Happy 3rd Blogoversary!!!

Blogging changed my life. I discovered it back in 2004 when I was looking for an online platform I could use as a journal. I started with Bravejournal. It was my first official blog. Before that, I used those other online diaries no longer active at the present. With my Bravejournal blog, I was able to write down snippets of thoughts from my chaotic mind. It became a therapy for me. It was a tough time for me back then and I didn’t want to burden the people around me with so much ranting. Blogging became an outlet for me to rant and rave about so many things in my life.

I wasn’t looking for friends that time. All I wanted was to write down all my conflicting thoughts and emotions. But the occasional comments gave me a high that I started waiting for it more and more. I met a good friend through the comments section and she’s the one who gave me the idea to try out Blogger.com. And so I started my Blogspot.com blog and made friends. Later on, I learned how to monetize my blog entries through the very same friend who directed me to Blogger. She told me that it’s time for me to get my very own DOT COM.

Thus, this blog was born.

It was May 9, 2007 when I registered this domain but the blog was up the very next day, May 10, 2007.

It has been three fruitful years since then. This blog gave me so much! I was able to work at home and spend time with my family. I was able to meet people who have become inspirations and friends even outside of the blogging world. For a meager domain registration fee, I was able to get back a hundredfold of blessings year after year.

Happy 3rd blogoversary to Sasha-Says.com! Here’s to more years of blogging!

WAH Moments: Audit time

It’s been a while since I shared a work-at-home moment. Been busy. I am trying to earn more than the usual. That’s because I am sending my brother to college plus I want to have a great summer vacation this year. Aside from blogging and some bookkeeping gigs, I am currently auditing a recruitment agency. My aunt’s husband owns one and since it’s nearing Income Tax Return (ITR) filing, they asked me to do the audit of their agency. Instead of lugging around my laptop from Quezon City to Paco to Quezon City, I am carrying a memory stick with me everywhere I go. This is the wonder of modern technology really. You need not carry heavy files with you. My aunt has a scanner in the office so instead of carrying files I need to look at when I’m home, I just scan it.

This is probably why working at home is such a breeze for me. There are just too many gadgets that can make my life easier. Especially now that it’s audit time once again!

WAH Moments: Christmas parties

My sisters are all going crazy about Christmas parties they need to attend. When you are working at home, of course, there are no office Christmas parties for you to attend to. I miss the chaos in the office while people are preparing for the Christmas party.

One of the companies I’ve been with is big on holiday parties. There are parties for each department, each location, and then the big one where every one converge. Since the Accounting and Finance department is the biggest department in the company, it is a big deal among the Finance executives. They would allot a portion of the savings in supplies and even donate a portion of their salaries for the event. That one party was actually one of the most memorable Christmas parties I participated in my entire career.

I miss participating in the preparation. The food, the games, the singing…

WAH Moments: Diversion

I have a short attention span. I need to have several things going on at every given period of time, otherwise I’ll go crazy over what I am doing for hours. If you are someone like me, you’d know what I am talking about.

Anyway, another advantage of working at home for me is that there are a lot of things that can divert my attention. TV shows, loud music, a neighbor popping in, a relative calling, a friend sending me a barrage of text messages, newspaper in the morning, a book that I can pick up anytime of the day… A 5-15 minutes diversion can do a world of good to someone like me who gets stuck in what I do if I just go at it for hours.

In a corporate set-up, you cannot simply walk away from your work to take breaks when you want to unless you are from upper management. There are coffee breaks, cigarette breaks and other in-between breaks one take. But can you really pick up a book and then read a chapter when you want to?

Happy Friday and have a great weekend everyone!

WAH Moments: Flexible time

One of the things I was lucky enough to get when I was still a corporate rat was a flexible time schedule. I am a night person. I function well at night. I can think straight when dusk sets in. So I always made it a point to ask for a flexible time schedule from my bosses. And I was lucky enough to get it.

Typical Filipino office time starts at 8 or 8:30 in the morning and it normally ends at 5pm onwards, depending on the 8 hours required by most companies. Since I live in Quezon City and traffic in the morning is horrible, I need to allot at least 2 hours travel time going to Makati City. If you take the MRT, you can slash 30 minutes from the travel time. Now if I want to come in on time by say 8am, I need to be able to get out of the house by 6am. Since I am a wash-and-wear type of person, I just need an hour tops to prepare for work. With that time frame, I need to wake up around 5am. Now that I cannot do.

That is the reason I ask for a flexible time schedule. I could wake up around 8am, be ready before 9am and be in the around 10am since it’s past the rush hour. I stay until 8 or 9 in the evening and go home past the rush hour.

Now that I work at home, of course, rush hour is something I am not worried about anymore. I work in a flexible time schedule that I really love. I know the best time of the day that I am productive. I know when I am least effective in coming up with ideas.

And the best thing about working at home?

I need not keep looking at the clock to check if it’s time for me to go home already. I’m always home!

WAH Moments and WS#30: New Desktop

I bought a new desktop. My old one crashed a few months ago. Instead of having it repaired which would mean a new motherboard, I thought of buying a new CPU instead. My cousin accompanied me (with my brother James and my friend Shen) last Saturday to buy the necessary CPU parts. We had it installed and because my old monitor is small, I thought I’d buy an LCD monitor. And here it is. I forgot to take a photo of my CPU though. I am more proud of the lovely LCD monitor hahaha

The reason why I bought a desktop is because I am online for more than 12 hours daily. I am afraid my laptop would die on me sooner than it’s expected life. Plus it might overheat. Thus the desktop. The laptop will be used when I go out or when my sister has some typing to do. And for my other sister to do the EC dropping for me

You know, the most essential tool for working at home is the computer. So if there is anything at all I could do that will prolong its life, I do it. Unlike in offices where if your computer crashes, or something goes wrong with it, there are other computers you can use. At home, I can only rely on what I have and buying a new one takes some time. Like this desktop took me a couple of months to save and buy one.

Have a great week everyone!

WAH Moments: Eating out with the boss

One of the advantages of working at home is that you need not worry about spending so much money on a single meal. Like what I did before when I was still working for a big call center company here in the country.

Every lunch time, my ex-boss, let’s call her Bratty, would ask the whole finance team to eat lunch with her. That was good considering some bosses ignores their staff outside the office, whereas Bratty wanted to spend lunch time with us. The problem was, she always picked the expensive restaurants. Where a single meal costs almost 500pesos (roughly $11). If you are someone like me who is a breadwinner, shelling out that much money daily is a big chunk out of the paycheck. 500 pesos in 5 days is 2,500 pesos (roughly $55) already. In just 1 week! Multiply that by 4 weeks and just imagine the number of grocery items you could buy from that amount already.

I could say no to the invitation and eat somewhere cheaper. But then, she’d make you feel like you were not part of the team. As second in rank to her, that’s a big blow. Being in her good side was my number one priority back then. I had no choice but to endure her constant bullying.

Now, thanks to freelance work, I no longer worry about spending that much in a day. Eating at home is undoubtedly cheaper than eating out. Plus, I get to eat more at a lesser price… One of the perks of working at home

WAH Moments: Waking up is hard to do :(

When I still have my day job working for a call center company, waking up in the morning was the hardest part. Even if I go to sleep earlier than usual (usual for me back then was midnight), I still find it hard to wake up in the morning. Since I had a flexible schedule then, I would wake up around 6:30am, prepare for less than an hour and would begin traveling to Makati City before 8am to get to the office before 10am. I didn’t use the metro rail (MRT) so I had to give my traveling time more allowance for possible traffic jam.

Back then, I always find myself dreading the morning when I had to wake up to go to the office. I am basically a night person. I thrive at night. Working at home now, I can already wake up even if I only had 2 hours of sleep. Maybe because I know I can take a siesta in the afternoon hehe

So how about you? Are you also having a hard time waking up in the morning to go to the office like me before?

Happy Friday and have a good weekend everyone!

WAH Moments: TGIF!

Thank God, it’s Friday!

When I was still a corporate rat, I looked forward to Fridays. It was my salvation day. The day when I could feel myself buoyed up by the realization that the work week was ending in a few hours. Only month-end reports could take that feeling away. I was lucky enough to find Monday-to-Friday jobs, with a flexible time schedule. On Fridays, I normally go to work earlier than usual so that I could also go home early.

Working at home now, Friday is just an ordinary day for me. I still look forward to Fridays because it is the start of the weekend for me. Weekends would mean the whole family is in. And that is what I look forward to more than anything. I also look forward to some relaxation on Fridays. Not too much pressure to take opps hehe

Happy Friday everyone! Have a great weekend!

WAH Moments: Monday morning rush

When I was still working for a corporation more than a year ago, Monday morning was the worst period of the whole week for me. I would get up around 5am so that I could get a head start and begin a pep talk to myself that the week would be a good one for a change. You could just tell how I dread Monday mornings. And how I hated it and rushing to work!

Now that I work at home already, Monday mornings are something I look forward to. I normally start the day around 7 or 8am with a cup of coffee and then I would proceed with checking my emails and pending tasks. No more bad Monday morning rush for me. The rush I feel now is for the urge to go to work immediately. No more dreadful feeling on a Monday morning just because I hated my work.

Working at home has some benefits and this is one of those.

Happy Monday and have a great week everyone!

Note: Work-at-home (WAH) Moments will be posted twice a week starting today. It will be on a Monday and Friday.