Little accomplishments

Oh how I miss blogging! At first I thought the long holiday break would give me time to tend my much neglected blog huhu, boy was I wrong. I wanted to do a lot during the vacation but I don't know how time just simply flew by. I guess that's really the case when it's spent with the ones you love, which I don't regret.

Nevertheless, I was able to squeeze in some to dos or should I say little accomplishments specially when the kids were asleep. Allow me to indulge you a bit if you don't mind. For memories' sake narin ;)

1) Replenish my freezer stash - because unli-latching kami ni JD during the holidays, my milk supply improved and I was able to replenish my depleting freezer stash upto 3 days (just enough for quick out-of-town assignments at work).

2) "Sort of" finished my playroom project - as I've mentioned in my home decorating/decluttering posts here and here, I plan to do a simple storage project for the kids' room. This was my mom's idea actually. We were window shopping in SM and saw these little easy to assemble tables (parang Ikea lang) in various colors. I wanted really a parang bench with drawer bins underneath to store toys. But she said it's more expensive to have that custom made. At least these tables cost Php500 each only (if you have an SM Advantage card). Then we just covered some used cardboard boxes with scrap fabric, and voila! I also placed the wall decals we bought at SM Baby company for only Php45. Just two more boxes/bins to go. Hope I get to find the time.

Before

After

3) Manage our finances - Daddy A and I were able to take short trips to the bank during our leave to manage our funds and investments. Also, I chanced upon this great buy from National Bookstore at Php115 only. I vow this year to complete this monthly bill organizer and keep track of our expenses. It really helps kasi nakakakonsensya when you see how much you have spent the past month, and you can point out which are really necessities and which ones you can do without.

4) Post some blog entries - okay, at least there are a couple of entries, but the list of backlogs is still looong (see post). If only our internet isn't acting up, there would have been more.

Anyway, like I said I'm quite happy with the little accomplishments along the way. What's important is that I get to spend more time with my loved ones, those that matter most.

Household budgeting 101; How to manage the family fund

Let’s shift to money matters this time. I realized my posts have been so much about malling and shopping, you might think my financial IQ is way down low and I'm a bad influence. To think Daddy A and I are CPAs, and that our everyday jobs immensely relate to finance, you might say we don’t practice what we preach.

To start off, before we got married, we could say (and even our parents would attest) that we were both financially savvy individuals. I was a heavy saver since I was a kid. I would always save a part of my allowance and I rarely buy anything from toy stores. I just wait for occasions such as birthdays, Christmas or good grades for gifts/rewards. From my alkansya (piggy bank), bank account, and wallet, I well-accounted for those until the last centavo, maybe that's the reason I became an accountant. Daddy A on the other hand is maipon din, and "kuripot" hehe. He won't buy new stuff unless laspag na ung mga dati niya. It helped pa na scholar yan before kaya anlaki ng natitipid niya.

When we got married we merged our financial principles and agreed what to apply with our own family. And here are those financial principles we actually try to live by:

1. Any financial guru has already said this equation time and again: Income – Savings = Expenses
2. Ask yourself before buying, is it a need or a want? Hokey honestly, yung mga ibang nabibili ko lately ay tawag lang ng sale at retail therapy dala ng stress. But I make sure we allot some for savings.
3. Try to be debt free as much as possible. We rarely use our credit cards, only for big transactions and we pay the full amount when the bill comes. Meaning if we can't afford to pay it in a month's time, we won't buy it yet. Exception to the rules are taking out a housing loan or car loan, which to us are basic necessities. We just have to make sure we could afford the monthly amortizations.
4. When helping others such as family or friends, set a manageable amount (that in case they can't pay up, it won't hurt your budget that much)
5. Live within your means. Period.

So how do we manage the household budget? Open a MS Excel worksheet and here's a template you may use:

List down your sources of income and add them up, e.g.:

1. Daddy's monthly net pay (When I say net pay, this is what you see in your payslip, net of taxes and other standard deductions. This basically is your active income)
2. Mommy's monthly net pay (if the wife works as well)
3. Extra racket - average per month (This is your passive income from your sidelines)

List down your savings and investment contributions broken down per month, into 3 categories, e.g.:

1. Long term - Pension/retirement fund/life insurance contributions; stocks/bonds/mutual funds; college fund contributions; downpayment for a house/investment property
2. Medium term - travel/vacation fund; downpayment for a car; puhunan (investment) for a business; new baby (hospital, baby gear, clothes etc.)
3. Short term - Emergency fund (once it exceeds 6 months worth of monthly expenses you could transfer the excess to medium and long term investments); tuition fee; big occasions/celebrations
4. Tithes - Investment niyo 'to sa heaven. Never forget to thank the Lord for all His blessings. It's up to you how much. Basta I learned that whatever you give back to Him, it comes back a tenfold or even a hundredfold.

List down your regular monthly expenses according to the hierarchy of needs:

1. Food - sometimes buying in bulk doesn't save you a lot. Just make sure you buy what your family can actually consume.
2. Medicines/vaccines
3. Rent or housing loan amortization
4. Utilities (electricity, water, communications)
5. Transportation or car loan amortization
6. Clothes
7. Househelp
8. Other daily personal expenses (e.g. lunches, parking)
9. Dates
10. Family day/malling (weekends)
11. Other personal expenses (e.g. salon, massage, personal shopping)

Equals (negative Php) hehe. Joke! This is where the principle of living within your means applies. Try to cut down on some costs at the bottom part of your expense list. A little sacrifice here and there makes a big difference (say instead of weekly, make it every two weeks or once a month). 

For your savings/investment list naman, try to set reasonable amounts of how much you can allot. It doesn't have to be huge immediately, maybe when you get a promotion or salary increase nalang. Pangit din naman yung you'll scrimp and save tapos your kids are getting malnourished or "aircool" (butas-butas) na ung mga damit niyo. I would also advise that you read a lot of financial books from authors that are easy to understand like Bo Sanchez and Francisco Colayco.

It's all about discussing with your family your priorities and just sticking to it. Involve the kids in the discussion as well. And always be honest with them about how much you are actually making.