Happy. Happy. HAPPY!
by ingenieure on February 8th, 2008
Wow! It’s been ages since I last updated this. Anyway, after countless nights of sugar and coffee (that’s right, sometimes i only sleep twice a week because of schoole requirements), I decided to pick up where I left off.
So many changes happened this year. Words would not be enough, or if they were, your patience to scroll through a long text will not be sufficient to cover everything if in case I decide to write them.
This year is a year of so many unknowns. I experience trying out things that I have never experienced in the past. I came to strike friendships with the most unlikely people. And in looking within, I discovered a lot of things about myself that I never knew before.
Things are all good, as opposed to the latter part of last year where I experienced a lot of awful things.
Here are just some examples of notable blessings I am presently thankful for:
1. November 1 last year my dad called me an he told me he missed me. After 2 years of not talking to me! Anyway, this is really one of the happiest days of my life. Last Christmas, he gave me tuition fee for driving lessons at A1. Which leads me to blessing number two…
2. I know how to drive now, after countless near-misses with the trucks and buses of EDSA. And I got the wheels to practice them with. Finally. My next project is to start saving up for my dream house.Special thanks to Tirso of A1 driving school for teaching me a lot of things about driving and relaxing on the road.
3. I am getting better with my Korean lessons. bwahahahaha…
4. I was able to complete my set of facial products this month. Next month, I’m getting my new wardrobe! (cause I gained some pounds, but I don’t really mind)
5. I am expecting some leveling up this year in my work. I will tell you more when it happens. =)
6. I now know how to use the GPS instrument, total station, automatic level and all those instruments in field work that i used to avoid. I LOVE FIELDWORK NOW!!!! And now there is no more hindrances to my goals of finishing this one.
7. I am sporting a tan, I gained weight and finally mustered up the balls to curl my hair and have a new look for the new year. And it looks fabulous. I am just so happy that I took the plunge in deviating from my usual style.
8. I AM FREE AS A BIRD!
And since things are really going well, I can’t imagine why I was dwelling on the bad stuff before. I never knew how beautiful life is until I really started to live it in its truest sense.
Money has been an avenue with which I was able to avail myself of the things that I am now enjoying, but it took a lot to make me realize that money isn’t everything. It’s just a tool, indeed. BUt if one mismanages it, you cannot enjoy anything in life.
I know it has been a long time since I last posted. But I am still taking grownup baby steps, especially with the new things I have to maintain. I hope I get to consistently update my blog this time! Woohooo
Advanced Happy Hearts’ Day!!!!
bombs, wish ko lang, hospital craze and the pitfalls of freelance writing
by ingenieure on November 13th, 2007
i just finished watching Wish Ko Lang’s Mariannet L. Amper feature and I really felt like crying in the middle of this computer shop. a hundred bucks, and an 11-year-old girl kills herself because of poverty. makes you think long and hard. I also heard that there is going to be a financial tsunami soon and we are starting to feel it with the gasoline price hike. now my boyfriend commutes twice a week to be able to sustain his car. it’s that bad. he used to carry his car whenever and wherever. but now, he had to economize.
last night, 2 people died from the Batasang Pambansa explosion. so paranoid. i keep looking for exits anywhere i go. i don’t think i can enjoy a movie theater these days. i will always end up sniffing for smoke and looking at the nearest fire exit.
and then, i just got out of a flu i had acquired from the hospital when i brought my cousin Sunday morning. (she had a severe case of U.T.I) infirmary doctor informed me that i need 3 day of bed rest.
Hell, i can only do one day and I am already dying to go out during the 24 hours I was at home yesterday.
i stayed home last night, thinking i would be relaxed. when this crazy neighbor of mine started playing with firecrackers in our garage. i screamed at her. at aba, sumagot. when i called the mother to tell her how pasaway her daughter is, the usual maternal instinct got the better of her. oh well, at least i tried warning her that her daughter has the makings of a juvenile delinquent in trespassing other people’s garages.
i felt so bad i wished that nasty kid exploded instead of Congressman Akhbar. what’s with kids these days. either they kill themselves or they just make other people’s lives miserable. the latter, i cannot forgive that easily since last night’s incident.
but then i felt really sad talking to the mother on the phone. even when she denied that her kid was at fault, i sensed a lot of anguish in her voice. the fact that you cannot control your child and you are just resigned to accept misdemeanors as part of her normal childhood must be a very bitter pill to swallow. so i just stopped trying to negotiate. but if in case i see her puny face on my gate again with her defiance to invade our territory… *knuckles cracking*
all that in a day and more…
i thought hard and realized that almost Php 10,000 worth of writing work from three different people are not yet paid. that’s in the past 9 months of freelance writing work.
i love writing, yeah, but it has a dark side. people can just choose to stop emailing you and not pay you for your hard work.
and then there are some who pay consistently but charge so low for high quality service. Babaratin ka until your final price.
so the game is: be cheap or be scammed.
then i have new clients and i have phobias accepting new projects now. because i have that feeling that they will scam me too. hahaha.
i am just continuing for the love of writing and nothing else. but then i am investing so much time and energy to these people and they don’t pay me back for my hard work. it’s getting really disappointing.
anyway, I guess this is where my engineering degree should come in. I have fall back careers. Writing is no longer my bread and butter. There are Korean kids to teach. And as the country wallows in poverty, they get a lion’s share of first class amenities. I get a whiff of the best food and lodging because of these Koreans. I am just lucky that I have this job to keep me alive everyday.
As for writing, I don’t know. Maybe my blog and diary could be sufficient.
So much for my dream to have my name published and seen on one of my favorite bookstore shelves….
But who knows?
It just might take me less time to make a book than regain a general trust of people again.
PMT EB Planning
by ingenieure on November 10th, 2007
In between jobs, I attended the PMT EB Planning this afternoon. Second time to be in the Planning Committee and most probably, second time to be emcee!
Really exciting, thinking up strategies on how to make the next EB a successful one. In my opinion, it just gets better everyday. Each EB is getting better. More and more people are coming, and life here just gets so much more exciting.
When I first joined PMT, it was more of a for-fun thing I do in between my writing jobs. My very first thread was insinuating that i was looking for love but I found PMT. really funny.
One thing led to another and when I look at myself now in relation to PMT, I see a changed life. I saw good relationships and friendships emanating out of the PMT threads.
Now I cannot imagine letting nailbiter or FG’s birthday pass without doing something. (Kuya FG, take care of bubbles ha) Can’t imagine going online with my writing gigs without checking out on my online buddies. And certainly could not go by in YM without talking to annanymous, my resident sister whom I haven’t seen yet face to face (argh, and you are going to Dubai!!!!!!) .
And yes, PMT even became an acid test for not-so-true friendships. Through the threads, I saw layers and layers of people’s innermost thoughts and feelings. Except those who are just using the forum to pretend to be somebody they are not. In every forum or community, there will always be people like that. It’s part of the package. But I love it still. It’s a microcosm of things I have believed in, in general.
In posing questions to PMT threads, I get most of them answered. There are just so many people. They are the best resource on planet Earth, I have come to realize. It’s not just about making money. It’s about the people behind the moneymaking schemes that make my online existence worthwhile.
step 6: adjust your lifestyle
by ingenieure on November 4th, 2007
at last, naka-update ako. After the All Saints’ Day vacay. I was supposed to go online last week but then, my Palm Top isn’t cooperating and I had no Internet access. I ended up watching Prison Break and I just tried to read through numerous materials needed for my articles. No coffee shops or Wifi spots or internet shops. I felt like crying na nga I wasn’t able to do a lot of work last week. But I lost my blackheads, whiteheads and some weight na rin since I was just at home… Imprisoned to watching TV and trying to make the most out of my Palm.
And I found it hard to blog on my personal finance blog since I have been guilty of breaking the very cause I am fighting for. I just ended up splurging a lot the past week and I don’t even know where I started to pick up that splurge thing again. Shopping must be in every girl’s genetic makeup.
anyway, tapusin ko na nga ang series na ito. Step 6 is adjust your lifestyle.
It means giving up the wants for a temporary season. I mean, paying debt is still the number one priority.
When I was paying up, I had to give up a lot of things. I practically reduced my gimiks with my amigas. It did affect some friendships. But then, true friends would understand the limits of my resources. Some did. Some didn’t but it’s fine.
It also meants goodbye to spa sessions. I really missed the times the leisure activities were just a payment away but I knew I had to do this sooner or later. My mom used to be in denial about her situation. I was close to imitating what she did. But it got her to about a thousand miles away from her family and nowhere near paying it all off.
I didn’t want to end up like that. I had to do something.
I also had to explore my available options after paying my debt (that’s step seven by the way). But then I made a firm resolve not to spend more than what I am making.
step five: Get Your Support System
by ingenieure on October 22nd, 2007
Hook up! I meant it in a good way, of course.
When you are getting out of debt (yes, assuming you can still remember our get out of debt series after my writing hiatus here in this blog)… you need to hook up with a lot of people to help you out. It is really important to have your own support system in your financial goals.
It’s quite hard to find people you can trust with the exact details of your bank account and all those financial information. But at least, it is important that you have a group with whom you can share your general financial goals and they must encourage you as you go through it.
(I already have PMT for that one, and my sweeti and my family… )
And you will just figure out that when you go through tough times in life, you will not have to spend too much if you have a good support system. They will be your therapy without the anti-depressants.
dimalirip na kapayapaan
by ingenieure on October 15th, 2007
maraming salamat sa aking dating gurong si Eugene Evasco dahil sa kanyang klase ko natutunang mahalin ang sariling wika.
susubukan ko lang mag-Tagalog ng puro sa isang sulatin. Hindi na naman gumagana ang Multiply at Friendster ko kaya dito ko na lang ulit sasabihin ang mga saloobin ko. Wag maalala, malamang may magpakamahaba. Pero tingin ko, mapakikinabangan natin kahit papano…sana…
nagsimula ang lahat sa isang tanong:
tanong ni evita sa akin (na tatago na lang natin sa pangalang eve! (jehz pare kilala mo siya diba! ahahaha)), “what makes you happy?”
lagi niya yan tinatanong sa akin.
at sa bawat tanong niya, kinaiinis ko.
una sa lahat, hindi ko masagot ng diretso.
pangalawa, bigla na lang niyang itatanong sa kalagitnaan ng kwentuhan.
pero kagabi, habang malalim ang gabi at ang mga guhit sa mata ko ay lumalalim din– habang ang oras ay aandap-andap at iniisip kong magpawala ng isang timbang luha… naisip ko na lang isipin ang tanong.
ano nga ba ang nakakapagpasaya sa akin?
mantakin mo, sa isang araw, halos kalahati nun (12/24 oras) ay nakaukol sa aking pagttrabaho, sa pagtuturo at sa pagsusulat.
pero ang totoo palang nakakapagpasaya sa akin ay hindi ang pera.
nagagamit ang pera, totoo. pero ang pera ay hindi sapat para magbigay ng isang patak ng kapayapaan o sigla.
anu-ano nga ba ang pumasok sa listahan ng bagay na nakakapagpasaya sa akin?
una, ang aking pagsusulat. wala ng tatalo pa sa emosyon at kasiyahang nakukuha ko sa pagsusulat. minsan nga hindi ako makapaniwalang binabayaran ako para gawin ito. sobrang sarap manipulahin ang teklado ng makinilya at bumuo ng salitang alam kong maaaring makapagpabago sa utak ko at sa utak ng taong bumabasa ng mga tinuran kong salita.
iba rin ang sigla pag sumusulat ako gamit ang lapis at pluma, nakikita ko ang kulay na sadyang gumuguhit sa makinis na kwadernong gamit ko bago ako matulog. at dito ko nailalabas lahat. kahit mga luhang ayaw lumabas kahit anong pilit ko. kahit anong pighati o nosyon ng siphayo na bumabalot sa aking pagkatao, nailalabas ko sa sistema ko sa segundo napindot ko na at natatanaw ang mga titik na umuukit sa……… “computer screen” (pakshet, hindi ko kinaya ang tagalog nun. hahaha)
pangalawa sa listahan, ang mga kaibigan ko. grabe. naalala ko dati na sobrang may mga nasulat akong masakit laban sa isang taong sinaktan din ako. natuwa ako kasi marami sa mga kalapit kong kaibigan ay hindi ako kinunsinti sa aking mga kapalaluan. Bagkus, sinabi nila sa akin na dapat wag kong gamitin ang pluma para manakit ng iba. Mula noon, natutunan ko na wag ng gamitin ang aking panulat para umatake ng iba. Nagkaron naman ako ng diskresyon kahit papano na wag pangalanan ang mga taong umuukilkil sa masasakit na kabanata ng buhay ko at inalayan ko ng masaklap na sulat sa aking “blog” (isa na namang walang katumbas sa tagalog!).
Kapag may kaibigan ka at sinulsulan ka niya na ipahamak ang kapwa mo, magdalawang isip ka kung kaibigan mo ba siyang talaga o isa lamang siyang taong naghahanap ng paglilibangan. At lalo akong nagpasalamat. Sa mga kaibigan ko, magaganda ang pananaw sa buhay.
Kapag mali ako, hindi nila ako sasabihan na tama ako. Minsan pa sasampalin ako para magising lang ako…
At pag tama ako, susuportahan nila ako hanggang sa dulo ng walang hanggan.
Bilang resolusyon, sinupil ko ang sigalot na bumabalot sa aking panitikan. at nagtagumpay ako matapos ang isang buwan. natutunan ko rin magparaya at wag sumabay sa amok ng iba. natutunan kong maging payapa. isang dimalirip na kapayapaan na hindi mo mabibili sa kahit saang suking tindahan.
Ikatlo sa bagay na ikinasisiya ko ay ang aking pamilya. Pamilya sa “forum” (patay kang bata ka. ano bang Inggles ng forum?), sa “review centers” at sa angkan namin lalo na sa panig ng aking ina.
Kung pagsasama-samahin ang suportang nakukuha ko sa mga kahanga-hangang taong pumapaligid sa akin, hindi ko na maiisip kailanman na magpakasama, mag-amok o magwala laban sa mga kakapiranggot na atake at kamalasan na paminsan-minsan ay kumakatok sa pintuan ng buhay ko. Normal lang yun, ibig sabihin ay tao ako at marami lang talagang kasablayan ang tao…
Ikaapat, walang araw sa buhay ko na hindi ko nakakadaupang-palad at nakakausap ang isang matalinong tao. Sa bawat araw, may matalinong tao akong nakakausap.
Hindi matalino lamang sa mga asignaturang akademiko ngunit matalino din sa buhay, matalino sa pakikipagsalamuha sa tao at matalino sa paghawak ng mga talentong binigay ng Diyos sa kanya.
Ikalima, may trabaho ako. At hindi ko kailanman ginamit ang ibang tao para makuha ko ang mga nakamit kong pangarap at kabuhayan, lalo na sa ngalan ng pagsusulat. Sa Iloilo, sabi ulit ni Evita, ang kinikita ng empleyado nila ay nasa 200 lang sa isang araw.
Iniisip ko yun pag nalulungkot ako. Ang bagay na kaya kong kitain sa loob ng mahigit isang oras, paghihirapan ng isa kong kababayan sa Iloilo ng walo o siyam na oras.
At napapapitlag ako. Paano ka pa nga ba mag-iisip ng masakit na bagay kung tumatambad sa kahit saang anggulo ang pagiging maswerte ko sa buhay?
Lumuha ako ulit, hindi dahil sa sakit. Pero dahil sa pasasalamat. Hindi magkandamayaw na pasasalamat sa lahat ng biyaya sa akin. Sobra sobra. Siksik liglig at umaapaw.
Ikaanim, pinagdadasal ako ng mga taong malapit sa puso ko. Walang bayad pero purong sakripisyo.
Ikapito, nagkakarooon ako ng maraming pagkakataong linangin ang mga kakayahan ko.
Paminsan may pumipilit umukit sa utak ko na parang may kulang. Na parang hindi pa sapat ang meron ako ngayon.
Pero saan nga bang aspeto naging patapon ang buhay ko? Nasusukat nga ba sa dami ng panunulsol, paghahamon at taas ng ihi ang kakayahan at halaga ng isang tao?
Hindi. Higit pa doon ang kailangan.
Sa ngayon, hindi ko pa naaabot yung mga eksaktong bagay na gusto ko para sa buhay ko. May pinaglalaanan pa rin ako para sa pagpapayaman ng sarili kong kakayahan.
Sabi nga ni Francisco Colayco sa MoneySense magazine nung Pebrero, ang kayamanan ay isa lamang pananaw. Iba iba ito depende sa taong tumitingin.
Sa paningin ko, kahit minsan nasasaid ang laman ng ATM ko, mayaman na ako. Higit pa sa anim na bagay na nabanggit ko ang naipagpapasalamat ko, pero mauubusan tayo ng oras kung sasabihin ko dito lahat.
Suma total, “What makes me happy?”
My life makes me happy.
At ang dimalirip na kapayapaan sa kaalaman na ginagawa ko ang lahat para mapabuti ang buhay ko, na walang problema sakit or bugso ng damdamin na sisira sa akin at lahat ng bagay ay may kadahilanan kahit hindi ko ito maintindihan sa umpisa.
Ikaw, “what makes you happy?”
step 4: Set your goals
by ingenieure on October 15th, 2007
This step is so cliche, i know. But few people do it for finances. When I ask my bosom friends what their financial plans are they just tell me, “Just enough for retirement”, “Basta I am living from paycheck. Nagtatabi ng konti” End of financial planning.
Actually, it’s more of a thing that needs to be planned with specific items in mind. How much is “enough” for retirement? How much is the “little amount” from my paycheck? If you don’t have the specifics, you get nowhere financially speaking.
And then strange as it may sound, you have to project that money– how it will grow for you and where you will invest it. For example, I though about my emergency fund and the current options I have. How much time I have and avenues of earning do I have at the moment?
The rule of 72 states that if you divide 72 with your savings account’s interest rate, the result will be the number of years that your money will double. So if you have 2% annual bank interest, it will double your hard-earned money in 36 years. imagine that. 36 years, where you might be too old to enjoy it. or possible even dead.
So I have learned from reading countless threads of investment instruments that a high level of risk is needed for higher returns. It’s not something to avoid. It’s a fact of life.
Similarly, I set my goals and made it tangible. I gave it a realistic deadline, as any determined person would. And also, I made Plan B’s and even Plan C’s in case things don’t go as planned.
Anyway, I have accomplished three goals already. I got myself out of debt, I placed some money in a balanced fund for higher risks (and higher returns, consequently) and then I am building my storehouse as well.
But I know that’s just the start.
One good way to set goals is to have a list where you can always see them. Particularly handy for me is this website: http://43things.com/
I swear. I already accomplished 20+ out of my 43 things when i created my account.
I hope you get your own 43 things and accomplish them too.
=)
step 3: track your income sources, passive and active
by ingenieure on October 8th, 2007
I was thinking between having a massage therapy now or going online and the latter got the better of me. So i just decided to continue our 8-step series. What’s the next step after tracking one’s expenses? It will have to be tracking your income sources.
By income i mean those that come in on a fairly regular basis, and unless there is some fortuitous event such as the Armaggedon, it will continue to arrive.
For the first few months that I tried to get out of debt, I was just relying on freelance gigs to keep me afloat. BAD idea, if you ask me. If you need to pay off a lot of stuff, you have to have at least a single day job that will help you get by with your living expenses and payables. That way, you will not cry when a crazy person will just stop paying you for no reason except her own unprofessionalism.
I only got to pay the last of my ugly debts when i started working for my Korean boss in an academy in Ortigas. (And it also gave me enough to start thinking of the next question: Where do I invest my hard-earned cash?)
If you are no longer in deep debt, you may opt to do freelance work but just make sure that you have an emergency fund stashed away somewhere in case you will need some major shelling out (e.g. getting laid off at work, accidental hospitalization and… getting pregnant?!!).
Passive income’s fabulous, of course. and speaking of passive income, I was supposed to place my money to BDO’s balanced fund (yes hallelujah i am out of debt and frigging ready to invest!) but alas, it was already 12 noon– cutoff time. Tsk tsk, tomorrow I’ll be early, I promise. But you cannot call it a steady source of income because UITFS and Mutual Funds have their respective holding periods and depending on the market’s flow, it’s either you make or lose a certain percentage. you can still account them based on projections of returns annually but that’s just about it. Unless you have a surplus of savings.
anyway, that’s the third step.
it’s really quite enlightening if you get the difference of your total income and your expense.
and when you see a negative number, i swear, you need to cut some expenses or consider taking a second or third job to sustain your lifestyle. either way, major changes have to be made…
step two: Track Your Financial Trail and Make Adjustments Accordingly
by ingenieure on October 1st, 2007
Yes, I am still here. On with the show…
So sorry for not following up instantly. Your lola had been very busy with so much stuff going on. Including the recently concluded PMT EB . The people I met there are really the best. Now, we continue with our series of getting out of debt (and I hope there aren’t spiking interest rates due to the delay in additional posts!)…
Of course, assessing your situation is just the first step. You can’t expect the debts to erase on its own.
Tracking my expenses was difficult at first, but as I did it over the months, it became a thing as natural as brushing my teeth. These days, I have every penny tracked. I know where every centavo goes. Daily, I put it in my planner. If you are lazy for paperwork, try Microsoft Excel.
After assessing one’s situation, I realized how valuable tracking one’s cash flow is. For one thing, I got surprised that I have taken far too many McDonald’s trips than I had imagined. There was even a whole week where I ate nothing but McDonald’s in the office. When I computed, I would have saved as much as 750 pesos that week if I ate at home, brought my baon or just opted to eat from other cheaper food chains in Ortigas. I had MiniStop, San Mig Food Shop and Jollibee as other options. Welcome to high rise buildings and chickenlandia. But chicken doesn’t have to eat my wallet away. Good thing I wasn’t much of a coffee fan these days or else Starbucks would have been part of the things I have to give up.
After tracking where my money goes, I also realized that the little things I took for granted actually meant a lot. For example, when I chose to take tricycles, I shell out five times the cost of taking the public jeepney. And then when I computed the expenses of tricycle fares in a span of a month, it was quite a substantial amount indeed!
Also, I used to be fond of FX. When it’s raining, I do ride an FX for convenience. But during sunny days where it’s easy to walk and I could use the exercise, I should have walked from megamall from the MRT train and save about 30 pesos per day doing so (and possibly lose calories na rin!).
Then I also realized how much I had spent texting! I thought I was saving from my unlimited call and text cards good for one month. But I realized that I tend to buy prepaid cards so frequently. I end up buying 6 150 peso prepaid cards in a span of 3 weeks. So I decided to buy a 500 pesos regular card instead to enjoy more free texts and less hassle.
I also considered the ambush expenses, where I passed through Galleria and Megamall and I just had to buy that pretty little pair of earrings, or that good book I saw on sale. In reality, I have an entire shelf of books that I still have to read (Bisyo na toh!), but that fact dissipates the moment I see another good book. Those cute litte things had to accumulate, unfortunately at the expense of my living expense allowance.
And then I just had to give up my Cosmopolitan magazine collection because it just took so much space and money on my part. I decided to wait for back issues to go on sale and get 3 magazines for 100 pesos. Seriously, they just repeat their content per season, so when I buy the February 2007 issue today (October 2007), I can read it next Valentine’s day, February 2008, and it will still be timely.
Then when I realized how much electricity we are consuming at home, I decided to be a plug police officer and I unplug all appliances when they are not in use. I also reprimand my little sister when she leaves the faucet on after she takes a bath. And she reprimands me back when I do it myself!
From being a bulagsak queen, I learned to be more frugal with my spending. And I haven’t regretted the day that I decided to change my lifestyle.
I also learned how to multi-task in almost every conceivable aspect, to save for expense.
Like for example, when I have to meet a friend for coffee in Megamall, I also decide to go do some grocery and I meet as many friends as I can within that same day and venue so that I will save on transportation expense and get to catch up with all my amigas. One transportation expense goes a long way now, unlike before where I made unproductive trips for a single affair and not accomplish much.
It may seem funny but I have days where I have a lunch date with my UP friends at 12, then I meet some editors at around 2pm, then I watch a movie with my boyfriend from 2:30-4:00pm and then I finally go to work in my Korean academy at 5pm-9pm. Then, on my way home, I stop by the nearest computer shop, do my articles before midnight and then I sleep. I usually do this on Mondays to Saturdays, freeing my Sunday as a time to chill out at home, and I am not supposed to spend for fare anymore in those days.
Then on Saturdays, I do tutorial work for a Korean student, and then I leave home with a full stomach afterlunch so I won’t have to buy from McDonald’s anymore when I get to Ortigas. After tutoring my student, I go to church in Galleria. And then I go home and do my articles. I get to do work and service in a single day.
Oh, if in case I have minutes where I have to wait for friends who are pasaway and epitomes of Filipino time, I bring a book out of the shelf of books I want to read and I read it. Or if I am bringing my backpack, I just whip out my planner, check my schedule and other tasks.
Since my rakets are writing, I am already able to write even offline and just type them all in the evening. While my students are answering their exercises, I brainstorm about my writing projects and jot them in my notebook for typing in the evening. If I have my own homework from schoool, I do them after I teach my Korean babies about theirs.
Tracking how I used my money had helped me become more efficient in my use of money. It also helped me to be more creative with the way I use my resources. And if there is anything I hate the most, it would have to be that of time wasted and money mismanaged.
8 Steps to getting Out of Debt (from somebody who’s just been there!)
by ingenieure on September 23rd, 2007
Getting out of debt isn’t easy. You may have instant delusions of grandeur, but being able to get out of debt is anything but instant. In my experience, I was able to reduce them in 8 steps, emanating from my personal experience and tons of materials I have read on the subject. And of course, some useful tips from the right people.
STEP ONE: ASSESS THE SITUATION
You might need to ask help from a friend or relative to help you gain objectivity on this very crucial step.
Most people who have accumulated debts haven’t seen it coming. They are either unaware of the extent of their debts or simply in denial that they have a big problem. In getting out of debt, you must face the cold, hard truth and decide to get out of it as quickly as possible.
During the time I had colossal debts, I was afraid of facing the facts. I thought I could mask the problems with my salon trips (which I still indulge in occasionally). And I just kept on saying yes to fair-weather friends who know how to spend money but not how to earn it. It was a not-so-savvy affair.
Good thing my boyfriend knew how to budget well, so he sort of lectured me for months about it before I finally became able to do it on my own. From a net worth in the negative thousands range, I managed to put it to a positive thousands range within 6 months. But like I said, it wasn’t a fairy tale or a bed of roses to do so.
Of course, before I started working to pay off all my debts, I sat down with my pen and paper and did some projections. In war, it is like preparing strategies and detecting the extent of the damage of debts. I then created a deadline for myself in light of the assessments, and all the other steps I made to get out of debt emanated from that first step.
Today, assessing my financial situation is as normal as breathing to me. I do it on a daily basis, or if I am really loaded with work, I update my financial journal once a week to keep up to the times and my cash flow.
A lot of people do wish to be debt-free but not everybody gets to do it. The difference lies in the willpower to make changes and have the objective view of the actual situation.
It might take some work. But nothing beats being able to sleep soundly at night without having to think of what I owe other people. And I even get to pay myself more.
(Now, I have a problem maintaining my debt-free status. But that’s another story. )
Related thread at:
http://www.pinoymoneytalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=4021.0