Saving money

I just finished keying-in my record of expenses for the last 11 months. Yes, 11 MONTHS.

Obviously, I have been procrastinating and neglecting my personal finance for so long and of course, I have been in denial…

The satisfaction of being able to see the breakdown of my own expenses is indescribable. I like knowing where all my money went because it gives me a sense of control (albeit too late but there's still hope for future expenses). Sometimes, I try to reason with myself to justify my own spending. It’s not exactly convincing but hey, I deserve those sushi dates! And those bags of popcorns!

To be honest, I am not exactly a person that stays on budget every single time. I don’t even make a specific budget because I am very lenient with myself. To be able to stick to a budget would be an achievement to me. I used to have specific amount of savings that I would set aside every time I receive my allowance, but not since the past year.

I would blame that on my landlord’s son. (Obviously this is an excuse and I should be able to work around it if I really wanted to.) Ever since I moved to my current apartment, I always have to make sure that I have ~extra~ money in my chequing account because he couldn’t be consistent with depositing my cheques. Therefore, I am always left with the perception that I have saved enough money when in reality, I have not.

However, I would really give myself a pat on the back for resisting temptations. I have managed to kinda save money to satisfy my financial goals (travel adventures and whatnots) by:

1. Cutting down on junk food. Seriously, a bag of chips here is equivalent to the price of at least five apples. I’d eat my fruits thank you. But whenever they are on sale, sometimes, I’d sneak in a bag or two. :P
2. Packing lunch for long school days. The downside of it is you have to make an effort to cook. The upside of it, you get to improve your cooking skills. Sometimes, when I’m just plain lazy, rice and omelette it is! Comfort food is the best.
3. Avoid eating out or ordering in. I only would give in to this option whenever I got an invitation. Everyone is always busy so whenever someone invites me out, I would try to make time for it because your friends are important too! And it’s okay to splurge once in a while to eat nice food that is not prepared by yourself. :3
4. Find alternatives to entertainment. I enjoy reading and books are relatively cheap here. $2 for a hardcover book is a steal okay. But I only read my books once and after I am done reading, I stash them away in the bookshelves to collect dust. Therefore, I have moved on to reading books on my phone because I can download books for free. Library works too but that requires so much effort for a homebody like me.
5. Resist impulse purchase. However, I am rarely out and at times, I feel obliged to buy something just because. Therefore, the only time you would see me out and about in shopping malls is whenever I have goals to achieve or things in mind that I wanted to purchase beforehand. This includes grocery shopping too.

All of the above are mostly about resisting and avoiding purchase but it works well with me. I am not a big spender in the first place so I’d like to believe that I have the ability to control my wants. I don’t believe in over-controlling but I believe in being smart with your money. It’s important to have a sense of balance between security and leisure.

Money is not everything but hey, it does make your life easier!

I put a ring on it!

No, it is not an engagement ring nor a promise ring, guys!

It’s a wedding ring.

I am married to engineering…

Canadian has The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer where future engineering graduates that have fulfilled all the requirements, receive an Iron ring as a symbol of obligation to the profession. It was a special, private ceremony and it was definitely an honour to be part of it. The ceremony procedures are not to be disclosed as it is a ‘secret’ and limited to the knowledge of participating engineers only. Therefore, I cannot share the details. :P

However, I can say that I am one step closer to graduating! InshaAllah :3

Skating Experience

Rideau Canal is the largest skating rink in the world.

This year, Rideau Canal broke its past record of the longest consecutive days open. It was Day 57 yesterday and I took it as a sign that I should go skating on it at least once before I return for good.

And so I did‼ I didn’t skate all the way (it’s 7.8 km long) but 3.3 km was good enough for me. *pats self*

It was obvious that we were newbies that sometimes, locals said hi to us and asked how we were doing and feeling. They also gave us compliments and words of encouragement along the way: “Good job, girls!”, “You’re doing good!”, “You can do it!”. At one point, a Canadian man stopped to show us a ‘quick lesson’ on how to skate. :')

Ah, I’m gonna miss these nice people.

At the end of the day, a maple taffy was well-deserved. :3

Summer Trip Travelog: Day 4 - Belfast Main Attractions

We only had one full day in Belfast.

In order to ensure that we were able to see as many attractions as possible in one day, we booked a tour with Allens Coastway Tour which costed us around £16 per person. Our tour guide on that day was very friendly and entertaining. I can’t remember his name though. I wish I had written this down somewhere but I didn’t… It was not Allen for sure.

The first place that we visited was Carrickfergus Castle. We were given around half an hour to walk around the area. Given the limited time, we didn’t get to tour inside and only managed to take a few pictures with the castle as the background.

As we were touring on bus, we got to see Antrim coast road. I would say that it was one of the best landscape view I have ever seen so far.

The next stop was Carrick A Rede rope bridge. This was one of my favourite place on that day. The 2 km walk was breathtaking.

The rope bridge itself was a thrill. Let’s just say walking on planks hanging on a rope suspended 100 feet above sea level with no safety net was not my thing. The wind on that day was crazy too‼ I was holding onto a rope that was angled at 35° because of the wind and I am definitely not exaggerating. However, the view that we got when we reached the other side was worth the risk (okay, maybe I was exaggerating, a bit). I could sit there all day (partly because I didn't want to cross the bridge again) and admire the vast seascape.

Next was a lunch stop at The Giants Causeway Café. We ate our packed lunch there with Uncle Boy, a Filipino who lived in US that was on vacation. He was a bit too friendly but that’s another story to tell. :P

We then had a quick stop at Bushmills whiskey distillery because why not? Ironically, we went to the washroom and took our wudu’ there and ended up being the last group to get on the bus…which raised the question “did you girls buy many stuff?” HEH. We were actually busy taking pictures with the red phone booth outside...

The second last stop was Dunluce Castle. We stopped there for a photo op.

Our last stop was the main attraction of the tour - The Giants Causeway. I love the myth behind it; two giants trying to fight with each other and the causeway was one of the giant’s doing to reach the other giant. It had a hilarious ending too (read more of the story here).

We returned to the city centre around 7:00 pm and continued to wander around before returning to Tiqa's house. I was very satisfied with the tour. I saw gorgeous views, experienced wonderful stuff and learnt a lot of random things along the way. It is definitely something I would recommend to other people because the trip itself was priceless!

Summer Trip Travelog: Day 3 - Queen's University of Belfast

First meetings are usually awkward.

However, we took off quite well with Tiqa as she was very welcoming and friendly to us. After we have settled down for a bit at her house, she offered to take us for a tour of her university which was only a few minutes away by foot.

I study abroad but my university is not exactly glorious. It is relatively new so it doesn’t really own any sort of legacy or legends (well, none that I know of). Old universities on the other hand, usually have their own traditions and their buildings are always so majestic and pretty because of their history (to me at least). But I love my university nonetheless. :P

After the tour, we went for lunch slash dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I have never eaten Mexican food before other than tortilla chips (does that count, and is it even Mexican?!) so it was new to me. Instead of ordering buritto, which is the typical thing people would order, I ordered chicken quesadilla. I had it with mango salsa and ooh, it was finger lickin’ good!

I didn't take a picture of my food but here's a picture of Ezzah's burrito.