I thought everything was a steal. From clothes hangers to craft punchers, from plasticware to slippers. It’s too embarrassing to reveal how much I spend whenever I shop in any of its branches. 
Then I saw the bathroom accessory I bought selling for P70-something in the grocery. Same brand, same size, same packaging.
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.
Here are my estimates rounded off to the nearest thousands for the costs of having my youngest child:
Avoiding gift-giving gaffes is tricky. Is it proper to give your boss a Christmas gift or will others interpret that as trying to curry favors with the man or woman on top? If you decide that spreading Christmas cheer with a gift is just right during the holidays, what is the right budget for bosses, colleagues and subordinates?
This article from our personal finance section says you should remember that what works for one company might not work for another. If you have just moved into a new job, be sure to ask around first.
Here are the seven other tips from that article:
1. Make a gift list and set a budget. I always go overboard on gifts and not just on Christmas Day. I just love wrapping presents so much! A gift is not a gift to me without a beautiful ribbon . There’s something about choosing, buying or making and wrapping and presenting the gift that lifts my spirit up.
2. Foodstuffs are always welcome gifts. Easier to give to both ladies and male friends and colleagues too! The most popular ones this Christmas are chocolates, so far as I can tell.
3. Go for gifts recipients can use. Personally, I like giving gifts that people will never buy for themselves but this is a good tip too for the practical side of money-smart peeps.
4. Partner with others for group gifts. Makes sense especially for bosses.
5. Homemade gifts. Definitely not for children. More for the sentimental and mature persons in the universe. Can I now claim that I go for homemade gifts? Heehee.
6. Look for the right size. Since I do a lot of walking around Makati area, I find myself declining Christmas baskets that are very heavy and difficult to lug around.
7. Cash gifts are, again, very tricky. These days, everyone gives little envelopes – from the postman to the utility boy to the messenger who goes to your house only once a year. So what’s the proper amount to put in the envelope?
Here’s a little confession. Everybody keeps saying they can’t feel Christmassy anymore. It’s like the warm, fuzzy feeling of Christmas dies when people turn 12.
Maybe, it was the Christmas caroling in Binangonan, Rizal that I joined the previous weekend that changed me. Nothing like serenading houses on the side of the road to make your heart soar! You can’t give the gift of cheer without sprinkling some on yourself – so go spend a little and give a little especially of your time and yes, always do these with a smile.
Merry Christmas!
What do you give to someone who has everything?A few Christmases ago, Synergeia Foundation president Milwida Guevara found herself worrying what to give to Washington Sycip for Christmas.
Apart from being a well-known figure in the business sector, Wash is one of the reasons Synergeia can do so much work in the education sector, Milwida says. (If you are interested in reading more about this very interesting man, read my favorite professor’s blog post on him here. Butch Dalisay finished his biography on Wash Sycip just this year.) After agonizing about her problem, Milwida bought Wash a toy train that moves on its tracks. You know the type, either your son wants one or your husband does. 
“He was so happy with it, he played with it in his office and called his staff to look at the train,” Milwida told me, laughing.
If you haven’t received your Christmas bonus yet, you probably will in the next weeks. You’ll probably be getting anywhere from P50,000 to P100,000. How are you going to spend it? Do you have a good tip on where to put that kind of money?
We gotta plan, or else even P100,000 can vanish without a trace.
I love to browse bookstores, even when I have already busted my book budget. The other day, I saw this Suze Orman’s The Road to Wealth at Fully Booked near my place. It cost more than 2,000 pesos, if I remember correctly.
I left the bookstore with a smug look on my face. A few years ago, I bought that book for a steal at 359 pesos in one of the best-kept secrets of book addicts in Metro Manila: National Bookstore main branch in Cubao, Quezon City. It’s the top floor that hides the biggest bargains!
Oh you better watch out, you better not swipe, you better not flaunt your shiny new card. Christmas spending is coming to town.
Ok, ok, so I’m not the best songwriter in town. :p But the fact is, most of us do have hangovers come January – the kind that make it so hard to go to the bank to pay our credit card bills when Jingle bells no longer chime.
The spendmaster in me talks like a well-meaning conscience: Oh come on, it’s Christmas! What else do you work hard for? The children need the memories, the magic, the gifts, and the ambiance! You can always pay for all the expenses next year. (Voice becoming shrill and high-pitched towards the end of the argument.)
(Photo credit: AFP)
(This post was written by Bianca, a MoneySmarts reader who was chosen among a long list of candidates to be part of our Money Makeover. In Money Makeover, we match financial planners with reader-volunteers and chronicle their one-year journey to their financial goals. Generali Pilipinas’ senior executive vice-president Augustus J.V. Ferreria has agreed to coach couple Bianca and Diego for 12 months pro-bono. In Money Makeover, we aim to show readers that finding financial freedom is really possible. Read previous Money Makeover articles here.)
I do not do math.
Addition
It started simple enough. Joe wanted us to list all of our expenses every day forever. He did not warn us that our hearts could suffer anxiety attacks because, for one, we were confronted by the fact that our expenses overshot our income by some P30,000 every month. He also provided no explanation as to how we could have survived all this time – but our zero-balance savings, credit card debts, frequent lifeline calls to mom and dad could possibly provide a clue. It is a stressful exercise trying to figure out where our money went every day because with it comes the understanding that it went to excesses of the flesh and vanities. Want and need are becoming very delineated concepts at this time (but concepts all the same).
