How Solo Living Changed My Life

Most of my growing up years were spent in a lovely town, a special place in my heart. Spent most of the best moment of my life in this little town. The place where the friends I make from childhood and the memories I share.

But now I'm not living there. 12 years ago, I'm leaving my old life. Packing my bags, bring lots of books, and jumping cheerfully on the plane that would take me from Oil City to The City of Heroes for a new step. I was really excited to live far away from my parents for the first time. Breathe, eat, and sleep in the same dorm room every single day with 3 strangers. I thought everything would be fine. But I was wrong.

Every night, I try my hardest to fall asleep. The sound of roommates laughing late into the night, their music playing, or their dirty laundry scattering the floor, aaarrrggghhh... that's so disruptive my sleeping time. Uncomfortable dorm life. I feel like there's no home for me. The first year away is hard in so many ways :(


So in the second year, I decided to move to a single-big room in a new place. I have complete control over my life. I also have the freedom to be alone. But a new problem arise ; I can't wash my own clothes and I don't know what to do that. I can't cook, I never went to the traditional market, I don't know how to keep my room neat and clean, I can't drive a car, and I didn't know how to take public transportation. At the dorm ? Simple, I paid someone to do all of that, lol. At my parent's home ? I never contributing significantly in the household work :(


In the new place, I got tired of feeling that I'm always dependent on someone. They are not always be there to help me for some time. Maybe it's oke if I still lived at my parent's home, but now I'm living far away from them. I realized I have to change. I had to know how do laundry, how to keep my room neat and clean, how to going anywhere with 'angkot', how to going on holiday alone.


Proud of myself, few years after that, I ride a bus for daily struggle in to work, lol. It's not easy but I can get through the struggle and being a pro after few months, lol. We just need to be brave...


I always miss my hometown. I always miss my childhood friends. But solo living was one of the best things I've ever done for myself. Thanks to my parents ! At least, after married, I know how to live in Solo without household personal assistant, lol. I know how to commute going to Mall for lunch dates with my friend, lol. Even sometimes I'm having a bad day with the chores around the house, I'm being able to take care of everything by myself. I'm consistently letting my dad know how the days I went trough and text every single of my childhood friend as often as possible.


Yeah... Solo living isn't always easy for me but it teaches me a lot. I'm stronger than I think, lol. I now appreciate and really grateful how solo living changed my life :)

Terbang Saat Trimester Pertama Kehamilan

Akhir tahun 2017 lalu, aku dan pak suami sudah rampung mengurus segala dokumen maupun keperluan perjalanan umroh. Ingin meninggalkan sejenak kehidupan yang cukup melelahkan. Sudah nyiapin doa 'khusus' yang akan kami munajatkan pada-Nya nanti disana.

Jadwal keberangkatan kian dekat dan keinginan berdoa langsung di tanah suci semakin lekat.

Qadarullah, perjalanan umroh yang akan berlangsung di bulan April 2018 harus dibatalkan. Anehnya, nggak ada rasa gundah secuil pun muncul di hati kami, nggak juga menyalahkan siapa pun. Yakin bahwa DIA pasti menghendaki yang terbaik atas rencana kami.


Dan itu benar. Yaaa, doa 'khusus' yang ingin kami panjatkan disana, Allah kabulkan dibulan yang sama. Aku positif hamil.

Meyakini Proses

Sebetulnya, kami berdua ini mamusia-manusia yang pedenya gede banget. Yakin bahwa takdir selalu erat kaitannya dengan kehendak Sang Maha dan Ia tak akan mungkin mengecewakan kita. Apapun yang tak dikehendaki oleh-Nya, gimana pun kerasnya usaha kita, yaaa nggak akan pernah terlaksana.

(Baca juga ya : Anak Kedua & Cerita di balik Kelahirannya)

Masa awal menikah, semua berjalan biasa aja, santai nggak ada rasa khawatir sedikit pun. Pak suami juga masih konsentrasi menyelesaikan Thesis-nya. Masuk ditahun kedua pernikahan, setelah doi lulus dan mulai mengajar, suara-suara merdu pun mulai bermunculan. Orang-orang di sekitar mulai memantik pembicaraan soal usaha yang harusnya sudah kami lakukan.

Invest in Quality Shoes and How to Keep Them Looking Their Best

I don't remember how many times I've heard or read about "good shoes take you to a good place". I swear it's true.


I also loved to read people's personality by their footwear. Every well dressed man and woman should have a well shoes. But like you see, I don't have too many shoes. Because I don't have much money for buying shoes too often and I have shoe fit problem, LOL. I wouldn't buy a pair of shoes that doesn't match with my character and I know it won't last. So I just like to invest in quality shoes that I'll be using them for long time and caring them with my own ways.


And today, I'll share the best advice and simple tips from my personal experience to caring your favorite footwear. Let's check it out :)

Always Clean Immediately After Using

I always make sure my shoes are completely clean and dry before storing to the box. For shoes get dirty easily like Sneakers, I brush the dirty area with toothbrush and little soap until they're clean. After brush, I rinse the shoe with water directly, and dry off. Oh well, in my personal experience, wearing shoes with socks also keeping the insides of shoes from dirt and bad smell. Can you imagine how terrible it gets when you have to take your shoes off on the public place and smell bad ? Ugh !!!

I hate when I walk on a wet sidewalk after rain, it leaves the surface of my shoe soaked. But I usually used baby wipes to clean it in some cases like that, hahaaa. Simple and effortless. For not moist, then I wipe it back with dry wipes. But to prevent shoe damage, I suggest you to clean your shoes based on the type of material.

Keep Your Shoes in Transparent Shoe Box

One of the best way to keep my favorite shoes always looking good is keep them on the right place. Like I said, I don't have too many shoes. But for more easily to maintain my shoes regularly, I divided my shoes in 3 categories : 'everyday wear' shoes, 'special occassion' shoes, and 'rarely used' shoes. Well, each categories have different storage place. 

For easy to pick it up, I loved to put my 'everyday wear' shoes on the shoe cabinet with an open front for good air circulation around my shoes, but I feel difficult to control the dust condition. With that condition, I usually clean my most-used shoes once a month or when my shoes get so dirty.

For my 'special occassion' shoes, I keep them in transparent shoe box which is waterproof and dustproof. Besides to look more presentable, my shoes also unbreakable. Because it has ventilated to give my shoes place to breath. I recommend you to buy it at ACE Hardware store.


And when I've gotten an amazing shoe, I just want to use them properly at once. Just use for a couple of hours. I just keep my 'rarely used' shoe in the original box and I add a few packets of silica gel to

Add a Few Packets of Silica Gel Into The Shoe Box

Actually, we also found the material in tiny packets for free inside the box. It's name Silica Gel. It's need to be there to keep the shoes protected from the growing of mushroom in it. They'll pull the moisture away and make the shoe fresh. But you can buy those little one also at ACE Hardware.




Simple and very easy, right ??? So, there's no reason for us to be lazy to take care of our shoes. You know, a great pair of shoes are like a really good friends for us. Once you find the loved one, you never one to let them broke, you'll keeping them looking their best, and they'll taking you to a good place...

Nyaman Ngobrol Perihal Finansial Bareng Pasangan

Ngobrol seputar finansial memang selalu jadi isu paling sensitif bagi beberapa orang, termasuk dengan pasangan sendiri. Terutama soal penghasilan. Meski sebenarnya nggak ada salahnya juga untuk dibahas. Namanya juga hidup bareng, ya suka nggak suka harus bisa ngobrolin penghasilan dan pengeluaran tanpa gelut, dong ~

Sejak awal menikah, saya dan suami sangat transparan soal keuangan. Barangkali ada beberapa pasangan yang tidak cukup terbuka untuk hal yang satu ini. Padahal menyembunyikan sesuatu dari pasangan tuh bikin capek, lhooo. Sebab, bagi saya, persoalan keuangan dalam rumah tangga tak hanya berada di pundak suami atau hanya jadi tugas istri saja, melainkan tugas dan tanggung jawab bersama. Sehingga, terbuka itu penting. Mulai dari nominal gaji, income dari side job, list pengeluaran, harta bawaan, harta bersama, sampai harta perolehan. Loooh, loooh, berat ! Hahahaaa ~

Maka dari itu, awal bulan selalu jadi moment paling asyik kalo ingin ngobrolin soal keuangan. Suasananya masih adem. Ya iyalaaah saldo rekening baru nambah :))