Pre-Ramadan Preparation Experience.

Asaalam U Alaikum-Peace Be Upon You.

Last night, whilst awaiting the start of Maghrib Prayer (signifying the beginning of a new day), and in the midst of busy families ensuring final preparations for the holy Month of Ramadan were complete, we were endlessly texting among our friends, wishing each-other Ramadan Mubarak and chatting away about how excited we were.

And when the atmosphere suddenly changed, the smiles became apparent and phone notifications of loving Ramadan Messages were buzzing all around the house, it truly felt like the Holy Month.

Pre-Ramadan, we had met up a few times to discuss our preparations, and this Ramadan we were able to use technology to our advantage. Personally, I found productivemuslim.com  to be one of the most useful websites whilst planning for Ramadan, and I have heard others suggest the website to. I know the both of us definitely love their humorous Productive Ramadan videos.  

This year, as the fasting hours are quite long, I also decided to look up a few health tips prior to the month, and discovered a lot about eating a healthy suhoor and iftaar. In one of Mufti Menk's videos he suggested to keep the food we eat at iftaar quite simple, and a lot of bloggers seemed to agree- claiming you should stay away from fried foods straight after opening your fast. I also found out the key to a good suhoor (contrary to popular belief) isn't based upon how much you eat, but rather eating foods that will take longer to digest (such as porridge) and ensuring you have at least two glasses of water every morning.

In addition to the preparation, we both decided to 'de-clutter'. This refers to getting rid of all the clutter in our work planners, rooms and minds, and we both came to the conclusion that the key to doing this successfully is to take your time, otherwise you'll find yourself cleaning around your house and completing work (more often than you had planned) within Ramadan.

However, regardless of how your planning has gone, we still have the whole month ahead InshaAllah- and we would both like to take this opportunity to say Ramadan Mubarak!