Family

Getting A Taste Of FIRE – Being On Maternity Leave

Getting A Taste Of FIRE – Being On Maternity Leave

I am writing this post after staying at home with my baby on maternity leave for three weeks. It makes me feel like I’m already retired early and financial independent (FIRE), at least for the time being. I don’t have to go to work, which […]

How 2 Frugal Parents Take Care Of A Newborn & A Toddler

How 2 Frugal Parents Take Care Of A Newborn & A Toddler

When Mr. FAF and I found out that my mom couldn’t come to DC to help us with our second baby, we freaked out. Big time. We still remembered those sleepless nights when our son was born 3.5 years ago. We were sleep-deprived and exhausted, […]

Announcing The Birth Of Our 2nd Baby – How It All Happened

Announcing The Birth Of Our 2nd Baby – How It All Happened

Mr. FAF and I are very happy to announce the birth of our daughter – Baby F2. She was born one week early. Both mommy and baby are doing well. Now that the frenzy of having a new baby is finally slowing down, I want […]

Musings on Crazy Rich Asians Movie/Book

Musings on Crazy Rich Asians Movie/Book

There has been such a hype about a movie/book called “Crazy Rich Asians” that I can’t help but noticing. This is one of the rare Hollywood movies with all Asian actors, something only The Joy Luck Club movie had 25 years ago. The movie and […]

Is It A Mistake To Get Married?

Is It A Mistake To Get Married?

This post was written a couple of months ago when I started having doubts about my own marriage as I mentioned in the posts below. Since then, things have improved a lot between Mr. FAF and me, mostly due to our open communication and efforts […]

Money & The Self-imposed Resentment

Money & The Self-imposed Resentment

Mr. FAF and I have a generally happy marriage. I said “generally” because we do face problems in our marriage. Sometimes it takes only a brief conversation to address the issue at hand. Sometimes our conflict resurfaces multiple times until it’s resolved with a huge […]

How We Are Preparing To Welcome Our 2nd Baby

How We Are Preparing To Welcome Our 2nd Baby

We like planning One thing Mr. FAF and I have in common is that we like planning for the future. We have short-term plans for the weekend, mid-term plans for the end of the year, and long-term plans for our kids, our retirement, and everything […]

What Has Surprised Me About My 2nd Pregnancy

What Has Surprised Me About My 2nd Pregnancy

When I made the announcement about my second pregnancy in February this year, I was overwhelmed with the great feedback and encouragement I received from you all. Over the past five months I have experienced a lot of change in terms of our financial plans, […]

Dating, Marriage, Income & Background – Why They All Matter

Dating, Marriage, Income & Background – Why They All Matter

Itching to move out I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this on my blog, but I have a little sister. She’s 24 years old and currently lives in Vietnam. Recently, her company asked her if she wanted to be transferred to their office in Malaysia. […]

Are House Repairs Bad For Marriage?

Are House Repairs Bad For Marriage?

Mr. FAF and I argue pretty much every time something needs to be repaired at our house. It’s hard to pinpoint the one reason that that’s the case. When Mr. FAF and I lived in different cities, I handled all of our hour repairs. After […]

How Our Lives Have Changed After My Mother-in-law Left

How Our Lives Have Changed After My Mother-in-law Left

It’s official. My mother-in-law left (MIL) for China in early June after staying with us for a year. We are deeply grateful for all of her help. No one else (except for my mom) would do what she did for us. However, as I’m sure […]

The Pros & Cons Of Our Intercultural Marriage

The Pros & Cons Of Our Intercultural Marriage

As you can tell from the title, today I will talk about the pros and cons of my intercultural marriage to Mr. FAF. Intercultural marriage is defined in this post as a marriage between two people from two different cultures. I was born and raised […]