Frugal Expat

An expat's journey in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Archive for the month “January, 2012”

28 Jan 2012
2 Comments

Experiment: The 30 Days Challenge

Photo Credit: http://betterhorsesclassifieds.com

Resolutions really do not work for me because I always fail. I read somewhere that one of the reasons to blame for not achieving any rate of success is the lack of motivation or purpose.

When your life is threatened to end because of an illness, you will definitely do anything that the doctor says in order to prolong your life. If the doctor advises you to change your diet (i.e. no more salty and high calorie foods), then you will definitely change your eating habits overnight, right?

You have a strong motivation which is to live longer. That your drive to change your habit instantly.

As for my case, I am caving in to Bo Sanchez’s 30-Days Challenge. I want to start a raw food diet. Well, I have tried it before for two weeks and I really felt good but it didn’t sustain longer. I have a list of excuses to back it up. LOL!

Anyway, I will start the 30 days challenge to gear me up and hopefully to adapt a healthier way of life for good.

My motivation? I know from the bottom of my heart that I am living an unhealthy lifestyle. That’s a given fact – no exercise, high consumption of fast foods, high level of stress from work, more processed foods in my daily diet and so on. Now that I have a son, I want to take care of my health hoping to live longer to see him growing up.

I just gave birth late last year and I am already in my early thirties. When I do my calculation, I will be in my fifties when he starts his college degree. So that’s my main motivation and hopefully strong enough to help me cling on my resolution.

Posted by Frugal Xpat in Family, Health, Life in Abu Dhabi and tagged ,
27 Jan 2012

A Week of Hiatus

I have not posted for almost a week now because I am actually preoccupied with my new business. I am still at the start up phase. Well, it is not really a phenomenal one but I am keen on doing it.

I believe in our company’s mission which is to educate people and to help them secure their retirement and family security.

I am fromPhilippineswhere we thought that the only option to have a better life is to work abroad while leaving behind our love ones. Unfortunately, most of us are not financially literate. We are always confused between assets and liabilities.

So what happens, we put our hard earned money into investments which we think are assets but actually liability in real sense. More so, our generosity to our families is endless.

Hence it is quite a common scenario that Filipinos who work abroad ends up with limited funds for their old age. The sad part, these limited funds usually end up in hospital bills and medication.

Anyway, I will post more about my business at the later stage. It is for those who are keen on the following:-

  • Education about personal finance
  • Wants to increase their cash flow or have an extra income
  • Learn about better investment options
  • Keen to secure their finances for their future
Posted by Frugal Xpat in Extra Income, Finances, freelance writing, Investments | Leave a Comment
22 Jan 2012

Watch Out! Fines in Abu Dhabi

I was cleaning my car today and I saw a flyer “Keep Abu Dhabi City Clean”. I could not remember from where I got the flyer but it is worth to read.

  • Fine for Dropping Cigarette Butts  AED 200
  • Fine for Spitting AED 100
  • Fine for Littering on the Street AED 500
  • Fine for Spitting Gum AED 500

Posted by Frugal Xpat in Life in Abu Dhabi, Thoughts | Leave a Comment
19 Jan 2012

Thoughts About Retirement and Investments

I never had a serious thought about retirement until I spent three months maternity leave back home. My Mum just retired last year from her teaching job for more than 30 years. Though a bit fearful of the fact that she is no longer receiving monthly salary, the thought of her monthly pension somehow pacifies her but she will not receive it until five years from now.

It made me think.. really..  My Mum is lucky that she has a secured pension from her teaching job. What about me? If I will decide to go home to the Philippines, I will be jobless because I am considered already over age for any available jobs back home.

Therefore, I will rely only on my savings and hopefully investments to support me and my family. It is quite a scary thought, right? Savings I think no matter how big the amount  will eventually diminish in the long run if you do not have any other source of income.

Investments on the other hand can be risky especially if you opt for business. The return of investment is not 101% guaranteed.

Because of this realization, I started to explore the opportunities of securing our retirement and establishing potential source of income once my hubby and I decided to go home for good in the Philippines. I am quite cautious in any form of investments because it is our hard earned money. At the same time, I want to have saving options with higher yield.

So far, I am paying faithfully my Social Security System (SSS) monthly contributions. I really do not know how much to expect from it but it is better than nothing, right?

Also, my brother and I found very helpful information in Bo. Sachez’s The Truly Rich Club. We have been members for sometime now and it is really enlightening. We are not that financially literate but with the guidance and help of Bo. Sanchez, we started to invest in stock market. If you are a beginner in investments, then this is a good way to start actually.  If you want to know more about the Truly Rich Club, click it here.

You will get also a copy of his ebook called “My Maid Invests In The Stock Market… And Why You Should Too”.
Posted by Frugal Xpat in Family, Finances, Investments, Life in Abu Dhabi | Leave a Comment
16 Jan 2012

Working on Google Docs

I gave up working on my laptop last month. I copied all my files in my external drive and now opted to work on a desktop. I want to have a bit of flexibility in terms of accessibility in my files.

So I decided now to use the Google Documents. I am keeping my journals and blog posts online. It is easier to access regardless if I am at home or somewhere else. I fear the safety of my external drive if I continuously use it. At home, it is fine because I know our computers but outside I am fearful that it will be infected with virus. Then all of my files will be gone.

The safest way so far is the Google Docs.

My sister recommended DropBox as well. I really have not explored the details of this option but I am using it for sharing of files only with my sister.

What about you? Where do you keep your files?

Posted by Frugal Xpat in Thoughts and tagged | Leave a Comment
15 Jan 2012

A Confirmed Morning Person

I woke up today at past two in the morning and I could not sleep anymore. So I decided to get up and check my office emails. After that, I started writing some blog posts. I kept a list of topics but sometimes I do not have the time to write it really.Now, I feel very productive. Thoughts are just flowing seamlessly. I wish to have this creative rhythm always  but sometimes getting up early in the morning can be very challenging.

Anyway, it is already almost five in the morning and I would like to take a nap for an hour at least before I will hit the office.

Wish me luck! Hopefully I will not be sleepy today..

Posted by Frugal Xpat in Life in Abu Dhabi, Thoughts | Leave a Comment
13 Jan 2012
3 Comments

New Breed of “OFW” Motherhood

My Son "ZJ"

 
After giving birth to my son “ZJ”, my life has never been the same again.  If weekends before were spent in the malls or out of town escapades, now it is spent on Skype because it is the only time I can bond “online” with my son.  

For those of you who are not familiar with the setting of Filipino families, let me give you a glimpse of it.  A big chunk of our population is working overseas. You can find an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) soul across the globe working as a nurse, waitress, housemaids, engineers, service crews and so on.

Oftentimes we trade our professions with the opportunity to work abroad hoping that we can give our family back home a better standard of living. It is not only our professions that we sacrifice but as well the reality of leaving your family for extended period of time.

There are OFWs who left their professions as doctors of medicine and instead worked as a nurse or nurse aid abroad because the pay is better. We have also OFWs who are teachers by profession and they leave this job to be housemaids abroad. Again, for the same reason  - the pay is better.

As for my case, I have been an OFW as early as 22 years old. I was single then and my motivation to leave my family was to explore the world and to earn more in order to help them.

Now that I am parent, my hubby and I have even deeper desire to give our son a better standard of living. We do not want him to experience the hardships that we went through while growing up.

And we know, this is not possible if we will work back home. So for the time being, we left our little boy at the good hands of my Mum and sister back home but we are working to take them very soon here in Abu Dhabi.

Until it happens, I am monitoring my son’s progress through Skype. Seeing him online eases my longing and the thought that he is better off back home makes our sacrifices worth it.

I miss you Z….

Posted by Frugal Xpat in Family, Life in Abu Dhabi
11 Jan 2012

Cultural Difference

I was having a casual chat with my colleague and we were talking about personal relationships. Then suddenly she whispered and asked, “How did you know that he was the right man to marry?”.

I was stunned to hear such question from a 24 years old married woman. Then I looked at her face but I could not find any hint of a joke. Later I realized that she was really serious in asking me that question.

Of course, I gave my usual answer. You will know it in your heart if he is the right man for you.

This is the beauty of working in a multicultural office because you will learn to great extent the beauty and uniqueness of each culture. What seems to be normal in my culture can be sometimes deemed as taboo in other culture.

My colleague has an arranged marriage and never had any boyfriends or never dated other men in her life. Thus, she popped out that question.

Posted by Frugal Xpat in Life in Abu Dhabi and tagged | Leave a Comment
09 Jan 2012

How to Deal with Change in your life?

Photo Credit: www.actioncoachchuckkocher.com

I attended a work related training last week and I walked out in that training room remembering one thing – the “SARAH Model” of dealing change.

Let’s face it. We know that change is the only constant thing in our life yet every time it happens either in our work or personal life, we hit the panic button. Oftentimes we actually do not like to go through the process of change, right? Generally we are happy being stuck in our little comfy world like our current job and just the thought of changing our job can trigger fear because of the uncertainty it brings.

During our workshop, our speaker presented the SARAH Model. This model explains the logical process in dealing with change.

S – Shock

A – Anger

R – Resistance or Rejection

A – Acceptance

H – Happiness or Hope

Let us take a simple case of a break up. One day your boyfriend of two years just walks in and declares that your relationship is over.

Your initial reaction is “shock”, right? How can your boyfriend just dump you like that? What happen?

Then, “anger” sinks in. You hate him for leaving you.

After that, you “resist or reject” the change that has happened in your personal life. Sometimes people stay in this cycle of “Shock – Anger – Resistance” for sometime before they settle in “acceptance” of the new reality.

Once “acceptance” is embraced, then there is happiness or hope. Perhaps hope that you will find someone else better than your previous boyfriend or happiness that you didn’t end up with him because he was no good at all.

So next time you face change in your life, think about the SARAH model.

Posted by Frugal Xpat in Thoughts and tagged | Leave a Comment
06 Jan 2012
6 Comments

Getting Rid of Bad “Spending” Habits

Photo Credit: http://marketresearchfacts.com

I am glad that somehow I passed already the stage of ignorance about personal finance. I mean, I am not an expert on that subject but I would say that I am better now on it compared two years ago.

Thanks for the tons free online reading materials about personal finance. My goal is to be debt free and to establish passive source of incomes. I am not yet there but it is on the process. It takes time get rid of old and bad “spending” habits.

I have been working on my “financial freedom” goal for the last two years. It takes a lot of discipline and sacrifice.

Compulsive Buying. Sometimes it is just difficult to ignore the red “SALE” tag. It is like a magnet. When I am in the mall and I see a “SALE”, I cannot resist the urge to rush and to look around. I have always this hope to find something really nice at a very reasonable price.

Now I still shop but only for my “needs” although occasionally I cave in to buying my whims. Before I hit the mall, I already have the list on what I need to purchase. In this way, I avoid compulsive buying even it is a sale.

Cash Diet. It is not an easy journey but possible. I closed all my credit cards last year. Now I am only keeping prepaid card because I need it sometimes for online purchases.

 

If you do not have discipline, then credit cards can be destructive to your personal finance health. When you are spending and you are using credit card, you do not feel the money getting out from your hands until you receive your monthly credit card bill.

 

Also, there is a greater possibility to spend more because the expenditures become unnoticed. Unless you are on a cash diet, you monitor every penny that goes out from your pocket.

 

Simple Living. Honestly I gave up already buying, planning and dreaming fancy things. For me now, it is all about functionality.

 

Financial freedom is not an easy journey especially if you are already trapped in spiraling debts. However, it is not yet too late and there will always be ways to improve your financial situation. It is just a matter of choice.

Posted by Frugal Xpat in Bills, Finances, Frugal Tips, Thoughts and tagged , , , ,

Post Navigation

← Older Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 57 other followers