Actual 5 digits amount after 2 years of saving, can you believe it? My past self would've been so proud.

It took A LOT of self-discipline, let me tell you that. It would be a lie to say that I never dipped into this saving before getting to where I am now, which is why it took quiet a journey. 

Keeping a saving rate of around 10-20% monthly also require a lot of self-control and a lot of careful budgeting.

My relationship with money went from survival mode to being intentional with my spendings. I'm lucky to still be living with my parents while earning a somewhat stable income after graduation, which I took to my advantage to save as much as possible while I can.

I remember using some of this saving for a last minute concert trip to a different country, which I soon regretted after spending all that money. My savings pretty much returned to where it started so it felt like all the hard work was wasted. Ever since then I made it clear that I need to allocate the funds properly, otherwise, I will never achieve my savings goal. 

The challenging thing about saving money is that if you aren't intentional about it, you will fall into the endless distractions of the "nicer things in life".

Although I had tons of fun and great memories during that concert, I definitely wished I did not touch this saving. I could have reached my goal way faster if I didn't.

So now, I have about 10 sinking funds which I'm committed to allocate every month. The amount varies based on priority and the cost of the item.

I'd like to differentiate short-term from long-term savings by calling them "sinking funds" even though both technically are "saving". In case you don't know, sinking funds are short-term savings for specific things you want to purchase.

One of it is a sinking fund specific for concerts, so the next time something like this happen short notice (which it usually does), I don't have to worry about dipping into my savings.

Keep in mind that not everything we desire needs to be fulfilled. Some of those things are just momentary excitement. So being able to distinguish our actual want from these little "distractions", made me more mindful on what I spend on. I became more picky to say the least.

To me, that oversea concert was an example of those "distraction". It wasn't something planned, it wasn't what I needed and most importantly it wasn't something I saved for (which is a clear indicator that it wasn't in my mind before I even heard about it).

However, I do admit that because of that reckless spending, I was able to go to my favorite group's first post-pandemic world tour and had a wonderful time going to the concert in that country which became the starting point to more concert trips there.

Well, I'm not saying reckless decisions are always bad, but if you have goals, you cannot let it distract you.

When saving, the amount you save shouldn't matter. If you only had RM10 for that month, save just that. Don't wait until you have a certain amount for you to start.

The struggle I often face while getting to my first RM10K is that the voice inside my head kept justifying that this RM10 isn't gonna make much difference. But let me tell you that the voice inside your head does NOT know the importance of discipline and consistency.

When you save RM10, you're not just saving money, you are building a habit. The value isn't important, the action and mindset is. If you keep seeing it as an insignificant amount, you will never truly understand how big a difference saving and not saving could make.

Saving any amount is better than no savings at all. 

Like any habit, once you stop, it's hard to get back on track. That small amount will make you feel glad you saved.

Before I end this post, here's my long-term wish. Since it's often mentioned by financial gurus everywhere, I also want to make it my own goal to save RM100,000 by 30 years old. To me, that's in 5 years! 

I'm not sure if I'll ever make it exactly at 30, but I do hope I'll get there somewhere in my 30s insyaAllah. 

Thanks for reading my little achievement this year!

Dropping by,