…you’re upset.

Nuff said.

Personal Finance Round-up

Tasha really got money-smart last week by being so self-aware in her shopping and taking her goals to pay off all debts this year seriously. Personal finance voyeurs out there will love her blog as well as Geek and Money’s. It’s strangely interesting to watch his mid-year personal finance checkpoint (check, check, ooops gotta do better on that…) and what he expects for the coming year. If you want to know why it’s important to compute your net worth and you want to know how other people are doing it, check out his blog.

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You all love Warren Buffett, right? Would you pay $2.1 million to have lunch with the oracle of Omaha like this Chinese investment manager who decided to pick up the tab by taking part in a high-stakes online charity auction?

Zhao Danyang, 36, will have lunch with the US billionaire at a Smith and Wollensky steakhouse restaurant in New York. He can bring seven friends to enjoy Buffett’s company for, oh, maybe two hours. Three hours max… maybe.
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I can put a whole new meaning to being frugal, sometimes. And I’m proud of it. Unfortunately, the golden dust of stinginess can wear off so quickly because the next minute, I can be the worst spendthrift on the planet. Have you ever been bitten by these financial mood swings?

Here’s an example. I love my more than 10-year old Esprit wristwatch. I bought it with money I earned from my first award as a journalist back in 1997 (and I mention that here only to explain its sentimental value). In a moment of extreme klutzness, it fell from a super-high tower rack and it stopped working. The face was a mess of broken glass.

In a normal situation, I would have loved shopping for a replacement. This time, however, I was moping about in the mall, not excited to buy a new one. I kept telling myself that it’s more than 10 years old, for heaven’s sake. I deserve to buy one with a spiffy new design or a classic Omega-like look, you know?

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UPDATE: Editor’s note: Added video of Abby Sarmiento taken by INQUIRER.net business editor Ma. Salve Duplito.

Filipinos spend too much on staying connected. When you don’t text, you’re not a good friend. When you don’t call, you’re a bad daughter. Husbands know full well the wrath of a woman untexted.

These days, cutting costs will have to include taking a second look at alternatives to the high cost of getting connected. In our household, only my 7-year old and the toddler don’t incur costs. There are six mobile phones in our household (two for the hubby), a landline and a DSL service.

This should be interesting for financial voyeurs . On a monthly basis, this is what we pay telcos :
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We answered this question in our personal finance feature today:

Question: I am one of the thousands of people who live in Quezon City but work in Makati City. That means I drive some 20 kilometers to work every day, and that’s just one way. I tried commuting but it’s impossible during rush hour. With the price of gasoline going up, travel to and from work makes a huge dent in my budget. Is there any relief in sight for us? – Josephine P.

We all will have to deal with the rising cost of gas, whether or not we are from Quezon City, Bulacan, Cavite, Cebu or Davao. The most terrible forecast I have heard so far is for a full tank to cost P30,000. That’s almost the take-home pay of senior call center agents.
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Reader DB responded to my request for tips on how to get 50.0 percent to 75.0 percent off 5-star hotels and resorts and she responded with this comment. Sharing with you here so that it’s easier to find:

I go by the following:

1. Research and compare — Farecast.com tracks fares on given periods. I also use Quikbook.com, Kayak.com, and other travel search engines. Check hotel or airline websites for deals and promotions. For hotels, call the local hotel, and compare with the online price and the price given via their 1-800 (central office) — yes, these rates may be different. For US business travels, I use Hotwire.com and Priceline.com (sometimes Hotels.com) — I get the best rates from them including car rentals.

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MoneySmarts was invited to be a guest at Mornings@ANC last Monday to talk about budgeting and had a lot of fun!

It was terrifying, to say the least. I only felt like there was a cyclone in my breast. Fortunately, all the American Idol episodes I watched helped me, hehe. You know, keeping an image of people in their underwear and all that stuff.

*goes back to serious mode*

I was asked to talk about budgeting and thought I would share with you some of the points we discussed. Here they are, in bullet points:
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(This piece is written by Bianca, one of the readers of MoneySmarts who has been chosen for the one-year Money Makeover challenge by INQUIRER.net. Bianca’s real identity is confidential, so that MoneySmarts can share her family’s financials and the lessons she has learned with the rest of the world. Read more about Money Makeover here.)

I am stumped.

I had been meaning to write about our recent family trip to Hongkong and Macau. As a matter of fact, my computer bears the digital imprints of so many lines and pages written. But for the life of me, I could not strike the “send” key. It struck me why one night. I never could justify – even to myself – why we did it. A family undergoing financial overhaul simply does not go on trips. What example would I be? What message would I send? The shudders would not stop (even as I grin at the memories).

But, hey, we did it. And it, oh, set us back a few months. But there were valuable lessons we learned along the way.
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a. SM/Hypermarket
b. Landmark
c. Rustan’s
d. Puregold
e. Shopwise
f. Ever Gotesco
g. Cherry Foodarama
h. Metro Gaisano
i. Robinson’s
j. Metro Stop
k. Santis
l. Waltermart
m. Makro
n. PriceSmart

(Photo courtesy of Michelle Morelos)

With a global food crisis hanging over our heads, should we say goodbye to ‘good eats’?

Here are some tips from MoneySmart friends for enjoying good food even with low budgets:

1. Skip the fruit shakes, juices and signature concoctions! Super mom Kitts Luna-Vibar points out that these drinks cost as much as one dish. And don’t go bottomless if you don’t drink that much!

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