If anyone can be guilty about not posting frequently in April, it'd be me. I'd also be the one who is guilty of horribly behind from all the blog reading and comments. I'll try to catch up this week and read the posts I've missed. Alas, the abstinence from frugal blog kingdom has had me fallen off the frugal bandwagon - not a nice feeling, nor a good news for my bank account.
I went on holiday for a handful of days in early April, needless to say my schedule was swamped before the days off; after the short trip, I returned drained. Coming to think of it, DB and I didn't do mountaineering nor any outdoor sports during holiday, we did sightseeing and minimal walking, under hot weather, and that's enough to make me drained for a whole week. I think I almost had a heatstroke on day 2, but recovered quickly in the evening. My sleep was poor since returning from the trip, and I had no idea why.
At work, there's some rumors about reshuffling - to be honest I expected it to take place in the latter half of the year, but news shot up that it actually was taking place bit by bit. I was taken aback at the view of this - totally not prepared for it yet. A few discussions with my coworkers had sent me into panic mode for a while. A new meeting had landed on my plate too, and it's something I'm not familiar with. Not a good time at work indeed.
Coming back, DB and I are planning on our next trip, which will happen real soon, a month from now, actually. In the pipeline was of course tons of decision making (raise your hand for decision fatigue!), a lot of reading, researching, debating. And I'm still not there yet - not at the level that I'd prefer to be, i.e. getting acquainted with the details of our destinations. Far from it, in fact. More reading and researching is needed, and time is running out (3 weeks?). A lot of cash had been blown on the coming trip, but in consideration of all things, I hope it'll be worth it. Possibly my last long-haul trip for years to come *gasp*.
Intrigued by a book title we happened upon at the airport when returning from our holiday, I googled online and found nothing. I then thought of my uni. library, did a search, one of the books I wanted was there. Went there on a brim after work, picked up 4 books, finished 1 in a few days. But this is about as frugal as I get to this month. As far as the money aspect is concerned, I'm too terrified to do a calculation (I would do that in the Monthly Wrap-Up post to come), it's not looking good from what I can tell:
1) blown a lot of cash in the coming trip
2) overspent in April even if the trip related expenses were taken out
3) I had this terrible twitch of hands (or my mind) that I want to buy something, after returning from the trip. It's the worst feeling one can have in the journey of frugality.
A lot of things had happened and dragged me in the direction of making a move, in a pace faster than I imagined / wanted. One of these was the opening of a securities account. I planned to wait for a new customer offer, but instead I was forced into action from my folks. I managed to open it, albeit with lots of complications and hurdles along the way. It's set up now, or very close to! I really don't like to operate a new interface, seeing unfamiliar numbers that are actually my money, and buying stocks. It's all very foreign to me and I don't think I can familiarize myself with it shortly. I took on a new stock that's yet to hit the market, based on advice from my folks. The number is nothing big, but any investment (except in bonds) gave me the unease, and if you know me at all, the last thing I want on earth is to have another thing to worry / add to my mental task list. But beggars can't be choosers, I need to grow my capital, be it how little it stands at right now. It's a new thing I had to live with, learn, research on and familiarize with.
I talked about the merits and consequences of upgrading my credit card before - at the end I went ahead for it, I don't think I'll look back now. First, it allows me to visit lounges of airports, with a limit to the frequencies but it's not like I travel a lot per year, and it's a wonderful thing to have say, especially on my upcoming long-haul trip. Second, it allows me to accumulate my points faster.
Last weekend I bleach wiped my room once, washed the curtains, hung them up, it felt good to have a nice clean(er) room again, albeit I was completely exhausted afterwards. Yesterday I planned to pamper myself at home, but I had some accidental decluttering instead. Got rid of a bunch of old magazines, freed up some space and put stuff in, it felt good, but my room was still full of chucks of stuff. I hate stuff, the older I become, the less stuff I want to have. I also found some trip photos which I thought were missing, by accident! Really glad I found them, or should I say, I'm glad I wasn't stupid enough to erase them! Of course, that tired me out again. Some awful cramps had made me want to stay in today, imagine my horror when discovering I left some important bank letter in my office - I had no choice but to go there and fetch it...managed a No Spend Day for first 2 days of May.
All in all, April made me feel like a cog in a wheel, a scatterbrain pulled in all directions to move forward when I'm not ready for it, but such is life, isn't it?!
Looking forward to reading everyone's blog posts while I'm away :-) Being away from reading frugal blogs had its dire consequences, and one that I don't wish to go through if able to!
