Just My Money Journey, Honey

Showing posts tagged minimalism

Why do I have a lot of clothes all of a sudden?

Was sorting out laundry the other night. I pride myself on being that girl who’s a bit of a nomad - I can pack everything into a single suitcase.

Nuh-uh. No longer. Well, technically, I can. If I squish everything together really tight. But this scares me a bit. I don’t need a lot. But I have a lot. One full suitcase is a lot.

Seriously. My clothes scares me. I don’t like the overflowing-ness of my wardrobe!

And I was thinking I needed new stuff. Pfft.

Posted 11 months ago

Tags: clothes, minimalism,

New Hobbies

minimalistmoney:

It’s great starting a new hobby, finding something you enjoy. I recently started cycling and after four weeks I find myself really enjoying travelling to work this way. The trouble is I also find myself on the Internet looking things up like cycle routes, etc. this inevitably leads me to looking at bikes and what a new one would cost me.

I have a perfectly good bike which is light and comfortable to ride. Perfectly suited to a 4 mile round trip. I do not need a new bike.

The internet is a great place to learn about things, especially new hobbies, but it is littered with adverts and promotional writing. I haven’t bought anything yet and I don’t expect to. I think the trick is understanding that, whether directly or indirectly, you are being sold to on the internet so try to take the information that you need and leave the desire for new things where it is.

Agreed!

When I discovered my passion for personal finance and minimalist lifestyle, it seems like in order to start I felt like I had to buy something, which at the time, defeats the whole purpose anyway.

Frugal tip #37823 - Use and finish what you already own and have! Here’s a device to help you to finish using up what you have! (Example: Toothpaste squeezer)

Frugal tip #82375 - Track your money! Here’s the top picks of budgeting apps, starting at only 99 cents! (I use a free app called MyBudget which works GREAT. You can also use free budgeting softwares available online).

Reblogged 10 months ago from

3 notes

Tags: frugal, money, minimalism, personal finance, budgeting, hobby,

Personal Finance Update

Gold took a tumble - my RM1029 worth of gold that I bought is now worth RM994, which will be RM992 when I sell it off (bank takes a certain percentage, the greedy things).
My credit card reward points now reached around 9200. With 10000 I can use that to offset the yearly RM50 service tax. I can also pretty much judge that I earn about 5000 points a month. Free RM50 worth of points every 2 months, redeemable for petrol, groceries, that’s not too bad at all.
Girlfriend’s getting used to me using the card all the time, too, so that’s good. We had a fight when I first got it, she said that she sees it as very ‘corporate’. She seems fine with it now. At least she lets me pay for her petrol first using the card and paying me back with cash so that I can accumulate points.
I have been donating to Unicef monthly for years now, via auto debit. I was always slapped with RM1 bank transaction charge. Gave them a quick call to make the usual donation via credit card - will save RM1 monthly and get 190 points for the same thing. Awesome.
Current realization when the fridge’s empty - suddenly there’s leftover food everywhere. Found frozen pastry shell and sausages so made sausage pastry this morning to bring for lunch. Found cookies in my bag. Found 2 packs of biscuits in my car boot. Found leftover sweets in my office desk. Found leftover forgotten chocolate cake. Found a jar of olives which I happily ate with pasta - until I realized that the pit’s not removed. Found 2 bags of lentils yet unopened. Rediscovered herbs frozen in the icebox (mint, parsley, and chives). Found a couple of slices of butterscotch bread, which I’m munching right now, yum :)
Current PF inspiration - trying to save 50% of my take home pay. If I can live comfortably on half my salary, it theoretically means that I can work 1 year less. It’s a pretty powerful concept. I regularly save about 30% currently.
I was reading this one PF article another day, it said something like this: train yourself to not want unneeded stuff. It’s a nice, minimalistic concept, a nice anti-consumerism concept. I like to think that I’m above some company’s marketing tactics. I also would like to think that I am not the stuff I wear and use, instead I am complimented by stuff I wear and use, if that makes sense.
I keep saying how I like to save money but don’t actually have a goal of what I want to use the money for eventually. Increasingly the idea of getting some permaculture land where I can raise chickens and goats and have an amazing edible garden and a small house with a hammock… I don’t want to set my goal too quick, I might change my mind, but right now, that sounds amazingly heavenly.

And therefore I conclude this post.