Tips that Really Add up - Continued...

Here are some more practical tips that really add up... well at least based on my own experience.

1. Have several income sources - I first read about this advice from Robert Kiyosaki but it was Bo Sanchez who made me see the light. Robert Kiyosaki kasi tends to write his advices in a vague manner or maybe I was too young then to appreciate and understand his book. Maybe I should read it again...

Anyway, when I read about this advice in one of Bo Sanchez' books, I had a hard time trying to figure out how I can apply it in my own life. You see working on a graveyard shift really takes its toll on the body and I required at least 8 hours of sleep in the daytime just to recover. Sometimes I would sleep for 10 hours straight. So kamusta naman? Ano pa magagawa ko sa isang araw to have another source of income?

I thought of putting up a small diaper distribution business, since I've been reading a lot about it and my son's biggest expense, aside from milk, is on diapers. That business flourished for a few months, but I was not able to sustain it because I was not managing it personally. I was not tracking the inventory and the sales. leaving it to my son's yaya to sell and collect payments. So I decided to stop it until I could really manage it myself.

Right now, I'm back to selling diapers although to former officemates only. I have yet to go on online selling, but if you can and have the time for it, give it a go! Sell anything online! The main goal is to supplement your lone income source, if you are employed.

Aside from selling diapers on the side, I also re-write articles for some clients. I have an oDesk account and I'm starting to get invites from buyers to work for them. Also, prior to resigning I was able to get a client from filipinowriters.com who is giving me a fairly decent compensation for writing jobs.

This blog is actually a product of my efforts to have several sources of income. Unfortunately, I have yet to earn from it. I now have some page impressions but no income from it really. The only good part about this blog is I'm meeting a lot of people still, even if I'm just here at home the whole day. Three snaps for that!


2. Compare prices - I don't buy my groceries from just one store. I make the rounds of Landmark, SM Hypermart, SM grocery, Save More, Robinson's Supermartket, etc.

You will be surprised to find out that these stores vary in prices by as much as P20 pesos per item. An example is my son's milk, Lactum. Last time I checked, Landmark sells it for P505.00. SM Hypermart sells it at P515. Mercury Drug at Shangrila Edsa sells the same milk for P503.00 A small store near my former officemate's house sells Lactum in the same packaging and size asthe others, for P502. It used to be P490 until last week. So if they raised their prices, SM, Landmark and the others are soon to follow, I'm sure.

If you're living in QC, you can also try Cherry Foodarama and Circle C. I think I saw some good prices there also.


3. Buy a fuel-efficient car - We used to have a Nissan Sentra 1991 and our monthly gas consumption back them ranges from P6,500 - 7000. Tipid pa yun because I schedule our trips so we won't be running around in circles and wasting gas. When I sensed that Neggie (that's what we called the car because she was dark grey) was starting to require a lot in terms of maintenance, I made computations to find out if we could save more with a new car... and if we can afford it!

Fortunately, we found a good deal at Kia Diliman. They offered to let us trade-in our gas gustler so we only have to add a few thousand more for the downpayment of a new Kia Picanto 2008. Hence, we have had Picoy (from Picanto) since October 2008. From P6,500 monthly, our gas bill is now only P2,500. Lamyerda galore pa kami nyan ha!

Also, with the new car, we can now use E10 instead of the regular gasoline. If like me, you are trying to incorporate some earth-saving efforts into your daily routine, this is a good thing to try. You will still get to where you need to be, but with a lower gas bill and lower carbon dioxide emission.