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.

Delayed Salary

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been able to blog for a while because my current financial status is not really doing well these days but since this blog is my financial journal let me share it today.

Almost a year ago my decision to study affected my salary.
Few months ago our salary were delayed because of the financial crisis that our company is experiencing.
From 15th day delayed it is now a month delayed.
And these last two months we were only given one thousand pesos every week.
"Wala pa raw maayos na collection."
Well, I am still thankful I have one thousand pesos in my wallet every week.

My collegues felt the other way around - they were all sad and worried.
Most of them are renting a house and have a family to raise. How can they live with only one thousand pesos per week and the cheapest house rent I heard from them is around P 3000 while some were paying P 8000, "grabe ang bigat. Not to mention - the electric bill, water bill and foods which are our basic needs to live, plus the tuition fees and the baon of their kids - that one thousand pesos is really a problem to them.

I feel their worries, because I've been in that situation where the only reason why I work is for utility bills, basic stuffs & other needs. There was nothing left for leisure and even for my own food. You can just imagine I was often left with P20 every payday before, grabe nasurvive ko yun nun.

That's the reason why I am still thankful even if I received one thousand pesos only.
The experience I had before led me to gamble to buying a right to a land where our house is built today, atleast I'm not renting anymore. Plus it gave an additional income from the rent I received from my brother which is used to pay for utility bills & groceries. It is also helped me that I am open with my current financial problem with my family. I keep telling them " kapag nawalan ako ng trabaho, kailangan magtiis at tulong tulong na."

I have no plans on finding new job since I am still studying today. What is important is that I still have some income for my allowance & I have time for my studies. Unlike some of my classmate who decided to resign from their work to focus on their studies, they now regret it because they felt unproductive and they were still unprepared financially.

With the current financial situation I have today, I am still thankful because for me every little things I receive, is a blessing & every problem I encounter is a lesson.


Just sharing my experiences.
Till then!
Have a great day!

Simplified Goals

          Our company is on the verge of closing down but my boss still does not want to give up. We were advised with the current financial situation of our company so we'll be aware what's been happening around -why our salary is always delayed and why it is given in installments. We were also given a memorandum about the cost cutting measures he want to implement next week. These are the reasons why I decided to revised my goals today - I want a simplified goals this 2016.

          EMERGENCY FUND (priority goals)

          Yesterday, a wealthbank staff called up to notify me about the maturity of my special savings account and to confirm also if I will be renewing it again. So I went there last week and set up four special account for specific emergency fund from the capital contribution fund I received last February. Since I am experiencing a lot of financial difficulties today - I need to be prepared both on expected and unexpected financial problems.

1. Personal emergency fund - target is to have atleast 20k before 2016 ends - done with it.
2. Family emergency fund -  another 30k before the year ends - working on progress.
3. Health emergency fund - reach another 20k before 2016 ends - on progress.
4. Renovation fund - I split my personal fund and set another fund for my "paupahan".
Should my brother decided to leave the house, I plan to enhance the house so I can have it rented to a higher rental fee. "Mahal na raw paupahan ngayon sa lugar namin."

INSURANCE

         My plan to open a whole life insurance in Paramount will be put on hold for a while until I finish paying my Philam life insurance.

5. Finish my Philam Life Insurance - last month to pay February 2017.

MUTUAL FUNDS

          I plan to redeem my shares on FAMI Salbf and Soldivo growth fund this year and focus only on Philequity & FAMI Salef. I don't want to complicate things since I have a lot of problems to attend to these days. My target 100K on mutual funds - 40K on FAMI & 60K on Philequity or vice versa.

6. Have a total of 40k in FAMI SALEF.
7. Have a total of 60k in Philequity.

TARGET 300K

          Lastly, I  want to reach my 300k target goal (both savings & investments combined) before this year ends. This is still my target this year.

          These are my revised financial goals this year. It may seem unreachable for now since I am really experiencing financial difficulties today but what is important for me is that I have set a clear goals to reach. "Mahirap man ang buhay basta may direksyon, challenging pa rin" and that makes it more exciting, di ba?


How about you?
What are your financial goals this year?

Have a great day ahead!
God bless.

My Goals - May 2016 Update

          It's been a while since I last wrote a blogpost. I stopped writing for two months because I needed to focus more on my studies first and let my mind rest afterwards. I really miss writing about personal finance so I decided to review and update all my goals today.

Here's the goal list I set last January:

1. Have a total of 20K Mutual Fund Purchase in my FAMI EQUITY Fund - DONE

2. Have a total of 30K Mutual Fund Purchase in my PHILEQUITY Fund - DONE

3. Have a total of 15K Mutual Fund Purchase in my FAMI BALANCED Fund
4. Open another Life insurance in Paramount Direct

5. Continue my Philam Life Insurance - updated on paying.
6. Complete my 30K Personal Emergency Fund in Wealthbank Special Savings Account - DONE
7. Complete my 30K Family Health Emergency Fund- just need 8k to complete it.

8. Have a total of 30K Mutual Fund Purchase in my FAMI EQUITY Fund
9. Have a total of 40K Mutual Fund Purchase in my PHILEQUITY Fund
10. Have a total of 20K Mutual Fund Purchase in my FAMI BALANCED Fund
11. Have a total of 10K Mutual Fund Purchase in my SOLDIVO Growth fund

12. And before this year ends,  I want to reach my 300K TARGET GOAL


          Among the 12 goal list I wrote last January,  five were accomplished already. Not bad for a working student like me. But since my financial life is really not doing well this year I will be revising it soon.

         I am really experiencing financial difficulties today because of my studies and the delayed salary I am receiving these days but I believe I'll survive it & I know that God has a greater plan for me.


 Have a great week ahead!
God Bless!

 

Reminiscing Bicol Trip Part 5 - Pasacao Beach

Yes, I admit I have a faulty memory already. While exploring some of my personal files in my computer here in our office today I stumbled upon these photos in another separate folder .

...and I just remembered that we also went to Pasacao beach on our first day in Bicol too. That's the reason why, I labeled it day 1 part 2. After CWC, we had our lunch in Biggs Diner in Pili Camarines Sur.

After our lunch, we went straight to Pasacao Beach which is almost a two hour drive from Pili since we are not yet familiar with the place. It was only through the help of waze, an iphone apps which serves as my brother's guide for direction that we were able to reach its location.

I cannot remember anymore how much is the entrance fee, the cottage fee, the room rent or the prices of foods / snacks there. What I do remember only are the experiences that we had there & the photos of it as a proof.

This is my first time to actually step on the sand and water. Oh, did I mention that I don't like going to the beaches because I do not know how to swim & I have a fear that I might get drowned? That's one reason why I'm not fond of traveling but since I'm with my brothers & they like adventures I had no choice but to follow where they lead us.

They were a bit curious and they wanted to go to that island but since our mother is with us, she did not allow them. She does not allow us also to swim far from her, we know she got nervous seeing us far so we  just enjoyed in the waist deep area of the sea. What I do enjoyed in that experience was seeing a fish swimming near my feet, hahah -" ang babaw talaga ng kaligayahan ko noh?

It was also my first time to witness & enjoy the lowtide event of the sea.

The land bridge appears on the left side and it almost connects to the island and my mother & brother enjoyed their acting there while I sat on that boat.

...plus I was able to write on the area where the sea water left its place.

Then at around 6pm, we decided to go back to my father's place in Nabua Camarines Sur.

This is the last part of my reminiscing posts. Overall, our bicol trip was tiring but pleasurable for me. It was all my first - first to see Majestic Mayon - "a dream come true for me", first to see an actual wake boarding event, first to set my foot on the beach and on the seawater and all other experiences we had there. And because they were my first - they were all memorable to me. That's the reason why I wrote these blogs.

Have a great day ahead.

God Bless.