New Year Resolutions

Another year is coming to an end, it’s time to look at my New Year resolutions list (in excel) and see what I have accomplished and if I have accomplish anything at all. This has been a habit of mine for the past few years. A few days before the New Year, I write down what I would like to accomplish for the New Year in spreadsheet and then work on it.

It looks like I have accomplished one of the six New Year resolutions for the year of 2009. As I recall, the more effective way of getting your new year resolution accomplish is to see the goals each and everyday so that you are not side track.

Looking back at my daily to do list, I have been spending a lot of time doing everyday stuff like cooking, cleaning/organizing, food shopping, food preparations, baby sitting, bill paying, and more bill paying.

For the New Year, I will look at my goals everyday so that I am on track of it. When I don’t keep track of my New Year resolutions, the everyday stuff gets done first because they have to be taken care of. I probably have to sleep a little less...maybe get up a little bit earlier or go to bed a little later to get some of things done so that I can accomplish my goals.

Wish you have a better year in 2010 than in 2009!

The costs and benefits of not owning a car

When I decided to give up my car, I know I was ready to give up

The bad things:
1) paying auto insurance
2) paying for tickets (parking mostly)
3) paying for high gas prices
4) giving up on having to move my car every other day because of alternate side street cleaning rules
5) most of all avoid people asking for favorites just because I have a car in the city where it’s consider a luxury if you own a car.
6) Paying for damages to the car because people break into my car
7) Find parking space


The Good things:
1) Giving up on how much time I can save by driving to a certain place vs taking pubic
transportation and wait for it’s schedule.
2) In case of emergency, I can use my car
3) Have a car to buy bulky heavy stuff
4) Don’t have to ask other car owner for favors
5) Lower my daily expenses
6) I don’t have to plow my car out of the snow storm like what we have today

I think one of the health benefits of giving up my car is to walk everywhere I need to go – that is my exercise.

Home-made shelf for printer and fax machine

After many weeks of looking into different web sites and found nothing fits into what we want, my husband finally decided to build the shelf himself. Of course he did not volunteer, it was after many weeks of nagging and looking before he finally gave in. And look at how great the home-made shelf looks. It only costs him about $17 and 1.5 hours of time to get it done and it’s custom made to fit exactly.

We could’ve easily eliminate the fax if we have efax service but because I have to deal with people who do not use emails or computers, we have to keep the fax and thus a shelf is needed to save some space.

My first Black Friday shopping experience

So I finally went shopping on Black Friday and I got there at 4AM. I didn’t wait on the line for Best Buy to buy any electronics. I went to Kohl’s to look for baby clothing and toys instead. The line for Best Buy wrapped around half of the parking lot already. I was glad that I didn’t have to wait on the line to get into Kohl’s. I got the toy I wanted and picked up some clothing for our baby and myself. I wanted to go into Toys r us too but my husband called and asked if I can go to Staples to pick up the portable hard drive for him. So I went to staples and got on line. I waited for at least 40 minutes to get into the store and of course, they sold out the item long time ago. As my husband said, they might already sold out as most stores probably just carry a few of the advertised items to lure you in there to buy other stuff.

Then I hit home but unable to take a nap until my daughter takes her nap as well.

What is my experience on Black Friday shopping? It was not terrible. I won’t do it again if it’s not for something special. I might do it again next year…but all depends if there is anything we need and that I won’t have to go to work.

Black Friday shopping

Last week, I decided to go shopping this coming Black Friday to take advantage whatever low pricing there are for baby clothing. I have read and heard of people get stuff for great deals but they have to be waiting outside the store very early in the morning and in the cold. I am not a fan of all that. There is absolutely nothing that I want so badly that I want to sit in the cold and wait outside the store for deep discount for…at least I haven’t thought of anything worthy of my time and energy.

I don’t have much hand me down baby girl clothing so now we have to go shopping for her needs as she grows. I am looking into buying for next winter as well as for the fall and spring. And I am looking into shopping after the season is over for greater deals.

I have looked into a few web sites and this web site seems to be my favorite.

Learn to organize (clothing and accessories) from my unorganized other half

When it comes to organizing a home and documents, I think I am much better than my husband. However the other day, I realized there is something he does much better than I am in organizing – clothing and accessories.

My husband occupied much more space (although he gave me some drawers and closet space) in the closet than I am because I moved into his apartment after we got married. He organized his clothing by category in drawers and shelves. He puts all his white socks in one draw, another draw with all black. He has all his ties in one place, all his sweaters in another shelves all together, all shirts are together from light color to dark color and all of his winter accessories (hats, gloves, scarves) in one bag. I finally appreciate how he put all his accessories together in one place and makes it very easy to change a pair of gloves if he chooses to.

I bag (with label) all my clothing by season. I have 2-3 bags of clothing for the summer. And then I have another 2-3 bags of clothing for winter. If I need to look for something, I have to go through the bags to find what I want. I have casual, formal and sporty clothing all together in the bags. I have my winter accessories all mixed up in my coats and winter clothing. So when I put on my blue coat the other day, I was wearing a pair of completely different color gloves because I didn’t have time to look for the blue gloves I have.

I am in the mission of at lease put all my winter accessories together in one bag (with label) so when I need to change a coat, all I have to do is go through this bag and get the color that matches the best.

My next bigger project will be organizing the clothing I have. Summer, winter, fall, spring, bathing suit, scarves, gloves, dresses, formal wear, casual wear, sporting wear, winter coats, spring jackets, dressy coats and jackets etc…Who has the time for all of this!

Remembering My Grandma

I still think of my grandma who passed away this past February. I remember I packed up a box of soft tissue for her. She used a lot of tissue because she coughed every once in a while. I also packed a nail clipper to help her cut her fingernails; a comb to comb her hair; a new soft cloth (those that babies use to wash their face) to help her wash her face.

Unfortunately that Saturday morning before I got up to go see her and deliver all that stuff to her in the hospital, my mother called and told me that she already passed away. When I got there, she was already wrapped up in plastic and only her face was showing. I touched her face, her hair, her arms and her feet. She was still warm and then she turned colder. We were all very sad but I knew she was at peace finally. She was in too much pain the few nights that I spent with her in the hospital.

Doctors said she lived to age 98 that is like live twice for other people. Indeed she did live a long life but from seeing her go through surgery, rehabilitation, falls and to dead, I hope I won’t have to go through as much if I were to live that long. I hope to live a healthier life than her. She is always in my mind and reminds me of what life is all about and not to sweat the small things in life.

Cash for Clunkers Program and The First Time Home Buyer’s Credit

While the Clunkers program was in effect, my husband and I analyzed our situation on whether to buy a bigger car and take advantage of the cash for Clunkers program. Unfortunately, our car did not qualify. And even if we did, we properly did not want to be part of the program as well. Reasons: (1) We are living on one income right now. (2) our car mileage is only 50k - 60k (3) even if our car qualify for the program, we would still have to spend money…that’s is adding debt...it’s not a good idea for a one income family at the moment.

We came to the conclusion, “just because something is on sale, it doesn’t mean you have to buy It”. I think I mentioned this as I was de-cluttering our apartment. I bought office supplies and clothing just because they were on sale. And now, I have tons of office supplies that take up space and a lot of new clothing that I haven’t worn.

As our family grows and as the economy gets better (hopefully within the next few years), when I return to work full-time and accumulate enough money to buy a bigger car, we’ll paid cash (if not all, it will be mostly cash) for it.

I feel the same way about Obama’s credit for first time buying a house. (1) we have one income, (2) just because something is on sale, it doesn’t mean you must buy it (3) I want to be able to sleep at night because I do not want to be in big debt. This type of debt we can not and will not be able to pay all cash but would definitely take advantage if we have 2 incomes. This isn’t the right time for us.

For that, I will be able to sleep at night because we are not in big debt and we are not spending simply because something is on sale.

Family dinner

We finally received our dinning table and eat as a family like how our parents always had it when we were young and had dinner together every night. Our daughter got so excited that she refused to take a nap. While we were eating dinner, she fell asleep on her high chair. It was hilarious.

I got a table cloth and realized it didn’t fit because what was inside the bag didn’t match the description of the box. It was too late to return it because it was just 2 days after the 30 days return policy. Thank goodness it wasn’t an expensive table cloth. I had to go back to the same store (Century 21 – Zagat rated #1 discount store) and look for another one. I got a vinyl table cloth instead of a regular cloth one. It fit nicely on the table but would look much better if we have a regular table cloth. With toddlers at home, even this loose vinyl table cloth isn’t going to work. Toddlers like to pull on tablecloths. So our final decision for later is to buy a elasticized vinyl table cloth from Improvements.

Our first dinner together as a family was wonderful. I can’t wait for many more to come. I just hope if we ever move, the new home that we’ll move to will be able to accommodate this dinning room table. Even though I can remove 1 leaf to have it as a smaller table, I love the space of a big table. I can do many things with flat surfaces…reading a paper, paying bills or simply a cup of tea.

My passion test result

I finish reading the book “The Passion Test” many weeks ago. Ok, I didn’t read line by line the 2nd part of the book because I was busy and reading other books at the same time but I got the basic idea of it. One awaken moment for me was when the book mentioned about living your passion while you are home with your baby (children) and husband. It said my passion could be my family and then another one could be my interest so while I put my family as my priority/top passion, I can still work part-time on my other interest/passion. It never occurs to me that my family is my passion. I always thought of them as my family and they are important to me.

Well, that’s it. The book served its purpose for me. It woke me up and I found out what my passion is at the moment and I believe this passion will continue to be my first passion. I am aligned with my passion and value. My other part time passion – I am in the process of working on it or still figuring out if it is indeed my passion or is it just a hallucination.

Our Vacation

After 2 ½ years, we finally took a vacation. We decided to go locally for 2 days and 1 night but at the last minute, we decided on 3 days and 2 nights instead. We went upstate NY, the Mohonk Preserve and Mohonk Mountain House for hiking and just relaxing. It’s a 2 hour drive. I’ve checked out the Mohonk Mountain Hotel. It’s $200 per person per night which included hotel and 3 meals. That would be $800 if we stay for 2 nights. That is way over our budget. So I decided we go to a motel about 20 miles away after reading all the reviews online. Our trip turns out to be less than half the cost if we were to stay in the Mohonk Mountain Resort.

The first day we got there, we hiked in the preserves which is not the same as the Mohonk Mountain House (it is privately own). It was a nice, quiet 5 miles hike round trip except at the end. We took the West Trapps Trail and started off with the Overcliff road. The trail was dry and easy but when we got to the Undercliff Road towards the last quarter of the trail, there were a lot of millipedes. I hate anything that crawls on the floor like snakes, worms etc.. The Millipedes were disgusting. I held my husband tight and screamed all the way till the end of the trail. There were a few people on the trail and they were wondering what I was screaming about. Sure, my husband was a little embarrassed by me. I couldn’t help it. I told him that I’ll never go back to this trail ever again.

On the 2nd day of our vacation, we had lunch first, and then drove to the Mohonk Mountain House. Admission was $18 per person. And if you want to park closer to the house, it’s an additional $10. There is a trail which we can hiked up to the house so we figure we would hike since this is the main purpose of our vacation. At the end of the day, I would say it was a mistake to hike the additional 2-3 miles just to get to the Mohonk Mountain house. When we got to the Mohonk Mountain House, I was amazed with the beauty of the resort. We had to hike some more toward the Sky Top Tower. In additional to that, we walked around one section of the garden outside the Mohonk Mountain House. At the end of the day, we still have to hike back to our car. Our shins were sore. We wished we had paid the extra $10 so that we parked closer to the hotel rather than hiking another 1.5 miles back.

On our 3rd day, we planned on doing more (going to the Storm King Art Center, Apple Picking or something else). We ended up driving across the bridge to Poughkeepsie and then drive around Newburgh and came home before rush hour.

I was glad to be back to see my baby. It was a nice get away with no cooking, cleaning or baby sitting for a couple of days. We won’t have another vacation for a while.

De-clutter update 3

I’ve read a few de-clutter books that I took out from the library. Many of them teach you to get rid of a lot of things at home. And when you need them, you buy them.

While I am cleaning/de-cluttering our apartment, I find it hard to get rid of stuff and then buy new ones when I need them. That is just simply wasteful. I come to the conclusion that I am not de-cluttering my apartment. I am simply organizing it in a way that it is very easy for me to locate anything and I make sure I don’t buy any that I already have in my inventory. I keep an inventory list (in every closet, in the refrigerator, in the cabinets, in my bankers’ boxes) of what I have inside. I keep it up to date and whenever I am looking for something, I look through the inventory list before I buy anything.

So far it works most of the time except once when I forget to check if we have more 13 gallon garbage bags in our inventory list (in the closet) at home before buying more in Costco. No, I did not return it. I kept it because we always need garbage bags. I’ll just make sure I’ll check my inventory before buying anything.

To do list

I used to write down a to-do list on a little notebook and carry it with me. Actually I took a lot of notes on that little notebook because I am somewhat forgetful.

Today, I still carry a little notebook with me because I take notes when I see something interesting on the subway or I thought of something important while I am doing laundry. I write my thoughts down so I won’t forget. Sometimes, while I am doing something, I remember I have to do something else so I write it down in my little notebook. When I go grocery shopping, I write down the prices for certain items and compare with wholesale costs. This little notebook is becoming very handy and useful for me.

I no longer use this notebook to write down my to-do list. My to-do list is kept in a spreadsheet and I update/add more to it each day. Since I rather type than write, I type it up and arrange in any order I like on the spreadsheet and print it out for the day. When an item is done, I cross it off in the spreadsheet. Whatever is not done today will carry (cut and paste) on to the next day. I don’t delete the prior day’s activities off. I simply cross them off and leave the dates as well. I like to keep that for future reference. It’s sort of like my to-do-list diary.

Women and shoes

It took me a few hours to take an inventory and organized all my shoes in the closet (and some from my parents’ place). Living in a small (well not that small) apartment in NYC, I have to store 95% of my shoes in the closet.

First I took them down from the shelf in the closet. Then I took 1-2 pictures of them. I downloaded the pictures onto my hard drive and create different folders for different season shoes. I was totally shocked I have over 40 pairs of shoes (boots, casual shoes, working shoes, formal shoes, sandals etc…all included). I know I have a lot of shoes but over 40 pairs was just not what I thought I have. I asked my husband how many pairs of shoes did he thinks I have. His answer was around 20. I told him, how about double that.

It is mostly summer sandals that I have accumulated. I have a totally good reason for this shoes madness when I was younger. I have small feet (I am a petite woman). I wear size 5 shoes. It is extremely hard to find size 5 shoes and it’s especially hard to find size 5 shoes that fit me and I that I like. I complain to my friends and family that sometimes even if I am willing to pay a higher price for a pair of shoes, there is none in the market for me to buy. So when I find a pair of shoes that I love, I would buy 2 (sometimes). Thus, my craziness of accumulating this many pairs of shoes. Did I mention that some of the shoes I have are still new (haven’t worn yet).

After separating my shoes by season, I assigned each pair of shoes a number on the downloaded pictures. I put them back into the shoe box and have the numbers label on the shoe box as well. I do not have all 40 shoes boxes but I do have more than half of them. For the rest of the shoes without a shoe box, I put them in a bigger box or a big plastic bag and label them with the shoe’s numbers. I put the out-of- the-season shoes (winter boots and shoes) all the way in the back/inside of the shelf in the closet. I have the summer and more casual shoes in the front which I can easily reach when I needed. When the seasons change, I will rotate.

My goal is to check which shoes I want to wear by the computer picture before going to the closet and look for that number in the shoes box. This way I don’t have to waste a lot of time opening each shoe box to what is inside and then have to put everything back. This project took me a few hours but I felt relief when it was done.

Baby proof your place

Now that our baby is starting to learn to stand and walk, we have to baby proof our place. It is not as easy as it sounds.

Here are steps we take for the baby safety products we purchase.

1 do research and make measurements around the home
2 decided on the brand to purchase
3 buy it
4 find time to install it
5 if item doesn’t fit properly or not working properly as it should
6 find time to return it
7 go back to step 1 again

These are the items we bought so far to baby proof our place.
Window gates
Cushions for our coffee table edges
Circuit protector
Gates for our hallway
Drawer locks for our drawers
Crib tent
Finger guards
Locks sets to change our locks in bathroom, bedrooms in case baby locks herself in there, we can open from outside with screw driver

Before we have a baby, we calculated that it would costs roughly three thousands dollars for basic necessity for the baby. We haven’t taken into consideration baby proof the apt and all the time that is require to install all the stuff.

From 9am – 5pm a full time job, after that is another job at home waiting (the baby) and in addition to that, have to find time to baby proof everything and make sure the baby is fed, my husband find it exhausting.

All of the headache and time constrain, it’s all worth it when you see your baby’s first everything (roll over, take first step, say da da and ma ma).

De-clutter update 2

I took a walk to Staples to get my binder clips with the $3 coupon (expire on 8/31/2009) I received from recycling my HP ink cartridge. We find the medium binder clips and sometimes the small binder clips very useful at home. Besides using the binder clips to clip papers, we use them to clip onto the chip bags and cereal bags. They work wonders. My husband loves them. There is no need to buy special clips for bags. We find the small binder clips are useful for receipts & letters.

I noticed there were a lot of people in Staples on a Tuesday morning at 9:30am. I was thinking to myself. Shouldn’t they be at work at this time of the hour? Then I realized people are shopping for going back to school supplies. The 3 holes ruled papers are a penny per pack and each customer is limited to 5 packs per day. And a lot of other school items are on sale as well. Normally I would buy some just because they are on SALE. I did take a glance at what is on sale but didn’t even touch anything at all. I’m very proud of myself. From cleaning up (still in progress) our apt, we have total of 5 boxes (4 banker’s boxes and 1 plastic container) of supplies. It’s ridiculous. We have different types of paper, different sizes of binders, different types of folders, pens, pencils, leads, sticky pads, rulers, 1 subject notebooks, college ruled 3-holes papers, index cards and etc… I have so much supplies that they will last a few years. Since I recycle our printed papers (if there are no personal information) for shopping list, I believe our paper supply and notebooks will last more than just a few years. I normally cut the 8x10 printed papers into quarters or halves and use the back (blank side) for shopping list.

I am now realizing I was somewhat addicted to buying office supplies just because they were on SALE (big discounts like a penny for something or a dime for a pencil case). My logic was, we always need supplies, why not buy them and store them for when we need them. I know now that office supplies will always go on sale before school starts. And there is no need to stock up all the supplies at home. We definitely need to keep some extras but it’s not necessary to have excess taking up space at home.

I believe there are a lot of people who have the BUYING JUST BECAUSE IT’S ON SALE addiction. In order to control your clutter at home, you have to find out what it is/they are that you are addicted to buying. Then stop buying just because it’s on SALE and start dumping / giving away / donating the excess.

This is just the beginning of a de clutter mind set.

De-clutter update I

After putting everything in bankers boxes and move into the office. We can see a lot of space in the dinning area. And the office looks a little better as well.

We started to go thru one box which contains a lot of everything that do not belong together. Things such as supplies (pens, pencils, eraser, markers), banking stuff (deposit slips, check books), screw drivers, high school senior ring and some old pictures, address labels, key chains and few other items. From this one box alone, we have to put these items into the proper location.

Office supplies – keep all supplies in the 5 boxes of supplies we have
Screw drivers – goes into the tools box, dump some or give away some
Key chains – put them with the rest of the key chains, and we should not buy anymore of these as souvenirs
Old pictures – will put them together with the rest of the picture albums
High school ring – put it together with year book
Banking stuff, deposit slips, check books – I think we need a drawer for this & we need to shop for one since we dump our old working desk
Address stamp – put them next to stamps and envelops

I bag them in zip lock bags and waiting to put them in the proper box/location. My husband was looking for one particular checkbook which I accidently dropped in one of the folders in the same box and he wasn’t able to find it. He got very upset because he thought I was moving his stuff around without letting him know. I got more upset because he didn’t look at everything in there and accuse me of such doing. Anyhow, we ended up having a fight (which I normally just ignored him and don’t talk to him until the next day). Eventually, he apologized and we were all right. From this lesson, I told him that I will not try to clean up his mess. I thought because I have a little bit more time at home so I can start helping him with his mess. I realized it’s not appreciated and made both of us upset. I will leave his stuff alone since he is used to his own mess. I will set a good example by having my space very organized and hopefully one day he’ll clean up his mess. I’m trying to use the reverse psychology method here.

I’ve already scan all my documents utilizing the portable scanner he got me a year ago and I am finding everything on my finger tips without going through boxes or drawers. He sometimes asks me to scan some of his important documents. I’m sure in time he’ll find being organize is worth the effort.

Declutter my home (I can finally call it Home)

After I got married, I moved into my husband’s 3 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. I had bags and boxes of my stuff piling up in the living. Did I mention I also have a bike and my husband also has his exercise bike in the living/dinning room as well? And 2 of the bedrooms were clutter with paper work and stuff that he did not use or they belong to someone else? Our thought was we will live here for a little while until we buy our own house. So we didn’t take much effort in cleaning it up or buying new furniture. As a matter of fact, we didn’t buy anything because we were saving for a down payment on our future house.

Well, most if not all of that has changed after I got pregnant. We decided to turn one of the rooms (the storage room - with other people’s stuff and unused stuff) into the baby’s room. I had to start dumping and clearing everything that was in there. It took me a while to clear up everything in there and putting up a new blind in there. Then we purchased some basic baby furnitures (a crib, a changing table and dresser) and got hand me down clothing from family and friends.

With the babies room cleaned. I started to clean the living/dinning room (we do not have a dinning table) area and the 3rd (smallest room which we used as an office). I got a chance to see the floor (well, it’s carpet) of the living room for the first time. Then slowly, we started to stock up more and more stuff because the living room has the most open space. The 1st and 2nd time that I cleaned the living/dinning room, I dumped and shredded some stuff but some of stuff I either move to a different room where they belong (example: stationary and paperwork in the office, toys in the babies room) or I put them in bankers boxes and have them piled up in the living room. So now, I have piles of banker’s boxes in the living/dinning room area. They look more organized but they do not belong there. I wish I have a basement to store them. Second thought, having a basement to store them isn’t the solution to all these clutter (whether they are necessity or not).

Our mission is to clean the living room area as well as the 3rd room (our office). Instead of cleaning everything all at once, I have come up with a plan of storing everything in separate banker boxes. We will tackle one banker’s box per week while dealing with new incoming mails and junk mails. And we will setup a system so that we will not have piles of paper work and other stuff all mingle together. (Honestly, I think I am much more organized than my husband. I think he must have a PHD in misplacing stuff and mingle everything together. I have to be organized because in the accounting field, we need a lot of backups and auditors want to see them all the time).

With taking care of the baby, with the baby’s stuff, my stuff, my parent’s stuff and my grandma’s stuff that I have to look after, I think it will be a slow go but it will get done. I just have to be consistent. You know what they say, “slow and consistent wins the game”.

Passion vs a job (part 4) - The Passion Test

Someone mentioned The Passion Test one day while I was watching TV. I got the book from our public library and read the first half of the book which is to take the passion test. After taking the passion test, this is what my life is like when it is ideal:

1) having peace of mind – when I am at peace it means I am not worry about my health, finance, relationships etc…
2) having no financial worries – to me, it’s not having to run a rat race, and able to buy basic buy necessity without looking at the cost of an item. Travel first class. Able to send family and friends on a trip(s).
3) having a lot free time to do what I want and when I want – of course have to do it with family and friends, what’s all the free time if no family and friends can share with you. I’ve always wanted to go to a place (to live there for a few months) where I only live with basic necessities and none of what we already have in an industrialized country. This could be somewhere in a foreign country or in the U.S. where no one knows me.
4) owning a custom build home and with a few small condos in a few big cities around the world – in my custom build home, I have an indoor pool and I also own a horse with a stable.
5) enjoying a healthy life – this goes with me, my family and friends.

I always know that luxury items like nice cars and nice jewelry are not on top of my list. I don’t like jewelry. And all I need is a car that works and takes me from point A to point B. Although, I wouldn’t mind sitting in a nice car once in a while but it’s not something I itch for. I feel the same with jewelry and bags. I know there are women out there always talk about their beautiful jewelry, bags and brand name clothing. Nothing wrong with enjoying something nice but sometimes they are a bit too shallow. I get really bored talking to those kind of men or women. I mean if someone talks about it more than 5-10 minutes on it without substance. I get really bored and look for ways to get out of the conversation.

None of the above would work if you don't have the following:
1) right attitude
2) goal setting with date of accomplishment
3) action plan
4) persistence

I've learned all these positive thinkings from network marketing seminars and books I've read. They have absolutely the greatest training for anyone who is looking for self improvement because majority of them are entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in the making.

The Bodies Exhibit

I finally got a chance to go to The Bodies Exhibit in South Street Seaport. I know it’s been around for many years. After I saw the exhibition, I asked myself how come I didn’t go there sooner. I definitely recommend tourists or anybody to go check it out. The ticket is somewhat costly (for an adult it’s $26.50 on weekdays and $27.50 on weekends). After the exhibit, I can say it is definitely worth going and it’s worth the money. We spent 2.5 hours in the exhibit. That is about a little more than $10 per hour. If you have gone there to see what an amazing job they have done and what you get out of, you will definitely agree with me that $27 ticket is very cheap.

July 4th

I can’t believe another July 4th is coming up. Last year this time, I was pregnant and my belly was getting bigger each and everyday. I was reading the “What to expect when you’re expecting” book while still working in my full-time job.

As usual this July 4th, we’ll be going to cousin’s house for a pool party. We do pot luck pool party. Since I can’t really cook yet (not for anyone to try it anyway except my husband), I will be bring fresh mixed fruit salad which I can cut and put together.



Last November, I found these 7 compartment platters in midtown Jack’s 99 cent store for a few dollars and I also found a cover that fits. So that’s what I was planning to do whenever we have family gatherings and whenever we do pot luck parties. I always love fruit salads and I think most people do. Getting a fruit salad from the supermarket or even Costco costs a fortune. For the same amount of money you paid in the supermarket or Costco, I can make 2 and have left over for myself. As of matter of fact, I’ve used it once to go to sister-in-law’s son’s birthday party and they loved it and thought it was purchased from a store. They asked me where I got the platter. And I offer to buy one for one of the sister-in-laws.

I went by the store a few times and they do not have the lid for the smaller platter (that’s what my sister-in-law wants). I even asked the sales lady that works there and she said there is no cover for that. I told her I was there last November (I scanned my receipt) and they did have it. She kept telling me no, there aren’t any covers for that. And then I showed her the bigger platter has this lid. And she said that lid is for another container/platter. Well, that lid did fit that other platter but also fits the 7 compartment platter as well. I don’t know if she doesn’t know what she was talking about or did I mixed the lids. I’ll just have to come by every once in a while to check for the lid. I seriously think because of the summer season, all the lids are gone. They might restock it later when the season is over.

What do you do on July 4th?

Passion vs a job (part 3)

I’ve been going to the NY Public Library the Science, Industry, Business Library)for FREE classes that are offered to the public. It offer many courses in business research, job research, science research. I took a tour that was offer to get familiar with what is in there. Even though I’ve been there and used the service a few times in my life time but things change very quickly in there to keep up with times. I’m glad I took the tour and it did help me familiarize with resources being held in there…and a little of history of the NY Public as well.

A few of the courses that I’ve been taking in The NY Public Library involved small business research and job research. I am still in the process of working on my resume and still exploring my area of interest/passion to come up with some sort of small business (hopefully).

Multi tasking by taking care of a baby, taking classes and exploring my interest isn’t easy to manage. I don’t think focusing on one and finishing up that task and then start another one is feasible at the moment. Life is definitely too short to just work on one thing at a time.

Michael Jackson, the world icon only lived to age 50. I have a little more than 10 years to get to that age. I have to get as much done and as soon as possible. Time waits for nobody.

I think I read something from one of the books I read and it goes something like this “Do something, don’t just stand there. Indecision causes this country a lot of money. And decisiveness is one of the major qualities in a good manager,” by Lee Iacocca. These are not exact words but the idea of indecision isn’t going anywhere.

This article sums it up very much what I want to say in #4.

Blogs I follow

I’ve been reading the following financial blogs consistently. I thought it’s interesting to share with you.

www.2millionblog.com - this blog is on a mission to reach 2 million dollars. I’ve been reading this for more than 2 years. I was first introduced by a friend who saw his article in one of the magazines.

www.frugaldad.com – is a blog on being frugal. You get tips and tricks on how to be frugal. It’s actually a great blog. It’s down to earth. I don’t remember how I found it. I probably just came across it one day while searching something online. I believe I’ve been following this blog for 6 months to a year.

I guess you can say one of my passion or hobbies is find ways to retire earlier. I read financial books and blogs to get ideas from other successful people.

Passion vs a job (part 2)

As I was thinking more into my interests and hobbies last night, I remember I was in the same difficult situation when I started this blog. I didn’t know what to name the blog and what specialized topic to talk about. As you may already discover that I did not specialized in one major subject, rather, I am blog about everything in my life and life in general. Can this be the same set back in my life as shown in my blog? Is this a good comparison? Is it really a setback?

Maybe this is my journey to figure out what my passion is. I remember when I was in high school or was it in college when my English teacher was telling us that if you do not know what you want to write about, just start writing anything and then something/an idea will come up.

Passion vs a job (part 1)

I am getting ready to get back to the job market. However, I always get to this point when I know…after I find a job in my field of major in college, after a few months or approximately a year, I grew tire of it. I detest getting up early so I can go in there, earn my pay check and then just spend it all paying bills.

I’ve have read a lot of articles, books and have heard from successful people to focus on your passion, be creative and then everything will fall into place. When you work on what you love, you will not mind getting up early and working late.

Here I am brain storm on what my passion is. Forget about passion, I brain storm on what my hobbies are. I don’t have any special hobby or talent. I don’t have any special interest in any sports.

As I brain storm on my passion, hobbies and sports interest. I came up with some. Do I even call it passion or special interest? I like swimming but I am not great at it and I hate getting ready for it. I love food but I hate take a long time to prepare for it and try to remember all the ingredients that go together. Sport? I like hiking but I don’t hike much because you have to get out of the city to do so. I like walking but do you consider that a sport?

So far this is what I come up with. How can I turn my hobby/sport interest/passion into something that I can make a living is my next question.

The brain storming process will take me some time but in the mean time, I have to update my resume and sharpen my interview skills.

Being practical or being fashionable

Today is the day when TV that use analogs services ends. I quickly turn on the TV and my TV converter is working well. Whewww! If you still haven’t gotten your TV converter box coupon of $40, here is the link. There is a deadly on the coupon and if you lose it or let it expire, you are not going to get another one from the government. It’s a one per household deal.

My husband wanted to get one of the flat panel TV ever since we were dating and into marriage. I told him no, we don’t NEED it. The big bulky TV that you have is fine. Maybe one day we’ll get a Flat Panel TV…what do they call it? LCD or something??? I know a lot of people we know already own one of these flat panel LCD TV and subscribe to Cablevision, when they found out that we have neither, they were surprised. Why so surprised about that? We simply tell them, we hardly watch TV. We usually download FREE movies online or download shows online and see them online. I still can not understand how people spend $70-$80 per month on cable. If they take that money and invest it or simply save it, what would they have now? I am always concerned about the monthly payment that one has to pay. Sometimes, they are small amounts like $30 per month or $1 per day but they add up and people don’t realize it. My husband is one of those people. I on the other hand, I don’t mind spending one big lump some on an item as long as it is practical…that it will last me a long time.

One of the examples is - I found a pair of pants that fit me really well, the price was reasonable and they had different colors. What did I do? I ended up buying 4 pairs of different colors. Well they are summer pants and the colors are professional so it was nice. I’ve been wearing them the past years (4-5) and they are still good. Just the other day, I figure I try them out if I still fit them after going thru pregnancy. And I couldn’t believe I still fit in all of them.

Another exmple: I found a nice handbag which has no labels – like Gucci, Prada, Liz and what have you. I’ve been looking for a nice handbag without labels (I don’t want to advertise for them for free) for a long time and I finally found it and they come in 2 colors. Guess what I did? I bought 2 black ones and 2 of the other color (beige like). The patterns are nice and I do not think they will go out of style that quickly – they are not those fashionable handbags that only last one season. Like I said, I go for practicality. Do I still use those bags today? Of course! There is another bag story that I have to blog about…but that’s for later.

Has anyone out there done anything like this? I don't think this is crazy because I have seen on TV there was a gentleman who buys the same pants and shirts and he wears the same thing (not the same shirt and pants) everyday of his life. He owns 7-8 identical sets of clothing. Everyday is the same thing so he doesn't have to think about what to wear today.

My indoor herb garden update

I planted at least 12 different herbs indoor from late April earlier this year. They are:

Thyme
Rosemary
Scallion
Parsley
Oregano
Sage
Basil
Basil lemon
Basil
Sweet marjoram
Spearmint
Mint

I failed on rosemary, sweet marjoram, spearmint, mint, thyme (was very small and are dying). Because I fail, I bought the herbs (rosemary, mint and thyme) from Home Depot to plant indoors at home.

I am successful in planting and harvesting the following and had in my meals.

Scallion – very tall but very young, when I cut them, they roll up, mainly for my fish dishes – they are delicious.

Parsley – very small and fine, I think they are not working very well indoors. I probably have to give up on this as well.

Basil – in my chicken dishes and they smell great.

Now that I have rosemary and thyme, I will try more recipes with those.

My little baby is growing up fast

I still remember she could not move an inch when I placed her on the couch to change her diaper. Now, she turns over even when I put her on the floor to change her diaper. She can’t keep still. She can roller over many times without getting tired. She can not lift her body and uses her elbows and knees to crawl yet. I can’t wait to film that when she does it. My little girl is very active. She stands on her feet (when you hold her) and she likes to jump up and down. She loves entertainment. And she certainly loves company whether it be watching TV or doing nothing. If she doesn’t see anyone around, she cries. Sometimes, I wonder if this is normal for children to get so much attention…would this affect her when she grows up?

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Health - Life and Disability insurance

I never understood life insurance and the different types of it until when I got pregnant. I started to read and research on the subject. Here is what I have learned and I’m sure there are more to add to it.

I don’t think a single person without any dependents depend on him/her needs insurance. And I don’t think a millionaire who has assets that cover all of his/her debts and liabilities would need life insurance as well. If you have dependents that depend on you or a millionaire who has a lot more debt/liabilities over your assets, you can get life insurance thru a few ways.

Life insurance consists of different ones: term life, whole life, universal life…over the years, the industry have evolved and made changes. I’ll just give 1 examples of each to clarify the difference between term life and whole life (universal life is somewhat similar to whole life insurance policy)

Life Insurance
Term life example:
Age 25 female, healthy, non-smoker, buys a $200,000 term life insurance policy for 30 years. Her monthly premium (that she has to pay to keep her policy active) is roughly around $18 per month or $200 per year. You have a choice of paying monthly, quarterly or yearly. The yearly amount is cheapest compare to paying monthly. The quarterly rate is cheaper than the monthly rate but more expensive than if you pay yearly. Term life insurance is similar to car insurance. If you stop paying, the coverage stops. You can no money back from all the premiums you paid to the life insurance company. However, if one dies while the policy is in effect, you will win the $200,000 like winning the lotto but who wants to win this lotto? This is the cheapest way to buy some security for your family/dependents. The older you are, the more costly the premium costs. The unhealthy you are, the more it costs you of course. We’ll talk a little about how much is enough insurance.

Whole life and Universal life insurance are similar which both have cash value at the end of the policy holder’s journey in life. Universal life insurance (there is fixed and variable universal life insurance) hasn’t been always around. Because of the evolution of insurance, this new product is introduced. Given the example of the same person as the term life example, female, age 25, healthy, non-smoker, $200,000 life insurance for 30 years, under the Whole life and Universal life insurance policy, this individual would be paying a yearly premium of over $1000.
When the policy holder dies while the policy is in effect, the dependents/beneficiaries will get $200,000 less all the expensive fees and commissions that the agent has to earn from selling you the whole life and/or universal life insurance policy. In most cases if not all, most agents will push you to buy this policy because they earn a big fat commission upfront (in the first few years of your policy). The dependents/beneficiaries will get a cash value from the insurance company. This is the premium which the policy holder paid to the insurance company and in return the insurance companies invest in different products (bonds, stocks, mutual funds etc…). This is like a FORCED SAVINGS PROGRAM for the policy holder. In addition to all of this, when someone sues you, they can’t get your money that is in your life insurance policy. And you can borrow money from your life insurance policy without paying it back (until one deceased).


Why would anyone pick Term life insurance over Whole life and Universal life? The straight forward answer is because that discipline individual wants to invest the money themselves rather than having the insurance does it for him/her. It will cut all the commissions and middle man involve.

How much insurance do you need to buy? I’m going to recommend you to read the book “The Wealthy Barber”. The author explains very well what you need. The book is about 10 years old but the basic idea is still useful. I’ll give a little high light on this. He mentioned your insurance should be enough to cover the following:
1) Eliminate all debts (settling taxes, funeral expenses, treating business partners and employees fairly)
2) Lump sum expenses (pay off mortgage, college expenses)
3) Cash flow – to support dependents, if you have non-investment income, don’t assume you’ll be able to earn a guaranteed rate of return.
4) Inflation

Don’t forget child care and additional car in the family etc… At the same time, the author said not to buy too much insurance. You have to take into consideration if the policy holder has social security benefits or pension benefits.

This is very basic explanation of life insurance. For more in depth explanation, should consult an insurance agent and read the following books. Get the facts and make your own judgment.

For Whole life and Universal life, the book “Missed Fortune” and “Missed Fortune 101” by Douglas R. Andrew

Miss fortune & Missed fortune 101 – Douglas R. Andrew
The millionaire next door by Thomas J. Stanley, PHD, William D. Danko, PHD
Smart couples finish rich by David Bach (he mentioned both disability and life insurance, I like his version on disability insurance)
The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton (I like his version of explanation on life insurance)
The Total Money Make Over by Dave Ramsey
Financial Pease revisited by Dave Ramsey

P.S. Make sure you get a physical check up each year whether you buy or don’t buy insurance


Disability Insurance – who needs it?
After hearing many disabilities in my husband’s family, we decided to look into disability insurance. I was amazed to find out the statistics of disability is 1 out of 8 people. The only conception of disability one might have on my mind before I did the research was injury through dangerous line of work such as construction, police officers, fire fighters etc…

Statistics show a lot more people are disabled because of their health problems rather than work related injuries.

Why should you need it if you are healthy and not in a dangerous line of work? That certainly fits what I want to ask but I know that sometimes accidents can happen anytime and anywhere and I do not want to lose my greatest asset of all: ME! And the dependents that depend on me – they need my income.

Most of the disability insurance covers you up to age 65 or so in addition to the disability you get from the government and then you are on your own-continue getting disability from the government. By age 65, one hopes that he/she has less responsibilities, paid off home mortgage (if they have a home) and other debts.

Insurance companies would not want to write up a disability insurance policy if you are not working to earn an income. In their own words “The insurance is to replace income that you will lose, if you become sick or hurt and cannot work. If there is no income from employment, there is no risk to share from an insurance company’s standpoint.”

Another good point David Bach mention in his book “Smart Couples Finish Rich” on page 173 is
“you want to know whether the policy will cover you in the event you’re no longer able to do the work you currently do, or whether it pays off only if you are rendered unable to do work of any kind. In the insurance industry, this is known as “owner occupation” and “any occupation” coverage. Make sure you buy an owner-occupation policy.”

If you have any occupation policy, and suppose you are an accountant, and you are able to perform your work because of your eyes or fingers. The insurance company would not cover you because they can say to you that you can be a janitor (you can work as something else other than an accountant.) However, if you have an owner-occupation coverage, the insurance company can’t do that to you. It’s more expensive but it’s much safer.

Life insurance and disability insurance is cheaper if you can buy from your work where they have group insurance. You have to ask yourself if the coverage is enough? And when you leave your job, that life and disability is no longer following you.

What is opinion on the subject of life insurance and disability insurance?

Get away, recession, what you paid is what you get

The past few weeks, I have been feeling very tired and a need to get away from it all. I think being a stay-at-home mom is taking a toll on me. I am wishing to get away to a very remote quiet place like the poconos/the mountains and just do nothing or just go hiking - no phones, no TV, no newspaper, no crying baby to take care of.

And then it reminds me of the recession we are in and how nice it would be able to afford to buy a lot of things on discount…especially a second home. WAIT, we don’t even own a primary residence yet. As my husband always tells me, we have to own a primary house before we own a second home. Somehow, I like to own an investment property before owning our primary resident. I don’t see anything wrong with it.

Since we are on the topic of recession, there are a few interesting situations I came across the past week or two. I had to go to midtown Manhattan one weekday. While I was getting my metro card out I saw another young man (might be in his mid 20s to early 30s) was also waiting to get into the turnstile. And within seconds, the train came and I saw this young man who was well dressed went under the turnstile without paying and got on the train. There were some people around because it was in the afternoon on a nice sunny day. It made me wonder if he was just finish a job interview because he has been out of job for awhile? Did he think he was going to get caught and get fine? Did he care if he gets caught?

I went to do my laundry today. I found this place where I can do a double load (the smallest load) for $1.00 to wash (I’ll call this choice A). I’ve been there twice and I had no problems. Today, I got my wash done and then put in 4 quarters for the dryer. I usually put in 1 quarter to make sure the dryer works before I put in the rest of the 3 quarters for a total of 32-34 minutes. It was 8 ½ minutes per quarter in this place. I spent a quarter on parking for 30 minutes and the rest of the time, I sat in my car to wait for the laundry to be done. In total, I spent $2.25 to wash, dry and parked my car. If I go to the 24 hour laundry mat (I’ll call this choice C) with free parking, I would’ve paid $3.00 (1 load) - $5 (2 loads). If I go to yet another (I’ll call this choice B) place (free parking on the street) is $1.50 for a double load wash and the dryer time is the same (a quarter for 8 ½ minutes). However, today, I was not satisfied with my service in choice A laundry mat. I put in a dollar worth of quarters in the machine and walked away to my car for the rest of the time. I came back and found my laundry still wet. I asked the lady that worked there if the machine was working. She said yes, it did. She touched my wet laundry and didn’t offer me a refund. I packed up my laundry and walked out of there. I was upset at myself for not checking the dryer while in motion. I was upset at the service I received there that I would never get if I have gone to laundry mat choice B and C. Then I said to myself “What you paid is what you get.” I made up my mind the next time I go to the laundry mat will be choice B where I get free parking on the street and great service.

The lesson I learn today, don’t always go for the cheapest because what you paid is what you get!

First attempt to make my own salad dressing

I’ve been wanted to make my own salad dressing for a while. And the past 2 days’ weather had been pretty hot, I figure now is the time to start. So I finally got a chance to go to Costco to pick up the extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar to make my own salad dressing. Italian dressing is my favorite.

For my first attempt, I didn’t want to waste too much ingredients so I only had lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers in my salad. I normally would put some grill chicken, flower seeds, carrots, eggs, red onion etc…

For the dressing, I know I had a simple recipe from Martha Stewart’s show but I didn’t remember where I kept it. Was it in my hard drive or did I keep it in my binder? Anyhow, I checked through my recipe binder and couldn’t find it. I was getting hungry so I got this project going and just used my imagination on the proportions.

I know Martha Stewart's simple dressing includes olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, but not sure how much of each. I added fresh parsley and fresh garlic into the blender and blend all ingredients together.

I think I added too much garlic and parsley. The taste of garlic certainly did empower everything else. It did not taste sour like the way normal Italian dressing taste at all.

It wasn’t a very good attempt but I think I will do a much better job next time. Until I perfected the portions, then I will make a larger jar and keep it refrigerator. Cleaning up the blender isn’t fun!

My husband asked “Isn’t it easier just to buy one?” I told him, “yes, definitely, but I want to learn to make one and I want to know what I put into it. I know some of the dressings have a lot of sugar in it. If I make it myself, I know how much I put in or prefer not to put sugar in the dressing.”

Baby with formula and heat problem

My little baby had diarrhea for a week. First it started with just a few times a day and then each day it increases till 8 times a day. My mother told me it might be because she is teething and she urged us to take the baby to the pediatrician as soon as possible. I called up a sister-in-law and she said that if it’s a stomach virus, it should go away in a few days. After almost a week, my baby wasn’t getting any better and we took her to the pediatrician and she said the baby is allergic to the formula (soy) which we have been feeding the past few months. So we had to switch to the most expensive formula (Similac alimentum) for 2 – 4 months until the baby gotten better or even get over the soy formula. We can then slowly introduce her back to soy or regular formula. Even though the formula is more expensive but as parents, we are willing to cut back on ourselves and everything else to give what’s best for our baby. I am sure this is the same for most of the parents in the world.

The past two days had been around 90 degrees or more. We live on the top floor with only one working air conditioner. It’s very hot on the top floor. The one working air conditioner is in our master bedroom. We also have a portable air conditioner which the exhaust hose is broken while I cleaned it. We are looking to buy the replacement part as soon as possible. Our baby wasn’t able to sleep well even though the fan was on. She woke up almost every hour because she was hot and her back was damp. We are also looking to buy a wall unit air conditioner for our living room which we could live without while we were single. Now that our baby spends most of her day time in the living room, we have to keep the living room in the right temperature. You probably ask why didn’t I have the baby sleep in the master bedroom with the air conditioner on? There is no room and we do not want the baby to stay in our bed. We afraid we roll over at night and crush the baby while we sleep.

With all that said, we will be spending a lot of money on the air conditioner and formula for the baby the coming months.

The recession & changes I've made at home

I haven’t always been a very wasteful person or a very frugal person. I was willing to pay more for certain things and being very cheap on things of little value to me. Because I left my job last year in August to prepare for first time parenthood and become a full-time homemaker temporarily, I have been watching what our money spend on. Besides clipping coupons, here is a list of what I have done so far.

1) We have redeemed our American Express credit card points for American Express gift cards and we use them when we buy diapers, formulas etc…

2) I normally buy fresh herbs just to make one dish and then I leave the rest in the refrigerator and forget about them or till they rot. It was a waste of money. All I need to cook is just a pinch of herb not a whole bunch. We (well I) decided to buy a T5 fluorescent plant light (I believe it costs roughly $80+shipping & handling=$93.07) to plant herbs at home. I spent about $30 on seeds from Home Depot and $8 on gardening pots from a local vendor. It’s been a few weeks, and I see sprouts. I can’t wait till I can cut them. It’s a total investment of a little over $100. I believe in the long run, it’s worth the investment and the convenience, especially during the snow storms when you need just that one herb for your recipe.

3) We used to go out to eat once a week. Now, we do take out once a week, cook at home and my husband pack food from home for his lunch which he normally spends $6-$10.

4) I had a 5/1 ARMS 30 years mortgage for my investment property from 2005 and it will reset in 2010. I thought I would’ve sold the house within the next 5 years but because the economy, selling isn’t a good choice. We decided to refinance through LendingTree to a fixed rate 30 years mortgage. When the market picks up later, we will have a choice of selling for a profit (or at least break even) or keep it as our retirement investment. Right now, it’s still in process, it should close within the next few weeks. We will finally have a very small (9.38%) positive cash flow after paying principal, interest, insurance, taxes and property management fee. Total savings from refinancing is 9.78%.

5) I finally decided it was time to change the investment house insurance after calling for quotes from 4-6 different companies from a few months ago. The renewal date was on tax date and I was able to save $168.78 per year (631-462.22). That is 26.74% saving over the old insurance company. Why didn’t I do this earlier? It had a lot to do with being laziness the past few years. With the recession, it didn’t take long to start thinking of saving money.

6) In March, I’ve opened a STAR mutual fund in Vanguard. This account requires only $1000 rather than $3000 to start investing. I wanted to eventually invest in other mutual fund when it accumulates up to $3000. The money from this fund will help me get my short to mid-term goals accomplished.

What have you done differently since the recession begins. Perhaps you have something that you like to share which I can learn from?

Life and death

This post was supposed to be posted on 3/7/2009 but I never got around to do it. It is a short post but it isn’t a simple one.

I have experienced life (in December when I gave birth) and death (in February when my 98 years old grandmother past away) in the past few months makes me appreciate life and the little things in life a lot more. I learn to forgive and forget. I learn to let go of the bad experience in the past. I learn to care a lot more of what I eat on a daily basis after watching what my grandmother go through in the hospital. I learn my other grandmother is also taking a lot of medicine to keep her blood pressure down.

In addition to the bad economy, I learn to want to work as soon as I can have my mother watch over my little baby.

Pregnancy and discoveries

As I looked back from the first moment I found out I was pregnant, my body went through a 360 degree changes during pregnancy. I realized how difficult it is for woman to be a mother. Women carry the baby for 10 months while watching what we do and eat. We go to doctors often and special treatments as we age or as our physical health need. We go through educating ourselves how to be parents and what to expect as the baby approaches.

For me and my husband, we found new respect for staying-at-home mothers especially single mothers. My husband and I took a Lamaze class to educate ourselves. It was very useful for first time parents. I would recommend first time parents to take it. Knowing the topic of pregnancy and parents is vague and I know I will repeat the subject again because I am not specific on anything here. One thing for sure is that we rush to buy a lot of stuff which we wished we didn’t. One of the items is the diaper bag. We shopped and bought one. Later, after our Lamaze class ended, we got a diaper bag from Enfamil. And after giving birth, we got another diaper bag from the hospital from Similac. So now, we have 3 diaper bags at home. We did not however buy a new crib, changing table and clothing. We got used ones either from craigslist or from hand me down from family or friends. We did spend a lot of money on a high chair/table which is convertible/adjustable heights. It has 3 uses. 1) It can use as a high chair for the baby. 2) It comes with a chair so it can be used as a table for little children to sit and draw. 3) It can be used as a side table next to the couch as we are doing right now until the baby gets older. It has wheels so we can roll it anywhere. It is also adjustable so we can adjust its height for the baby or for our use. When we finally received this item, my husband regret spending that much on it. After using it as a side table, he loves it and considering buying a used one online (ebay) for a cheaper price. I do not think we will as I told him. Another wonderful truth I found after being a mother is Huggies newborn diapers are better than Pampers. Huggies newborn diapers have a cut that is better fit for the baby’s attached umbilical cord.

Woman in Transition

I have been an independent career woman until I got married and have our first child. I am now staying home (temporarily) raising our baby girl and attempting to start my first blog on life in general as a woman in transition. I will touch different areas of life such as career, parenting, relationships, culture and whatever that's interesting that comes up.