New Norm of 2020

2020 is a year full of tests and uncertainty. The year began with a drastic change of life when COVID-19 took place which had caused by a coronavirus. It was first found in China and spread rapidly and affected throughout the world. Its existence has affected the normal life of an individual and community, as well as the economy of every country in the world. The virus is invisible from the naked eyes yet killing millions of people around the world. It has no mercy to the young and old, rich and poor, white or black, religious or atheist.  It scared many people and some denials had scared themself and others too. All countries closed their borders to foreigners and cocooned their nation from being exposed to outsiders.

We are lucky being in Vietnam as their local has a high awareness of coronavirus effects and thank you to its single government fast action. In order to prevent the spread of the virus, Vietnam's government has taken immediate action by closing its border, close all schools as early as TET's holidays end in March, and built a quarantine center at few army camps. Vietnam's fast prevention action has contained the spread of the virus and diseases in the country. It has the lowest case so far in South East Asia. 

Due to coronavirus and COVID-19, we have yet to enjoy our holiday. We haven't gone back to Malaysia for more than 7 months now. We missed going back to our home country. Before COVID-19 we used to go back to our home country at least once in 4-6 months but now the chances to go back are too slim. Now is summer break, the longest school holiday of each term, and by this time we should have been in Malaysia visiting our parents and parents-in-law, but today after more than a week of summer break holiday, we are still here, in Saigon.

My daughter was on home/ on-line school for more than 3 months starting from March to early May. Schooling for less than a month, she is in summer break holiday and at home again, yet the outbreak of coronavirus seems not to subside in a certain country and Vietnam has gone with zero cases for over 70 days. As the outbreak still continues spreading in certain countries, Vietnam and Malaysia are still closing its border to foreigners. To be safe, we remain to stay in Saigon.

On March 26, the Vietnam government had asked localities across the country to ban the social events, gathering of 10 people and practicing a minimum social distancing of 2 meters between people in public places. Since then I was kept myself at home and had no social gathering with my friends which including my "pengajian" routine. We stocked up groceries as much as possible once we went out shopping, which can last for about 2-3 weeks. Before COVID-19 I used to walk to Taho Dien to An Phu supermarket just to get our Basmati stocks as well as can food that hardly found at the nearest supermarket near to our apartment. But since then, my husband had to do dry groceries shopping at An Phu supermarket as only An Phu supermarket is the nearest supermarket that selling the basmati rice.  

I  had a new routine whenever I went out of our apartment since COVID-19, which is to put on a face mask, long sleeves and long pants, hand gloves, and glasses. I bring hand sanitizer wherever I go and sanitized my hand whenever I touched any surface or goods. I showered and changed as I entered the home after came back from my outing. Some of these practices continued even after the lockdown period was over. 

COVID-19 did change the world, socially, economically, and environmentally. People were not encouraged to shake hands, kiss, hug, and have to keep a social distancing at all the time. The gathering that was a positive gesture to strengthen the family relationship is now not an advisable practice anymore. We are encouraged to be away far from the elderly and babies. Visiting old parents is not a good gesture anymore. A religious gathering like "solat Jumaat" and mass gathering at church or temples is now not a good religious gesture anymore. People are banned to attend to any religious gathering. Somehow, it seems a lesson to us that we should upkeep our hygiene, appreciate the privateness of an individual when we are given to be more contented and focus on our own self-improvement to life and religion, as well as to let the mother earth rest from being bullied by a human with their digging and exploiting the mother earth's resources.

People have a new norm by working at home. That giving more chances to get close with family members at home. It's automatically reducing social gatherings that may include bad and negative aura or gestures from our social networking, hence avoiding us from all negatives habits like talking bad about others, complaining unnecessarily, badmouthing, etc. The period of lockdown can basically teach an individual to find their inner strength, find the meaning of real life, true self- interest and quality and embrace ourselves with a better quality of life self-improvement. Like myself, even though I am a full-time housewife I normally spent many times with my friends at social gatherings and sometimes would bring me to gossiping and talking about unnecessary things. But during COVID-19 we can avoid all those gossips and talk bad about others.  I spent more of my time reading the Quran and Tafsir to improve my tajwid and understand the meaning of the Quran at home. I got more time to learn and do "solat sunat" and "doas". I got more time to spend on my writing and painting. It's a worth lockdown period for self-improvement.

In economic wise, many business were stopped. This, include illegal and bad business practices such as overexploiting the resources( e.g destroying the jungle and nature for development). All these bad practices in business were automatically stopped temporarily. Hence, it is such a blessed when the pandemic had reduced bad practices and activities in the economy. Now, the earth can breathe and live free temporarily from air and water pollution caused by human misuse of natural resources, while humans on the other hand living in a not a normal life. 

How soon can we go back to normal life? No one has the answer for that, but what for sure to us is we have to pray and do to the Almighty Creator to give us the antidote to this invisible enemy.

Hidup Berumahtangga

Ini hanyalah pandangan saya yang datang dari my observation tentang kehidupan berumahtangga orang orang disekeliling saya. Pada saya hidup berumahtangga adalah satu takdir dan challenges. Dalam berumahtangga both husband and wife perlu memainkan peranan masing masing serta lengkap melengkapi kekurangan pasangan. Dulu sebelum saya berkahwin saya pernah rasa kecewa sebab tak ada boyfriend and sometimes I rasa Tuhan unfair to me sebab tak beri I muka yang cantik, keluarga yang berharta dan hidup yang sangat sederhana. Tetapi, selepas mendengar beberapa program Datuk Dr. Fadilah Kamsah, dan mula membaca artikel artikel motivasi di majalah dan surat khabar, fikiran saya mula berubah.

Jodoh pertemuan Allah dah tentukan, namun kita sebagai manusia perlu bersyukur dan berusaha sebab kita tak tahu apa yang Allah dah tentukan untuk kita. Kerja kita dalah berusaha untuk dapatkan apa yang kita mahukan. Jadi kalau kita mahu keluarga yang bahagia kita kena usaha untuk jadikan keluarga kita bahagia. Untuk bahagia, kita kena ada komunikasi, persefahaman, tolak ansur dan saling bantu membantu. Kita bukanlah mahluk yang sempurna dan tiada siapa di dunia ini sempurna. Semua manusia penuh kekurangan, jadi janganlah merasa diri kita lebih dari pasangan kita. Pendekatan yang terbaik adalah sama-sama belajar untuk memenuhi keperluan pasangan masing-masing sesempurna yang boleh. 

Pada saya apabila kita telah berkahwin, institusi perkahwinan itu perlu di jaga dan dikemudikan oleh suami dibantu oleh isteri tanpa perlu melibatkan ibu bapa dalam pengemudian institusi keluarga itu. Pengemudian keluarga oleh suami isteri tanpa penglibatan ibubapa/ mertua bukan bermaksud melupakan jasa mereka atau meninggalkan tanggungjawab kita kepada ibubapa/ mertua kita, tapi ia lebih bermaksud tidak melibatkan ibubapa/mertua didalam keputusan keluarga sendiri atau ketidaksefahaman sesama suami isteri. Jangan biasakan ibubapa/ mertua membuat keputusan untuk dan dalam perancangan suami isteri untuk keluarga anda. 

Ibubapa/mertua juga perlu memberi sokongan dengan tidak mencampuri urusan rumahtangga anak-anak, contohnya keputusan dalam membeli rumah, menghantar anak ke sekolah mana atau keputusan dalam pemilihan kerja. Adalah sangat bahaya bila ibubapa mencampuri urusan rumahtangga anak-anak seolah-olah mereka tidak dihormati sebagai ahli keluarga. Sebagai contoh, seorang ibu membuat keputusan untuk membeli rumah untuk anak lelakinya. Memang ia kelihatan normal seorang ibu rasa bertanggungjawab menjaga kebajikan anaknya, tapi bila si ibu membuat keputusan sendiri tanpa perbincangan dengan anak dan menantu, itu mungkin akan menyebabkan menantu terasa dipinggirkan sedangkan dia sudah menjadi sebahagian keluarga anaknya. Ibu bapa juga kena menghormati menantu sebagai ahli keluarga dan bukannya menganggap menantu sebagai orang luar.

Sebagai suami pula, dia perlu ada pendirian dalam membuat keputusan. Isteri pula, harus redha dengan keputusan suami dan bersyukur dengan apa yang ada. Isteri jangan sesekali berharap sesuatu balasan atas setiap apa dilakukan. Lakukan sesuatu untuk keluarga dengan keikhlasan supaya mendapat berkat dan Allah tahu apa yang kita lakukan dan apa yang ada di dalam hati kita. 

Isteri pula janganlah suka mengambil kesempatan terhadap kesenangan keluarga suami. Isteri, kalau suaminya susah, cubalah bantu apa yang boleh untuk melapangkan suami. Ada saya perhatikan, bila si isteri berkahwin dengan anak seseorang yang berpangkat, dia fikir suaminya senang dan berharap hidupnya senang seperti ibubapa mertuanya sedangkan suaminya hanya bekerja biasa-biasa sahaja. Apabila, apa yang diharapkan daripada suami tidak tertunai, si isteri merasa kesal dan sedih. Kenapa dia berasa kesal? kerana niat perkahwinannya itu salah. Kalau niatnya berkahwin kerana untuk bersama suaminya kerana sayang, pastinya dia mampu menerima keadaan suaminya seadanya. Kerana yang berharta itu pasangan ibubapa mertuanya dan bukan anaknya. Tapi kalau si isteri redha dengan kesusahan  atau kekurangan suami dan berkahwin kerana sayang maka, sesusah mana si suami, si isteri akan setia dan berusaha untuk memperbaiki keadaan yang serba kekurangan. Saya percaya, kalau seorang isteri itu seorang yang positive, redha dan percaya Allah sentiasa ada dengan dia, maka InsyaAllah, akan ada jalan penyelesaian dalam kekusutan rumahtangga dan keberkatan dalam hubungan kekeluargaan.

Bagaimana untuk menjadi seorang yang positive dan selalu bersyukur dan redha?. Caranya, kalau kita kurang agama selalulah dekatkan diri dengan mendengar atau belajar dari pakar pakar motivasi seperti Prof Dr Muhaya, Prof Dr Fadhilah Kamsah dan lain lain lagi. Sebabnya, bila kita mendengar kepada mereka, kita akan terbawa untuk melakukan apa yang diunjurkan. Kepada yang beriman pastinya, beramal dan mendekatkan diri kepada Allah dapat membantu kita menjadi positif. Pengalaman saya sendiri; saya ini bukanlah orang alim, sembahyang pun kadang  tertinggal, apatah lagi amalan amalan sunat , memang sangat kurang. Tapi asbab saya selalu mendengar ceramah Prof Dr Fadhilah Kamsah dan Prof Dr Muhaya, apabila saya dalam kesusahan , saya akan cari Allah dengan banyakkan berdoa dan buat solat hajat untuk mencari penyelesaian dalam setiap permasalahan. Saya percaya Allah akan sentiasa mendengar mahluknya kerana mahluknya tidak sempurna dan Allah akan bantu mahlukNya walau siapapun dia. Alhamdulillah, saya selalu mendapat bantuanNya walaupun saya rasa saya tidak layak untuk terima bantuanNya kerana banyak kekurangan saya dalam memenuhi tuntutanNya. Alhamdulillah. 

Saya juga belajar menjadi positif daripada abah saya sendiri. Saya sangat kagum dengan sifat positif abah saya. Abah saya diuji dengan ujian, dimana menantu-menantunya semua bermasalah, tapi, ayah saya sangat positif. Dia tidak pernah mencampuri urusan rumahtangga kami. Dia hanya memberi nasihat kepada kami (isteri - isteri, kerana adik beradik saya yang berkahwin semua perempuan) supaya bersabar dan berdoa. Dia hanya membantu mana yang dia termampu sahaja apabila kami perlukan tanpa mengganggu urusan dan keputusan menantu-menantunya dalam urusan rumahtangga kami. Kami tahu, walaupun kadang hatinya sedih melihat masalah yang kami (para isteri) hadapi kerana diperlakukan sebegitu , namun doanya terutama doa emak, supaya keadaan rumahtangga kami menjadi baik selalu memberikan kebaikan kepada kami. Alhamdulillah, walaupun kadangkala rumahtangga kami dipukul badai yang pada satu ketika dirasa tak dapat diselamatkan lagi, tetap akhirnya berakhir dengan kebaikan. 

Jadi, dalam permasalahan rumahtangga, kalau suami kurang, isteri tolong tambahkan, kalau isteri kurang, suami tolong tambahkan. Kalau isteri ada kekurangan, suami jangan pandang rendah tapi bantu, suami, kalau ada kekurangan, isteri jangan pandang rendah tapi bantu.

Aku dan Masa Lalu - 1

Aku kadang kadang merasa kalau dapat diputarkan masa ke zaman kanak kanak ku. Menjadi anak pertama mungkin aku adalah bahan eksperimentasi kepada ibu bapa ku untuk belajar menjadi ibu dan bapa. Lebih lebih lagi kepada ibu ku yang waktu mengandungkan aku masih sangat remaja pada aku, iaitu 17 tahun. Namun itu mungkin dikatakan jodoh, dia berkahwin seawal umur 18 tahun dengan bapa ku yang ketika itu berumur 30 tahun . Beza umur mereka 12 tahun. Seawal umur 18 tahun aku masih belajar, tak dapat nak gambar wanita semuda ibuku mengandungkan aku pada waktu itu. Pada umur 18 tahun apa yang aku fikir hanyalah belajar, berkawan dan nak lulus periksa.

Asbab umur ibuku yang sangat muda itu mungkin menyebabkan aku merasakan aku lebih rapat dengan arwah Nenekku. Arwah nenek ku yang banyak mengajar aku sembahyang, berpuasa, adab sopan orang Melayu dan bercerita tentang rasul. Arwah nenek ku seorang mak andam dan agak dikenali di kampung ku. Arwah nenek juga boleh dikatakan independent sebab dia seorang balu dengan 9 orang anak. Dia menjual kopi dari kebun yang ditinggalkan suaminya, mengandam dan berjual hasil kraf untuk menyara kehidupannya anak beranak. Kebetulan ayah aku anak kedua bongsu dan rapat dengan nenek ku sehinggakan ayahku sanggup berpindah duduk bersama nenekku demi menjaga nenek ku . Basically, aku membesar di rumah pusaka peninggalan arwah atuk bersama nenek ku. 

Al maklum, dulu dulu pelajaran kurang diambil perhatian, kedua orang tua ku tidak berpelajaran tinggi tapi ayah seorang yang sangat bertanggungjawab dan komited dengan kerja. Demi menjaga keluarga beliau lebih rela berulang alik dari Banting ke Port Klang selama 32 tahun menghambakan diri bekerja pelabuhan. Ayah ku seorang pemandu kren di Pelabuhan Klang namun kerana komitednya pada kerja beliau akhirnya menjadi trainer jentera di Pelabuhan Klang. Alhamdulillah pendapatan ayah aku lebih baik apabila dia menyertai syarikat swasts berbanding ketika waktu dia bekerja sebagai guru matematik dan di Lembaga Pelabuhan Klang. Namun masa beliau dengan kami sangat terhad maklumlah kerja di pelabuhan ada shift.

Aku selalu menjadikan dia role model sebab dia seorang yang bertanggungjawab dan ada prinsip hidupnya. Pada dia keluarga adalah keutamaan, dan hutang adalah sesuatu yang paling dia akan elakkan. Seingat aku dia tidak pernah berhutang kecuali hutang rumah teres yang dibelinya dengan harga RM30,000 yang dipinjam dari Koperasi LPK. Oleh kerana prinsipnya yang tak suka berhutang maka kehidupan kami sangatlah sederhana namun cukup serba serbinya. Ayah aku juga seorang yang penyayang dan sangat menjaga kebajikan adik beradiknya dan adik beradik ibu aku. Dia banyak membantu adik beradiknya yang mengalami masalah kewangan waima adik beradik dia atau adik beradik ibu ku. Untuk anak anak pula dia membuat potongan gaji untuk simpanan anak anak dan ibu ku di tabung haji. Makanya, semenjak bayi kami adik beradik ada akaun Tabung haji. Duit tulah kami guna untuk sambung belajar. 

Ibu aku pula aku rasakan dia seorang yang manja dan kurang ilmu parenting, maklumlah dia terlalu muda semasa dia berkahwin namun dia bijak dalam mambantu ayahku mencari peluang menambah pendapatan. Dia berjual kuih dan kerepek bagi menambah penadapatan keluarga. Dia juga pandai main kutu. Jadi dapatlah dia membeli barang barang yang dia suka macam barang kemas, pinggan mangkuk , pergi salon dengan duit jualannya tanpa membebankan ayah aku. Cumanya dulu aku selalu berangan untuk punya ibu yang lebih berpelajaran dan berkerjaya sebab pada aku kalau ibu aku berpelajaran dan bekerjaya mungkin mindanya akan lebih terbuka. Jadi perhubungan aku dengan ibu semasa aku kecil tidak serapat hubungan aku dengan nenek ku. Aku lebih appreciate arwah nenek ku dari ibu pada masa aku kecil. Namun ibu banyak berubah kepada yang lebih baik seiring dengan umurnya yang meningkat. Adik adik ku lebih mendapat perhatian bila umur ibu ku semakin meningkat. Namun aku bersyukur sebab ibu seorang yang cantik, lembut dan penyayang. 

Aku pula semasa kecil ku suka berangan untuk menjadi orang yang pandai dan bekerja dipejabat. Jadi sedari kecil aku selalu berusaha menjadi yang terbaik walaupun aku taklah sepandai mana. Aku ingat lagi, umur ku 5 tahun aku dah boleh menghafal ABC samapai Z better dari sepupuku. Aku selalu show off bila berkumpul raya di rumah arwah Atuk ku yang aku dah lancar membaca dariapada sepupu sepupu ku yang lain. Semua pak cik dan makcik ku pun suka dengan aku . Namun aku selalu di ajar untuk merendah diri oleh ibu ku , jadinya bila nak tunjuk talent tu kadang kadang terbantut. 

Yang paling aku masa kecil kecil, mak aku suka mensedondonkan baju raya aku dengan adik ke 2 aku. Masa tu aku sangat sayang pada adik aku yang no 2 tu tapi dia lebih mendapat perhatian semua ahli keluarga kerana sifatnya yang lebih cerita dan banyak banyak cakap dari aku. Dia juga banyak kelebihan, dia ada lesung pipit di kedua belah pipi dan pandai berjalan di hujung jari ala Bellerina. Sifatnya yang ceria lebih cepat menarik perhatian ahli keluarga dariapada aku yang memang dikenali sangat pendiam dan pemalu. Namun aku seorang kakak yang protective. Semasa di sekolah aku suka nak check adik ku sehingga dia berasa kurang selesa. Tapi masa tu aku rasa sangat bertanggungjawab dan bangga menunjukkan aku seorang kakak. Namun masa berlalu, dan berubah, dia bukan lagi adik yang kecil yang perlu dijaga oleh kakaknya lagi. 

Mission for a Change - New Malaysia

Living abroad is an eye-opener for me. When I met other foreigner and asked me where I am from, I will always be wanted to be proudly mentioning that I am from Malaysia due to its fast development, iconic buildings and it's leadership. But since the 1MDB issue has caught the attention of many around the world, I felt embarrassed and always hope there would be no more question about the origin of my country.  Nevertheless, 9 May 2018 has given a hope to many Malaysian that there would be a change in Malaysia's governance. I was also surprised that majority of my fellow friends here in Saigon which the majority are Chinese were really into a spirit to make a change to Malaysia's governance. Many of us we encouraging each other to go back to vote and make a change. And most of us were decided to go back to cast our vote on 9 May 2018. 

9 May 2018 was a historical date for a new Malaysia where Malaysia now is governed by a new government under Pakatan Harapan and the most historical point was when Tun Mahathir was elected and announced as the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He is the key to the glory and the key factor that had pulled the vote of all Malaysians who hungered for a change. I believed without Tun's charisma and capability, other parties would not be able to pull the vote, not even DSAI. Tun Mahathir is the factor that Malaysian united. Malaysians owed him for the sacrifice that he did to save Malaysia from drowning in many economic issues and scandals created by the previous leadership.

Syukur, now Malaysia is in a good leadership and new government that hopefully clean from the corruption issue. I pray that Tun Mahathir and his team would be able to gain continuous support from the rakyat of Malaysia and deliver what they had planned to clean all the mess done by the previous leadership while continually improving and developing Malaysia for a better Malaysia.

Tips for Saving

I learned this tips to save from my father. My father was only a heavy equipment operator in Port Klang but he has the very good financial principles back then, that were :
1. Do saving
2. Never get loan if it is not necessary.

1. Do saving
My father did saving monthly from his salary, not only for him but also for mom and us, the children. Everyone of us (siblings) has a tabung haji account. He will opened an account once we were born, so all the gifts money will be deposited into this account. This account was open for the purpose of education and performing haji for everyone of us. My father made an arrangement with his HR department to make a commitment of contributing RM50 per month for each account that he opened for his children and wife. That means every month our sibling's tabung haji account will have saving of RM50 per month including my mother.

2. Never get loan if it is not necessary.
My father bought all his vehicles (Toyota KE, Honda Accord and motorbike) on cash basis. Therefore he never bought a brand new car as most of the time only used car that he can afforded as he paid cash for it.  He will only bought the car when he has enough saving to buy with cash. He will never agreed with interest rate as for him interest rate was not fair. The only loan that he made was for the single storey terrace house that he bought in mid 80's and the loan was not from the bank but from the Koperasi Pekerja LPK in which has the very low interest rate as compared to banks' interest. From his saving he managed to purchased a land and saviour to the family land which was nearly auctioned by the bank due to the failure of his brother to settle his loan.

These two basic financial principles has taught me to manage my financial commitment. I can't afford to hold on to my father's principles but I use it as a guide. From my point of view as per my experience :

Every working people must :

1. Do saving : Regardless how little is your salary , do saving as little as RM1 per day or RM5 a month. Keep your saving in either Tabung Haji or ASB/ ASN.

2. Do loan that could give return to you : Yes all loan has an interest rate and you have to pay for the interest rate but make sure the loan that you make is for investment such as property , ASB/ASN or vehicle (as this would bring you to work - this is a kind of investment). Never commit yourself for a personal loan or loan for marriage (loan untuk kahwin).

As a Parent :

1. Open an account for your children as early as they were born. Try to make a monthly contribution to your children's account via standing instruction to the bank or salary deduction to their account.

2. Ensure that whatever your kids received cash a gift is deposited to their account.

3. Never encourage your children to do loan. There is trend where parents use their children's name to buy property. Their excuse of buying properties using their children's name is for the future of their grand children, but the fact is they are actually burdened their children with a loan commitment that they may not afford to commit in the future. Should the parent wants to help their children to own a property they can help them by open up a saving account when they were young and use the saving to buy a property in the future. Letting your children to buy property you like and binded them with the big commitment beyond his capability to commit on a monthly settlement is very dangerous and may harm their life. Should the parents are wealthy enough to pass down the inheritance to grandchildren, they first have to ensure that their children have enough capabilities in financial. But this somehow will create unfairness environment as not every child has the same capabilities, as such the burden of commitment of loan that the children may not be equally divided amongst them. This will cause jealousy amongst the siblings. Therefore, it is not advisable to get your children commit to the parents' interest. The parents' obligation is to guide their children manage their financial, not let them involve with loan commitment. The children may looks proud of having parents capable enough to buy luxury properties without they realized the burden that they may have to face if the parents are not around and yet the properties are not solely belong to them. The parents should let their children be independent and be responsible to their financial as it will make them appreciate better for they have and will inherit.

4. Encourage your children to saving at their early age as they will more appreciate rather than in inheriting it.

I thanked my father for his guidance as because of his guidance made me  managed to own 2 cars and used to owned a condominium (I made a lot of profit from selling this condominium) without a single cents help from anyone, not even my father or my husband. Now I am free debts after I sold my condominium and still have my 2 cars. Now I am enjoying interest from my FD and ASB. So instead we pay interest to the bank, now bank is paying interest to me.

This is only my 10 cents opinion, a fulltime housewife.

New Activity for 2018

In the first week of 2018 I have attended a Malaysian Ladies gathering at Lotte Legend Saigon. It was a great event with great and fresh food served at their buffet line. It's worth for money as me as a Muslim for sure was concerned about the food. Their buffet did not disappointed me. With varieties of fresh seafood and vegetarian options, definitely satisfy my taste buds.  

We had so much fun and information sharing over the lunch and one of the lady that I first time met during the event had popped an idea for me to sell "Nasi Lemak". I said "Wow" that's a great idea but deep in my heart said "wooo" Can I do it? that's very tough as I never do cooking for selling as yet. But like Richard Branson said, you will never know until you try. While my mind considering the idea , the other lady, she's actually an Indonesian Chinese married to Malaysian Chinese, supporting the idea and naturally announce it to the lunch group that I can cook Nasi Lemak. At that moment, I had no choice but to accept the idea that I am gonna cook Nasi Lemak and karipap for sale. Yes, my first ever business project here in Saigon. 

So, on the 1 February 2018 has marked as my first day of selling Nasi Lemak and Karipap in Saigon. It will be a new life journey for me here in Saigon.  Let me share some photo of my new attempt to cook for selling.

Household Financial Management by the Housewife

Ever since I became a housewife, I have lost my fixed monthly pay that I earned. However, I am lucky enough as my husband giving me monthly allowance which is not including the household expenses such as groceries, and family entertainment. Even though, the allowance amount is not as much as I earned when I was worked, it is more than enough for me. My husband will bank in my allowance in RM base on current exchange rate.
In the first year we arrived the rate was RM3.60  and  my USD allowance  fluctuate based on the currency rate . What did I do with this amount? As I promised to myself after I started work, I will give my parent pocket money. And before I agreed to quit job and followed my husband to Saigon, I told my husband that I have an obligation to support my parents as my parents are not as fortunate as his. But I never asked specific amount for my allowance. What I wish is just his consideration from him to give me some pocket money, so that I can share and continue share some of my pocket money with my parents. An amount of monthly allowance  is actually  a bonus for me as I can do some saving out of it. Surprisingly,  even though the amount of my allowance is much lower than my salary that I had earned, I did much bigger saving than before.
Ok, first what did I do with my allowance?. The following is the distribution based on my priority:

40%    - for my study. As I am taking Master in Management course and art class.
10%    - will go to my parents
25%    - personal saving
5%      - personal life insurance + my daughter's education & life insurance
2.5%   - my daughter's saving
5%      - sponsoring my brother's uni's expenses
10.5% - credit card and Digi's bill ( normally less as most of the time I only need to pay the Digi's bill as i hardly use my credit card). I always make myself use a debit card as I will only spend as what I have only.
2%       - my personal needs and entertainment.

So, basically I use my allowance based on the priority and will only spend for my personal needs and entertainment should I have balance which is about 2% from my allowance.

For the household my husband has allocated around 20 mill vnd  or around USD900 for household. Normally we will allocate it for the following expenses :

Utilities bills (electric, water, tv subscription , internet)       - 30%
Groceries                                                                               - 40%
Weekend outing & family entertainment                      - 30%

So basically, as housewife, you should not only know how to clean the house and cook but most importantly managing your financial household.

I hope this would benefits other housewife and husband too.