rawakramblings

On Monday, I felt the discomfort of wearing pants, even the new maternity pants that I just bought. So I was looking around for a long dress to be worn to the office, and then I got really stressed up and emotional about it. I complained and complained to Mr. that it left him clueless on what to do. Kesian dia. I finally found a 'jubah' in mom's wardrobe, and then wore it. Turns out that it's short, just above the ankle. Urgh! "Yah, whatever, I'm just gonna wear it," I told myself. And then the whole day yesterday, I didn't really feel that good. Felt like some tall popeye olive using a shrink dress with a bulging out tummy.

Anyways today, alhamdulillah, went into the wardrobe and found mom's long dress in just a minute, just perfect! Put it on and when Mr. saw me, he said "You look lovely today dear," and it just made the morning start well. He may have said it to avoid the whole morning drama again, or he may said honestly, but whatever it is, it's a good start. I'm feeling good today :)

House loans. Car loans. Study loans. Credit cards. Up to an extend, personal loans.

How did we end up living in this society depending on borrowing money to purchase things that we cannot afford? Moreover, we are being charged interests on money that we borrow.

The problem with loans & debts is that you have to live your life, everyday, owing money to another party. And its the idea of these parties charging interests that annoys me most.

The way I look at it, there are only 2 ways that we can live with financial freedom (i.e loan/debt free).

1. Live within your means. Take the public transport. Rent a house. Live happily. Debt-free. Worry-free.
2. Be rich. Work really hard and pray that God will bless you with all the money in the world that you can purchase things cash.

Two quite impossible extremes right? But that's just how the system is now. You can have your own house, car and run your own business and still worry about how many more years you're left with paying to the bank.

But you know what? I know people who can buy car and houses CASH - by late 30s or so. Just today, I was talking to a senior colleague of mine, who earns, maybe at least 15k, and still runs a business with his wife part time, telling me, "You know, our final goal is to reach that financial freedom. Get out of these loans," I've also once talked to a Proton salesman who tells me that there are many (Chinese mostly) who just comes and pay him cash to purchase cars. Their excuse: "I don't want to pay all these extra money to the bank," . Today, Mr also told me that his Chindian friend can afford a Honda and a semi-D house cash just like that. It is not impossible.

In Islam, we are encouraged strongly, to avoid having any debts. But surprisingly, we are the ones in Malaysia, taking the maximum number of years of loan, and buying luxury cars and bungalow houses,  even with that unpaid study loans and credit card bills, leaving behind very little (or none) of savings. I've known A LOT of friends who spends half of their monthly salary on a car! HALF! That's a lot! You're earning 4k and you spend 2k on your car? Seriously?!? What a waste.

Knowing all these people attaining financial freedom is new to me. I've always thought that to be able to purchase houses and cars, you just gotta borrow money from the bank.  And it excites me that financial freedom is NOT impossible. You've just gotta aim higher, work harder, and STOP depending on help.

There's that community in Malaysia, called the Shia, which is a group of Muslims that choose to believe things differently from the majority of the Muslims  - there's a whole different topic about them - anyways, despite their misguided belief on the companions of our Prophet (or something like that), they are TOTALLY against bank loans. They've got their own community, where the rich will combine their money and lend them to those who needs it for business purposes for instance, and when this particular borrower has succeed, he will then be one of those who will lend their money to another party. And it becomes a cycle. No interests. No commitments. Just pure brotherhood and family relationship filled with trust. No space of being selfish but just helping each other out - a win win situation. They're usually the Indian Muslims and you can see how many of them run successful businesses here in Malaysia.

I LOVE the idea of being loan & debt free but I'm not sure which of the two extremes I can take in reality. I've stopped using the credit card and I purchased a cheap car and keep my car loan years to the minimum year,  and I do not take any loans for my part-time online business. I work hard, and pray that God would bless me with the ability to just pay this car loan off. But I still need to think of a house too!

Our ultimate goal is to also reach that financial freedom when I'm 40, even better, when I'm 30. We will work towards that. Challenging, but possible.

InsyaAllah, with even more blessings, I would even want to establish that system of lending money to those who need it but without any interest. At the end of the day, the money we get is from Allah, and is to be shared right?

Mothercare Malaysia is on its year-end sale. Of course I didn't know about it, but the excited grandmother. She called me up while I was at work and told me that she's at the branch in Subang Parade, thinking of buying some basic needs for the baby.

So that night, me and Mr went there with her. The cashier brought out a plastic bag, and showed us all the items that my mom has put aside.

"These are the basic things you need the minute the baby is out, the first few weeks. Everything else, you can buy later, after the baby's born," according to mom.

1 set of  basic new born clothes - long sleeve & short sleeve. mittens. socks. baby shampoo. nail clipper. facial cloth. hair brush. baby's fabric detergent.


I'm only reaching my 24th week of pregnancy this weekend, so I'm still taking my own sweet time equipping myself with baby knowledge- what to buy, whats the cheapest in the market, which is the best option etc. Of course most of these things were not in my list. But thank to mom, that bit is settled now - the basic things.

There's still more to go - stroller, baby carrier, wipes, car seat, milk bottle, breast pump and the list goes on.
And those are just the things that I know off. We went to a baby exhibition last 2 weeks and there's just soooo many more things that I didn't know! --- that's alright, I'm gonna take my time. Choose the best. I still have about 4 more months to go.

My baby is lucky to be blessed with, not only excited grandparents, but also excited grandaunties & granduncles. One of my aunties just got her a Play Pan (otherwise known as travel cot), also from Mothercare...oh my, she is going to be spoiled!

My baby's 5 months now and we went for a detailed scan with Dr Delaila last 2 days. She started from the skull, measuring the circumference of the head and then moved on to see the lips, to check if it has crooked lips (sumbing) and then she measured the thickness of the neck to check if it has down syndrome .and then she went on to check on the spine, to see if it has hunchback, and then she calculated the fingers, all 5 on both sides..and she went on and on and on.. and then she reached the legs and said..

"Okay so now you see the legs, is there anything in between?"

"Hmm...no..?"

"So.. it's a girl! Congratulations!"

Mr. wanted a boy so it took him 2 seconds to absorb the news (hihihi) but I smiled instantly :) :) :)

Then suddenly he started talking about 'daddy's little girl' and how cute the baby looked in the screen and then started imagining the first moment he will meet her and read the Azan to her. You should know that Mr likes to imagine the future a lot. He has already planned how he should position the camera in the labour room and how he should pose while I deliver! - although I'm very sure that all that will not happen hehe.

Can you see the eyes & nose & the really buncit tummy?

You should also know that earlier during the scan, the baby's head was on the left and then suddenly it just flipped to the other side. Having fun?

Alhamdulillah - everything about the baby girl is looking good. Should we start naming her baby rawakramblings? or maybe little miss?

We haven't even found a real suitable name for her yet! I'm looking for something short and sweet.