A week in July

Inspired by the money diaries at Refinery29 and Millennial Money Diaries. Jing did a fantastic job there. So, welcome to one week of my life living on 'food stamps' and pleasures.

Location: KL-PJ & 120km South of Klang Valley

Fixed expenses
Rent: RM450 /month inclusive of utility and shared internet
Mobile: RM27/month (Trick to lower the cost here)

Saturday, Jul 1

8:05 am Waking up with the sky beside is beautiful and I can’t ask for a better place to be. I don’t’ own this place, but I don’t’ need to own something to enjoy it. I track the last spending in Jun and did an hour of work.

10:00 am Bought 25grams of Greek spices. A little good spice mix goes a long way. RM4.50

10:30 am Have lunch at NARA. Omelet Salmon Roe Don with plain water. The waiter/possible owner is quite good looking. RM22

12:30 pm Start making 70 mini jars of peanut and almond butter for an upcoming charity bazaar.
The warm roasted almond fragrant the whole place. How about a label with tiny sliver stars?

4:00 pm Done with cleaning the workstation. Did 40 minutes work and lots of daydreaming.

7:00 pm Went to One U to claim my Sephora Black card birthday gift, but it wasn’t in the system. Got a complimentary 100ml lotion from Clarins. Bought a facial buffer sponge from Body Shop. RM15

8:30 pm Italian dinner at La Risata. Mushroom tortellini and Sangria with entertainer app. I like the red sangria here, unlike the usual spiced wine, this comes in fruity watermelon bites and strawberry sorbet. Taste like an innocent treat that gives you little adult tipsy. RM45.

10:30 pm Emailed Sephora customer service, I want the Tarte set!

Total: RM86.50

Sunday, Jul 2

7:00 am Top-up the toll card. RM50

7:30 am Amazing sermon at church about running the race till the end, claim the mountain even if you are old. The offering bag came but I was determined to be less generous. RM100

10:00 am Packed roasted duck rice and grilled veg for me and my parents. Bought a coconut at RM5. Their coconut is pricey. RM 35

12:00 pm Have a short nap and do some work.

6:00 pm Dinner at home. Seafood stew by mom.

9:00 pm Continue working for 2 hours.

Total: RM185

Monday, Jul 3

8:30 am Breakfast at office canteen. I have some free credits in the account but they will only resume the system later. RM3.5

1:00 pm Fast food at KFC. 2-piece plate without drinks. RM11.90

3:00 pm Sephora came back to me and I get the gift.

6:45 pm Top-up gasoline after the petrol signal came out. RM70.20

7:30 pm Cook mixed grain rice with clams at home. There’s no extra work today so I read the book of Job.

Total: RM85.60

Tuesday, Jul 4

8:00 am Breakfast at office canteen. I got lazy to go out even though the food here is not that healthy. RM4

12:00 pm Lunch at office canteen. RM 5

8:30 pm Dine at favorite Japanese restaurant with friends. Sashimi salad and two temaki roll. RM39

9:40 pm  Tangs member birthday treat (A RM50 voucher for min RM100 spend). The cinema email me about free movie tickets and I might just go for a trip. I never paid for movies since college.

11:00 pm The Body Shop Facial Buffer turns out to be quite a disaster. Pimple like dots and red patches appeared all over my face. All I wanted is a cherry and wholesome looking face. I cried and post an SOS to the prayer group.

Total: RM48

Wednesday, Jul 5 

5:00 am Woke up real early. Did some work and went back to nap.

7:30 am I cried make haste to help me! -Psalm 70

7:45 am Last month, I start a routine to post some great items I don’t use on carousell. Today, it’s the Mi Band 2 that I used for 2-3 months.

8:30 am Breakfast at office canteen. Credit system back online. Free

12:00 pm Lunch at office canteen. Grab a can of coffee. Free

6:30 pm Pump gasoline before the petrol price hike tomorrow. RM47.15. Grab 3 mini cinnamon raisin roll and a flavored drink from the station. RM7.90

8:05 pm Church prayer meeting. I came for God but it hurts seeing the person I secretly admire is moving in a different direction in life. In a way, I wish that I had never known him (that fateful day in the lift). Now the dilemma – should I resign myself from this place?

12:00 pm Arrive home. Did some work and sleep as early as I could.

Total: RM55.25

Thursday, Jul 6

8:00 am Ping some long-time didn’t met friends. Wish we could met up.

8:30 am Breakfast at office canteen. Free

9:00 am The presentation review did not went that well but I am glad it’s done. I will need to do 5 from easy to extremely hard presentation end of this month. Could I cope?

10:00 am News came that my senior will move to a different department. I will need to do own her work after this. It's overwhelm and I am afraid I can’t do this well.

12:30 pm Lunch at office canteen. Free

4:00 pm Someone brought baked brownie in office. Took a small slice.

7:00 pm Salted & preserved egg rice at home and have a few bites of salted dark chocolate.

9:00 pm Add some Google Ads to the blog.

11:35 pm Read and lights-off.

Total: RM0



Friday, Jul 7

8:00 am Arrive office. Skip breakfast today.

10:00 am Meeting start on a stupid little project that I had to complete this month.

11:30 am Indulged in the cheese brownies my colleague brought, I couldn’t resist it.

12:30 pm Lunch outside with plans to do some writing. However, I bump into a boss and we ended up chatting. He paid for lunch.

5:00 pm Can't wait to be home for weekends. A 120km drive. Scribd audiobook keep me occupied.

7:30 pm Sushi for me and my parents. RM41.35

10:00 pm And so here I am, a mere 2 hours from end of the day that share a scope of my life. I realize that I’m at the risk of boring to tears anyone who doesn’t want to read these petty details.

Total: RM41.35

Total for the week: RM517.70

This week expenses is typical of weeks that I do not shop. I can be a bit of a spending monster when I do shopping.