Been a while since i came back here to share but it’s also cos there isnt much expense going on. That and also not much money coming in.

So kudos to boring ole salaried worker with basic expenses. Its the small things that add up i think. Probably not the big bang that crypto bros or finance gurus promise but i think one day i’ll look back at this and go yeaaaaa..i’ve been stewarding the cash well.

Anyways, as the title implied, november is finally overrrr. And i’ve somehow scrapped by with a positive result. This mth we managed to do $5k! This brings the total savings over 16 weeks to about $11k. Wahoo. It’s still short of what we need each month but i guess the bonuses and extra stuff may help. Looking forward to more moolah flowing in and less leaking out!!!

This week that passed was really quite uneventful except for the market which went hyperbolic over trump’s victory.

My expenses were thankfully moderate, groceries are slightly lower so far but may continue to increase over the months. I think school fees are starting to feature more prominently with additional curriculum but i think it’s still manageable.

Our own entertainment as well and food and drinks have been also pretty moderate. Didnt have any extravagant dinners or meals that would swing our savings to a low.

I’m just hoping we continue this trend and by end of Nov we get to have a bump in savings. Every positive month is a good month as it drives up our potential to increase the leverage we may have in future. Cant wait for 3 yrs to fly by.

So we’ve paid pretty much all the dues, or at least what i know that are major impact to our finances. This week hopefully marks the last huge negative drop.

Religious duties – done! Whee. It’s alot but i guess, it’s a necessary act to prevent my over reliance on money. This especially since i’ve lost so much in my own greed previously. As such, i’m inclined to believe that my wife’s reminder is not from her but from the divine to always not put trust in money.

Aside from that, market has been tanking. So in a way, i’m preparing to buy a chunk of unit trusts. The same one that i already have plonked in. Will probably do some more due diligence again before the actual but I foresee this might be a good buy time. Looking forward to us market opening on tuesday heh.

Week 10! Sheesh time flies and we’re nearing the end of the year already. This week we kept pretty much within our means. Hardly any spending that is exceptionally high. We had a friday late night escapade to get some waffles and ice cream and weekend decent lunch at victor’s kitchen and for sunday’s dinner some dominos for the family.

It’s quite a typical weekend but i’ll say typical is good. Keeps our finances in check and puts us on track to our target. Such unassuming actions are necessary to hold the family together but also put the money to work.

The wife has asked me to give trading a shot. I’m still kind of burnt from last time and not keen but I’ve been listening and watching YouTube to see what folks out there say. Visually it looks cool, financially i’m now more cognisant of the risks and my faith keeps me rooted to do it with good stewardship. So i’ll approach it carefully and hopefully we move the account balance up from the sad state it’s in. If you’re wondering, it’s not traditional finance but crypto – so you can see my apprehension. 😶

Wow 1 week after the positive we hit a huge negative. I guess 1st weeks are always painful given that we have to pay credit card bills. Doesn’t help that Sep has some relatively large expenses which hit the books.

A holiday here and a tuition there. Plonk goes our balance. But it’s an inevitable situation as we can’t live our lives without spending or lavishing ourselves with occasional luxuries.

I guess that’s why i wanted to document this journey since i want to continuously keep tabs on the family expenses to ensure we don’t just keep up with the joneses for the sake of it.

It’s better to look back and know where the money went and even then to also make informed decisions in the future on how we save or big ticket expenses. Onward and upward!

Finally after a gruelling 8 weeks, we made it. A good positive to be proud of. It’s not major but i’m just glad the numbers came out as it is.

Expenses were wonderfully normal. We didnt have anything major to expense for and credit card bills and tuition costs were somehow manageable.

We did have some good meals here and there but thankfully nothing broke the bank. I was sorely tempted to buy the iphone16pro this week, but held back as I decided that it was better spent on for my kid to jump around. Phones can knock 1k outta your budget which aint alot until you realize it’s frequent enough to dent your plans.

So nett nett this week we’re having a good 4k savings!

This week has been quite a fuel draining week. Started the week with frantic driving to deliver mooncakes to customers. Of course that pushes the weekly fuel consumption up but it won’t break the bank.

Probably the only thing which will hit next month and year end is the holiday plans. Yr end has some special occasions so we decided to go for a small getaway as a family and whisk ourselves somewhere different and hopefully more exciting than singapore.

Damage to the wallet is decent for a family size trip partly thanks to my wife’s effort in reviewing the prices and choosing a less popular flight.

Other expenses have been pretty consistent. Which is great. There’s value in keeping costs flat. Interestingly i missed out the div from last mth, so oh wells, we’ll consolidate both months to this month and see how it pans out. Let’s see how our nett comes next week!

Work week was pretty alright save the fact that it is the mooncake season period. Lots of people delivering mooncakes around here but similarly, I’ve had to make some trips to deliver mooncakes. Distance travelled in the week was higher so likely fuel will be higher.

Unless there’s an alternative fuel station i could hit up? Theres a new place just opened around the corner from my work and gosh the rates are at $2.05/L. I calculated, even with my lala savings, with 25% off $2.87/L, it’ll still only land me at $2.15/L. That’s a whole 10 cents off per litre. So for a 50L pump, that’s $5 less. I guess that’s a good deal.

The family is also down with sickness here and there so this month’s medical bill is going to bump up. Though we wont see it, I assume the salary will get trimmed a little.

Lastly, i’ve decided to try pick up an old interest again. Give the good ole pan a good whip and prepped a spread for my morning breakfast. Dreamt that i managed to trailblaze a whole niche previously, but unfortunately I didnt had the balls to do it. So fast forward almost 8 years later, i’m thinking that I should revisit it. Investment gurus say increase your income streams. So maybe i should try…but most importantly, it has to be good for me before i start offering others.

For the record, its a huge nett negative still. I’m reeling from last week expenses and hoping things get better near the end of the month. Hopefully we can scrape by with a tiny positive.