Preparing for Emergencies

Fix the roof while the sun is shining!

Something struck me when I came across a post in the social networking site that a friend was confined in a hospital because of a serious illness. It’s good though that my friend has a medical card provided by the company that she can use at times like these.

I know I should not solely rely on office health cards because they are just temporary. Lucky for us our companies offer great medical benefits as long as we are working for them. I think an employee should also look into that company benefit when accepting employment offers.

Temporarily, we hold on to our medical cards as a source of our hospitalization fund but in the long run we have to have a lifetime hospitalization cushion especially that the illnesses will be there during our sunset days.

Paul and I already prepared for this event by investing our money on a long term health care called Kaiser. The company name is Kaiser International Healthgroup that operates here in the Philippines. The idea is, you save for your future medical needs today and relax in the future. The setup works fine for us since we really have to prepare for those inevitable events.

The setup goes this way. We paid up the policy for 5 years [we are both done now.] Then we wait for 10 years before we can en-cash the policy face value. Yep there is an option to en-cash the policy face value. But if we don’t like to then the company will continue to manage our money and compound it every year. We can also en-cash some amount from the fund without the company asking for particulars. Meaning we can use it for travel, house repair or anything we would like to in the future. Sounds good isn’t it? J

I highly encourage everyone to do the same. It doesn’t matter what company you choose to invest, as long as you’ve done background check. And don’t wait till you are ready. You will never be ready. Just fill up the forms and invest. Time is of the essence.

Happy investing. ^_^

My Most Precious You-cannot-be-sick Fund

I don’t usually file for a sick leave unless I feel so terrible that going to the office feels tormenting. I feel like I lost more knowledge when I get absent so I better go to the office and maintain a solid knowledge base.

Not getting sick has benefits and one of them is my “You-cannot-be-sick” fund. I am expecting to receive it on November and I already have something in mind for that fund.

Nope I will not save it. Nope I will not invest it. Nope this will not go to my emergency fund.

This serves as my reward for not incurring absences so I better use it to buy what I want.

Yes, this is how I reward myself. And it works for me.

Paul will not have to worry about our finances because we have set aside ample amount every month to cover for needs and wants. And we have agreed that our bonuses will not be bounded by our house rules. It will be our own discretion if we will contribute it to the house fund or not.

It’s like saving my sick-fund every month then at the end of the Fiscal year the company gives it to the employee and do as they please. Hurray Hurray for a beautiful day! :D

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Update: Sept 25, 2013: Forgive me because this is a late post. I already bought something from my "You-cannot-be-sick" fund.

Till then.^_^

How to get by with 150Php

Every working wife should know how to reduce expenses and increase savings.

As a part of everyday life, my husband and I are committed to reducing our expenses so that we can divert our hard-earned money to more satisfying experiences. We love to travel!

I am keeping my part of the deal by spending only 150Php a day. I know it would be a challenge since there are a lot of nice things a wife could think of. But since I have committed to help my husband build our “dream” house, then I also need to cut off unnecessary expenses. How I do it? Details are listed below.

• The power of commute – I take the public transport every day. We could have afforded to buy a car but we are delaying it because we would like to invest our money to more important things. I am not saying that a car is not important. But in our case it is still manageable to commute. Daily commute – 80Php
•  Lunch box – I work hard to really get something healthy so I opted to bring my own lunch. The fact that I know what’s inside my dish truly sets the standards. Daily expense – 0Php
•  Avoid malls – Malls are there to temp me to spend. So as much as possible I stay away from malls. If there are times that I want to buy something, I deduct it from my monthly allowance.
• Snacks – I usually have my fix by visiting the grocery store near my workplace. The fact that it is cheaper and I can get to choose what I want from a variety is a plus. Daily expense – I keep it under 50Php.
• Coffee – I really don’t fancy coffee shops so I’m not spending much on this. We have a free flowing coffee in my workplace so I get my coffee from there. It’s still the same coffee anyway. J

After a day’s work, I get satisfaction from the fact that I spent less than 150Php. I know that I could use my money in buying our tickets to our next destination or experience something new. I could also save the money and give it to the needy when necessary.

Btw, don’t get me wrong. I also splurge money on my travels. So I get the reward of my sacrifices from time to time. Catch my travels and escapades here. 

Don’t forget to invest for the future also. Just don’t overdo it. It’s not hard to enjoy today at the same time prepare for the future. 

Till next time. ^_^

My Long Overdue Bike

So finally I purchased my first bike last Saturday. After my shift last Friday night, Paul and I went to Glorious Bike shop to look at 2 variants of Dahon D7 – the Speed D7 and Vitesse D7. At first I thought Speed D7 would be a great choice since I like the design and would love to drive it. But it turned out that it was heavier than the Vitesse D7 therefore it will be agonizing to bring around specially that we still don’t have a car.

I slept for 2 hours and went to Ortigas with Paul to try my bike. I initially thought that the ride would be from UP Diliman to Kapitolyo, Pasig. But the rain won’t stop so we (they) aborted the plan and just went to Kapitolyo for a taste of Bulalo.

After eating, we decided to go with the bike ride because the rain had stopped. Sayang naman daw ang ipinunta namin dun. We were there until a little past 12 circling the area and trying out each other’s bikes.

I enjoyed the ride but NOT the uphill climb. Agonizing to my calves. But I guess that’s just the way it is since the ride to Antipolo will be a lot tougher. I really don’t know if I can do that.

Next goals (in order) – a big oven for my baking tasks and a mountain bike for some rough ride. J

~Till next time.