My Five Hundred Peso Budget

Almost a year ago my decision to study affected my salary.
Few months ago our salaries were  given 15 days delayed because of the financial crisis that our company is experiencing until now.
From 15 days delayed it is now a month delayed.
And these last two months we were only given one thousand pesos every week.

One thousand pesos is my current weekly income today. And that is where I also took the monthly payment for my laptop and some of my weekend & school expenses too. Guess how much is my average weekly allowance these days - P 500.00+.

I guess when you are left with a very little resources, you have no choice but to fit within your means. At first it was really difficult but I took it as a challenge and not as a problem. As days go by, it becomes a habit and later on it becomes my lifestyle already.
I have been living with an average of P 500/week allow lifestyle for two months. Three hundred fifty five pesos (P 355) for transportation and one hundred forty five (P 145) for my food allowance. Yes, you read it right - P 145+ lang po ang food allowance for one week, kaya nyo yun? It was really hard, as I would often ask myself, "pano ko ba pagkakasyahin to?" but with God's grace nagkakasya sya. So how did I do it? Lakad-Baon-Tipid plus Share & Save.

LAKAD
It's been my habit to wake up and leave our house earlier to walk. My usual transportation allowance is P 430.00 for 5 days and since I was able to save one tricycle fare & one jeepney fare it is now P 355.00/week - that's P75.00 weekly savings.

BAON
Since I only have P 145.00 food allowance for one week I tried to make it a point to pack my baon from Monday to Wednesday.
"Lahat ng puedeng baunin babaunin - kanin, tinapay, saging, mangga, kalamansi, prito or  tirang ulam from refrigerator - carry na"
Kung kaya extend hanggang Thursday baon pa rin basta Friday it's my time to spend for my meal.
But if there's no baon to bring - I have a fixed lunch budget of P 25.00 to P 30.00 only -just for half veggies & one rice only. Laswa, pinakbet, ginisang monggo, chopsuey, adobong sitaw o kangkong are my usual ulam from the suking carinderia near our office. As for my meryenda, I usually buy P8-P12 bread from the bakery near our area or P15 to P20 for meryenda the store near our office.

TIPID
I stopped listing down my expenses because of the little budget I had but I separate my transportation fare & food allowance in a different purse. I guess it is easier to budget when you are aware of how  little is left in your purse. These are the things I do to save:

Enjoy Freebies - Why spend when you can have it for free. Coffee, milk, sugar, water, and other condinents are free in our office so there's no need for me to spend on it.

Bring Water - Water is very essential to me especially when I'm in school or while I'm on my way to the office. Nakakadehydrate ang climate ngayon that's why I always bring water, and that's P10 to P30 per day savings.

Back up - Emergency fund is important in personal finance likewise it is also important in budgeting.
Though I have a weekly budget of P500++/week, I always have a P200 to P300 back up fund in my wallet for emergency expenses. I also have a back up food & drinks in my drawer. Tang honey lemon or dalandan juice are my favorites. Just P 9.25/litro pack is enough for one week. I also have some Ram oatmeal & few biscuits in my drawer in case I have no baon to bring.

SHARE
This is the amazing part, even if I have very little resources these days, still I was able to share some of my baon to my colleagues, a piece of bread or biscuits to some street kids who goes up to the jeepneys or some sampaloc or flattops candies to my classmates. The thing I love most when I share my food with my colleagues is that my appetite increases, "sarap kayang kumain kapag agawan kayo, di ba?"

SAVE 
Saving has been a part of my routine already. No matter how little the resources I have today I still try to find a way to save few pesos every payday. My mother would often tell me, "ano ba yan, pinapagod mo ang teller sa bangko - P 120 lang idedeposito mo pa." And I always answer her, well at least I'm P120 richer today than yesterday.

As a working student, it's hard to find or accept another job for an extra income especially now that I'm on practice teaching stage already. Aside from work, the climate & the traffic we had these days are making me so tired and exhausted so another job is not an option for now - my decision is to just live within my means and be more frugal as much as possible. Anyway, just one subject to go & 400 hours of practice teaching and my dream of being a degree holder will finally come true next year.


Just in the mood of sharing my experiences again!
Have a great weekend.