As I am espousing frugality in this blog, we have to examine the reason why we’re doing it in the first place. Since our resource is limited [the money] we need to spend it where it matters most to us. Our daily expenses revolve around food, transportation, some niceties and occasional luxuries here and there.…
A good friend Jef shared in my Facebook feed a link to Kuripot Pinay’s 52 Week Money Challenge blog post. Originally from Life As You Live It’s blog, Kuripot Pinay’s version of the money challenge basically converted the currency from dollar to peso. You start the first week at 50 pesos and increment savings by…
I have finally paid off my credit card debt. After five years of struggling to pay my credit card, the battle is finally and officially over. The plan for now is to never borrow again. The plastic won’t be used for grocery and shopping. Exception is our business’ online transactions [ we have a photo…
Today, I received my final pay slip for the year. I had been anxious waiting for my pay to be credited in my payroll bank account so I have the money to pay my remaining credit card balance. I’m not sure if they’d give me my last pay immediately as I already resigned from the…
I received my credit card electronic billing statement this morning. I started doing a ‘full assault’ to my credit card debt two month’s ago and my sacrifices are now paying off. I was able to reduce my credit card debt down to 30% on my first month, and last month’s effort was also promising. Although…
Whenever we go out recently, either for leisure or for our side business, we see to it that we bring a bottled water for two or a jug of water for the group. It is more convenient to have a water container on hand than looking for the nearest convenient store to buy a drink…
There comes a time when you’re right on track with your budget, with no extra to spare and then suddenly you have your relative calling you to bail him or her from a financial mess. It’s good if you have savings where you can pull the resource to help but for somebody like me who’s…
I’m talking about personal networth. Since 2009, I’ve been computing my personal networth via a spreadsheet. I listed down all my assets, investments, savings then subtract all of these from my credits and other liabilities. Sad to say, I’m in the negative. How did that happen? If I had been aware of my networth about…
Long before I got this idea from Gail Vaz Oxlade’s book ‘Debt Free Forever’ my ex-girlfriend [now my wife] already had her own system of budgeting. She had these small boxes of San Mig coffee sachets where each box is labeled with a category to which the money will be spent. I can say my…
Every since I could remember, I have all the intentions of getting myself out of the credit card sink hole. That was year 2009 and up until know, I am still buried neck deep [and barely breathing]. My ambitious target then was to cut my credit card debt in half. Four years later, my debt…
I’m happy with the way things are going in my budgeting. It’s like having a newfound skills just like driving, where it brings you into a new territory and you get to explore it. I’ve been budgeting ever since I started working here in Manila. I started with a tickler, a handy pocket notebook that…
Ever since working in the corporate, I got used to having my hair cut done in hair salons in the malls. It’s expensive but I didn’t mind because I was thinking these are professional hair stylists who have years of experience in giving you the best hair cut. A senior hair cutter at David’s charges…
Setting up an appointment with the dentist for a regular dental cleaning (prophylaxis) is one of the things that we take for granted as Pinoys. Either we don’t have a time for it, or we don’t have the money. I had my prophylaxis done one time in Makati Med and I was charged for a thousand pesos…
This morning, our house helper couldn’t open the dead bolt of our main door. The lock got stuck while the screws of the main lock is loose. Both needs to be replaced. My immediate reaction is to call a repair man in the ‘hood to replace both locks. I was in a hurry for work…
After I recently went back to commuting to office, I started looking into my other daily activities where I can reduce further my expenses. Simple things that when computed in a year would result into a significant amount of money. It’s a great feeling to be finally aware of my spending habit and have that…
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