Fun with Funds – Shop and Trade – Rewind!

LIVING is going beyond.

Beyond - photo by Fr.Noi Azupardo

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“Below” just doesn’t seem to fit in all of that. “Below”, instead of going up, is staying under, keeping within limits. So how can that remotely be a way “to live”?

LIVING – is the wonder of how this day and age came to be. The fruits of peoples’ imaginings WAY OUT of their realm of possibilities. And their wallets. 😛

I look back at the walk in life I’ve had so far. Back when, the shoes I am wearing would fall apart after 6 months or 3 on rainy seasons, not only that they were cheap and thus not made to last long, but because where I walked early in life, the road was unpaved, and gets awfully muddy when the rain comes. You bet it was.  My sister reminded me, of the countless times we’d  have to bring shoes to the repair shop or apply stinky adhesive ourselves and sometimes get to school with wet socks.   😛     My mom, a teacher, insisted though we go to the best schools that we couldn’t afford.   🙂  I remember bringing promissory notes to the school treasurers, which we pay eventually after dad secures a loan from work or somewhere.

Via Uno Shoes

From there I walk in shoes I would give up on wearing before they give up on me. Then have the pleasure of wearing shoes I don’t have to pay for. You’re right, girlfriend! I got into fashion and beauty and have business sponsors.

Now to be clear, what I’d like to share is that you have to focus on growing. To grow doesn’t have to be limited by your own means.

So before I discuss the 2 remaining ideas I mentioned in gathering funds for Trading, I want to tell you about “money management” principles — meaning “how we divide the pie”, our income. The strategy that make the most sense to me came from T. Harv Eker, author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Trading being my business, influenced my preference for this approach. First, how to manage your money. Harv recommends the following allocation :
• 10% – Financial Freedom (for investing)
• 10% – Long Term Savings for Spending (for retirement)
• 10% – Education
• 10% – Giving
• 10 % – Playing “Rewarding”
• 50% – Necessities

I like it because the allocations give you the ability to grow first of all, with the Education and Financial Freedom. Then it allows you to feel good about yourself – be rewarded for your efforts with Play account, and Giving account which allow you to feel plentiful and being able to share and therefore, receive  (Law of Reciprocity). Having said that, I’d be frank and tell you I’m still not following the recommended percentages. Apart from the 10% Long-Term Savings, I fiddle with the amounts.  The way I look at it, it’s largely dependent on your personal circumstance. Like I was on maternity leave for 1 year, and at that time, I made it a point to “educate” myself as much as I can. So, Education was the priority – after all, how can I invest my money for Financial Freedom when I don’t know what to do? Also within that year, I know I have TIME. I have time to go overseas for the Advanced Trading seminar I wanted, which I can not do once I go back to work.

The important point I want to share is having those allocations – for Necessities, Financial Freedom (Investing), Education, Playing and Giving, Savings — as it aids you when you Trade, it gives you balance.

So please keep that in mind, and now back to  gathering funds for Trading.
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SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE

 
I  could plunge right in to aggressive saving strategies that I discovered from the whole new world of bloggers or people sharing information about saving.  But first let me tell you my own thinking:
1. What I do in my life, my time and my money should support my Trading. Especially the time, mindset and balance I need to study and do it effectively.
2. I invest in my health and well-being, forgetting that, will make my life difficult and just turn up as an expense later.
3. I invest in life skills and lessons especially for my children
4. I look for value. I don’t judge value by the price, I judge value by the results I’d get

The Spending Plan

 
Also known as the B-word. B for Budget. This word is a little bit depressing, so let’s change that to Spending! You like that? Spending is more like Shopping! Now we’re getting somewhere! Hehehe  And I’m not kidding – me thinks  what you plan to Spend on allow you to keep as much money, do things efficiently and save time.  That helps you to Trade well.

 I also need to tell you your Spending or Shopping habits influence your Trading.  Not kidding.     I had to do some scrimping and saving last year and that kind of carried to how I traded in the market. I was very protective. I thought my stock would just stay where it is and didn’t allow for the possibility that it could surge.   Back in the recession, I was more open to finding what will move (sideways or up or down ), so I had more profits even with a fluctuating market.  So now I am more aware.  So use Shopping in Trading for both its idea and  how you behave.

Now to get the funds together, I anchor on “Simple Life”  especially for household expenses, a few examples:

Simple Life,Philippines - photo by Sheila Sanga

• Weekly food menu – lets me plan the timing of shopping  and control the spending.  I have for example, a baseline budget of $5 per meal (2 adults, 3 children).  I ask them what food they want that week and work around that with the other meals.  I could have  baked salmon or hot and sour  “tom yum prawn” (around $25 per kilo) —  the pricier food together with roast chicken (whole bird is $7 which gets eaten for 2 meals and sandwich filling). 
• List of items where they can be bought for the best value.  Basics  of good quality, for example at ALDI – Diapers there cost $14 whereas the comparable quality branded one is $40 (that’s a lot of $). We also buy in bulk for a month so save time shopping and lessen the chances of picking up “treats” that add up hehehe
• Snacks for the children – plain popcorn, fruits,  corn kernels, nuts that we roast ourselves.  I don’t serve them things like chicken nuggets from when they are young, so that solves concern about fat, additives, salt (plus less energy consumption and carbon footprint).   To keep cool in the summer, we’ve been swapping ice cream with fruit shakes (I freeze excess slightly damaged fruit in season that are cheap) and “shaved ice” – the kids enjoy cranking up the shaver and form shapes, what’s more it’s just water.  No sugar, no fat.  We also don’t keep soda in the house or cordial.   Another favourite is making gelatine desserts,  they love helping to make it or  when just using simple molds,  we use cookie cutters and they enjoy forming the shapes.   I do allow “extras” sometimes like butter on the popcorn,  but this is the exception.
• Watch appliance use / energy  consumption – since Oil and Coal are raising the price of electricity and to reduce the environmental impact I’ve also been much more conscious of appliance particularly use of washing machine and dryer.  I’m quite particular with washing clothes so this was a “big” adjustment. I wash less loads now (I used to have 9 classification of clothes for washing and wash everyday hehehe).  I also just handwash and hang things like sweater and jacket where it says “Dry Clean Only” (except for very few).   A friend of mine tipped me about the peak/off-peak charges for electricity, so I’ve been following that and air / sun-drying more.  Last winter we didn’t use our heater all that much (lucky our building is well-built with good insulation) so this year, we’re skipping the heater.  Everybody will just be well-wrapped up. 😛
• Reusing, Recycling, Replacing – we must all be very aware now of our impact to the environment, I’ve now been closely watching our use of  “disposables”.  The cling wrap, disposable food containers, party ware (plastic cups, cutlery, plates).  For picnics, we just use sturdy plastics and bring back things we use and wash them and reuse them.  That lessens our use of disposables. As for use of cling wrap, I avoid that with using containers with cover – I found it is also much more convenient to use these containers that I can use to serve food and store leftovers afterwards.  I prefer glass containers so less “plastics” in use and also convenient to shove in the microwave when needed.

Other money-saving examples  :

• Buying good clothes which are long-wearing. I also tend to buy clothes for the children with room for growth at the Sales, or overseas where they tend to be cheaper.  ( I do this via online shopping sometimes, in bulk to save on Shipping costs)
• No smoking. This adds a lot to insurance premiums–so not good for health or the pocket. So with coffee (save  on teeth whitening),  alcohol (liver problems) — all these things don’t do you good.
• Car pooling / Ride-sharing – save money on parking, gas
• Borrowing books / DVDs from the library or buying in garage sales. There’s plenty, with some even given away.
• Get a discount/deal for everything.  Sometimes all you have to do is ask.  Truly, lots of shops even in the malls are open to do this now. If not a discount, a freebie you can use is not bad.  Subscribing to stores for deals could be useful, just be strong whenever the word Sale is used ;p
• Look for family-friendly  features – airlines, restaurants, hotels, malls,  they’d usually have something to entertain the children which saves time for packing as well as something new (saves you from buying toy/book)
• Keep  improving in saving more.  Example, instead of  “take-away” meals ($10), I bought a marinated half-chicken ($5), then I marinated it myself ($4), then I do away with the the marinade because it was too salty.  ($3)

 Some words of caution:

• Coupons — not all coupons are created equal!  I would check out a “tried and tested” shop/brand and look out for coupon for those, and if ever you’re trying out something new, ask around for feedback.  And be sure it’s a phenomenal deal  for the value.
• Book hotels in online hotel sites even with “70% discounts”.  There’s no room for negotiation (for a family with baby, this is mighty important) and once you make a mistake (and can’t cancel), kiss your money good bye!  I try to negotiate with hotels directly first.

Here are a few other blogs / resources  on “minimalist” lifestyles :

www.andthenshesaved.com

www.exconsumer.com

BUSINESS AND PLEASURE

With busy careers,  having a holiday or rest and recreation has become so important in modern life.    I recommend that even if you are so busy or trying to save, to take  the rest your body and mind needs.    Like, if there’s a chance to go out of town for work, I’d take the children  so we get to enjoy that time together and save on  the airfare and hotel accommodation.

Eating Out, Boracay Philippines - photo by Fr.Noi Azupardo

Being so busy, I also allow for eating out.  In an effort to save, we don’t go as much as before.   I allow for this because this gives me a break.     I don’t have to cook, serve, and clean up.  If  I pay someone to do all that, plus the food itself, how much is that worth?  I think eating out could cost even just 1/3 or 1/2 of that, why will I not do it?    Having had that break, how much more can I do and consequently how much more  will I be able to earn?  I think this goes with paid househelp like cleaner or babysitter.   I am conscious of not “doing too much”.  I have to allow for  rest  or help so I can be more productive.

We do limit it now and not  go for fastfood.  We go to where the children can learn something, like a Japanese restaurant, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai or  the Fish Market (the children are fascinated with the variety there).  Recently we saw how a sushi roll is prepared and we’ve been doing that now at home too and lessen our costs for  “entertainment” and is also handy for parties.

So you know, I think it’s  not just the price. Let’s  go for Value!

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Interesting article I found on CNN “Personal Financial Advice from Barack Obama” who, combined with the First Lady have $125,000 in school loans upon graduation.

“If we’re borrowing for things we don’t need. That’s a problem,” Obama said, saying it’s OK to borrow for “sound” investments such as schools, clean energy and infrastructure.

“In these debates the other side is going to say investment is just another word for spending,” the president said. “There is a distinction to be made on spending on things that are going to make you more competitive over the long term, to increase your wealth, and spending on things you’d like to have, that aren’t really improving your life over the long term.”

http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/09/news/economy/obama_financial_advice/index.htm?iid=HP_River