Just My Money Journey, Honey

hula-hope:

My grandpa has Alzheimer’s so he has no idea who my grandma is but everyday for the last three or four months he brings her in flowers from their garden and asks her to run away with him and be his wife and everyday she says she already is and everyday the smile my grandpa gets on his face is the most beautiful heartfelt thing I have ever seen.

I usually spend about RM200, on average, for groceries a month, for one person. My girlfriend and I do groceries together, and we enjoy it. I love cooking, and she kind of got inspired and motivated from me. She makes me amazing (and HALAL!) chinese dishes! Mostly, we share the same taste in food. But that’s another topic.

1 month = 30 days = 3 meals a day = 90 meals. We go out to eat maybe 2-3 times a week. Let’s round that up to 10 meals out a month. So we make about 80 meals at home. This includes everything: appetizers, snacks, desserts, fruits, etc.

RM200 divided by 80 meals is just RM2.50 a meal. I love it. I love knowing that my gorgeous meals - and I make pretty good ones - cost me that little. Restaurants can easily charge 10x that.

Have you every calculated your average cost per meal, based on your groceries bill?

For the month of May, I received RM44.63 in cashbacks from my credit card!

Honestly, I’ve been missing easy money all this while. I use it mostly to pay bills, pump petrol, and buy groceries. If I average RM40 a month, that’s RM480 a year of free money!

Another interesting side effect - my girlfriend and I share the groceries, so when I pay by credit card, she pays me back with cash. I haven’t run to any ATMs since I got it, since I always have cash on me. On the contrary, every few weeks or so I have to make a trip to the bank because I have too much cash on me. It scares me that I carry hundreds or thousands in a 1 dollar wallet.

And no replacements/refunds has been given yet.

One thing after another. Now I have 11 days break with no destination. Sent them an email (calling costs RM1.95 a minute!), hoping they will get back to me soon. It can take up to 5 working days before they get back to me. If they can’t offer a replacement flight, that’ll just give use 2 weeks to make alternative plans.

The budget for the whole trip is RM1500 (or USD500, or 2000000 riels). I wonder if there’s anywhere else I can go in Asia that’s within the budget.

On the way to Genthing Highlands yesterday, my car broke down. I was puzzled, as I just did a full car service just last week. Seriously, this car is no longer worth it. I have spent around RM2000 on maintenance this year alone. But that’s another story.

We stopped by the side of the road. Shortly, a mechanic stopped to help. ‘Help’, more like it. Well, he and his buddy did diagnose the car (the alternator is dead or something like that). He moved the car to a safer location, and fiddled with the engine and stuff. He called some people who could bring an alternator, but as it was a Sunday, apparently no shops were open. His ‘solution’ is for me to buy a battery which can last me a couple of days. At least, he said, I can drive my car down the hill and bring it to the workshop. Oh, it’s RM400, btw.

I called my dad, who immediately arranged for a tow truck. The mechanics stood to take their leave, but not before asking for money. I was going to offer anyway, so it really rubbed me the wrong way.

The tow truck came and rigged my car and dropped us off back in KL. He charged me RM450, and insisted that it was ‘cheap’. I called my dad, and he was surprised. That’s pretty fucking expensive. I cannot afford it. But I am not willing for the guy to go to my father with the bill, because the cost will come out my mom’s salary anyway, and I didn’t want that. So I had to.

Okay, okay, it’s a service, I get it. I paid for the service of being saved from a horrible situation. What else could I do? Keep being stranded on a highway with a car that refused to start? How was I to know how much it would cost me?

It would also be nice to be charged normal prices, not ‘women’ prices.

It would also be nice for dad to not just get the tow truck for me. His intentions were good, but I would have gotten a couple of quotations first. I could have gotten a nearer tow truck, who can charge me less. Men. Deciding what’s best for you without telling you.

She cried, she was so happy :D

See, for a closet Bisexual Muslim girl, who is secretly living with her Christian girlfriend, I ain’t too bad!

On a more serious note, though, I’m happy and everything, but I’m broke. I accumulated RM16k of personal savings. After giving them RM15k, I won’t have much anymore D:

New goal: increase savings again?

Ah well, might as well :) Money comes, money goes. Means nothing if I can’t make a loved one happy.  

To send and sponsor my parents to Mecca, the holy land.

This has always been a dream of mine. My parents are extremely religious. My mother, especially, who I LOVE, with more than words can say. She literally bursts into tears when she thinks of Mecca. She loved it there. Her dream is to be as close to God as possible, and sending her there would make her really, really happy.

The cost per person is around Rm6000++. Let’s bump it up to RM7000, which it will be. I also want to give them some spending money. I can’t afford much, though. For the both of them, that’ll be roughly RM15000. Do I have it? Yes. Will it hurt my long-term finances plan? A big YES. Do I kind of sort of maybe regret the decision? A very small part of me, the greedy part. Am I glad I called my Dad (tried calling Mom first, I think she was in a meeting) and straightaway told him before I get the chance to think it over and possible cancel the decision? Yes. Dad thanked me. I can’t wait to tell Mom next. She would be so happy.

This will hurt me financially, but it’s ok. Money can always be earned. Always. My parents are old. Mom’s 55, Dad’s 57. They won’t be around forever. Before it’s too late, I don’t want to regret anything. It would break my heart if I were at their funeral and all I could think of was, ‘I wish I could have sent Mom and Dad to the Holy Land one last time’. I’ve talked about this, you guys know that finances are tight at the house. Mom would really, really be so happy.

Oh my God. I feel like crying. I’m actually at a financial capacity to do this. At 25 years old, I can do something as grown up like this. Thank you, God, for putting that spark in me. I’m not the best Muslim, and I personally don’t feel ready to set foot there again at this point of time. But I’m learning.

Sent Mom a text to call me back asap. I’m going to tell her. Oh gosh, I am SO HAPPY.