My April 2020 expenses update.

Hello everyone!

It’s been more than a month since the Movement Control Order started in Malaysia. I hope everyone’s doing OK, regardless of where you are. If you’ve recently started going back to the office, I wish you all the best. Take precautions, have backup masks and hand sanitizers, and maintain a good distance!

As always, it’s the start of a new month, so it’s time to review my April 2020 expenses!

April 2020 expenses breakdown.

I think I’m actually pretty OK with my expenses this month. Granted, we spent a lot more on food. But that was mainly because we had to make some big purchases right before Ramadhan started (our rice and cooking oil were running out). We also bought a new air-fryer on Lazada and a new kitchen rack on Shopee to help us organize our kitchen appliances.

One of my other ‘big’ purchases includes paying for my yearly Eid cards (and stamps to mail them out). I’ve been buying my custom-made Eid cards from Kak Shida for years now, and it’s something that I enjoy doing. I paused in 2018 (due to the wedding) and 2019 (due to my Master’s studies), but I’m back on it now. If you want an Eid card this year, fill this form out! I printed limited cards this year though, less than I usually do. So better hurry if you want one!

“Paying it forward”

Other things I’ve bought/paid for in April are:

• Charity, including printing out stickers for my Dad’s kurma that he donated to his hospital for Ramadhan.
• Sentuh voucher bundle. I’ve been intrigued to try out Sentuh’s massage services for a while now. And this MCO, they offered the voucher bundle, which is valid for up to a year after MCO is lifted. So I figured, why not pay for it now and utilize it within the next year?
• Paying for my business registration with SSM. More on this in a later post (hopefully).
• Art & Bonding home kit. I mentioned in a previous post that I bought two home kits from them as a way to celebrate my anniversary with Aiman earlier in April. One of my best purchases for a ‘date’, if I can say so myself. Also, I bought a bunch of art supplies on Shopee (lol).
• GoGet services. I had a GoGet driver (same one for both times) pick up some items from my parents’ and in-laws’ houses and deliver them to my place in Seri Kembangan.

(My) Highlights of April 2020

April seems to just fly by so quickly. We’re a-third through the year, and I’m intrigued to see what the future has in store. With the MCO being (conditionally?) lifted in Malaysia, I can only hope that things do not get worse from this day on.

Anyhow, some of my own personal highlights of last month:

• Malaysian Money Stories! I’ve been waiting (patiently) for Suraya to release Volume 2, and she did (about a week or so ago)! You can now pre-order the MY Money Stories Volume 2 & Cerita Duit Orang Malaysia Jilid 1! Special prices end 8 May, so pre-order your combo now! You can either opt for an ebook combo, a physical book combo, or, like me, BOTH! [Note: These links are affiliated links. If you buy the books using this link, it will not affect the price that you pay for the product, but I do get a small fee in return].
• Received a free gift from SofeaRose! I have not yet tried it on (nor have I actually seen the gift in person, since it was sent to my parents’ house). But I’m excited to try it on when I go home (whenever that is!). SofeaRose is also having their #DuitRayaSofeaRose competition right now (ending on 5 May 2020). You can buy one of their Grandeur Raya 2020 baju kurung and stand a chance to win RM500 for 6 months! 5% of their sales will also be donated to a COVID-19 fund, so you can shop and donate at the same time!
• I planned and scheduled quite a lot of things for May. My side hustle (i.e. my Career Services) has grown quite a bit during this MCO, and I’m happy about it. I have quite a lot of things planned in May (various sessions to talk about job searching, online classes, and all), so I’m definitely excited!

Looking forward to May.

I now have mixed feelings for May. I usually look forward to May, because it’s my Mom’s and Aiman’s birthdays, and it’s also Raya this month. But with the MCO (and the conditional ‘lifting’ of it), I’m not too keen on what’s going to happen in the next few weeks.

I’m still stuck at home, at least for the foreseeable future. Schools are not yet allowed to be reopened, so I have no idea when my WFH will be over. To be honest, I’m all ready to go out and meet people, but I also know that it’s not the right time to be out there just yet.

So, if you not required to go to the office to work, PLEASE STAY AT HOME! Please don’t go out unless it’s really necessary (to buy groceries, go to the hospital, emergencies, etc). We are not yet safe, and we really shouldn’t burden the frontliners by increasing the number of cases.

Until next time, stay safe, take care, and stay awesome! 🙂