This is the pinata I personally made during the 5th birthday of my only daughter. I simply used pink japaenese papers to wrap the pinata made from a milk box. I guess I just spend around Php30 for this. The hello kitty sticker was worth Php10 ( and I used 2 stickers) and the japanese paper was worth 10. It's amazing how I saved a lot of money for this pinata. Had I bought one from a party store, I surely had spent around P200 for this (without candies inside). I only spent around Php60 for the candies.

Sweet Treats by Kenlee & Friends

This is my new business. It is a candy cart located at the second level of Robinsons Place Tacloban. My daughter, Kendra, is trying to pose as the store model. Isn't she cute?LOL

Coin Banks As Gifts

Bargain Hunting

I was supposed to go to the market yesterday for my weekly marketing. The weather wasn’t fine and the marketplace was flooding that I decided to go the department store. Instead of going straight to the grocery store, I decided to window shop for awhile especially that there was an on-going sale. I found this five-meter long curtain lace which was being sold for P30.00 only! I couldn't believe it at first. A month ago, I bought a curtain lace in that same store and I bought it at a price of 25.00 per meter.

Well, I need to buy some curtains so I can use my lace. I hope to buy cheaper or discounted curtains.

Jewelry: Every Woman's Bestfriend

If I would be given a chance to splurge on something, without doubt, I would choose to gorge on, no other thing except, beautiful pieces of jewelries. That came to my mind when I chanced upon to visit a jewelry shop yesterday while I was leisurely walking along the busy streets of our city’s downtown area. Beautiful pieces and sets of jewelries were carefully displayed by the shop’s owner and storekeeper. The seemingly pricey jewelry items forced me to conclude that the shop’s inventory will not be lesser than ten million. With that amount in my mind, I wondered why there was only one security guard. It’s none of my damn business anyway.

Jewelries are good form of investment as they appreciate in time. Its monetary value increases as it gets older. In other words, vintage pieces of jewelry become pricey as time goes on. It also becomes a priceless possession when handed down from one generation to another. This reminds me of a friend whose spinster maternal aunt handed down, before she joined the Creator, all her vintage jewelries to her and all her girl cousins. They were all cautioned by their Aunt never to sell those jewelries specially that those jewelries were originally owned by her grandmother. The beautiful jewelry set – earrings, necklace and ring - given to my friend is one of a kind.

I SAVED P1,495.00 FOR MY EYEGLASSES

I am the kind of person who admittedly is perfectly careless when it comes to eyewear care. I have lost my count on the number of contact lenses lost and eyeglasses lost. Just this year – and take note, there are five more months before the year is over, I have changed my eyeglasses for six times already. Ironically, I don’t lose much of my shades. My husband has been complaining about the frequent change of my glasses and so, he suggested that I should not be buying expensive ones. Yesterday, I went to five different optical shops to look for the cheapest eyeglasses and the cheapest eyeglasses frame was P1,300.00 and the cost of the lens was P400.00. It was a good thing that I didn’t immediately buy for I found a cheaper eyeglasses frame in a local department store – those sold in local Chinese stores are even cheaper - which was exactly the same with one the frames sold for P1,600.00 in one of the optical shops. I bought the frame for only P105.00 – I saved 1,495.00 for that. Then, I went to my Optometrist friend who gave me a P100.00 discount for the frame. In other words, the total cost of my new eyeglasses was only P405.00. From now on, I will just buy an eyeglasses frame from a department store and have it lensed in the optical shops to save more.

STORING UP STORIES OF MY STORES

Since I was younger, I have sold many different stuff to many people - from classmates, friends, officemates, neighbors, acquaintances to whoever I meet. Whatever I offered for sale were usually bought. I used to sell T-shirts, pants, shoes, bags, beauty products, canned goods, chocolates, bath and laundry soap, imported products and many more. Then in 1996, I asked my father to help me finance in putting up a small retail store for my mother who at that time had retired from the government service as public elementary school teacher. When my father agreed, a store was constructed in front of our house. I bought all the items to be sold and everytime I had an out-of-town travel, I made sure that I bring home something which the other stores in our community didn’t have. I deviated from the traditional retail stores by offering items which were not usually sold by a retail store. My mother used to get furious everytime I bring in items to our store which she thought were not saleable. Once, I brought with me a bundle of used clothing, a box of apples, picture frames, plastic wares, gift items, hair accessories, compact discs and firecrackers – I was so glad that the port security was not that strict compared now- when I came home from Cebu. When my mother saw those items, she told me that I will never be bought at all and she was afraid that I will just lose my capital. But to her surprise, I had a return of my investment in a matter of week and I had two hundred percent profit. From then on, my mother believed that I got his father’s business acumen. I became not too involved with the store operations in January 2002 when I got married and moved out of the house. My mother continued to manage the store until it closed down two years ago when my mother died. In May 2006, I opened up my own store by converting our other residential house located in a town next to the place where we live. It’s approximately 10 kilometers away from my home. Since the house is located inside a subdivision, my customers were confined to the residents of that subdivision. In December 2006, I put a plant and clay pot store with a P5000 capital. I operated it for only three months as the location of my store had very poor foot traffic and was not appropriate. When I reached the break-even in terms of return of capital, I immediately decide to close it before incurring in further loses. The experiences I got in managing small businesses are my best teachers in my dream of making bigger businesses.

Blessed with Meager Income

It’s not easy to save money nowadays especially that the prices of all commodities - from the most basic ones to that of something which we simply want – are all skyrocketing. With the meager income that my husband receives each month less the withholding tax, GSIS contribution, PAG-Ibig contribution, health Insurance, loans and even death aids, almost nothing is left for our family and with that money we still have to pay for the electricity, water, house amortization, telephone, cable TV, tuition and other school fees for our child, car loan and necessities of my child – milk, diaper, food, and vitamins , whatever is left will be go to our food budget for the whole month. It may be difficult for me to budget the money but still I’m thankful that there is still money to be budgeted. I have no reason to complain about having small money for I am more blessed than the others who can hardly eat three times a day.

My P500 Food Budget For Five Days

Some say that P500 is not enough for a day’s food budget. It may be true if the number of people in the family is more than a dozen but if you only have four or less number of household members, then your P500 will suffice your week’s food budget. Our household is composed of three grown-ups - me, my husband and our helper, and one child. We all love to eat but since all of us have medium body built, we don’t consume so much food every meal and so, we cook food just enough for one meal. Besides, my husband does not like to eat leftovers.

When in tight budget, I buy in the wet market because the prices there are cheaper compared to those in the supermarkets and I make sure that the food supply will last for at least five days. I once challenged myself with a P500 food budget which should last for five days. By the way, the budget for the rice is not included. Here’s what I bought: Galungong (1 kilo or 13 pcs.) 60.00 Hasa-hasa (1 kilo or 20 pcs)) 65.00 Pork 100.00 Ground Pork or Shanghai Mix 125.00 Mongoes (1/2 kl.) 15.00 Eggs (6 pcs.) 28.00 Sardines 10.00 Lumpia Wrapper (10 pcs.) 9.00 All-Purpose Flour 13.00 Dried Fish (4 pcs.) 10.00 Cooking Oil 30.00 Malunggay 3.00 Pinakbet 10.00 Kangkong (2 bundles @P5) 10.00 Sayote (2 pcs.) 14.00 Pechay 5.00 Camote Tops (1 bundle) 3.00 Total P500.00 Day 1 Breakfast – Sardines Scrambled in Eggs 1 sardines 2 eggs Lunch - Tinolang Isda w/ Camote Tops 1/3 kl. Hasa-hasa 1 bundle camote tops Dinner – Sinugbang Isda & Sauted kangkong 1/3 kl. Galunggong 1 bundle kangkong Day 2 Breakfast – Scrambled eggs 3 pcs. eggs Lunch - Isdang Paksiw & Kangkong 1/3 kl. Hasa-hasa 1 bundle kangkong Dinner – Fried Fish & Pinakbet 1/3 kl. galunggong Pinakbet Day 3 Breakfast – Mongo Burger & dried fish 1/3 part Mongo 3 tbsp. Flour 1 pc. Egg 2 pcs. Dried fish Lunch - Fish Fillet & sauted pechay 1/3 kl. galunggong 1 bundle pechay Dinner – Nilagang Baboy w/malunggay Half of the Pork 1 bundle malunggay Day 4 Breakfast - Dried Fish & Fried Fish 1/3 kl. Hasa-hasa 2 pcs. Dried fish Lunch – Burger Patties & Mongo Vegetable One-third of the shanghai mix ¼ kl. mongo 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour Dinner - Meat Balls & Stir Fried Sayote One-third of the shanghai mix 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour 1 pc. sayote Day 5 Breakfast – Lumpiang Shanghai 10 pcs. Lumpia wrapper One-third of the shanghai mix Lunch – Pork Adobo & Sayote 1/3 part pork 1 pc. sayote Dinner – Mongo with pork 1/3 part mongo 1/3 part pork TIPS: Make sure that the fish and port will be stored in the freezer after cleaned washed. For easier budgeting, divide the galunggong, hasa-hasa, pork and shanghai mix into three parts each and put each part in separate cellophanes. To maintain the freshness of your leafy vegetables, do not refrigerate it, instead, simply put it in a container filled with water. Leafy vegetables should be cooked first before the other types of vegetables.

Wrong Money Management

I have a friend whose husband is a seaman who is indebted to almost all the persons close to her and the bad thing about her is she doesn’t care to pay even if she often bumps the person or persons she is indebted to. When her husband came home in July last year, he found out that she had not paid some debts which he thought had all been paid when he received demand letters. It made him very furious that he was triggered to send her out of their house. When this friend of mine was temporarily kicked out of their house, she sought comfort in me and it was then that she confessed how she managed their finances. I bluntly told her that without a doubt, she was to be blamed for all their financial trouble. Compared to how much I receive each month, her net monthly allotment from her husband which is in dollars is much more than what I receive in pesos from my husband. Yet she is indebted to many – including to me! She asked me to help her budget her money but before I agreed to do so, I first asked her what and how much are her monthly bills. Again, I compared it with how much I pay and I found out that I am shelling out twice as hers. Then I asked her, “what do you do with your money?” and she replied, “I don’t know”. After our day-long conversation, I came up with a conclusion and frankly told her that she has some financial management problem. Here are the reasons why: 1. She spends money before she receives her allotment. 2. She goes shopping first before paying her monthly bills. 3. She spends so much on pampering herself, that is, she pays weekly for her manicure and pedicure, monthly haircut and regular hair rebonding. 4. She doesn’t cook, she buys ready-to-eat foods and often dine out in fastfoods. 5. She is an impulsive buyer and a great spender on clothing for her and her two children. After that conversation, she promised to change her buying and spending habits. After a week, she came again to me and this time to borrow money. I did lend her money but I made her sign a promissory note thinking that it was the start of her thriftiness. Unfortunately, I learned from my other friends, after a couple of weeks, that she did borrow money from them again. Three months after she borrowed money from me, I demanded payment from her. At first she refused to pay but after telling her that I will collect the money through court, she finally paid. People whose spending habits resembles with that of my friend will really be forever debt-trapped.

Surviving tips From My Mother

My mother, whose name was Irenea, was a small woman with a big heart. She barely stood an inch or two below five feet but her spirits were majestically higher than her own height. She never stood small in her daily battle against the financial complexity brought about by the inverse proportion of meager income earned and number of mouths fed. She conquered all obstacles in life without the least hint of giving up. She taught us how to face the difficult reality and survive poverty. We learned to laugh and cry at the storms and hurricanes, ups and downs, and roses and thorns of our life. We learned to make people believe that we were not financially hard-up and, good thing, they looked up at us as wealthy. My mother was tough and physically active. There were no idle moments for her especially when she was younger. The petite body never hindered her from doing manly activities like cutting the firewoods using an ax, climbing the rooftop of our house to fix the typhoon-damaged roof, and making a chicken “house” out of scrap – and we all “inherited that talent”, may I correct, my elder sister outdone my mother’s manliness for she not only climbed the roof but dared to scale up the lanky coconut trees in our backyard. My mother probably would have survived if she was lost somewhere in the middle of the Amazon jungle. That’s why we called her Amazona. The most important phase our life was our growing up years. Many did not know what our family went through. When we were younger, striving to live each day was a struggle we brawled together with our parents. We had never had the comfort and luxuries in life – no television even. To pass away time, mostly during summer, we just ran off to the beach or climbed up the guava tree in our backyard. We became contented with the basic necessities for we didn’t have other options anyway. In a way, the intricate experiences we went through gave us some useful tips on how to continue to exist during difficult times. These real-life experiences helped in molding us to become what we are now and these are my extraordinary saving graces for my own family. Never discuss financial problems in public. My mother reminded us to be always discreet with our financial status. She, most often than not, never allowed us to let others know with respect to our monetary problems. It was unavoidable, though, especially when we were made to bring the “trademarked” one-eight sheet of intermediate paper- with “Good For” as the heading and my mother’s signature (sometimes forged by my sisters whose golden hands can replicate of signature of my mother) as the closing, to the Man Bening - the bakery owner who allowed us to purchase on credit breads, some of our favorites were pan de carne, pan de leche, and ilang-ilang, or to Man Erie or Mana Lucy- the meat vendors who gave us a kilo credit limit of meat. Look and feel decent even if you only have a single cent in your pocket, and even if that money can only afford you to buy a stick of banana cue for lunch, just savor its sweetness for it will definitely help you energize. Learn to recycle. We learned to recycle our food – we concocted a variety of new menu out of our leftover viands, vegetable and rice. Whatever was left from our previous day’s banquet was re - cooked into a new food and, literally, there was nothing left for the dogs to eat. Our dresses were recycled too – the long and outmoded dresses given by our Aunt in the United States were cut and re-sewn by my mother, despite her inadequate sewing skills, to give it a new look. Her favorite and only style of dress for all of us girls was a gartered on the waist balloon skirt with matching spaghetti-strapped blouse. Our school bags and notebooks were never spared from recycling. The unwritten pages from our notebooks, from the previous year, were compiled to make one or two new notebooks. Never add mouths to feed. My mother neither employed maids nor encouraged relatives to live with/work for us – she believed they were plainly extra mouths to feed. All of us in the family were involved in doing the household chores, the young girls did the cleaning of the house, my elder sister and my mother did the washing of our clothes and the boys did other stuffs outside of the house. This does not mean however that we did this as our routine activities. Sometimes the girls worked the manly stuff when the boys were all away and the vice versa. For that, all of us learned how to cook and bake food - both for humans and the pigs, wash the dishes, sew our own clothes, clean up our mess and the whole house, and grown plants. Plant. We had lots of fruit bearing trees, vegetables and other ornamental plants surrounding our house. Aside from harvesting and eating fresh fruits and vegetables, we were able to save, and even earn, money. My elder bothers were even made to sell coconuts when our finances run out. Pray. We were taught to pray for guidance and more blessings but were not taught to rely purely on prayers. Prayers must be coupled with actions. Poverty was our passport to get a college diploma – we were made to believe, rather forced to believe, that education was the only way to be freed from poverty. All of us seven children managed to get a college degree, and majority of us pursued post graduate degrees, even if going to college was a bumpy ride.

My mother may not have the chance to read this article anymore, for she has been dead for more than a year now. Had she read this, she would have had a hearty laugh and I am a hundred percent sure, we would have a day-long reminiscing of the past conversation.