Budget Update: January 2018

Budget Update: January 2018

After
December 2017
‘s spending massacre, I’m happy that my spending last month was so much more under control! I spent RM5.5k in January 2018 (a third of that is business expenses). There’s still room to lower expenses – specifically, food (read that as snacks-I-couldn’t-resist).

People say that January felt long. Was it? For me, January was very eventful – so the motion of time was kinda skewed. It felt both fast and slow.

What a strange concept, time. We all have the same amount, but we all experience it in different ways. Nowadays I treasure time a lot more than money, an opposite from before. This is a generalisation, but I think all of us will go through these stages:

Work
; exchange our time for money (the sad thing is, some people never get past this stage)

Have enough money
; use it to manage time more effectively

Have time
; some people use their extra time well (they make stuff
happen
), some people don’t (they
consume
 stuff)

Regardless of which stage you’re at, it’s worth thinking of what you want to do with your time, and how you want to spend it. In 2018, I don’t want to be merely happy, I want to be fulfilled. If I can do that while earning money at the same time, all the better.

What does fulfilment mean to you? What would you do if money is not an issue right now?

Deep la pulak. Sorry. Eheh.

Yay of the month:

Went to an Orang Asli kampung and taught English
. I only managed to stay for a couple of nights, but that was enough to fall in love with the village and her super hospitable villagers. Kampung Tual in Pahang has no phone signal; I’m not going to lie – being cut off from the internet for a few days gave me anxiety at first. But because of that, I absorbed everything – from the coolness of the morning mist to the creak of the bamboo-made longhouse to the sharp bites of tiny insects to the sing-a-long guitar sessions by the kampung boys to… this space is not enough to do the kampung justice. Let’s just say it was one of the best experiences in my life by far.

Read three books
.
Rich Malaysia, Poor Malaysians by Anas Alam Faizal
 – a collection of newspaper columns by the author on various topics, with the overarching theme of educating and inspiring Malaysians to do and be better;
The Power of Habits: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
 – the most important takeaway from this book is how to break bad habit loops and how to create good routines; and
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene
 – talks about general relativity, special relativity, quantum mechanics, string theory and how they work. Theoretical physics is fascinating, but I admit I really struggled to understand what the author was saying around halfway through the book.

Attended a 3-hour
Psychological First Aid Workshop
. The instructor taught us a set of best practices usually given to field workers who are deployed to help people who just experienced a traumatic event. The knowledge is handy to have.

Completed two official Google exams, both related to my work and personal interest. I am now
Google Adwords Certified
 and have the
Google Analytics Individual Qualification
 🙂 The Udemy courses I bought for this purpose helped a lot (and I got them during a massive sale!)

The Power of Habits book deserves some credit for this one: I am trying to destroy bad habits and instil good ones. Ie I am quitting smoking, exercising more regularly and getting back on keto. There were days when my willpower would deplete and I’d binge on food or cigarettes, but I think the worse is over. Wish me luck.

Re-dyed two of my faded black jeans – they now look as good as new 🙂 I’d count this as a frugal move, yay.

Received help offers for my
NGO fundraising platform
 idea. Thank you so much. I’m still working on it –  am kinda stuck at the conceptualisation stage and need to figure out a few key elements. In due time.

A kind anon gave an amazing present – links to >100 free Udemy courses! I signed up for tens of courses (this time, greed is good!) and many of you guys did, too. Quick invite for you to follow my
Ringgit Oh Ringgit FB page
 and my
twitter page
 – I share money-related info and sometimes giveaway opportunities all over the place.

Nay of the month:

My grandmother was hospitalised.
 One weekend, I went back to the parents’ and found out my grandmother was just transported to the ER by an ambulance. We thought she wouldn’t make it, we really did. Thankfully, she’s a fighter. She spent a week in the hospital and was released with strict medical instructions. I’m happy, but I’m also mentally preparing myself for the inevitable. When that happens… guys, I will have to see my mom completely heartbroken. That scares me a lot.

I found out that my laptop, a barely 4 months-old Surface Pro 4 has
flickering screen issues
 – it would overheat and cause different screens to leave phantom shadows. Investigated and find out many others complaining about the same thing. They even have a name for it –
flickergate
. Contacted Microsoft support and they say it might be due to applications I have installed. Uninstalled some of them and saw immediate improvement – so far, so good, but let’s see. Anyway, I love this laptop, but this is NOT what I expected from a premium device. I splurged for this expense, dammit.

Got
new glasses
. Attracted by the low initial price, then overpaid because of necessary add-ons -_- I gotta fix this weakness of mine and not be swayed by low INITIAL prices too much. I hate it when I try to be frugal but it backfires.

Bitcoin price plummeted by more than 50%
. I try not to be, but I am nervous. Sometimes I forget how risky it is.

The
will-writing process
 is more frustrating than I thought. I, a liberal Muslim, am trying to work within the frameworks of outdated Islamic inheritance laws. Am I bitter about this? Yes. Am I still going to follow it anyway because I have to, because it’s my obligation as a Muslim and I have no way out of it? Sigh, yes. At least there ARE ways to ensure my Mom and Dad will get equal shares, not 1/3 and 2/3 respectively as per Faraid law.  I will share my will-writing journey in a future article, so stay tuned.

I got my eyebrows threaded but I don’t like the results 🙁

Things to Look Forward to:

This year is the year of personal projects. I’m happy to say that I’ve decided to
produce a theatre show
, scheduled for Q3 this year. I’ll be working with an amazing director. I’ve never been a producer, but I’ll learn. It’ll be fun. More details to come <3

Am really itching to do some backpacking-style solo travelling. Haven’t done that in a while, I miss it. Will be keeping a close eye on the next AirAsia sale.

Purchasing some more
insurance
. I have a medical card and personal accident insurance – need to add critical illness, at least.

Chinese New Year is around the corner. This means no one will be in working mood, really – work will get done, but barely. Enjoy your quasi-holiday 😉

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


Budget Update: January 2019

Budget Update: January 2019

Wake up. Brush teeth. Make coffee, have breakfast. Check my daily to-do list. Anxiety. Take out phone, scroll online for hours for distraction. Tell myself to get back to work. Anxiety. Find food to eat. Repeat until midnight. Repeat for days on end.

January 2019 should have represented a new start and a new beginning, but it didn’t, at least not for me. For much of the month, I was stuck in a destructive procrastination mode. I’d spend hours mindlessly scrolling the web and eating comfort food,
knowing
 that those behaviours are my unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Guys. I want to do so many things. I want to achieve so many things. But they’re overwhelming and I fear failure and instead of rising up to the challenge, I… get anxious instead. When I feel that way I just want to distract myself (phone) or feel comforted (food).

Does this happen to you? What do you do to break yourself out of that spell?

Yay of the Month:

Took off my braces
!!! I paid RM1000 as final payment in January 2019 and that’s it, the journey’s over. A part of me misses it, but I definitely like not worrying about having food stuck in the braces after a meal.

View this post on Instagram

RM8500 and 1.5 years later, the treatment is done. I’m no longer a #braceface! 😁 . Google ‘RinggitOhRinggit braces cost in Malaysia’ if you want to find out the price range, including government services (they’re so much cheaper!). Lots of helpful info in the comments section too! . #damonbraces #bracesMalaysia #malaysiabraces #teethstraightening

A post shared by
 Suraya
 (@surayaror) on
Jan 6, 2019 at 11:30pm PST

Attended an eye-opening talk hosted by
Kenanga
. Learned so much about the stocks market. Here’s the writeup for your reading pleasure:
4 Things I Learned from Kenanga’s Investment Event

My parents safely completed their umrah, Alhamdulillah <3

Made good use of my RM80/month
gym membership
. Went 11 times in January 2019, making my cost-per-entry a mere RM7.30!

Wanted a
good speaker
 for ages. Was looking at JBL and Harman Kardon range (RM600-RM1300~), but decided to go with a local brand called Vinnfier after testing it out at Lowyat Plaza. The sound quality was surprisingly good despite costing only RM99. I’m quite happy with it tbh, it does the job.

Attended an event organised by
Own Your Story
. Love the values behind the community – they’re all about self-development and exploration of new concepts. If that sounds like something you’re interested in, attend one of their events too (and make sure to leave a donation).

Guest-lectured at TAR
 😀 I spoke to a bunch of PR students about what I do (content creation and management and working with brands).

Invited to a media dinner organised by
Hong Leong
. Apparently, and I didn’t know this until I was there, but I was the only blogger in attendance – everyone else was from big big media companies you’re familiar with. Interestingly, some of the night’s conversation is all about how traditional media organisations are struggling financially. On the flip side, business is booming for online platforms and independent content creators (like myself).

Read one book:
Plato and a Platypus walk into a bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein
. Fun read!

Nay of the Month:

Like I said above,
procrastinated a lot
. My weight increased again, despite actively going to the gym. I did tone up though, so maybe some of the weight gain is muscle gain? *wishful thinking*

Lost my eyebrow pencil. Luckily, the
Guardian sales
 are going on and I managed to snag an eyebrow kit for 50% off (RM18+ after reduced price).

Both my
electric kettles broke
 within one week -_- Complained to Mom, who generously offered her extra set. Thank you Mommy for saving me RM100-ish <3

Wanted to try
Escape Room
 for ages. Kind of disappointed by the experience. There are hard clues, then there are purposely-impossible clues. I won’t try it again, not worth the money (RM76 for two people).

Kena parking fine. RM15 paid out (because paid within 24 hours). Plus RM2.17 because MYEG also want profit.

One of my clients told me they need to receive
certified true copies
 of some documents. Asked on Twitter – most said the price range is reasonable. But…

I GOT CHARGED RM20 PER PAGE FOR CERTIFIED TRUE COPIES OF MY IC AND SSM REGISTRATION HOLY SHIT

BUKAN KORANG KATA RM2.50—RM8 KE??

Dammit lawyers kat PKNS cekik darah siot. Habis RM60 😭😭

— Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)
January 15, 2019

 The upside is I got a bunch of recommendations from you guys, including getting them done for free at police stations and school principals. Some friends and followers also offered me free services the next time I need to get them done again. Thanks so much for the offer. That part was sweet of you.

Things to Look Forward to:

Luang Prabang holiday.
I’m excited to go to Laos and add a new country to my list! Like always, expect a travel guide later in the month 🙂

Meal-prepping
. I’ve let food become my pleasure, which is fun if done occasionally, but I’ve definitely taken liberties in indulging my appetite in January 2019. I need to look at food as fuel now.

Doing my best.
 I don’t know how to cure this anxiety, but I do want to do the best work I can despite the circumstances.

Please help by cheering me on. And tell me your demons too. What’s preventing you from doing your best work? Share with me, sometimes I feel hella alone with all this. Thanks so much.

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: January 2020

Budget Update: January 2020

I had a good start to the year, if I do say so myself! There were definitely more ups than downs in January 2020, I’m feeling very grateful 🙂

In terms of expenses, I guess not breaking RM6k is a minor win, given all my ongoing projects – both business and personal. I think I struggled a bit with focusing, reducing anxiety and ‘switching off’ (because there were too many things going on!) and while my coping mechanism could be better, it’s not horrible either.

For example, here’s an unnecessary cause of stress: feeling guilty that I enjoy being distracted with work *while* I’m exercising, because it makes the time go faster. It feels like cheating somehow. I actually felt better after giving myself permission to just do it, because at least some exercise is better than no exercise right? Small matter, but there you go.

Here’s another unnecesary cause of stress: my parents – because they love me so much, and also adat – want a more elaborate wedding procedure than what I would have planned for myself (oh surprise I’m getting married this year). It was hard for me to accept, but I guess it is what it is and above all I want to make them happy. So my solution? I gave them a budget to stick to. Let’s see if that works.

All these, I guess, are examples of ‘change what you can, accept what you can’t’ in practice. As much as you want to try and change the situation, sometimes you just can’t, you gotta admit that and be okay with it and move on. Life just don’t hand you everything you want because you ‘want’ it or ‘worked’ for it.

What’s something you don’t particularly like but kind of accepted in life, and try to make the best of? How do you reduce unnecessary stresses? Share with me in the comments section!

Yay of the Month:

By the time this article is published, have successfully conducted 4 x sessions of
money management workshop
. Twitter validated the idea on morning of 14 Jan and by evening, I had the event page set up. Taking action on a business idea feels invigorating, I am hooked, I want to do it again!

Thanks for validating the idea. I’ll make this happen! Perhaps a series of regular workshops!

Organising finances is REALLY FUN for me and I’m so glad there is demand for this weird hobby of mine!

— Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)
January 14, 2020

The devil works hard but she works harder 😆 I’ve sorted out ticketing for the money management workshop, book your slots now!
https://t.co/AajWSdbUTq

— Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)
January 14, 2020

Ringgitohringgit.com broke 60k/month traffic again, finally!!! Among the things I did to do it includes: learning/buying/testing A LOT of marketing tools, writing 2 articles per week without fail, manage Twitter/FB posting and engagement and lots more! I’m so happyyyy

Consistency pays off! After almost TWO YEARS of stagnating between 40-55k/month traffic, finally broke 60k/month today😭 Thank you so much for sharing my articles, it means a lot!!!
pic.twitter.com/N347qL4eME

— Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)
January 31, 2020

Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 2 and Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 1 (Malay edition) is slowly but surely progressing

Went back on the keto diet and lost 3kg in one month. Hell yea.

Bitcoin mooned. Hell yea.

Bought an air purifier. Wanted to buy it since last haze season, kept procastinating, finally bit the bullet.

Wanted to try the lashlift trend for a while and finally did it!

View this post on Instagram

Beauty splurge of the month: lashlift. Kinda feeling it! . And hiring an independent lash technician from Instagram is so affordable?? Saloons charge RM200++ (on sale!). My technician came to MY house and charged RM88 all-in. The price difference is crazy . So yeah. That’s my beauty hack of the day. Go browse #lashliftkl #lashliftsubang or anywhere you prefer. Find the ones with testimonials . You can also make this your side hustle. Take a course (2 days or something), then do your marketing. If you’re good, you’ll have steady customer base who will keep calling you for lash re-lifting every 6 weeks-2 months. They’ll give you word of mouth referral too . #beautyaddictmalaysia #lashliftmalaysia #sideincomeMalaysia #duitpoket #janaincome

A post shared by
 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Jan 29, 2020 at 9:54pm PST

Read one book:
Nudge: Improving Decisons about Health, Wealth and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
. How do we encourage people to make good decisions, without *telling* them to do it? Behaviourial science is fascinating.

Paid in advance 6 months of Netflix (through someone else’s main account)

Nay of the Month:

I think I miscalculated my annual income (as per written in
All The Annual Expenses I Have to Make Every Year
). This is the downside of having various streams of income I guess – tracking them is complicated. I’ve contacted my tax accountant, she’s going to give me a 1-on-1 coaching session so I can learn how to itemise my incomes and business expenses. The good thing is I have to sort this out – tax payment for 2019 income is only due in mid-2020

Getting back on the
keto diet
 was a good decision but holy crap
RM866.19 for groceries
 in one month?! A lot of that was bulk food purchase though – I bought 1kg x raw almonds, 1kg x almond flour, 2 x bottles MCT Oil, 3 x 250g cream cheese, 3 packs x Lakanto, 1kg x salmon and more, it added up. They should last a while and reduce next month’s groceries bill. I hope.

Kettle died. Bought a replacement.

Lost my lipbalm. Bought a replacement.

I feel that my house is cluttered again. Need to dedicate a day to do a deep cleaning session. Have listed out things I can sell, just need to advertise them on Carousell

RM950 still stuck in
BigPay
. They did say the dispute can take up to 2 months to solve but was hoping for shorter timeframe than that.

Touch n Go card refused my refund request. I *could* try again, but I’m lazy and tired, so goodbye RM53.90.

Things to Look Forward to:

Continue working on Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 2

Continue working on Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 1 (Malay edition)

Working on the Ringgit Oh Ringgit Podcast with
ClickWP
! Season 1’s theme will be: SOLOPRENEURS. Watch out for updates!

Going to Wordcamp Asia!

Attending a goal-setting workshop which includes a vision board-making component, something I’ve always wanted to try!

How about you? What are you looking forward to in February, and the rest of the year? Share with me, I wanna know 🙂

—

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: January 2021 – The Start of MCO 2.0

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!

January 2021 was the start of MCO 2.0. Obviously I, along with millions of other Malaysians, am bummed out by it. Whatever hope I had for a short lockdown period vanished as the days went by – it looks like its going to last a while, folks. I soon settled into my WFH lifestyle and busied myself with work and hobbies.

My biggest creative challenge of the month was figuring out how to churn out personal finance content that isn’t tone-deaf – the last thing I want to do is talk about aggressively investing, while some people are struggling to get by. However, I also get a lot of questions about investing, so I’m conflicted.

So tell me, dear readers – should I or shouldn’t I cover investing topics? (And which ones?) If not investing, then what do YOU want to read? I need ideas.

Budget Update: January 2021

In January 2021, I spent RM5,315.19. The top 3 top expenses were:

Utilities & Rent (RM1,262.75)
– That’s lower than usual. Hmm, it appears I have not paid my water nor aircon bill. Must get to that
Donations & Gifts (RM1,101.50)
 – Mostly for my parents’ electric bill
Groceries (RM912.22) – Higher groceries cost than usual, even after husband picked up ~RM250 of the tab as we stocked up on frozen fish, frozen berries, and ground coffee for months to come (we are limiting our groceries run to once a week)

My Spending Breakdown in January 2021

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

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Abundant work

Word of mouth truly is the best way to get jobs. In January, I received multiple work offers, some of which I had to turn down as it was over my capacity to deliver. The opportunities I couldn’t take, I shared around – that is a source of joy for me as well.

Thank you everyone who thought of me for
communications-related work
. You know who you are and you are wonderful.

#2 – Learning about DeFi (Decentralised Finance)

I’m sure you, too, have heard about the whole GameStop thing.

Companies siding with the hedge funds and calling it part of requirements/guidelines doesn’t surprise me – the wealthy understand class solidarity very well. The whole fiasco (which is still playing out as I’m typing this) only convinced me to speed up my efforts in self-learning DeFi.

I like the way DeFi democratised finance. For me, it is one way to feel less scared of the future, as the concentration of wealth and power continues.

Related:
I Am Self-Learning DeFi (Decentralised Finance). Here’s Why.

#3 – Finally grew enough courage to start opening submissions for Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 3

Despite having done it twice. Despite turning a profit both times. Despite all the kind reviews from readers. It’s still scary.

Me: sold thousands of copies of
#MYMoneyStories
 and negotiated to have them sold in bookstores nationwide
Also me: nervous AF for opening submissions again 🙃 what if no one enter 😭😭
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
January 25, 2021

I would love to read your money story submission 🙂 Full details at:
WANTED: Your Personal Finance Fiction/Non-Fiction Stories for #MYMoneyStories! (PAID CONTEST)

#4 – Worked on my balcony garden project

Having a balcony garden is one of my
21 for 2021 List
. It’s going on well – some of the kailan and lettuce seeds have already sprouted 🙂 Let’s see how far I can do this! #aspiringgreenthumb

Expenses related to this goal: a new IKEA shelving unit, soil, gardening tools – cumulatively around RM100

#5 – Collaboration with Her Duit

BIG thank you to
Her Duit
 for having me on the Her Duit podcast! My topic was Controversial Money Topics, covering savings, spending, debt and investing. You can listen to the episodes on Spotify
here
.

Listen to a snippet below:

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A post shared by Michelle | Women & Money (@her.duit)

#6 – Misc

Read
two books
:
The Psychology of Money
:
Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed and Happiness
 by Morgan Housel (amazing book, gifted by Aaron Tang aka
Mr Stingy
) and
Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life
 by Gretchen Rubin
Bought a
paint-by-numbers kit
. Have always wanted to try doing one, and I have a lot of time to kill, so I got it.
Watched a lot of TV
: Harry Potter (all 8 movies), Bling Empire (it made me empathise with super-rich people. Am not sure how I feel about that), Bridgerton and Call My Agent! (French series on Netflix, about a talent management agency)
Somehow I lost weight? I don’t know why or how but I hope this effortless weight loss continues!!

Nay of the Month:

#1 – Pets-related unexpected expenses

Had to buy new bedsheets because the cats ruined them with their ‘presents’. While at it, I also bought a new cat litter box, scrating post and catnip. Total damage: almost RM200

I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again. Nasib korang comel.

Balik honeymoon, sampai rumah, tengok kucing tinggalkan 'hadiah' atas katil. Terpaksa la tukar cadar febreze terbalikkan mattress dengan badan letih segalanya
Bila Google 'why does my cat poop on my bed', the results kata: separation anxiety. Sorry anak2 mak tinggalkan 5 hari 😭
pic.twitter.com/MwYAbFX9EX
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
January 3, 2021

#2 – Covid-19 and family

Everything is better now, but we had a couple of Covid-19 infections among family members. It was scary and very much anxiety-inducing.

Things to Look Forward to:

First Valentine’s Day as a married couple <3

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: January 2022 – Is it important to enjoy work?

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 January? Was it good, bad or meh?

In January, I was quite… lost. What used to be enjoyable to me is less enjoyable and feels more like work. In the process of learning technical keyword research (an important part in SEO – search engine optimisation – basically the art and science of getting your article ranked on 1st page of Google on the search terms you want), I kind of lost my passion for writing.

As a result, I haven’t been replying to new sponsored post inquiries. Which is a shame because they pay well.

That’s not the only thing I’ve lost interest in. I also have a project that’s been on pause for a while.

What do you do when you have a project that's half-finished but your heart's no longer in it. Do you push through? Do you quit? Should I test my limits and perseverance or do I acknowledge this is just sunk cost fallacy?
pic.twitter.com/vBQC15VgO6
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
January 20, 2022

What an annoying non-issue, right? Got work but lazy to work because it’s not ‘enjoyable’. I know, I know, I feel guilty about this too. I hope this lack of semangat is temporary, I really do. I hope I buck up.

On the good side, I have picked up ongoing training work for the rest of the year, which I do enjoy, so that’s good.

Let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: January 2022

In January 2022, I spent RM11,990.94. The top 3 top expenses were:

Dates/Travel (RM4,810.15)
– Cumulative spending money during
Turkey trip

Utilities & Rent (RM2,509.52)
– Rent, bills, and half of mortgage
Home Reno + Deco
(RM1,221.51)
 – Instalments for reno package

Cumulatively, the top 3 expenses make up 73% of my total January 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 January 2022

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

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Covid positive but asymtomatic

I got news that I was Covid-positive on 9 January 2022. It would have sucked, but thankfully I had no symptoms at all, and grateful the only things I had to deal with are minor inconveniences at best.

Completed home quarantine, and considered low risk again by 3rd week of January. Alhamdulillah.

#2 – Re-introduced to the joy of cooking and grocery shopping

In terms of grocery amount for January 2022, I’d say yeah what we spent in Jan 2022 was about the average amount. I did the calculation sometime ago and the two of us do spend ~RM9xx per month on groceries.

My groceries cost up until mid-Nov 😀 total so far RM9847.55 for family of 2. If divide by 10.5 months, that's an average of RM937.86 per month
Hmm actually that's not bad. Assuming ~200 meals per month between both of us, that's RM4.69 per person per meal
pic.twitter.com/YtLN4QxymD
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
November 17, 2021

Due to home quarantine + both of us deciding to cook more rather than order in (for budget and health reasons), I had to work around grocery delivery and pay more attention to meal planning. Happily, this is one area in my life that gives me a lot of joy.

Figuring out what dishes I can make from the groceries I have left is such a fun creative process and I'm so happy I get to do it every day
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
January 13, 2022

#3 – Wonderful delivery experience

Have to say,
HappyFresh
 was so reliable, despite a few items here and there out of stock. Got a lot of items on sale too. Since we couldn’t physically go out to buy groceries, this service really saved us and our budget.

I’m also thankful for Grab Delivery, which sent over oxymeter and thermometer from a nearby pharmacy. I would be so anxious if the delivery is not instant – such a relief to check my oxygen level daily and see my stats stable.

Perks of living in the city and surrounded by such convenient services.

#4 – Renewed Netflix

Paid RM132 for 1 more year of Netflix subscription, aka RM11 per month. I’m using the cheap hack as explained in the
Netflix Price Malaysia 2022 & Cheapest Way to Get Netflix Premium
 article.

#5 – Appeared on Astro Awani

Grateful to be on the Notepad with Ibrahim Sani show.

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A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

#6 – Ongoing home renovation going smoothly

The home renovation process is going well. We have done defect check (so many things to fix! If you ever buy a home never skip on this!) and the interior design team have put together some furniture options.

Slowly but surely, I can see the house turning into a home 🙂

#7 – Misc

Read 1 book:

A Fork in the Road: Tales of Food, Pleasure & Discovery on the Road edited by James Oseland

Noteworthy shows:

Encanto on Disney Hotstar
Spiderman 1 & 2 on Netflix
Single’s Inferno on Netflix

Bought for myself:

Yoga mat (started practicing again 🙂
4 new books
Unpacking game on Steam (short but fun!)
Sofa cover (A really good puchase! Swipe to see how the sofa looks like without cover. I bought from
here
)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

Nay of the Month:

#1 – High electric bill for parents’ house

Okay, so, I pay for the electric bill for my parents’ house. The monthly amount is actually quite ridiculous – RM800++ per month on a LOW month, as high as RM1.2k per month once.

I know. I’m not happy about it either.

The thing is, it’s hard to know what to do next. People say ‘check wiring’ and ‘replace aircon’ as if each one of those won’t easily run in the thousands.

To make it worse, it’s quite a hard topic to bring up. It’s as if I’m saying ‘you’re using too much’ or ‘I can’t afford it’.

I know I have to do something about it though. And I will. Just.. ugh.

#2 – Auto renewal pain

Forgot to turn off Grammarly subscription so I paid full price instead of deal price.

My Grammarly subscription auto-renewed for USD139.95. I *understand* this is a necessary business expense for myself but not getting it on sale kills me. I used to get it for USD80 😩
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
January 26, 2022

Things to Look Forward to:

Getting CFP exam results (still hasn’t gotten it but they say ‘after CNY’ so should be soon. Pray for me!)
Furniture hunting

Well, that was my January 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: January 2023 – Trial 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 January? Was it good, bad or meh?

For me, January was a very hazy, slow month. I hit my income target and just chilled for the rest of the month, working on personal chores and Project M.

A part of me feels guilty of this because if I was more ambitious, I could make more. Which is true. I really need to get my planning in order so I can achieve what I want to achieve. Oh well, let’s just treat January as the trial month, the real work starts in Feb 🙂

Let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: January 2023

In January 2023, I spent RM10,361.42. The top 3 top expenses were:

Donations & Gifts (RM2,323.65)
 – Parents TNB bill, paid for dad’s dusun project

Project M (RM2,257.80)

TIED
Dates/Travel (RM1,327.47)
– Total used for Yogyakarta trip

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

Cumulatively, the top 3 (this time, 4) expenses make up 71% of my total December 2022 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 January 2023

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

Spending notes:

Have decided to not go on any more international trips for a while. I think I overdid it (post-pandemic effect), need to save money for Raya. Traveling domestically is fine though, on special occasions.

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Bergaji & Pokai Book hit NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER AGAIN

This was my THIRD time being #1 on MPH Malay general books weekly bestsellers list!!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

If you haven’t gotten a copy and want one, you can buy Bergaji & Pokai book online at
linktr.ee/surayaror
 or at bookstores nationwide 🙂

#2 – Broke my own affiliate marketing record

Broke my own affiliate earning record 🥳 Aside from the money, I love knowing I don't have to depend on brand sponsorships. It makes me a lot more choosy
[Disclaimer: I probably won't get the full estimated earning, perhaps RM7-10k if I'm lucky- actual amount pending validation]
pic.twitter.com/27GFUCsjZC
— Suraya: bestselling Bergaji & Pokai book (@surayaror)
January 24, 2023

The affiliate marketing platform pictured is called Involve Asia (read my
review
, or sign up
here
). Can see my review on it in the article below.

But aside from IA, you can also register with Accesstrade (better commissions for some brands) and Shopee Affiliates (better commissions for shopee shops)

#3 – Went to Yogyakarta

Went for a trip to Yogyakarta with my in-laws for 6 days. Had a lovely time, had lots of food and fun 🙂

#4 – Organised a SOLD-OUT workshop

I organised an insurance-buying workshop on a whim and it sold out FAST. Not only that, I received at least 15 DMs asking for another round of workshop or to buy the recording.

So now I’m working on editing the recording to sell as a digital product.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

#4 – Misc

Read:

Invested: How Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger Taught Me to Master My Mind, My Emotions, and My Money (with a Little Help from My Dad) by Danielle Town

Bought for myself:

3-years Macbook warranty

New litter box

4 new books

Coasters from Ruma

Batik outerwear and pareo from Yogyakarta

New phone cable

Nay of the Month:

#1 – Double-booked hotel accommodation

I checked into the hotel and was told I made TWO bookings. Thankfully could get partial refund from one of them, but still. Paid RM417 in penalty for nothing.

Guess who 🤡 made hotel booking 🤡 then found a cheaper option for the same hotel+dates so she rebooked 🤡 but forgot to cancel the original booking and both payments went through? 🤡🤡
Thank goodness can get partial refund so not all is lost, but goodness what a stupid mistake
— Suraya: bestselling Bergaji & Pokai book (@surayaror)
January 24, 2023

But I guess my loss is your gain, because now you get to learn about Agoda’s Best Price Policy Guarantee!

I mean if you buy thru agoda. Then u find same room on bookingdotcom with cheaper price. Dont rebook, just screenshot and send them the cheaper link. They’ll revise the price. I always randomly check other platforms after few days of booking. Travel hack!
pic.twitter.com/IQISrwr7dC
— OG KIMI (@HafizHakimi_)
January 25, 2023

#2 – Lost iPhone cables… again

I rarely lose my stuff, except for iPhone cables. I’ve lose those damn things 3 times in like 3 years.

Sure they’re easy to replace and all, but I just don’t like losing stuff. Who does!

Things to Look Forward to:

Working on and releasing digital product

Well, that was my first month of 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: July 2016

July Budget Update Summary

Without the Duit Raya donation, my spending in July was not bad at all.

July had some… disappointments. I was hoping to earn more (always, jeez, what’s wrong with me? why never enough one?), but it was stagnant at best. Plus my neighbour decided to make me her enemy. She’s not a nice person. Slammed the door at my face. I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life. But thankfully, I’m not particularly affected by things like this, so life goes on. She can have her own battles, I’m just going to chill and still be my awesome self.

But July also had some high peaks and new opportunities. There are at least 4-5 new jobs for me, if I want them. A guy from a major media house saw my writing samples, really liked me and wanted me down in KL for an interview, and I had to say no (but he graciously extended the invitation when I do come back to KL). My Facebook page hit 300 likes, which is 299 more than I expected! I am a blessed girl.

So when you average it out, July was okay, good month.

Yay of the Month:

I had my first sponsored post with CompareHero! Is this real life? I always wonder what kind of blogs would get that kinda honour so I was shocked when this happened! And it felt amazing! I was so semangat, I poured a lot more hours than intended into this piece. Now I get to talk about blog monetisation methods, something I’m sure many of you would be interested to read about 😀 Read the post:
How to Maximise Cashback Credit Cards
.

Many, many people asked me about Bitcoin, so I wrote a
newbie’s guide
. Both Mr Stingy and Pakdi.Net liked and helped to promote it! My blog count this month is higher than normal because of them. Thank you 🙂

Aside from Raya, my No 1 budget-killer, I did well this month. My grocery bills were alright, my going out was cheap but frequent enough. Nothing broke, thank God.

Finally decided to replace my teeth guard. I have bruxism, aka teeth grinding. For a few years now I’ve been wearing teeth guard when I sleep, to avoid teeth and jaw pain. They usually cost upwards of RM300 from the dentist, but I’ve found a
 DIY method
that only costs the teeth guard itself (RM15~).

My friendship with best friends from high school still going strong. 10 years! Love you guys <3

Nay of the Month:

I spent RM1300 on giving out Duit Raya alone. Oh jeez I’m trying
really
 hard to be generous yet gracious, you guys, but
RM1300
. I cry wei. At least I had a good
Raya experience
.

So I’m trying to be smart, right. My Dad asked my help to sell a couple of his properties (
here
). So I thought, hey, Facebook ads might work. Not. One. Call. Kinda bummed about it.

Stagnant career. Rethinking my career choice. Or rather, career progression. I aim to earn RM10k by the end of the year, so I have some more hustling to do.

I smoked like 3 packs of cigarettes this month. Quitting. Again. So angry at myself, such a waste of money.

Needed sunscreen, looked for sale. Misread price tag. Paid RM38 per small bottle (grabbed 2). This happened earlier in the month but still bugs me 🙁

Things to Look Forward to:

I’m going to Osaka and Kyoto for a short trip, woooooooo

I’m going to
be so fat
  work out and diet better as soon as I come back from Japan!

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


Budget Update: July 2017

Budget Update: July 2017

I spent more than half of my monthly expenses, or precisely RM5133.23 on medical-related expenses in July 2017. The bulk of it went towards braces deposit (RM3k), teeth extraction (4 teeth x RM100 each) and other teeth-related costs. Medically speaking, I’ve always been lucky – no broken bones, no major illnesses – so while I hate shelling out this amount I know it’s the right thing to do.

Aside from cosmetic reasons, I needed braces to cure my bite problem (ie how I chew food). Long story short, my teeth alignment is wonky and I’ve practically ground my molars. Give it a few years and it’d reach the nerves, and I’d sure like to avoid that hell-on-earth experience.

My diet now consists of much soup, very liquid. I’m so tired of mushroom soup you guys ;_;

When doing online research, I was blown away by the supportive braces community. Everyone’s like, ‘don’t worry of what other people think, this is for your self-improvement, people won’t even notice it, just own the #bracelife!’. Yet the first thing my close family and friends said was ‘ya Suraya you look nerdy af’. My Dad said ‘you look like Dracula’. Yea thanks Dad for the moral support, I’m only your firstborn daughter -_-

Other than this expense and extra food expense, everything else was okay. I spent RM4.6k inclusive of rent, life necessities, travel and even gym (RM1.3k ish). Earned well in July 2017 so I’m okay, money-wise.

Yay of the month:

After 7 months of procrastination, finally
enrolled myself in a gym
 and got 10 sessions with personal trainer. This is the fittest I’ve ever been, yay. The gym costs RM127.20 per month if minimum 3 months, if not RM159 with no contract. If I took 24 months contract, it’s RM85 or something per month so I might continue with that if I go consistently enough in these 3 months. The personal training costs RM1060 for 10 sessions, free 1 trial session. Not likely to continue after 10 sessions, I got it to get a professional to check my workout form. Apparently my usual form was shit so this is money well spent.

Went to
Rainforest World Music Festival
 in Kuching, Sarawak. Had tons of fun, had tons of awesome food. I think I’ll do a post specifically on this because the event plus the side-event Rainforest Fringe Festival is definitely worth a writeup.

Since my 1-year student exchange programme to Japan when I was 17, I have been loyal to

AFS Antarabudaya Malaysia
. It’s always fun and emotionally fulfilling to be involved in AFS activities, and I had the privilege to do so in July. Shoutout to my AFS family and friends, who shaped me into the person I am today, helped me find similarities instead of differences in people. See if you are eligible to study abroad
here
 (scholarships available but limited, paid programmes recommended to those who can afford it) or host an international student
here.

I have a speaking role in a
 blockchain event at MaGIC, Cyberjaya on 16 August 2017
 (!!!! pinch me). RSVP
here
 if interested, seats are limited :p

Happy birthday little sis Aleeza
! Nah free shoutout to your awesome boutique
Marquise.my
. Short story: we have since got over the whole ‘let’s guess what birthday present you actually want’ thing. On my birthday, she asked me what I wanted, and I said I’m out of dishwashing liquid so she got me Sunlight rofl. For her birthday, I asked what she wanted and she said her floor mats needs replacing so I got her that hahahah. It’s awesome to get presents you need, no? Highly recommend it 😛

Bought my favourite
shampoo
 in the 1-liter bottle for RM212 instead of the usual 250ml bottle for RM85, saved on cost per ml. Before: RM0.34 per ml. Now: RM0.212 per ml. If you think that’s expensive, this is part of my ‘buy less buy buy quality’ routine, so shush.

Took me a while, but I finished reading ‘
The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science
‘. Why people believe the things they do. I read it expecting to laugh at Creationists, homeopathy believers and Holocaust deniers, but by the end of the book I got a sobering lesson: Your brain likes to make you the hero of your story, this makes it hard (actually, impossible) for us to view things objectively, even if we *think* we’re rational. Basically you (yes, YOU) will always hold bias opinion in one way or another, no exceptions. It could be religion, it could be cultural or traditions, it could be anything. The more we attack people on their beliefs, the harder they’ll hold on to it, so it’s best to just accept that people have differences and leave it at that. Good to know.

Nay of the month:

Spent much of the month in physical
pain
 🙁 Dentist extracted 2 teeth, then extracted another 2 teeth a week later, then fixed in the braces 2 weeks later. My heart also pain because I reality just sunk in that I’m stuck in this braces thing for at least 18 months.

The
 almond milk
 I usually buy from Lazada more than doubled in price. It was RM28 for 3-pack, now it’s RM59 for the same. Ugh.

Asked Twitter the question:
which telco is the fastest
. Most people recommended Maxis, so I made the switch from Umobile. My monthly mobile commitment is now RM135~ from just RM75~ previously. It’s faster for sure, but I still want to shop around for better value for money plans.
Which should I try next, Celcom or Digi? Which one faster for Subang area?

Speaking on switching telco, I have a story. I actually really like Umobile, their customer service is awesome. Every time I tweet to them, I always get a reply. Since getting Maxis, my tweet to them was not even answered. So anyway. Umobile called me a few hours before my simcard switch, and offered to send technicians to check out my area and find out why the internet is so slow here. They also offered RM5 monthly discount if I stay on their plan. I would have, but my advance deposit with Maxis is not refundable and I don’t want to be out RM128 for nothing so I didn’t take it, but props to Umobile for trying. Please improve your data speed so I can get back on your plan!

Things to Look Forward to:

Bridesmaid-ing for a childhood friend’s wedding 🙂

Not expecting anymore big-ticket expenses in August. My average expenses is now RM7.8k, or more than double than when I was in living in Ipoh (RM3.4k). It was one after the other this year – Paid zakat lah, paid tax lah, Raya expenses lah, braces lah. So if I can keep it under RM5k in August, I’m happy.

Okay, lots of things to do this month. Packed schedule. Now back to work work work work work,

Suraya

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


Budget Update: July 2018

Budget Update: July 2018

What a full month! It was full of intense emotional experiences – from the low of my grandmother’s passing to the high of Good Vibes Festival to everything in between.

I shot my first video campaign (details coming soon!). Got angry at morally-righteous LGBT haters that I made a
personal finance guide for LGBTs
. Decided to visit my Japanese host family and splurged on a very-costly RM1765 flight tickets just because I want to fly off from Chubu Centair International Airport in Nagoya instead of cheaper airports like Osaka. I went on shopping sprees, both online and offline. I went on dates (good, bad and GREAT) and attended many events.

All this while working my ass off – I squeezed for that brain juice so often and so hard, I’m surprised it’s still working. Thank you for being reliable braiiiin.

Despite everything, my spending was… alright? Almost RM7k for this kind of month is okay. My spending is the lowest since January 2018. In the upcoming months, have to keep it even lower – have to save money for that Japan trip in September.

I have no complaints, only gratefulness that my income can sustain this lifestyle. How was your July like?

Yay of the Month:

In June, I discovered I have over 175k in Maybank treatpoints. The vouchers finally arrived in the mail so I went on a
Lazada spree
! With the 2 x RM200 vouchers, I bought: a bed frame (finally not sleeping on the mattress on the floor lol), velvet clothes hangers (for that #minimalism look), magic eraser sponges, a yoga mat, a tefal frying pan, bed sheets and a microfiber mop.

Went to
Good Vibes Festival
. It was great! I spent RM600 ish for the ticket and accommodation, and maybe around RM200 more for food, drinks and travel. Such a memorable experience. You can really see which artists have better stage presence than others. Some didn’t do any crowd interaction at all except for the standard greeting (“How are you Malaysia???” *cheers*). Lorde, SZA, Odesza, Honne and The Neighbourhood stood out. No wonder they famous. Talent will only bring you to a certain level, after that it’s all professionalism.

Organised my wardrobe
 and threw out worn-out clothes. Enough of being cheap, I want to look put-together. Bought a bunch of new clothes that I can mix-and-match easily. Also replenished a couple of makeup supplies. I’ve found out that you can use eyeshadow as blush lol. So look out for 2-in-1 deals and stuff!

Got a free ticket to attend
Digital Entrepreneurship Convention 2018
, because I’m a member of the
Malaysian Writers Society
. I learned more things about the topic – go see
my livetweets during the time on Twitter
! They had speakers presenting on different topics, from making money via Fulfilment by Amazon to how and what to offer as a Social Media Manager to affiliate marketing.

Commissioned a
Chibi Suraya
 and used it to replace my face in Ringgit Oh Ringgit social media.
IT’S SO CUTE OMFG
. Find the artist on Twitter,
@_neurysm
. JUST RM35 KOT.

Discovered lots of new
Malaysia-based personal finance and finance content creators
! Go see them in the updated
Recommended Finance Websites in Malaysia
 page.

Finally managed to
sell off my Microsoft Surface Dock
, the one I received as part of a set when I bought my Surface Pro 4 (
tips to buy laptop, according to you guys
). Got pretty discouraged after getting lots of lowball offers, but finally someone matched my asking price. I want to get a Kindle Paperwhite with this money 😀 Posted in Carousell, Facebook Marketplace and Mudah.my. Was surprised that the buyer actually came from FB!

Went to
Back to the 90s RIUH event
 at APW Bangsar. Saw OAG live – hey they have good stage presence! I’m a bit annoyed that I made some impulse buys there… But oh well the money went to independent sellers anyway so OKlah kasi support lah.

Signed up for SOCAR
 because I loved their marketing effort during RIUH event. They had this large tikam-tikam board and I FELT NOSTALGIC OK. Such a brilliant way to promote their services, taking the target audience in mind (90s kids). SOCAR is that car-hiring service, for as low as RM6 an hour. To try it out and get RM30 off your SOCAR booking,
use this invite link
. I’m so happy there are services like these catering to people who don’t own cars (like me lol).

Got more active in the local
Wordpress community
 and presented about what I learned about blogging with Wordpress as a non-tech person. Wordpress users, join our
Wordpress KL Meetup page
 to attend future events!

Hell yeah my
Groceries
 cost for the month was low! Total out-of-pocket was just RM100ish. For the rest of my groceries for the month, I paid using money earned from BigPay referrals, plus I get extra discounts with orders via HappyFresh. I love to promote these two because they’re so generous with the referral amounts and both the person who invite and the person who register get money or savings 🙂
BigPay
 – 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).
HappyFresh
 – Use code ‘suraya63’ to get RM25 off your first HappyFresh order (I get RM20 off, too).

In June, I
switched from Maxis to Yoodo
, that select-what-you-use plan under Celcom. I selected RM85 for 40GB data and 50 call minutes (and no sms), a big jump in savings compared to Maxis’s RM128 40GB and unlimited calls and sms plan.  Switching was easy – everything from sim card order to porting (I’m keeping my number) was done through the app. In July 2018, I saved even further by tweaking my package to 30GB data and 100 call minutes – now my package is just RM75 per month. If you want to try it out too, get FREE RM 20 when you sign up using my
referral link
 (I get RM20 too). You can also enter my unique Referral Code zwbai7716 at the confirmation page when you activate.

Got an invite to watch that
mixed martial arts event
 –
One: The Pursuit of Power
 – live. Can I just say I enjoyed it more than I thought I would? Somehow it didn’t occur to me that fights can be non-violent, but there you go. So much respect to the fighters, including Malaysia’s very own Agilan Thani and Jihin Radzuan. Some memorable moments: one fella got his balls kicked twice in the same fight, and another got KO-ed and had to be carried off-stage, still unconscious.

Nay of the Month:

My grandmother, Kamariah binti Sidek passed away
 in early July after a long sickness. Please take a moment to send her some prayers. I miss her.

Accidentally lost my Touch N Go card
 🙁 Burn la the RM25 or so in there. When I shared on Twitter, many told me that I could’ve registered the card number and make a report to Touch N Go, and they will reimburse. Stupid me didn’t. I don’t remember the card serial number. I also lost the top up receipt containing the top up number. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Have officially resigned as VP from
ACCESS Blockchain Association Malaysia
. If you know me in that capacity, see my announcement post
here
. It was hard making the decision – I know it’s a setback for women in blockchain in Malaysia. Sigh. My heart was so conflicted.

Did not manage to read a lot. Only one book,
 B: by Hanno Frank
 – a book which made me think of the concept of ‘service providers’, which in this context are people who others take for granted for emotional and financial support, and the act of actively saying no to maintain sanity. A simple book, but very enlightening.

Things to Look Forward to:

Visiting my Japanese host family
who live in Nagoya 🙂 And making a side visit to Tokyo to attend
Ultra Music Japan
, one of the biggest electronic dance music festival worldwide! I just really want to see an EDM festival in a country known for its technology. It better not disappoint!

Presenting about personal finance blogging at the next
PechaKucha Petaling Jaya event
! Other speakers include:
Amir Muhammad
 (founder of
Fixi
),
Iqwan Zarif
 (Product Manager at
Katsana Advanced Telematics
 (they do navigational technology),
Pang Khee Teik
 (founder of Seksualiti Merdeka),
Dr. Nadzariah Cheng Veterinarian Alternative Care
 (Veterinarian, specialising in ophthalmology), Dr Aznul Sabri (academician specialising in Artificial Intelligence),
Melizarani T. Selva
, (If Walls Could Talk – poetry open mic).
Come and learn something new. GET RM6 OFF TICKET PRICE WITH CODE ‘SURAYA’. Buy it
here
!

Reading all the entries from the
writing competition
 I’m organising. Paying for ads was painful but it paid off! IF YOU READ THIS BEFORE 15 AUGUST 2018, YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO SUBMIT!!!

As I’m writing this, August looks like it’s going to be an awesome month, too. I’m excited about the future. Whoever you are, I hope you’re doing well too. Let me know if you need help with the money stuff. Investing your time in those knowledge really does pay off. If you’re a new visitor, you may enjoy reading this article breaking down the
steps I took to earn online
.

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


Budget Update: July 2019

Budget Update: July 2019

I spent over RM7k in July 2019. It’s an okay amount, considering I’m super blessed with work at the moment.

Let’s talk about work. Aside from business writing work – my main source of income outside of Ringgit Oh Ringgit – I’ve seen a noticeable increase in sponsored post inquiries from potential clients. Is this a side effect from
higher focus by the government to improve the nation’s financial literacy
?

If yes, and I do think so, then woah it’s in your benefit to jump into the personal finance blogging space. Go check out my
6 Personal Finance Blog Ideas, Absolutely Free for You to Take
 article.

Yay of the Month:

Lots of work.
Yay income yaaaay.

 Interviewed by Financial Literacy for Youths: Malaysia
. During our talk, my interviewer Ayena mentioned how FLY Malaysia holds financial literacy and skills-upgrading programmes for vulnerable communities. That’s amazing – these are college students were talking about! FLY Malaysia could do with a few more sponsors – contact me if this aligns with your company’s CSR initiative. Happy to link you guys up

Finally managed to open my
ASB myPortal account
 so I can check my balance anytime. It’s been in my to-do list for years I think. Happy with the amount I have in there – past Suraya have been a good girl, socking her money out of sight, out of mind like that.

A lot of progress with
Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 1
 – my head spins thinking about it. First, MPH Distributors added on 100 copies to their original order of 750 copies. Then, they told me it’s available in ALL MAJOR BOOKSTORES IN MALAYSIA. Then, Suraya Pauzi tweeted that she saw it on the bestsellers shelves at KLIA??? Oh my god what even…

Yes, I can confirm that! This is at the KLIA domestic terminal bookshop
pic.twitter.com/nBwYM2BzqD

— Suraya Pauzi (@surayapauzi1)
July 31, 2019

Not just that! Borders Bookstore at The Curve also reached out and asked if I’d like to do a
book launch
 there? The best part was telling all the fellow authors in the book. So happy to be in this journey with them <3

Being part of the
panel at Affin Hwang Investment Forum
. Quite happy to get nice feedback about my talking points afterwards 🙂

Went to
Good Vibes Festival
. It was okay. Am I old or Genting itself was more fun than GVF?

Spent 23% of my July 2019 expenses on donations. The bulk of it went to replacing my parents’ automatic gate system, which went kaput a few years ago. I paid half, my other sister paid half.

Treated myself to a
 shopping spree
. After last month’s decluttering challenge, I bought myself three new pans, two new pillows, two pairs of shoes from a Fitflop warehouse sale, and seven articles of clothing from my sister’s shop. Been wanting to replace those items for a while now.

View this post on Instagram

When your sister is forced to be nice to you because you’re a paying customer at her boutique 😂 . Check out @marquise.my! Uniqlo vibes, lots of mix-and-match items. I got 7 tops that I can pair with my existing wardrobe. Gotta stretch the clothing budget 😁 . For the plus size version, go to my other sister’s shop @malaysiaplussize ✌ . #capsulewardrobe #minimalismmalaysia #shahalam #plussizemalaysia

A post shared by
 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Jul 8, 2019 at 2:23am PDT

Only managed to read one book in July 2019 –
Linchpin: Are You Indespensable by Seth Godin
. It was okay. Basically talk about the importance of being the type of person who are good at problem-solving.

Unexpectedly fell in love with the bag
I complained about last month
? It finally arrived, and it’s so beautiful! It was still expensive for my taste though so I’m going to use this bag until it tears apart, watch me.

Found the lost gym pants I was looking for! Yay I don’t need to shell out RM100+ to replace it. Sometimes I forget how organisation helps you to save money. The less stuff you lose, the less money you spend to replace them.

Keto diet is going well! Getting my cheekbones back hahaha. Also my knee is no longer painful so that’s great!

Nay of the Month:

Almost
locked myself out
 of my home. Spent RM80 to replace the door keys. It was an annoying, but necessary expense to make. I know that if I’m locked out, I’ll have to spend way more than that. Am saving myself from tons of frustrations too.

Didn’t manage to open up a
Tabung Haji account
 at Bank Islam. Was informed that the system no longer link to each other and I’d have to go to Tabung Haji to get that done. It’s not the easiest chore to do during the peak Haji season, so it’ll have to wait a bit.

Fell
sick
. Not horrible, but definitely caught some strong bug somewhere. I’m fine now though.

Buying luggage allocation from Malindo Airlines is frustrating AF
. At one point, I cried while on the phone with their customer support team, I was so frustrated. It’s still not resolved.

I finally got myself a Netflix account. That’s good and all, but I also had to
increase my data plan
. Am paying RM110 a month now for 100GB data + 2000 minutes of calls, instead of my usual RM70 per month for 30GB data + 2000 minutes of calls.

Had
smoking relapse
. I smoked a couple of packs of cigarettes after being smoke-free for 7 months. Sigh. Will do better.

Things to Look Forward to:

Taking my parents and family on a
 family trip to Perth
 in August! Malindo better get back to me about the luggage allocation because I heard its cold and we all need clothes to bring with us.

Going up north for
Affin Hwang Investment Forum – Penang
 edition! Visit
http://ahc-conferences.com
 for more info 🙂

The writing competition for
Money Stories from Malaysians: Volume 2
 has ended and I received really good submissions! Will start the same book publishing process all over again. There’s a lot of work involved but its fulfilling work, no complaints.

Booked myself for a
writing retreat
 in Ipoh! It’s in October, so there’s still a couple more months left to wait, but I’m excited 🙂

I’ll be on
BFM radio
 soon. More details will be shared in my social media pages soon!

Oh! There will be some sponsored content in Ringgit Oh Ringgit in the next month. I’ve worked really hard to make the content interesting, and can’t wait for you to check them out. One of them – and this makes me a bit nervous because it’s out of my comfort zone – is a video. Another content includes a RM100 lucky draw. Look out for them okay? 🙂

Here’s to a great August!

—

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: July 2020

Budget Update: July 2020

Being an adult is accepting, and preparing for at least one major expense per month.

You can’t escape it. If it’s not paying taxes (my biggest expense in July 2020), it’ll be something else – home maintenance, car repair, replacing broken appliances, buying ‘smart’ upgrades (like a nice mattress so you’ll get a good night sleep, or noise-cancelling headphones to work better), medical treatment, whatever.

Once in a blue moon, you’ll get through a month without incurring a major expense, but later you’ll find that some months will incur
multiple
 major expenses, so it averages out.

I’ve read somewhere that the only way to break this cycle is when:

you’ve successfully upgraded all your essentials to high-quality versions, so they break less and therefore need replacing less often

you put the payment on an instalment plan. You’re still paying, just not in one BIG chunk. Obviously this is cheating because you still end up paying the same amount

you can afford to pay for longer terms instead of shorter (ie paying for 5 years of driving licence instead of renewing annually). But yeah this is still delaying, not eliminating

I wonder if there are other ways to stop the major ‘Misc Needs’ or ’emergency’ expenses. How can one even FI/RE if we have to deal with this wildcard, forever? If ‘just budget it in’ the best answer?

Thoughts on this topic?

My Spending Breakdown in July 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:

Published two sponsored posts that I’m damn proud of:
All You Need to Know About Buying Unit Trust Through EPF i-Invest
 and
I Tried BEST Invest by BIMB Investment, the ‘First Robo-Intelligence Shariah ESG Online Investment App’

MPH Distributors restocked
Cerita Duit Orang Malaysia: Jilid 1
! A whopping 450 copies! Holy hell this is unreal, thank you so much for the support korang!!!

View this post on Instagram

#CeritaDuit restocked at bookstores nationwide 🥰🥰🥰Find it at the Malay-language business section at the bookstore near you ❤ . #kewangan #bukukewangan #kedaibuku #penulisbuku #malaysiaboleh #sayajualbuku

A post shared by
 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Jul 19, 2020 at 8:52pm PDT

Bitcoin and Gold both increased significantly in value, which means my
Breakdown of My (SUPER HIGH RISK) Investment Portfolio
 article is already outdated lol

[Category: Groceries] Stocked up on coffee and soy milk powder.

On the latter, I’m happy to report that a minor try-it-out money-saving initiative I’ve been trying out for a few months now, switch from buying fresh milk to soy milk powder, worked out well and will be continued. Added bonus: I suspect the reduced dairy intake improved my skin, too.

[Category: Dates] Missed the beach, so we went on a short day trip to
Port Dickson
.

[Category: Wedding] Paid the deposit for the
wedding

venue
, attended a satisfactory food-tasting event, and tried on my nikah dress (it’s perfect <3)

[Category: Donations] Helped out a friend. Also took mom to a plant nursery, aka her happy place, then paid for all her new plant babies (much to her delight) 🙂

View this post on Instagram

Thank you @sarongpartyboy for recommending this nursery. LOTS of plant varieties and really good prices!Took my mom here and she shopped her heart out 🥰 . Google map: Lot 54 Weng Thye Brothers Ceramics @ Jalan Tropicana Selatan, Petaling Jaya

A post shared by
 Suraya Zainudin
 (@surayaror) on
Jul 13, 2020 at 2:11am PDT

[Catrgory: Misc Wants] While browsing in the bookstore, I managed to find and buy a book that I wanted to purchase, for RM20 less on Carousell. Woohoo!

[Category: Social] Met up with Helmi from
BalkoniHijau
, had a nice chat about personal finance content creation and life.

[Category: Public Transportation] Received a random
referral
 worth RM50 from
SOCAR
, which is a nice surprise!

Completed a 30-day yoga challenge in roughly 20 days

Me: I should try this 30-day yoga challenge to reduce my anxiety, caused by obsession towards productivity

Also me: wonder if I can complete the challenge in half the time

— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com (@surayaror)
July 14, 2020

Read THREE books (wow way to go Suraya! What a comeback after unable for focus for months!):
Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert
 (ngl, this book really helped with the wedding jitters),
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
 (wonderful storytelling, set in 1940s New York) and
The Hustle Economy: Transforming Your Creativity into a Career

(Advice from 25 Creative Entrepreneurs) by Jason Oberholzer (editor) and Jessica Hagy
 (Illustrator) (figured out the type of hustler I am – I am the aimless hustler, the person who wants ‘more’ but don’t exactly know what ‘more’ is, but curious and open to the adventures and opportunities).

Nay of the Month:

[Category: Misc Needs]
Paid my taxes
 well before the due date (31 August 2020), but
found out
 that I neglected to claim tax exemptions that I am eligible for! Tu lah, stingy some more to pay for bookkeeping and tax submission service…

[Category: Misc Needs] Threw away a couple of old, unrepairable shoes and
bought 2 pairs of new shoes
 at Sketchers’ ‘Buy 1, get another pair for RM1’ promotion. Why is this mentioned here instead of in the ‘Yay of the Month’ section? I don’t know. They’re nice shoes. I needed them. They should be of good quality and should last a while, knowing the Sketchers brand. But still… I do think that RM260 for two pairs is a ridiculous price.

[Category: Pets] My
cats
 are getting fussier with their food… Totally regret buying them the Ciao cat treats, now they refuse to eat dry kibbles. I had to buy and mix the dry food with wet food, otherwise they won’t eat ughhhh

[Category: Food] My cravings for the best of me and I ordered 3 packs of
durian
 via Grabfood. Shouldn’t have, felt horrible afterwards. It was delicious though.

I was approved to receive the special SME grant,
Geran Khas Prihatin
 worth RM3,000 back in June, but it hasn’t been deposited yet. Wonder what’s going on, and will we ever receive it. Am fortunate enough that my own small business is not reliant on the money, but others may be desperate for it as we speak.

Struggling with mindful eating challenge. It’s okay. Keep trying.

Things to Look Forward to:

Working with more clients

Completing another 30-day fitness challenge!

Working on mindful eating

Really thinking of what kind of wife I want to be, because if I don’t decide, then I might follow social cues and expectations, and dammit I don’t want to end up doing the
double burden
 thing my whole life. Solution: to continue focusing on career, I need the help of domestic workers. We will allocate budget for that.

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: July 2021 – Busy with work

Welcome to another edition of my monthly budget updates, where I break down my expenses by category and share the highlights and lowlights of the month!

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

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

I don't know la. Maybe it's self-fulfilling prophecy. But when I donate, the money comes right back, in multiples. This month alone I have 5 paid collaborations/sponsored posts with clients I like. It's just amazing how it works.
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com 🏴 (@surayaror)
July 12, 2021

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

If only you know how many 'gurus' promoting property and trading courses reach out to me…
Not to mention the forex platforms and credit and loan service providers..
On average, I reject 1 potential client a day 🥴
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com 🏴 (@surayaror)
July 6, 2021

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

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

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

Let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: July 2021

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

Donations & Gifts

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

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

My Spending Breakdown in July 2021

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

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Completed 2 doses of vaccination!

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

#2 – Paid Income tax

Glad to have this done, after procrastinating on it!

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

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

#3 – Took care of my mental health

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

This govt stresses me out so much, I became that bitch who exercises every day
https://t.co/53JhXQWpy5
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com 🏴 (@surayaror)
July 21, 2021

#4 – Had a lot of collaborations

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

6 years ago, when I started freelancing for the first time: spent 90% of my work day looking for paying clients. Fair pay is bonus
Now: getting well paid work offers every other day, just based on referrals and word of mouth alone
It's been quite the journey. Alhamdulillah
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com 🏴 (@surayaror)
June 10, 2021

In July 2021, I published:

[SPONSORED] What You Need to Know About Payment Relief Assistance
 with Alliance Bank
[SPONSORED] MIDF Invest Review: Buy US Stocks and ETFs from Malaysia Directly, Securely and Cheaply
 with MIDF
[SPONSORED] Check CTOS Credit Report for FREE (+ How to Read, Build and Improve Credit Score)
 with CTOS
Instagram Livestream – 5 Financial Habits You Should Know by 30 with AIA Malaysia

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

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

#5 – Gave 3 talks

I did:

How to Save Money: Advanced Strategies You Should Know with MyAgeing™ Financial Literacy and Educational Hub (MyFiLE), UPM
Buy Now, Pay Later: Good, Bad or Complicated?
 on BFM89.9 Ringgit and Sense show (
I argue BNPL does more harm than good
)
A Simple Guide to Good Debt Management
 on BFM89.9 Ringgit and Sense show (again!)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

#6 – My fridge magically fixed itself

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

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

The fridge technician from kaodim ghosted on us. We set appointment at 11am…then nothing until now
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com 🏴 (@surayaror)
July 7, 2021

#7 – Misc

Read
three books
:

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

Noteworthy shows:

Alien Worlds on Netflix
Glad You Asked Season 2 on Vox Youtube Channel
 – especially the
‘Do I Want Kids?’
 episode

Bought for myself:

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

Need: escapism. Bought: Steam games.
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com 🏴 (@surayaror)
July 8, 2021

Nay of the Month:

#1 – Cat peed on the bed

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

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

That's it. Cats peed on bed one too many times. Bought one of those cat spike mats thing to put on bed. Aaa I'm annoyeddd
— Suraya ringgitohringgit.com 🏴 (@surayaror)
July 13, 2021

#2 – Ordered way too many food delivery..

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

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

#3 – Lost some money in DeFi

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

Things to Look Forward to:

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

Well, that was my July 2021. How was yours? What’s your yay of the month, nay of the month, and something you’re looking forward to? Tell me in the comments section 🙂

—

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: July 2022 – Fully moved :)

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 July? Was it good, bad or meh?

For me, July 2022 represents a new phase in my life – the ‘I deserve this’ phase. Let me elaborate.

All my life, I’ve gotten used to ‘making do’ with old and cheap items. I didn’t care if something looks ugly and is low quality, as long as it works. Quality and aesthetics are secondary to functionality and practicality.

But now, I care. Everything in our new house has to match, even if it is more expensive. I picked the pricier bed because the other one didn’t come in the colour I want. But not just the deco and furniture – oh no, I’ve stopped my partner from buying a freaking broom because it’s not white, black, beige or grey.

I don’t know how to feel about this lifestyle upgrade. On one hand, I freaking paid RM30k for renovation and interior design. So why waste that money by not putting in effort to maintain the aesthetics?

On the other hand, I don’t know, colour matching seems… frivolous? Like who am I trying to impress? Plus in the bigger scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. Shelter is a need, a pretty home is a want.

Still, I can’t deny how happy this whole process has made me.

Ngl I've really enjoyed the 2-months-long shopping spree to buy furniture, appliances and decorations for new home. All the researching, choosing and finally buying was so fun. And all was budgeted for plus we saved so much by not having wedding reception, so no guilt whatsoever
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
August 1, 2022

It was also fun doing this project with my partner. I’m so grateful that he’s such a pleasant person to do the home renovation project with, so easy-going and dependable. I kind of miss having a shared project together.

I guess you can say I have post-renovation blues 🙂 Let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: July 2022

In July 2022, I spent RM14,158.12. The top 3 top expenses were:

Donations & Gifts (RM5,716.04)
– Korban contribution for 2 person, Dad’s dusun project, parents’ electric bill, contribution to family trip, tips
Home Reno + Deco (RM2,265.33)
– Monthly EPP for renovation, hire contractors and cleaners
Utilities & Rent (RM
1,766.74
)
– Half mortgage and all final pending bills for old place

Cumulatively, the top 3 expenses make up 71% of my total July 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 July 2022

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

Spending notes:

Changed ‘Utilities & Rent’ to ‘Utilities & Mortgage’ 🙂 I pay half of mortgage – it’s the same cost as my previous rent so no major changes to accommodation budget
High Groceries cost is due to me replenishing depleted groceries. Had the best time planning meals and shopping for groceries
High Pets cost is due to me stocking up up cat food and cat litter in bulk

Yay of the Month:

#1 – Fully moved!!

I have fully moved to new house!

Moving is no joke, there’s just so much to do. In July, we did all of these:

Hired movers to bring items to new place
Hired cleaners to fully clean old place
Bought furniture and appliances and arranged for them to be sent over
Assembled a bunch of IKEA furniture
Sold/donated where I could, but also threw out a bunch of stuff (probably thousands of RM worth..)
Hired contractors to install fire alarm, do minor drill work
Installed home wifi

All in all, it took 7 months of coordination and planning from getting the keys to move-in, but now it’s done, and I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out 🙂

#2 – Downgraded mobile plan

Will be saving RM68 monthly from now on yay 🙂

Finally will install home WiFi. I can downgrade mobile data plan now, will reduce from RM93 to RM25 per month. Will save RM68 per month or RM816 per year yay 🙌
pic.twitter.com/oDunpOi4SZ
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
July 30, 2022

#3 – Rented a good parking spot (costs extra tho)

GOOD parking spots are limited in my area and unfortunately we were assigned a bad one. After about 2 weeks, I couldn’t take it anymore and searched for a more convenient spot to rent, and happily found one fairly quickly.

This will cost me an additional RM150 per month. Worth it for the time savings so it’s fine.

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A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

#4 – Family holiday

My MIL treated us to a wonderful resort holiday. It was so fun!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

#5 – Appeared on..

#1 –  Principal Retirement & Investment Conference 2022

Thanks Principal for having me! I learned about a new type of financial product –
decumulation solution
. Retirees concerned about finishing savings too fast can look into it.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)

#6 – Misc

Read:

None 🙁

Watched:

The Gray Man
The Adam Project
Persuasion
Knives Act

Bought for myself:

Essential oil roll-on
Dress from oxwhite
Some makeup and beauty products – eyeshadow pencil, eyeliners, lip tints, hair oil, scalp treatment
Thrifted clothes from IG/plussizebundlemy

Super satisfied with the thrifted clothes I got from IG @/plussizebundlemy ❤❤ usually it's very hard for me to find plus size but they have a good selection of tops and pants and really awesome prices too, go check out!
pic.twitter.com/LjrJWvj5Jp
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
July 25, 2022

Nay of the Month:

#1 – Unnecessary repair work

Had a very frustrating, completely unnecessary repair work due to an accident that was no one’s fault (except perhaps the person who laid the pipes differently than diagram).

The mistake is due to how the water pipes was laid up, which is slightly different from plumbing diagram
Thankfully, or so I thought, I got the insurance add on from servishero. Should cover the cost
Contacted servishero, no reply after asked about claiming insurance 🙂
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
July 21, 2022

Originally ServisHero said the insurance won’t cover the damage, but I argued it wasn’t my fault (because it wasn’t!) and in the end they said can refund the cost of the repair.

#2 – Wasted money on clothes that didn’t fit

I bought jeans and a sports bra that didn’t fit, and had to be donated 🙁 Wasted ~RM80 just like that. Lesson for me to check sizing chart and tag properly.

Things to Look Forward to:

Family trip
Use all the condo facilities!

While I was a renter, I don't care about using my apartment's amenities
But now that I'm gonna move to own place and see how much the maintenance fee costs, I wanna use ALL the amenities provided. Idc I will swim in the pool everyday to make the payments worth it 😂
— Suraya | suraya.eth (@surayaror)
December 9, 2021

Well, that was my July 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: July 2023 – Easing back into normal life

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 July? Was it good, bad or meh?

For me, July 2023 was all about easing back into normal life, except now we have a 2-month old baby to plan around. Some changes include:

Packing diaper bag (and making sure to bring thermos with warm water and some formula so we can quickly feed him)

Checking if the location has a baby room

Choosing a mall based on visitor density

Timing the time we leave the house right after feeding Baby Mika

Me scheduling all my meetings on days my partner works from home, so he can look after the baby while I work

And more

I have to say, it’s not particularly hard but there’s definitely a lot of planning and research involved. But so far so good.

Let’s get on to the budget part.

Budget Update: July 2023

In July 2023, I spent RM9,803.12 The top 3 top expenses were:

Donations & Gifts (RM2,525.55)
 – Parents’ electric bill, gave gift money to brother as wedding present

Misc Needs (RM1,721.32)
 – Paid LHDN tax payment in advance

Utilities & Mortgage (RM1,371)
 – Half mortgage and bills

Cumulatively, the top 3 expenses make up 58% of my total July 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 July 2023

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

Yay of the Month:

#1 – My baby brother got married

My baby brother got married in July 2023 🙂 Calling him baby is weird considering he’s freaking 34 this year but I don’t care, he’s still baby to me. As a wedding gift, a big chunk of the amount under Donations went to him.

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#2 – Surprisingly, I’m earning alright

I was worried my pregnancy and maternity leave will significantly impact my earning, and yes I had to turn down quite a few jobs, but despite all that my income up until July 2023 was… alright? I’m not mad at the amount, not at all.

Hope this keeps up. So far, I have managed to work from home while caring for baby Mika, but am also considering using babysitting services if necessary.

Thinking of using kiddocare so I can get in focused work
6 hours = RM120
If I get it 3 times a week, that's RM120 x 3 x 4 = RM1440
It's a chunk for sure but not working is not an option, I want to be a working mom
Hmmm how y'all do it?
— Suraya: bestselling Bergaji & Pokai book (@surayaror)
July 11, 2023

In any case, I have bought a package of 6 babysitting sessions (for RM600) just in case I need to use it.

#3 – Allowing myself to buy clothes

I’m not sure about you but for our family events, it’s normal to wear colour-coordinated outfits. For my brother’s event, the designated colour was dusty pink – I wore an outfit donated by my sweet mother-in-law.

We will have more family events in August and September, which means I need new outfits. For those events, I have to look for outfits in sage green, champagne and grey colours.

I don’t have many occasions to shop guilt-free, so I’m enjoying the process haha. Also, I’m somewhat funding this by selling preloved items from Carousell.

#4 – Opened Baby Mika’s SSPN account

Baby Mika now have education fund via 2 SSPN-i accounts – one from me and one from his dad 🙂

I fully intend to max out the RM8k in tax relief by the end of 2023. I did a quick calculation via kiracukai.my and I may be able to get my taxes reduced by RM1300 or so??? Sounds good to me!

(This is one of the reason why I consider SSPN as one of the
3 Best Investments in Malaysia
!)

The only thing that will make this sweeter is if SSPN is doing a campaign or something. Last time people won cash prizes, cars… a girl can dream right?

#5 – Work plans

Work-wise, in addition to doing collaborations, speaking sessions and affiliate marketing, I finally decided 2 things I want to do: relaunching How to Buy Your Own Damn Insurance course, and selling the Money Stories from Malaysians book series.

There’s A LOT of components involved from strategy to execution, but I’m not one to back down from a challenge. Let’s do this go Suraya go.

#6 – Appeared on:

1) Astro Awani’s The Future is Female show with Melisa Idris

Melisa Idris interviewed me on being a personal finance content creator 🙂 Watch it on Youtube:

2) BFM’s Biz Bytes:
Personal Finance Tips and Advice for Freelancers, Business Owners, and the Informal Sector

with Stev Yong of MyPF.my

Yours truly had the opportunity to be a guest on BFM’s "Enterprise Biz Bytes" together with
@surayaror
. In this episode, we delved into personal finance tips & advice tailored specifically for freelancers, business owners, & those in the informal sector.
https://t.co/mBcmv9VHzd
— Stev Yong, CFP MBA (@stev_yong)
July 27, 2023

#7 – Misc

Read 0 books

Bought for myself:

A few tops and skirts from Carousell

One pair of baju kurung for family event

A buy 5 free 1 package from Kiddocare

A new phone case

Refloxology sandal

Face mask

A Facebook ads course

Nay of the Month:

#1 – Groceries was RM1254??

My usual groceries expenses averaged around RM750 per month, so imagine my surprise at RM1254 for July 2023!

However, in the bigger picture, the amount is alright, I guess? I calculated my household’s monthly groceries expenses and on average, the amount only increased by RM100 or so since 2022. Considering inflation etc, it’s not bad.

My household's average monthly groceries expenses for the last 5 years:
in 2019: RM514.70 (single)
in 2020: RM597.20 (single)
in 2021: RM893.70 (married)
in 2022: RM737.10 (married)
in 2023 (so far): RM832.30
— Suraya: bestselling Bergaji & Pokai book (@surayaror)
August 2, 2023

P/s – Groceries cost was much higher in 2021 as I was doing keto then – lots of cheese, meats, speciality keto food items.

#2 – Family down with flu

The flu season was particularly aggressive this year and a few family members were down with the flu.

One of my sisters were also hospitalised 🙁 It was worrying but thank goodness all is well.

Things to Look Forward to:

Continue watching Baby Mika grow. As I’m writing this, Baby Mika is already 2 and half months old! He’s SO CUTE and except for the usual frustrations (why angry cry when sleepy? Go la sleep I’m not stopping you also??!), I’m having a good time 🙂

Doing more social activities, both for work and fun. There’s a bunch of family events I’m keen to attend as well – love seeing family reactions when meeting Baby Mika 🙂

Well, that was my July 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: June 2016

June Budget Update Summary

*horrified emoticon face*

*horrified emoticon face* x 1000

RM4.3k…????

I spent way, way more than I should this month!!! Complete fail. I had way too much fun, and stopped limiting my expenses because of it. The thing is, all this month my brain was like, “yea Suraya perhaps you shouldn’t” but my heart was like, “GO FOR IT GIRL”.

Can I even call myself frugal anymore? Idk 🙁

Ok, let’s recap. Alright. RM4.3k spent… RM830 was for my new phone… RM300 was my usual loan repayment… RM120 was for usual cost of medical card… rent… phone top up… NOPE STILL OVERSPENT. I’ll go sit in the corner and think of what I’ve done…

Yay of the Month:

I went on a super fun local trip. This was before puasa time, so I went ahead and ate all the things I wanted. Dim sum. Lots of Japanese food. Fancy scmanchy fusion food. Delicious, but ouch.

Ordered 2
new glasses
 on
Selectspecs
. This is actually a really good website if you want to order new glasses cheaply. I got 2 for roughly RM120. You have to know your eye prescription, though.

I got a new phone! It’s been a long time coming and I budgeted for it, so I ain’t mad.
 Lenovo Vibe K4 Note.
 RM830. I wrote about it
here
.

Bought some
 clothes from thrift shop
. Also ain’t mad. Wrote about it
here
.

Helped my sister’s
Raya booth,
from 7am to 11pm. It was tiring, but I managed to sell lots of Baju Raya at Stadium Shah Alam 🙂 See my sister’s
Raya collection here
.

I bought a small RM5
book on sambal
 lol. I made sambal ikan keli and sambal telur that very night, so it was money well spent.

Nay of the Month:

Spent a shitton on groceries
. Almost RM500! Aside from the usual stuff, I bought homemade kimchi from my friend’s mom (RM40, SO GOOD), and 6 packs of smoked salmon (in my defense, it was on sale. 50% off. Of course I had to get them).

My
water filter broke
. Twice. That’s roughly RM130 out of pocket to replace them. And lots of anger in the process.

My
umbrella also broke
 🙁 I loved that umbrella – got it from Geneva and its such a nice, pretty orange colour. Replaced it with a green stripes one from Mr. DIY (RM20).

…Was
overly generous
 in general. I was in a giving mood, so I paid for and bought gifts for many people. I don’t regret it, but I wish I know how to say no to non-essential purchases…

Things to Look Forward to:

Belt tightening. No more than one meal out per week. No more than one expensive meal out per month.

Raya? Idk still no mood yet. This year I have about 15-20 Raya packets to distribute and that’s another unavoidable expense (
here’s all my Raya expenses
). But still. Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin you alls.

My shit lasting for a while. Praying that nothing else breaks for the rest of the year.

But honestly all in all I’m looking forward to get my mental alertness back. During Ramadan I slept more than I should. I was dazed half the time. It’s a special time, religiously speaking, yes, but I have less motivation to improve on my work. I could have earned more, but I didn’t.

Sigh. Have a great July, you guys. Don’t be like me 🙁

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