Welcome to Taumbahay.com! I am Bella (pronounced bell-yah, unlike the lead female of Twilight). I'm a freelance writer, consultant, small-business owner, a level 4 investor, and a homeschooler. Bella A. Carlos is an anagram of my real name, maybe you can guess what it is? ;)
Update: I stopped doing freelance writing in 2014 to focus on providing visa consultancy services. I'm now an education agent and migration specialist for Australia. I still consider myself a small-business owner and a homeschool parent.
Are you a parent with kids struggling to get ahead in life? Do you wish you had more time for yourself and your kids at the same time? Well me too! That's why I started this blog, because I've stopped wishing and started doing. I'm living them - my dreams. I am not rich, not yet, but I know I'll get there.
This blog is about DIY financial education and how I impart it to my kids. Although I taught professionally in a primary school setting, I don't have any formal license on teaching or investing. Sometimes a bachelor's degree + experience is enough I suppose. Now on investing, I am a fan of selected personal finance authors and writers who have greatly influenced the way I manage money and you can read about them here ( >> still working on this, stay tuned).
I would say I am family-oriented. But I haven't always been. I came to a realization that my purpose in life is to be a problem-solver. I also realized that it would be selfish to focus on just improving myself and family. So I thought, maybe if I become successful one day and shared through this blog how I did it, I would also be servicing others - people who are also in search of a path to happiness, contentment, raising moral and independent children and financial gain. Yes, having lots of money is part of being happy as it is an essential just like food, clothing and shelter. The tricky part is how to make lots of it without sacrificing so much of your time? That's one problem I'm working on.
When I was younger I was a big fan of Star Wars and Superman (played by Dean Cain). I was going to be a career woman, migrate to the States, to either marry George Lucas and live happily ever after at Skywalker Ranch, or, marry Dean Cain. Having kids, or homeschooling for that matter, did not enter my mind (I was 13). Twenty years later I have four children - three boys and one girl (in that order). Their ages are now 13, 9, 7 and 3.
I've accomplished one of the things I said I would do - become a career woman.
As my children grew, something in me began to change. You see, I was usually back to working in the office after only one month each of my children was born. I began to realize that memories of my children as babies, their milestones, are now a big blur. I can't remember anymore and that still haunts me. I've been so busy that I've not noticed how fast my kids were growing. I didn't like what I was becoming. I had to stop doing some things, unlearn what I knew, and start from the beginning, in order to change.
So now I'm on this journey, to being a SAHM slash WAHM (stay at home mum / work at home mum) taking charge of things at home, no nanny or househelp, no nothing. Oh yeah and I homeschool my kids. I do make it a point to shower daily, but forget brushing my hair... anyway...My husband does his best to do what he can to help me. He is a handyman to have around and Taumbahay.com was his idea. He was the original taumbahay between the two of us. I will talk about that in another post.
That's what my blog is about - my homeschooling journey to financial freedom, my search for practical solutions to everyday family problems. Please do subscribe, it's free!
This is the short version about me, I have written a longer version about me if you are curious.
Update: I stopped doing freelance writing in 2014 to focus on providing visa consultancy services. I'm now an education agent and migration specialist for Australia. I still consider myself a small-business owner and a homeschool parent.
Are you a parent with kids struggling to get ahead in life? Do you wish you had more time for yourself and your kids at the same time? Well me too! That's why I started this blog, because I've stopped wishing and started doing. I'm living them - my dreams. I am not rich, not yet, but I know I'll get there.
This blog is about DIY financial education and how I impart it to my kids. Although I taught professionally in a primary school setting, I don't have any formal license on teaching or investing. Sometimes a bachelor's degree + experience is enough I suppose. Now on investing, I am a fan of selected personal finance authors and writers who have greatly influenced the way I manage money and you can read about them here ( >> still working on this, stay tuned).
I would say I am family-oriented. But I haven't always been. I came to a realization that my purpose in life is to be a problem-solver. I also realized that it would be selfish to focus on just improving myself and family. So I thought, maybe if I become successful one day and shared through this blog how I did it, I would also be servicing others - people who are also in search of a path to happiness, contentment, raising moral and independent children and financial gain. Yes, having lots of money is part of being happy as it is an essential just like food, clothing and shelter. The tricky part is how to make lots of it without sacrificing so much of your time? That's one problem I'm working on.
When I was younger I was a big fan of Star Wars and Superman (played by Dean Cain). I was going to be a career woman, migrate to the States, to either marry George Lucas and live happily ever after at Skywalker Ranch, or, marry Dean Cain. Having kids, or homeschooling for that matter, did not enter my mind (I was 13). Twenty years later I have four children - three boys and one girl (in that order). Their ages are now 13, 9, 7 and 3.
I've accomplished one of the things I said I would do - become a career woman.
As my children grew, something in me began to change. You see, I was usually back to working in the office after only one month each of my children was born. I began to realize that memories of my children as babies, their milestones, are now a big blur. I can't remember anymore and that still haunts me. I've been so busy that I've not noticed how fast my kids were growing. I didn't like what I was becoming. I had to stop doing some things, unlearn what I knew, and start from the beginning, in order to change.
So now I'm on this journey, to being a SAHM slash WAHM (stay at home mum / work at home mum) taking charge of things at home, no nanny or househelp, no nothing. Oh yeah and I homeschool my kids. I do make it a point to shower daily, but forget brushing my hair... anyway...My husband does his best to do what he can to help me. He is a handyman to have around and Taumbahay.com was his idea. He was the original taumbahay between the two of us. I will talk about that in another post.
That's what my blog is about - my homeschooling journey to financial freedom, my search for practical solutions to everyday family problems. Please do subscribe, it's free!
This is the short version about me, I have written a longer version about me if you are curious.
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