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. 
March 13th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
edzmaya: ok ung mga ginagawa mo, for items 1,2, 4-6, hindi ka lang makakatipid, nakakapagrecycle ka pa..i’m a nature lover and i appreciate such simple yet useful efforts..keep it up!
February 6th, 2008 at 9:21 am
my wife and i have a small business. To make sure that we save money, i make sure that 20% of our daily sales are put into a different bank account. 10% goes to our personal savings; 10% goes to our “luho” fund.
February 5th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
wow! so nice all these “miserly” habits. my friends often tease me about mine kasi.
1. i commute. i mean, ordinary bus kasi mas mabilis na mas mura pa. (although i pray hard na wag kami mahulog sa skyway!)
2. i keep lots of plastic. i don’t buy garbage bags. i mean, kung itatapon mo lang at paglalaygan ng mga itatapon, bakit mo pa bibilhin?
3. same as most of you, i don’t withdraw from other bank’s atm.
4. i recycle post-its!
5. i cut used A4 paper in the office to use as memo pad.
6. i keep gift wrappers, ribbons, sinamay, and other gift embellishments i receive and reuse them. hehe.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Nina! LOL. Sipag mo mag shine ng shoes! hahaha. Too funny girl.
Hey, I read your blog post about that scam in Doha. I hope other people didn’t get victimized too!
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:13 pm
paetechie, share naman tips on how to do this
seems you avoid ATM charges so much, there are many ways to avoid it if you got used to it.