Hi everyone!
I’m back with my monthly expenses update in 2021, after dropping it halfway through the year last time. Hopefully, I can continue this for the rest of the year.
My January expenses are, quite, *gulp* scary…
About 40% of my January expenses went to rent/utilities. And, no, we are not renting a place that costs more than my monthly salary. The majority of this expense was actually towards the security deposit for our new place. We initially moved into a studio apartment in late February 2020. After some time, we realized that we prefer a bigger apartment (and a bigger kitchen). So we decided to move out once our tenancy is up.
I actually started looking for our new place in December. However, most of the agents kept on telling us to wait, since we were not planning to move in until March. When we agreed to settle on this new place in mid-January, even the agent was saying how typically people don’t look for a house a month or two in advance.
But, looking back, I’m actually super glad we did that. Because, with the seemingly never-ending MCO, who knows when we would have the chance to go out hunting for houses. I’m excited to move into our new place, and I have lots of plans for it. But more on that in a month or so, obviously, once we’ve moved and settled in there! 🙂
Other things I spent on…
The second biggest chunk of my January expenses is towards savings & investments. I deposited more funds into my Wahed Invest account (referral code: syanoo1), and some other savings elsewhere too. So I’m definitely not that worried since it’s not technically an ‘expense’.
Other big purchases/expenses from the month include:
- Treating my in-laws to a late lunch at Ombak Kitchen Bangsar for my father-in-law’s birthday. Treating family is something that I’m happy to splurge on for special occasions, plus it was for good food too!
- One of my best friends, Safiah, also got married in January! It was a last-minute arrangement since they had to bring forward the date due to MCO 2.0. But I was grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it. As our wedding gift, I managed to secure a photographer to come along and help document the big day. Massive thanks to Firdaus and FNPhoto for being available within such short notice!
- I finally bought my Grammarly Premium! I have been thinking about purchasing this for months, and I finally did it. Grammarly has been super useful in my writing, so this is definitely a worthwhile expense.
Highlights of the first month of the year.
- Had my first product collaboration post with Sudio for their Sudio Nio wireless earphones.
- Went on my first ever family trip with my in-laws to Bukit Tinggi, which was fun!
- Talked about Personal Branding with Azri Nawi for Career57. You can rewatch it on YouTube. This was the first session for Career57, and hopefully, there would be more insyaAllah!
February and March are going to be a bit hard on the wallet as we’re moving into an unfurnished place, but we’ll see how things go. But for now, I guess that’s all. Until the next post – stay safe, take care, and stay awesome!