Have you notice how easy money can be spent nowadays?
When I was a kid, I used to accompany my mother to the market every Sundays. From her I learned how to look for the fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and meat. I even learned how to haggle for the price. I remember that time, 500 pesos was more than enough to buy all that we need (food, consumables) for a week. We were 6 in the family and sometimes our extended family (my half-brother's family), joined us as well.
But now 500 pesos is just enough, or maybe a little short, for one day needs of a family. Actually I am not used to creating a specific budget for a month for it doesn't work for us. Most of the times we go beyond the allocated budget but that's usually for food. We eat too much and Daddy loves to cook that's why.
So what are we doing now is to list down all our monthly payable/bills with the due dates.
Bills/Payables
|
Due Dates
|
Water bill
|
16-18
|
Credit Card 1
|
15-17
|
Electric bill
|
24-27
|
Credit Card 2
|
24-27
|
House Monthly Amortization
|
21
|
Internet
|
29-31
|
I observe that most of our expenses fall after the 15th pay day. So basically almost all of our salary on the 15th are allocated to pay all the bills above. We can only save on the 30th.
We schedule our shopping for our basic needs too. We go to the wet market once a week to buy fruits, vegetables, meats and other needs for our weekly menu. Then for the grocery, we are trying to just do it once a month. We always make a list of what to buy so we will not forget what we need to buy and don't buy things we really don't need. After paying all we need to pay, buying our basic needs and saving, that's the time we consider to buy our wants. That is if there'a an extra money and most of the times we think so many times before buying things we just want. We always think first if we really need it and if there's any benefit we can get from buying it.
If you notice we have two credit cards and it used to be 4. But I told Daddy to closed the other 2 since it will just tempt us to buy and buy, plus the card usage. Now, we are planning to close the other one since we are doing the grocery/shopping only once a month.
Credit cards are useful provided you can handle it well. Don't worry you can always search for blog speaking about financials to help you not just with credit card management but also handling of other finances, investing and saving.
We are just thankful that we have other sources of income so we can live an almost comfortable life. Don't get me wrong, we don't have that much but only enough to be secured each day. Our family actually lives a simple life. We seldom buy expensive things and just the things we need.
So I know you will agree with me if I say money is hard to earn but easy to spend. That's why spend wisely.
