Money Diaries: Dec 2019

 

 

RED. I was quite reckless this December, spending a total of RM13,641 and a decade away between me and my credit card bills. There are three main things that I spent on:

• A leap jump upgrade on my iPhone. How do I recycle the old one?
• Travel with family for 18 days in summer. In reality, sunburn.
• Road tax, car maintenance & insurance 

If I were, to be honest, most of it is wants and not need. Looking back, here's what I wasted money on in this year:

• Mindless drinks - cups of latte, bubble milk tea
• Over-stuffing sugar snacks like ice-cream, chocolate cake
• Tumble semi-gems stones which worth nothing the moment it is paid for.
• Random things in Diaso I didn't know I need before.
• Handmade earrings, accessories  Konon-nya
• More blank notebooks and stationery
• Cocktails because everyone else does when I can't really drink.
• On-sale products which I hoard and hoard until the expiry
• Bunch of flowers and plants. I love a beautiful bunch but going to the florist is a huge extravagance

Adding all these in, I'm convinced that lifestyle inflation creeps. I've been more or less careful about how I spent but the more you buy something cost a dollar, the more you get used to it. 2019 is a year full of money mistakes to slowly ponder upon. 

It's not all at lost. My investment notes in Funding Society have miraculously restructured and there is no more default. My room is now cleaned and awesome to live in. I learned so much about leadership, creativity, and culture, but some of my data analyst skills to practice.

For the year ahead

• Avoid sugar like a plague. Half of my closet is not my size now.
• Boil my own Oden at home instead of buying from Family Mart. I can't say it's a brilliant idea. It is so simple that a billion people probably thought about this before me, surely.
• Send postcards from aboard by passing to the air-stewardess. They will post it for free. 
• Write a thoughtful, interesting and useful post. 
• Buy clothes that are practical, reasonably hardy and spark joy.
• Make the home cooler without impacting global warming.

Could 2020 be a better year? I don't know. At the moment, I am hopeful yet pretty stuck in different aspects of life. How about you?