Save money

I was able to pay off one major loan in full! Hooray! So my list of bank loans went from 4 to 3. Now, I have extra 6,000 PhP to add to my budget.

But instead of using it to buy more stuff, I’ve decided to add the extra money that I have to my other loan payments. This way, I can finish paying them off sooner than expected.

It’s definitely looking good! What my girfriend and I do is save the 10, 5 and 1 peso coins that end up in our pockets. Instead of using it to buy a candybar or a piece of gum, we decided to work on building an emergency fund out of the spare change that gets left over at the end of the day. As of last count, we have about Php 1,500 total in change in our coin jar. It’s not much but if we suddenly need to call a plumber or bust a tire, we know that we’re covered.

I’d love to save more but I’m shifting a huge debt right now. I’m currently paying off 2 credit cards and 2 bank loans that were used for a family emergency that we had a couple of years ago. I’m happy to report that all of them are going steadily down. And as soon as I get to cross off the 2 credit cards from my debt list, I’m going to put the money towards my savings account.

I’m honestly struggling with this goal. I have so many clothes that I want to buy, books that I want to read. Sometimes, I just want to say “F*ck it” to limiting my Starbucks consumption. I’m going to buy macchiatto anytime I want to!

At my weakest point, I even considered maxing out my credit card because I wanted to buy this dress that I’ve been wanting for as long as I can remember.

Then I realized that I’ve been wanting to blow off my hard earned money on just stuff. Stuff that I probably won’t be using in 2 or 3 months. Just stuff.

I tried to remember the things that I wanted to do the most. And I mostly want to travel and experience other cultures, eat different kinds of food, and get to know people whose belief systems are different than mine.

So from now on, every time I’m tempted to blow off my money on stuff, I’ll just ask myself what I prefer, experience or stuff?

So can I!

Indian Beggar Saves 200 Pounds of Coins Opens Bank Account

I learned how to budget. It’s so dreary and tedious, but I figured that this is something that I need to do in order to keep track of where my money is going.

Today’s payday. Normally, I’d be excited thinking about the things that I want to buy. But no. I actually sat down and made a budget. All my non-negotioables are already covered. Plus, I have a pretty decent amount for everyday spending. I think I’m doing pretty good here. Although I still have a long way to go from paying off all of my credit cards, I’m feeling extremely optimistic about this goal.

The state of my finances is definitely better. My credit card balance is going down. The domino system is effective so I’m going to keep this up until I manage to pay off all my credit cards.

I also managed to save all of my spare change at the end of the day. I was pleasantly surprised when I counted them all. And then I immediately hid them so I won’t be tempted to spend any of it.

Since I made the decision to buy my very own condo, I’ve started having money problems. Chaos has creeped in to my finances!

Well, to be absolutely honest with myself, it’s not really the condo that’s making me broke. It’s my credit card debts and bank loans. I wish I could turn back time so that things could be different, but I doubt that’s going to happen. So I’m just coping. But I want to do something about it and this is why I added this to my list.

First of all, I know that I can’t save yet if I still have outstanding debts. So I’m going to work on that first. My first goal would be to pour all of my extra cash to the debt that has the highest interest and then pay the minimum on all ther others. Once that’s finished, I’ll move on the next debt, sort of like a domino system.

As for the savings part, since I can’t start paying myself 10% of my income yet, I’ll be saving the spare change that’s left over in my pockets at the end of the day. Gotta start somewhere.