How to save money

Studying in a country that has a higher currency rate compared to your country is scary because you don’t know when those currencies will skyrocket and make you drown in your own tears of agony. I try to always keep a reasonable amount of money in a separate wallet so that I can use it just in case the exchange rate goes wrong and living cost became a huge problem. However, that method of securing the money in another wallet is not really effective for me because I feel that I always have enough at the moment. It makes me spend my money on things that I don’t really need at the moment. (Screw you Amazon).

An average student spends around 80000 yen per month including dorms, insurance, food and also other miscellaneous expenses. 50000 yen is spent for the dorms, insurance, and phone bills. So that means the remaining 30000 yen for food and others. I actually spend around 6000 yen per week for food, which means I need around 24000 for one month. It leaves 6000 yen for miscellaneous expenses. OK, to be honest, 6000 is not enough for miscellaneous but manageable if I could just ignore the urge to buy things.

The core of the problem and solution:

One – I always have two months worth of dorm, insurance, and cell phone bill for safe keeping. But I always ended up using that money for other useless expenses because I always have it near my reach. So I decided that I would just deposit that money to my Japanese bank account so that I can’t really access it anytime I want.

Two – Amazon. Freaking digitalized era is dangerous for my soul. All these products that are on discount are making my fingers itch to click on it and put it in my shopping cart, really. I should stop checking at this website when I’m bored and find another source of entertainment. Actually, I should just stop putting things in the shopping cart because that’s the thing that urges you to buy those things. It’s like they keep releasing the message ‘Hey, when are you going to purchase me?‘ when you put it in the cart because they keep you reminded of those unimportant things that you want to have.

Three – Youtube. It’s actually okay to watch those short knowledge videos about various things but I might need to skip videos that show ‘____ Haul or Unboxing or Review‘ because those were the things that made me interested and piques my interest to know more about a certain product or object. I think that Youtube might be the main reason I keep going back to Amazon so that I could check on things. Pure evil.

So, yes, those are the solutions that I created for myself right now. I really hope that I stop purchasing unimportant things from now on. Please share me any tips so that I could stop this bad habit. 😆

Review: Japanese Skin Care

I decided to do a review for the skincare products that I bought several weeks ago on a whim. Overall, the products were good but there are certainly some that I wouldn’t repurchase unless I have no other alternatives.

DHC Cleansing Oil

This cleansing oil was actually really good on removing makeups, however, it dries my skin a little and has a bit of scent that I don’t really like. Moreover, it’s a bit pricey for the amount that I get. I don’t know about other cleansing oils, but I heard the one by Biore is pretty good and has a cheaper price compared to this product. While it has a good quality, I won’t be repurchasing this because of the price and because the effect it gives is the same with other products with a lower price.

Cure Natural Aqua Gel

Cleansing oil (left) and exfoliator (right)

I must say that this exfoliator is amazing. It peels off the dead skin so fast and makes your skin so smooth in an instant after application. If there is any reason for me to not repurchase this product, it would be the price. Spending ¥2500 for one bottle is quite too much even though the bottle would last for months because you don’t use this product on a daily basis. But for now, I will continue to use it until I find a cheaper and better substitute for this product (if any) in the future.

Update 20/5: My skin became super dry after several uses of this product and it started to peel like crazy. It’s like my skin is shedding. Not going to repurchase this. Will just use Lush instead.

Shiseido Perfect Whip

This is my very first foam cleanser that I have and I really love it since it makes my face feel so clean and refreshed after usage. I only need a small amount of it every time and add water to create the foam. I did state on my first haul post that creating the foam was a bit hard, but it turns out to be very easy! I just need to add more water to the soap and it creates more foam in an instant. Maybe I will repurchase this product, but I have another cleanser that I wanted to try, so maybe after I finished the other product then I will decide on this matter.

Update 20/5: I don’t if it’s my skin or it’s because of the weather, but recently my face has become so dry after washing using this cleanser. I feel like everything was stripped off and dry. It’s ‘too clean’ to the point my natural oils were stripped off.

Hadalabo Super Hyaluronic Acid Lotion

I think that this product has a reasonable pricing for the amount we get. You only need three to four drops of this moisturizer per application to keep your skin moist every day, which is amazing. It doesn’t have any strong smell or anything and it feels light on your skin as well. A good thing about this product is that it doesn’t give my skin any bad effects or breakouts. Same with the foam cleanser, I also had some other products that I wanted to test out and compare to this moisturizer before deciding to repurchase or not. But it’s definitely my favorite moisturizer for now.

Hatomugi Skin Lotion

I couldn’t find a clear picture of the product online so I decided to just use my previously taken picture for the haul post.

This product (left side of the picture) is so watery and takes a few seconds for your skin to absorb. It has a light scent and alcohol-free, which I like, but unfortunately is only able to moisturize my skin for several hours a day. I have a very dry skin for my legs so having to reapply this moisturizer every several hours might be troublesome. I won’t be repurchasing this and will resort to other body moisturizers in the future.

Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Gel

This might be my favorite sunscreen for now! It’s applicable for both face and your body so it’s very convenient to have. This product is also water resistant and has SPF 50+ as well as PA++++! The product has the consistency of a watery gel and is really easy to be absorbed by the skin. I will definitely purchase this product in the future. Love it to bits!

That is it for the product review for now. I will try more different products in the future and share it when I get the time to do so. I hope this is informational for others who are interested in these Japanese products.

Review: Herschel Supply Pop Quiz

I purchased this backpack when I saw that it was on discount back in my country. I don’t want to admit it, but I’m a sucker for discounted items which is why I decided to go and purchase this bag the moment I saw it. 😥

The bag was originally ￥11,664 (converted from Rp) but I got it for ￥6466. There were several colors available but this navy bag is the only one that gets discounted. Since this bag was really pricey, I decided that this would be something that I bought using my birthday present money. Lol.

Now the reason why I bought this was:

It had a nice laptop compartment (which my previous bag didn’t have)
More slots than my previous bag (my old school bag only had 1)
Lightweight and sturdy
It looks … nice (I can give this to my brother later on)

The only problem was this bag has a bigger size compared to my old one.

My first bag was so small that I thought this bag would look gigantic on me. I was originally going to buy the Mid Volume size but the downside was the unavailability of these wonderful organizers in the front pocket.

Which is why I decided to choose the organizers over the smaller compact size of the bag. The front zipper was quite hard to access, though, which made me frustrated just by trying to get it open sometimes because the stiff canvas material makes it hard for the zipper to glide. Hopefully, after several times of usage, the material won’t be as stiff anymore.

I couldn’t get a nice picture of it, but if you see the main picture on the top of the page you could see a single zipper hanging from the top of the bag which grants you access to a little pocket for sunglasses or any small thing you would like to insert, which is really nice. Also, the inside of the bag has a cushioned laptop compartment and a sleeve for an MP3 player, which I used it as my umbrella storage.

That is all for the backpack review! Overall, I’m glad that I got to purchase this bag but at the same time, I regret a little bit because I don’t really need a new backpack for now since my old ones are still usable. Maybe I will keep this bag for the time being and give it to my brother if I decide to use my old bag once I get home. 😉

Wrap-up: January ’17

It’s the first time I …

Spent my New Year and Chinese New Year alone
Spent so much on skin care products
Spent so much on Amazon
Used the word spent too much
Regret doing all the things listed above

One of my biggest challenges was …

Being able to keep my expenses low
Keeping my grades up for my management class
Being a little bit more outgoing

My little achievements

Getting a perfect score for my Japanese class presentation on Highways
Scoring constant A+ for my Japanese quizzes and essays
Got my management lecture essay score increased from 4 to 4.5 out of 5
I learned a bit of Korean!
Not giving into temptation and purchasing more winter clothes (lol)
Distancing myself from online-gaming

I was happy for

My new big brown rug (it’s so fluffy)
Receiving a Totoro keychain as a souvenir from my Japanese friend (my very first souvenir here!)

I was quite upset because

My new white Puma sneakers was too big for me 😦
I lost the Totoro keychain at one point because the rope snapped
My favorite sweater’s got a hole on it …

But, it’s okay!

I am currently attempting to return the shoes to the manufacturer
My lovely friend magically found the Totoro on the street!
Mom will fix it for me once I get back (and I’ve purchased a very cheap and good sweater in exchange)

My plans for February

Return to Indonesia to spend some time with my family
Purchase something as a souvenir for them
Study more Japanese in advance
And maybe some Korean
Plan a new schedule for the next semester

After this I’m going to …

Study for my final exams! It will end this Friday, so wish me luck! 😆

Winter 2016/2017 Anime

Most of the anime for this season is a continuation for leftovers and second seasons. There were several new original ones that caught my eye as well. But most of all, I’m most excited for the continuation of my old favorite anime, Ao no Exorcist.

Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujouou-hen

Promotional wallpaper from the official website.

The opening song, “Itteki no Eikyou (一滴の影響)” by UVERworld is simply addicting. I just love UVERworld songs! 😆 The ending song, “Kono Te de (コノ手デ)” by Rin Akatsuki is just beautiful and it really depicted all the main characters of the story. I hope the full version of these songs get released soon!

ACCA 13-ku Kansatsu-ka

I love anime about organizations with spies and secrets and all those intelligent plots, and ACCA is the one for this season! If you love titles such as Psycho-pass, Baccano! and Joker Game, this might be the right series for you. The story follows Jean Otus who works in an inspection agency for the kingdom and was secretly being spied on by his higher-ups who suspect Jean for planning a coup d’état.

I fell in love with the opening song of this anime. “Shadow and Truth” by ONE III NOTES is really catchy and I can’t stop listening to it once I do. 😆

Other titles that I might watch

That’s it for this season’s watch list! I know there isn’t much but at least those were the anime that I was really looking forward to and met my expectations!

Moving Out: Alone or No ?

Students of my university get the privilege to stay at the on-campus dorm for a maximum time of one year. Afterward, they would have to resubmit an application and get screened to apply for a second year stay, which is somewhat a pain in the ass because there’s this big fat chance that you won’t get accepted. Otherwise, students need to search for an apartment at downtown where you have to pay your own lease, water, electricity and internet.

So here’s the thing. Furnishing a new empty room wouldn’t be something cheap to do if you’re moving in alone. However, things wouldn’t be so bad if you’ve got a friend that moves in with you so that every expense you made for that apartment related things would be cut in half or even a third if you’ve got two other people who will join you. The problem is, not everyone’s got a friend to move in with.

I personally love the concept of living alone because you can do anything you like in your own apartment. It’s just that you have to pay the key money which would cost like ¥80000 or even more depending on your location and room size if you’re alone. That still excludes the lease which would cost you around ¥40000-50000 per month.

Living together with someone eases the financial problems of living alone but in return gives you several limitations of what you could do alone. There’s also this problem when you’re just a loner and nobody really knows you so they don’t even think of inviting you to move out together (in this case, me). Moreover, things could get a little messy if that someone who you share your monthly rent with suddenly decides to move out or have an exchange for a year and leave you alone to search for a new friend to fill in that empty room. Totally not worth the trouble.

I still have a lot of doubts about this a little suggestion about this matter would really help!

Studying abroad while abroad

It’s been like four to five months ever since I’ve left home just to study abroad in Japan and it does feel fun and exciting to step out of your comfort zone and learn to do everything by yourself just by living alone. But thinking about spending the whole four years in Japan just to study, commuting to school and back home every day doesn’t sound really appealing and really monotone to me.

Well, luckily, the university where I’m enrolled to now offers a study abroad program (yes, even though we international students are now abroad). They have a list of partner universities throughout the world where you can go and apply for as an exchange student for either a semester or a whole year.

I’ve already talked to my mom before I departed and she thought that Korea would be a great idea to go for an exchange. It’s just right next to Japan and moreover, I can challenge myself to study a new language altogether! (Even though I still have lots to go for Japanese, I suck at kanji for real).

So I thought of applying for this exchange program during the third year, which is still a long way to go but at the same time a short time to prepare for all the language and applications because you have to apply 1 year in advance for the exchange. I’m still not sure whether I should take a go for it but I’ve browsed and took notes of the available universities for exchange and has business administration for it’s major.

Dongseo University
Ewha Womans University
Hanyang University
Korea University
Kyung Hee University
Pusan National University
Sogang University
Sookmyung Women’s University
University of Ulsan
Yonsei University

They all have dorms available for exchange students. Some of them, such as Sogang and Ulsan offer meal packages so that you don’t have to worry about your meal every day! All those universities sound international-students friendly but not all of it are located in Seoul. I guess I need to research more in the future so that I can decide better.

Oh, and I’ve started to learn Korean language during my winter vacation. I can now read and write hangeul letters as well as make simple sentences (with limited vocabulary)! Self-teaching yourself a whole new language is quite scary because no one will tell you if you made a mistake or not. Sigh. I do plan to take the Korean language at my second year, though. Let’s just hope I have enough credits and time to do so. Until then!

Japanese Skin Care Haul

Coming to Japan, I’ve always been interested in their skincare and makeup products because of the packaging! I personally am not a makeup fan, however, I still love skin care because they’re important! I did several kinds of research on the most popular skin care products available and decided to give it a try!

Honestly, I’m not happy with the amount of money I spent because, holy, they’re so expensive (accumulated)! All the prices stated below includes tax.

The items that I purchased include:

DHC Deep Cleansing Oil
Shiseido Perfect Whip
Cure Natural Aqua Gel
Hadalabo Super Hyaluronic Acid Lotion
Hatomugi Skin Lotion
Biore UV Aqua Rich
Missha Magic Cushion no.23 (This is a Korean product, but I bought them together with the others, so I won’t include a separate section for this.)

DHC Deep Cleansing Oil & Cure Natural Aqua Gel

The DHC Deep Cleansing Oil (¥1239) is so popular among the reviews so I decided to try it out myself. It indeed works really good and lifts makeup really quickly unlike other cleansers. The price of the product is a bit expensive in my opinion.

The Cure Natural Aqua Gel (¥2500) is an exfoliator which literally has magical powers to exfoliate your skin in seconds after application. I just tested this out yesterday and it really works well. I haven’t noticed any side effects, yet. This product is the most expensive among the things that I bought.

Shiseido Perfect Whip

Despite having Shiseido as it’s brand, this foam cleanser is actually quite cheap for around ¥428. It does produce a lot of foam if you put in the effort lol. However, I’m not the type of person who likes to waste time to just create a foam so, in the end, I just use it directly after giving it a little bit of water. My face does feel a bit cleaner, I guess.

Hatomugi Skin Lotion & Hadalabo Super Hyaluronic Acid Lotion

The Hatomugi Skin Lotion (¥378) is really cheap for the 500ml amount you can get. It has a watery consistency (hell, it’s literally water) and it doesn’t make your skin feel sticky. It does help my skin a bit from peeling off because of the cold weather. I don’t know how effective this product is yet, though.

This Hadalabo Hyaluronic moisturizer (heck the name’s too long) costs around ¥934 and works wonders. I only need three drops of it to cover my whole face and it really does make your skin moisturized for hours after application. A bit pricey but I guess it’s worth it.

Biore UV Aqua Rich

Sold for ¥838 and is said to have a super effective protection against the sun, moreover, it’s waterproof! You can apply it on both your face and body so it’s really convenient to have. It doesn’t cause a white cast on your skin as well.

That is all for the haul! Sorry to bore you with all the stuff, but I hope you enjoy reading it!

Hi, 2017

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! I hope we all had a blast and a great New Year celebration.

2016 Summary

In 2016 I finally graduated from high school and got enrolled in a university in Japan. I took a major in business just as my dad told me to. So far I’ve been enjoying the new trial and challenges that I’ve faced. I got to make friends from all different nationalities. This year is also the first time where I can’t celebrate my mom’s birthday, Christmas and also New Year with my family. I kinda miss them but we can still communicate every day using video calls!

Regrets

I got myself a part time job at a four-star hotel near the city where I live. It was fairly easy to get hired because they lack employees. The hotel also provides free shuttle bus for students who are doing part time there so that they don’t need to pay for the transport expenses. However, after experiencing work there for a whole day as a buffet hall server, I quit. I quit because I couldn’t keep up with the harsh work that I had to do around the clock. Even though the kitchen manager offered to talk about the shifts with me, I said that I couldn’t continue anymore. I was ashamed of myself not being able to work properly. Sigh. I then realized that there would be no other place where I could get hired and work as easily at that hotel.

Of course, I have more regrets than what I’ve written above, but that’s like my biggest regret lol.

What I’ve been doing

I haven’t been posting on this blog lately since I’m having my pleasant winter break (since I quit my job)! I’ve been marathoning lots of Korean dramas that I’ve been missing. 😀 I’m a bit depressed because school is going to start really soon on the 10th of January. Moreover, I still have tons of homework that I need to finish. 😦

No resolutions?

I used to make New Year’s Resolutions but I guess I stopped making it when I realized I could’ve never accomplished those resolutions haha. I do like having my goals set but I don’t like the feeling of burden or pressure I get from not getting it done. I even made goals of what I should do during my winter break but now I don’t even try to get those bullet points checked.

Well, perhaps, I’ll just set a simple goal of getting a part time job somewhere.

I hope 2017 would be a great start for everyone!

Traveler’s Journal Additional Purchases

The three things that I purchased: Plastic board, brass tag and Kuretake watercolor

After I purchased the Traveler’s Journal last time, I browsed more at the online shop and decided to get three more items for my journal!

The plastic is for a smoother writing surface. I used the brass tag as a charm so that I could easily take the rubber band out when I want to open the notebook.

Because it’s made from brass, it will take some time before the color will change. It has the same color changing concept as the Traveler’s Notebook so it’s really interesting!

If you remember, I’ve mentioned that I had a Sakura KOI Watercolor set last time. However, I didn’t bring it here to Japan so I decided to get a new watercolor set! The paint is really pigmented so I think it’s a pretty good quality. I’ve tested some of the colors out and they’re really good!

That is all for my little purchase this time!