In February, not only did we have Chinese New Year, the MCO was relaxed, allowing for dine ins again. I fully expected my expenses to go up since foodie me has been denied for too long.

On top of that, my rebel nature kicked in; I gave up tracking my expenses in the Money Lover app for a couple of weeks.

(If you are wondering how I managed to track my expenses in the end, I relied on my credit and debit card statements and stash of receipts I had squashed at the bottom of my handbag.)

Despite my IDGAF approach to tracking my expenses in February and my cuckoo for cocoa puffs reaction to dine ins being allowed again, my expenses were lower than I expected: It was RM2718.74.

This is surprising to me because I literally went “who cares about frugality” in February and also had a few big ticket expenses. This is rather reassuring to me because I know that if I worked on it, I can live on a lean budget and that my “maxed out” lifestyle is below RM3,000!

That said, I want to emphasise that this isn’t a competition. I received some comments on Twitter in one of my Money Diary posts saying that they wish they spent below RMX for shopping like I do.

I would say when it comes to shopping, I’m an outlier of sorts. I barely shop for “stuff”. In fact, I keep missing those online sales events because I am too lazy to even browse an online store. It used to be that my biggest retail therapy expense was books, but I have satisfied that craving by subscribing to the Netflix for books service, Scribd, and from borrowing books from my friend’s bookstore Lovely Ever After.

This is partly nature (mum says I shop like a man), and partly my minimalism life philosophy which has buried my need for retail therapy. Heck, I can even say that I get a lot of happiness not shopping. You may not be a minimalist and may not even want to be. That’s 100% fine.

On the other hand, I commit a Personal Finance sin by eating out all the dang time. But I think of it as a crucial part of my self care and enjoyment in life and don’t feel guilty about it.

My philosophy is simple: Enjoy the fruits of your labour, but don’t end up spending to such an extent that you end up digging into credit and have nothing saved at the end of the month. Also, don’t be so miserly to the point where you end up not enjoying life.

Now, on to the diary!

Home office furniture (RM503.90)

My adventures with remote working deserves a post of its own, but in summary, I fought against having my own dedicated office space for a long time due to my restless nature. (True story: I once spent RM2k setting up a beautiful home office in a dedicated room … only to work on the floor in the living room.) But this month I caved in because after a month of working in my bedroom and living room couch, my brain was not having it.

I was, at first, determined to buy local from a Malaysian furniture store. Perhaps I wasn’t looking at the right shop, but the furniture I saw were either too big for the tiny space in my living room corner or painted in hideous colours. (Dear Malaysian carpenter – there are other colour choices besides white, mahogany brown and black.) One furniture store owner candidly told me that Malaysian furniture makers tend to make limited designs, and if I wanted better variety, I have to look abroad, like China or something.

I looked to Sweden instead.

I ended up choosing a beautiful bamboo table from IKEA (RM503.90 – I also bought a wooden handphone stand). It’s actually a dressing table from the Nordkisa series. It’s diminutive in size, which is perfect for the tiny space in my living room. I actually was about to get a bigger desk with more drawers and shelving space, but this table’s beautiful wood just won me over. In the end, it really made my living room more serene and minimalist, like something out of Muji.

Has it improved my focus? Yes, quite a bit. Despite the fact that I still make the occasional escape to work in a cafe or in a coworking space, it is money well spent because I no longer feel the energy drain of working in a bedroom office.

Birthday presents and Chinese New Year gifts (RM182)

As it was Chinese New Year month, I bought a lot of food for my parents and friends. It was also my bro’s birthday, so I splashed on a dinner for the family.

I’m a little reluctant, honestly, to document or even tell people about the money I give out to charity or as gifts due to my Christian ethic of “tell no one you’re being generous”, but if it inspires other people to do the same I will continue doing so.

Frankly, I feel that I’m a little deficient in this area. I hope to improve more.

Education – 1-year Skillshare subscription (RM120)

Alas. I’m an online course junkie. I told myself not to purchase anymore courses until I finished the bajilion courses I’ve already bought, but I couldn’t help myself when Skillshare had a big sale. The yearly subscription of RM120 is a steal, because they’re usual subscription is about US$99 (RM399). I’ve always wanted to learn sketching, after all.

But I have buyer’s regret now. I realise that my day job keeps me so busy that it’ll probably leave me little time to pursue the courses. Also, many of the courses listed in Skillshare – you can get the same info and teaching on Youtube free. I wasn’t super impressed by the quality of some of them either.

Oh well, lesson learned. It’s still worth it, I think, and I did find some courses that seemed interesting, so let’s hope I use the subscription instead of wasting it like I did with the Freeletics app. (I bought a year’s subscription in 2020 and probably only used it 10 times!)