Debt-free is possible?

Salam,

Yesterday I talked about living in debts. I hate to live in debts but it's just so inevitable in this modern days. So.........is it possible to live debt-free? People who have simple life will say that it's not a myth and can be done. REALLY?

Here are some good suggestions that I found from one website. We might be able to practice at least some of . the ideas:

1. Budget – Living without debt means that you must stay within the limits of your budget. It’s important to get this right. Otherwise you may end up short at the end of the month, which will send you back to the lenders.

-my comment: we've tried to stay within our budget every month and it seems to help a lot.


2. Plan – Once you have your budget, you can use it to plan in advance for major purchases. Say you’re planning to buy a new car. Normally, you would take out a loan to buy the car and spend the next five years paying it off. You cannot do that if you’re going to live debt-free. Before you buy the car, you will have to save up the money. This is why you must plan in advance.

-my comment: buying a bigger is in fact in our list this year. I've been saving some money to at least pay huge amount of money for the car but I guess with the price of the cars in Malaysia, we still need to take a loan. Maybe we just have to choose wisely.

3. Emergency fund – Even the best planning cannot predict emergency expenses. If your boiler breaks in January, you cannot spend the next three months saving up to buy a new one. Your family will freeze. It’s vital to have some money set aside for emergencies. Don’t be tempted to dip into the fund unless it’s a true emergency.

-my comment: we do have an emergency fund but somehow we need to use the money and then we are back to square one where we have to start saving again.

4. Sacrifice – Living without debt means having to make some sacrifices. The first thing that will have to go is instant gratification. Thanks to cheap credit, people are used to getting what they want, when they want it. It’s easy to hand over a credit card and worry about the bill later. If you’re going to live without borrowing, you will have to wait to make that purchase.

-my comment: it's not easy but we feel so happy if we can sacrifice our desire first to avoid from having more debts.

5. Focus – Everywhere you look, people are buying the latest gadgets, the trendiest clothes, the newest cars. Creditors are eager to lend you the money to buy these things. It will take a lot of will-power and self-control to resist the temptation to buy now and pay later. You have to stay focused on your goal of being debt-free.

-my comment: this is so true. It's not easy to close one eye or actually both eyes on the things like the latest gadgets and the trendiest things other people have that we don't have. It's not that we don't have the money but we don't see the importance of having those gadgets unless they are important in our jobs.

Source: FROM HERE

6- Lead a simple life and smile to those people who like to brag about their life but the truth is they are living with tons of debts. (this is my own point)


So, what do you think? Is it possible to live debt-free? Do you want to keep paying for debts even after you retired? What about the thought of burdening your children with your debts? Why should they pay for our debts when we are the ones who chose to have the debts?

In debts.

Salam,

You want to have comfortable life so you apply for a loan; housing ,car and sometimes personal loan. The problem is to pay back what you have taken. Sometimes all the loans get out of hand. What do you do? Borrow somewhere else? Or sell whatever you can sell? Some people borrow from the loan shark and put their family's life in danger. Some borrow from family members and pretend to forget to pay it back.

How I wish to live freely without any debts. I don't want to be so rich but just to have the freedom in using my money without worrying about paying any debts to a bank or to others.

To All FTWM: Let's find time to cook.

Salam,

Do you normally buy food from outside for dinner? Do you always find that you don't have time to prepare or cook for dinner? Do you always say that you are too tired to cook?WELL............................I don't want to be hypocrite to say that I don't do those things too. There are sometimes when I feel too tired after a long day at work and choose to buy food from outside. BUT after some time, I feel bored of the food as I realize that the price is increasing and the quality of the food is not getting better.

So, I try to do certain things to ensure that I can prepare some simple food at least for dinner during the week days. These simple things help to save some time in the kitchen and you don't really have to like a "Masterchef" just to prepare a nice and delicious dish for your family.

HOW TO PREPARE/COOK FOOD AFTER YOU COME BACK FROM WORK:

1- Plan ahead the menu for a- 5- days. 
    Make sure  you have to diversify the food to encourage your kids to eat. For example, Monday: Chicken Curry, Tuesday: Omellette and Fried Veges, Wednesday: Beef Soup etc.

2- Prepare the ingredients ahead.
    It's easier  if you already blend, chop or at least have the raw ingredients like garlic, ginger and onion ready in your fridge. Another thing is to put enough portion of chicken in a tray or beef that you want to cook for a dish in your freezer. 

3- Keep some sauces, herbs, spices and other condiments handy in your kitchen.
    In Asian kitchen, it's a must to have soy sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce, fish sauce and others to add the flavour to our dish. Adding some of those can enhance your cooking too.

4- Keep pasta ready in your cupboard.
    It's very easy to prepare a quick pasta dish for children especially when you use ready made sauce or the canned mushroom soup. You just need 2 pieces of chicken or the frozen chicken balls (I love chicken balls from Ayamas), some vegetables, garlic, water and some pepper. 

5-Marinate the chicken, fish or beef at night and keep them in the fridge in the morning.
   When you come back from work, you don't need to thaw them and the cooking process can be cut into half.

6- Buy the ready made paste.
    I love to use the ready made Tom Yam paste or Tandoori powder. They come in so handy because I only need 30 minutes to prepare a quick tomyam and 45 minutes to prepare Chicken Tandoori.

I guess those are some the tips that I can share here. Hopefully they can help to inspire all mommies to cook even though they are busy with their career. The satisfaction of preparing the food for your family on your own is so priceless and it can help us to stay within our monthly budget. As doctors always suggest healthy eating, we can ensure that our family members will eat healthy food by preparing the food. Let's start NOW!

p/s: arwah mak saya ada berpesan yg air tangan isteri dan ibu itu lebih baik untuk menambat hati ahli keluarga dan mengeratkan kasih sayang.

Taekwondo or Swimming lesson?

Salam,

My elder daughter is interested to join the Taekwondo class in her school. My hubby and I don't have any objection as both of us were actively involved in Taekwondo when we were in school and in university. However, I also want her to learn swimming as well. So, we haven't really decided which is the extra activity for her. We can't afford to send her to take both lessons as we are expecting our third child by June. Letting her to join Taekwondo means extra expenses for that. But we want her to be tougher physically as she is too feminine. As for other lesson like learning how to recite Iqra', I'm teaching both my daughters at home after Maghrib prayer and we think it's okay for now. Maybe when I can't find time to teach them maybe we have to send them somewhere.

Which lesson is better?

Ombak Rindu versi taubat. (BM entry)

Salam,

Secret Garden.

Salam,

As promised, I'll share a little bit about what we just discovered in One Utama, Bandar Utama. Maybe other people know about this, but not us. At first we discovered the Rainforest in the middle of the building. Then, we discovered the Secret Garden on the rooftop and the admission is FREE! (yup, this is very since normally we have to pay when we want to get in a garden except for public garden).

My initial plan just to bring out kids for walk in a shopping mall. We didn't expect to see something different. It was nice to see the twist because we are tired of seeing only the shops in a shopping mall. We had nice photo shoots with our not-DSLR-camera. hehe. I enjoyed being the photographer using my hubby and my kids as my subjects. Of course when we walked around the garden, we had some ideas for our dream garden for our house.

Now, I'll let the photos to tell the rest of the stories. So, enjoy the scenery............

The Rainforest.

On the bridge (the top floor)

Can you read the rules?

Nice?

2 models; 2 different personalities

Can you identify some of the plants?

Notice the pink pineapple?

After the tour in the secret garden, we had lunch and we headed home as we we were already tired of walking. BUT, before we could find our car in the car park, we were lost in OU as it's quite big and we couldn't remember exactly the exact place of where we parked our car! So, we ended up went in a circle before we could relocate our car. Finally, after much fuss from the kids who were tired, my hubby became the HERO of the day. He was somehow mad with me for not remembering the shops where we first came up from the car park. I guess the next time, I ask him out to OU, he will reject the suggestion. huhu.

Teaser: Rainforest and Secret Garden in a shopping mall.

Do you know that you don't have to go so far away to see a rainforest and a secret garden even when you live in the heart of a city? 

Where is it? Is it real?

I'll give the answers in tomorrow's entry and also let you see some photos of the places.

 

Hang Li Po, Hang Tuah were just myths?

Salam,

Princess Hang Li Po: Prove me wrong, Khoo tells detractors

KUALA LUMPUR- A historian has asked his detractors to prove him wrong in his claim that Hang Tuah and other historical figures never existed.

“If you do not agree with me, bring out sources to show that I am wrong.

“You cannot simply say that you don’t agree. What is the basis?” Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Kim asked when met at the Interna-tional Conference on the Global Movement of Moderates here yesterday.

Prof Khoo, who is in a committee which will look into the present History curriculum in schools, said legends like Hang Tuah and Princess Hang Li Po were not real because there were no reliable sources to confirm their existence.

On Hang Tuah’s grave in Malacca, Prof Khoo said there was no way of telling it was him unless the grave was dug up and the corpse examined.

“I know there is a Hang Tuah well in Malacca too but it was built by the local people and they go there at night to ask for lottery numbers,” he added.

Prof Khoo, who is from Universiti Malaya, said it was sad that Malaysians were becoming more ignorant of history but were “good at confrontation”.

Asked on the proposed move to allow undergraduates to participate in politics, Prof Khoo said he was worried that if students were given such opportunities, they would be “used” by politicians and would not have time for their studies.

On Monday, Prof Khoo said there was no written record of Hang Li Po, Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat and the stories that have made it into the history books were just myths.

-TheStar

If Hang Li Po, Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat  can't be proved their existence, should we totally ignore what we know before. There were so many stories about them and there were also movies made based on the stories. There were no legitimate sources to confirm about their existence since our past history was mainly on stories that had been told from one generation to another. 

But I still like the stories about Hang Tuah and his friends. They were the Malay heroes even though they were just based on myths. We do have a lot of myths that we believe like Puteri Gunung Ledang, Puteri Santubong, Mat Lela and Mat Chincang and also Mahsuri in Langkawi. They were popular as the folklore and have been accepted as part of our society. 

I just wonder then what kind of "Hang" really exist? Hang Man? "Hang Tu"? "Hang Buah"?

Don't listen to Sami Yusof.

Salam,

That statement "Don't listen to Sami Yusof" didn'y come from ME! I came across this video on YOU TUBE. This man (sorry I can't find out who he is) claimed about the music used by Sami Yusof is not allowed in Islamic teaching. To listen further, you have to watch the video:




Now you have to watch what Sami Yusof said to defend his music in an interview on CNN. Then only we can compare and make our own decision. :



So, what do you think? Do you like to listen to nasheed? Do you like singers like Sami Yusof, Maher Zain and Mesut Kurtis? I know that we can't make our judgement just based on our own opinion because we must follow Islamic teaching. I'm no so pious and I admit that my knowledge in Islamic fiqh is quite shallow. Thus, I've rechecked to reconfirm what I knew about nasheed.

In general, true Islamic anasheed does not contain lamellaphone instruments, string instruments, or wind and brass instruments, although digital remastering either to mimic percussion instruments or create overtones is permitted. This is because many Muslim scholars interpret Islam as prohibiting the use of musical instruments except for some basic percussion.

So, what do we do about this?

Org kurus tak nampak kalau mengandung? (BM entry)

Salam,

Hari ini ada beberapa kwn di tempat kerja baru perasan yang saya mengandung. Itu pun kerana saya pakai blaus yg mcm untuk ibu mengandung tu. Sblm ni hanya rakan2 rapat je yang tahu. Yang masih bujang dan belum berkahwin siap cakap, "Akak ni kurus sebab tulah tak nampak sangat walaupun mengandung". Jadi betulkah teori yang mengatakan orang kurus ni kalau mengandung susah nak nampak perut besar? Kalau dilihat pada pengalaman sebelum ini, saya ni memang orang tak akan perasan mengandung sampailah bulan ke 5 dan seterusnya. Cuma kali ketiga ni je mungkin dah nampak lebih awal. Itupun biasanya tak nampak sebab saya suka pakai baju longgar. Tadi pun bukanlah baju ketat tapi mungkin bentuk baju tu yang menampakkan perut yang makin membesar ni.

Jadi, siapa nak buat teori lain kat sini? Sila jangan terasa kalau anda berisi ye. Saya tak de maksud apa2 kat sini. Cuma nak bandingkan pendapat2 yang saya dengar dan pendapat2 yg lain.

New way of asking "HELP".

Salam,

"Help! Help!", cried a woman when somebody was trying to grab her handbag. The culprit managed to escape quickly before other people came to help her. It happened to fast that she couldn't remember any detail about the culprit. That is just an example of a small crime that happens almost everyday now. We can never feel so safe anymore in Malaysia. We always have to be careful and take some precautions just to ensure our own safety.


Now, with a smart phone, we can download MyDistress Apps. What is it used for? Let's see:

MyDistress – Your Personal Emergency Police Rescue Smartphone App

Have you been in an emergency situation and dialled 999 to call the police? Now there is a better and faster way to get emergency police assistance in Malaysia. You can use MyDistress smartphone application to get help from the police in a single click! MyDistress application is compatible with Android, Apple, Symbian and BlackBerry smartphone operating systems.

When you are in an emergency situation, the last thing you want to do is to spend time calling the police, explaining the situation, trying to figure out and explain the exact location. MyDistress eliminates all that hassle, with just 1 click of a button, a distress message is send to the police with your location details and the police will be despatched immediately to your location.
MyDistress smartphone application is useful in life-threatening situations like kidnaping, break-ins and robbery where you might not be able to speak on the phone due to panic or dangerous situation.

How To Use My Distress Application
You will need to register by filling up your personal details: identity card number, name, mobile number and email. Optionally, you can also attach a photo of yours. These details will be sent to the police in moments of distress.
You can preset a number of locations into your phone, such as your home, your office or places that you commonly go to. If you live or work inside a high rise building, it helps to preset location with details such as floor number, unit number or any other details. This helps the police to come directly to you instead of searching for you in the whole building.
When in distress, you can choose “Personal Alert” when you are outdoor. Your details with the current GPS location is sent to the police.
You can choose “Preset Location Alert” when you are in any of the preset location. Click “SOS” button and then choose your location.
If you are kidnapped and being moved in a vehicle, MyDistress application will continue sending your GPS location information so that police will be able to follow and rescue you.


How To Download My Distress Application
Click on the link below to download My Distress Application.

Open internet browser in your mobile phone and type the address below.
http://mydistress.net

 I'm not sure how effective is this apps. BUT I guess there's no harm in equipping ourselves with some safety measures. Let's just hope the police will come to our aid when we need them.

Craving.

Salam,

This week marks 16 weeks of my third pregnancy. Sometimes I feel okay sometimes I feel exhausted. This time I'm experiencing so many different things compared to the other two pregnancies before. When it comes to cravings, I've had some food cravings. Last week, I craved for Prosperity Burger from McDonald. So, I went to McDonald in KLCC to satisfy my craving. I couldn't finish the burger as the sauce was too hot for me. This week, I can't help but thinking about Kelantanese dishes like 'laksam, nasi kerabu and nasi berlauk ayam'. I guess I have to go and find those food soon. If I want to prepare those food, I don't have the energy to prepare the different components of each dishes especially nasi kerabu unless I get some help from a sous chef. hehe. During my second pregnancy, my late mum came all the way from Kelantan to prepare 'nasi kerabu' for me before I left Malaysia to go to NZ. It was the last dish that my late mum could ever prepared
for me. (mode: emotional)

Why do pregnant women have food cravings? Nobody can really explain but there are some possible explanations given by some researches:


Hormonal changes during pregnancy may alter a woman's sense of taste and smell making her crave food that she normally would not have enjoyed. This could also explain why menopausal women often experience food cravings and aversions.

Temporary nutritional deficiencies may cause cravings; however, this reason would not explain why some women crave more than enough amounts of certain nutrients. Nonetheless, a craving for pickles could indicate low sodium levels in the blood, while craving chocolate may be triggered by a vitamin B deficiency. A craving for red meat may indicate a need for protein, while cravings for peaches might be a result of low beta carotene levels.

Emotional needs are known to be connected with food intake. A pregnant woman may be craving certain foods, consciously or subconsciously, as a response to emotional needs. Many pregnant women crave nostalgic foods that remind them of their childhoods or religious and cultural background, particularly if they are removed from it.

Warding off pregnancy symptoms such as morning sickness and nausea may be the basis for certain food aversions as well as pica cravings of non-food items during pregnancy. Substances like baking soda are known for calming digestive discomfort, while coffee, alcohol, and fried foods may induce nausea as well as harm your baby.

source: HERE

Hopefully I won't be getting any weird cravings like craving for things which are inedible. Pica is a term used to describe cravings to eat non-food items such as toothpaste, laundry detergent, soap, dirt, coal, chalk, and cigarette butts.Those things are harmful and might affect the mommy and the baby.

Have anyone of you craved for weird things (non-food items)?

Cara2 yang terbaik mengejutkan anak2 dari tidur (BM entry)

Salam,

Saya terbaca artikel ini dari myibrah.com. Rasanya sangat bagus untuk kita yang dah ada anak-anak ni. Saya sendiri kadang-kadang kalau mengejutkan anak-anak, adala juga guna cara kasar bila diaorg ni susah sangat nak bangun. Yelah kita dah penat kejut tapi masih tak bangun2 lagi. Macammana cara terbaik nak mengejutkan anak2 bangun tidur? Baca artikel di bawah ini dan renungkanlah dan fikirkan strategi kita sendiri bila nak kejutkan anak-anak terutama di waktu pagi.
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KAEDAH MENGEJUT ANAK BANGUN DARI TIDUR

Ibu-Ibu, bapa-bapa serta saudara-saudari seislamku,
Ingatlah,
Setiap Insan pasti mahu memulakan harinya dengan ceria dan bersemangat. Jika bangun pagi sudah dimulai dengan perkara kurang baik, ditakuti ia akan merosakkan mood sepanjang hari.
Sebelum tidur, pasti kebanyakan individu menyimpan cita-cita untuk masa depan, mengenangkan peristiwa lalu serta memikirkan perkara yang akan dilakukan pada keesokkan harinya.
Ingatlah wahai saudara-saudariku…
Cuba kita ingat dan kenang kembali bagaimana ibu mengejutkan kita bangun pagi setiap hari untuk ke sekolah serta hari-hari cuti. Namun apabila besar dan mula ke sekolah menengah kita sudah pandai mengunci jam sendiri untuk bangun pagi ke sekolah dan sebagainya.
Sedang kita lena enak dibuai mimpi, tiba-tiba kita dikejutkan dengan kasar atau perkataan yang menyakitkan telinga yang mendengar serta menyakitkan hati, sudah pasti hati berasa sangat marah. Apabila sudah dewasa dan berkeluarga, bagaimana pula kita mengejutkan anak-anak bangun dari tidur..?
Kadang-kala ibu berasa letih dan marah apabila anak yang dikejut berkali-kali tidak juga bangun dari tidurnya. Sudah digerakkan supaya bangun, tetapi masih juga mengalihkan tubuhnya ke posisi lain untuk menyambung tidurnya. Apabila dikejutkan sekali lagi, ia mendengus kerana marah diganggu.

Ibu dan bapa yang dirahmati Allah sekalian…,

Kejutlah anak kita dengan penuh kasih-sayang, bukan menjerit dan menggegarkan tubuh si anak dengan kasar.Ini akan membuatkan si anak bertambah malas untuk bangun daripada tidur akibat sikap ibu yang suka menjerit atau menggunakan kekerasan semasa mengejut si anak.
Biasanya kita menyuruh si anak segera bangun daripada tidur, sedangkan ada masanya anak mahu bermalas-malasan seketika sebelum bangun daripada tidur.
Sesungguhnya,kata-kata yang baik akan membuat si anak berasa bersemangat untuk bangun daripada tidur.
Jika si anak jenis yang liat bangun tidur, maka usahakanlah membelainya dengan kata-kata lembut dan mengusapnya. Dia akan merasa bahagia dan tahu dirinya disayangi .
Saudara-saudari yang dirahmati Allah,
Ingat..!
jangan lupa baca doa bangun daripada tidur.
Jika tidak berjaya mengejutkan anak dengan belaian dan kata-kata lembut, cubalah gerakkan tangan dan kakinya seolah-olah sedang bersenam. Anak yang masih mengantuk juga akan cepat tersedar apabila ibu atau bapa mengejutkannya dengan cara membuat kelakar atau bergurau. Ketika masih mengantuk,dia mungkin akan ketawa apabila mendengar gurauan ibu bapanya , dan akan memulakan paginya dengan perasaan ceria dan bahagia.
Sebaliknya ,cara kekerasan seperti meleteri,merentap kain selimut dan menarik telinga si anak untuk mengejutkannya daripada tidur, hanya akan menyebabkan si anak merasa malas dan tertekan bangun daripada tidur.
Tidak kira samada anak tidur pada waktu pagi, tengahari atau malam, seharusnya ibu dan bapa menggunakan pendekatan baik untuk mengejutkan anak. Perkataan kasar atau kesat akan menyebabkan anak merasa jauh hatinya.
Jika cara kekerasan di gunakan dalam mengejutkan anak daripada tidur, bimbang ia akan merosakkan personaliti si anak. Emosi anak juga akan terganggu dan tidak menentu serta merasakan suatu seksaan untuk bangun daripada tidur setiap hari.
Tidak dinafikan, ada si anak yang mempunyai tabiat bangun pagi dengan merengek atau sering saja buat hal, Namun seharusnya kasih sayang dimanfaatkan bagi memujuk si kecil bangun daripada tidur.

Sumber: http://myibrah.com/didik-anak-sebelum-selepas-tidur
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Rasanya esok kenalah saya cuba teknik-teknik lain bila nak kejutkan dua org puteri kesayangan saya ini nak bangun pergi sekolah.

I wouldn't wear clothes that "poke eye". (ROFL)

Salam,

I just want to re-highlight the lost in translation issue that was brought up by some people over FB and Twitter and I came across this in one NST couple days ago. It all started after a guide on dress code (translated as ‘ethical clothing’) for Defence Ministry staff was posted on the ministry’s official website. The English translation provided for the circular dress code was very literal, even showed usage of translation programme. From what I've read, the ministry has withdrawn the circular and promised to make some amendments.

"Clothes that poke eye" is a literal translation to "pakaian menjolok mata". It's better to be translated to "inappropriate clothes in government office" or maybe "informal clothes are not allowed". There were other amusing phrases as well like  “long-sleeve batik shirt with collar / mongoose fight made in Malaysia” and “shine closed” appeared in  the post. The former defines ‘baju batik lengan panjang berkolar / cekak musang buatan Malaysia‘ while the latter ‘kasut bertutup’ (closed-toe shoes). Based on what I've learned years ago when I took translation courses for 2 semesters, some special names like special clothes shouldn't be translated because you can't find the equivalent in English. So, "baju Melayu cekak Musang" shouldn't be translated as it just created a weird translation! You can only provide the descriptions of the clothes or better with the photo of the clothes.

 Let's hope that the other ministries would be more careful to post or provide any information on their websites. It's not good to be the laughable stock on the social networks. They can find more credible translators because we do have good translators in Malaysia. If not why don't they use those from "Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia". They have the expertise in translation.

Can't wait to see Masterchef Final TONIGHT!

Salam,

Tonight we'll find out who will be the WINNER in Masterchef Malaysia Season 1. The battle will be between Ezani (a dentist by profession) and Wahidan ( a farmer from Sabah). From what I've seen, both of them have the fair chance to showcase their ability tonight. Thus their chance is 50-50. 

Ezani is well-known as the dessert expert while Wahidan is a quick learner and has been able to produce some interesting dishes. I guess based on the other Masterchef, there will be at least 3 rounds in the final. The winner will be decided based on the marks. BUT maybe it's going to be totally different.

Which one will I choose? I believe that Wahidan as the underdog might bring a surprise. Eventhough Ezani is a more consistent competitor, Wahidan has proved that he deserves to be in the final. His strong forte will be in Malaysian Traditional Cooking but has learned some Western dishes from the judges in the Masterchef's classes. 

Which one will you pick as the winner?

No school fees BUT we still have to pay for other kinds of fees.

Salam,

On Tuesday 3rd Jan. 2012, our elder daughter was enrolled in Year One in the nearest primary school. We thought that we didn't have to pay that much since it was abolished. BUT we were quite surprised to see that we still have to pay for the other kinds of fees. They changed the name of the fees to PTA (Parents Teachers Association) fees. Thus, we ended up paying more than one hundred ringgit. We still think it's okay to pay for that amount because we had paid for more than one thousands per year for our daughters' kindergarten's fees for almost 2 years now. We are wondering what happen to some parents who can't really afford to pay the fees? They were promised that there's no more school fees but why are there so many other kinds of fees? On top of that, the amount that we had to pay for all kinds of books; compulsory exercise books, writing books and so many other additional books is quite expensive too. A year one student needs more than 20 exercise books! I'm not sure how the teachers are going to fully utilize those books. I really hope that they don't just ask us to buy the books and at the end of the year, they don't use some of the books. I wonder about other parents who have other children who are also at schools. How much do they spend for their children.

Would you like to tell me if you have any experience regarding this? Do you think that some of the fees are ridiculous? What about the books that you have to buy for your children? 

WW: Photos of Fathini's first day cum orientation for Year One.