Living. Blogging.
If there’s anything I learned in my a few weeks in excess of a year of working online, it’s that the Internet is very viral for advertising.
You only need to look to the high school kid’s favorite website: MySpace or Friendster, and you have your Ad Agency in a can.
[Read more…]
Part 1 had been on relationships, Part 2 was the Intro to this, and this, is a list of Internet programs and services that would boost your career or business.
[Read more…]
Part 1 was all about using tech to enhance one’s relationships. This one is using tech and innovations to boost your career.
If you are still living under the 90s rock and obstinately avoiding making a free email account, even though you know you sorely need one, then you seriously need a paradigm shift. [Read more…]
No, this is not another edition in the series of Halloween excitement here at Froodee. However, this article can be scary if you find yourself counting the last few pennies in your pocket. It was way back in elementary when I first heard her story. My uncle had given me a collection of Aesop’s Fables and one of the stories that struck me was the tale of “The Milkmaid and Her Pail.” Of course, back then, I was more fascinated with the illustrations rather than the story itself.
If you haven’t read the story, drop by here for a while and indulge yourself in a short fable.
However, for those who know what story I’m talking about, let me continue.
I often find the milkmaid emerging in me. In the story, she dreams about what she could have in exchange for her pail of milk. She thought of buying eggs. Said eggs would eventually grow into healthy, young chicks which would consequently become fat chickens and so on and so forth…
While there is nothing wrong with day dreaming, the milkmaid became too lost in her own fantasies that she accidentally dropped the pail of milk and with it spilled all of her dreams… My own version of the milkmaid often makes herself known when I am dealing with money.
I find myself unconsciously spending more than what I really should because at the back of my mind, I know I’ll receive more soon. Unfortunately, soon is not enough and I often end up having only a few bills left in my pocket. I don’t even get to save anything anymore. I also fantasize a lot about the material things I could gain and I get too involved with these thoughts that the word “budget” doesn’t even exist in my vocabulary anymore.
A lot of people don’t even realize the milkmaid in themselves. As for me, I am much more careful with my money now. According the the milkmaid fable, “Don’t count your chickens until they are hatched.” In my case, “Don’t spend your money until they are actually in your hands.”
Let me tell you something: I have had to hide money from myself.
I have been so un-thrifty all my life that today, my spending habits are a bane to my existence. Just today, I went gaga in a part-warehouse, part rich people’s grocery store buying my housewares. I had just moved into my brand spanking new dorm room in Manila, and the needs were numerous. No more parents to “borrow” my furniture from. :p
Being a spendthrift is no good when you’re living on your own already. You have to budget your meals and your spending because you won’t want to go hungry at the end of the month because you spent all your salary last 15th.
So while admittedly I still haven’t fully gotten over my habits, I did find ways to cut costs.
1) Dislike Starbucks. Yuppies tend to try to keep up with the Joneses by going to posh coffee shops. It’s a good thing I dislike the taste of Starbucks. Saves me quite a lot of money then. :p
2) Choose where you eat. I am fond of “street restaurants” and street food anyway, so this is a plus for me. Fast food would cost you a fortune in the long run, you know.
3) Cut out one or two meals. Being on the hefty side, this is helpful on my part. But it is also helpful in that I actually feel more energetic because of eating less. I guess I am already diabetic, that’s why when I have much too much of starch and sugars, I grow sleepy, which is a no-no, because I want to get so much done. Besides, society could do with less carbs, you know.
4) Get a DSL/broadband connection instead of frequenting Internet cafes or WiFi restaurants. You’d end up paying less.
5) Turn off the lights and other appliances when you’re not using them. Saves energy, saves you from paying a monstrous bill.
There are so many other ways to cut costs, in living as a single girl. I’m throwing in the last two:
6) Do not take a taxi as much as possible. Unless you’d end up paying the same amount from using public transportation anyway, there is little reason to take a cab, aside from the personal space you get and the relatively faster travel time, unless you get into traffic jams. Besides, train rides are fun!
7) Sleep. You conserve energy because your entertainment appliances are turned off, and you get to recharge too. Not sleeping actually makes you end up paying with your productivity/opportunity cost.
I am not a pro at saving or in penny-pinching. But these are the steps I took to save a few pennies from going through my spending sieve. Hope you at least get ideas from them, and save yourself from going hungry at the end of the month. :p