Before the influenza A (H1N1) virus came to Asia, I thought, we have nothing to worry because it’s in the other side of the planet.  But when news came that it hit Asia already, I know it’s coming to the Philippines soon.  And yes, it’s now here.  It hit the provinces first before finding its way here in Metro Manila.  First, I heard Makati has it, then Manila, then Mandaluyong and I said, ‘Oh no! It’s getting closer to Quezon City already’.

Students here in Metro Manila and in the provinces were greeted by the virus on the first week of classes.  It’s spreading fast.  Now the school where Jeff goes has announced today that there will be no classes today until tomorrow and that classes will resume on Monday.  They are going to clean and disinfect the whole building.  We were informed that two college students were confirmed positive.  The school has two buildings - one for colleges and the other one is occupied by the students from Prep to High School and some other colleges, the latter is where the affected students attend classes.

I am worried.  It’s getting closer to where we live now.  And where we live has two nearby schools - a public elementary school and a private elementary and high school.   Yes, the government health officials said the flu can be cured easily, but just like any other kind of sickness, you don’t want any of your family member get it, do you?  And as it continues to spread, all ordinary earthlings like us can do is observe cleanliness and good hygiene, eat good foods and pray for it to go away . . . . .

Here’s what WHO says on what you can do to protect yourself from catching the influenza A (H1N1).

image from: CBC News

Our budget has become a bit tight this year, but instead of whining around on how little we have and wait for trees to bear money for us, I want to make some realistic steps to save more and spend less.  Here are some of the things I read somewhere and apply to myself and would like to share with you.  I also want to hear tips from you, people.  Care to share?

1. Pay off your credit card debt

I don’t know with other countries, but credit cards here in the Philippines charge 3.5% interest per month. When you compare it to the interest you get from your savings account which is only .625% to .75% per year, it’s a lot. So tell yourself, ‘It’s unfair!’ and start taking steps. For example, if you have P10,000 sitting in your bank and you have P10,000 loan in your credit card, it is better that you pay your credit card in full right away to avoid incurring charges. If you don’t have that much amount yet, just pay.  It doesn’t matter how little savings you have at the moment.  What’s important is you are willing to pay. The first step to save is to pay off your debts.

This was my goal last year, but because some things came up and there were other priorities that I attended to, I wasn’t able to pay my balances in full. But I never forgot about it. So by next week, I’m paying my credit card balance in full and by next month, I will be seeing zero! Now that’s being fair to myself, especially that I don’t use my credit card a lot. After this, my husband and I are going to concentrate on his credit card bills.

Oh, and another thing. When you see your card’s annual fee on your next statement of account, call your credit card company and have it waived. My annual fee falls every November. So when I see it reflected on my bill already, I call them right away to have it waived. That’s P1,200 off my next bill!  I have my card since 2003.  Since then, I only paid for my annual fee once - when I didn’t know yet that I can have it waived.

2. Assign an envelope for each expense

My husband’s payday is on every last Wednesday of each month. This means when the money gets in, we have to plan for a month’s expenditure – not weekly, not every 15th and 30th, but monthly. For example, our salary for the month of February was received on Feb25, and the next payday is on Mar25, next is on Apr29 and so on. Some months have 4weeks, while some have 5. So depending on which month, I have to have a budget plan for 4weeks or 5weeks until the next paycheck arrives.

I have envelopes for each of our monthly expenses. One is labeled ‘utilities’, one says ‘insurance’, the others are ‘Jeff’s allowance’, ‘groceries’, etc. If you know exactly how much you’re paying for a specific expense, write on each envelope the amount intended for each. For example, I pay fixed amounts for our insurance – P3,220. On the envelope marked ‘insurance’, I also wrote P3,220. So each payday, I put the exact amount in that envelope. As well as groceries. I also have a fixed budget for it written on its envelope. Every time I shop, I put the receipts and the change inside it and keep it there until next month. With that system, I don’t miss paying anything, especially the bills.

3. Save what you saved

This is the fun part. If your budget for grocery is, say, P4,000 per month, and you only spent P3,700 for that particular month, you saved P300, right? Now where do you put that extra P300? Perhaps you go out and eat, saying ‘I deserve this as my reward’, or perhaps you buy a shirt or anything you want. Fine. But don’t overdo it. Remember, the objective is to save what you saved, not to spend it. So what do you do with the extra P300? Keep it in your savings account, or if you find it too small to be rushing to the bank to deposit it, put it in your piggy bank. I do. There’s this old piggy bank that Jeff doesn’t want to use anymore so I asked if I can have it and he said yes. (For some reason, Jeff likes keeping his savings in an empty Pringles canister and stopped using the piggy bank I gave him as a gift when he was small. Ssshhh! Don’t tell anyone, but he has over P1,000 there). Anyway, save that P300!

Here’s another example. Jeff’s cash allowance is P100/week (he brings packed lunch and water bottle to school). And because there are months that have 5weeks, I set aside P500 for him every month (P100 X 5weeks). March has 4 full weeks, so instead of P500, I will only have to spend P400 for his allowance. That’s P100 savings that’s coming in my piggy bank!

Here’s my trick. I told you that if you know exactly how much you’re paying for a specific expense, write on each envelope the amount intended for each. Well, it’s not only what I do. I also have a fixed budget for everything, including the expenses with no fixed amount. This includes Jeff’s allowance and the utilities. Utilities mean electric and water bills, cable, internet and phone. My sister pays for the internet and phone bill, while I take care of the rest. There are months that our electric consumption reaches P2,200 to P2,400 when the air conditioning unit is used more. Our water bill reaches P1,500 the most, while cable is fixed at P450 per month. With those figures, I set aside P2,500 for electricity, P1,500 for water and P450 for cable – total of P4,450. That’s the money I set aside for utilities each month. This month, here are our actual bills: electricity – P1,627.50, water – P1,374.61, cable – P450, total of P3,452.11. My savings? A whooping P997.89! Where is it now? In my piggy bank, of course!  And will soon be deposited to my savings account when I find time to go to the bank.  And when I say savings account, it is different from the account where my pay comes in.  Bank A is the ’spending’ account.  This is where Dario deposits the money he sends us.  I use this ATM card for purchases (if no ATM machine is available) and withdrawals.  Bank B is where the savings go.  The ATM card was never used for withdrawal, except for emergency purposes only.

This vacation, couples with school age children can also save more money.  Here’s what I do:  Since school will be out for 2 months (April and May), my budget for Jeff’s (P500) and for my youngest sister’s (P1,000) allowance will go directly to my piggy bank.  Before, I was happy that I am not spending it for them, but now, I am happier because I will get to save what I saved - P1,500 per month for 2months!

This wasn’t my practice before. I used to put the money I saved in the envelope marked ‘everyday’ – meaning, the money I use for everyday expenses like snacks, dining out and other non-important or immediate expenses that include things needed for school projects, cheap costumes for school activities, etc. The result? I tend to spend more because I see that there are still more money left in my ‘everyday’ envelope. I thought, ‘Hey! I still have money here and I still have some left in the bank. Maybe I should buy this and that. Blah blah blah.’ Because I see more money on hand, my thinking was I still have money to spend on something else, where ‘something else’ means unnecessary things. Well, with the crisis and all, I’m wiser now.

4. When grocery shopping, bring your list

This is the rule of all rules when buying grocery items. I always make a list, not because I want to really stick to my budget, but because I always forget what to buy. But when I’m inside, I look for better deals like discounted items on sale. Last Wednesday, I went to the grocery store to buy what we need for the month of March. I came in with my list as usual. Since I just ran out of cotton, I included it in my list. My usual brand costs P5.50 for a 15gram-pack, but it was out of stock. My next preferred brand costs P4.75, while the store brand which I haven’t tried yet is only P3.75. I chose the store brand because it is cheaper and I want to know if its quality is the same as the one I use. Of course I wouldn’t know if I won’t buy and try. And guess what. It’s almost the same as the one I regularly use. You see, I once bought a different brand of cotton to try out and ended up hating it. It has this small, rough, grain-like thing that when you wipe it in your face with your facial cleanser, the rough thing hurts you. Since then, I sticked to only one brand. But from now on, I’m buying the store brand which is a lot cheaper for almost the same quality.

Another good deal I just got was for the chocolate drink. Two of the major chocolate drinks brands here in the Philippines are Milo and Ovaltine. The 600gram-pack of Milo is P112.50, while 600grams Ovaltine was on sale – P87.50. I picked Ovaltine. For my hot chocolate pleasure, there’s Ricoa – 100gram-pouch is P26.50, while the one in the 160gram-plastic container is P60+. Which would you choose – 160g for over P60 or two 100grams pouch for P53? See the difference?

Running out of paper to make a list?  Bind your old receipts and papers  together in a clip and use the back portion.  This will save you some more money instead of buying a new pad.  Look at mine

5. Recycle

Jeff uses folders for his school projects. And because we don’t write anything on the front of the folder, we can still use it for the next project he will have – no need to buy a new folder! For pictures we pasted on the bond papers, we carefully remove them and keep them for future use. For old books, we don’t just throw them away. We keep some for cut outs and reference, while we sell the others in the junk shop. (Jeff gets the money for everything we sell to the junkshop and he puts them in his ‘Pringles’ piggy bank)

6.  Sell your stuff

Do you have things that you don’t use anymore?  Sell them!  Jeff has old shirts and toys that we sold last December.  The money went directly to his Pringles.

You see, with what I do, I also teach Jeff the value of saving.  He knows how to budget already.  Last month, instead of toys, Dario and I gave him cash for his birthday.  He decided on what to buy and ended up getting the toys he wanted and saving some as well.  He even treated me out for dinner one January night as a post birthday celebration.

There are so many ways on how to save more and spend less.  Some of you may give up your subscription for cable TV or phone if you realize that you can live without them.  Unfortunately, this won’t apply to us.  That’s why I save in some other way.  In any case, keep focused.  If you failed on your first attempt, don’t be discouraged.  Just start again.  It’s not how little you earn, but the will to save that will get you to your destination of being debt-free and saving more.  How about you?  Any tips to share?

Well, it’s not really that bad, but ‘global’ is like an in thing nowadays.  But before it ruins our budget completely, my husband and I are already starting to fight it.  And we’re keeping a positive attitude to win

Only in Silence was reviewed yesterday by Melissa of 10 Things I Hate About Your Site. I was way down the line on her list of sites to be reviewed but she was kind enough to pull me up just in time for OiS’s 1st birthday. You can see her review here, which, instead of ten, she only found 6 hate-able things about OiS.

Melissa, thank you very much. Yes, I consider this your gift.  I’ll take your advice and I hope it’s okay with you if I get back in line for another review when I get things done, especially with the theme. Looks like we hate the same things about my site. Haha!

Anyway, if you people want to get a dose of helpful comments from Melissa, you may get in touch with her by leaving a comment at 10 things I hate about your site. Melissa will be glad to rant about you, right Melissa?

image from: CNNMoney

There was this Filipino kindergarten teacher and she was teaching her class how to do the hokey-pokey. She started off by saying, ‘You put your right feet in, you put your right feet out, you put your right feet in . . . . .’ Suddenly, one of the children said, ‘Teacher, you have to say ‘foot.’ So the teacher said, ‘You ‘foot’ your right feet in, you ‘foot’ your right feet out . . . . .’

Yes, just like that one, many Filipinos are being joked around because of mispronouncing the letter F to a P and vice versa, as well as the letters V and B – foot or feet to poot or peet, put to fut, victory to bictory, possible to fossible, half to halp, beautiful to veautipul, company to comfany, and worse, part to fart and many others. Same problem goes to words with ‘th’ like three and thought, which sadly, we still hear many say tree and tot. We call it ‘the F froblem’ or ‘the V provlem’. Luckily, I am not one of them.

There was this one time in Octover, err, October, a week before the UN Day celebration at Jeff’s school where he represented Greece, I went out to look for a Greece flag. Since schools here in Quezon City are celebrating the same special event, I went from store to store disappointed. They were out of flags! Even a National Bookstore branch near our place ran out of stock. Since I was in a mall that particular day, I made one desperate move in hopes of finding a flag. I went inside Home Works, a store where you buy stuff for your house – furniture, appliances, lighting fixtures, bathtubs, tools and other supplies. They are also selling notebooks, calculators, pens and stuffs like that so I tried. As I entered, I immediately looked for a sales staff to ask if they sell flags. I saw this lady and asked, ‘Miss, meron ba kayong tindang flags?’ (Miss, do you sell flags?)

She politely replied, ‘Meron po. Dito po tayo, ma’am’ (Yes, we do. It’s over here, ma’am).

Full of hope, I followed her as she happily led me to a glass display cabinet and pointed to the things inside it. ‘Ito po.’ (Here they are).

My smile of hope turned to surprise as my jaw dropped 6 feet below sea level. She had just led me to a cabinet full of PLUGS – electrical plugs! All the while, she thought I was looking for plugs when I clearly said flags.

I left the store disappointed for not being able to buy what Jeff needed for the competition, but at the same time trying not to laugh at what just happened. Oh, some feofle! Why are they like that?  Well, at least, I found a ‘real’ flag days before the program itself.

Btw, it’s oppicial.  JC won the title of the Pirst Finoy Sole Surbibor

image from: Real Skeptic for the plug, Angel Tintin for the Survivor Philippines logo and previous post for the Greece flag

Two months before I resigned from my last work, I made sure that I get all the ID cards I need since I will be surrendering my company ID. This means I arranged everything from my SSS (replacement), TIN, Postal ID, etc. These are some of the IDs needed for bank and other important transactions. Aside from these ID cards, I also continued my PhilHealth, Pag-ibig and SSS contributions without fail, so when I get sick, the health insurance can take care of a part of the hospital bill, and when I reach retirement age or die, I get a little something out from SSS (Social Security System).

I was happy with the online inquiry service of SSS until I experienced what seems to be an endless problem with their website. It was down, if not too slow, most of the time. Then they had this new procedure where one should register first and create an account before he can do online contribution inquiry, etc.

Personally, I like the old thing more – type your last name, your birthday and your SSS number, press ‘submit’ then tada! All the information you need to know and see with regards to your membership are there.

That was the old process. The new one is, well, I can’t say if it’s better or what. I have registered and tried accessing my account successfully. To register, you need to fill up the online form and wait for the email with your password from them (you create your own username and they give you the PW which you can change afterwards). Once logged in, you need to log in again to access your membership account. In other words, you need to log in to log in. Funny, right?

After successfully fooling myself logging in and trying the not really impressive service, I tried registering my husband. He received the email that says,

‘We are sorry to inform you that you have not successfully registered in the SSS Website. Please call the SSS Hotline at (632) 920-6446 to 55 for assistance.’

A month later, we tried registering again – filled up the form and waited for their email. We received the same response!

So I decided to call those numbers to inquire but all of them are either busy or your call just can’t get through (I hear a fast busy tone). I tried calling the trunkline (9206401), but the lady kept insisting that I call those other numbers even I told her how hard it is to get through. And I’ve been dialing since yesterday!

Aaaarrrgghhh! How I hate SSS! Their web service sucks, and their phone service sucks more. Maybe that’s why it’s called the SSS Hotline. Your head will get hot when you call their line.  I just hope they find a website hosting service that works, and a bunch of people that works better.

Aside from the knee and lower back problems I’ve been carrying for years now and the ‘I forgot’ episodes, there is another sign that really tells me I’m O-L-D.

I was born in 1977. This just means I was already so much alive and kicking during the New Wave era and in the 90’s. My favorite band was and is The Cure. And let me also mention the great Metallica. There were also Guns n’ Roses, Fra Lippo Lippi, Madonna, Culture Club, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Aerosmith and so much more. In the local scene were The Wuds, The Youth, Grin Department, Alamid, etc. The 80’s and 90’s music were really great and they still are being played up to now. What I’m trying to say here is I was a fan of loud music – heavy metal, rock, grunge. And until now, whenever I hear the songs of these people, which is very seldom, I sing along. But when Jeff plays his favorite CDs – Maroon5, Linkin Park and I don’t know what else, I always feel like my head is being hit by hundreds of drum sticks - all at once. He also likes playing Red Hot Chili Peppers. One time when he was channel surfing, I caught a glimpse of a music video of Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters. I immediately told him to let me watch it until it finished. Then he started asking questions like ‘Who are they?’, ‘What’s the title of the song?’ ‘Are they famous?’, etc. And guess what? When he asked me to help him download some songs for him, the song ‘Fuel’ of Metallica was on the list he gave me. I don’t know how he knew about it. For quite some time now, I keep discovering that he knows so many songs and artists that I don’t know exist.  Most of them are loud.  Though I love listening to ‘old times’, Jeff’s choice of music is noise pollution to me!  Now that is one surest sign . . . . .

What are your signs?

Others feast . . . . .

While others can’t . . . . .

Whatever you insist on and what life seems to shove on your face are two different things.

image from: Syllabus:  Ethics and World Hunger, City-Data.com and World Hunger Project respectively (last 3 photos only)

NOTE: Edited to add the first 3 photos to send the message more clearly.