My Seventh Goal - Save Save Save part 1

My 365 Savings Goal

One year consist of 365 days.
My Idea is Start with a Small Goal.
Why not set A One Peso Goal?
From One peso a day to 365 pesos per year!
And the Challenge: How many 365's can you save in one year?

So I have invented my own 365.00 saving strategy method (for invcstment -365.00, for savings -365.00, for emergency fund- 365.00).
It's a method I have set for one year and my challenge is how many 365.00 will I be able to save for one year.
My target is 82 sets of 365 since my goal is 30k plus 13th month pay & my sss loan to achieve my 50k goal before I reached 40.

My saving's route:
* Since I love going to the mall I make sure that  I deposit my savings first to Wealthbank ( WealthBank is open from Mondays to Sundays) before spending my leisure time with my mother at market market :). In that way I will be spending only the extra money I have set after saving.
* I also trick myself to saving those pennies that I have save from my transportation allowance & from the baon that I set everyday. 
* I also save the money I receive from our monthly company profit sharing.
* The interest they pay me from lending some amount of money to my collegues.
* The last is from doing rags @ home---a little amount of it will also help. 

* Hopefully by September I'll be adding some from the rent I'll be receiving from my brother. 


That's why I opened three accounts at wealthbank where I will deposit my savings upon completing every  365-goal I made.

THIS ACCOUNT IS FOR MY SAVINGS/SAFETY FUND :) - this where I will put my 365 savings & invest fund with a maintaining balance of P 200.00 only & a rate of .25% interest.

THIS IS FOR MY INVEST - A SPECIAL SAVINGS ACCOUNT- A time deposit account where I add my the sum of my 365's from my savings account here also & renew every 30th day with an interest rate of 2% annually and a maintaining balance of 10,000.00. From here I will get my start up mutual fund hopefully before 2nd quarter of this year I'll be able to open my mutual fund.

AND FOR MY EMERGENCY FUND - I opened this ATM account for emergencies, this one also has a P 200.00 maintaining balance & it also comes with a free personal accident insurance.

So no matter how small your earnings is, no matter what your saving strategy is, Just SAVE.

Start your GOAL!
Start SAVING!
START INVESTING!!!

Sixth goal - Budgeting

My sixth goal- BUDGETING.

After I received my salary - approximately P 5,500 net, automatically it will be divided, I can't follow the 70-20-10 method since my income is already tight and the percentage is not suitable. I just need to stick to my budget and what is important is that I still have some amount for my savings/emergency fund, investment & for charity too.

I also have this so called stapler method for my daily allowance (P 150.00 for no overtime day & P180.00 for my overtime day) to prevent myself from spending above my per day allowance.

                                                    This is my hapit budget format :)

                               Tracking down expenses is also important so I made a list too.
                                     I've been monitoring my expenses since january 2014.

 

Well, March is an adjustment period for me " its a mall ban month for me" hahah.

EXPENSES SUMMARY

Every 15th:
Rice/Mama/groceries    =   2,000.00 (1,000-rice, 500-mama, 500-groceries)
15-day work allowance =   2,100.00+++
For Emergency Fund    =      365.00
For Invest Fund            =      365.00
Church / Give fund       =      365.00
other personal needs      =     300.00

Every 30th:
Electric/Water/PLDT/
St.Peter Plan/Mama     =     2,000.00 (600-electric, 250-water, 200-pldt, 550-st.peter, 400-mama)
15-day work allowance =   2,100.00+++
For Emergency Fund    =      365.00
For Invest                      =      365.00
Church / Give fund       =      365.00
other personal needs      =     300.00


I just got out of so many credit card debts last year mostly due to impulsive buying & unplanned expenses. Thanks to all the finance articles & tips I read in facebook & the seminar I attended @ IMG I was able to manage my finances now. (parang napakalaki ng sweldo ko no, heheh? but seriously if you dont manage your finances malaki man o maliit ang sweldo without proper knowledge you'll be doomed to debt).
 Luckily I still live with my parents & I have a brother who also shares on paying bills & other panggastos to my nanay.

Hopefully I can continue to train myself in spending only what is needed & essential in my daily routines and to discipline myself in living a minimum wager lifestyle.

The principle. "If you can't increase your means then you have to live below your means".

Now, its time for my next goal.

Pause muna.....

As I was browsing my facebook account I came across this post & somehow made me pause for a while:

"Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $ 86,400. 

It carries over no balance from day to day. 

Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. 

What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course. 
Each of us has such a bank.
It's name is TIME.

Every morning it credits with 86,400 seconds. 

Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. 

It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. 

Each day it opens a new account for you. 

Each night it burns the remains of the day. 

If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. 

There is no drawing against “tomorrow”. 

You must live in the present on todays deposits. 

Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success. 
The clock is running. Make the most of today."

As we go on achieving our personal goals, let us not forget that God has given us time also to fulfill His purpose on doing good in our daily lives.

Starting today I will make a good deeds goal, so I can have personal time deposit to GOD too:)

A little reflection to remember :)

Fourth goal- Health Insurance (Be Healthy & Save Money part 3)

Like what a commercial ad of a vitamin product says, “Sa panahon ngayon bawal magkasakit.”For a minimum wager like me who works for 50 to 60 hours a week, everyday & every hour counts. "Bawal umabsent kaya bawal magkasakit, e pano pag magkasakit, di pa rin maiiwasan paminsan minsan nagkakasakit tayo, absent na, bawas sahod pa, dagdag gastos pa sa consultation at gamot.”

That’s the reason why I decided to prioritize my health over my financial goals. I need to strengthen my body at the same time prepare for the unexpected circumstances. It is also part of my back up and emergency fund that I plan to set aside every payday so I can concentrate on my goals.

Today, as we age we encounter some health problems that are stress related, age related and unexpected. No matter how we prepare ourselves we need to set a back up plan for those unexpected circumstances that may occur in our daily lives.


1. AGE RELATED - For a women age 30 yrs old & up single or married ones we are required to atleast  have an annual check up with our ob-gyne and an annual examination - papsmear, breast or transvi-ultrasound. As for me I'm 39 years old I've been regularly visiting my ob-gyne for the past 6 years. It was only last year that they found out that I have an endemetriosis cyst. So I bought a card at Philcare for only P 670.00 which will cover one (1) ob-gyne consult, one (1) papsmear, & one (1) breast or transvi-ultrasound.

Why I bought this card? let's review:
(I've made some research on the prices from other hospitals & here's what I found )
Consultation fee for ob-gyne ranges from  P 300.00 to P   600.00
PAP Smear  costs around                              P 250.00 to P1,000.00
Transvi Ultrasound/Breast Ultrasound       P 650.00 to P2,000.00
                                                                    ---------------------------
Total cost                                                    P1,200.00 to P3,600.00

So Philcare womens healthcard @ P 670.00 = Reasonable enough :)

2. Stress Related - I work 6 days a week from mondays to saturdays with an additional overtime of 3 to 5 hours a day for 3 days (monday, wednesday, friday). "Umulan o bumagyo, tag-init o baha, me tulog o wala" I need to work. There were times that I feel that my energy is draining due to stress and whenever that happens I feel that I am more prone to diseases. My stress diversion --- chocolates & candies thats when tonsilitis attacks. Last year I had a fever due to tonsilities I needed to consult a doctor to ask for new antibiotic but I was hesitant - 300.00 na naman ang consultation plus laboratory examination and antibiotics so I resorted to taking just paracetamol & some natural methods I usually do until my fever fades out.

3. Unexpected - I'm not prone to coughs, colds & flu since I'm taking more of vitamin c & vitamin b complex but last year I experienced a back/pelvic pain for almost a month. I wanted to go to the doctor but I was hesitant again due financial reason, so I just bear the pain until it fades out without knowing what the real cause of it.

4. Monitoring - Since I got a positive result on my endemetriosis cyst last year monitoring is required so I will be going back to my ob-gyne for check ups.

These are the reasons why I bought another health card in Philcare Clinic - This Consult to the Max Card covers 1 year unlimited check up with -- Internal Medicine, Family Medicine/General Practitioner, OB-Gynecology, Pediatrician , ENT ( Ear, Nose, Throat). Plus a 10% discounts on xrays and other laboratories examination.

 

Why choose Philcare ?
Affordability - I think is very affordable & reasonable.
Proximity -  It's one jeepney ride from my office so it prevents me from being absent at work.
Quality - Philcare staffs are approachable, the place is cool & the most important factor is I'm confident knowing that my ob-gyne works also at makati medical hospital too.

(My doctor also advises me have a cervical vaccine and a flu vaccine --- as of now I'm saving for it i'll be adding this in my goal list this 2014.)



There are also other bundle health products you can choose in philcare, you can just visit their clinics to buy those cards. You can check their websites for other health cards too.
http://www.philcare.com.ph/products/





Now that my first, second, third & fourth goal are already set I'll be focusing on my next goal.

Third Goal - Exercise (Be Healthy & Save Money Part 2)

Third Goal : Exercise, Exercise, Exercise !!!

I have three motivations here:

1.)  EXERCISE KEEPS US HEALTHY - Our body needs at least 15 to 30 minutes of moderate exercise everyday according to Harvard  Health Publications.

2. ) EXERCISE & SAVE MONEY -  And that 15 to 30 minutes of walking can actually save me three to four rides of my transportation allowance everyday:

Morning

From Home to C5 road                  =  Tricycle ( P 8.00 )  = 15 minutes of walking

From C5 to Bayani Rd (optional) =   Tricycle ( P 8.00 )  = 25 minutes of walking/jogging

From Gate 3 to Petron station      =    Jeepney ( P8.00 )   = 10 minutes of walking

Evening

From C5 to Home (special)            =  Tricycle (P25.00)   = 15 minutes of walking

3.) EXERCISE HELPS ME TO BE MORE PUNCTUAL AT WORK - Last year I really had a hard time battling lateness at work. So this year, I decided to to adjust my morning rituals to cover my 15-30 minutes walking activities everyday. – The result is good --- lesser deductions on late means higher salary :)

"My morning route to work instead of riding a tricycle I prefer to walk & jog in front of Heritage Memorial Park where people in our place use to jog & exercise every morning."