Financial Freedom

“Live below your means but within your needs. If you do not have money for your future and you have all these things around you, what does that say about you?”

This was one of the statements given by  Suze Orman, a famous financial guru during her talk in the Philippines. I was not able to watch the show on TV but my parents did and my mom shared this statement to me.

My dad has taught us this principle ever since I can remember. I think me and my siblings have somehow adapted this way of thinking. Living below our means and knowing our financial priorities. Now that I am married, my dad still continues to give me and my husband financial advises.

My husband and I formed the habit of setting aside our money every month for different uses. We have seven envelopes labelled “Savings, Baby, Light and Power, Credit Card, Nanny, Groceries, Bills, and  Wants”. Every month, we set aside money to these envelopes and would only use the money for its specific purpose. There are times that our allowance for 15 days would only be 500 pesos and we would stick to our budget. We learned this practice from our parents because they did the “envelope” thing when they were just starting out. You would be amazed that in spite our average salaries, we still have savings. Setting our money aside for its specific use really help us strengthen our financial control. As long as our needs are being met and be happy in even in small things, saving will not be that difficult.

When my dad was still working, he told us that he saved all of his bonuses. He only spent his salary for our needs. Aside from his savings from bonuses, he also saved from his salary. He invested his savings in mutual funds, insurance, and bank investments. When he retired, he also ventured into agricultural business. We seldom ate out when we were young. Vacations had to be planned way ahead. We did not go out much and we were not given big allowances. We were taught not to love material things early on.

Saving is a habit and financial freedom starts from savings. Of course it does not end in savings. Achieving financial freedom requires knowledge and wisdom. One can go into business and investing. Prayer MUST always be in the equation. My dad always credited his financial decisions to God. He said that God must have provided him wisdom where to invest his money.

I hope that we can also achieve financial freedom in the future.

What is Important

It’s story time. This was sent to me by a friend. I hope you like it. May you always prioritize what is truly important in life.

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up the remaining open areas of the jar.

He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”
“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else, the small stuff.”
“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. 

The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party, or fix the disposal.”

“Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

Author Unknown

Bouncing Baby Girl

     What a great blessing this day is. Today is the birthday of my mother-in-law. Her daughter, my sister-in-law, also gave birth to a bouncing baby girl. She was supposed to give birth next month.  I guess the baby is just so eager to see the world. It’s a double celebration for the familyJ

Baby Wipes

      One of the things a mother must always have on hand is Baby Wipes. It is good for diaper changing and instant cleansing of baby’s hands especially when thumb sucking is prevalent.

      I have tried brands like Farlin, Giggles, Kinder Care, Pigeon, Johnson & Johnson, and Bebeta. The best one so far is Johnson & Johnson because the wipes has a lot of moisture unlike the other brands. The downside is that the price is very steep.

     The one that I am currently using is Bebeta because it has more moisture than the other mentioned brands and the price is a little affordable. I was surprised to see that Pigeon did not have that much moisture considering that it is one of the leading brands in baby stuff.

     If I would not consider the cost, I would choose Johnson & Johnson because aside from the moisture, the wipes are also thick.

Missing Kids

      Sometimes watching the news breaks my heart. There were two missing children last March ages 4 and 3. They were last seen playing at an abandoned car in their subdivision. Their parents started looking for them when they realized they could not be seen anymore. They searched everywhere including the abandoned car. They reached other towns just to search for their kids. Police already got involved.

     Just this week, news broke out that the two missing kids were found dead at the same abandoned car where they were last seen. Media captured the first time the parents saw their child dead. I tried not to cry because I could not imagine losing a child. The car must have been in child lock and could not be opened from the inside because according to the police, the car was not locked when they tried to open it.

     The bodies were discovered because the neighbours were noticing a foul smell coming from the car and they thought it was just a dead rat. All were shocked to see the dead children inside the car. I could not imagine the pain the parents must be feeling right now. If only they went back again to the abandoned car to see if the kids went back there to play.

     Kids that young must never be left alone because 3 and 4 are still babies. Some kids that age are still wearing diapers and are still drinking milk from a bottle. These days, it’s hard to find a nanny that parents can trust. Most parents are working and are forced to leave their children to guardians while working. It is important to scrutinize the people we entrust our kids with.

Busy Bee

      I can’t believe Wednesday is almost done.  We still have not finished our cooperative’s financial statements. We have been working on it since last week so we can already release the member’s capital share. However, we have discovered so many confusing and missing  journal entries since the cooperative started its books. I only handled the books last year and since then, I dreaded the time wherein the cooperative will have to settle its books because I know there are a lot of reconciling to be done. One of the confusing entries are the inter-company transactions because there are a lot of offsetting and the time of recording does not tally.  Our finance department is requiring the final financial statement before payment is done. I am crossing my fingers that once the financial statements are done, there will be no more questions from top management and just release the remaining capital share. This is going to be another very busy week. Hopefully, we can finish it soon. 

Rainy Monday

      I woke up hearing heavy raindrops and immediately wished it was a Saturday. Oh well, it is another rainy Monday. I was tempted to call and declare a vacation leave but then the chairman of our cooperative might still need some data for some required reports. I still have remaining vacation leaves from last year and will expire in November. Hopefully, the reports will be finished this morning so I can file for a leave this afternoon. There are so many things I want to do in the house. Most of them involve cleaning and sorting out clothesJ

Telenovelas

        Filipinos are fond of watching  “telenovelas” or ”tereseryes”. These shows usually start around 3pm and it goes on until 10pm. News would just sneak in at 6-7pm. Imagine if one is addicted to all these shows, he/she cannot do anything else.

            

       Personally, I don’t like watching these shows because the theme is always about injustice, betrayal and revenge. I don’t like to watch them because they are really addicting and I end up having all these negative emotions because I would hate the antagonist.

           

      I usually watch when I know that the story will end in about a week because then, my addiction will not last that long. I wish Philippine networks will create lighter stories wherein watchers will have more positive emotions after watching the show rather than hatredJ

Little Sailor Boy

Most of my baby’s clothes are hand-me-downs from my twin nephews. This is one of their clothes. However, my baby boy looks like a baby girl in this picture because the sailor jumpsuit is still a little too big and it seems like he is wearing a dress. Well, I guess I have to wait a few more months so that he would look like a sailor in this outfitJ