27/08/2025
Budget & Lifestyle Thoughts
Disclaimer: This is all about "US". Feel free to skip it if not interested since I wrote this for people who want to know more about "my thoughts". 😊
1. Food
- If you've been reading my payday breakdowns, you'd see how I portion our food right after ko malinis. Most of the time, 1 portion is good for lunch & dinner. I also do freezer meals once in a while.
- Hindi namin pinipilit ubusin ang pagkain kapag busog na. Kahit gaano ka-unti yan, I refrigerate it and re-heat. Kaya may araw na hindi ako nagluluto.
- Namamalengke ako according sa budget, regardless of the price/kg. Like bibili ako ng 500 worth of pork, kapag mahal ang per kilo syempre mas kaunti yung mabibili. Sa pagpo-portion ako mag-a-adjust at hindi sa halaga ng binibili ko.
2. Grocery
- I always bring a list & buy in bulk. Big help yung hoarding funds to minimize my grocery budget.
- I limit our processed food - like yung 1kg na hotdog could last us sa isang buwan. Since I cook our meals, I reserve the processed food on the days na tinatamad ako magluto. The way I stock up on de-lata is pang once a month lang - kaya once a year lang ako bumili tapos more or less 12pcs lang.
- I rarely buy drinks like juices, softdrinks, chips at mga canton kasi kadalasan inaabot ng expiration. Depende na lang talaga kapag nag-crave.
3. Electricity
- 3 lang kami sa bahay so we synchronize our daily activities as much as possible. Sa umaga, I try to finish all my chores hanggang lunch time. Kasi Tatay turns on the AC after lunch, so I turn off everything sa sala at kusina at nasa kwarto na lang kami until dinner time. Continous lang naka-on ang AC until the next day around 6am.
- So far our highest bill was 8k during summer and the lowest is around 3.5k kapag BER months. I set the budget at 6k. Usually, June/July bumabalik na sa below 6k ang bill namin - so lahat ng excess sa 6k ay iniipon namin para pagdating ng summer next year ay may pondo na kami pandagdag kapag lumagpas na ulit ng 6k. Dyan na rin kami kumukuha sa excess funds ng budget for AC cleaning.
4. Education
- As much as possible, we pay in full. After enrollment ng June, start na kami ulit magtabi ng July. Actually, it's a fixed cycle na. Kung gaano kami laging 'may excess funds' katulad sa electricity bill, ganoon din sa pang tuition ni Waki. Kaya hindi namin masyado iniisip dahil as long as we stick sa budget, sure na buo na ang pang tuition nya bago pa man ang enrollment.
5. Leisure
- You won't see any leisure funds on our budget, but we do have our fixed allowances monthly. Our monthly budget is based on Tatay's fixed income. But apart from his regular job, e may mga profit din sya sa Crypto. Ako naman, dito sa socmed. We really don't plan our trips kasi it depends on our 'extra'. Like last father's day, bigla ko na lang inaya si Tatay mag hotel kasi nag-book ako na hindi nya alam. Sometimes, bigla na lang mag-aaya lumabas si Tatay at bibilhan kami ng kung ano or kakain sa labas. Bigla magbibigay ng extra money. Kapag ganun, alam ko na malaki kinita nya sa Crypto nya.
6. Lifestyle
- Hindi kami maluho ni Tatay kaya ganoon rin ang kinamulatan ni Waki. Bata pa lang sya isinasali ko na sya sa pagbu-budget. Maaga ko sya in-expose sa pagbu-budget. My OG followers know that kasi I used to write a lot about Waki when he was younger. He learned what is cheap and expensive based on our budget. He knows Tatay's salary vs. bayarin na naka sulat sa budget. Everytime I get paid, pinapakita ko sa kanya. Kahit gaano kalaki yung sinweldo ko, he would only ask hotwheels. Wala kaming chance to spoil him when he was younger because of a tight budget, which actually became a good thing - kasi mas na-e-enjoy naming tatlo yung mga 'first time'. Yung mga hindi namin na-experience ni Tatay noon, ngayon kaya na namin kasabay ni Waki.
In short, malaki ang effect ng kinamulatang lifestyle at disiplina ng bawat family member sa finances.
7. Wants
- Here we apply yung "kurot lang" principle. Unang sweldo ko dito sa socmed was around 2-3k. Nag treat ako kay Tatay at Waki sa unli-wings around 1k kaming 3. Then inipon ko na yung mga sumunod na sahod. When I saved around 50k - I bought kitchen cabinets na supposedly worth 30k+ pero hinintay ko yung sale and got it for 20k+ at naka 0% sa CC. I ended up not spending my savings at tuloy lang mag earn ng interest. At dahil sa credit card, naging installment pa so I earned more than sa monthly installment ko. In short, I got the cabinets at hindi nagalaw yung savings ko at nadagdagan pa because of interest.
- Wala akong ibang goal but just to save for the rainy days. Hindi naman ako maluhong tao. I mean nakakaipon nga ako nung wala pang allowance from Tatay dahil sa mga tira-tirang barya sa budget e. Masaya na ako na mailabas sina Mama paminsan. Ma-surprise yung mag-ama kapag may okasyon. Yun kasi yung "luho" ko dahil hindi ko magawa noon.
8. Finances
- Basta ang mindset ko lang when it comes to our finances, "live below our means". I know the things we NEED to prioritize at yung mga bagay na pwedeng ipagpaliban. We don't save to become rich, but just to be ready sa mga bagay na, sa ayaw at gusto namin ay pagdaraanan namin.
Who doesn't want to travel and enjoy their hard-earned money dba? It's just that ang TOP GOAL namin ni Tatay is to have financial freedom. Yung tipong, anytime kami mawala e, hindi mahihirapan si Waki to continue living. We want peace of mind over material things. Kaya ngayon na medyo stable na yung mga top goals namin, we can really start doing those "deserve ko 'to" moments without compromising our goals.
People would say "madali mag-budget kapag may bina-budget" but in reality, not everyone has that discipline to stick with it. Bakit yung mga taong kumikita ng 200k monthly ay kinakapos pa rin? Pero yung mga minimum wage earners ay napapagkasya at minsan ay may ipon pa?
Yun palagi ang iniisip ko whenever I think about our finances. We were fortunate enough that we earn a bit above average, so dapat lang na nakakaipon din kami. We don't look at the lifestyle of the people na kumikita ng katulad sa amin, kasi if we do that, sigurado ako na mapapaisip kami ng "are we really depriving ourselves?"
Kapag ganoon, babalik lang din ulit kami sa thinking na - "Iba-iba tayo ng goals at priorities. Kaya iba-iba rin tayo ng wants." Ang mahalaga, your lifestyle is aligned sa inyong income. Yung may financial freedom ka at nakakatulog ka ng payapa sa gabi. 😊
