First Christmas Gift for Myself

Hi,

One week to go and Christmas Eve will be celebrated, Jesus Christ is coming! I really thank God for this very happy month, the tears, sadness, loneliness and negative feelings I had for the past few months of this year has been replaced with overflowing blessings and happiness this month. God is really amazing and indeed good all the time. The trials I've been through this year was a test on how far my faith to him will be and I indeed succeeded conquering them all and it's all because of him, praise God Almighty!

I received my first Christmas gift to self last Tuesday :) I've been eyeing for this cool gadget or tool for the whole year because I can't really afford it but now Christmas sale is on going and I was able to save PHP2,000+ , yay! The price was down to PHP 779+ PHP119 (Shipping Fee) = PHP 898.
I use my first salary on my new job now to pay for this. I've been wanting to buy this because sometimes when I do travel my phone's battery got easily drained so I need a powerful powerbank to use, hehe. And now here it is na, yay!

I want to present to you "Romoss Sense 6 Plus 20000mAH Power Bank White with Gadget Pouch".

(Together with the Gadget Pouch)

The Gadget Pouch is used when you are underwater because it is waterproof. 

It's really nice to shop during December because most things are on sale and you can save more bucks! And by the way, I bought a new pair of sandal to pair with my dress this Saturday for a wedding I will be attending to, it was on sale also, it cost only PHP200+ instead of PHP400+. Yay, God is sooo good :)

Advance Merry Christmas Everyone :)

Cheers,

My

Phone Repaired + Busyness

Hi,

Yesterday my phone has been repaired! Yepeey! Thanks to Mama for it, the repair costs PHP1100, expensive but I choose  it to be repaired rather than buying a new phone. I accidentally drop it in the rest room when I attended one of my leadership meeting of SFC and the screen's LCD has been broken. I used it for a couple of months with that screen being broken, hehe.

This week has been a very busy week until now, like I said in my previous post I was hired last Thu. The work is very easy but there are a lot to do but I am not complaining since this is an answered prayer :) I've been praying for this for a couple of months already, I have been declined to previous job applications and I think there was a purpose I was declined because I will be hired for this job I am doing now. I am still praying that this job will be for long term. But of course I am not neglecting my first and regular job with my kindest boss, I am still working for him, I am still doing the task I am supposed to do each day. My job online makes me happy so I am thankful to God for what I have now.

I received my 2 weeks pay for this new job and I am now calculating where it should be spend because I don't want to recklessly spend it to anything that I want, I have to think always that needs is more important than wants.

I have a wedding to attend to this coming Saturday and I was able to buy a new dress yesterday, it cost PHP299, it was an elegant blue dress, the price was worth it. I am now thinking if I should buy a new shoes or new sandal to complement the dress. I saw a nice shoes last Monday and it cost around PHP380, it's quiet expensive for me but I still need to go to other stores if there is anything I can find that is worth the price. This coming January 2, 2017 there is another wedding I will attend to. Ugh there are a lot of wedding this year for my friends that I have attended to, hehe. They are asking of when will I be, eh how can it be I just broke up recently with my ex-boyfriend, lol! Well seriously wedding is a serious matter to me, I should not be pressured when it comes to that. Wedding or marriage is a lifetime commitment and it should not be taken lightly by anyone. It is sacred and should be treasured. For me there is always a perfect timing for that and I am waiting for God's timing about that matter :)

This month has been a very happy month for me, I got to spend it with my family, we go out to eat and spend time together.

I am planning to go back investing a small amount to FAMI this month. I had stop it last year, I hope I can go back in track in investing.

Talk soon.

Cheers,

My

Budget Adjustment + Financial Update

Hi,

It's been a while I haven't posted about my finances. I have told you on my previous post that I was laid off from my first job and the result is that my income has been down to 50%, yes half of it, it was not easy at first but I have accepted it and moving on. Had accepted a replacement job right away after I was laid off but it does not work out. I am used to work flex, meaning I own my time, I will decide what time I will start and end my work everyday and it does not work for a night owl like me.

Ok here it goes, my finances has been down but that does not stop me from continue living within my means. This month is a breakthrough on my Emergency Fund, I was able to save 30k for it and right now I am very happy :) it is already 2 months of my salary that I was able to save. Yay! So I am excited to put more to it until I get to 6 months worth of emergency fund. It has been almost a year that I've been struggling to save for my emergency fund, I had lots of unexpected travel plus expenses last year that I was not able to hold up and my emergency fund was nearly getting to 0, oh yes at the end of last year my emergency fund went down to 2k, unbelievable and not desirable either. I don't want this to happen again to me this year.

My FAMI-SALEF is growing, I started with only 5k as an initial investment last March 2013 and continue adding up to it until now with a 1k amount every month, oh yeah small but small does still matters :) , and right now I have 30k+ total investment with a 2k+ gain, yay a lot to be thankful for!

Our St. Peter Life Plan, our because I am paying two every month, for me and for my mother, this sounds morbid but I am just securing the future. I have only 9 months left to pay the maximum 5 years contract. Another milestone on my finances :) After I finish paying for this, I can now add the amount to my FAMI-SALEF. I want to diversify my mutual fund investment this year, I would like to open an account to Sunlife and choose the balance fund, I want to try a balanced fund also, but still my priority this year is my emergency fund, maybe next year I can open another account at Sunlife.

So for this month and the rest of the year my budget will be adjusted, no more unnecessary expenses, like clothes, bags, shoes, etc. I should only purchase the needs. Sometimes I do splurge on some wants but hoping to still stick to my budget. I have a fun fund of 500 php on my budget this month, so I am hoping to stick hard to this.

This is all for now, till next time.
Cheers,

February Spending Crazynezzzzz

Hi,

How are you? Hope you are all doing fine, I've been very busy last month until the coming months to come. I am writing this post because I got shock on the total spending I did for the month of February. This is the first time when I started being frugal that my spending went overboard, way too much on my budget each month. When I got my own Belle De Jour Planner last month , there was a section on the planner in tracking your expenses and only month of February this year that I religiously track every centavo that I spent on anything either wants or needs.


Saturday which is February 28, 2015 that I add up all the expenses. And ohlala the total was 17k+ :( I got shock and cannot believe it! This is really my struggle right now, my investment is doing well but my emergency fund at ONB was not, so I have to make a solution for this, I will transfer some of this emergency fund on a separate account which is not on a bank but on a cooperative. I am a member of a cooperative and they have no ATM for your savings, you only have a passbook, so withdrawing your money will not be as convenient as the ATM. Having an ATM sometimes is a temptation especially since there are so many ATM's in the city that you can go to, just a click of the ATM's machines and voila the money is there. Plus add up the ATM's fees :(

This month of March, I have to do this solution for my spending struggle. Crossing my fingers for it.

Till next time.

Cheers,

Belle De Jour Power Planner 2015 Has Arrived!

Hi,

I should have written this post yesterday but I was too busy with work, I have sleepless nights this week :( .

I have received the Belle De Jour Power Planner 2015 yesterday at 9:00 am in the morning. The mail man buzz our doorbell and he handed me the package, yay the smile on my face was very wide when I received it. :) I consider this planner as a gift to myself this year since I really need to be organized. I've been very disorganized last year and this planner would be the answer for this attitude this year 2015.

When I open the package I was impress on the cover of the planner, it was hardbound, girly and classy, my type of planner. I've been eyeing on this planner for about a 2 or 3 year already and been wanting to have this very badly but i am not financially capable at those times, so this year is a blessing because I had it finally on my hand. I've also join the contest of Kristine on her Real Asian Beauty blog but I was not pick as the winner, so I've been a bit sad about that. But the hope I had to have this planner has not  banish so I did order on the I Love BDJ website via paypal payment. Actually I had joined the contest of Kristine for me not to be able to buy this anymore, the frugal lady attitude of mine strike me that is why I joined, hehe. But for this planner, I am willing to spent PHP 598 just to have it. I also want to reward myself this time around. I actually loved to write and read, I have my notebook which is given by a friend to me where I usually wrote my feelings if I am sad, happy or anything but that notebook has few pages left for me to write on so I decided to buy this planner.

At first glance on the pages, I am quiet confused on the pages, haha. I don't understand the MIT section of the planner at first but when I browse their FB Page, it was meant to be a "Most Important Task" haha now I know what it is. The planner has a section where you can write your goals for 2015, a Happiness List, the Dream Board, 2015 BDJ Checklist, and many more. For a PHP 598 Planner, this is really worth it :) and I love it very much!Yay I am soo happy :) I take some photos of it, see below:

The cover

First page

I started 4th week of Jan, I started Jan 22.

Then put my schedule for this month, this is not yet complete.

Thank you God for letting me having this power planner this year 2015 :) I am looking for a better Angelie this year. My motto this year is "Worry less = Happy Angelie" :)

Till my next post.

Cheers,

November 2014 Budget Plus Month Plan

Hi,

It's October 30st today while I am writing this post. So before October will end I want to write about my budget and plan for November.

Below are my plans and budget for November.

Budget for November 2014

Plans for November

I really crossing my fingers for this budget and plan for November. I will update again about this at the end of the month if I had achieve or successful about this budget and plans.

Till my next post.

Cheers,

Frugal Weekend Fellowship at Dodiongan Falls

Hi,

It's the last day of March 2014 and before it ends I had an awesome weekend fellowship yesterday March 30, 2014 with my brother's and sister's in Christ of SFC-St Michael's Chapter. Why it is a frugal weekend adventure? Let me tell you further :)

Our chapter scheduled this fellowship one month ago and because of so many things to do in work I was not able to attend activities prior to this fellowship. So when I read the post of our Facebook page, I want to be able to join this time, at first I was hesitant but final decision was made a day before when my friend Irene encourage me to join. Why it is called a Chapter Fellowship? This means that all members can be together and spend time with each other in a place where most of us have not been able to go to yet, well it's my first time to go there, it's my 2nd time already but the thought of going there matters most.

At 9:30 or quarter to 10:00 am all of us meet at the meeting place which is at Barinaut, Iligan City. A habal-habal (cebuano term for Motorcycle) will be the mode of transportation going to Digkilaan, Iligan City where Dodiongan Falls is located. You will only pay PHP 30.00 per person, it was about 15-25 minutes from Barinaut, Iligan City. Then a walking phase will have to do after arriving Digkilaan. So you will walk and cross 2 small rivers. It was about 30 minutes that you will walk to arrived at Dodiongan Falls.

By the way, I spent only PHP 70.00 for the food or the lunch we eat there. Why? Well, we summed our money by my 3 sister's Sis Irene and Sis Chay for the total of PHP 210 for the lechon manok or grilled chicken plus the 2 cups of rice each. It was way much better or a frugal way you will buy foods and divide the total with your friends.

Now we finally arrived at Dodiongan Falls. Dodiongan Falls is 20 meter high fall and located at Digkilaan, Iligan City. It was one of numerous waterfall of Iligan City and resembles of a archangel wings that are awaiting to expand. You can also resembles it to a persons back.

Far distance.

Much closer shot.

Me with my sister's in Christ.

One of the river were about to cross.

My partner friend Irene while crossing the river.

All of us crossing the river. It was very hot!Haha..

Now here is the shot with all of my Brother's and Sister's in Christ :)

Ok that was it! It was indeed a very very nice weekend and I am very thankful to God for letting me experience this kind of things while I am still single and passionately serving Him through the SFC community. I have this quote that I want to share to all of you here. Hope you will all keep this in mind :) 

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

So overall money spent was only PHP 130 :) This is only the fare from Barinaut Iligan City, back and forth plus the food.

Till my next post.

Cheers,

Frugal Beauty Tip - Egg Facial Mask

Hi,

When I wake up in the morning today I suddenly think of pampering myself :) I've been eyeing on this beauty facial mask yet in a frugal way using only one piece of Egg for about a week already when I stumble upon a You Tube Video by Michelle Phan. Yes!An egg! Why? I will explain to you, just keep reading.

Year 2012 was the worst acne experience I had. I was 23 years old at that time when all of these sudden pimples appeared on my face and plus on my back, sad to know right? So I put anything on my face to get rid of it, like Ponds, Garnier, etc brands that you can see on television and internet to get rid of acne but as a result my acne got very worst that I can't even imagine looking at the mirror everyday when I woke up.

Then after so many attempts to get rid of it, I finally decided to see a Dermatologist. The dermatologist then examine my acne and she diagnosed it to be at the Stage 3 already, meaning it is worst. I don't want to put my picture here on this post of my face being in a Stage 3 phase,hehe forgive me ;) She ask me what I am using to wash my face and any products I am putting into it. I said I am washing my face more than 3 times a day thinking that this acne will get away but it didn't. Then I said I put on Ponds Cream, Garnier etc after washing my face. Then she examined also my back and it has acne also that she can see on my face. Arggg very embarrassing but I endure all of it just to make my face and back clear of acne. I am very glad I did go to her for a consultation and prescribed me an antibiotic to take for 1 month and a Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser on washing my face plus a moisturizer and sunblock to put after. And then now, 2 years and 3 months after, my face is not on a Stage 3 phase already, haha, my face has been cleared by acne same as my back but occasionally when I have my menstruation every month some pimples will still appear but I am now treating them very well as what my Dermatologist prescribed. So that was it!My acne story,hehe..let me move on now.

OK, so much of my acne story but glad to tell you about it though :). As what I have mentioned above I did a frugal beauty tip this morning, it was a DIY(Do it Your Own) Egg Facial Mask. I learned this facial mask from Michelle Phan.

Below are the things you need:
1. An Egg (PHP 6.50) very cheap :)
2. 2 Bowls
3. A Brush (this is optional)

These are the steps:
1. Wash your face with a warm water and pat it dry. Don't forget to wash your hands before washing your face.

2. Crack the egg. Separate the egg white from the egg yolk and put it in the bowl. See picture below:

Egg White

Egg Yolk

3. Beat the egg white first until it became frothy. Then spread the egg white using a brush or your hands all over your face in an upward motions but avoid the eyes.

4. Wait for 15-30 minutes. It will harden your face but this is just normal, don't panic ;) 

5. Then wipe your face with a warm cloth or wash it with warm water and pat dry.

6. Beat the egg yolk in the 2nd bowl and evenly spread it all over your face with your hand or the brush. 

7. Wait for 15-30 minutes. Same effect you will feel just like the egg white. Michelle Phan video explain that the egg yolk is a good moisturizer for your face.

8. Wash your face with a cold water to close your pores and pat dry with a towel.

So that was the steps :) very easy to do and very cheap, right? 

But hey, how about the left over egg white and egg yolk? Don't throw it! You still can eat it,hehe. So what I did is I cook it in a small pan. Add some tomatoes plus salt or pepper to taste.

And voila! Here is the finish product!

Let me explain also the benefits of using "Egg Facial Mask".

Egg have a lot of protein that is great for nourishing your body, it is also great for nourishing your skin. It contains an albumin which help to keep the virus in control. Egg whites has an ingredient called lysozyme which act to digest the bacterial cell walls. Egg yolk also is a good moisturizer.

A good facial mask to try, right? Now, the final look! Haha, I put my Cetaphil Moisturizer, a quablock and a spitz of powder :) My skin feel so soft after this facial :)

I would probably do this once a week :) Your choice if you want to do this twice or thrice a week.

Till my next post.

Cheers,

Why I Don't Like Debt?

Hi,

Why I don't like debt? I am having an issues on what to write today,hmm but this topic pop out to my mind in an instant :) so I am writing this now. I have several reasons of why i don't like debt and later I will enumerate it so please bare me. Today is Saturday and supposed to be a weekend that I should rest and enjoy without thinking about work. But even if i wanted not to work eh I need to, I need to make up the work I was not able to do last Tuesday because of the bad weather. I woke up at 10 am and started working until 4:30 pm coz I need to go to church every Saturday at 5:30 pm. After the mass, my friend Ana treat us for dinner as her late birthday celebration. It was a very happy evening with them (my friends Dave, Irene, Juvy, Desiree and Shayne) :) they are my close friends and bro/sis in SFC community. It was indeed a very nice and happy evening together.

Sorry if I brag about what happened today,hehe.. let me now continue why I decided to write about this topic.
Here are the reason why i don't like debt?

• I don't like to imitate or follow my mom's perspective of debt. She said that it is ok to have a debt coz she is also capable of paying for what she owe and i really DISAGREE with her. She has a pension but almost 70-80% every month goes to a lending firm. So for example if she has a Php 10,000 pension every month, what only remains is about Php 3000-2000. It does really sucks!sorry to say that. But even if I don't like what she is doing, I can't stop her even if i wanted to :(

•  I want to sleep comfortable at night without thinking of paying someone I owe her money.

•  I don't have a credit card and never wanted to have. Credit card is one of the reasons why many people have debts.

• I want to retire comfortably someday.

I am seeing it now that I have an emergency fund even if it is not that big coz I have something I can use in case of emergencies without going to a lending firm or someone just to borrow money.

This is all for now, till my next post.

Cheers,

Jogging As A Frugal Exercise

Hi,

It's January 2, 2014 today and I started my 2nd day of the year doing a frugal exercise. Going to a gym will cost a lot of money so this kind of exercise will not cost any penny. Last year I started doing a jog/run every weekend, when I jog for few miles I can release the tensions or stress I have in myself. I jog alone sometimes but often I am doing it with my friends or family as a bonding moments together. It's nice doing it with them especially if you want someone to talk to after a few miles of jogging.

Today I woke up at 4:30 am and got out of the house at around 5:40 am. Mom then ask if where I will go and I said I will jog again with a wide grin :) hehe..well she is not surprise anymore coz even if I am not fat I do really like to jog. Jogging once a week is one of my New Year's resolution for this year.

This is the trail where I did my jog this morning.

2nd trail where we jog with my friend Arcelli :)

With not only Arcelli but with also with my pretty friend Diane :)

It's the 3 of us who did a jog this early morning. It's really nice to think that I have this kind of friends who have the same interest with me. This is the time where we can talk and have a few chitchat about our lives.

Till next time,

My Selfie Sunday Date at McDo

Hi,

It's August already and day by day it's been just like oh clock is ticking very fast. Month's end with ber is fast approaching. I am looking for more things and moments to experience this month. I have one thing I want to accomplish this month and that is to have a second savings account where i can put my emergency fund coz temporarily I am putting it in a cooperative, the cooperative is just fine but it is not anymore convenient on my part because i need to travel 15-20 mins just to go there to deposit my emergency fund. I want my emergency fund to be automatically deducted in my salary bank account and doing it online is the most convenient part to make for me. So I am hoping that I could do that this month.

Enough of that by the way :) let me proceed to my selfie date at McDo today. It's been a while that I was not able to go out without any company of my friends since I always go out meeting them at the city or they will come at our house to do a movie marathon during weekend. I can only go out during weekend coz I am so busy with work from Monday to Friday. So here is what happen today with my selfie date mode :))

• I go to church at 2:30 pm mass and it ends at around 4:00 pm.

• After that I went to the nearest mall which is Gaisano Mall Iligan City a few blocks away only from church.

• There are several food chains inside the mall. There is Chowking, Jollibee, Greenwhich, Mang Inasal and Red Ribbon but what I choose is McDonalds :) I always eat at Jollibee and Chowking with friends also Greenwhich with Mom. Mang Inasal and Red Ribbon is not on my list of want to eat up something because of their expensive food, well for some it's not but I find their food expensive. Jollibee, Greenwhich and McDonalds food fits well my budget or any persons budget if they want to eat food that are delicious and at the same time cheap. I have only PHP 100 budget for this selfie eating :) So I enter McDonalds and order a McFloat, Fries and a Burger. I did take a picture of it, see below: :)

When I eat out I always get the receipt. This way I can total how much I spend for it in my spending tracker app on my ipod. So I take a photo of the receipt also, just take a look:

You can read on the receipt that the Burger cost PHP 29, Fries is PHP 29 and Coke Float which is PHP 25. A total of PHP 83.00 and I have a change of PHP 17.00. My PHP 100 budget really fits up. Going to McDo once a while without someone with me feels like very nice or I mean it was really fulfilling. I don't have someone to talk to but I feel not alone, yes it's not, why? Coz sometimes I do feel that I need to think and think and think again for a while without getting any ideas or opinions from friends or others. I just enjoy eating there plus reading an ebook from my iPod, most funny thing also is I can observe people around me, how they talk with their date's, aka their boyfriends, their kids etc. So now I will see to it that even just once a month I will make this thing, dating myself once in a month :) This is cool!!!

• Last is after eating at McDo, I went upstairs or at the 2nd floor of the mall to look at their displays of clothes, shoes, and many more but I end up not enjoying it because I have no money to buy anything in there though, hehe. Yeah, budget is very tight so I need to discipline myself not to wander around anymore because for sure jealousy will strike me.

That's it! My first weekend sunday date with myself for this month of August. How about you? Do you also do selfie date?

Till next time,

Tracking Down MAY Expenses

Hi,

It's 12:02 AM of June 1, 2013 now, another month to experience new things and to discover new world that God has to offer :). For the past 2 months I've been tracking my expenses so that i'll know if I am effectively following my budget plan and of course being to live frugally at the same time. Don't be shock on what will I'll show you below on my expenses this month.

 

As you can see the expenses, I have very big expenses this month of May not like the previous month of March and April. My total expenses has been blown up to an amount of PHP 29315. My help to parents amount doesn't matter or does not hurt on my part because my family depends on me. The irregular expenses has increased but I have already told you that this month my acne has started to appear again on my face and I have to go to my dermatologist again to have treatments for my acne, an expenses that blow my budget up for this month. Below is the budget plan I made for month of May, so now you can see the difference on how much my expenses increased.

My supposed to be budget for May is only PHP 23100. But it ended up to PHP 29315. The difference is very big PHP 6215.

I know that this is not really a good news coz I do want to spend less on my irregular expenses and save/invest more. There are things that I can't control and need to importantly take care to like what happened on my face to have those acne back. But right now it is slowly been clearing up, the treatment has worked out. A lesson learned that I should really stick to the doctor's regimen and advised for me to do. 

Right now, I just lay out my budget plan for June, you can see the image below. So do hoping that I can follow this budget plan now and work slowly to building up my emergency fund for this month.

Till my next posts,

Wants Vs Needs - Which is more important?

Hello,

A busy week for me but still I want to write this topic just to share what is my opinion about this blog post. This past few days I have been into blog post browsing for some bloggers online and most of them are on financial matters but one blog caught up my attention, it is not about Financial topic but it is on Beauty. A blogger has a website which here blog was about Beauty products and etc that concerns about beauty of a woman.

 I am a person that doesn't care much about my beauty, I mean I am very simple to the extinct that I will just go out with a powder and a lipstick on my face. I am not also concerned about fashion, I just wear any clothes that I feel comfortable to. I don't also like trends, even if there was a new trends on clothing or accessories, I don't follow it. I don't care if all people I see wear those trendy thing when I go out. I just want to be simple, that's it!Not a simple word where I don't take a bath anymore, lol! :)

Well, for me which is more important on wants and needs it would be "Needs". 

Let's define first what is needs and wants:
Needs - is something you have to have, something you can't do without or can't live without.
Wants - is something you would like to have. It is not necessary but would be a good thing to have.

For these two things it is absolutely clear which is more important from the two. Needs are those things we can't live without. Example was food, we need to eat in order to live so a food is a need.
Wants are those things that we do like to have but it is necessary for us to have. We can live without these things. For example was a new car or a new phone. We can go to our work or go to places without owning a car, we can travel to public transportation like jeepneys. If you have a cellphone then it is not necessary to buy another one just to keep up with the trend now for latest phones that just got out of the market recently.

Back to what I have mentioned above about the blogger I told you. She has a post that kinda caught up my attention. It was called a "Belle de Jour Beauty Box", this a box where latest beauty products was included. For just a Php 580 for 1 month purchase you can have this beauty box each month. In one box, there are a lot of beauty products included that if you total the overall costs of it, it will amount to more than Pphp 580. So you can save more if you purchase it said the blogger. But what confused me was if I do purchase it, can I really use of all the products of this box? Certainly a big "NO" pops up on my head. Why? This month I am  undergoing a treatment for my acne and my dermatologists prescribed me products that can only be put on my face and nothing else. So if I purchase it and has some products that can be put only to my face then for sure I cannot use it. And of course this is really a big "WANT" and not a "NEED". I can live without this thing that I do really want. I want it because my birthday is fast approaching also and was thinking also to be a gift to myself. But still a part of me says that I should not purchase this.

So I'll give myself two more weeks to decide if I will purchase this and if still I can't decide after that. Then I would definitely not purchase this want.

Till my next posts,

Pay Yourself First

Hi,

It's been a while since I've updated my blog. I just got into some busy stuff lately ad recently I started to change my sleeping time, before I slept at 12 midnight or 1 am everyday and now I want to see to it that I can now sleep at 11 or 11:30 pm.  By the way I write now just to update on what is going on with my life.

I have been stressed out this past few months and one effect of this was my acne has started appearing on my face and it was worst just like last year when I started to have this. My insecurity strikes again and I don't really like it. My doctor has given me a maintenance regimen to use for my face but when I go to Manila last February for our SFC conference I stop the regimen and stick to a bar soap which was not on the doctor's list that I should use. So 2 months after I was back from the trip all of a sudden my acne has back. Everyday there was a pimple forming on my face and started to cover my jawline and my chin. It's really horrible and sometimes I don't want to see the mirror anymore.

When I got my salary yesterday, I immediately set aside a money to use on getting my acne treated again by the dermatologist. I had a Clarifying facial that was worth Php 700.00 and after this I got a consultation to have a KI injection worth Php 100.00. The doctor advised me to take a antibiotic to take for 1 month because my acne was worst already. Each capsule worth PHP25.00 but I pay Php 750.00 for the 30 capsules. Overall I pay a total of PHP1,550. The amount was kinda not bad, I am taking risk to take out an amount like this on my budget just to be able to have an acne free face. Being frugal sometimes need to be lift up in case of paying yourself first at the end.

Till my next post everyone.

Cheers,

Fiesta Celebration Saving Tips

Hi,

It's been a busy day today because our Purok is celebrating it's annual fiesta. We are not expecting many guests today to celebrate with us because we haven't invited so many for this. But the opposite happened, many of our neighbors, relatives and friends celebrated with us. I am glad that even though we are very tight on our budget right now and afraid if the food serve will be enough for them. But were very blessed that indeed the food served was just enough to all of them to eat. 

My mother did some several techniques or tips on how to save on preparing for the food to be served to the guests:

1. Cook the food at home. Never order or call any restaurants for the food you want your guests to eat. 

2. Buy the ingredients of your recipes you want to cook at a local supermarket. A supermarket that has a lowest price among it's counterpart. Do some research on these stores if they have the lowest prices on their commodities.

3. Don't hire any entertainers to go to your home just to entertain your guests. Get you DVD's and play the song they like and let them sing at your home. For sure they will be happy and get entertained without spending any penny.

So these was the tips that I learned today from my mother. Living frugally can save you a penny

even on something you don't think you can. 

Till my next posts.

Cheers,

Tracking Down April Expenses

Hi,

It's been a while I was not able to write a post for this blog. The month of April was the busiest month for me since 2013 came in. I had so many struggles in my service for SFC and other stuff I need to first do. But right now I want to write about my expenses for the month of April. I started tracking it last month (March 2013) and right now hope that my expenses for April will be lower.

Expenses for Month of April:

• Utilities (Electricity, Telephone, Internet) - PHP 2,285

• Insurance (Life/Health) - PHP 4, 905

• Irregular Expenses (Day to Day Expenses) - PHP 3, 304

• Help to Parents - PHP 14, 500

TOTAL: PHP 24, 994 

 

Last month my expenses was PHP 27, 418.5.

So the difference was PHP 2424.5, so I was able to save this money. This goes to my investment and my savings account.

Hope that this month of May I can still save more and invest more on my mutual fund.

Cheers,

Avoiding Impulse Spending

Hello,

For the last three years of working, I honestly say that I am guilty of this. I am not thinking about my future that time. All I want was to spend my money to those things I like even if those are not necessary for me to use. Let me ask you some questions below.

Answer these questions truthfully:

1.) Does your spouse or partner complain that you spend too much money?

2.) Are you surprised each month when your credit card bill arrives at how much more you charged than you thought you had?

3.) Do you have more shoes and clothes in your closet than you could ever possibly wear?

4.) Do you own every new gadget before it has time to collect dust on a retailer’s shelf?

5.) Do you buy things you didn't know you wanted until you saw them on display in a store?

If you answered “yes” to any two of the above questions, you are an impulse spender and indulge yourself in retail therapy.

This is not a good thing. It will prevent you from saving for the important things like a house, a new car, a vacation or retirement. You must set some financial goals and resist spending money on items that really don’t matter in the long run. 

Impulse spending will not only put a strain on your finances but your relationships, as well. To overcome the problem, the first thing to do is learn to separate your needs from your wants.

Advertisers blitz us hawking their products at us 24/7. The trick is to give yourself a cooling-off period before you buy anything that you have not planned for. 

When you go shopping, make a list and take only enough cash to pay for what you have planned to buy. Leave your credit cards at home.

If you see something you think you really need, give yourself two weeks to decide if it is really something you need or something you can easily do without. By following this simple solution, you will mend your financial fences and your relationships.  

Till next time.

Cheers,