Here's another month of aiming to ace my budgeting. 

But honestly, I am not doing a good job. 

I think most of us fail in terms of budgeting because we are not doing intentional spending and delaying gratification. Well, let's face it, as soon as we receive our pay, the last thing we want is deprive ourselves of a reward after a 2-week long (sometimes month-long) hard work of pleasing our bosses. 

I normally give myself a casual reward of stationery and pens as well as treating my family to a good lunch or dinner (if not at home, in a restaurant) but that's not really helpful at all, especially now that we're working on a tight budget. 

So here I am writing my low-buy list for this month, and I hope I can commit to all of them. 

NO MORE STATIONARY PURCHASES THIS MONTH

Over these years, I've accumulated so many office and school supplies that can last us 2 academic years. Did you know, I haven't purchased any single colored paper since my son enrolled in school 2 years ago? Yes, that's how much we have. 

So this month, I am not going to buy any more stationery, school or office supplies. After all, the school year ends in a month. Might as well save it up for the coming school year. 

NO MORE VINTAGE CAPS FOR NOW

We consider our small collection of New York Yankee Vintage Caps as a collection and investment. It is also a way for us to gain more brand awareness and attach our audience because they know they're buying vintage pieces from a real collector (aka US), but after we moved back to my parent's place. I realized there's no room for all of them here. 

For now, we'll try to keep it low. Not get any more New York Yankee vintage caps unless they're really a gem. 

NO OVERSPENDING ON GROCERIES

After my family and I moved back to my parent's place to help them financially, I realized how much money we spent on groceries. We tripled our expenses on food. 

Let me be clear, we're not depriving ourselves of food. However, I realized that we consume more unhealthy processed foods which cost us more instead of buying fresh produce in the marketing and cooking actual meals that are healthier. 

I realized too that after we moved back here, Edmund usually looked for unhealthy junk. In the past, I always cooked pasta, made sandwiches, pancakes from scratch, and all that jazz, but now, he's into instant noodles, chocolates, chips, etc. I know he's just a kid but I also know that if he forgets eating healthy, hearty meals, he'll crave more unhealthy foods later on. So this has got to stop. 

This month, I'll only spend and purchase mindfully. Focus on what we really need to save money and cut costs on processed foods. 

NO EATING OUT

With the new viruses coming out, no, never going to happen. We're still opting to stay at home and casually go to the park as soon as Aia's pediatrician allows us to. Not to mention, we have family outings (in a private resort) piled up this coming May, so might as well take advantage of that. 

We're into a low-cost, great time with family, more food, and sleepovers. YAY!

This low-buy challenge this month is not a way for me to deprive myself of enjoying the perks of working hard, but instead enjoying the things my family has. 

Have you ever thought of having a low-buy list? Share what it looks like. 

Hi, it;'s me, Mhownai!

Do you have an Emergency Fund? 

As mommies, we really need to have this but if you don't have yet, that's okay. I was in the same situation as you a few years back. I don't really know that this is important not until I experienced being broke, jobless and my son was sick ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Imagine, as a single mom who also is a student- how can I surpass this.

So let me share with you my personal experiences but before anything else, let us talk about how important having an Emergency Fund is whether you're earning more or just enough for your daily living.


Financial emergencies are unforeseen events in your life that require you to use your money immediately. However, these types of emergencies should be related to your health, your family's health, your family's future and/or assets.

Hindi kasama yung kelangan mo bumili ng TV kasi sobrang liit ng TV mo hindi mo mapanuod yung paborito mong Teleserye sa hapon. Hindi rin kasama yung pagpaparebond mo ng buhok dahil mukha ka nang haggard ha? 

Emergency Situations such as Job Loss, Health Issues, Accidents, Fire, Home Repair, Auto Repairs and more. These events should be spent using your emergency fund.

Now that we have understand where and when should we use our Emergency Fund, now, we should know why we need to acquire a good enough amount of Emergency Fund.


In Case You Lose Your Job

As we all know, we can never can tell as to when we will lose our job, most especially if you are a Freelancer like me, I must say, I'm not as fortunate as some of the high paid freelancers who earn so much and/or find more clients so when they lose one, they can easily find a replacement. So it's very important to save for a rainy day for these sudden situations in order to still provide for our family while we are looking for a job.

Same goes for our husband and corporate mommies, we may never know when we will be laid off from work and still, even though you have been with a member of the organization for a very long time, there's no guarantee that you will stay forever in that company. Put it this way- if you will be laid off, then you have enough money to get updated requirements, money to support the family, and most importantly, you have enough money to find another job.

Health is Unpredictable

This is the primary reason why I decided to start an Emergency Fund. Let's be real, fewer Filipinos own a health card and that is purely understandable: Filipinos, in general, opt for survival than security. As a single mom, I more focus on my son's needs rather than saving for a rainy day. But this is so wrong!

If our little one or our husband got sick, where will you get your funds? When will you take them to the hospital? As we all say, prevention is better than cure. So it's better to bring them to the doctor to take urgent care rather than take them to the hospital when the situation is worse. Trust me, I'm always seeing myself in the Emergency Room because I hate going to the hospital to have myself checked.

It's really important to have enough money for any health, dental issue.

Sudden Death and Accidents

This is one of the most terrible situations that will happen to our family yet, unfortunately, we cannot control it. This is why for these situations, it's very important for you to have the funds for it. Lucky if we don't use it but if we do, at least we have money to use.

I remember when our house helper's son died unexpectedly, she didn't have that money to use in order to go to his son's location nor to spend for the burial. With my Emergency Fund, I was able to give her some cash to bring with her to support her transport fee and support some of the burial expenses.

Lowers Down Stress and Financial

Imagine if we have enough money, how does this feel? Of course, we can achieve peace of mind and clarity in our hearts. When I accumulated some Emergency Fund, I am not bothered to go to the hospital or face unexpected scenarios because I know I can carry on with our life.

Now there's a COVID-19, this is where we spend most of our Emergency Fund goes. Most of the people don't have that money to do panic buying which is why we can use this fund to supply our family's needs what's more, now that there are more clients pulling out because their income will also be affected due to the fact that most businesses are closed; some Filipinos are either work from home or no work, no pay at all. Having that emergency fund will give you peace of mind and we won't have so much stress as to asking ourselves where we can gather enough funds to support this long-time quarantine which can be prolonged depending on the situation.

Keeps You On A Budget

As homemakers, we mostly do the budgeting, if we also know how to allocate our money, we have enough cash that we can use on a daily basis. With this method as well, we avoid overspending and go beyond our target budget because our funds are already assigned to a specific category.

Stay tuned in my upcoming blogs as to how we can budget our money more with a minimal income and build our emergency fund little by little.