Preparing for 2020

Many of us wanted to re-structure our-life, of course! change is the only constant in this world. For many, they want to start their new year with life plan, goals and objective. Some wanted to lost weight, some want to save money, others wanted to improved in their own field and wanted to attain self improvements. What ever you wanted to achieve and pursue in life, direction and caliber tools for us to keep our-self focus and motivated is necessary. With-it allow me to share life hacks as in preparation for 2020!

1. Reflections and Evaluation

The very 1st step that you can do before you start another life journey is to reflect and evaluate how the past years make you or break you. Ask yourself question such as:

1. What is your best moment in 2019? 
2. What is your most challenging moment in 2019? 
3. What have you learn? and 
4. How and where would you like to improve?. 

Self assessment is the gateway for you to have a clear picture of your past and for you to take necessary step improving your future. Knowing what is your strength will help you master it through practice, while knowing your weakness will help you improve yourself in that certain aspect of your life.

2. Setting goals and Objective

When you are doing a college thesis our thesis adviser will always remind us  to set a SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound). But why we need to set goals and objectives? cant we just cross the bridge when we are there? Of course that is not the case in the context of this article which is applicable to our life. 

Setting goals is comparable to driving. First you need to know where you want to go, the plan your route. Correct? because you cannot just keep on driving with that you will lost money, you will get tired and the worst you waste your time. Setting Life goals and objectives will give you a clear direction on what you want to do and knowing your possible step towards achieving it.

3. Planning
Now that you have set your life goals, planning is one of the vital  steps you need to do as you start your new year. Visualizing what to do, being prepare on how you want to tackle those route towards achieving your life goals and objectives is highly necessary. You need to plan out how you are going to utilized your resource to achieve your target.

4. Scheduling

We all play various roles and responsibilities in my-life. We are son and daughter to our parents, a sibling to our brothers and sister, a husband and wife, an employee, a business partner and a friend. As we play life different roles and responsibilities we sometimes mixed up our schedules, we crumple whenever we are on a very hectic schedules. Having a daily planner (i don't mean old folk diary and a detailed planning) will help us manage and perform our task in our everyday life plus the fact that we take note of the various vital information for easy archive later on if it required.

5. Item Inventory

It is a tradition or cultural practices to buy new for the new year to some, but sometimes we own alot, but because we don't have inventories we think we own less. I have proven it by myself when i had my inventory from A to Z when i was about to embark my minimalism journey. I have brought alot of items that i haven't even open or touch and they are just lying around in my wardrobe. It was indeed overwhelming to know how many i have. Through Inventory i have save significant amount of money from not shopping until my supplies runs.

6. Budgeting

We all live a lifestyle, we earn and we spend. Some of us are happy with one income policy, while other believe in multiple source of income. I often hear this from Mr. Chinkee Tan 'its not how much money you make, but how much money you spend' indeed it was was true because even if you are earning 10,000 qar a month from your salary but you blow all your salary every month then your still a broke living a pay check to pay check life.

6. Saving

Being an OFW for almost a decade now, i always ask this to my fellow OFW 'where did you invest? and do you have savings?' and believe me i am always surprise by their answers. For the last 10 years of my life living and working in Qatar, i can say that i have meet various types of OFW from high rank to lower one. But what surprise me is their answer. 

I meet an executive earning a total of 15,000 qar a month and have know her for quite a while now where we become friends. She is driving a car, traveling to many countries, enjoying luxury goods, dinning in to fancy restaurant, in other words she is living life to the fullest. One day i ask her 'where did you invest your savings?' then a MMK drama with matching teary eyes begun... sadly she don't have investment nor a savings. What a pity....sigh.

7. No Credit Policy

The problem with many of us, is that we are fascinated by what we see in our social media. We perceive it to be true and we follow them, buy items they recommend and wanted to be like them. The worst are those people who are making loans to live the life they cannot even afford.

8. Buying what you need  not what you want

Advertisement has hit us in all directions, sms, e-mails, digital and print adds. The chance of buying is at high risk online or at the mall. I am not against rewarding our-self once in a while because we all do hard-work and we deserve self-reward, but what i am trying to point out is that when we become excessive with our purchase, if we buy it with cash then its good for us but if its always credit, oh girl your in trouble!

9. Detoxification

Detoxification is not just within human body, what i mean of detoxification here is a Life detox. Sometimes because of our love to the people around us we keep them even if they are no longer good to our sanity, what we don't realized is that we jeopardize our self-peace, we sacrifice alo't our inner sanity that later on, it becomes out of control without us realizing it.  We become stress, the worst we are already experiencing emotional and psychological problem, but because going to a psychologist is a taboo, we ignore it, until its worst cases!

We should also learn to let go of the people that do not contribute to our mental and emotional well being, sometimes the lesser people were we open our life, the higher the chance of us being genuinely happy.

10. Relaxation

Take a retreat, have a me time and detach yourself from the world that bring you a noise where you cannot even hear your own thoughts. By doing so, we increase our chances of being productive and mentally strong.

11. Focus on your health 

Yourself is the best asset you could ever had, so taking good care of your health by eating the right kind of food at the right amount will help your physical body attain its best shape. Take time to walk for the sake of your health.

12. Invest in yourself

I have a good friends whom i don't see often because of geographically constrain. This year i got a chance to see him briefly. He advise me 'Invest in yourself'. I was indeed puzzle as he say it, but later own i realized that what we know, what we have achieve will give us a great result as we perform our life roles. I think in 2020 this is the aspect of mylife wherein i want to focus a little bit more. 

14. Pray

Nothing beats the person who has God in their life after all everything that we have is from God. Even if we work hard day and night, if we don't have the blessing of the lord who created us as if we are filling a bucket big hole. 

So, start your 2020 with a heart full of hope, that no matter how bad your 2019 was, always remind yourself that as God bless you with another year, it is also a blessing for you to be the best version of yourself. Improve in many aspect of your life as you focus on the life positive aspect, use it as you prepare yourself you another year full of adventure and a chance for you to prove yourself to yourself. 

Godbless!

Minimalism Journey: Things i get rid of before 2020 to save money!

2019 has been a huge change for me, as i educate myself towards minimalism and apply it to mylife. I have attain separation from material things that i think will define me as person. I do not practice extreme minimalism, but i consider myself as minimalist because i become conscious of my possession and choose wisely what matters the most and what works for me and my chosen lifestyle.

We are 15 days away from 2020, time come so fast and we aged +1 again. Many of us wanted to start our new year with various new years resolutions to improve the quality of our-life, as we reflect back in 2019, we want to set goals, wanted to achieve something and wanted to be the best version of who we are. In my case i simply wanted to get rid and leave the lifestyle that somehow cost me trouble consciously and un-consciously. What are they? They are my 10 things to get rid before 2020 to save money.

1. Make Up
Every girls has this love for make-up. Although i basically wear lipstick, eyeliner, eye shadow, i always find myself in a make-up sections buying make-up that i dont even used. Sometimes i brought it for the sake of buying while more often than not i am persuade by a good sales talk. After an inventory of what make-up i have, i realized that their is no way that i can consume all of them, that i end up giving it away. Now i only have very few make-up that i keep and used.

2. Phone Cases

I often change my phone case so frequently, i find it cool that my phone dress up regularly just like how i change my bag, they should be MATCH! anyone can relate? Plus the fact that it only cost 30 qar and above depending on the case i choose and where i brought it. Mostly, i only use then few time and set it aside, until one day after opening my drawer where i keep my phone case i ended up having 20+ phone cases. I realized that those amount adds up without noticing it. That it would be better for me to buy 1 quality phone case that would last me years and change it only when it is needed (i.e damage).

3. Hair Color & Treatments

I am huge fan of hair treatment since high school because i have this thick and curly hair that i hate the most back then. Since when i was in college i always had my hair-colored, i feel like having a hair color will add on to the definition of beauty. My hair always bothers me specially if i am about to attend a party, i always wanted to shine of course! I even have this habit of bringing my hair to a salon just for them to wash  and shampoo it almost every now then.

Exactly one year ago i notice that my hair is suffering from damage,that i have frequent head ache, my mother suggest for me to finally return my hair color which is black and avoid hair iron, blower and colors. At first it was huge adjustment from my side, am not used to it, been doing this for the past 15 years + but after few months of non-treatment the glow of my hair return just by using basic coconut products. Not just it eliminate my headache but it also repair my hair damage, and whats more interesting is i save money!

4. Manicure, Pedicure and Spa

I often does this, in fact every two weeks with my mother. One day while watching random youtube video i come across the youtuber saying how much she save by investing in a quality manicure set and doing it by herself. At 1st it was hard because i have  a very deep ingrown and it often end up murdering my toes, but practice makes perfect, so now every time i fancy going to saloon for manicure,pedicure and spa i put those money into my piggy bank. 

5. Take out coffee & Tea

When you are in Middle East, Karak is part of life of the many. While some fancy our-self buying coffee and take snap of it and post it in our social media. I have no excuse to this, in fact i remember myself always dropping buy almost everyday just to get a coffee from a store near our office. It becomes a habit, even if our office does provide a free coffee and tea. I realize that if only  minimalism had come to me before hand i would have save those penny in my bank account and probably it is a significant amount by now.

6. Dine In
Having a family in Qatar has a lot of pro and has cons. As much as i would like to mention the good side of it we will be out of topic. But i would like to point out one things and stress on this regard. Family dine-in was never bad, in fact it becomes a bonding time and chance to catch up from one another life up-date as we often dont talk about our whereabouts due to busy schedules and life responsibilities.

In our case it becomes a Thursday night schedule before i become a fan of Mr. Chinkee Tan, it was fun but going back to how much money we spend is really costly. The fact that we don't dine-in to a simple restaurant rather we choose the fancy one where you can order exclusive meals or steak because we fancy them. Our cost per meal is up to 250 to 500 qar per person. To calculate in month we spend more than 1,500 qar each every month just for that meal. After minimalism we schedule family bonding in our home and cook food on our own. Not just we save money but the bonding time becomes longer.

7. Kitchen disposable and single used items
Many times hosting a family gathering is a huge task because we have to clean up after the event and aside from preparing the food, restoration and cleaning really takes our time and  its tiring. Many of us opted to used disposable or single used items because we just need to throw them away after used. 

However i realized that aside from those items takes too much space in our kitchen cabinet it really adds up to our cost. Hence hosting family is a tradition for many of us, i believe in scheduling it properly for us to prepare ahead of time, and adjust our schedule is a must. Plus the fact that it is not being un-hospitable to ask your family member to help you with the task. Not just you save but also both family members will have division of task.

8. Un-used Subscriptions

I remember myself buying a book with alots of coupons on it for dine-in, spa and ect..., it is too contradictory because i thought that having those book will help me eat healthy food but i end up piggying and gain so much weight. The worst, not all coupon has been used because at times they only have few choice included in the promo. In other words i buy it for nothing. What a waste! 

9. Extended Warranties
When we buy for example cellphone, they always comes with 1 year free warranty right? Then here comes the expert sales person who would convince you for additional years of warranty. In my case those warranty was never been used, and for me its a waste of money. Each year the cellphone company will release a new phone or gadgets, in other words, this phone will only serve us for number of years and wasn't made to be keep for lifetime. So, simply choose warranty and take it at your advantage and not to lost of money.

10. Excessive Shopping

Shopping has been an addiction to many without noticing it, many of us will reason out "äm just here to kill the time, or am not buying at all" but then we always end up carrying a shopping bag at the end of our mall visit. Sounds you?. Aside from boring life, we often does self pity,we end up being too emotional and to lessen our bad mood we thought that going to mall is the key to resolve this issue. But shopping therapy will never sustain, you will just end up broke, at the end of the day, after going out from that very mall we have to deal with our real problem. Right?

Well theirs alot of hobbies and activities that you can do aside from shopping to kill the time.My advise would be simple, spend your extra time towards your hobbies and turn it to somethings profitable at your own advantage. 

So what about you? what are the things you wanted to get rid off to save money?

How to get real Dummy Ticket?

Many of us Filipinos does encounter dilemma at NAIA Immigration Officers as they have very strict rules for departing passengers. They usually ask for various proof for the capacity to travel and one of them is having a return ticket. For many, buying a return ticket when you are not really sure of when to come back, or you really dont have plan to return is costly.  

We all have our own reason why we travel abroad. Sometimes for the purpose of sightseeing, and simply wanted to experience a new culture and environment. While some are the family member of the OFW who wanted to visit our family members abroad and if lucky to find work stay with them, right?. Whatever reasons we have, I am certain we all prepare to face the Immigration Officer as we don't want to experience to be offloaded or else we jeopardize our much-awaited trip.

Aside from Bank Statement and other proofs one of the most talked requirements is return ticket. We are all aware that booking a return ticket without the assurance from our side of when do really intend to return is a waste of money.

But hey folks don't worry there are ways on how to book an in-ward ticket without breaking your bank account, PLUS the fact that you are sure your carrying a 100% REAL ticket so your safe from FALSIFICATION OF DOCUMENTS which I really don't advise especially editing a ticket which may cause you to land to the jail instead of landing at your dream destination!

There a lot of website claiming they can do so and so, but based on my experience http:Bestonwardticket.com is one of the most trusted websites I can recommend specially because they have good review and reputation among others. But how to book our return flight?

1. First booked your real departure ticket.

2. Then book your dummy ticket via http:Bestonwardticket.com. And just follow the Instruction, please note that you can use Credit Card, Debit Card, or simply use Paypal for payment for this process. As for my experience i paid total of 17$ or 863.95 php to get one dummy ticket.

Please ensure that your details are all correct during the booking.

3. Once done, you should receive your itinerary via your email within 5 minutes as per experience.

4. If you can observe tickets have a different font and heading especially if it was booked in different manner (i.e travel agent, direct airline website ect). So to make them look the same edit it!  (OPPSS NOT THE DETAILS just the font same as i did below) . You can have your own format or follow any of what you have. Why i did this? coz i was thinking that the Immigration officer may know that one is dummy or totally different flight.

But please dont be afraid coz even if you check at the Airline website the ticket is valid. Please note that this is only valid for 48 hours so you may choose to book it, few hours before your flight.

 

Once done, then you are ready to take your journey without feeling stress thinking about the immigration officer who might ask me about my return ticket. Good Luck!

PS: During my journey, the immigration officer did not ask me about my return ticket, he just stamps my passport directly. Probably because I have been living abroad for almost 10 years +  now and traveling once in a while in other countries, other than that, I travel once or twice a year to the Philippines. I wrote about this blog because I have seen many of our Kababayan who are being offloaded at NAIA. I also received frequent queries and clarification regarding this and so I decided to experience it myself.