Yeye Viray

Blog

  • What to cut?

    Lately I’ve been thinking about cutting our expenses because our bills never fail to make me cringe. I’ve given up my budget and cashflow worksheets altogether because it’s so difficult to monitor, update and well FOLLOW them. I need to do this because I don’t want to find ourselves badly in debt in a couple of years… or (swallow hard) months from now.

    Again, my family is composed of non-shopoholics, it’s just that there’s too much to pay for. To cut the story short, what I did was to enumerate those expenses that I have control of and try to evaluate what I can do with them.

    1. Food and grocery items

    This takes a big chunk from my budget. I can actually minimize this expense but why would I do that? With 3 growing kids, a hard-working dad and an all-around mom (that’s me), it’s unimaginable to have an empty pantry and ref. So, I’ve crossed this one out.

    2. Education

    To be honest we can enrol our kids to a less expensive school. BUT my husband and I agreed that we will make sure that we give the best education to our children as long as we can pay for it. Another one crossed-out.

    3. Utilities

    Since cost of internet, phone, association dues and water is fixed, electricity is the only utility bill I can manipulate. Unfortunately, my project of cutting the electricity cost never succeeded still with factors I have no control of. (You know what I mean, yes Meralco? Napocor?) So I grew tired of turning off unused light, timing the aircon and unplugging appliances and equipment. I am not really crossing this one out but this is not of major consideration.

    4. Gym

    I am still thinking if we’ll continue our membership after it expires. Although we’ve given up our personal trainors because they cost a lot, still the membership (x2) if given-up can be of big savings. I still have a few months to think about it. It will be hard to give up because going to the gym is our only means of sweating out (be it workout or sauna).

    5. Eating out / Take-out / Delivery

    Guilty! My family loves to eat just anything. We eat out a lot to our cravings’ content. I order food if I got tired of thinking about what to cook. We take out food as a sort of break from working (at home) all day. Food! Glorious Food! So now I decided to limit this expensive habit. Eating out would cost us at least 2k pesos. If I just prepare food, it will cost at most 500 pesos and it may even last to 2-3 meals depending on the consumption and amount when served. I guess it’s better to start with something and I know this one will be of great savings already.

  • Dinner in the sky

    Not even in my wildest dream did I thought of getting near the Swiss Alps, more so have sunset dinner at the highest hotel of the said mountain, the 3100 KULMHOTEL GORNERGRAT. I have to say it’s an experience one should never miss in his or her lifetime, given the chance. To get there, from Zermatt you have to ride the Gornergrat Bahn train which runs on a winding path from Zermatt to the Gornergrat mountain summit at 3089 meters. During the ascent, you will be amazed by the magnificent view of snow covered mountain peaks, impressive bridges, tunnels and scary cliff. When you get there, you’ll enjoy the snow-covered viewing deck which provides a panoramic view of Monte Rosa massif, the Liskamm, the Breithorn and the majestic Matterhorn. The dinner on the other hand offers a 3-course meal of which Chinese fondue with various sauces (similar to shabu-shabu), fruits, chips and rice complete the main course. Words can’t describe the experience so better see for yourself.

  • 10 things I love about Italy

    I cannot say I’ve captured Italy as a whole because each of its cities is rich in its own history, culture, cuisine, and beauty and I’ve only been to three namely Milan, Venice and Rome. But at least the experience gave me something to smile about when I hear the word Italy.

    1. Thin crust pizza
    Forget about stuffed crust and pan pizzas because they will serve you plain looking but really tasty thin crust pizzas. If we usually order pizza for a group of 4-5 to consume, they usually have the whole pizza for one, that’s how thin it is. To share, there’s this Florida pizza in Rome that is cheap but really tastes good. They say it’s rich because it’s on the oily side and most Italians don’t like that much because they’re health conscious but for tourists it’s two-thumbs up.

    2. Interesting and breath-taking churches (also as burial site)
    Just in Rome, number of Basilicas can be found. Of course St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City is number one where St. Peter’s tomb is found. Basilica of St. John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore and St. Paul completes the four Major Basilicas of Rome. There’s St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. I’ve also seen Basilica di S. Ambrogio and Duomo in Milan.

    3. Fountains, museums, structures and other ancient wonders
    Sistine Chapel, Fontana di Trevi, Colloseum, Pantheon, Roman Empire, Castles, Palazzo Ducale and so so much more that either I couldn’t name or I wasn’t able to see.

    4. Cobblestone-covered street. It makes me feel I’m in the early days where you see horses instead of cars, trams and buses.

    5. Gelato. A small cup costs around 3 euros, expensive right? But I must say it really tastes good. It’s not too sweet and has a different creaminess in it, not to mention flavors you’ve never tried before in an ice cream.

    6. Italian ham (Prosciutto) and cheese.

    7. Public transport is everywhere. There’s metropolitane (underground systems), trains for intercity transfers, trams, buses, vaporetto (waterbus in Venice). All you need is a map (which is usually free but sold in other cities like Venice and Rome) and patience to understand which goes where. :)

    8. Drinking fountains. Cool natural spring water flows endlessly from drinking fountains on nearly every Roman street corner. Bring a water jug and your water is free in Rome. :)

    9. Coffee experience. Definitely no starbucks or any coffee shop that offer mug-sized coffee. I am not really a fan of their coffee because what they serve you is really strong half-filled small cup of coffee (like an espresso shot). It’s the feeling of drinking a coffee in one of the calles (narrow street) in Italy that’s priceless.

    10. Gondola ride. I wouldn’t leave Italy without experiencing this. It has been my dream since childhood. And I must say that you really can’t have the feel of Venice without riding a gondola. It’s a bit expensive I must say (80-100 euros for 6 people with 40 minutes duration, amount depending on the time of the day) but it’s a once in a lifetime experience so forget about the money just this time. :)

    I know I still missed a lot of great cities in Italy like Tuscany, Florence, Naples, Bologna and so much more. Maybe next time. I hope.

  • Overdrive

    I’ve always wanted to drive. I don’t like the idea of me at the back of the car with a driver on the wheels because I want to be the one driving. So imagine how excited I was when finally I enrolled myself to a driving school 3 years ago, even if I was pregnant with Lia. Learning to drive manual wasn’t easy. It came to a point when I was about to accept the fact that my driving will be limited to short distances. But because Gary was becoming too busy to drive for me and my need to go to places was increasing, not to mention the need to bring/fetch the kids to/from school, I made an extra effort to really learn how to be a good driver. And (I think) I became one.

    Driving an automatic was a piece of cake. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to last long. Now I drive a manual (SUV) again.

    I find freedom in driving. I prefer city driving, though, than long drive perhaps because of the trauma I had from the accident. The idea of driving to bring my loved ones to where they ought to go (even Gary for meetings) and fetch them excites me.

    Maybe its the joy of being the one in control of the wheels while singing my favorite song on the radio that makes all the effort seems effortless.

    As the line from Eraserhead’s famous song Overdrive goes… ‘magda-drive ako hanggang… buwan!’

  • Family applying for Schengen visa at France Embassy

    After getting a UK visa last year, we decided to try our luck with Schengen visa this year. Thanks to internet, we were able to prepare all the documents needed plus plus. Plus plus because we submitted some documents that turned out to be ‘useless’ in the application. The ‘interviewer’ at the France embassy gave back our land titles, business documents (other than the SEC certification, business permit and filed income tax) and credit card billings. This is because we were not able to find a site that guided us 100% with the application, so I thought of enumerating all the things that really matter for families with business wanting to get a schengen visa;

    1. Application form with two (2) recent colored passport size photographs.
    2. Letter to the Embassy expressing your desire to go to one (or more) countries included in the Schengen area.
    3. Valid passport with at least 6 months validity. Photocopy the front page and all the visas acquired. Bring the old passport/s, if any.
    4. Confirmed hotel bookings. In my case, I secured booking from booking.com because they offer free cancellation on most of the hotels that they feature.
    5. Plane Itinerary. It doesn’t have to be booked yet. You can ask for a trusted travel agency to provide you one.
    5. Detailed Itinerary. This includes the hotel and means of transportation from the time you leave your point of origin until you come back.
    6. NSO certified birth certificates and marriage contract.
    7. Travel Insurance good for the whole travel period plus additional 15 days with minimum medical coverage of 30,000 euros.
    8. Source of funds and means of supporting the whole family throughout the travel. (In our case we don’t have relatives there or anyone to accomodate us)
    8.1 Personal account – bank certificates (secured from the bank) and 3-month bank transactions (photocopy of passbook will do)
    8.2 Company account – bank certificates and 3-month bank transactions
    8.3 Last year’s tax return (in our case we submitted tax return of our business)
    8.4 SEC certification if your business is a corporation
    8.5 Business Permit
    9. Proof of return for the children; enrolment form, excuse letter, report card
    10. Payment: 60 euros for adult, 35 for children. Children below 6 are free of charge. You can pay in peso but you should bring exact amount.

    France embassy will only get photocopies of your documents. (But just bring along all the original just in case they would ask for it). Be sure to have the numbers 1-7 for all the members of the family because each should submit his/her own application. As for the number 8, parents usually have them on file. Obviously, children attending school should have number 9.

    I thought that we will just literally submit documents but there is an informal interview asking for the places we plan to visit, if we have travelled outside Asia, what our business is all about and so on.

    Call France embassy to get an appointment. In our case we were given one month after our call. Lesson learned, don’t wait for your documents to be complete before making a call. We ended up postponing out vacation one month after.

    After submission of documents/interview, you have to wait for at least 10 days for them to review your documents. They will give you a date as to when you have to go back to get your visa or otherwise. In our case, we were so blessed to be granted with tourist visa good for 45 days with 30 day duration.

  • Euro Tour Update

    Change of plans.

    We decided not to include London because I don’t want to go through the hassle of applying for 2 different visas.

    After weeks of waiting for the Audited Financial Statement which is a requirement for filing annual income tax, of which income tax is a requirement for Shengen visa application, we finally asked for a visa appointment and May 11 was given to us.

    Meaning, after May 11 we have to allot at least 10 days for the visa result to come-out. Thus, we need to re-sched our travel from May to June. (Which came out as a blessing because we need to set-up the satellite office in Pangasinan before we can have our month-long vacation.)

    Iterinary now includes Paris(France) – Brussels(Belgium) – Frankfurt(Germany) – Milan(Italy) – Venice – Rome.

    I love booking.com for those ‘free cancellation’ bookings they offer.

    We’ll enter France and exit in Rome.

    I pray for our visas to be approved.

    I pray that my dream of riding a gondola in venice will finally come true.

  • My daily source of Vit C

    When you reach the age of 30, whether you like it or not, you have to take extra effort in taking care of your skin. In my case, I don’t like it because I am so lazy doing all those daily beauty routine. I am just lucky to have good genes that requires me minimal maintenance just so I can keep my face and body clean and fresh. But it came to a point when I realized I needed a moisturizer with UV protection, same with body lotion. Glad that I found out about The Body Shop’s Vit C collection. I have always loved Body Shop products… from lip balm, moisturizer and face powder to body wash and scrub, I’ve trusted their product for years. In this case with Vit C, I have started using their facial moisturizer with UV protection, facial cleansing polish, microdermabrasion (exfoliation) and radiance capsule (sort of a night cream). They’re a big leap already from my usual daily routine but as I’ve said… I’m not getting any younger.

  • Accepting their uniqueness

    When my eldest son, Marcus, started schooling, I did not ask for him to be an honor student because I just wanted him to enjoy the whole learning experience. I know he belongs to the above average group (even superior), based on his teachers’ assessment, test results and my own observation, but again I don’t want to put pressure on him. But then I realized that even if you don’t expect your kids to excel, its quite frustrating to see them ‘as if’ waste their talent and refuse to take advantage of it. Marcus gets high grades only on subjects he likes and very low on those he thinks ‘unimportant.’ Worse, he has no motivation at all to study.

    Zach, on the other hand, is a born achiever. Like Marcus, I never pushed him to be the cream of the crop but he chose to be one. Best about it, he seems not to exert effort at all. Being an honor student for him is ‘as if’ a normal thing. He nags me to do homework and he loves to read. Funny because at times he won’t believe what I ask him to do unless he reads it from the diary himself.

    Modesty aside, I have intelligent kids. Even Lia, I can see potential in her. She’s interested with numbers and letters already. She can pick up words and ideas easily. It’s my kids’ attitude, interests and motivation that differ. Sometimes I think maybe not being there all the time for Marcus during his growing up years (because I was still working then) could have been a factor, but I cannot really blame myself because we needed additional source of income at that time. Well, at least I gave up work before its too late. My only dream for my kids is that they become the best that they can be and I’ll do my best to ensure that.

  • Embracing my OCness

    I have an Obsessive-compulsive disorder. No specialist confirmed it but I think that my control-freak attitude is enough evidence already. I am not much of the ‘house should always be in order’ type of OC. With 3 children around, I am just thankful I’m not. But when I work or study, I want things around me arranged and fixed accordingly before I could start anything. Problem is, I tend to control things and even the life of my loved ones. As much as I would want to protect them, I realized that they need to go through the process and not block them from experiencing life.

    They say that people with OCD feel strong urges to do certain things repeatedly — called rituals or compulsions — in order to stop the scary thoughts or to try to ward off the bad thing they dread, or to make extra sure that things are safe or clean or right.

    Based on the site www.helpguide.org, most people with obsessive-compulsive disorder fall into one of the following categories:

    1. Washers are afraid of contamination. They usually have cleaning or hand-washing compulsions.
    2. Checkers repeatedly check things (oven turned off, door locked, etc.) that they associate with harm or danger.
    3. Doubters and sinners are afraid that if everything isn’t perfect or done just right something terrible will happen or they will be punished.
    4. Counters and arrangers are obsessed with order and symmetry. They may have superstitions about certain numbers, colors, or arrangements.
    5. Hoarders fear that something bad will happen if they throw anything away. They compulsively hoard things that they don’t need or use.

    I am a washer because I want to wash my hands most of the time because clean hands give me a sense of satisfaction. I am also a doubter because I feel that when I’m not on top of things, something bad might happen and I have myself to blame. I also have the tendency to be a hoarder because it’s so hard for me to give up some things I should be throwing already. But above all, I think I strongly fall into number 2, the checker, for the following reasons:

    1. I excessively double-checks things such as locks, appliances, and switches. Also, important documents and possessions. Yeah, weird, but true!
    2. Repeatedly checks on loved ones to make sure they’re safe. For this I thank the person who invented cellular phones and internet.
    3. Wants to be on top of things to be sure that loved ones and belongings are protected.
    4. Needs re-assurance

    I need to know all these because embracing my OCness makes me feel normal despite my abnormal actions and feelings.

  • Life began at 30

    My life has changed significantly. Being an employee a couple of years ago (even in a multinational company having a position one step away from managerial level), I was struggling to make ends meet. Putting together our salaries as a couple, I could only balance compensation and expenses with the aid of loans and credit card. I must say life was hard then. We were renting an apartment and no car or any asset to feel secured about.

    At 32, I manage an IT business with my husband. He does the marketing and technical stuff, I do the risk management and accounting. Funny how we discuss family concerns and then shift to business operations whenever we had the chance. Also, both of us enjoy family time every single day. We adore our kids. Our marriage has never been better. There are times when we feel ovewhelmed with all the responsibilities we have to perform but we never complain. We have received so much blessings already and the year has just started.

    Modesty aside, our family’s buying power has improved a lot. We could eat whatever we want anytime anywhere, buy signature items and gadgets, throw parties, plan for travel, pamper ourselves and invest more without batting an eyelash. Best of all, we can now extend help to those who are in need and so happy to be a blessing to others.

    I can say that we’re not yet rich but we are well provided. We don’t have much but we are not scared to spend money to enjoy life and provide help.

    Lessons learned over the years:

    1. Life is not perfect and not a fairy tale but it is fair.
    2. Don’t hold on to your money (or any material things) because God provides more than you can imagine.
    3. Let tomorrow worry about itself.
    4. Karma (good or bad) is fast.
    5. Blessings are meant to overflow to others.

    My life definitely began at 30.