Saving tips!

Assalamualaikum!

*WARNING! Really long post but hopefully beneficial to those who wants to travel.

i love traveling and i think that's sort of obvious now. i siap buat tab kat tepi blog for all my travel rendezvous. ngah ngah ngah!!

the thing that i love about traveling is that i get to see different cultures, that feeling of amazement when i see how they are different from us, that awe when i see how Allah's creations, how different their sunrises and sunsets, how their timing are different, oh! the differences are what i love seeing and experiencing. =D

so in order to travel, i have to save up, see.

all of my eurotrips are all sponsored by myself. my parents only chip in by giving their euros/pounds/dollars yang extra from their old trips. 

here are my saving tips! Bismillah..

1. open up an extra account! *editted*

i started saving since i was a little girl, approximately 10 years old when i really really started saving. my parents had an account open for me, and every year, duit raya yang dapat i akan put half of my collection in my ASB. for halal savings, you can keep your money is Public Mutual, Tabung haji, CIMB Islamic, etc etc. let your money stay there, jangan gatal nak kuarkan until and unless you really need it.

2. discipline!

when i studied in matrix and utp, alhamdulillah my parents didn't have to fork out much money. in matrix we were given a sum of money for every semester, and when in utp, i was a scholar so i received monthly allowance from petronas. thank you petronas and government =') the amount of money takdelah banyak. it's just enough for paying my bills, petrol, food and stuff and alhamdulillah, i manage to save up. 

i break down my allowance/gaji into 3 parts: Responsibilities, Savings, Miscellaneous.

Responsibilities are my bills, rent, car maintenance, petrol, food, zakat, etc. these are where my money will go as soon as i receive my gaji/allowance. 

Savings are savings for travel and future family. it's best if you have a different account to transfer into when you receive your gaji or allowance. i have more than 1 bank account, fyi. ngah ngah!

Miscellaneous are entertainments, shoppings, unnecessary stuff that we just want and don't need. hehe!

now gaji/allowance being 100%, take 50% out for Responsibilities, take 30% out for Savings and the rest 20% for Miscellaneous. this is my percentage. you can change the percentage up to your affordibility =)

your Savings share must be the first to go. transfer it into a different account. ups to you. but this must be kept hidden from your gatal-spending-mood-swings. if you're putting it into a different account, don't make a debit card for it. just atm would be fine.

if your 50% share of responsibilities exceeded it's budget, padan muka. sape suruh tak jaga budget? ahahaha! kidding la. we all have that time kan. when that happens, take the extra money from the Miscellaneous share. whatever it is, DO NOT TOUCH YOUR SAVINGS!

if you spend less than 50% of your Responsibilities share, then good for you!! you can use that up to reward yourself for your tiring month, or take your family out for a treat or put it into savings, it's up to you. it's best though that you just don't spend it too much so that you have more stock for the next month.

and all this requires DISCIPLINE! you can do it bebehs!

3. plan your trip early!

if you're aiming to go travel overseas, plan where you want to go. once you know where, check out their currency and try google for some travel stories online. i do this everytime coz i wanna know what it's like there. mahal ke tak, hotel senang cari ke tak, what kind of transport is cheapest and most convenient, food camane etc etc. every country is different, so google it out. jangan malas please.

my eurotrip costs almost RM10k (take note that i went to 3 cities in different countries). i saved every month and i did extra jobs such as tutoring, promoting via blog, and modelling. malu ok nak mengaku but yeah. sorry la kalau aku macam bajet la kan. aku buat sume tu sebab nak travel beb. hahhaha!

and this RM10k covers my flight tickets, hotels, transportation, domestic flights, tours, food, and shopping. itu pun ada extra about almost RM3k, which is an achievement for me okayh! i bought loads of stuff but still manage to have extras. and it's all because i planned early.

maybe to some "wah?!? bapak ah kau spend RM10k utk jalan jalan?! baik guna duit tu untuk feed orang orang miskin!" 

Surah Al-Hujurat, Ayat 13:
O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.

it was after my first eurotrip with my best friends that i finally had pushed myself out of my comfort zone, and just don on the hijab. hehehee =)

the thoughts i have after seeing Allah's beauty.. ah itu different story la. hehe!

anyway, planning your trip early means you have to book your hotels early and try to ask for student price or seasonal discounts. some places, it's cheaper to take their domestic flights to cross countries, but some, it's cheaper to go by train. again, google about it. this part here, you need a credit card. heee..

it will be a great advantage if you have friends or relatives wherever you're heading. saves a lot of cost. so get in touch with your friends and family!!

*also, bring some instant food too like maggi, kurma, sambal, serunding, etc etc so that you can save money from food expenses. =)

4. get a good company!

choose your travel buddy wisely. you want to have a good time experiencing stuff, so better have your friends or family who has the same objectives as you do =)

5. jangan malas!!

this is your trip, so save up, discipline yourself, do your research, be careful and have fun!

so this is as brief as i can get, and i hope i didn't bore anyone to sleep.

if i did, GOMENASAI!

watashiwa only human des trying to help des!

good lucku dessuu!

happy saving!

ps: kalau ada silap dan salah, please forgive me!! and yeah i post 2 posts in one day. wassaaaaappppppp?

Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy. 

Gambar sekadar untuk motivasi. ngehngehngeh =p

less motip, please?

assalamualaikum!

wassap homie?

when i'm home with my family, i'm always like in a different world. i'll be distracted almost everytime. and it's not because i'm always on the phone ke apa, but i just like to khayal.
thinking about things i want to do, places i want to go, even thinking about ideas to make videos. haha!
i've mentioned many times too that i want to make videos, it's just that it's kinda hard when my days and hours are mostly wrapped around things that are more important. so making videos is not on top of my priority list. plus, recording myself, editing them myself, lari sana, lari sini, penat wo..

eh lari cite lak.
ahak!

so anyway, my mom always got angry with me coz i haven't been doing well on tasks she wants me to do (and they're small tasks lak tu!), and i thought, "I KNOW I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE LIKE THIS!"
kan kan kannn?!
thus i made this video. AHAK!
in hopes that i (and sape2 la ada masalah macam ni) can get more focused at small stuff as well as the big stuff.
know what i'm sayin' homie?




less "MOTIP?!?!", more "OHHHH YEAHHH!"

motto of the day. hahahaha!

oh btw, if you're wondering where to get the blazer i vas vearing, get it from EDZ coz they're awesome liddat.
haha!

peace out yaw. imma be less motips.

ps: pendek gila video, but i hope it's good enough. *nebes*

On RedFM

Assalamualaikum =D


woah, so the other day i was interviewed by Linora from RedFM.


....*blushing*


wwoooooooooottttttttttt!!! kembang hidong sioooooooootttt! ok tak blushing dah. ahak!
i was last weeks' RedFM's blogger of the week. i wasn't expecting it, obviously. i didn't think a radio station would actually give recognition to bloggers. and me, for that matter!
i was shocked and honoured la ahak ahak ahak!!
dah la i memang dengar redfm! thank you la Linora cantik molek wo ai niiiiiiii! =B


my matrix number when i was in utp was 1049* (should that be a secret? ummm.. biar la.)
so i made my friends memorise it by saying "1049*" the way redfm's dj would say "redfm 104point9".
creative kan?
muahahhahhahahaha! and memorise for something yang i don't encourage other students to do.
=p
*ok tibe tibe*


so!

i was so nervous while waiting for her call ( i was expecting it already la masa tuuu), and good thing for me, she called when i finished eating on my lunch hour!

alhamdulillah perut dah kenyang, mulut pun renggang.

vat?

Linora (redFm Dj btw) asked me several questions like how did I start blogging, and when, then the best experiences from blogging, what inspired me to write, and how I dealt with sharing personal stuff on my blog.

I don’t quite remember answering the questions, to be honest, because I was so nervous and was literally sweating cold sweats then. Good thing it was recorded! Woot!

Btw, ‘Kak Diana’ was a made up name. Too embarrassed to say the real name. Haha!

oh! When she mentioned about my Harry Potter adventure and said it's awesome of me to call JK Rowling and Emma Watson my mamasitas, just made me miss those days. good times.. good times.. =')

anyway, i would like to thank Linora and RedFM for having me as 'Blogger of the Week'.

i would love to say "LINORA! REDFM! YOU GUYS ARE OHSEMMM!!! WO AI NI! LIKE LIKE SERIOUS MACAM LIKE SERIOUS LA LIKE! MACAM! SERIOUS!"

my speech.. sounds so honest.. =')

please follow RedFM on  twitter or facebook, for more of their contests and updates!

Thank you RedFM =D 

the act of remembrance

Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 152.

"Therefore remember Me (by praying, glorifying), I will remember you, and be grateful to Me (for My countless Favours) and never be ungrateful to Me."

Sahih Al-Bukhari, Vol 9, Hadith No 502.

Narrated Abu Hurairah RA:
The Prophet SAW said, "Allah SWT says, I am just as My slaves thinks I am, (i.e. I am Able to do for him what he thinks I can do for him) and I am with him if he remembers Me in himself, I too, remember him in Myself; and if he remembers Me in a group of people, I remember him in a group that is better than them; and if he comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him; and if he comes 1 cubit nearer to Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running."

1 span is 9 inches.
1 cubit is 18 inches.

babying baby khayra

the other day, dato' aspidos and myself went to dato' khairi and dato' azizah's house to see their 2-month-old baby Khayra!!!

Subhanallah!! how adorable baby khayra is!!! she is so friendly, so small, so so so.. so babyyyyy!!!!

before that, rewind sikit.

we arrived to their house around 9-ish akibat tersalah jalan and we were practically starving in the car. alhamdulillah sampai their house, we saw pizzas and cekodok pisang bangsa negro! hahaha! 

cekodok jijah buat yang sedap

the dato's

we were eating and talking about baby khayra, pregnancy, giving birth, etc, when suddenly dato' jijah just sprung off her seat and went into the baby room. baby khayra dah bangunnnn! mother's instinct.. amazing =')

le bebehs

le ABPBH yang tak tertengok pun sebab best layan baby khayra

oh!!! comel nya baby khayra nii!! gerammmm!!

this dato' pun excited betul dapat pegang baby. hahaha!!

this is such a cute picture!!!

baby khayra looking at her daddy while aspidos checking out her tiny feet

baby khayra loves twinkle twinkle little star song sang by an owl. hahahaha! comel gila!

baby pengsan after layaning all of us. hehe! 

this is too cute!!

after all the baby talk and talking like babies, you know, "oyoyoyooo! baby ni yomey ya. yesh you yomey. ye baby laaa! booshook booshook" stuff like that, we excused ourselves and went home. ye la, baby dah tido, parents dia pun dah penat, takkan nak linger on lagi. haha! 

in the car we were just talking about babies and how we're going to name them. =p

somewhere in our conversation, aspidos said the boys will have As___ and the girls will have Maria ___. i macam, "oh, dah decide ek?" ahak ahak!

we'll see la. =)

this is just a vain shot of me. i just love this CalaQisya long grey cardi! i realise i've been wearing this kind of ensemble, long cardi, plain top, maxi skirt, messenger bag, and to make myself look more interesting, i just wear printed shawls. here, i'm wearing shawl bought at primark, cardi from calaqisya, skirt from mellovely, bag from clubmod and vans shoes (not in picture). teeheee!! =8p <-hidung kembang annoying smile

all pictures taken from my phone so quality not so good. oh well. 

babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

you

i just wanna get married to my bestest best friend.
i wanna talk to him forever because he gets me and honest.
i wanna listen to him till i fall asleep.
i wanna make him laugh and laugh at him.
i want to be by his side when he succeed, and when he doesn't.
i want to force him to eat my homecooked meals and desserts *eventhough he doesn't like them. don't care.
i want to be at home to greet him when he comes back from work.
i want to be led by him when praying.
#ahhhhh.. marriage.

bebeh, we have a few months to go, and i'm really looking forward to it (despite always saying i'm not. to you. coz i iz notty.)
i have so many hopes and dreams to share with you.
and i'll share them once i'm yours, halal.

hehe. dah lama tak tangkap gambar bersama sama. sebab i iz malu and alhamdulillah you pun bukan camwhore.
tapi you have to take pictures for me. of me posing macam konon candid padahal tak candid pun. just bajet.
coz that's how i roll.

ps: takleh ajak semua orang sebab saya bajet duit untuk hidup selepas dinikahkan, bukan untuk majlis perkahwinan. maka, janganlah meminta saya kad jemputan, tapi saya boleh jemput anda makan nasi goreng depan tv rumah masing masing. (oh no maria, you di'int!?). but thanks for your well wishes! may Allah bless you all =)

so you say you care.

tak lama before, there was this Joseph Kony video that went viral. it was about this dude in Uganda taking children as his 'slaves'.
the video: here.

i watched the video, i felt sorry for the people there, but mostly, i admire the founder of invisiblechildren.org ni. i find him very passionate and consistent with his goal: to capture Joseph K. (amboi glamour dah nama. ahak!)
anyway, after watching the video, i felt very low about myself.

orang orang kita yang needed our help and deserves our attention.. i forgotten about them.
those people in Palestine yang tak habis habis till today can't have peace because of the attacks that comes without warning.. and they have no where to go! their lands are stolen!! forcefully taken by the israelis! and we here, duk lenggang goyang kaki, tengok movie makan popcorn, duk gi event sana sini.. astaghfirullahalazim..

i remember when Gaza strip was terrorised by the israelis..
what did i do then?
i changed my profile picture in facebook and donated beberapa ringgit. that's it. and that was years ago!
what impact have i made by doing that??
setakat tukar profile pic and then donate bila nampak tabung for Palestine. tu pun donate bila rasa ada duit lebih je! support la sangat =/

MALU OK. MALU.

bukan malu sebab kedekut ke apa. malu sebab i wasn't as dedicated as jason (the one in joseph kony video), malu sebab i tak istiqamah, malu sebab i didn't EDUCATE myself about the issue!

after how long i've questioned myself about how i can contribute, alhamdulillah Lyna told me about a talk to be held in cucms (med school in cyberjaya) about Palestine and getting our facts right by Prof Madya Dr Hafidzi Mohd Nor, Pengerusi of Aqsa Syarif.
it was a brief talk, but i cried buckets.




"if i can stomach 1.5hours watching stupid chickflicks, hantu bonceng yang entahpape tu, or matsalleh movies yang banyak maksiat tu kat movies yang takde benefits at all, why can't i spend that time watching this video?" - i questioned myself. imagine if it was me there, and if my child was killed. nauzubillah.. i admire the kids in this video too. no grudges, no hatred.. want to be a doctor to treat the injured.. *nangis* Ya Allah.. protect them..

so i urge you (yang reading this, thank you btw) to just watch and question yourself; what have you done to help?

this is not just a religious war, this is a fight for human rights!
no one deserves to be kicked out from their houses! no children deserves to be killed the way these children were! no one has the right to use deadly weapons on people who can't protect themselves against it!

the israelis have crossed the line.
we have to get ourselves educated and do something about this. stand up for what's right!

to contribute doesn't mean giving money, but if you can, be a volunteer, help spread the word, up to you. selagi mampu, jom tolong =)

get to know these organizations that have been dedicated for this cause:

Aqsa Syarif

Viva Palestina Malaysia

they have facebook pages too. Aqsa Syarif offices are all over Malaysia, fyi.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!!

ps: please let me know if you have anymore information sebab obviously, i noob. =) thank you!
pps: "so you say you care. tell me how much you know about the sufferings of the palestinians." - insert meme. this was what i thought about myself when i was at the talk. yes, being sarcastic to myself seems to give me more drive to get my arse moving.