not PF related

Emily over at Mumbling from Troy Ohio has tagged me. She is such a good friend that i had to do this post. She would like to know a photo story and the rules are to go to your first photo folder and select the 10th photo to post along with a story. Here goes...

It is Gateway of India and Taj hotel, Mumbai on 2nd Jan 2009. My DH, me and his cousin were going to see elephanta caves when visiting Mumbai. It was fun and as I am crazy for water, I absolutly loved this one hour journey.

Well, i have no body to tag further, so sorry Emily to break this chain from my end. :(

Secret Savings – Will I allow?

Stacking pennies posted an interesting question, what if your partner surprises you with some secret savings.

I thought about this and I guess my answer is as simple as the crow flies; I am strictly against this and will tell my DH in face the same. Reason is not that I don’t love him or I don’t want to give him his space.

My reason behind this is very simple; we have common budget and common goals, payment of mortgage and saving for retirement. Allowing once secret splurge savings can open a possible hole in budget, which then can be used without guilt for almost anything. Once allowed, I will never be able to stop this. Hence, not allowed the first time, DH beware!

What have I received from my parents

Stacking Pennies brings up a post discussing "what you have received from your parents". So, I couldn't stop and ponder over this question my self.

I guess being Indian this question is a sin to ask. Here parents only give to their kids and never expect anything in return, of course except love and respect. Kids are very spoiled here, and most of kids are very alien to idea of paying for their own education, forget about rent and food. Here people stay with parents even after marriage, to save on rent. Please don’t get me wrong, this is the culture for us. We look down at those people who move out after marriage. We are still a country of joint family, though I know this trend is diminishing now.

Well for my parents, my ma is a house wife and my pa was a government servant, but now is a retired man, still working with some private contractor. All food, lodging and education is fully paid by them not only for me but also for my other two siblings. Well infact, when I took a break in my studies and worked for one year to save money for my further educations, my parents were surprised and proud of me.

Given my dad was the only earning member of our family, and he used to earn quite less, meeting ends used to be a challenge for ma. But she never compromised on our studies. We were never spoiled though. Gifts are a big no in my family, I still remember how I once bought a birthday gift for my dad from my monthly allowance and he slapped me back, teaching me not to waste money on no-use things. We always used to get new clothes to wear, even though not frequently. We never used used books, and never sold back my books, ma used to say “books should never be sold, its education, it should be passed.” I must say I still abide by those words.

My parents got us married too, I mean my elder sibling and me. My younger sibling is still studying. They still give us gifts on all the festivals, but never a no-use thing. Even if I’ll offer some money in return, they will not accept it. In India, its not considered good to take money from your girl child. I know that sounds very different in today’s time, but that’s how they are. They only love to give us, expect nothing back in return, other then a call every day. Love both of you ma and pa.

Me back... first blog in my second season

I was absent from this blog for quite some time now. But I was reading all the blogs on my GRS.
Finally, I re-gained my motivation and spirit to restart here. Hopefully, I’ll have more information to share with you all.

In the period in-between, what I have been doing? Well, a glimpse:
1) Trying to manage my home on budget.
2) Trying to be smiling in this tough time.
3) Trying to learn more about my new work.
4) Learning new recipes.

This tiny list was my to do along with so many other chores of house and office. Time management has been a challenge lately and also new problems that I faced in my professional life. Life has been a roller coaster ride for me from last 5 years. No matter how much I try to enjoy my ride, a bump or two makes me utterly disillusioned and frustrated. I am not at all a believer of luck, so seeking all the responsibility on my actions and onto myself really bog me down.

But here I am, once again to find solace in what I like the most, writing.

November Final Update and December Goals

November is almost gone. I lost my CC and 50000 bucks in one second. That happened almost in mid of the month and then we were very demotivated to save. So we are little over budget this month, minus the loss. Major goof ups from our side:

1) Eating Out and Outing budget is over shoot.
2) Gifts is again high.
3) Bills were high, because we had some pending bills.
4) I had 6 No Spending Days from 8 planned.

I know what all I did wrong, so no point in analyzing.

My Cell phone is 5 years old and in very very bad shape. It switches off automatically every time i am talking to someone. I desperately need a new one. This is shaking my next month's budget too. I wanted to wrap everything in 30000, but it seems I have to goto 32000.

So this is my goal for next month: 32000 for all monthly expenses.

Lost Credit Card and 50000 Rs

Date: 14th November 2008
Time: 5:00 PM

My DH was coming to pick me and he stops to get the petrol. After taking the petrol, he throws his CC at the next seat and in the night when we came back home we realized that CC is missing. Our first reaction was instant, get it blocked. We might have lost it some where. It was 9:00 PM. He was about to call and parallely told me that we might have left it in car. We thought latter is more possible then former as we have many times left our phones in the car only to find them in morning. So we decided to check our car in the morning ( Yes i could have check it right then but my car's internal lighjt is almost non-existent, so it was nearly impossible and my torch is broken). In the morning I got up quite early and checked my car for CC. Alas, it was not there! :(

I told my DH and we called up our CC company immediately to block the card, and the news, someone has already used my CC for 50000 Rs somewhere around 10:00 PM last night. Yes, I have lost Fifty Thousand Rupees in almost a second. :(

I filed the FIR and am still waiting for transaction details to file a dispute with CC bank. I have no clue what to do! Feeling sad and angry like hell even now. Why am I being frugal all the time when someone can steal my money so easily. :( Why should I save for future when every investment is falling like dry leaves from tree. :( Why always me? I am saving from the day I started earning, while all my friends used to spend all at that time. Result after 4 years: They are much better then me today or same as I am. :(

Yes right now I hate everything and I am angry over every thing.