Two years ago, we started paying for a house. Before that year ends, our monthly amortization increased because we wanted a bigger house. Naturally when 2015 enters, we’re almost out of money and we need all the Financial Tips we can get! We’re living paycheck to paycheck then.. no extra funds, no savings, just the basics. Ummh or so I thought… After listing down our expenses, I realized we are not using our money properly. The miscellaneous area of my notebook is quickly filling up as the day goes by. MISCELLANEOUS?!? We’re spending so much on things that we should’t! After a few months of experimenting, I finally learned how to budget our money properly.
And you know I don’t write or recommend anything that is not tried and tested.. not turning into a financial expert ha, just sharing with you financial tips that can help you stay on track with your budget.
5 Financial Tips To Help You Stay On Track With Your Budget
#1 List down your spending
List down where you spend your money and learned from it. If you know there is something wrong with your budgeting, don’t you want to know what it is?!? By listing down where you spend your money, you’ll be able to track where most of your money are. You need to list down ALL. As in even that 8 pesos pamasahe sa tricycle, ilista mo yan.
#2 Cut down your expenses
When I tried listing down where we spend our money, I realized we have been spending too much on dinning out, specially breakfast. Tama na ang mga pasosyal na breakfast at Jollibee! I realized how cheap it would be to just cook tuyo, egg and fried rice rather than order breakfast. We’re a family of 6 and our usual fast food breakfast consumption is P500. If I cook breakfast, I would only be spending P100 (or even less). From breakfast alone, our expenses were sized down to 20%!
If yours naman is during lunch or dinner, try cutting down on that too. Cooking veggies paired with a liempo or fish is way cheaper than ordering in a restaurant. If you really can’t do that, try skipping dessert and just drink plain water. Also, taking out is cheaper. Buy the ulam at magsaing ka na lang sa bahay.
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#3 Make a shopping list and STICK to it!
Emphasis on STICK!
I have to admit, whenever we do our grocery, we always end up with 2 full grocery carts 🙁 and we’re doing the grocery twice a month! There is always something in the grocery that we need! Since we cut down on our expenses, I started making a grocery list and we really try hard to stick with it. Hindi sya ganun kadali!
As I have said, there is always something in the grocery that we need that is not on the list. And the kids! My goodness! They always something more than the basic. Pabili ng stick-o, pabili ng chocolates, pabili ng notebook, ng pens etc etc.. never ending pabili! So that’s another tip, don’t bring your kids as much as possible! Or if you have to, don’t give in to their pabilis!
When you start giving in, you’ll realize, ay si Mommy din may kailangan pala.. ay si Daddy din! One time, the husband bought 2 pairs of socks (which was not on the list) and he ends up spending 3000 Pesos more.. Kase naman, the kids need briefs din pala.. and mommy needs some socks too (which actually can wait harhar). You get the idea? once you give in tuloy tuloy na yan!
Aside from the list, try to limit your trips down spending lanes! AKA shopping malls, groceries, supermarkets and yes even on palengkes and talipapa. The more you are exposed to this temptations, the more you’ll spend more. Let’s not talk about discipline muna ha.. that’s really hard to achieve. Kaya instead of trying to stop yourself from buying whenever you’re inside the grocery or the mall, limit your trips na lang.
#4 Plan your indulgence (do not deprive yourself)
This is something that we can’t let go easily. Most of you will agree naman di ba? It’s hard not to give yourself a reward after 1 week or two of working really hard right? Lalo na ngayon that the traffic is really baaad! Parang ang dami dami mong hirap sa mundo tapos magtitipid ka pa? Most financial advisers would tell you na it’s a matter of long term happiness (investment) or short term (no savings naman). Ako, I’d say go for both. You can still indulge and reward yourself pero plan it.
Set a budget for your reward, maybe like, once a week na kain sa restaurant or a short trip to your wasteland (National Bookstore for me!). Get back to Tip #3 to guide you with your spending.
#5 Sobre system
Last and I really saved this one.. kase saved the best for last!
Buy a plastic envelope or something to that effect. Segregate your money based on your budget list. Alam ko ito pinakamalaking problema ng mga nanay eh.. ung pambayad ng kuryente nagagamit sa iba. Ang pang grocery na dapat 3k lang, nagiging 5k na! Eh san mo naman huhugutin ang kulang or san ka kukuha ng pang abono sa nagastos mong pangbayad ng kuryente.
With the sobre system, you’ll know if you still have enough money for grocery and you lower down the risk of spending money allocated for your bills.
We’re still working out the savings part. They say the best way to budget your money is INCOME- SAVINGS = EXPENSES. They say you have to develop saving first before spending. Maybe a few more cutting down on our expenses and we can finally use that simple math of savings.
Now it’s your turn to make kwento! I know ang bulsa na burned out din from the Holiday spending, how do you plan to “recuperate”? Also, have you tried any of the of the financial tips I mentioned above? Care to share your experience? I want to hear from you!
Cassandra mauricio says
January 21, 2016 at 10:02 amSo true ms. Pehpot relate na relate ako , lalo na pag grocery trips with the whole family na oover tlga s budget.. ?? thank you so much for the tips ?? ill start using the sobre system???
Mommy Pehpot says
January 21, 2016 at 12:19 pmdi baa! ang hirap mag pigil sa grocery talaga!
Wena says
January 21, 2016 at 3:57 pmsobrang nakaka-relate ako dito… lalo na kami, we’re not an OFW family anymore, so nabawasan na ang monthly income… pero gaya ng lagi kong sinasabi kay husband kapag sumasagi na naman sa isip na ang pag-aabroad. mas okey na ako sa sapat na kita basta magkakasama kami. mas stressed kami pareho para nasa ibang bansa sya, at mas malungkot ang mga bata.
effective ang envelope system! kami, we really limit our trips to grocery and malls. we discovered a “suking tindahan” sa loob ng palengke sa amin. dun kami bumibili ng pang isang linggong baon. pang wholesale ang price nila dahil bilihan yun ng may mga sari-sari store. pag wala na lang stocks sa toiletries, saka kami nag grocery.
Mommy Pehpot says
January 21, 2016 at 4:55 pmat pag ma stress ka and the kids, mas magastos din di ba!?!
May De Jesus-Palacpac says
January 22, 2016 at 6:58 amI do 2-5! 🙂 I have to say, di ko mapanindigan ang number 1. What I do is, I already divide the money (#5) beforehand to make sure we’ve got everything covered…including savings.
Mommy Pehpot says
January 22, 2016 at 8:34 amButi ka pa kasama na ang savings sa sobre mo.. we’re still working out that part 🙂
May De Jesus-Palacpac says
January 22, 2016 at 9:31 amNaku, we really had to downsize and adjust our lifestyle to be able to have one. Ang hirap kaya! But you know, di na tayo bumabata, heehee, kelangan na mag-ipon para sa rocking chairs. 😉
Mommy Pehpot says
January 22, 2016 at 9:49 amtrue! but if insurance can be called a savings, then we have a savings! hahaha
Michelle says
January 22, 2016 at 8:57 amStumbled upon your post. Thanks for these tips. I also have a lot of expenses, especially that I have a school-age kid and a 1-year-old baby. Gastos sa groceries! And sometimes, I experience getting overwhelmed kasi wala pang 1 week nung binigay ang sweldo e halos ubos na. I’ll try the envelope system, it may help me manage my expenses. Thanks again!
Mommy Pehpot says
January 22, 2016 at 10:26 amsobraaa! Pahamak talaga ang grocery eh.. pag lumaki na kids mo, ang susunod na pahamak ay bookstore! haha
The envelope system really works 🙂
Denice says
January 22, 2016 at 2:46 pmI try to stay within our budget kapag grocery talaga, really sticking to a budget can sometimes be hard but I think kaya naman sya Discipline nga lang talaga
Mommy Pehpot says
January 22, 2016 at 3:04 pmand discipline is not that easy to find! haha
Berlin says
January 22, 2016 at 4:35 pmReading your post makes me imagine you talking to me instead. Hahaha.
We also use the sobre system and this year, I am strict to not using the budget for pedia to pay muna for our market. If the market sobre is empty and so be it. We can always relay to it never fails corned beef or sardines. Hahaha.
Mommy Pehpot says
January 25, 2016 at 10:03 amawww your comment made my day! Yan ang gusto ko i achieve talaga..ung feeling ng bumabasa sa blog eh naka harap lang ako with matching pakumpas kumpas pa ng kamay 🙂
Lady Anne Louise Barrun says
January 24, 2016 at 2:36 amI love this article. Sobrang nakakarelate ako especially sa grocery. Every week nagpupunta kami sa grocery and I ALWAYS end up buying more than what we need. Sobrang hirap talaga magpigil. This is one of my new year’s resolution, to save more money and limit my expenses. Thanks for your tips. I will surely try the sobre system. My mom use that system too kaya di siya nawawalan ng emergency fund.
TweenselMom says
January 25, 2016 at 10:40 amIba na tlaga ang rich! I’ll take these tips from you, you are one good example kasi!
Celerhina Aubrey ★ says
January 25, 2016 at 12:14 pmI downloaded an app that tracks my spending. Ang kinaganda nya, you would see saan napupunta ang pera and if medyo malaki na ang % nya on your expenses parang mapapadalawang isip ka talag aif you need to spend more on it. I’m slowly learning. Hahaha! The tips are great. I wanna do the last one. Again I’m trying kaso yun nga, tama ka! Pambayad ng kuryente napupunta sa kung saan saan. Hihihi
Louisa says
January 25, 2016 at 5:49 pmHappy to say that I do all of the above! We are super budgeted but it would be great to have more spending leeway when it comes to groceries. My kids are so aware of this that before they get anything, even my youngest Jael, they would ask first if it’s alright.
Janice says
January 29, 2016 at 8:10 amBeen doing all these tips too but the hardest one for us is #3, sticking to our shopping list. Whenever we see a new product kasi there’s always a feeling na we have to try it, diba? Haha! But yeah, that’s something we have to work on.
Jackie says
January 31, 2016 at 9:35 pmOh my gosh what a funny and adorable post! Ang cute mo magsulat haha love it! Thank you for the tips. Just started nga with the weekly food menu so planado ang shopping, grabe mahal pa rin! And yes we cut down on the eating out na din, and I bought an organizer that so happens to also have a part to track expenses. Hay mahal ng buhay haha thanks for this post, at least I know I’m on the right track!
Mhaan Arambulo - Delos Santos says
February 2, 2016 at 6:50 amAko naman from a full time working mom to a stay at home mom, ang laki ng transition diba? I let hubby do the budgeting and he just gave me the exact amount to spend for our grocery. Minsan naiisip ko mahirap din pala kung sahm ka kasi wala kang financial freedom so planning to be a wahm in the future. Guilty ako dun sa extra pabili sa grocery, kasi talagang may napapasama kahit hindi kailangan, if ako sa make up si hubby sa mga junk foods and chocolates hehehe. Thanks for these tips mommy pehpot! Super useful niya. 🙂