By Ruel S. De Vera, Associate Editor
Sunday Inquirer Magazine

EVERYONE’S affected by the economic crunch, and we all have to find our own ways of getting through the crisis with aplomb. Here are my five tips for riding out the crisis:

• Borrow, borrow, borrow: I understand we live in a highly acquisitive environment, but books, DVDs and the like are truly expensive these days. I won’t argue whether they’re luxuries or necessities (you can guess though) but creating a circle of borrowers can be helpful. Since we’re lending our own things, we should take care of what we borrow. Additionally, you can arrange for borrow, say, magazines from one person, books from another, DVDs from someone else and so on. At the very least, it can be a pleasure to explore someone else’s book shelf for a change.
• Take the jeep: The MRT/LRT/LRT2 is the height of public transport in the Metro, but now everyone and their entourages take the train, leading to some ridiculously backed-up crowd during rush hour. Buses are scary; tricycles are weird. Now it’s time to relearn how to take the jeeps. They run throughout the city, are still relatively cheap; and it’s just a matter of figuring out the labyrinthine routes they run and weaving them together.
• Take home everything: Foodies come in all stripes and sizes, but leftovers now become more than just an afterthought; they can be part of your daily meal routine. Think about it; when eating at a restaurant with big servings, you can already plan in advance to take the food home, making it part of your next meal (heated up, microwaved, heck, some even like pizza cold) instead of becoming literal dog food.
• Discover Book Sale: It’s actually insane how good the stuff is at Book Sale. Between the novels and the magazines, one just has to be very patient wading through the rows and rows of items. Ideally you could spend half a day at one Book Sale branch alone; you can spend the next day at another. And there’s no denying how affordable their merchandise is.
• Use landlines: Remember these? Most of these are not metered, have excellent reception (no more “Can you hear me now?” nonsense) and are just a glance away. The only downside is that you can’t move around while talking, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s very much a back-to-basics move, and makes a whole lot of sense.

Read about all the ways to ride out the economic crisis in the July 27 issue of the Sunday Inquirer Magazine.