Familiarising myself

to what Manila has to offer.

You see being away from this country or city for so long. You get to lose the essence of what you know then. The familiar places were either still standing or replaced with something new... sometimes better.

You might say but you have been coming back year after year.

That is true.

However, it feels like I have lost my understanding of the place. Add to the fact that I am not in the place where I used to live. I now reside a jeepney and a tricycle away from what I know as "home". We now live in R's area.

I don't mind because in Dubai, we were so used to moving about that you do not even have the chance to really get to know the place you are in. At times, the people you have lived with for a few months will say goodbye and you will be introduced to new neighbors so I guess moving here was not really a big deal.

The city that I sometimes miss (photo taken by R)

Unfortunately, being away made me feel a bit lost in this city. The only landmarks that I know are of shopping malls because when we were still OFWs, we frequent the malls to meet up with friends we have left behind or just to cool down because of the unbearable heat.

Aside from that fact, I am also taken aback by the prices of food and its portion. I need to understand that the word "to share" in the menu depends on who will eat it. The amount of money that you need to spend in order for us to finally say that we are stuffed (unless of course, we were just laughing out a lot that air fills our tummies temporarily).

Taco Bell experience with my mom - totally deserved a seperate blogpost!! 

The number of people that I see on the streets - of all ages and races. A mix of the working class and the people who try to find a way to steal from the working class (sorry but it is true).

There is still a lot of getting used to...and to re-acquaint ourselves with what the city looks like now.

At times, it's hard. You tend to compare and yearn for the days when we were still in that oil-rich land. I shrug it off because this is the present and we should start living in it.

What's your Money-saving Skills?

When I was still single, I would always portion my salary as soon as I get a ping from my bank. I appropriate for the bills (my mom asked me to shoulder the cable and water expenses back then), save some in my piggy bank (yes, it was literally a stainless steel piggy bank that I got from one of my uncles I think) and keep some in my wallet for my daily commute and unexpected food trips with my officemates.

the piggy bank (cannot find a stainless one)

 

 
With this, I was able to save x amount of money which I eventually decided to deposit in one of the banks near us. It was like I got addicted to saving that I make sure I deposit every month and my heart breaks whenever I have to withdraw (yes, I am weird like that).

By the time I had to leave for Dubai, I took my savings with me and gave some to my mom to pay off the remaining bills that may have incurred when I leave.

My stay in Dubai kind of gave me a different outlook about money. Credit cards were being processed as if you can get them from a vending machine. I have to say, my first few years really took a toll on me. It was like I always had this urge to use my credit card.

I think it was when the recession in Dubai came that woke me and everybody else from the dream that we do not have to worry about money whilst we were in that country. People hit by recession had to  sell everything, families had to decide whether the entire family can stay for another month or should the father or mother choose which of them should be left behind.

Overall, it was not a happy time. It made me realise that I should stop spending and start saving again. I decided to open a savings account that is not easily accessible for me to withdraw but within my reach if I needed to deposit.

After that, friends have approached me and discussed possibilities of investing our money in mutual funds, insurance and more.

I have to say, this was our saving grace.

It did took a while for me to get the hang of saving again but it felt good. Being able to see that you have saved enough for the rainy days. I will be a hypocrite if I say we don't spend because I still am a sucker for gadgets (having changed phones for the nth time) but I am conscious when I do so. I make sure that what we buy serves its purpose to us (if it's a gadget or a service we pay).

Right now, this is what's keeping us afloat while we discover the 'next best thing' for us. However I do hope that we get to find it before our resources get depleted! :p

 
What about you? What's your money-saving skills?

What's in the BLOG?

A month back, I was invited to a press launch (which I will blog about in the coming days) and met a new friend (Hi Ara!). As usual, initial talks were about personal information which we both gladly divulged. With all that behind us, Ara asked me what my blog is about. She gave different styles like lifestyle, fashion, food and more. I immediately said lifestyle because I think that is what I want my blog to focus on.

Though it's actually more of my personal thoughts/ opinions about everything that is happening to me, to us (R &I) in general.

Over the past years, what I have noticed is that the personal blog has turned into a mini-info pamphlet. The writer or writers will be blogging about various events or products either as a review or as a product launch. Yes, people still associate it with their personal stories like what do they perceive of the product or the event that took place however it seems like it's a news feature.

I guess blogging has really evolved now because online readers also get their product knowledge or information from the blog sites that they read. Example, I now know more about different hacks and ways to take over my kitchen through Fat Kid Inside's blog. For fashion and home inspiration, I check on Daphne's blog site. I read Frugal Honey or Pinas for Good's posts to give me an idea on how I can invest our money or the lessons they have learned by doing so.

If I want to read about a personal view on gadgets, food and beauty reviews, I go to Animetric's World and sift through the restaurants that she has given her seal of approval. For high style fashion and endless travel to Hongkong and Japan, I lounge at CVS' blog site for days until my travel desires waned a bit.

Oh! My recent find is Ruthilicious for her witty posts about the product she reviews or the events that she has attended. 

As for my blog, if I were to put a category to it, it's still what you call a personal blog. Yes, I do rave or rant about restaurants or services but I still incorporate a lot of my day to day activities in the blog - like how I documented our plan to go home for good up until to date - while we search for that business venture.

I will be a hypocrite if I don't admit that I do want this blog to be noticed.... soon I hope! Why? Because I also want to start earning through my blog and be an online sensation (not that one-hit wonder kind huh!).

I guess I want to also have a voice in this type of medium. I know in time, someone will notice but for now, I shall continue with what I am doing :)

Oh! Of course when my blog starts earning, that means I will have new online friends to talk to (cool!).

After 5 months

I have finally burst my Dubai bubble and can now really say goodbye to the newsletters and deals that have been occupying my mailbox for the past months.

It begins to irritate / annoy / feel weird seeing these emails that are not related to my current location. I mean, yes there is still that desire to go back but only to meet friends, maybe try out the restos that we have missed out and be in awe of how we had Dubai in our mind.

However these newsletters and deals will just have to go because there is no sense for me to keep them. From my previous blog post, I have mentioned unsubscribing only to a few but now, I am making a brave move of unsubscribing to them all! Hooray!

I have been relieved of that bondage (what?!). I think my Yahoo Mail will be on a diet for a few months while I search for other email alerts that I now need to fill in the gap and all of that will be all about the Philippines!! :) or maybe other places too, I am not that sure.

My Take of the 52 Week Challenge

It's close to two months now that I have started the 52 week challenge. I read it first in Frugal Honey's blog post. Intrigued of what it is, I also looked deeper and found her first blogpost about the challenge.

I said to myself, I think we can do this. Since it's 52 weeks, the end of the challenge will be seen next year only. I don't mind because from what I gather this is how investments should be and besides, it has this sense of excitement thinking what to purchase with the saving.

Oh crap! Actually, that should not be the goal though if you find it hard to save up for couple trips then this can be used.

Since this is someting new to me, I have decided to start small (something that I know can be believable). By next year, we would be able to think of what to do with the money. It's not that big actually but I think it will be enough to cover for airfare and a few days of accommodation in one of the tourist place in the Philippines.

Jill mentioned about sometimes forgetting to deposit on her jar so what I did - I created an alert in my phone to remind me that I need to put in a certain amount onto the challenge. So far so good, the alert has not failed me yet.

In case I would be completing this for 52 weeks, I intend to increase the amount and see (fingers crossed).

However, if I do get the opportunity to spend the pot money, these are the things that I might want to do with it.

Beach getaway with R
From the time we have arrived here in Manila, R barely had time to go out on our own. To be honest, I don't mind. I know being out of the country with only limited time to get to spend with your loved ones is something we have to deal with everytime we go for our annual vacation.

Now with no timetable to follow, we get to chill and have a real conversation with our families. I mean, do you notice when you are with an OFW, you choose what you say? You always weigh what information you share with them, why? Because you don't want them to worry.

Taken from our 2012 Trip to Boracay

I was thinking if we should go back to Boracay or go to another beach place like Montemar in Bataan. I want to be in the beach where it's not that busy. 

Stuff for the car 
One of our first purchases when we got home was to get ourselves a car. When we were in Dubai, we would always search for what is the suitable car for us. It's an AUV which is suitable for our future business needs. We thought since the car is kind of a huge investment we can start it off now so that it does not get us off-balance when we do set up a business. Besides, it is convenient riding a car even if there's traffic like almost anywhere!

Additional budget for the renovation 
And for the nth time, we have again (and I stressed that word again) had the house renovated because of the termites that have been creeping out of the house. I guess living in an old house, it happens. This entry altogether deserves another blog post (believe me)

These are my Top 3 things to do with the 52 week challenge.

How about you? What are you saving for? :)

Pinterest - is it Pinteresting? Really?

I think I was still in Dubai when I have noticed that there is a new website that is making itself known - Pinterest. 

For the first time in my tech life, I was not excited with it... I guess for the reason that I do not know what exactly to do with it. I mean, they say it will be like your personal corkboard / visual board of the things that you see online.

photo grabbed from www.inboundio.com

I shrugged it off because I was still obsessed then with BBM and Twitter.

Now that I have time in my hands and when I did an online writing gig two months back, Pinterest is slowly creeping up again... luring me to give it a try.

Honestly, I want to but I think I have to clear out my online space first. Though it is not like the physical stuff that you can see and be irritated that you are not doing anything (yep, like the mess on your table, just as an example), my virtual space is really messed up.

I have 3 email address that caters to different stuff (yeah, Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo). I also use Pocket for my articles to read later, Zinio and Buqo to read my magazines for later, Kindle and Bluefire to read my books for later.... yes, that is how messy it is.

I was actually thinking of signing up and if it does not suit me, just forget about it later --- but I decided against it. I might just hold it up for a bit (is this me slowly turning into a non-techie person *gasp*???). Though I did a bit of research and Sheknows.com has actually provided a few insights on how some people have fallen in love with it and others got addicted to it (click here for the link on the article

Hopefully, I will organise myself virtually and make space to welcome an addition to my ever growing online apps / friends.

At WAR (kind of) with my laptop :S

Yes, I am having a hard time with my laptop right now.

I don't know if a lot of Apple users have been experiencing this but I am racking my brains out on what to do with the pinwheel.

Can you see the pinwheel?

Yes, the annoying pinwheel that has been making my online life a wee bit miserable. It is difficult to work on something when you see this object. Also, when you are trying to go fast because you are already late... the darn pinwheel just keeps taking it sweet time.

A friend of mine, an Apple fan, said that I should install Firefox because Safari kind of get's lola (like a granny) when you open up a lot of tabs. I looked at my Safari tabs and said, yep! that is what's happening to me.

photo grabbed from mozilla.org

So right now, I am using Firefox rather than Safari (I actually did not want to at first because I have been using Safari for sometime now and I do like it except this time, when Ms. Pinwheel keeps appearing). I have to say, the cameo appearance has been less frequent.

Apart from that, I also installed Ghostery. It is an extension or plug-in for Firefox that blocks windows that keeps popping up. You have the ability to block it or not which is cool for me because I now know which of these ads are making me suffer (boo!)

I guess, right now, my laptop and I are on a cease-fire. I hope it stays that way because I end up with a lot of backlog that I need to work on the laptop.

**Sorry for the rant but it is really annoying when you have your thoughts flowing and you have to wait for the pinwheel to disappear to write.... after all that waiting, I sometimes end up forgetting what I need to do in the end which is really a bummer!