2015 Midyear Goal Updates

It's the sixth month of the year 2015 and I am reviewing my goals posted on my wall again.
I was able to open a Soldivo account last January & reach my 2k target on my BPI atm account & my 20k target on my Philequity account last month.
I just deposited another 1k on FAMI-equity fund last Friday, a total of 13k on my equity fund & 11k on my balanced fund bringing me to a total of 24k on FAMI.
I just paid my BPI Philam insurance today (P 2,073.21).
So from those marked goals listed above 5 goals were achieved another 5 goals to reach this year.
5 out of 5 not bad for me, I still have seven months to complete this.

I plan to revise my #6 goals to addtl 5k on FAMI & 5k on Philequity instead of adding 10K on my Wealthbank Special Savings account. I might use it for tuition fee if my salary/income doesn't suffice my necessary expenses in the coming months.
I want to focus & be consistent with my mutual funds investments this year & hopefully reach my 200k total savings & investments goal before the year 2015 ends.



Just sharing again :)
Have a great Monday!

My Monthly Grocery Budget

These are the usual grocery items I bought every month, just the basics of course -
3 Coffee, 3 Sugar, 3 Coffemate, Butter, Oats, Bread, Milk, Vinegar, Soysauce, Fish Sauce, Catsup, Juices/drinks, Dishwashing liquid, Vegetable oil & Laundry powder soaps are the basic products I bought every month & my usual budget is P 1,000+++. But this time I only added 1 can of fruit cocktail, condensed milk & all purpose cream since I plan to make some macaroni fruit salad for my father's birthday.
I also bought this particular drinks - Pineapple juice for my father, Cranberry juice for my mother, & that Coke is for me (minsan lang naman, heheh :)
Stock Groceries
But before my mother & I do our grocery shopping I always check the stock of groceries left  in our kitchen, just to make sure I bought the necessary quantity that we only needed for a month.

The reason why I am posting this today - is that I am actually reviewing the grocery items I bought last month & thinking of ways to trim my grocery expenses into half.  Next month will be the start of the school year & as per agreement with my boss, I will only be working for 6 hours with no overtime so my salary will be trimmed into half. I know that I will encounter financial difficulties in the next few months so I'm already preparing for it. I already told my mother about my new budget plan (P500 for groceries), & she's okay with it. I also asked our bunso to take full responsibility on our monthly utility bills (meralco, water & pldt bills), & he answered " di ko kaya 'te, hati lang kaya ko". Oh well, what can I do ---kailangan pangatawanan ko to, gusto kong mag-aral e, pero di ko pa rin puedeng bitawan ang responsibilidad ko.

Just another challenge !!!! kakayanin ko to :)


Just in the mood of sharing some thoughts again today!
Have a great weekend!

Got a New Pair of Shoes

I'm a typical shirt & jeans employee who still loves wearing chuck taylor shoes.
I walk around 15 minutes to 30 minutes everyday to save 8 pesos to 16 pesos daily wearing my red chucks that I bought more than two years ago.
Yes my shoes is more than two years old & though it looked ugly & dirty I love wearing it but it was only last week that I noticed that the back side of my shoes is already smiling (medyo tuklap na ang swelas).
As much as I wanted to buy a new one, I still don't have a budget for it. I think the new converse shoes costs more than P 2,000+++. So my alternative solution - a cheaper one "for pangharabas use".
Last Wednesday, on my way home around 11:45 pm, I saw a bangketa shoe sale @ C-5. I dropped by, fit one shoe & though it was one size bigger I decided to buy it @ P 250.00. Since I was feeling so tired & sleepy that night, it only took me 5 minutes to fit & buy it. It was only in the morning that I realize I got a new pair of shoes already, hahah.

Cheap...??? For some who like branded shoes, maybe yes but for me I don't think so.
I'm just being practical, imagine the cost of my converse shoes before was P 1,850.00 divide it by 3 years (assuming my shoes will last until December 2015) equals P 616.67 per year or P 1.68 per day. This shoes that I just bought last wednesday only cost less that half of its price per year. The challenge this time - is for this shoes to serve me for atleast a year (tingnan natin ang tibay) , MARK THIS DATE - May 29, 2015, Im wearing it already!

Just following my own principle - "Spending according to my financial capacity" :)


Have a great day!
God Bless Everyone!

Hardware Tools, House Repairs & Fault lines


If you have read my last year's post about our house, you can see our house doesn't look good & it really needs some repairs especially on the inside & that's the reason why I become interested in collecting tools.
I know that hardware tools are essential at home for there were lots of times that we needed some quick repairs in our house and I have to borrow these tools from our neighbors.
So I started collecting it.
Whenever I go to the department stores I look for tools.
Whenever I enter the mall I visit either Ace Hardware or Handyman first.
I always look for sale items & I buy it.
My tool collections last year
That was last year, but after I bought the hammer drill & started reading financial blogs I lost my interest spending on these items. Sadly as I checked my tools two weeks, most of it were gone already. So again, I'm back to revisiting hardware stores & searching for some sale items again. Good thing I read this  post "10 tools every homeowner should have " last week atleast now I have guide of what the basic tools are needed @ home.

Speaking of repairs, as I was looking @ the roof of my brother's house two weeks ago, I saw some rust formations coming out so I headed to the hardware stores again, bought 2 liters of red primer oxide & 4 pouch packs of vulcaseal to prevent further leakages.
The hammer drill I bought last year & the extension cord I bought last week
I also bought one 18 watts LED flourescent lamp in exchange for the 23 watts bulb we had in between sala & kusina (tipid kuryente mode) & 15m extension cord ( from P 1299.75 down to P 995.00) which was also on sale that day. Good thing that our "suking karpintero" who happens to be our neighbor was there last Saturday. Some repairs were made in our house including my brother's house, installed the fluorescent bulb &  added lock in our main door. He also inspected our roof on the 2nd floor, put some vulcaseal in it & painted the other roof with red primer. But he told me that two of our roofs must be replaced "May tama na yung dalawang  bubong nyo kelangan ng palitan pero nilagyan ko na lang ng muna ng vulcaseal - pang temporary solution." We've been in that house for 15 years & it was only 3 years ago that I started a yearly maintenance, if only I have done it earlier I would have saved those GI roofs. I'll probably deal with it next year after I finish my studies (malaking pera na naman kasi ang kailangan pagpalit ng bubong). I hope that vulcaseal can still hold & prevent those leaks until next year.

I was about to end this post yesterday,  when the news about the west valley fault caught my attention. Philvocs already released the list of barangays near that fault & sadly, our barangay North Signal Village is included in that list. I am bothered by this news because the beam structure in our second floor is not yet finish. My mother & I were watching news yesterday & she told me "Anak, paayos mo na lang tong 2nd floor para tumibay tong taas wag mo ng ituloy yang 3rd floor rooftop na pangarap mo at delikado." Yes, it was my dream to have a rooftop thats why I am also saving for it. I have dreamt of lying in a folding bed in our rooftop while watching the stars & the moon in the sky at night. I guess that dream will be put on hold for now & rethink about it while I focus on my other goals first. I'll try to think of ways also that can help strengthen the structure of our house instead of moving out, "medyo confident naman ako sa first floor namin, freak out lang ang nanay ko when she heard that news that she wanted to moved out of our house & go back to Pasay where we first lived."

I know that the Big One (an earthquake with a magnitude 7.0 higher) might happen in Metro Manila since we have an active fault lines here ( East & West Valley Faults) & we were always warned about this but it was only yesterday that we found out that our area is near & within that fault.
I think preparations must be done now to strengthen the structure of our houses & buildings. A lot of prayers is also needed because I always believed that God will help us get through it once it happens (but I pray it wont).

Just sharing my thoughts today!
Have a great weekend guys!
God bless everyone!

Charge & In-Charge

As a sales coordinator, part of my job is to schedule the pick up & deliveries of the riders which they think is the easier part but for me is not since I'm not familiar with places. Through years of  "pakikisama' & "pakisuyo" I have learned to become familiar with it.

The second part of my job, is to handle on phone queries & receive jobs both from email & walk-in clients, and forward the layout instructions to the graphic artist before final production. This part for me is mentally draining because I sometimes feel that all the megabytes in my brain were all used to absorb instructions.

The third part of my job is to deal with the problem when errors occured and this part for me is the hardest and the most challenging one. Why, because I'm in the middle part of the process here & I sometimes absorb the client's anger, negotiate  & explain to my boss why there's an error and who's fault it will be & who will be charge with materials used on that error.

And this was the scenario last week, the client saw an error after the final printing & he called me early in the morning last Monday "Grace bakit ganun, bumaliktad ang logo? Di ba okay at approved na yung digital, anong nangyari? Final size & orientation na lang ang pinag-usapan natin bakit nagka-error pa?" And in my defense " Sir, pacencia na po medyo doble ang workload ng artist ngayon & medyo complicated ang processing ng pag special color sa Photoshop."
And he answered back, "Grace, alam mong hindi tamang ikatwiran mo yan sa akin, internal issue nyo yan."

He's been our very kind, valued & a good payer client for the past few years and since I know that he's very kind person I sometimes negotiate about some charges when we encounter errors but this time he's response was not so good that my plan to negotiate about the charges did not pursue.

So who's fault it was-none, though I can say it was on the artist's side that the error occured but it was more on the software error but as our company rule states that final approval to the client must be done first before final printing so errors can be prevented. On this project, it was emailed first to the client before final printing but on the other hand the final approved digital is in our hands so it was our responsibility to countercheck it also.
I cannot blame the graphic artist directly for this because I know the pressure of his job since I've onced worked as a graphic operator before & it was really exhausting not only physically but mentally as well.
So next week I'll be reporting to my boss about this incident & I'll be taking the full responsibility on this matter including the financial damages associated with it. As an employee I'm bound by the rules but working in a sales department, I need to be sensitive on the client's sentiments also. "Medyo mabigat lang kasi 2k to 3k din ang estimate ko, katumbas na rin ng isang linggong sahod ko." :(

Meanwhile, yesterday I was lucky again. "Nakapulot po ako ng bente pesos uli at piso sa daanan habang papasok ng opisina, heheh." Plus, may salary increase na pala ako kasi tumaas na ang minimum wage ngayon kaya pala medyo mataas ang sahod ko, imagine umabot ng 7 thousand ang sahod ko, o di ba wow!!!!


How about you? How's your life @ work?


Just in the mood for sharing,
And counting my blessings as well!!!!
God bless everyone!!!

Random Things I Do to SAVE part 1

I'm a Bicolana & my parents are both Bicolano & Bicolana. I was born in Camarines Sur but I grew up in Villamor Air Base, Pasay City.
Being "gastador" runs in my blood but I was more influenced by an Ilocana caretaker who also lives with us in Villamor when I was 12 years old and I can say that I have adopted some of her frugal ways and I really admire her. And now I can proudly say I'm a Bilocana - a combination of Bicolana & Ilocana because I admit I do splurge once in a while but I am frugal most of the time.

Here are some tips that I always do to save:

1) I stick my old bath soap to a new one.

2) I cut the head of the toothpaste to make sure I have used all of its contents.
3) I divide the laundry bars into 5 parts.
I handwash some of my clothes every week before I finally put it in a washing machine & I want a laundry barsoap that I can have a full grip on it).
4) I buy Quatro Pack & Tri-pid Pack. It's easier for me to budget & take control of my consumption.
5) I sometimes prefer to buy some generic or cheaper brand that I know has the same quality with those well known brands.
I love this brand because of its double mint flavor (100ml cost only P30.60)


Glad that I have learned to be frugal at an early age and today I appreciate its financial advantage.
I am proud to be kuripot, proudly Bilocana :)


Just Sharing today!
Have a Blessed day!
God Bless Everyone!

My Enrollment Experience

As part of my personal improvement goals, my priority this year is to study again so I got myself enrolled last week in TUP where I graduated my 3yr technical course. I enrolled for BTTE ( Bachelor of Technical Teacher Education ) - a ladderized course intended for the k12 program.

Am I happy?.......Yes of course, I have taken one step towards my goal but as I entered the school campus for enrollment last week I got a little nervous and my mind starts questioning myself, "Kayanin ko pa kayang mag-aral? Makasabay pa kaya ako? " Hey I'm forty years old and after 21 years I'll be going back to school where most of my classmates will be 20 years younger than me. But then how will I know If I still can If I'm not going to pursue it so I proceeded.

Day 1 (Monday)
During the assessment, I almost failed the qualifications because of lack of credits on some of my subjects but I was still approved by the department head when he reviewed my form. And since I have reached the desired units (57 units are required & I got a total of 63 units on my technical subjects) required for the course, finally the assist. director approved my enrollment.
Day 2 (Tuesday)
There were also some minor problems that I encounter during the registrations because I failed to produce the requirements (medical test, drug test & certificate of employment) immediately. But the good thing about it was it has given me the courage to tell my boss about my plan to study and asked him for a Certificate of Employment.  I thought he was gonna fire me if he found out about my plan but so glad he answered "okay, saka na tayo mag-usap ng schedule kapag naka-enroll ka na". A big relief for me because I'd still be needing some financial back up and I still love my work of course. 
Day 3 (Thursday)
After the approval & submission of all the requirements, finally I am enrolled. The total expenses I had for this enrollment was P 5,647.00 ( P 5,227.00 for the tuition fee & P 420.00 for the medical & drug test). My first school day will be on June 3, 2015.

At forty, I still don't know what I really want in my life, what's my real passion & what's my real purpose here on earth. I am having some doubts today If I can surpass the financial challenges & difficulties that I will encounter in the future but then, how will I know If I don't take those risks? I have been weighing the pros & cons of my decision and still studying has a greater advantage in the future than being stuck up at my present work.

As I promised myself this year, I will be exploring my limits and taking some risks. I don't know where my decisions will lead me but I do hope & pray that God will continue to guide me in every step of my journey.


Just Sharing!
God Bless Everyone :)