Misers and money

Noet Ravalo is back, and in his latest column, revealed that he and his family “dissaved” over the holidays. Check out his column on the real point of saving for the future.

Here’s an excerpt:

Over the holidays, my family and I dissaved. We took an unplanned family vacation to see relatives and friends we have not seen in over 10 years. My family thoroughly enjoyed it.

We always stress the virtue of saving because what we save is the treasure that we bring to the future. But what we often forget is that saving, in practice, does not mean that we should stop spending.

The point of saving is not only to accumulate but also to save for something. We cannot minimize for the sake of minimizing. Ibenizer Scrooge was a miser until the three ghosts put cause-and-effect in perspective. He had that privilege; some of us may come to that conclusion too late.

Think of this when, next time, your more good-looking and more popular younger brother visits you and you want to lecture him about saving for the future! Nyahaha.

Seriously, I wouldn’t even dream of stopping to take annual vacations for the extra money it will add to the retirement kitty. We all must save for the future. As my previous blog post says “no one can afford NOT to save.” But it’s a balancing act between now and that distant year ahead.

Having said that, here are some moments of frantic frugality I have observed in myself and some people around me. Perhaps you can add yours, in the interest of sharing and humor:

1. Clipping coupons from the newspaper. Do you also have those McDonalds coupons in your wallet?
2. Waiting for more than 30 minutes to withdraw from my bank’s ATM machine when another one close by doesn’t have a long line
3. Using a National Bookstore plastic bag – yep the red one – to cover a book (seriously, I saw someone do this)

It may take awhile to remember those moments, but I’m sure you can come up with one or two.

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