My Values and What I Think About Money

Posted by FrugalPinoy on Feb 28, 2008 in Frugality | 2 comments

I think it’s about time that I wrote an “introduction”post in this blog that gives readers an idea of my personal ideas about money, how I make my financial choices, etc. This might help some of you understand why I’ve written some posts the way I did and why I make certain choices. Please share with us your own personal story about money in the comments.

I don’t like money for money’s sake. Some people say “I want 100 million pesos!” or “I want to win the lotto!”, but when you ask them what they want to do with the money, they tell you they don’t know. Or they’ll buy the same standard set of things – a big house, some cars, etc.

When I make personal goals about money, I have to know what the money is for. I don’t believe in getting rich just to get rich and buying things just because they are uso or everyone has them. The money means something else for me. It might mean security, adventurous travel, and doing the things you want to do – not necessarily having the things you want to have and saying to yourself “Basta, yun ang gusto ko eh”.

See, most of the time, when we really reflect on why we want some things, we find that the real reason behind the want (or a part of it) is that we just want to keep up with others. Or for the cool factor. It’s okay to admit these things to yourself – I’m guilty of them sometimes. Just be aware of them.

However, at the same time, while I believe in making frugal choices, I still believe you should make the purchases that are important to you – even if the price tag seems a bit heavy. As long as you can afford it, of course. Frugality is different from being cheap. You should still be able to buy the things you enjoy.

An example: I always need to have some tea around. Although I have some inexpensive Jasmine Chrysanthemum Tea (Healthy Lifestyles, P15.00 for a small box of 10 teabags) my favorite tea in the world is the Twinnings Apple Cinnamon Tea, which is roughly P220+ for a box of 20 teabags). I love the Twinnings Tea. So I buy it.

In other words, for me, being frugal isn’t about living so well below your means that you don’t get to enjoy the things you really enjoy. It just means being mindful of where your money goes and the value you get for each purchase.

One final thing – I think wealth is relative. It all depends on what your values are and how much your time is worth.

For example, Juan Dela Cruz earns almost P1Million a year. However, he has to work almost 18 hours a day to earn it – sometimes even on weekends. I’m not impressed. That, to me isn’t wealth. I prefer a per hour measurement of income compared with how much income it takes for you to live the life you want. If you do the math, you’ll see that Juan only earns less than P200/hour.

For example, if Maria DelaCruz earns P1000 an hour, but only works 7 hours a week so she can spend her time with her kids – I think she’s wealthy. At the end of the year, she’s only made P336,00, but I think she’s still wealthier than Juan.

How about you? How do you define wealth and frugality? Please share your ideas with us.

Making Money from Junk

Posted by FrugalPinoy on Feb 25, 2008 in Earning and Income | 1 comment

I had this problem – my house was a collection of over 20 years of clutter. My mother and the other people who lived in my house, they kept everything. Even if it was broken, rotting, didn’t work, wasn’t used, can’t be repaired, or better off with someone else. In other words, I had over 20 years of junk on my hands.

Obviously, I had to clean it all up. This “whole house cleaning” was something I’ve been postponing because of the laborious hours it would require. But I finally had to do it to make some space for my home office.

While I was cleaning and sorting out the junk, I noticed that most of it was metal, Tupperware, various plastics, paper, and cardboard. All of these can be sold to junk shops.

So I called up the nearest junkshop, and they were more than happy to pick up the stuff from my house.

I earned P 1,000 from selling most of my junk (The other, still useful, things were donated) . It took 2-3 days to purge the house of all of it.

You’re probably thinking “One thousand pesos for 2-3 days! That’s not worth it!” If you’re going to look at it that way, I agree. I would never accept a job that offered that kind of hourly rate (roughly P60 per hour at most).

However, this was something I had to do. These things were gathering dust and eating up space – the space that I needed to be more efficient with work and to earn more money.

Getting P 1,000 in exchange for something you were gonna do anyway is an ok deal by me. Try it the next time you do a complete house cleaning project.

Recipe: Chive Butter Toast

Posted by FrugalPinoy on Feb 24, 2008 in Food | 0 comments

These slices of Chive Butter Toast accompanied my Valentine’s day dinner with Scout.  It was yummy.  Here’s the recipe (again, not exact measurements).

Ingredients:

• 3 slices of bread, cut in half
• 3 onion leaves (chives), cut into 1/2 centimeter pieces
• 1 small clove of garlic, minced
• 1/4 of a block of butter

Directions:

1. Slightly melt butter (in a microwave, saucepan, whatever) but take it out of the heat while it’s still a bit lumpy.
2. Add the chives and garlic in the partially melted butter.  Mix well.
3. Spread butter mixture onto bread slices.
4. Toast bread slices until light brown.

This is great when eaten with soup or pasta, or used as croûtons in salad.

Pasta with Tomato, Basil, and Mushroom Sauce – a valentine treat

Posted by FrugalPinoy on Feb 24, 2008 in Food | 1 comment

For Valentine’s Day, Scout and I had pasta in tomato, basil, and mushroom sauce accompanied by chive butter toast. It was obviously delicious, as there was none left over. Here’s the recipe along with the approximate price of each ingredient.
(Note: Since some ingredients were “cut” from a bulkier amount, I’ve reduced some of those prices according to the portions we took. Halimbawa, kung kalahati lang nung pack yung ginamit namin, kalahati rin lang yung presyo.)

Ingredients:

• 1 pack tomato sauce (P 14.00)
• 1/2 can of mushrooms (P 19.00)
• roughly 90-100 grams of cut macaroni (P 14.00)
• a handful of crushed fresh basil (P7.00, would’ve probably cost less if I had my own plant)
• some butter
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• salt, dried oregano, pepper (preferably the course type – yung di masyado durog)
• cheese

To be honest, these measurements aren’t precise – I’m not that kind of cook. I just go with my tastebuds and come up with the measurements on the spot. I don’t follow exact recipes, and I encourage you to add/subtract the measurements of the ingredients as you please.

Also, you may omit the mushrooms for a minimalist sauce.

Directions:

1. In a pot of water, boil pasta with a tablespoon of oil and some salt.
2. In a saucepan, saute the garlic in butter until light brown.
3. Stir in the mushrooms and fry them until they’re a little crisp on the edges. Add some salt and pepper in desired measurements. I add some of the oregano in this stage, too.
4. When the mushroom, butter, and garlic mixture is hot enough, slowly add the tomato sauce. I said “slowly” because it’ll be harder to mix it with the butter if you dump the tomato sauce all at once.
5. Wait until it boils then let it simmer for 5-8 minutes.
6. Stir in the basil.
7. Taste the sauce. If it’s too sour, then add some butter until it suits your taste. See, the sourness comes from the tomato, and the butter counteracts that. If it’s too bland, add some oregano and basil. If it lacks “oomph”, add pepper.
8. When the pasta is done, take it out of the pot, drain it, and mix it with the sauce.
9. Serve on a plate and sprinkle with cheese, according to your preference. For this particular meal, we used grated parmesan (the affordable but ok kind, not parmigiano reggiano from Italy).

Total cost of dish: Main ingredients cost P54.00 You can add an additional 10-20 pesos for miscellaneous side expenses such as the salt, pepper, garlic, butter, water, oregano, cheese, and the gas that was used. So the total cost is roughly P64.00 – P74.00

Not bad, especially since it got to feed 3 people with really generous servings.

If you notice the toast next to the pasta, it’s chive butter toast, but it merits its own blog entry. Click here for the recipe of the chive butter toast.

Did you have a special meal with a significant other (or by yourself) this Valentine’s Day? If so, what did you have and how much did it cost? Share it with us in the comments.

Goal for the month: absolutely no fast food

Posted by FrugalPinoy on Feb 23, 2008 in Food, Saving | 2 comments

I hate to admit it, but I fall into the fast food trap every so often. Especially when fast foods come out with their coupons. (Hello McMoney!) The temptation is always there – they have 24 hour delivery services, my school is next to a mall, my friends always entice me with the phrase “Kain tayo!“ And I just really, really love to eat.

I have to stop eating at fast foods. Mc Donald’s, Jollibee, Pao Tsin, Chowking, etc. Anything. If I’m to eat anything while I’m at school, it has to be something I brought with me.

Why am I doing this?

It’s healthier. Oftentimes, fast food has extenders, preservatives, and probably a lot of stuff you don’t want to know about. Have you seen Supersize Me? Plus, the food I make at home is often just veggies and fish, and I’m sure it’s freshly made.

It’s cleaner. I try my best to be a clean cook. See, I had amoebiasis last year, and it was the worst experience ever. It’s much easier for me to get a relapse, so I try to avoid questionable foods. (I miss isaw!)

It’s cheaper. A cheeseburger roughly costs P35.00. If I make the same thing myself, I assume it’d cost roughly P20.00. Plus, it’s customizable! I can put whatever I want on it. Someday I’ll make my own cheeseburger at home, do the math, and show you folks the difference.

My cooking tastes better. At least I think so. I have to be honest that the taste of fast food has its own charms, but most of the time I prefer my own cooking. Especially when it comes to spaghetti.

This is the 3rd time I’ve tried this goal. I hope I’m more successful with this attempt. I’s probably save at least P800.00/month (based on previous months) if I stay away from fast food. Deadline: March 30, 2008. I’ll let you know my progress.

It’s going to be much harder – fast food has such a big hold on me. When I was a kid, my parents always took me to Jollibee or Tropical Hut. When I was in high school, my friends and I often had fast food delivered to the dorms. I have such a big history with it that it’s hard to let go.

Do you eat fast food? If so, do you think you can give it up?