Expenses Checkpoint: My Road to Financial Freedom
When I was first starting to save money, I thought I needed some kind of reminder whenever I felt like spending. Something to remind me why I should not give into my cravings for a new book to read, or a movie to watch, or a new shirt that I saw online. Why shouldn't I be giving into these cravings? Well, at that time, I was still busy getting rid of debt. Any extra expenses would only mean that I was tipping my bag of extra money a little over than expected.
It's pretty common sense, actually:
Buy a new shirt? YES! Why not? I need a new shirt! I've been wearing the same shirts day in and day out for the last 8 months.
But wait. My money is just so that I have fare to go to work. I just gave almost half of my pay to pay off debt. So all I'm left with is money for fare and groceries.
Buy a phone! Yes, I need a new phone! My phone is almost two years old!
But wait. A new phone costs even more than I can save. Besides, I don't want to settle for some old phone. I want a really good phone. One that I don't have to spend as much on, but would do the job really well. I'm looking at a minimum of PHP 10,000. And hey, my teammate, Jojo's phone, has had his phone for over three years, and he still can't decide whether he wants to upgrade or not.
Watch a movie! Yes, a new movie is coming out, one that we've been dying to see for months!
But wait, that would require me to spend at least three days of my baon. And then once I spend that, what happens, I'm going to be out of money for three days out of my expenses, and I'm going to have to end up borrowing money!
So that's pretty much what I've been struggling with over the last two months.
Now, it's a different story. I now can see the possibility to save, and as a matter of fact, I was able to finally open my bank account. This 13th month pay, a little bit is going to debt. But that's okay, because I still have a lot left over. I'm a much better person now, financially. I am on the road to recovery.
Now let's go back to the issues that Jonathan and I have been facing.
He's trying to debate with me right now about expenses. Well, I'm just dang effing tired to deal with it right now. I don't even want to talk about it.
But going back to the original issue!
So yes, I now need an updated Expenses Stoplight. (I really should change that to Expenses Stoplight).
One of the things I was considering is to check if my extra expenses would be
It's pretty common sense, actually:
Buy a new shirt? YES! Why not? I need a new shirt! I've been wearing the same shirts day in and day out for the last 8 months.
But wait. My money is just so that I have fare to go to work. I just gave almost half of my pay to pay off debt. So all I'm left with is money for fare and groceries.
Buy a phone! Yes, I need a new phone! My phone is almost two years old!
But wait. A new phone costs even more than I can save. Besides, I don't want to settle for some old phone. I want a really good phone. One that I don't have to spend as much on, but would do the job really well. I'm looking at a minimum of PHP 10,000. And hey, my teammate, Jojo's phone, has had his phone for over three years, and he still can't decide whether he wants to upgrade or not.
Watch a movie! Yes, a new movie is coming out, one that we've been dying to see for months!
But wait, that would require me to spend at least three days of my baon. And then once I spend that, what happens, I'm going to be out of money for three days out of my expenses, and I'm going to have to end up borrowing money!
So that's pretty much what I've been struggling with over the last two months.
Now, it's a different story. I now can see the possibility to save, and as a matter of fact, I was able to finally open my bank account. This 13th month pay, a little bit is going to debt. But that's okay, because I still have a lot left over. I'm a much better person now, financially. I am on the road to recovery.
Now let's go back to the issues that Jonathan and I have been facing.
He's trying to debate with me right now about expenses. Well, I'm just dang effing tired to deal with it right now. I don't even want to talk about it.
But going back to the original issue!
So yes, I now need an updated Expenses Stoplight. (I really should change that to Expenses Stoplight).
One of the things I was considering is to check if my extra expenses would be
- More than 10% of my total savings
- Is it something I need?
Well, the second bullet point is easy to get around. I am sure I will find a way for it to be something I need! Like eating out with friends, watching a movie.
And now I'm thinking, am I being so stingy and that these are things that I'm going to enjoy and reward myself with? I mean, I guess it's not so bad that I'm watching a movie or buying a shirt. But I guess it would be bad if I was doing it on a weekly basis. In all fairness, it's not like I have time to watch a movie or buy a shirt. And I'm not willing to include it as part of my integral expenses because it's not really something I need to set money aside for.
SEGUE: I found PS Bank's time deposit scheme. Minimum of 10,000 php for 3 months of time deposit will yield 0.25%. What is 0.25%? Oh I just realized it's 3% in a year. Which is... good? Bad? I think it's pretty good, considering how much you can get from a savings account in a year. Something else to think about. It's certainly more liquid than an investment plan, but requires my time monthly to open and close the account.
Well, I'll be getting back to that. Right now I've got to run. Just thinking of expenses against possible savings is making my head ache, and still makes me feel limited to the things I would like to do. But still!! That's only for now!
So this for now, more for later!
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