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Reeling from expenses left and right?

06/05/09

Posted under Financial Planning, Saving money, budgeting, kids and money, spending habits

IT’S Wednesday as I write this. These past two days, Monday and Tuesday, I saw my retainer fee for the month from a publishing company disappear–in just two days.

First, my desktop computer refused to do anything at all, and so I brought it to the computer shop. It turned out that the power supply is broken and the video card sympathized with it and broke down as well. Since the computer guys were tinkering with the CPU, my son and I figured we might as well add 1 gigabyte of RAM.

Then on Wednesday, it was time for the car to have its 40,000-kilometer check up. This does not come cheap, I realized, especially after I OK’d a rustproofing job, etc.

So there, a whole month’s work pay gone in two days. Why does money “evaporate” so fast?

Parents with school age children may be thinking along the same line at about this time of the year. With tuition fees the way they are now, it’s no joke to send one child to private school. And what now if there is more than one child?

I learned from a financial management talk I attended years ago, that one must prepare for annual expenses by saving for it monthly. Take tuition fees, for instance. See how much the annual fee is for next school year, divide the amount by 12, and begin saving that amount monthly this June. This can be done as well for other annual expenses: car registration fees, annual income taxes (for the self-employed), and insurance premiums. As for repairs and maintenance expenses, saving a little more for this purpose every month will cushion you from the shock of getting your repair bill in the future.

Preparing for big expenses this way will help you avoid panicking when it’s time to pay up. Save, save, save.-Karen Galarpe





12 Feedbacks on "Reeling from expenses left and right?"



Kuripot

The best thing is to have an annual plan. make sure you cover the expected expenses for the year and start saving for it. you cannot be ready for sudden expenses like health emergencies, but this is what your buffer fund is for. car registration/maintainance/check-up is no emergency expense, so one should have appropriated funds for it early on.

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salve

great post Karen! Glad that you’re posting regularly now at MoneySmarts, yey.

I used to hate tracking every single peso spent. As you know, I hate traditional budgets. But it finally dawned on me that I have to at least track major expenses for one whole year to get an overall sense of how much my monthly budget really should be and when “balloon expenses” happen. Only then can I anticipate these things in the coming year, so that I don’t have to see an entire paycheck disappear in two days!

Haha, I so know what you just went through. It’s common in summer, June, November, and December. Tipong oops-san-napunta-pera-ko moments yan. Eliminate these by having a sinking fund, but you only know what your sinking fund should be, if you know what you actually need to spend on regularly. As you say, save, save, save.



Courage Philippines

Yes, our day-to-day expenses have their way of surprising us and so it is indeed wise to save up especially if you have a family.

Nowadays, having one job is not enough. I think we’ve come to a point in this country wherein the economic situation is forcing most of us to find ways to increase cash flow - either by taking part-time job apart from our full-time job, running a small business on the side, or taking up gigs and just about every opportunity to earn a little extra.



mangrey

money problem can be anticipated by a system of budgeting. how can this be done.

at the start make a budget. list all the expenses that will normaly be necessary as it falls under necssity. next list all the assumed desire or wants that necessitate for allocation of funds. then the desired amount to save for emergencies and other sundries. total everything and you will know the amount you need.

now list all the sources of your income. sum them up and you will know if you are going to have a deficit spending.

if it shows a deficit then you can look for other sources of funds. avoid loans that you have to pay. you may also slash items in your budget which are on sundries or luxuries. avoid apropriating money to items not on the budget.

now you can partialy solve your problems



Karen Galarpe

Ah, the budget–every frugal person’s best friend. :) Yes we should make time to create a budget and save, save, save. And take extra gigs when we can, like what Courage Philippines says.

Salve!!! Miss na kita, gusto kitang sakalin. haha! :)



r .santos

here is some tip to save your bill and buget it rigth ,tuition fees, electricity,rent, specially water bills and water the vital source of energy…..WATER….number one kaya ako ang sabe ko sa asawa ko at isang son eh…..kailangan mag tipid kasi mahal ang tubig at sayang kung ubusin ang reservoir sa dam….KAYA SABI KO>>>sa wife and son . BAGO FLUSH ANG TOILET KAILANGAN NAKA ECHASS…… NA ANG LAHAT BAGO FLUSH ! at agree namam sila. kaya walang problema doon.. sandale lang tawag ako ni MRS……! ako na daw ang susunod at huwag na huwag ko daw kalimutang hinde flush…..aattttt sobrang kuripot ko daw. yakkkkkk! ha!!!!!! god bless ! life is short be happy!



Glo

I have 5 kids. 2 in High school, 2 in elementary. And they all go to a private school plus 7 months old baby. How can I afford the tuition fees with less worries and without missing the fun of growing ups? I started saving for it right after the school opening with 10% increase anticipation. I cut down on food trips in fancy restaurant, and tried cooking instead at home. Thanks to You Tube. Yaya can watch with me. Everybody can have a taste without spending too much. Bottom line, spend wisely and save!!!



jeloppy

About the echas flushing thing. My mom uses water from laundry work to flush our toilet, instead of pouring that water through the drain. Saves money, and it eliminates that bad odor too.

Not flushing the toilet until everyone has pooped already is a little gross, i think.



carlos

It may not be as easy , as giving up — BUT Making more money is the best solution to all your problems.
All those who are financially successful have done it.



Onemore

Avoid loans as much as possible. The cost of money is expensive especially from five-six lenders. If you have loans, settle them all one at a time or in a manner that will not sacrifice too much the needs of the family. It is a very nice feeling to live without borrowing. Try to save whatever amount in every opportunity. Your accumulated savings will become your capital in some entrepreneural venture one day. Wise spending habits should be taught to every member of the family.



Antonio

Work the system –Build up your credit scores. Next, Get into as much debt as you possibly can. Buy houses, cars, jewelry, stocks etc…. don’t repay those debts and then declare bankruptcy . That is the way some Americans do it. — AND IT WORKS !!!!



Tyrone | Millionaire Acts

I already took these kinds of expenses in the future and so as early as now, I am saving and learning about investments and financial intelligence so that when time comes for me to become a father, then finances wouldn’t be much of a burden.



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