Get Ivy League Lectures for Free
What are the chances of the average Pinoy to get into Harvard or Yale? Unless you have the grades or the money, or both, your chances are pretty slim. But don’t worry, there’s good news ahead. Thanks to the internet, we can access free lectures from these high-profile universities.
And we’re not limited to Ivy League schools either – we can access lectures from most major colleges and universities around the globe.
iTunesU
Apple’s venture into free online learning starts with iTunesU. Basically, it’s where major universities and colleges upload video and audio lectures which anybody can download for free. Participating universities include Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and many others.
First of all, you need to have iTunes installed in your computer to access iTunesU. If you don’t have iTunes yet, click here to download it.
Once iTunes is open, click on the “iTunes Store” link on the left sidebar, and when you get to the store, find the link that takes you to iTunesU. You can then browse lectures by subject or by school.
iTunesU also has a separate section that collects lectures discussing the economic downturn we’re experiencing right now. You can see this section when you scroll down the iTunesU section of the iTunes Store.
Open Yale
Yale University also recently launched Open Yale, where you can access full lectures on different subjects including Astronomy, BioChemical Engineering, Economics, Physics, History, Philosophy, English, and Political Science.
Read MoreSite Update and Trip to Bohol
Hello Frugal Pinoy readers 
I apologize that I haven’t blogged here in the past week – I’ve just been busy with work. I got sick and there was a HUGE backlog of things to do. On top of that, I need to do some work in advance because I’m traveling during the first week of November. I’m going to….
Bohol! And Cebu!
If you have any tips on places to visit, things to see, or food to eat, then please let me know in the comments section. Especially if it’s something out of the ordinary and not found in typical tours.
Don’t worry, I’ll review some frugal accomodations, food, and activities while I’m there. I’ll be sure to include them in this blog.
I’ll be back with a fresh post next week.
Is poverty really a choice?
From time to time, whether in online forums or dinners with friends, some people share their opinion that poverty is a choice. You might be familiar with the following statements:
“The attitude of the poor is that they want the best things in life for free, because they are poor.”
“Kapag mahirap ka, tamad ka.”
“Hindi mo kasalanan ipanganak ng mahirap, ang kasalanan mo ay kung mamatay kang mahirap”
But is poverty really a choice?
Personally, I believe that being broke is a choice. But poverty is not.
What’s the difference?
Being broke means finding yourself incapable to support your lifestyle, despite the fact that you have the education, resources, and know-how to pull yourself out of that situation.
Poverty, on the other hand, is the inability to provide yourself and/or your family of your basic needs because you are deprived of access to the education, resources, and opportunities that will allow you to rise above it. Even them, the system works against you in such a way that it will take so much work and even more luck to get out of poverty.
Being broke is a personal problem. Poverty is a societal problem. Some examples:
Broke: The woman who finished college, gets paid P30,000 yet for some reason can’t pay her bills on time and doesn’t have enough savings for emergencies.
Poor: The farmer who has worked for decades but still earns only P25 per day. He can’t demand more money or benefits because the last time he did that, he was threatened by the landowner’s private army. He can’t afford to leave because he only makes enough to feed his family once a day.
Broke: The young couple who can’t afford to rent their own home because they spent too much money on their wedding, the reception, and their honeymoon.
Poor: The child who is roaming the streets as a beggar because her parents don’t believe that it’s worth it to put girls through school.
In other words, poverty involves outside factors that most people have no or very little control of. Even if they do have some way to control or circumvent these factors, they aren’t empowered enough to know about it.
And who can blame them about their lack of empowerment? Society at large and the government treats poor people as if cash subsidies and dole outs are the only way out. Because of their desperation, they prefer to eat now rather than look at long term solutions – and because of the lack of education and resources available to them, how will they know about these long term solutions?
Politicians themselves shy away from long term solutions because they take more work and the effects will only be seen years after they have left their position in government. Eh di mamigay na lang ng 500 pesos sa mga tao ngayon, kasi mas maaalala ka nila, at mas iboboto ka nila. Never mind that the 500 is fleeting and unsustainable.
The poverty problem itself is almost cyclical. Fundamental human needs such as food and water must first be met before you can expect someone to be self-actualized. In other words, what use is education if the people are hungry? What’s the use of opportunity? Then again, how do you fill your stomach if you don’t have employment opportunities that will allow you to do so?
To get rid of poverty, widespread changes in policy and society need to take place. To get rid of being broke, one just has to maximize all the available opportunities at hand.
How about you? Do you think poverty is a choice? Is it a state that could easily be avoided?
Note to Readers: Today is Blog Action Day, and FrugalPinoy is participating. Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. This year’s theme is “Poverty”.
Money Myths: Buying in bulk is cheaper
When I was in grade school, my Home Economics teacher told us that buying in bulk is cheaper. I used to believe her until my own experience proved otherwise. When I started being savvy in the grocery, I noticed that items packaged in bulk aren’t always cheaper than buying them in smaller, regular sizes. Plus, it’s not always the wisest decision to buy products in bulk.
Still, products sold in bulk are usually cheaper. If you do it right, bulk buying can give you more opportunities to save. Here are some basic tips:
Always do the math. If you carry a cellphone with you at all times (you’re Pinoy, so you probably do), you have a calculator. Use it. Find out how much the product costs per unit (gram, mL, piece) for the regular packaging, and how much it costs per unit for the bulk packaging.
Here’s an example. A 100 gram bar of soap costs P17.00. When the same soap is sold in packs of 3, each pack costs P45.00. Which is cheaper, the 90 gram bar or the 3-pack for P45.00?
If you multiply how much a single bar costs (P17.00) by the number of bars in a pack (3), you’ll find that buying 3 individual bars costs P51.00. Since the 3-pack is only P45.00, buying it would be cheaper.
Be careful, though. Some manufacturers decrease the per-item weight of products in bulk to make buyers think that they are getting things cheaper. In the soap example given above, make sure that each bar in the pack is also labeled 100 grams. Sneaky manufacturers might use 90 gram bars in the bulk packages.
Don’t worry about the math-induced headaches you might get. It’s likely that you only have to do it once for each product you want to buy in bulk.
Buy non-perishables. Items such as toilet paper, plastic bags, dishwashing liquid, and other non-perishables are okay to buy in bulk. They won’t spoil easily and won’t be a hassle to store.
You can only safely buy perishables in bulk if you know how to preserve them, will consume them soon in large quantities (ex. if you’re having a party), or if you have assurance of the product’s quality. I found this helpful guide on how to freeze different food items. Worth looking into if you want to consider buying food in bulk.
Consider other factors that are important to you. We’ve already mentioned quality. If quality is important to you (and it should be), you need to take that into account before buying a product in bulk. After all, it isn’t a frugal choice to buy toilet paper in bulk if it breaks away easily and doesn’t absorb too well.
Another factor you may want to consider is how environmentally friendly your bulk purchase is. Sometimes, products that are packaged in bulk are prone to excessive packaging – there’s one big plastic bag wrapping the bulk of the product, individual plastic bags wrapping each item, etc. If you think a certain bulk purchase is less environment-friendly than its regular equivalent, then don’t buy it in bulk.
Know where to buy. Makro is a good place to start buying in bulk. Their bulk products are usually cheaper, especially the generic ones such as Savepak and Aro. I’ve already talked about the good quality of the Savepak dishwashing liquid, so it isn’t necessarily true that branded products are better.
You can also go straight to the manufacturer if you want to buy a product in large quantities. In fact, you might get it cheaper there.
The next time you think you’re getting a great deal from a bulk purchase, stop for a minute, do the math, and consider if you really are getting a great deal. My Home Economics teacher was mostly right. Buying in bulk can be a great money saver, but only if you do it well.
Photo Credit: Image from Luis Rock from stock.xchng
Read MoreHelp Iligan and CDO
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