I am drafting this in word rather
than in the blog itself as I am not sure whether or not I will be posting it. (I am posting it, so here it is!)
A few days ago my Njang asked me,
“duit adik ni tak luak-luak ka?” I was puzzled by the question. She explained
that she did not notice any changes in my lifestyle before and after not
working fulltime. I wanted to laugh because we were in my Cik Remia when we
talked. What did she mean by no change, hello Njang, kita duk dalam kereta apa
ni? Isn’t this a very obvious change in the lifestyle? Very very obvious!
I think she made that remark
because I had just returned from umrah and was flashing my brand new silver
ring and a brand new iphone 5. Last month she was envious of the iPad I bought
for Abah.
So here’s the thing. It is true
that it seems like my money macam tak luak. But mana boleh tak luak, unless I
am spending less than what I am earning. But that’s not the case; there are
months when I spend a lot more. For instance, this month alone, I spent more
than double of what I earned in a month.
But how did I survive thus far? And can still pleasure myself with a few
luxuries here and there. This is what I wanted to write about. Allah’s blessing.
That must be it. I cannot think of any other reasons other than its all from
Allah swt. Alhamdulillah. I am so thankful. So very thankful, Ya Allah. Never
underestimate the power of duas
. وَقَالَ رَبُّڪُمُٱدۡعُونِىٓأَسۡتَجِبۡلَكُمۡۚ
And your Lord hath said: Pray unto Me and I will
hear your prayer. (AlQuran 40:60)
I am the type of person who
calculates. I am not calculative but I prepare a budget for everything, I do cashflow forecast for my
income and expenditure. Believe it or not, I have forecasted until I am 84
years old!!!! Just to see who or what will last longer, my money or I.
Alhamdulillah based on the projection, bearing no unforeseen circumstances
(accountant’s standard disclaimer phrase!) it looks like I will be the loser,
money will survive. But that’s only my plan. Allah swt knows best.
Anyway, I budget. I plan for so
much to spend every month but so far I have managed to always spend more than I
budgeted!! There was always something, some unplanned expenditure. It will
always be a necessity. But I noticed when this happened, somewhere in the near
future, some unplanned income will surface. This happened over and over again.
Alhamdulillah. SubhanAllah.
فَبِأَيِّآلاءِرَبِّكُمَاتُكَذِّبَانِ
Then which of the favors of your
Lord will ye deny? Al-Qur'an, 055 (Ar-Rahman [The Beneficent, The Mercy
Giving])
iPhone 5 was not a planned thing,
my BB was giving me problems for quite sometimes. One day I met a friend and
upon looking at my battered BB, she chuckled and said, “MJ, go get yourself a
Samsung or an iPhone 5 now, right now, please”. So I did, immediately after we
finished our tea and charged it to my credit card. (Buying the phone was
another story for another day, perhaps). When I get home, I will open my budget
and figure out how to pay for that. I did that but did not reach a solution.
Although I have a little money saved elsewhere, I will not touch that unless it
is needed for umrah trips. A few days later, an opportunity to earn extra
income came a knocking!!! You see what I mean?
فَبِأَيِّآلاءِرَبِّكُمَاتُكَذِّبَانِ
Then which of the favors of your
Lord will ye deny? Al-Qur'an, 055 (Ar-Rahman [The Beneficent, The Mercy
Giving])
I went for umrah last month. In
the original budget, we assumed 15 people will go with us and based on that, 2
persons can go for free. I am one of them, the other is our advisor. Since I
have never handled this trip totally on my own, I felt a little insecure and
therefore I thought since I am going FOC and I have budgeted for this trip, I
might as well use that money to bring another person with me; someone who can assist
me, when help is needed. Initially I thought of bringing Big D, but then my
sister has not been there so I might as well bring her instead. When I asked
her, she said yes and a few days later decided that her husband will also go.
Again a blessing, otherwise she will not be able to go due to mahram issue
(aduhai la Arab Saudi and your rules!). Things started to go wrong from the
very beginning; firstly, one jemaah cannot go because of mahram issue. Then we
cannot get the hotel that we planned, the one closer to Haram. After that
another jemaah cancelled due to health reason. We still continued with our
plans and continued to pray. The visa fees were more than what we were
originally told, hotels were more expensive. And we continued to make duas.
. وَقَالَ رَبُّڪُمُٱدۡعُونِىٓأَسۡتَجِبۡلَكُمۡۚ
And your Lord hath said: Pray unto Me and I will
hear your prayer. (AlQuran 40:60)
Robbi yassir wa la tu ‘assir, rabbi thammim bil khayr
Meanwhile I have to refund the
jemaah that cannot go because she has no mahram. With all the increase in the
expenses and sponsoring my sister, I ended up spending more than what I
originally planned to spend for this trip. Considerably more, about RM5,000
more, that is A LOT to me! But somehow I did not have to touch my savings at all
except to pay for the airfare for my sister and I!, this is still a mystery to
me. You see, I ended up having to pay for my sister; a full package price,
paying airfare for myself, refunded the jemaah, pay the extra visa fees and
extra hotel bills. Its mind boggling, really, but I am not complaining.
SubhanALlah!
فَبِأَيِّآلاءِرَبِّكُمَاتُكَذِّبَانِ
Then which of the favors of your
Lord will ye deny? Al-Qur'an, 055 (Ar-Rahman [The Beneficent, The Mercy
Giving])
Alhamdulillah our umrah trip went
smoothly despite staying quite far from Haram, none in the group fell ill, a
minor cough and cold were spotted but nothing serious, a few hiccups here and
there but otherwise okay. This time around, we were all blessed with good
appetite! Alhamdulillah.
Thank you Allah. HambaMu ini
memohon keampunanMU kerana tidak mampu memujiMu sepertimana Engkau memuji
diriMU. Tidak ada kata-kata yang dapat menggambarkan kesyukuranku kepada MU Ya
Allah!
SubhanALlah. Alhamdulillah.
ALlahu Akbar!
