Savings Habit

I like to think that I am not that good in saving money and that is why last year I force myself to take up ASB loan. I was a little bit dissapointed to find out that the dividend declared this was lower than last year. Nonetheless, I considered that as a bonus to be kept for the future. If I am going to maintain the same amount for at least 5 years, I would have at least 60K in the bank.

I would love to accumulate at least 100K by the time I am 40. I already have a bit of money saved in my tabung haji. I would have enough money to perform haj in a year's time (or so). But now that I am getting married, I would want my husband to follow me for haj. As such, I need to device a plan for him to start saving for haj as well. 

Maybe I could ask him to give me 50 per week. In a month, I would have 200. In a year, he would have at least 2.4k. He would need at least 15k to be able to go with Tabung Haji and 50k if we want to go with a private package. I think my mom used the same method on my dad.

To me it is important to have a clear priority. Focus on what is most important. Find God and the rest will fall into place.

I do have other dreams like a trip to Europe on Christmas time, a honeymoon in Maldives etc. We are just starting out as a family so we need to start somewhere. Let's start right...

Bismillah!

Building Better Habits

I've been receiving a weekly newsletter from the author James Clear. He is an author who advocates in developing better habit because better habits leads to a better lifestyle and better lifestyle will give you better result. Instead of focusing on having a better goals, have a better lifestyle.

Today I am thinking about the type of lifestyle I want to sustain for 2020. There will be changes in circumstances which would lead to some sort of change in habits and lifestyle. But those changes are expected changes. I would want to make sure that each change would lead to a better me.

As we will be newly weds, I would aim to have a modest, low key lifestyle. For the next 3 years, I would like to focus on building our nest. Lots of homecook meals, lots of walks in the park on the weekends, lots of staying in watching tv series. We will have trips, but will need to make it low key as well. Focus on the moments spend together instead of sharing everything with the rest of the world. I have Langkawi trip in March. Maybe we just have a low key time in the islands, keep the budget to a minimum and then focus on another trip after UPSR ends with the kids.

I would like to accumulate at least 10k by the end of next year from saving. I will have some dividend payout from ASB this year which I want to use to buy more shares so that next year I would have more dividend payout. I will  have to set aside at least 850 per month on top of the current 200 i already been setting aside into my Tabung haji. The ultimate goal is to have 100k (excluding my tabung haji saving) by the time I am 40. What am I going to do with 100k?, Probably put it in a fixed deposit and just watch it grow. Maybe take a trip on my 40th birthday to somewhere really nice. Hopefully I get to perform Haj with my husband. Ameen..

Let's get back to my original post which is lifestyle change. I want to be able to save more and be debt free again. I have this personal loan that is really bugging me. I will renegotiate the terms with the bank next year to see if I can pay it off earlier. That would ease up my monthly expenses.

So next year's lifestyle change would revolve around spending less than I earn so that we can save more.

New Habit for Next Year:

Packed lunch
Less grab
Cook more
Pay less using credit card, only use cash
have a fixed monthly budget
Less showing off at social media
focus on real stuff in front of me
read more

Uninspired

I have a handful of drafts. I've been typing out the titles of the posts and end up not writing or not finishing the posts. Feeling so uninspired.

 The last 2 weeks had been rough. I ended up filling so sick for the past 3 days. My sinus is all blocked and probably infected. I have been using sterimar to normalize my sinus irrigation, drinking lots of water and taking some meds to clear up the flu-like symptoms.

Luckily, work-wise, things have been slowing down a bit. I have time to make plans for honeymoon and holidays. the not so nice part is that my house is still stuck. it is really troublesome having something like that just stuck not moving despite all the follow up. ugh...

I need something positive to think about but I couldnt find any for the time being.