FOR THOSE of you who made it your New Year’s resolution to spend less and save more, how are you in the compliance department? I know it’s not easy to do so, but really, as simple as it sounds, that’s how you can have more money left at the end of the month or year.
I’ve shared my own peso pinching tips to friends:
We have known for a long time that consumerism will take its toll on the world’s societies, but death by shopping?
Jdimypai Damour, 34, stood between around 2,000 Walmart shoppers on Long Island and the bargains they stood in line for — in the cold — for hours. He paid for it with his life.
Probably looking back now, anyone who was there is now probably in shock and likely considering that day the grimmest moment of his or her entire life. Anybody has to agree that there is no rhyme or reason for one man to die because of what? The rush to lay your hands on a cheap flat-screen television?
My husband and I went crazy at the DIY Handyman shop over the weekend to buy stuff for the house, so we had quite a stack of things to pay for at the cashier. I knew we probably overspent, but the bill still surprised me when it reached P9,000 plus.
I paid for the bill and then asked for the tape receipt. Rugs, check. Two different sizes of hooks, check. Car cleaning stuff, check.
“What’s this item that costs P4,200?” I thought my voice sounded really calm.
ADVISORY: Catch me live today on ANC’s Shoptalk with Pia Hontiveros-Pagkalinawan at 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. to talk about the psychology of spending (one of my uber-favorite topic) and how to hammer down your Christmas budget.
We all know the urge to splurge bites everyone strongest during the Christmas holidays or as the colder months come near. But we also get little scratches and bites all year round! Just look at all the stuff (most of which are useless after a month) that we accumulate through the years! The best thing would be to control the urge, of course. The next best thing would be to shop in the right places.
Lately, I have discovered new frugal shopping secrets in Metro Manila, but to my delight, somebody else has been thinking about the exact same thing. Blogger Paetechie/Tutubi, who owns the blog Budget Travel Philippines (among other blogs), practically read my mind when he emailed me yesterday about his blog post “Manila Shopping Guide and Tips: Divisoria, Malls, Markets and the Art of Haggling”.
Where does the line between a business’ responsibilities end and a consumer’s rights begin?
Take the case of faulty packaging. Last Monday, I bought a blouse in Powerplant Mall in Rockwell, along with other stuff. (No, it wasn’t a shopping binge. It was a carefully planned purchase as we are all in crisis mode. Honest!)
Then my daughter and I walked around that delightful little mall and eventually reached the top floor to buy popcorn before we head home to Quezon City. To our surprise, we discovered that the paper bag’s bottom was half-open and the blouse was nowhere to be found. What started as a relaxing evening began to be extremely vexing.
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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.
The not-so-friendly bundle of grocery receipts have been winking at me for quite some time, so I finally got around to putting all the figures down into an Excel worksheet to make a Grocery Booklet—an exercise that reveal some pretty interesting lessons.
Here are some of those lessons:
From January to August, these items showed the biggest jump in prices:
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(Photo by Din Cordero)
Personal Finance Reminder: avoid busting your budget by shopping early for Christmas.
Early birds get more time to look for bargains, more time to stretch artistic skills to create unique and personal (and less expensive) gifts, and avoid overcharging credit cards and paying hefty fees.
Sometimes, the late birdies do get rewarded, because retailers have been known to cut down prices at the last minute. But would you like to fall prey to an “if?”
Would you pay more for a bag made from rags designed by Rajo Laurel but created by poor mothers in Antipolo, or nicely designed Green Leaf katsa bags made in ac family-friendly factory in Paranaque, or health and beauty products that do not use chemicals harmful to the environment or tested on animals?
That the calculus is not as tough as the thousands of dollars premium Honda Accord Hybrid owners pay for earth-friendly wheels is obvious. But the brains behind these products hope that the result will be the same: consumers get a warm, fuzzy feeling for being socially responsible.
What’s the price tag you can live with for being socially responsible?
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(Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall leaves a blessing at St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle after her civil wedding Prince Charles 09 April 2005. It’s easy to overspend on weddings, especially on rings when couples don’t know what to buy. Photo from AFP.)
Raising your eyebrows? You’re saying there are only four Cs?
Cut, color, clarity, carat.
Let me add one more.
