Money Diaries Dec 2018

December. All in all, I spent RM5700 on dining, travel local and buy beautiful things for myself.

Food
I love the chilli lime steam clams in Nibong Tebal (up north, near Penang, any seafood restaurant there will do). It's fresh, sweet, juicy and cheap.

Clothes
The colours for this winter is brown and dirty yellow. Designer colours are like the forecast of the economy, it tells a story of consumer sentiment. The sales were too tempting, and I gave in for the love of lace tops, printed shirts and shoes.

Gifts
95% of this month giving (RM804) is spent on gifts. RM350 on wedding angpao and the rest on Christmas gifts. I get to spend less because I bought value sets from Benefit and took advantage of the last Crabtree & Evelyn sale.

E-wallet
Use a few E-wallet apps and other things digital. The free gifts, meals and coupons I get this month exceeded RM850 worth. The battle for digital is real. Got a few rounds of discounted petrol using WeChat and got 20+ decent gifts from different stores.

Other spend
Pre-booked CNY tressure pot + yee-shang set from Dragon-i for RM488. And paid RM120 for four Disney Mickey On Ice 2019 tickets. It was a special offer, and I jump into it. I later found out it's the cheapest seat section (what was I thinking? It's RM30 each)

Other life / *lemons/*sparkles/

The gifts I received this year makes me think a lot about what we buy and consume - Perfumes, Bath works candles (is the scent extract made of or synthetic VOCs?), Mangosteen bath set (They claim to be an organic brand but the ingredients are mainly processed chemicals.)  And then the soft drinks, biscuits and chocolates that is served in parties. All these pose a little toxic to the body. I don't intend to live very long, but I do want to be free of painkillers when I am still alive.

Mix feelings: Many friends posted on IG about how blessed and abundance is 2018. Unfortunately, it's a sad turning year in my life without knowing why. If you know, the book of Job - sorrowful events are not a punishment, and the happy endings are not a reward. It's just because who God is. If you didn't have a good 2018, you aren't alone.

Violin classes can be expensive, I use free learning resources from here . What I need now is to practice and improve.

Updated budget

Item	Budget Dec	Actual Dec
Giving		RM804 (gifts)
Transport	RM800	RM1624 (road tax & insurance)
Food Average	RM1000	RM1020
Travel	nil	RM522
Clothes	RM500	RM707
Fund PRS	RM2000	Done
Mobile
Other wants & needs
Rent and utilities	RM600	RM629

I don't exactly have anything to look forward to this new year, but we had a countdown gathering, and each wrote a time-note to our 2020. So in 2019 I aim to:

• Avoid money mistakes: Leverage a bit more and spend less so I can retire early.
• Bow the violin - focus on the pitch and technique 
• Read 50 books 
• Finally, buy a house

What's your 2019 plan?