For the past two days, I've been doing alot of calculating (alot alot i tell you.....). No.. not trying to balanced out the accounts for work. It was for my OWN personal account.
I may be an accounting gradute (with an honours degree, mind you), and manage the corporate accounts on a daily basis, but when it comes to my personal finances, I am a total dummy... Up to the extent that my monthly expenses went haywire.. No budget, no planning, no game plan, no nuthing.
What I earn, I spend.
Bad? Totally...
Ignorant.. Yeah.. absolutely...
Most people my age have already charted out their financial path. They have their cash reserves as a safety blanket for rainy days. They can even start buying their 1st house now. Marriage fund jangan cakap laa kan, memang dah set aside from the start. However, what do I have? Some cash stashed away in the ASB that won't even cover my feet if it were a blanket (hehehe...), a savings/current account which net worth will always be negative at the end of the month and a car that I regretted buying.
Balancing the accounts was never easy. Especially when you work in the heart of KL where everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is not cheap.
Parking RM5.00 - 7.00 per day
Lunch RM 3.00 - 5.00 minimum
Tol RM 1.00 - 3.00 minimum
That is just the daily expenses. To top up the list, there would be the car loan, study loan, monthly groceries, phone bills, laundy (those jackets cannot hand wash maa...), petrol, other misc. expenditures.
Speaking of Misc. expenditures... What can be justified as a misc. expenses? Can a Rhumba be listed under the category? A wise friend told me that there should never be a misc. expenditure.. everything must be listed out under a category.. Hence, Rhumba will fall under what category? Drinks? Hmmm...
Anyway, since I've been in the red zone last month, with the advise from a dear friend, I've started to list out all my expenses for the month last night. The strategy was to look for areas where it can be cut down, esp. the misc. expenses laa kan. After going through all the receipts I had kept (yesss, there's a purpose why most girl keep their receipts in their purse, and it's not to make bonefire :p ), I found out that I've been spending more than I earn for a month.
Bad? Totally....
After rationalising all the expenses, I've managed to cut down some cost from some areas (e.g. misc. exp) to cover other important area (e.g savings). Reduce RM30 from the phone cost, cut RM70 worth of groceries, reduce the amount spent on gifts, etc... You get what I'm trying to say kan..
"You must make sure you pay YOURSELF every month"
"At least 10% of your salary goes into your savings"
Those lines had been repeated to me more than once, and it is now engraved in my brain. Yes, I did try to save when I first started working. However, after 2 months, I resorted to treating myself to new work clothes, new shoes for work, bags to match the shoes (yeah rite, I never match my bags and shoes.. never..). Plus, I discovered RHUMBA!!!
Hence, how do One actually balance out One's expenditures? After calculating everything last night, I found out that I can only spend a very limited amount per day to survive till August, after which I can start paying myself every month. Even that will not bring me close to a break even point. I still have to find a way to squeeze in other one-off expenses that for sure will come my way.
Tough? Of course...
Challenging? H*ll yeah...
Serves me right? Definately...
I got my wake up call last night and it definately was an expensive one... Just hope that I can resist all the temptations and finally emerge from the red zone bracket soon...
binx: XXXX - 234 -115 - 25 - 858 - 23 - 170 - 273 - 50 - 300 - 115 = (XXXX)
p/s: The addiction for Rhumba had hit its 5,000th mark yesterday. Am shocked that the number actually grew that fast. Just wanted to thank each and everyone of you that have been visiting to take a glimpse at my ever-so-mengarut postings. For those that had dropped their comments, my deepest gratitude to you guys.. Your comments actually brighten up my days. To those silent readers, your visit never go unnoticed... *hugs & kisses*
No comments:
Post a Comment