However, there’s a change of plan now! @.@

Even though the small emergency fund has reached its RM10,000 and the big emergency fund has been 56% towards the goal, hubby’s 50% salary cut and uncertain online income of mine have made me think twice.

Finally, a decision has been made, that’s throwing the extra money into the big emergency fund account until it reaches RM10,000.

Once it reaches RM10,000, I will keep rolling a certain amount each month into my small emergency fund savings account.

Once that certain amount of money is enough to pay off a small credit card debt, I will pull that cash out and pay off the debt.

In this volatile economy and situation, I think having more cash in savings account is safer than having lower debt. In other words, having a debt snowball savings account brings more security.

So, reaching the RM10,000 goal for the big emergency fund account and then turning the small emergency fund account into a debt snowball savings account!

It’s time to start my second round of de-cluttering the rented flat. ^.^

The first round I packed some of the clothes and unused items into boxes was three months ago when I couldn’t bear with the heaps of clothes being left stacking on the chairs and shelves, and decorative items being left accumulating dust.

All in all, 10 boxes of clothes (mostly) and unused items and accessories! ==

It’s better to have all the clothing and stuff hidden in the boxes than being left exposed to dust and dirt. Dusting is much easier now as I just need to dust/wipe the surface of the boxes.

However, even after the first round of de-cluttering, there are still a lot of clothes in the house now. Thanks to hubby who keeps bringing back bags of clothes from the old house to the rented flat here! >.<

What/Who spurs me to start the 2nd round of packing stuff into boxes? Ha, after chancing upon the blog of Serena’s EverydayMinimalist.com! It makes me decide that I want to go minimal or become a minimalist.

A Minimalist’s Train of Thought

Less money spent means more money saved

More money saved means the longer you can live in financial peace and security

Financial peace and security comes from owning less

Less stuff owned means less to carry around, move or have to travel with

Less responsibility for your stuff also means less maintenance and more time

The more time you have, the more relaxed you will feel

The more relaxed you are, the less you will care about stuff

If you care less about stuff, it means you’ll care less about image

If you care less about image, you will care more about experiences and memories

If you care more about experiences and memories, you will be happier with less

If you are happier with less, you’ll never want or need for more

The less you want or need for more, the more you will feel free

- The Everyday Minimalist

For the time being, I can only pack the stuff into boxes, stack them up and leave them there for about a year. If the boxes are untouched or unopened for one year, they will then be donated to charities.

The Everyday Minimalist – “I like to simplify, organize and not be stressed about having things too detailed or complicated.”

When I saw the above, it struck on me that I used to chase after the life of simplifying my life. Somehow, somewhere, sometime, I forgot about it.

Once again, I want to free myself from unnecessary possessions. After all, having less stuff is the most important prerequisite for living in a one-room studio/flat/apartment in future!

So, becoming a minimalist starts from now, the present!

Photo Credit: www.ApartmentTherapy.com

I am supposed to blog about my situation next week, but I can’t withhold it any longer. I need to let out of my worry/concern a bit so that I won’t keep thinking about it.

So, what is it that has been bothering me since last week? Well, it’s hubby’s decision to turn part time after suffering constant dizziness and headache.

Since two months ago, he has been plagued by dizziness or/and headache very often. From once a week to two times a week to now, almost every day!

The initial blood test shows that it’s his ESR that causes all the dizziness and headache.

According to the doctor’s advice,  he should cut down on his workload and stress simultaneously so that he can sleep better and longer at night. Decreased workload also means he will have time to rest and do exercise. Subsequently, his health condition will get better.

Switching from full time employment to part time basis means hubby’s income will be slashed by half. Instead of bringing home RM2,200 per month, his income will be RM1,100 or even less.

Will the decrease of RM1,000 affect our finances and thus bring us more debt? Of course not. It’s just that our plan of hitting RM10,000 for our Joint Account Fund, RM10,000 for our E-Fund account by the end of the year will be slowed down tremendously.

This means the amount of RM1,000 that could previously be saved up is gone with the wind. It’s RM12,000 a year, you know.

Hello, Vedis the AKPK DMP Blogger, you have come a long way, so please stay positive!

I am thinking if there are ways to squeeze out RM500 or more to be saved up. What about cutting down on eat outs? What about working even harder on building links to my niche blogs so that they can bring in more sales?

Phew, thank God that hubby and I are in AKPK Debt Management Plan! I am even grateful that we have zero car loan and the home loan installment is partially paid by the existing tenants.

What am I hoping/praying? I am praying to God that there is a way I can still keep saving for the emergency funds at my current speed.

Three weeks ago, I was so excited to have reached RM7,100 for my E-Fund Account.

At that time, I was certain that I would reach my goal of RM10,000 within 3 months, that’s by the end of May.

But now, it won’t be reaching RM10,000 within 3 months or by the end of May as anticipated by me!

It will take longer as I just dug out RM1,210 for a new cpu and a regulator after my almost-5-year-old cpu finally stopped working three weeks ago.

My initial plan was to buy a laptop/notebook so that i) hubby could carry it to school to use, or ii) I could do my online work when traveling to KL or other places.

But then with a budget of RM1,500, the closest I could get was model like Acer Aspire 4253-E352G32L with 1.60GHz, Acer Aspire 4738Z-622G32L with 2.13GHz or Asus A42F-VX203 with 2.13GHz.

According to a colleague, I should get a laptop since I have already had another desktop computer in the house. My sister’s opinion is that I can do my online work in Kuala Lumpur if I have a portable notebook.

After weighing different opinions given by family members, friends and colleagues, hubby and I thought getting a new cpu would be the most practical option in terms of price and GHz.

Hubby’s buddy helped pick an Intel Dual Core E5700 3.0GHz cpu for us at RM1,100 and a regulator at RM110.

Maybe when my earnings of Amazon Associates Program brings me a steady income of USD $1,000 every month, I will reward myself with a notebook powered by Intel Core i7 Processor. ^.^

I am still very grateful to be placed in AKPK’s debt management program. Had (hubby and I) not been in the program, it wouldn’t have been possible for us to i) pay big expenses in cash or ii) bump up our emergency funds.

I did make a few 2010 New Year Resolutions. They were not 100% achieved, but I did do my best to reach at least 50% for most of the goals.

In year 2010, I vowed to beep up my big emergency fund to RM6,000, that was 3 months’ living expenses. Did it go down in a blaze of glory? Of course not. I hit 50% of the RM6,000 goal.

In year 2011, my resolution is to fully fund my big emergency fund with five months of expenses or RM10,000 in my family’s case. It’s quite an achievable amount because of the existing amount saved in bank plus 12 months’ rental equivalent to RM4,800 plus a small portion of hubby’s monthly salary.

To be frank, had hubby and I not been in AKPK debt management program, it wouldn’t have been possible to stash away extra money as big and small emergency fund savings!

Of course, changing to a smaller cc car that required no car loan did help save up more money. From paying RM820 a month to zero, how do I feel? Great! ^.^

Speaking of emergency fund accounts, I have 2. One is for big emergencies and another is for small emergencies. There were quite a few small emergencies like two car repairs and a heater that sucked out about RM1,500 from the small emergency account.

Due to the above unavoidable expenses, the balance in the small emergency account shrank to about RM3,000 as of 31.12.2010. My resolution for the small emergency fund account is to beep it up to RM10,000 in year 2011. It can be achieved provided there aren’t many unexpected expenses.

2011 New Year’s Resolution – Fully Funded Big and Small Emergency Funds (RM10,000 Each)

Did you make any financial New Year’s Resolutions this year? What are they?

Let me recall what my 2010 New Year Resolutions were: 1. Saving Money 2. Making Money and 3. Paying Down Credit Card and Personal Debts.

How did I fare on these 3 aspects last year? ^.^

1. Saving Money. As of 31.12.2010, our i) Joint Savings Account for big emergency reached half of the 3 months’ living expenses; ii) E-Fund Account was equivalent to half of the 3 months’ living expenses in Joint Savings Account; and iii) Investment Fund Account had less than RM1,500′s worth of mutual fund and stocks.

2. Making Money. Online income was 100% from blogs. Each month’s online income was more than enough to pay the home loan installment, bank overdraft interest charge and some daily expenses, but still not good enough to let hubby retire from his long-hour teaching job.

3. Paying Down Credit Card and Personal Debts. Debt repayments to AKPK were in time every month and hubby and I were able to pay off some personal debts owed to 3 family members amounting to RM2,100.

What are my resolutions for year 2011? Well, same as above! Keep on saving money, making money and paying down credit card and personal debts.

Okay, be more specific!

1. Saving Money. i) RM10,000 in Joint Savings Account. The existing amount plus year 2011′s rental will be equivalent to about RM8,000, so RM10,000 goal should be attainable; ii) RM10,000 in E-Fund Account. The existing amount plus my monthly school income plus some online income, yup, it is reachable too; iii) Investment Fund Account. To be frank, no idea yet.

2. Making Money. This year I will pay more attention to Amazon Associates Program. Just learned some new tips that can bring in more earnings from its affiliate products. It’s really fun making US dollar; USD$100 is equivalent to RM300, you know.

3. Paying Down Credit Card Debt and Personal Debts. Keep on paying down the debts, of course!

Enough goals for year 2011!

Just came back from opening another personal savings account. Now I have 2 personal savings accounts and a joint account with hubby.

Since enrolling in AKPK’s debt management programme, hubby and I have been able to practice the ‘Pay Yourself First‘ golden rule of personal finance to save up for emergency fund.

The amount hasn’t reached our goal of 3 months’ expenses (RM6,000) yet due to the arise of small emergency expenses like car battery replacement, auto services, leaking pipe and toilet fixes, broken window pane repairs, overdue assessment tax and other numerous fixes and repairs.

With our recent change from a bigger cc car (1996 2.2 Toyota Camry) to a smaller cc car (1995 1.5 Proton Wira) that is free from auto installment loan, it’s expected that we can save up more money as emergency fund.

Besides this money of RM820, we will also start seeing monthly rental of RM400 from our Ipoh house starting this September. RM1,220! Of course, this amount of money will be disposed of more responsibly and appropriately compared to last time.

In future, 30% of hubby’s salary and my income will be transferred into 3 separate accounts according to the ‘Pay Yourself First‘ rule.

1. 15% will be transferred online into our Joint Savings Account for big emergency until the fund reaches the goal of 3 months’ expenses, that is RM6,000.

2. 10% will go into an E-Fund Account for paying small emergencies or/and personal debts.

3. 5% will be transferred online into an Investment Fund Account for investing in stocks or/and mutual funds. As I have both the Public Bank share trading and Public Mutual fund accounts, what I need is some capital to start investing.

All in all, we spent about RM800 on car inspection, seat cushion refill, title transfer and new auto insurance.

Hubby and I have talked about what we should do with the RM820 (monthly auto installment payment for the previous car) since there is no more car loan installment payment starting this month. Can you believe it? We are out of auto loan debt!

Here’s kinda what we’re thinking:

A. Toss 1/2 in the emergency fund until the fund is equivalent to 6 months’ expenses.

B. Let hubby keep the other 1/2 and see if he will save up for the car body spray that costs approximately RM600. Put the monkey on his shoulder. ^-^

Have you thought of trading in your big/expensive car for a smaller/cheaper car that can reduce your monthly car payment to a more affordable one or better still, instantly settle your existing auto loan balance once and for all?

I had been waiting, waiting, waiting and finally the buyer deposited the money into our auto loan account to settle the remaining loan balance of RM12,000 this morning. Phew, what a relief!

According to the bank officer, we will get the release letter by Friday afternoon. This means the transfer of title and registration can only be done on Friday afternoon or Monday morning.

From next week onwards, our car (1996 2.2 Toyota Camry) will belong to hubby’s buddy while his car (1995 1.5 Proton Wira) will be ours. He sold his car to us for RM8,000 while we sold ours to him for RM20,000.

Starting next month, there will be no more car loan monthly installment of RM820 and yearly road tax renewal charge of RM560. It’s really a burden lifted from our shoulders.

I am so grateful to have sold the car at a reasonable price successfully. Now I am waiting to receive good news from the school for a full time job employment.

If I am employed, there will be extra RM1,000 every month to be saved as emergency fund.

It was written in February 2008, a few months before I joined AKPK free debt management program. I blogged about why there was a need to set up an emergency fund and how I saved up for the fund.

I did start saving up for emergency fund at that time, but it didn’t last long. I dug out the money after having not enough money to pay the bills and daily expenses.

Fast forward to today, I am glad that I have some savings in my personal saving account that I can fall back on should there be an unexpected home repair like leaking toilets and clogged water pipes that cost me more than RM1,000 last month and a sharp drop of online income in June.

I have God to thank for putting me in AKPK’s debt management program in October 2008. Since joining the program, there has always been extra money left to be saved in my saving account.

Implementing the ‘Pay Yourself First’ method is also easier when hubby has a steady monthly income together with my online income. Each month on his payday, I will online transfer RM100 into my secret savings account from his account. Similarly, I will transfer RM50 or RM100 from my biweekly pay into the secret account.

I expect more savings on the second half of year 2010 provided (1) I am employed as an account clerk in hubby’s school. I am still waiting for a job interview. Hopefully the principal sees that I am cut out for the job; (2) My online income bounces back to between RM1,500 and RM2,000.

In brief, I would not have been able to save some money as emergency fund if I hadn’t been in AKPK debt management plan that helps restructures my multiple credit card and personal loan payments (more than RM1,500) to ONE small monthly repayment (RM320).