Useful Home Budols

I'm not exactly sure where the term "budol" came from. As far as I remember it was a term used for a crime, mainly scamming. The first time I heard this term was in the 80s when the budol budol criminals were striking. When online purchasing became a norm during the pandemic, it became a term used for impulse buying. It progressed more because of the double digit date promos made by Lazada and Shopee. 

Since we're taking a lot of precaution by not going out, the things I need to purchase have been done online. It's not only SM that's "got it all for you", but you can practically buy anything online, even a house! To be honest, I was really wary about buying stuff online. I was forced into it when we had to purchase groceries during the circuit breaker in SG. 

Anyway, I've babbled long enough. Here are some of the budols from the past few weeks:

Walis tingting with bamboo holder

Magic hose and a hose organizer

Fabric to make a window curtain

Mail box, my neighbor said they'll stick it to the gate anyway.

Cordless vacuum, best buy ever.

Proper doorknobs, really hate those that nip you.

Birthday decor for Mom's birthday.

The air fryer (Sweetie's budol)

A nice faucet for the washing machine

Air freshener auto spray

Faucet extender

The cheese door stopper which was an indulgence

Sweetie was so surprised I only bought fabric to make a curtain. Told him I have a lot of fabric. Just need to unbox them. It's surprisingly hard to buy some home items like tabo and dustpan. I don't know why the shipping fees for basic home items are so expensive! I'm still hunting for a shop that doesn't charge so much to ship those. Or maybe it might be better for me to order through SM when I do my groceries. 

I'm still learning a lot about buying home & living items online. Any tips/recos will be welcome. 

#Home43 #NewG203 #Xmas9 #StayHome #BeKind  

Indulgence

I started working while I was a student. My main goal was to work hard to give my family a good life. I spent my money on basic needs and it was always easy for me to buy stuff that would make my family happy. I was almost 30 already when I was able to start saving. My salary went to Miggy's tuition and my grad school tuition. Dining out on weekends with friends was our one indulgence. 

Keeping the future family room warm.

I could have adjusted our lifestyle, but I became more careful about spending when my doctor told me I was due for heart surgery. I wasn't sure whether insurance was going to pay for it. So I saved and saved and saved. I was scared something would happen and I didn't want to burden my family with liabilities. 

Eventually my Kuya taught me a new perspective on managing my earnings. He said part of your earnings should be spent on upgrading yourself, investing and celebrating (breakdown is here). That really changed my outlook on life. For many years, I just saved and spent for basic needs. I wasn't rewarding myself for my hardwork.

Well, I guess procrastinating on rewarding myself paid off, haha. When I had another PE* I understood better what "you live only once" meant. I was in ICU when I heard my doctor worriedly calling my name. I had dozed off and was lying in an awkward position on the hospital bed. I must've looked a fright for my doctor to sound so worried. I promised myself then that if I survived I would work on my dreams. 

For many months after that incident in ICU, my dream of living in our own home kept nagging me. Looking at properties made me happy. I'd look at houses and imagine how we'd live in it. Then one day I saw the house again. There was something about it that drew me to it. The location was within walking distance to my Mom's home and it looked like a smaller version of her home too. It felt right. 

So through prayer and a lot of family discussions, the boys agreed to the biggest indulgence of my life. Sometimes I still ask myself if the decision is an over-indulgence, but when I look at how pretty my kitchen is I just smile and tell myself, "You live only once." 

#Home39 #NewG207 #Xmas13 #StayHome #BeKind  

*PE - pulmonary embolism

First Night in Our Dream House

We moved to our new home yesterday! This is the final phase of our transition back home. As usual, we're scrambling to find things we need in the boxes that arrived the other day. It's part of the fun of moving to a new home. Sweetie and I learned a few things last year when we moved. We ended up going through a maze of boxes to find beddings and bed clothes. This time around we made a list! 

We always wanted to live in a house. It was our dream from the beginning. Circumstances though had us move from one place to another in the past 12 years. Doing that eventually made us yearn to find a permanent home. The past three years our past time was to look at property listings and watch Presello vids. We would look at the houses and assess whether it would fit our needs. 

Welcome home Stormtrooper!

We knew we had outgrown our first owned home. SLEX was also nearby and the pollution forced us to keep all the windows closed. We were also worried about living in the condo because there were several COVID-19 case surges at our place. We saw a few places that we found interesting, but we really wanted to go back to the place where I grew up. 

I saw a listing last year, but the price was way over budget. Fast forward to May this year, I saw the place listed again. I kept coming back to the listing because it looked like it would be perfect for us. Eventually I found a video of the house on YouTube and was even more fascinated. Sweetie liked it too. We didn't consider it because it was beyond reach. The strange thing is we started to imagine how we'd live in it. I started to pray because I could see us living in the house. 

When things are really meant to be, God will make a way. In late June, I saw the listing again. The price was reduced by 16%. Still too pricey I thought, so I moved on and tried looking for another place. Then I saw the listing again listed by a friend, Ate Maya. I've known her since I was a teenager since she's my choir mate. I pinged her and asked about the house. After some negotiations to further reduce the price, several family meetings and a gazillion prayers, we got the place!

The funny thing is Sweetie and I only saw our new home after we got home and finished our quarantine. How crazy is that noh? Yes, it was really a crazy decision, but we felt it was the right decision for our family. We prayed hard for a permanent home and finally found it. God really leads you to where He wants you to be. :)

P.S. We slept on the floor, haha.

#Home31 #NewG215 #Xmas21 #StayHome #BeKind   

Let's Dream Again

It's Monday again! Start of a new week! I know I sounded so morose the last few days. I told myself I will focus on looking into the future this week. I have to anchor myself on where I want to be. That should help with my recovery. 

Over a decade ago someone told me, "You're not a dreamer. Wala kang pangarap." I fell quiet after he said that. Of course I vehemently denied it and told him I wouldn't be where I am if I did not have a dream. Honestly, I'm a very practical person. I take things one day at a time. I also only take calculated risks. I've been like that since I had Miggy. 

I realized all of this when I took a break in late 2019. I took baby steps at looking at my future. My plans though were foiled because of the pandemic. So I made a new wishlist and did most of it. I'm now letting myself look where I want to be in the next year, five years and 10 years from now. I'm creating a dream list. 

On top of that list is a proper home where my family will be complete. We have a tiny home in Manila, but I want to have a home with enough space. And in that home I want to have a craft room! Sweetie will probably want a man-cave too. I also want to have space where I can plant food. I wish though we could still have our cleaner who comes in once a week haha. 

So that's where I am for now. I tend to work out the practicalities in my mind when I think of my dreams. I should probably sit down make a proper list without thinking of practical matters. 

What about you? What's your dream?

“I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Matthew 11:24).

CB///360  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/23 #StayHome #BeKind    

Dreaming of My Future Home

One of the things that tickled my curiousity the last few months being stuck at home is my future home. In the last decade I have drastically downsized my home. From living in a bungalow all my life we moved to a two floor apartment, a duplex, and then we got our own place. For a few years in Singapore I lived together with a neighbor so I just fit in all my things in a bedroom. It was when Miggy and Sweetie moved to Singapore when we rented our own flat.

I've gotten used to living in a smaller space. My childhood home had so much space. My Mom asks me every so often that I should just go back there with my family. As much as I love to live in a home with so much space I dread having to clean it. I've learned to love living in a smaller space because it helps me focus only on essential things (a.k.a. it helped me downsize my stuff).

Live by the mountain or sea? Live high up or ground level? 

Our place in Manila though is quite small and I get a lot of bruises just walking about our bedroom (I have flat feet!). I need help to get our place to have proper storage. I'm thinking of having it changed to two bedrooms only. I've been thinking about it for two years now and hope I could get things going this year. We'll see.

Long term though it's not really practical to live in a condo in Manila. It's still better to live in a house in a village since the association dues are cheaper. Should we go back and live with Mom? Or find a smaller house to live in. I have no plans yet right now, but I have been indulging in watching real property videos. Here's a few channels I watch -

Big yeyemenin house viewing
Practical sized houses (in Paranaque)
Tiny homes

I remember when I was a child I wanted to become an architect. There was a huge gap to that dream though -- my drawing skills do not exist. I used to draw home layouts and practiced it while playing Lego. I only recalled this the last few months I've been stuck at home. Funny how things from the past come back unexpectedly.

I've lived in 8 different homes in the past 10 years. That has given me a better idea of what I want in my future permanent home. I want it to be just the right size (read as: size that's easy to clean). It should have enough space to move around, enough storage and space for our hobbies. I'm not sure yet if I'd still want to live in the city or move to the province when I go back home.

What about you? Are you now in your permanent home? Or are you expecting to live somewhere else eventually?

#CB/68 #StuckAtHomeDay98 #StayHome #BeKind