Lifestyle Assessment Series: Transportation

My parents gave me a car a few months after I became a lawyer and joined a law firm near our house. I guess they got tired of my sister and I squabbling over my mom's car, which my mom also used, and they couldn't fathom that their lawyer daughter would take a jeep or tricycle to work (they were snobby that way).

So they bought me a Hyundai Getz, which I named Toyang. However, my parents only paid for the downpayment and left me to settle the monthly payments. Those monthly payments amounted to more than half of my take home pay (I worked in a small law firm which wasn't very generous to its associates) and I swore to drive that car to the ground because that's how much I hated those monthly payments.

Toyang will be celebrating her 10th year later this year thanks to my husband's religious maintenance, and it's been 7 glorious years since I last made a car payment.

Without a car payment to deal with, this is how our monthly transportation expenses usually look like:

The Registered Financial Planner Program- Is It For You?

I received some questions regarding the Registered Financial Planner (RFP) Program that I took up a few years back. In order to address the frequently asked questions, I am posting in full my correspondence with a reader who was thinking of taking up the program too. I hope this helps out others who are also considering the RFP Program!

Lifestyle Assessment Series: Foodstuff

As part of the Uber Frugal Month Challenge, I've been scrutinizing our expenses to see what parts of our household budget we can improve on. My main goal in participating in the UFMC is to minimize spending and throw all that extra cash towards building up our savings and investments which have been decimated because of life and its sick humor.

A second goal, although no less important, is to reset my mindset by being deliberate with my spending and thinking over each purchase before I open my wallet. Hopefully, by doing it often enough, a month to be exact, this will become second nature and my purchases will end up aligning with my goals (i.e. build up savings and investments).

First up for scrutiny is our food expenses. Here's how we fared food-wise in the past 6 months: