Suze Says

This simple rule from Suze Orman pretty much sums up how I want to live my life: Live below your means but within your needs, and get as much joy out of saving as you do spending. 

Introductions

The reason for my absence from the blogosphere is that tiny guy up there.

Meet my son :)

Phrase to Save

(source)

Aside from becoming full-fledged parents any time soon, we also have big plans for our little abode this year. Those plans involve buying the next door unit from my brother and then fixing it up to create more space for our growing family.

I know the plan by heart, but I still find myself being not as responsible as I should with spending money (case in point, spending for last night's pizza dinner for the fambam because it makes me happy to be around my nieces and nephews and pizza makes them happy, so... :p). This article from Learnvest thus pressed all the right buttons and made me come up with my own Phrase to Save.

Suze Orman Back in Manila!

I love, love, love Suze Orman! In fact, it was her Ask Suze show that began my journey towards learning more about and taking control of my personal finances. 

May 2013 Budget & Financial Goals

In my last post I wondered whether or not to account for every single peso that we spent on every month. After some thinking, I decided against it (too tedious!) and just included the expenses that tend to vary every month (i.e. electricity, groceries, eating out etc), and not the fixed expenses. And with that basic ground rule, I also decided not to include the amount I allot to savings (house improvement and emergency funds) and investments (stocks, insurance and mutual funds) in my chart since they likewise don't change every month. I am including my PAG-IBIG mortgage payment under debts though, since I want to pay it off ASAP and intend to pay off more than the minimum every month and have the excess applied to the principal.