Pacita U. Juan, owner of Figaro Coffee, said her secret to cutting her electric bill in half is the humble power strip.

Admit it, its such a chore to unplug all devices. So, use the power strip with a switch. Even that telephone charger that hardly gets removed from the socket consumes power and your television set which is always turned on by remote may not be showing images on screen but still consuming electricity.

Agree? Disagree?

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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Based on our poll last week, MoneySmart readers who responded paid P1,179.79 per person per month for electricity. It appears that I am paying less than most of you at P850 per person, but my dears, I wouldn’t complain if my electric bill goes even lower!

So I searched the Internet and found myself cross-eyed at all the power-saving tips out there. Thing is, am I serious enough to follow through on those tips? Are you?

For example, I have been meaning to replace our 13-year old refrigerator with a newer one that’s more energy efficient but have been dragging my foot because I didn’t want to shell out cash. Silly, I know. Some cash outlay in the short-term, but more savings in the long-term! But isn’t it true we lose money everyday on unreasonable and silly things? One day drags into weeks, and my dillydallying may allow my refrigerator to live for yet another year. As with many personal finance issues, action speaks louder than words.
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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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I love my adobo with rice, but a friend once showed me how to eat it with bread.

Hmmm. Ok, maybe I will if there’s no alternative. But I still would rather have hot, steaming rice.

The Philippines has been eating rice for centuries. Changing an entire nation’s eating habits won’t be easy. But as former socioeconomic planning secretary and UP professor Felipe Medalla pointed out to me a few weeks ago half-jokingly, if Filipinos won’t eat too much rice, there will be no shortage!

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(Photo from Agence France-Presse)

We hardly think about the few mouthfuls of rice left on our plate. Taken together, this daily rice wastage average 15 grams per head, or 1,280 tons per day and cost Filipinos P23 million. Did I say “daily”?!

Mind-boggling.

These are official figures from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), the principal research arm of the government on food and nutrition, that I caught this morning from the television show “Mornings on ANC”.
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Get all your accessories and put them in a pile. Think you could have spent all that money on more important things?

Here’s a discovery that will give you your kikay fix but won’t put a dent in your wallet. For guys, pay attention. This is a sure way to serious pogi points from your sweetheart. For balikbayans, here’s where you get unique pasalubongs and trinkets that will not cost a fortune.

Still in Quiapo, walk down Villalobos street from Plaza Miranda and look for a shop called Wellmanson on your right side. Hobbyists and jewelry-makers get their materials from this place. When you get in, make sure you have a shopping list or else our frugal tip will be suspect because believe me, you won’t be able to resist buying the eye candies in this store.

(Headbands for P55.)
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I bought my Canon G6 in SM’s Cyberzone in 2005. Since I was drooling over the EOS 350D at that time, I thought the G6 for P45,000 was already a money-smart compromise. It has video capability too, the rationalizing part of me said. When we took our new digital baby home, we took pictures of even the most ordinary things like doorknobs, light fixtures and fingernails ☺. My 10-year old kid, especially. It felt like a really good buy.

Boy, was I dead wrong. I learned last week that this camera shop called 24K on Hidalgo sold the little rugrat for P17,000 that same year! Original. With warranties and all. I wanted to weep! Rod, the friendly attendant who was referred to me by Edwin Redrino, a really talented professional photographer, was actually concerned for me.

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Guys, we have a Frugal Week hangover =). Here is another post on more frugal living tips, courtesy of our editorial partner MoneySense, the first and only personal finance magazine in the country.

As I said in a previous post, there are expensive things that help save money in the long-term. A good education, books, health care, vacations (even simple ones when money is tight) should be in our budget even if they are expensive.

Our article from MoneySense this week written by Ruth Floresca adds some more to the list:

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