This time last year, I had three New Year resolutions: pay off all consumer debt in four months, increase emergency fund to six months worth of income by December and work smarter to accomplish more in less time.

All done within the time frame I specified. Then things happened within the year that turned everything wonky again. Dang.

What I learned, however, is that some reasons for taking two steps backward and one step forward in personal finance may not always be bad. Like buying a house that the family loves and enjoys and getting into mortgage debt because of it. For some it can be getting married, having a baby, a child going to college, sacrificing income from work to give more attention to a wayward teenage son, saving a marriage by going on a cruise…
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We Filipinos traditionally blow away a huge chunk of our Christmas budgets on Noche Buena. We can cut back on gifts and decorations but not on Christmas dinner! Not even plates of lechon and sweet spaghetti can make us veer away from the traditional, lavish handaan. Filipino parents feel like they are lousy providers when they can’t at least provide hamon and queso de bola.

So, what are you personal finance enthusiasts having for Noche Buena? Are you making do with less or is the dinner still a tradition that will remain untouched despite the gloomy forecasts?

In the Duplito household where Christmas dinner is basically a simple family affair (no cousins, lolos and lolas because they live far away), adjusting is not a difficult thing because we have kept the traditions simple from the very beginning.

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The guy we asked to repaint a portion of our living room ceiling came in the other day after the hubby said he was not satisfied with the quality the first time he did his job. After I told him exactly what to do, I went up to my room/home office to work and checked back on him after an hour.

He was on a break. Apparently, he was waiting for the first coating to dry before applying the next one. But upon close inspection, I saw that he did not follow directions. He painted only three sides and not the entire wood portion.

“Can you please paint these portions too?” I asked.
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Finances On The Edge Photo by DeadAir

For the purposes of analysis and policy-making, there is no escaping the pounding on the table and the endless debates on what caused this crisis, who is to blame, what could have been done to avoid it etc. etc. But at the end of the day, reducing all that talk to doable measures is a process that could end to be as convoluted as the shadow play that caused this crisis in the first place.

Personally, I would rather focus on things that we all can do—now—to deal with what’s happening. After all, crises are part of life, whether financial, emotional, relationship, spiritual. They will happen, again and again. Only the details will change, but the fact that they will railroad our lives and make us shift our priorities will not.

An excellent series in the Philippine Daily Inquirer has been showing readers how different households are dealing with the crisis. Some are moving to condo units near mass transit systems to reduce travel time and stress, some are really cutting down on expenses especially dinners outside the home—even if they are only trips to fast food places.

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I have always been scared of the kitchen and insecure about my cooking skills. Yesterday, the world’s noodle king, Chef Liu Zheng Hsiung of the Lao Dong restaurant chain in Taiwan, taught me how to cut cooked beef strips like a pro and I am happy to report that I survived! 

The charming Chef Liu is in Manila on a 5-day visit to train Chowking chefs in making greater tasting beef noodles, his specialty. (Chowking entered into a joint venture with Lao Dong three months ago as part of the Jollibee Group’s global expansion strategy.)

Chef Liu deftly handed me an ominous-looking chopping knife and made me hold the handle as if my life depended on it! It was a little bit ouchy, but I got the message, even though he spoke only Mandarin. Then lo and behold, before a hungry group of media people and food bloggers, I cut my teeth into the cooking industry.
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(Photo courtesy of Aladdin Cordero)

Many of us choose schools for our children based on proximity to our houses. Bad idea.

I wasted more than P10,000 after I enrolled my son in a “Montessori” school on Visayas Ave. But that’s not even my biggest regret. The school had horrible teaching staff, hidden fees and they forced 6-year-olds to do cursive writing and count up to one million –- in summer class before the actual school year. I checked with Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz and he said that was not the prescribed curriculum for this age group because they are not yet pedagogically prepared for such tasks.

After three days, my son became depressed. Can you imagine a depressed 6-year-old child? After the second day, he told me he didn’t understand why he was shaking in school when the Grade One teacher forced him to finish the writing drills. I remember thinking then that I could kick myself for not investigating the school before enrolling him.

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(Photo from Agence France-Presse)

Two of my girl friends and I went on a different kind of bonding trip recently. Off went our strappy sandals and on came our boots and sturdy walking shoes to check out fruits and vegetables in the Balintawak market in Quezon City.

Both Jenny Angoluan and Analy Pinaroc are busy moms with husbands and children who love vegetables and fruits, and with prices skyrocketing, the three of us thought it would be fun to see how the prices differ. Jenny’s husband waited two hours in the car for us, but loved the veggies.

Here’s the price list. Feast your eyes!
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Ask me for horror stories about maids, yayas and house help and I could go on for hours –- all based on experience. But from time to time, many of us come across genuine beings that sacrifice personal comfort to give service that would beat the best hotels. They would provide companionship and even understanding of our idiosyncrasies, break a fight or wipe a tear from our children’s faces when we can’t be there for them, or even shield us from hateful neighbors.

I have known exemplary house help who put their lives on voluntary suspension to take care of their employers’ meals, homes and children. They do not date, ending up single for the rest of their lives. They don’t nurture friendships since security is a very valid issue especially in Metro Manila. They see their families only once a year, even occasionally missing that visit to a far-off home when the need arises. When we travel abroad or leave the country for good, admit it. They are one of the first we miss the most: no more beds that get made up in the morning, almost as if by magic.

It is but fair to treat human kindness with the same. And truth be told, there are horror employer stories that would make children-exploiting Nike executives blush. Uncomfortable beds, rooms with no privacy, more than 14-hour working days for pay that’s good for five, zero benefits but a lot of curses.

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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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Stephanie (not her real name) looked a bit like a lost little girl, no different from her eight-year old daughter who transferred to my son’s school. Turns out that it was her first time to attend a school activity. She has been at sea on cruise ships for the last 15 years, going home only once a year – one of 230,000 sea-based Filipinos working abroad.

We had a lengthy and very interesting discussion about what it was like at sea for the past 15 years, starting from when she was a fresh graduate of Hotel and Restaurant Management from a reputable school here in Metro Manila, up until she decided to get pregnant (but not get married) and now that she is waiting for her call to join the crew of another cruise ship.

Stephanie’s story amazed me, although it was not the first time I had heard of the challenges and experiences of Filipino sea-based workers. She told me how Filipinos earn anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 a month, bulk of which come from tips from passengers. She also described how Filipinos burn their money buying clothes, bags, laptops that they never get to use, mobile phones and other techie gadgets from different ports even when these could also be bought in the country at the same price or even cheaper.
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