Fashion and the retail calendar are very predictable. With fashion, you can be sure that trends will be recycled with regularity, and with retail, you can bet your bottom dollar on two major events: the mid-season and post-holiday sales. Which means, it's now time to shop!
While still heady from the achievement of reaching half of my emergency funds goal, I suddenly found myself in a wanton spending spree that still leaves me a little guilt-ridden up to now.
I bought a pair of glasses early this year using a court subsidy and it's been serving me fine, but lately, I've been lemming for new glasses, more particularly, the emo-type of glasses. I know, I know, I'm too old to go Bieber on anyone and it's too late in the day to jump on the emo bandwagon. But what can I say, I've been thinking of buying a new pair of glasses for the last few months and so last Monday, I did just that.
Then that same night, we found out that Elton John was having a concert at the Araneta Center this December 8, and before you could say "Rocketman" I had charged two upper box tickets on my card.
The thing is, we've been quite responsible with our spending as a whole (although we could do with less of eating out to be perfectly honest) and we don't exactly live an extravagant lifestyle, so why am I beating myself up over these little luxuries?
Maybe it's because my now waning Catholic guilt is slowly being replaced by financial guilt. Where every expense has to be accounted for and must be devoid of frou-frou. And there's the fact that we need to save up for my planned maternity leave and Bean related things (strollers, car seats, immunizations Oh my!).
So I'm currently on damage control mode. Last night, I called my credit card and asked that my recent purchases be converted to 0% installment for 3 months and the hubby and I decided that the concert tickets will take the place of our Christmas gifts for each other. Of course, it also goes without saying that we won't be going on any out of town trips anytime soon.
Everything has been ironed out and new pledges have been made. So why do I still feel so guilty? It's tough to be a Type A personality Catholic on the path to financial independence. I sure hope I don't pass this slight neurosis to Bean :(
The good thing about working in the court is that we get all sorts of bonuses disguised in different names (same with our leaves), such as the Emergency Employment Assistance bonus (equal to 1 month pay) which we received just before the Halloween long weekend. The EEA is supposed to help out with tuition fee related expenses, with the other subsidy happening just before June. No wonder resignations are tendered between July to September, aka the lean months.
The Christmas bonus, or 13th month pay, is given in two tranches, with half handed out in May and the other half in November. There's also the grocery allowance to reckon with, which varies every year but is usually a sizable amount as well. Then every month, there's the bonus from the judiciary funds, which is not a lot but can just about cover 1-2 weeks worth of groceries.
You would think that with all of these windfalls the court employees would be awash with cash, but the opposite happens. The cooperative is usually teeming with employees inquiring if their last loan has been paid up, so that they can take out another loan. A typical government employee would generally be well-versed with the different loans that he/she can take out on his/her salary (i.e. GSIS, Pag-ibig etc).
This steak is worth 10 working hours of my salary?!
How often were you plagued with the urge to do impulse shopping?
Or with the sudden call to order for impulse delivery?
How about impulse flight-booking? Have you done this?
Impulse spending is nothing more but a trick done by marketers to trigger your subconscious need for instant gratification. These marketers place signs like “Buy NOW and get one free!”, “Limited offer ONLY!” and the ever-famous “Sale for today ONLY!”
Do you see what these signs have in common? They urge you to buy NOW. Pay TODAY. Pull out your hard-earned cash and give it to them WITHOUT THINKING.
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An investment is simply defined as putting in money or capital in order to gain profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value. That's why I always wondered about women who buy expensive bags and shoes and declare them as "investments". Do these really appreciate in value?
My husband's PC suddenly gave up on him a few days ago, giving off an ominous and high pitched "eeeeeeeeeeeeee" sound, and no amount of whacking or coaxing could get it to work again. That's the PC where he spends hours hunting and shooting down German soldiers and zombies, but it's also where he works on his projects and websites. In short, it was time to dip into our emergency funds to get a new motherboard and other what-have-yous for his down and out PC.
