgit Oh Ringgit
 briefly. Sent an emergency call for help to
ClickWP
, Wordpress support specialist. David fixed it up real quick, but it was still a sudden and unplanned expense. He was nice enough to include an optimisation report in the price though, so I’m glad I made the best of the situation, as annoying as it was.

One of extension cords in my kitchen freaking melted due to too many kitchen devices connected at the same time. Had to pay RM80 for the electrician to come over and replace the switch cover. In the 30 minutes he was here, he spent 10 minutes replacing the thing and 20 minutes lecturing me about not doing the thing again.

Tried really hard to not spend too much money.
Spent too much time lusting after new things instead
. I see people wear watch, I also want a watch. I see people wearing choker. I also want a choker. I see people sleeping on beds (not in person, in pictures lah), I also want a bed for my mattress. Usually when this happens, I try to resist until I (a) forget about it, or (b) find an insanely good deal.

Things to Look Forward to:

Replacing my laptop. Tahan-ed the screen issues for 2 years already
. Lol as of time of writing I bought a new laptop. Will write about it soon. Need to give it some thought, a better angle, meatier content. I don’t want it to be a ‘look at my shiny new toy’ post. I want it to be informational to people wanting to buy new laptops.

Planning to switch to another telco provider. Maxis is good but pricey, and I find that I hate this ‘extra data on weekends’ thing. Just distribute evenly throughout the month la! So tak ikhlas.

Working on a few jobs. It’ll be a busy month but a profitable one.

Be kind, September. I hope I’ll survive without burning out.

To read about my past monthly budget update, click
here
. Graphs are taken from my expense-tracking app Money Lover (
review
).


Budget Update: August 2018

Budget Update: August 2018

August 2018 was kind of a chill month. Spending-wise, I did good – RM6.2k was my lowest monthly spending since January 2018. I can’t wait to shave off around RM1k by the end of the year – that’s when both
laptop
 and
braces
 repayments will be fully paid off!

This is random, but just felt like sharing: I currently stay in a commercial area, as opposed to a residential area, and absolutely love this living arrangement. It’s just so convenient, most of the amenities I need are so near. At the place I’m renting now, I can
walk
 to the bank, the groceries, the dentist, convenience stores, the mamak, the cinema, Starbucks, restaurants and more whenever I want (when they’re open la).

There are downsides, like paying more for utilities (I pay commercial rates) and facing the crowds during events, but overall, it’s pretty damn nice. I know for sure now that if and when I do decide to purchase my own home, I will get a place that will give me a similar lifestyle. Maybe a residential unit attached to a mall, to get the best of both worlds?

Those of you renting right now or living with your family. Have you thought of what kind of place you want to get? Or do you decide to just continue renting by choice? Let me know in the comments, I’m curious to hear your opinion about this topic.

Yay of the Month:

Somehow, I accidentally entered a campaign by CIMB (
this one
) and
won myself a Philips Coffee Maker
?? All I did was use my CIMB credit card as usual, and one day I simply got a call from the delivery person to collect a parcel. Amazing timing too – just did an article compiling
how Malaysians save money on coffee
 and felt serious envy. I’ve upgraded from instant coffee to ground coffee now, woo! My mornings are a little bit nicer now 🙂

I’m going to Japan in September. Going to stay in Tokyo for a few days before heading to Nagoya, where I’ll stay with my host family. Managed to get the last room in a top-rated
hostel
 (RM100~ per night), so I’m stoked about that! Also, coincidentally there was a RM20-off discount code for an-already affordable
portable wifi rental service provider
. Usually the rental goes for about RM15-20 per day, but Roaming Man offers it for just RM12 per day. Get the discount code AND cashback via
Shopback
 (note: referral link).

Found my favourite
gym pants
 – Nike Dri Fit 3/4 Cropped leggings – at reduced price. It was just RM135.10 instead of the usual over-RM200 price tag. I’ve tried many different brands’ gym leggings and found the Nike ones to have the best fit and quality. The other one that I own is still going strong after using it regularly for more than three years, too.

Bought 5 books
 I’ve wanted to read for the longest time from
Bookurve
. They have better prices than bookstores, plus they have this reward system where you get RM8 off your next purchase if you buy three or more books. If you want RM5 off your first purchase, leave a comment with your email address (I’ll get RM5 off voucher, too). Valid for new accounts only.

Went on a family trip to
Cameron Highlands
over a weekend. The weather was great, and my parents enjoyed the family bonding time.

Had so much amazing food during
Hari Raya Haji
. My dad brought me to meet some relatives. Younger Suraya would have sat that one out, but as I get older I get the importance of family and friends. It’s getting harder and harder to meet people you care about often.

Ordered
groceries from HappyFresh
 six (!!) times. Was hard to resist stocking up – kept getting 15-20% discount codes. Plus I love that they have a ‘Deals’ section just to highlight what products are on sale at the time from the supermarket. It makes it easier for me to stock up on things on sale, and subsequently plan my meals based on what’s on sale to keep my cost per meal low. Use code ‘suraya63’ to get RM25 off your first HappyFresh order (I get RM20 off, too). Sign up from
this link
.

Collaborated with PropertyGuru for
‘Own Your Home’ campaign
 (
article
 about it – spot me in the pic!). I did six articles for them, so if you like my writing, be sure to check them out on the
PropertyGuru website
 when they comes out!

Got back into fitness! Doing weight training regularly again.

Read two books.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
 (young adult book picked up on sale for RM9.90 at BookXcess; fun read) and
Eyes Wide Open: How to Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World by Noreena Hertz
 (understand a bit better about how to make my own damn opinions).

Nay of the Month:

Bought the
wrong

size of training gloves
 🙁 Can’t use it, so that’s RM25 down the drain.

My
external hard disk
 gave up on me, which was disappointing. I even bought new cables just to rule it out. You would have thought the Western Digital MyPassport would be more reliable than this, especially since I juuust bought it in January 2018 (for RM219!). Didn’t lose much important data, thank goodness, but I did lose my movie collection 🙁

Missed a couple of
bill payments
 from last month. Could have sworn I paid them, but guess not. Had to pay a little bit extra as late penalty.

1-day ticket to
Ultra Music Japan
 (the EDM festival) was more expensive than I thought. 15,000 yen. RM580. This really bumped up my travel expense category, but it will be an experience to remember (I hope). It would have cost a bit more if I used a credit card, but I used my BigPay card and saved some money. I can recommend using BigPay if you want to buy stuff that is not priced in RM – the exchange rates there are awesome, like XE.com rates awesome. Get extra RM10 credit if you use my referral code INLALP7ZLE (I get RM10 too!). To download the app, find BigPay in
PlayStore
 (Android) or
Appstore
 (iOS).

Chasing clients for
pending payments
 is never fun 🙁 Ah, the downsides of self-employment, I tell you.

Things to Look Forward to:

Taking advantage of
Yoodo’s 20GB for RM20
 promotion. Yoodo is that select-what-you-use telco plan under Celcom, and you can change your data/minutes/sms plan for the next billing cycle anytime. Taking advantage of this promotion, I’ve reduced my data plan to just 15GB for September (I usually use about 30GB per month). I’m only saving about RM10, but every little bit counts! If you want to try Yoodo out too, get FREE RM 20 when you sign up using my
referral link
 (I get RM20 too).

Ringgit Oh Ringgit’s
writing competition
 officially ended, and I had fun going through all the entries and selecting which short stories to include in my upcoming ebook. Now I’m in the process of editing it. Aiming to get the personal finance-themed ebook out by end of October, so look out for that announcement!

The Japan trip 😀 Recommend me places to visit and things to do, preferably something a bit kooky and different!

How was your August? Which areas were good and what can be improved, money-wise? Share in the comments section 🙂

To read about my past monthly budget update, click
here
. Graphs are taken from my expense-tracking app Money Lover (
review
).


Budget Update: August 2019

Budget Update: August 2019

Have you ever used
learning
 as an excuse to NOT do something? Like, in a “oh I can’t possibly do that yet, I’m still learning about it” way.

Yeah. Hi. Can I join the club?

Creating video content is that thing that I’m forever ‘learning’. So far, in the last couple of years, I’ve:

Asked many people for advice

Bought some equipment

Bought a video-editing software

Bought and went through courses (including one in August designed to conquer the
fear
of being on camera, a course called ‘Confidence on Camera’)

Made a looooong list of possible video content angles

And yet – and yet! – at time of writing, I still can’t bring myself to actually do it. The only reason why I have a Ringgit Oh Ringgit Youtube channel set up (
if you want to be an early subscriber…
) is because I need a place to house a collaboration video done with HelloGold.

On one hand, ok fine baby steps. On another hand, this baby needs to grow the hell up.

Someone smack some sense into me please. Or suggest video content you want to watch, maybe that might help. I don’t know.

Yay of the Month:

In terms of spending breakdown, I spent the biggest chunk (almost half) on
travel
, which makes sense. My family and I went on a trip to Perth and then I turned a work trip to Penang into a weekend getaway. Travel is something I don’t mind spending on, so no complaints there.

August 2019 was my
best-earning month
ever
.  I generate income from sponsored posts on Ringgit Oh Ringgit website, and in August 2019 I had a record FOUR sponsored post, in addition to incomes from writing work and speaking gigs. Income from website traffic increased too (no idea why, but I’ll take it).

View this post on Instagram

Screenshot of my Ezoic account (something like Adsense; one way I make money from ringgitohringgit.com traffic) Not quite sure what I did but August is my best-earning month so far and it’s not even over yet 💪 #ezoic #contentcreator #websitemalaysia #websiteearning #seo #makemoneyonline #malaysiablogger #bloggermalaysia #adsense

A post shared by
 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Aug 25, 2019 at 9:28pm PDT

On that note, shoutout to all these amazing companies which hired me <3. Click on the links to see the posts we collaborated on: Affin Hwang Investment Bank;
HelloGold
;
Great Eastern Takaful
;
Touch ‘n Go
; and
PIDM
. I enjoyed working with them so much, I was inspired to write
[PERSONAL] How I Get Great Clients Who Pay & Treat Me Well
 article.

Finally hired an
accountant
 to go over my tax records, something I wanted to do for ageeees ago. Happily, she said I’ve been doing my taxes right.

Read just one book, but a good one:
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
. I liked the part where he said schools nowadays are ill-equipped to prepare students for future work, because we have no idea how work in the future is going to look like. Instead of technical skills (which may be redundant by the time they finish school), it’s a good idea to teach the ‘4Cs’ instead: Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, Creativity.

Had the
official book launch
 of Money Stories from Malaysia: Volume 1 at Borders Malaysia! This event was so important for me that I hired a photographer to capture our moments, and I’m glad I did – pictures turned out beautiful! View the album
here
.

View this post on Instagram

3 Aug 2019 was a special day. My fellow authors and I celebrated the book launch of Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 1 at Borders Bookstore at The Curve! 🎉🎉 @borders_my During the event, we talked about the book journey and the complexity of our relationships with money. It was a great panel session – everyone gave such raw, honest answers Then we officially launched by signing our names on the poster and a cake-cutting ceremony. The book-shaped cake from In the Clouds Cakes turned out amazing! And delicious 🙂 Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 1 is available at major bookstores in all of Malaysia. I love how wild this journey has been. In the process – Volume 2! More pics of the book event at the Ringgit Oh Ringgit Facebook page. Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us! #MYMoneyStories #malaysianauthors #booklaunch #bordersmalaysia #bookcake

A post shared by
 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Aug 4, 2019 at 7:42pm PDT

So I was on
BFM’s Ringgit & Sense
 show, hosted by Roshan Kanesan.You can listen to the podcast on the
BFM page
, or at Spotify at
this link
.

Finally did a couple of things on my
digital marketing
 checklist: automated 5x postings per week via Socialbee for Facebook (which I managed to get a sweet lifetime deal), and set up Linktree for
my instagram
 (I can finally put more than one link there, yay).

My face! On a
playing card
! Thank you Jason from Bitcoin Malaysia team! Get it for just RM25 instead of RM59 during the pre-order period
here
!

View this post on Instagram

Bitcoin Malaysia created a playing cards collection featuring people in the crypto scene, both internationally and locally Very flattered that they included me in the pack too. I’m Queen of Hearts! ❤ Do help support the Malaysia crypto community and buy a pack. Its only RM25 per pack now during pre-order period instead of normal price RM59.90 Go here to buy – https://bitcoinmalaysia.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/cards-collection-2019 #bitcoinMalaysia #cryptomalaysia #queenofhearts #cryptocurrencymalaysia #playingcards #malaysia #MYMoneyStories

A post shared by
 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Aug 25, 2019 at 9:48pm PDT

Nay of the Month:

Remember that freak storm in Subang area, where roads flooded hard? Yeah
my place got flooded
 too,
and I live at a condominium
. What happened was the rain was heavier than what my balcony drainage could handle, so the the rainwater pooled and flooded my whole place. Cleaning up after that SUCKED.

Annoyed but resigned to the fact that I
wasted money
 by buying things I didn’t use up to the max, namely (1) phone data, and (2) luggage allocation while travelling to Perth. Yeah yeah I got peace of mind but does that justify the RM300 I wasted I DON’T THINK SO.

Indulged in a lot of food. It’s easy to do that when you’re travel… My excuse: ‘they don’t sell this back home’ -_-

Met up with a chiropractor for the first time to get a second opinion on my 10-year on-off
 knee pain
, which doctors have dismissed. So apparently, I have been living with hip subluxation or misaligned hip all this while. The imbalance puts extra pressure on my right knee, which causes the pain. So yeah, I’ll be spending some money for treatments in the coming months. Not complaining though. I’m glad I finally got a diagnosis, rather than being told I simply need to lose weight by other doctors. Fat discrimination is real.

Things to Look Forward to:

Continue working on Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 2!

Doing some volunteer work 🙂

Doing my second Pecha Kucha talk, this time in Melaka! Melaka peeps, come drop by 🙂 More info and tix purchase
here
.

Keeping things light and easy before October rolls along. I have a ridiculous number of things lined up in October, it’s not even funny. More info will be posted soon in
Ringgit Oh Ringgit FB page
.

Doing my next baby step for
Ringgit Oh Ringgit Youtube channel

Lastly, I want to give a reminder to everyone. The number of ‘personal finance influencers’ in Malaysia are increasing, as are companies doing ‘thought leadership’ as a strategy.

That’s good, but never, ever, follow their advice blindly without your own research. That includes what I say too. Always think of our underlying agenda. How we will profit out of it. If the things we say makes sense. Don’t put anyone on a pedestal, you hear me?

Signing off. Have a lovely September everyone.

—

To read about my past monthly budget update, click
here
. Graphs are taken from my expense-tracking app Money Lover (
how expense tracking works
)


Budget Update: August 2020

Budget Update: August 2020

Over RM17k. I’ve never spent this much money within a month in my life. Two categories made up 80% of the total spending in August 2020: Wedding (44%) and Donations & Gifts. (36%)

What can I say? I guess I learned that (1) Wedding planning is expensive, even with drastically reduced guest count due to pandemic – thanks pandemic, (2) being a filial daughter is my obligation, I will do my best to fulfil financial expectations, and (3) having the money to do both without getting into debt is one of the biggest blessings one could ever have.

Still, I acknowledge I do experience financial anxiety, even without debt. I keep thinking of what I can do to increase my income so I can ‘replace’ that money, keep revisiting non-viable and previously dismissed business ideas. My head goes, what else can you do, Suraya?
What else can you do?

It’s exhausting but nothing worth having is easy, ay?

My Spending Breakdown in August 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:

MPH Distributors added another order of Cerita Duit Orang Malaysia: Jilid 1 woohoo!

MPH Distributors made additional restock order for
#CeritaDuit
!!! ❤❤❤😆😆
pic.twitter.com/eyrfKDVawQ

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
August 19, 2020

[Category: Groceries] Went back to grocery delivery services – I forgot how amazing
HappyFresh

was! Stopped using them for a few months because they kept running out of timeslots during MCO so I gave up on it, but now everything is fine.

[Category: Wedding] Bought all of my dulang hantaran items, his ring, cloth for the family outfit, and paid wedding venue deposit. To my extreme happiness, we get to save money on the reception outfits as the boutique included dress rental as part of the package <3 We saved like, what? RM1500 just there alone? Scoreee

I have to say, giving myself permission to SPEND was an experience in itself. Had fun shopping and looking for deal-stacking opportunities.

Just made my first-ever zalora purchase. Sale item, extra coupon code on top of that, upsized shopback cashback, collect credit card points… What other deal-stacking method did I miss

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

[Category: Donations] Gave my dad RM5k to contribute towards his dusun project.

[Catergory: Misc Wants] Treated myself to a book haul from
BookXcess
! And it happens that two books from one of my fav self-development author are available! Added them to cart real quick.

View this post on Instagram

My latest @bookxcess haul! 5 books for RM88.50, plus free delivery, what a deal!! This time I intentionally picked books written by women to gender-balance my bookcase 💁🏻♀ It’s still too Western-centric though so next time I’ll make an effort to get books from non-Westerners (or at least non-white people) #BookXcess #BookXcessHaul

A post shared by
 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Aug 24, 2020 at 9:27pm PDT

[Category: Misc Wants] Bought myself a new pair of
Nike leggings
. Even though I got it for cheaper at RM150 at O.C., I still thought it was a fairly pricey item. But gosh I’m so glad I got it – my two other yoga pants are getting hole-y after years of frequent use and this serves as an early replacement for them.

[Category: Misc Wants] I also got myself a
fire extinguisher
. A very practical RM42 purchase

View this post on Instagram

Bought myself a little bit of peace of mind. One of the rare instances where the sponsored ad resulted in conversion #fireextinguisher #minifireextinguisher #whatibought

A post shared by
 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Aug 24, 2020 at 12:48am PDT

Did another 30-day yoga challenge. Didn’t complete this time around (I got to Day 27 by end of August), but still proud of myself.

[Category: Business] Eliminated one
recurring subscription
! Instead of renewing my subscription to Grammarly, I bought another software, Linguix instead. It was $49 (~RM200) on lifetime deal.

Read
two books
:
Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending by Elizabeth Dunn & Micheal Norton
 (how do we extract maximum happiness from the money we spend?)  and
Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin
(how do we
stick
 to habits?).

Nay of the Month:

Mostly happy with my spending for the month, except the amount. RM17k… Still hard to wrap my head around that.

[Category: Misc Wants] Bought myself a lash kit… which I don’t have the skills to use. What was supposed to save me money, didn’t. The experience inspired this tweet:

DIY projects are worth doing because only then you realise how shit you are at the skill and realise why professionals charge the amount they do 👍

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

[Category: Food] Oh damn,
Grab’s HOTDEALS
 was my kryptonite. Usually I can wait >1 month before succumbing to food delivery but I made 5 Grabfood orders in August alone!! My tastebuds are happy but I am not >:(

Still haven’t received that special SME grant,
Geran Khas Prihatin
 worth RM3,000, originally announced back in June.

Tried to
sell some items
 on Carousell but no one’s biting yet 🙁

Things to Look Forward to:

Turns out that I like the 30-day challenge format so I plan to complete another 30-day fitness challenge!

Still working on mindful eating

Liquidating some of my investments so I can fulfil a promise to my mom: allocate RM20k to do some renovations at family home.

What’s your yay of the month, nay of the month, and something you’re looking forward to? Tell me in the comments section!

—

To read about my past monthly budget update, click
here
. Graphs are taken from my expense-tracking app Money Lover (
how expense tracking works
)


Budget Update: August 2021 – Merdeka..?

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 August? It was Merdeka Month, yet it didn’t feel like it, did it? Not when the people nor the party we didn’t vote for still remain in power.

But hey. Change what you can, accept what you can’t. When the time comes, we’ll simply vote them out again. All we can do now is survive and take care of each other.

Let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: August 2021

In August 2021, I spent RM8,282.83. The top 3 top expenses were:

Donations & Gifts

(RM2,529.50)
 – Parents’ electric bill x 2, KindBoxProject, Sister’s birthday gift, Rider tips
Business (RM1,485)
– Graphic designer, CFP exam fee
Utilities & Rent (RM1,454.08)
 – Gotta keep a roof over our heads

Cumulatively, the top 3 expenses make up 67% of my total August 2021 expenses.

My Spending Breakdown in August 2021

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

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Broke my daily website traffic record!

This doesn’t happen very often, so believe me when I say I was insanely happy 🙂 Thank you again, for the support <3

Btw the traffic surge is due to the
How to Get RM10000 per Month in Passive Income (In 3 Steps)
 article 🙂

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

#2 – Received Food Vouchers after doing surveys

I got RM20 in Foodpanda voucher for completing a survey and RM200 Grabfood voucher for doing a focus group interview. Yay for subsidised dinner dates.

Oh yay I got RM20 in Foodpanda voucher for doing the FIMM Investors' Literacy Survey on Unit Trust Scheme (UTS), Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) and Retirement Planning
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com 🏴 (@surayaror)
August 17, 2021

#3 – Subscribed to Disney
Plus
 Hotstar

Paid RM54.90 for 3 months access to Disney Hotstar. I blame the new Spiderman trailer – that reignited my desire to watch my favourite Marvel movies all over again. But the fresh content library served as a great distraction to whatever’s going on, so I’m not mad!

Also the subscription process was smooth af. Seriously impressed.

Disney Hotstar is the smoothest subscription I've ever experienced. Just telephone number and credit card details and done. No email address, no account registration, no billing account, nothing else. Amazing
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com 🏴 (@surayaror)
August 28, 2021

#4 – Gave 3 talks

I did:

Science-Backed Ways to Buy Happiness (At All Income Levels) with MyAgeing™ Financial Literacy and Educational Hub (MyFiLE), UPM
Bagaimana saya buat duit sebagai blogger dan solopreneur at Yezza.io Instagram Live
Interview with Crypto Kopitiam

#5 – Ate a lot of delicious food

Altogether I spent around RM2000 on food, across expense categories Groceries, Dates and Food. It wasn’t particularly healthy but God was I happy.

#6 – Misc

Read
two books
:

What Women Want: The Science of Female Shopping by Paco Underhill
 (we want cleanliness, control, safety and considerateness)
Follow the Money: A Month in the Life of a Ten-Dollar Bill

by Steve Boggan
(satisfies my random adventure fantasies!)

Noteworthy shows:

Vice Youtube channel’s Side Hustle series, particularly
We Make $3K/Month Selling Trash
Loki Season 1 on Disney Hotstar
The whole
Solo Travel Japan
 Youtube Channel (travel video with no voice!)
Fantastic Fungi on Netflix

Bought for myself:

2 dresses
Some skincare (Vitamin c serum, niacinamide 10% + zinc, rubber masks)
False lashes set
Some makeup items from So.lek’s going-out-of-business sale 🙁
Lavender linen spray and lavender aromatherapy eye pillow from
The Asli Co

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

Nay of the Month:

#1 – Double bill payments

I paid a few bills ‘in advance’, which is not technically a bad thing since it’s something I have to pay anyway, but led to higher expenses in the bills department regardless.

#2 – High groceries bill

RM1.4k per month is probably the highest groceries cost for 2 people so far.

#3 – Short-lived low-quality purchase

So this side table I bought for under RM30 barely lasted a month. I know, I should buy quality, but one was swayed by all the number of product sales.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

Things to Look Forward to:

Completing my CFP Module 3 exam
Organising a safe dine-in experience with parents, now that we could..? I haven’t seen them in a while and it’s ok to meet them if they’re fully vaccinated and we maintain SOPs, right?

Well, that was my August 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 🙂

—

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
)


Budget Update: August 2022 – I’m writing a book!

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.

So how was your August? Was it good, bad or meh?

 For me, August 2022 was stressful. And it was completely my fault.

Basically, I was given 4 months to write and submit the first draft of a book. I wrote half of it in 6 weeks, procrastinated for the next 6 weeks then panic-finished the final half of the book in August, the final month.

All throughout August, I was so on edge and anxious all the time. Some days I felt crippling self-doubt and wondered if I am cut out to be a writer at all.

Most of all, I felt disappointed in myself for slacking off for one and a half months. It’s not that I didn’t know about the dateline!

On the plus side, I got a lot of advice on dealing with self-disappointment. Click on the tweet below – there were a lot of helpful replies. Thank you everyone for helping to slap some sense back into me, it was appreciated :’)

What do you do/tell yourself when you're disappointed with yourself?
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
August 3, 2022

Something else I learned in the process – at my lowest, my partner is an amazing cheerleader 🙂 He would hug and reassure me and remind me to get some rest.

Anyway, all that’s left to say now is I have a book coming out soon, so watch this space 🙂 Let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: August 2022

In August 2022, I spent RM8,781.49. The top 3 top expenses were:

Misc Needs (RM1,775.74)
– Mostly LHDN tax payment
Home Reno + Deco (RM1,662.63)
– Monthly EPP for renovation
Utilities & Mortgage (RM
1,250
)
– Half mortgage

Cumulatively, the top 3 expenses make up 55% of my total August 2022 expenses. (My belief is, if you want to save money, always trim from the top 3 expenses rather than cut out a few ringgits from other already-low expenses)

My Spending Breakdown in August 2022

Here’s what I spent on in the whole month of August 2022, in their respective categories and from highest to lowest amount:

Spending notes:

RM8.8k is alright, considering that is inclusive of EPP (RM1.6k), mortgage (RM1.25k) and taxes (RM1.6k). And I shopped, too (approx RM1k).
And the RM900 I paid for gold earrings also technically can be considered a long-term investment (trying to soothe myself there)
Relatively high Social cost – need to suggest more affordable places instead of boujie places. But had a blast with Mom and sisters, so it was absolutely worth it.

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Finished first draft manuscript of my new book!

It’s not done yet, lots more to go but progress is progress!

#2 – Family trip to Cameron Highlands

In our family, the ideal family vacation is Airbnb/Villa everyone in a house with a full kitchen, bring/buy ingredients and food to cook and eat together and go visit mom-approved, kids-friendly attractions. We had so much fun 🙂

Also, self-timers >  ask someone to help take pictures. Love this pic so much!!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

(Btw I got so many inquires about the brown jacket I was wearing! I got it from
here
, around RM30 only 🙂

#3 – Found loose (crypto)coins

It’s like finding money you’ve forgotten in an old bag but BETTER.

today's random rezeki – I found a crypto wallet I've completely forgotten about. got 0.02 btc inside, approx 400 usd 🥳
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
August 30, 2022

#4 – Family holiday

I’m a big fan of grocery shopping and Japan ingredients so I had so much fun grocery shopping at the newly-opened Gyomu Super!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

#5 – Appeared on..

#1 –  BFM Ringgit & Sense podcast

Thanks BFM for having me again! Listen to the podcast at
https://www.bfm.my/podcast/morning-run/ringgit-and-sense/money-relationship-boyfriend-girlfriend-partner-dark-triad

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

#2 – Roadmap to Budgeting with HER community, Clinical School JB

HER is a student-led women-focused community comprised of students from Clinical School in JB. I couldn’t say no when they asked if I could speak on personal finance. Amazing initiative by amazing students.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by HER CSJB (@her.csjb)

#6 – Misc

Read:

Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster (award-winning economist)
How to Achieve & Maintain a Slim Figure for Malaysians by Jayden Chen
Cerita Orang Bank by Mastura Abd Salim

Kak Mastura Mohd Salim ni kerja Islamic Banking lebih 20 tahun, dari unit kecil masa mula2 start sampai berkembang
Kalau nak belajar Islamic Banking cara santai, bacalah. Dia cerita experience dalam buku Cerita Orang Bank ni. Senang faham
Beli dekat:
https://t.co/O7Nf2T1VoU

pic.twitter.com/aAr5xalnrf
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
August 20, 2022

Watched:

Selling the OC (Its so petty I love it)

Bought for myself:

A pair of gold earrings
5 books
A pair of jeans

Nay of the Month:

#1 – Got a call from LHDN

This morning I got a phone call from LHDN. Like actually LHDN. Nasib didn't cut off the call immediately like I usually do, because it came from a 03 number not some mobile number.
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
August 23, 2022

Thanks to scammer calls, I was super sceptical but it ended up being a legit call from LHDN. They asked why I didn’t pay CP500 tax estimate instalment. Only started to believe it was really LHDN when the lady instructed me to check website and to sort paperwork myself lol.

Anyway, long story short I messed up my tax payment and had to pay RM1.6k in tax estimate for the year.

#2 – Still made impulse purchases

August was supposed to be my no-spend month but I still impulse-bought a few items. Like the gold earrings. And some fitness classes.

I impulse-bought 2 weeks of fitness classes (trial). Feel so lazy but have to summon the motivation to go somehow, if not so sayang waste rm199
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
August 25, 2022

I mean both are completely fine purchases and I don’t regret them but it could have waited, you know? That’s the point of doing a no-spend month.

#3 – Stress-ate so much

The scale doesn’t lie…

This is also reflected in the high cost under Food category.

Things to Look Forward to:

Melaka trip (friend’s wedding)

Well, that was my August 2022. 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 🙂

—

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
)


Budget Update: August 2023 – Decluttering Month

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.

So how was your August? Was it good, bad or meh?

For me, August 2023 was quite the decluttering month. I managed to sell some items (sold off the robo vacuum cleaner), threw away some items, and packed some items for later use (aka hid them under the bed).

There are still more items to sell, donate and throw. I also found out about Zalora’s clothes donation programme that comes with RM20 cashback for each box weighing over 2kg so that’s a fast way to clear out a lot of stuff!

Why no one told me you can donate clothes to Zalora for up to RM20 cashback!! The clothes will be resold by The Salvation Army NGO
More info:
https://t.co/cdefsv3jMI
Anyone tried?
pic.twitter.com/vst0VV0NCJ
— Suraya: bestselling Bergaji & Pokai book (@surayaror)
August 28, 2023

If you have any other quick decluttering tips, I’ll be happy to hear them 🙂 Now let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update:
August
 2023

In August 2023, I spent RM6,779.18 The top 3 top expenses were:

Donations & Gifts (RM2,384.50)
 – Parents’ electric bill, dad’s car payment

Utilities & Mortgage (RM1,371)
 – Half mortgage

Social (RM615.15)
 – Belanja family makan

Cumulatively, the top 3 expenses make up 67% of my total August 2023 expenses.

(My belief is, if you want to save money, trim first from the top 3 expenses rather than cut out a few ringgits from other already-low expenses)

My Spending Breakdown in August 2023

Here’s what I spent on in the whole month of August 2023, in their respective categories and from highest to lowest amount:

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Found unclaimed money

The good news is I have RM187.65 to claim. The bad news is they rejected the supporting document (ID) I uploaded so I have to re-do, or go to the office.

Find out how you can check too! Refer to
How to Check Unclaimed Money in Malaysia & 14 More To Do If You Need Financial Help
 article

This is your regular reminder to check if you have unclaimed money from the Unclaimed Moneys Registrar
Check every couple years or so. I just checked and I have RM187.65 to claim 🙌
pic.twitter.com/0ZRHuYYOfM
— Suraya: bestselling Bergaji & Pokai book (@surayaror)
August 17, 2023

#2 – Accepted help

My husband was going to be away for a weeklong company trip. At first I thought of staying home alone with baby Mika, but then decided to accept my parents’ offer to help and stayed with them.

I moved out of home in my early 20s so its been a good decade since I lived at home (it has nothing to do with my parents – they’re lovely. I’m just ‘super independent’ and wanted to ‘prove myself’).

It was really nice. I loved seeing my parents bond with their grandchild. In my youth, I had wanted to migrate but now I’m so happy I live near family.

#3 – Sorted out my Tabung Haji account

I had wanted to sort out my Tabung Haji account and finally did! Effectively couldn’t log into my account for years because I forgot my account number and didn’t have it logged anywhere. Finally I have THJari on my phone.

Before you say, oh Suraya you should have just called them – I did. Many times. Maybe just my luck but no one picked up. But it’s ok, the nice officer at Tabung Haji Kelana Jaya branch didn’t even let me line up – he asked what I needed (just the account number) and printed it out for me.

#4 – Met friends

August 2023 was a great social month. I met my good friends from high school – we could only meet each other a couple times a year, if at all so I’m thankful we could all catch up after we voted in the last PRN.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

I also managed to meet friends from AFS Antarabudaya Malaysia during the AGM. Wish we could hang out more but even the short time was fun 🙂

To my friends reading this – Sorry I’m not that great at reaching out. But please know I really do value our friendship.

#5 – Work plans

Last month, I decided to relaunch the How to Buy Your Own Damn Insurance course, and sell the Money Stories from Malaysians book series.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find the time to do them but I did get some interest, particularly after answering some anonymous questions related to insurance/takaful on Twitter. I do believe the demand is there, so its just a matter of working on the relaunch!

I also got another positive review, which is nice!

Another review for my How to Buy Your Own Damn Insurance course 🙂
The insurance via EPF mentioned is called EPF i-Lindung – you can purchase life insurance/takaful and critical illness with funds in your EPF account
To get, simply log into EPF i-Akaun > i-Lindung
pic.twitter.com/Hv3OPtxon4
— Suraya: bestselling Bergaji & Pokai book (@surayaror)
August 8, 2023

#6 – Appeared on:

1)
 Lite FM’s #TheLITEBreakfast

Terry and Asha had me on the #TheLITEBreakfast – topic is saving and budgeting 🙂 Listen to it here:
https://www.audacy.com/podcast/the-lite-breakfast-radio-station-eng-7d964/episodes/lite-tips-for-saving-budgeting-suraya-zainudin-a-ringgit-saved-is-a-ringgit-earned-f8f3c

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

2) BFM’s Ringgit & Sense

Shou Ning from BFM interviewed me on baby-related costs. You can listen to the podcast here:
https://www.bfm.my/podcast/morning-run/ringgit-and-sense/financial-cost-baby-family-malaysia-concerns-2023

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

3) The Star included my commentary on budgeting. You can read the online version here:
https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/family/2023/08/20/with-savings-and-budgeting-it039s-best-to-start-somewhere-no-matter-your-earning

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

#7 – Misc

Read 0 books (again)

Bought for myself:

Secondhand books

Baju kurung for wedding

Milk booster

Nay of the Month:

#1 – No more tumpang Netflix 🙁

So this happened 🙁 It’s been nice paying only RM11 per month for Netflix.

The person who I've been paying to tumpang Netflix account for 3+ years said she's unsubscribing 🙁 I sad
Netflix is cheap way to be entertained so I will resubscribe, now at higher price sobs
— Suraya: bestselling Bergaji & Pokai book (@surayaror)
August 30, 2023

#2 – Stepping down from volunteering roles

Nowadays, it’s hard to find time to work + take care of baby, what more to volunteer. So I formally tendered my resignation as board member of AFS Antarabudaya Malaysia, and turned out 2 non-paid volunteering activities.

Slight guilt, but with limited time, I have no choice but to prioritise my time and attention.

Things to Look Forward to:

Documenting Baby Mika’s growth. I made him a (private) instagram and enjoyed posting his growth so far, from a few hours old to 3 and a half months old now. He’s doubled in weight already! Time flies 🙂

Reading books and writing articles

Well, that was my August 2023. 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 🙂

—

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
)


Budget Update: December 2015

December Summary

Happy New Year!! This is my last budget update from the year 2015 #bringiton2016

December was bliss. I  dedicated much of my time building up this website from scratch. I spent a lot of time writing. I spent a lot of time thinking of what to write. Interestingly, my brain’s most active period is right before I  fall asleep, late at night. That’s when I get a lot of interesting ideas about personal finance. Now I’ve developed a habit for writing down my thoughts before they float away. It’s great because I recall stuff better, but not great because you’re not supposed to look at bright screens so late at night.

I spent more than RM3k (gulp). I’m not particularly happy by the high amount I spent in December, but a third of that was pure donation to my sister, so I guess I’ll have to let it go. Actually, I didn’t really indulge in personal spending – the majority spent was for legit, sensible stuff. I pay for the usual – rent, groceries, loan repayment, medical card, mobile, petrol – but it was the additional, unavoidable stuff that killed my budget. Like website hosting costs, bank fees (categorised under Misc Need) and gym.

Yay of the month:

My blogging/writing/reaching out efforts are paying off 🙂 My website traffic is slowly but surely increasing. I get some emails and comments from readers. My Facebook page is nearing 100 likes, which I didn’t expect. I have 3 guest articles coming out in various websites. It’s nice when other people value what you do, especially if you do what you love.

I started investing in Bitcoin
!

I’m getting… toner… from all these exercises. Results are slowly showing. I’m glad that I didn’t wait until the new year to start. Also, I stopped crossfit (RM120 per month) in favor for gym (pay as you go – RM5 per entry x ~15 entries a month) to save money.

I spent practically nothing on myself. Usually I spend a bit more on what I ‘want’, but in December it was just RM1.30 thing.

Nay of the month:

ASB profits dipped below 8%? What what whatttt. Yes I’m still grateful, but damn, I didn’t think it would go that low.

I got into a minor accident, but I’m completely fine, no worries.

Yoshi the kitten is a destroyer. Read the bonus bit below.

Things to look forward to:

I really have to get my baju kurung tailored already. My sister’s wedding is coming up soon.

Monitoring Bitcoin’s prices and getting to know the community.

More writing 🙂

Hope you guys had a great 2015. I had a memorable one, with your help. Hugs.

Bonus: 5 Things Yoshi Destroyed So Far

So this is Yoshi. He’s getting heavier. I can now emphatise with mothers who overfed their children. Yoshi destroyed 5 things so far…. and he’s only been with me for 6 weeks. Look at what he destroyed.

Item #1 – This pink monkey

Item #2 – This picture frame of my parents, which I kept since high school

Item #3 – This toilet paper. 2 toilet papers, actually. He completely destroyed the other one

Item #4 – The purple vase that used to house these flowers (momento from best friend’s wedding)

Item #5 – My face powder. IT’S SO ANNOYING TO USE WHEN IT’S CRACKED YOU HAVE NO IDEA

Bad Yoshi >:(

I can’t help it. Still gonna keep him. He’s like a cute devil. Ugh look at that stupid face.

*melts*


Budget Update: December 2016

December Budget Update Summary

 Happy 2017, everyone! I hope you had a good 2016. It was surreal, wasn’t it?

December 2016 was definitely a good ending to the year for me. I didn’t earn as much (total: RM5863.51), but I also took it easy, being in holiday mood and all. I’m embarrassed that I spent more than I made in December 2016, but hey at least I’m honest.

I have so many things to be grateful for in 2016. My freelancing income is stable, and I’m starting 2017 with clients who I’m genuinely happy to be working with. Ringgit Oh Ringgit grew 10x in traffic in one year (!!! thank you!!). I’m living in a cute apartment with two adorable cats – okay, I can do without them randomly waking me up at night fighting ON MY BED. Nasib baik korang comel kalau tak dah buang kat pasar malam -_-

Thank you, everyone, for your kind, encouraging words for me. I get high on feeling useful, so the fact that many of you come here for the money tips means a lot to me. I just… want to make the world a little bit better, a little bit happier. Regardless of your situation, I hope your financial life will continue to improve in 2017. As a tool, money brought me great joy, and I can’t wait for you to experience that as well.

Here’s to a wonderful 2017, full of self-improvement and learning and continuous love, joy and acceptance.

Yay of the Month:

Celebrated New Year’s with friends
. Much laughter, too many chicken wings, and reminder that if you buy charcoal last-minute, you’ll only get the crappy ones.

Celebrated Christmas
. “Suraya, this side of table not halal, this side all halal. We separated them. Everyone, don’t mix the spoons ah”. Oh, God bless all of you. Thank you for sharing your holiday with me.

Conducted my
first ever giveaway
! Congratulations Ping on your new bag! I really enjoyed reading all the submissions – I asked them to answer ‘what was your most value-for-money purchase in 2016?’ – read the entries
here
! Thank you Biji Biji Design for sponsoring the prize!

My friend gave me preview passes to the
Big Bad Wolf Book Sale
 and the experience of leisurely browsing books without much crowd was honestly one of my highlights of 2016. I bought a lot of books, including personal finance books. I might share them with you guys later, after I read them 🙂

Read
Confessions of a Sociopath: Hiding in Plain Sight by M.E. Thomas
. This memoir of a high-performing sociopath was so interesting and insightful. Sociopaths have difficulty with empathy, but it also makes them rational and logical. It’s not a personal finance book, but the author admits to doing extremely well in the stocks market. I guess it makes sense, because emotions make a shit trader. I think, above all, what I learned from this book is characteristics of a sociopath so I can (try) avoid being manipulated by one.

Found a
GREAT eyebrow threading place
. She’s so good – the eyebrow threading process did not make me cry once! (On average, I cry between 2-3 times every session). She’s so skilful, and the best part is she only charges RM5 for both eyebrows! Look for Sonia from a boutique shop called Viva Danz Co. No FB or website – very small place. It’s along Jalan Suppiah Pillay, off Jalan Ipoh. At the Viva Residency area. The one famous for Tommy Le Baker and Theatre360 one. You’re welcome.

Interviewed by CompareHero about my 2017 financial resolutions 🙂 Read it
here
!

Nay of the Month:

Got scammed – RM1400 gone
. The summary: contacted an online vendor, ordered RM1400 worth of furniture, and they delayed the delivery until blocked my communication with them. It’s a shame, because I deliberately wanted to support small businesses instead of buying furniture from big stores. I’ve bought many things from online sellers, and this one made me feel… betrayed. In the end I got IKEA furniture. I’ve made a police report. Let’s see what comes out of it. If you are a small business owner, please take care of your customers. It gives a bad rep to the whole industry.

My new apartment is pretty, but it was also empty. I’m now paying
 2 x RM200+ instalments for the next 6 months
 – mostly for the fridge, washing machine and IKEA couch. Took advantage of Tesco and IKEA’s 0% instalment plans.

I only receive less than half of my
security deposit
 from the Ipoh house. Reason: the cat scratched the couch and landlord said it needs to be replaced. Fair enough. My cat, my responsibility. Still mildly annoyed about this unexpected expense, though.

So I might need
braces
. Dammit, I should have done them sooner. My teeth alignment is getting worse. That’s RM3k just for the deposit in January 2017.
People with braces – what can I do to save money on this??

Getting a bit overboard with
kitchen tools
. In a month, I bought an oven, induction cooker, pans, hand blender, mixing bowls, salad spinner, baking pans, and other baking tools. I didn’t have an oven in Ipoh, so I didn’t bake anything for a year. I missed baking, but maybe I should be a bit less enthusiastic about it :/

Wow my
public transportation costs
 really skyrocketed. Uber and Grab are still better options for me than having a car, though.

Lifestyle upgrade.
 I’m trying really hard not to get sucked into this, but I bought myself presents: garment steamer, speakers and a facial session. I shouldn’t need anything else for the time being, though.

Things to Look Forward to:

I bought equipment to start an
aquaponics garden
: solar pump and pebble clay. Now I just need to get plants and fish. And fish food. I *was* excited about this, but I’m also scared of failing. I know almost nothing about gardening, what more aquaponics gardening. So that means I have to do this challenge.

Going for a mini-holiday to
Langkawi
 in mid-Jan 🙂 As usual, I’ll be doing it on a budget. I’ll write a post about it after I get back!

Backlogged payments. Come fast, you 🙂 My bank account is waiting for you <3

Working hard.

Paying taxes. Sometimes I think I take too much enjoyment in this, but idk, the process is fun for me.

Above all, I hope that I will continue to be better – new year or no new year. Continuous improvement is my goal
for 2017
 in life. And I would love to hear how you plan to improve yourselves this year, too, financially or otherwise. Again, thanks for visiting RoR and let me know what kind of content would be helpful for you – I always need ideas 🙂

To read about my past monthly budget update, click
here
.