Hello!
So, now that I’m *officially* in Malaysia for the foreseeable future, I figured that I could take a page out of Suraya’s book (or, in this case, blog) and do a monthly budget/expenses update. This can hopefully help me to be more aware of my spending and money management.
Note: I am using the Money Lover app to track my expenses. I’m trying it out for the first time this year, thanks to Suraya’s suggestion. I previously used another app – Income OK, but I feel like the Money Lover app is more fun to use. The interface is also nice and clean and makes it easier to look and use. Plus, I like their reporting features better than Income OK.
OK, so there’s that. So here are my February 2020 expenses.
Expense breakdown for February 2020.
Now, before you (or I, actually) freak out at the total expense (RM7,500+), I think it might be good to keep in mind that:
- Aiman & I have just recently moved into our new apartment at the end of February/early March. So, more than 50% of the expense from last month went towards our deposit, the utility deposit, our first month’s rental and the tenancy & stamp fee.
- This also meant that we had to spend quite a lot on buying house items (cleaning supplies, basic household items, etc) to set up our new home.
So, all in all, I’m not particularly surprised that our total expenses were a little high last month. It didn’t feel as financially-hard since I saved up some money from my part-time work in the UK. We also saved some money from our wedding angpows, which helped a lot.
Not to mention, thank you to everyone who bought us household items for our wedding in 2018 – very much appreciated! I loved how I finally have a reason to take out and actually use all the wedding gifts.
Expenses in February 2020.
February 2020 also marked my first month working at Alice Smith School. As I was previously living in Bukit Jelutong (with my parents), I drove to work (in Seri Kembangan) every day. This meant that I have to leave home at 6:30 am every morning in order to get to work by 7:30 am *shudders*.
This actually cost me a lot, as you can see from the transportation category above. The toll itself was about RM12 per day, and it’s about ~70km/return trip. The good thing is, I get free parking at work, which helped to cut down my transportation cost. Dad also helped out by filling up my car with gas on one of the weekends, thank you Daddy! 🙂 *hugs*
But from this month onwards, I can safely say that the expense for toll/petrol would go down, considering how I now live 5-10 minutes away from work and I won’t have to top-up my Touch N Go as often as I did last month.
I’ve also spent quite a lot on a new blazer and some new work clothes/shoes. To be fair, my old work shoes were worn out, so I kind of needed new ones. I did, however, buy that blazer on a bad impulse (not regretting it though as it was a nice one!). Hopefully, I can cut down on unnecessary shopping for new clothes in the next month.
Things to look forward to in March 2020.
As mentioned earlier, Aiman & I have moved into our new house recently (like, just this past weekend!). At this moment, we still have no idea how our expenses are going to be, with the different bills and everything. So I’m guessing that March, and the next couple of months, will be us slowly getting the hang of things and playing around with our expenses a little.
Aiman is also still on the job search, so for now, most of the expenses fall on me. But our parents are also pitching in to help a little here and there, as they know that we’re still finding our way around and building that stability together. I’m so very much grateful for their understanding and support <3
I’m also going into my second month at my new job. The Covid-19 situation has dampened the situation quite a bit, as a lot of the universities who were planning on visiting the school ended up cancelling their visits. Not only that, with the rising number of cases in Malaysia, there’s a growing concern if we have to close down the school or anything.
That’s pretty much it for now I guess? If you haven’t already, do check out and subscribe to my bi-weekly newsletter! You’ll get an email every other Sunday morning with a dose of personal growth/self-development inspiration.
Until next time – take care and stay awesome!