My Clutter-Free Journey Part 1

Assalamualaikum.

Hello peeps.

I have been having this clutter-free resolution since I submitted my proposal for defence early this week.

Since then I have been following amazing organizing ideas through  pinterest. It gave me a few amazing ideas myself.

1st project  was to rearrange my children's  toys. I already have these bench storage box for their toys. However, they tend to just toss the toys in the box which actually made searching for the toys a nightmare. Eventually, that made my children gave up playing with the toys stored in the bench storage box and just played with something else outside of the boxes... which means my stuffs too.

After a few pins  on pinterest... these are some cheap ideas I had myself.

1. Using those square plastic containers from biskut raya containers, to organize my children stationeries and arts stuffs. I just hate to see those containers laying at home. They were nice to use for selling raya cookies, but horrible at being airtight containers. The transparency of the containers makes it perfect to store pencils, pen, pencil color, crayon, etc.

2. Using plastic food containers to sort lego according to colors. This is one of the cheapest idea as I just recycle the containers and the tranparent feature shows the lego colors without the need for labelling.

3. Using the bench storage box to store plush toys and dolls. This is the easiest to do. Just throw the stuffs in there. However, I also use it as seats in the entertainment  room. So it's the perfect storage for my not-so-huge entertainment hall which also acts as a play area for my kids.

4. Using plastic raya biscuit jars to store pebles and ikea plastic clips. Another recycle idea as I have a lot of these jars.

5. Using small square storage boxes to store Alif's small cars and Ariq's small toys. I bought at Aeon Big less than RM6 each. Such a bargain...

That's  phase uno.

I have ordered some other storage boxes  for the next phase.

Will update from time to time.
InsyaAllah. ..

The story of me and Makcik Cleaner

Assalamualaikum wbt and a great day ahead.

I dedicate this post to a makcik cleaner I come to know since I moved here to this new place. She had helped me moved from room to room since I arrived. Since she delivered her newborn last year, I have never seen her until this month.

Every time I saw her, I will smile to her. She looked puzzled. She might have forgotten.

Until one day last week, we met at the toilet. YES.. the same toilet I had THAT INCIDENT the which-one-you-know.

I actually started the conversation.  I asked her whether she remembered me. After a while... she remembered.  She asked me what I was doing here and all.

M. Cleaner: Buat apa adik di sini?
Me: Saya sambung belajar.
M. Cleaner: ooo... tak abis belajar lagi. Lama2 belajar masih tak abis2 ya?
Me: bukan tak habis. Sambung ke peringkat lagi tinggi.
M. Cleaner: (puzzled)
Me: kalau sambung boleh naik pangkat.
M. Cleaner: ooo.. begitu. Nnt gajinya tentu akan lebih tinggi. Senang jadi pensyarah.  Duduk dlm bilik saja. Gaji besar. Berapa gaji ye? Ada RM10 ribu?
Me: Tak ada lah.. separuh sahaja dari tu. (A bit annoyed at the notion "duduk dalam bilik sahaja").
M. Cleaner: Itu pun banyak. kerja nya mudah sahaja. Tak spt kami... kerja dari pagi keras. Satu bangunan kami cuci. Dpt berapa ratus sahaja.
Me: Alhamdulillah.  Rezeki masing2 (still annoyed. . Even more.. which made me explained further) Pensyarah sudah bekerja keras menggunakan akal dan otak. Belajar smp bertahun2 lebih lama dari org lain. Tak semua org boleh jadi pensyarah.  Itu sebab gaji perlu setimpal. (That's the lowest I can explain in a polite manner making her understand while not offending her at the same time)
M. Cleaner: (startled at my explanation. Maybe didn't expect my answer) Iya. Benar. Saya pun tak boleh belajar tinggi. Pening kepala ini.
Me: Kakak.. kita semua di dunia ini punya tujuan diciptakan oleh Nya masing2. Bukan semua dlm dunia ini ttg duit. Nanti akhiran hidup kita..  bukan duit yg dilihat. Kan?

I walked away. Leaving her thinking about what I said.

In conclusion.

I have seen a lot of people complaining and comparing themselves to others. Complaining never solved anything. Take charge and plan the change... and start the change. I have friends who have been years wanted to do something to improve their lives. Never did because they are afraid or it costs some money... I sometimes even give suggestions for them to try. Never did. And they stayed the same until one day they see success in others and they start geeling baf abiut themselves and questioned why Allah treated them in that way. Allah will never change the fate of a race until they changed it themselves.  So.. work hard and tawakkal after that.

Second. Never ever say your job is shit. There are others who actually wants your job if you don't. Love what you do and try to find sincerity in it. Then Allah will reward us... insyaAllah. Think as your job a way to collect more rewards from Allah rather than a burden. 

Third. Never say other people's job is easier than yours.  Come on. Every job has its own challenge. It can be mind challenging.. energy draining..  resource costing... or patience enduring.. never ever compare. .

Lastly, at the end of the day its what we do as ibadah and amalan will be counted. We will return to Him. What way do we want to return to Him? Think about that. 

Makcik Cleaner, I hope I changed your thinking a bit. I know there are more thinking alike Makcik Cleaner. I still respect her as a human. You can be a cleaner and think like a scholar. Or the other way, you can be a scholar but thinking like a makcik cleaner. Which do you prefer?

The story of Toilet Ownership

Assalamualaikum wbt.

It has been awhile since I blogged. I have been very super duper extremely busy.. I just submitted my proposal for PHD and going to defend it end of this month.. wish me luck!

I have meant to share quite a lot of story since. I will cover it in short summaries. . InsyaAllah.

1st up... Toilet ownership...

Well.. I have been a student in here since..... urmmm... I can say before millenium! And I have seen how students are treated like a child... sometimes by admin workers.. sometimes even by lecturers. Now, don't get me wrong.  Not ALL staffs are like doing this to students.  I said SOME. But usually these SOME really give a bad reputation to any organization. . Right? 

That's why I vowed that I will never treat my student the same. I treat them with respect just like how I want to be respected.

Now... I am back being a student. A more mature student, ... doing PHD. Alhamdulillah.  I love studying which is among my main motivation.

One of the showing disrespect to staff is if we are using the staff toilet.

My main Q is.. why do we need to saperate between staffs and students' toilet?

I don't really mind if the students' toilets are equally clean and well-maintained like the staffs' toilet. However,  that's not the case isn't it??

Double standards seemed to be everywhere..

Which leads me to the next Q.
Why the cleaners cannot clean the toilets equally? The ratio of students to staff is so imbalanced maybe 1: 100?? So the total of student's toilet should be more and cleaned even more frequently. 

Bare in mind.. students are the customers here. They actually pay for our service.  And we treat them double standardly?? Right??

Which brings me to the next question.
What if the students which you treated like 'rubbish' becomes your colleagues.. or worst your boss?? Answer that? ???!!

That's why in Islam and even any religion we are required to respect all, regardless of age, education background, or rank.

I want to share this TOILET OWNERSHIP story since it happened... but I was angry that time.  So, I postponed until I can reason and tell it the best I can.

One fine day.. I used the Staff Toilet near the postgrad lab. Since I am a staff on study leave.. so I have no guilt.  As usual, I was minding my own business.  I heard sone noises outside the cubical of the toilet I was in. After a while, I cleaned and exit... smiling.. of course. 

To my surprise, a person was waiting outside. Her face full of unsatisfied gushes. Her arms folded to her chest. She was about to say something. However, her eyes caught my ID card which I wore everywhere since I joined the postgrad lab. I still used my staff ID to enter or exit the lab.

Amazingly,  she just proceed entering the cubicle I was from.

However, I was disgusted at her intentions. I felt that she was about to warn me, just like my other staff-on-study-leave friends had encountered.  Are they paying for the toilet? Or the cleaners are hired from their own pockets?? Even if that is true. .. the toilet is built for public use.... so what??

If we double standard people here in this life, can we be sure Allah will not treat us the same on the lifeafter??? 

Have deep thoughts about this....