Blogposts that I re-read over and over again because the content is just THAT GOOD. I was a bit late to the blog scene, stubbornly sticking to books and magazines that I deemed more ‘legitimate’. At the time, most blogs were in their infancy stages, with terrible neon colours and annoying animations. Exhibit A: What blogs were like back in the day. Source. I only started taking blogs seriously when I encountered some excellent, mind-blowing articles that helped me see things

When you're not an architect or a construction worker but you still insist on designing and building your own home. There’s nothing quite as luxurious as having something tailored just for you, be it a custom business suit that fits like a dream, a custom holiday with all your favourite activities, or... a custom house built with your lifestyle in mind! The beauty of building your own home is getting to have complete control over what it will be like. Rather than purchasing a

When others do such a great job that you want to do it too. I am certainly not the first to attempt building a house, or the first to try squeezing my life into a small space. Plenty of others have successfully done either or both of the above, and it is from them that I drew inspiration and nerve from. The first thing that got me seriously considering embarking on this project was a news article I came upon in my newsfeed, about a woman who singlehandedly (with a bit of help

Know where your money goes by tracking it. I was a scientist during my college days - I studied Biological Sciences and spent a few years working in a research lab. One of the crucial things I learned during that period is the importance of measuring. You see, if you don’t measure whatever it is you’re experimenting on, how will you know if it got bigger or smaller or better or worse? How will you prove or disprove your hypothesis? How will you know if the experiment is a suc

Familiar with New Year's Resolutions? Try Ramadan Resolutions. Most of us are familiar with (and are often well-meaning practitioners of) the New Year’s Resolutions. When one year ends, we get panicky about how we haven’t done very much in the past 300+ days, and to make up for it, we turn our attention to the upcoming new year. We solemnly resolve to lose weight, to earn more income, to run a marathon, to gain a promotion, to get married, to have children, to call our parent

Incredible, mind-altering books that shifted my view of the world and changed how I lived my life. I read a lot, and easily go through books the same way some people go through their secret snack stash - greedily, passionately and in no time at all. In my younger days, my parents even complained that I “read too much”, to the exclusion of other things (like housework, which they were trying to get me to do). I also spend a lot of time dreamily browsing through a bookstore, an

Five suggestions on what to get for that annoying, self-sufficient, minimalist friend of yours. Right around my 25th birthday, a former colleague, possessor of a generous heart who makes a habit of buying things for everyone and their grandmothers, turned to frown at me across her desk. She seemed unhappy with me, and felt the need to express a verbal complaint to a neighbouring colleague at the next desk: “You know, buying gifts for Atiqah is the opposite problem of buying g