Tips that Really Add Up

This is supposed to be a blog where mothers and homemakers like me, or just women in general, can pick-up a tip or two about saving, earning extra money or handling their finances. Unfortunately, I have been too caught up with the second activity that I am not able to post as many entries as I envisioned when I started this blog. Let me correct that now by sharing some tips that really add up.

1. Buy everything in sachets or doy packs - whenever I go grocery-shopping, I make sure to compute the price of, say shampoo, in a bottle against those in sachets. I do this by comparing the contents and dividing the price by number of milliliters that a container or sachet has.

I often find out that it is much cheaper to buy shampoo in sachets than get a bottle only to throw it after we have emptied it out. If you can find a way to re-use the bottle, then good for you.

This strategy also works for fish sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, oil and even condensed or evaporated milk. I even get my son's milk in a box instead of a can and it has cost me a lot less money for the same amount of milk or even more.

2. watch TV less often - aside from depriving Meralco of a few hundred pesos, watching less TV will actually give you more time to do things that don't really require the use of electricity. Unless it's a show you really, really have to watch, don't just sit idly by the TV. Take the time to read more, play with your kid more, spruce up the house, etc. Sometimes we are just too lazy to think of other more productive things to do, and TV provides us a fast escape.

Have you heard that Tina Maristela-Ocampo's, yes she of the famed Celestina bag made of Philippine shells, family does not own a single TV set? Yup, that's what she announced when asked about her parenting skills. She credits not having a TV for her kids' love for reading, arts and other creative endeavors. Well, look at her. Look at what she has thought of. Her bags are the rage in Hollywood.




3. Eat less - how much is your grocery bill and how much of it goes to food? Now, look at yourself and your family, are they overweight? For now, let us set aside the other factors that contribute to weight gain and just focus on food. The simple equation is if you eat more than you burn, you will gain weight.

If you are a mother like me, no matter what your current weight is, I'm sure you would want to lose some weight be it a pound or 5 pounds... or more. Here is your chance to hit two birds with one stone.

4. Eat OUT Less - or better yet don't eat out at all. Brown-bag your lunch and even your snack items. Try it for at least a week and see how much you would have saved.

Back when I was still working in the same office as my husband, we would often just have food delivered. And everytime, it would cost us somewhere between P250 to 350 for a decent meal for the two of us. Multiply that amount to at least 3 times a week. How about for a full month.

The thing is, now that I'm at home and can actually buy ingredients to cook most of our meals I am finding out that P250 is more than enough for a full day's meal for me and my husband, with still some left over for his lunch at the office... and pet food.