The Frugalista Wannabe

Curly Mac and Cheese

If you’re a Facebook friend, you probably know by now how much I LOVE pasta. Most of the things I cook are pasta dishes, and if there’s anything I order by default in a new restaurant, it’ll have to be a pasta dish, especially a cream-based pasta.

However, I would be the first to admit that while pasta dishes in restaurants are always welcome indulgences, these do not come cheap. While some restaurants, like, say, Afrique’s and JD Roadhaus in Iloilo City, or Kitty’s Kitchen and Abre Test Kitchen in Kalibo serve pastas anywhere from Php 45 (Yes! In JD Roadhaus!) to Php 150 a dish, the servings are rather “bitin,” at least, for me, the pasta monster. That is why there was a season; that time whenever I would find myself in Abre Test Kitchen devouring another plate of upsized pasta, that I hankered for the time I would gorge on “unlimited pasta.”

And the only thing that would solve that would be to be able to cook pasta for myself.

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Dishwashing soap is among the staple consumables in the modern home. Being a consumable, it means that you will have to purchase refills of the stuff regularly. Thus, you’d need to find ways to stretch your dishwashing soap of choice.

Most of my frugal friends prefer dishwashing paste as opposed to liquid because it seems more economical. However, I find the gritty feel very annoying, and the residue it leaves on the dishes and glasses afterwards is just too ugly for my taste.

That being said, I stopped caring about whether the paste is more economical or not. I’m going for the liquid.
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Me and "Undeserved Blessing"

Undeserved blessings can come in great to amazing packages. Recently, I was blessed with a Cherry Mobile Nova by one of my clients. Well, it wasn’t really a “blessing” in the full sense of the word, as we Christians know it. You see, in “Christianese,” when you “bless” someone, you give that person something, without expecting anything in return. A real, full gift. Mine wasn’t exactly a gift; rather, the unit was financed for me, issued for an ongoing, possibly permanent project I’m working on.
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Kendra Thinks Saving Receipts Is Hogwash, Too

I don’t know why I do it, but I do. Collect them deng grocery receipts, that is.

I started the habit because my mom taught me that it’s important to keep the receipts of things we purchased when I moved into my first dorm when I was 13. Straight out of elementary, I passed and was allowed to try going to school in Philippine Science High School – Diliman. So when we bought my things for the dorm, my mom would painstakingly collect all the receipts and make sure that everything’s there. Aside from tracking whether the things we bought were complete and hauled off to the dorm, the receipts served as her tracker for her budget. Moving in to a new place is not cheap. We bought everything from my mattress down to my electric fan. Thus the reason why she may have needed to make sure that we weren’t overspending.
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iPhone 4 -- Chained to Globe! (Image by Everything In Budget)

You either love it or you’ll hate it. Mobile network plans, that is. For some of us, we love being on a mobile network plan because of the free phone unit every two years. Others, however, may find that a mobile network plan is restrictive, and the fact that the phones are locked to the operator that provided it also poses another handicap.

However, there are some compelling reasons for getting a phone on plan. Take the iPhone for example. While it is very affordable in the US, the iPhone is very expensive here in the Philippines. One unit may set you back at least Php 29,000 for the 16GB model, or Php 33,000 for the 32GB model. On the other hand, you may be able to take a unit home for only Php 5,000: by signing up for a 24-month contract with a Globe Platinum plan.
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It’s been a looong time since I last wrote on here. Been battling backlogs since last year, not to mention suffered a few emotional and career ups and downs. I’m actually at a low point in my career, as Google did an algorithm update and it really, seriously affected my boss’ website. So she had to change a few things. Meanwhile, I took a pay cut and needed to look for other things to do while I waited for her website to get back to full swing.

Because I have more time on my hands, I have time enough to be able to read. [...]

It’s been a while since I wrote on here, so I’ll just give a little update.

Ever since I was a kid, I remember being bad with money. I never really minded how I administered the cash; I just knew that I needed lunch, so I’ll have to let my Php 20 fit on what I wanted to eat. If I wanted the sidewalk vendors’ toys that were so ubiquitous around the schools in my time, they have to be able to fit my budget. If I couldn’t buy it with my lunch money, I’ll have to wait a few days more.

I didn’t know how to wait.

There were days when I borrowed money to buy a set of jackstone stars and ball. And while I paid my friends back, even at that age, it was odd that I already took on the concept of borrowing to get what I WANTED.

As my boss observed, people are divided into two: the Spenders and the Savers. Sadly, I’m a SPENDER.

Fast forward to today. [...]

There is one thing that’s so maddening about the Philippines’ mobile phone industry: the prepaid unlimited offers. Maddening because while the flat rate for unlimited calls and texts that would last you anywhere from a day to up to a few days might end up costly, if you think about it.

How and why? Read on.

The Philippines has three major cellular phone carriers: Globe, Smart and Sun. Globe Telecom is used prevalently in Metro Manila, Smart Communications in the provinces, especially in the Visayas, while Sun Cellular is used mostly as a second line. Globe has been marketed as a mobile carrier for the wealthy socialite set, Smart for the working class, while Sun Cellular has spanned the range that both carriers cover.

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I think I need two emergency funds.
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Being frugal is not in my blood. However, due to the recent spate of spending sprees on makeup and computer peripherals (ain’t that a pretty cool contrast) while paying some old debts too, I have had need of being matipid or to tighten my belt on myself, because of the funds I’ve whittled down due to my spendthriftness.

But I am making progress! Thanks to this need of belt-tightening, I have been able to force myself to have 20-peso meals. And it’s been going great! The Karinderyas or street restaurants here in my area have rice that ranges from Php 6 to Php 8, and viands could cost as low as Php 7 for veggies and Php 20 for meat viands.

I could just choose a veggie viand for Php 7 and only one cup of rice for Php 8 at most, and I have a full meal at Php 15. Neato!

Works both ways: helps me maximize the money I have left, and helps me thin down too.

Someday soon, I shall learn how to use my money like a time-release pill!