What Do You Do To Save Money?

[i am bob]

Hey all!  I guess that most of us, if not all of us, have by now read all the different posts regarding if someone can live on $800 a month...  $1200 a month...  and so on.  And without starting any more arguments or adding any more confusion by saying that I live on $7.38 a month, I have a new question for everybody.  

 

What do you do each month to help stretch your Peso?

 

We all have tricks and tips for our home countries but what do we do in the Philippines?  Is there a special product that you buy?  A special store that gives 20% off to people who shave their heads?  Something different you use to clean your house with...  Like maybe Coconut Oil?  You only run your aircon after 2 am because of discounts to your power bill?  You have your own pet goat to get rid of (eat) your trash for free?  C'mon!  Just what is it you all do to save money?

 

I really want to know - but please!  No tips or tricks that will land someone in jail or deported, ok?  

 

Thanks!

 

:attention:

[Thomas]

Let a Filipina do the dealing.

Let a Filipina do the dealing.

Let a Filipina do the dealing.

 

:)   =To avoid "kano prices".

 

I have never heared of using Coconut oil for cleaning the house, but it can be used in skin care, suncover, car diesel...  :)

 

It's hard to get big discounts, because most have small margins themselves, but: if not living to far from rural, so travel costs become to high, it can be worth jumping middle men and make deals direct with farmers and millers (SACK rice, eggs, vegs, fruit...)

 

You can make share deals with farmers where you finance their production and get pay (partly) in products (e g rice, pig.)

 

If you have a company, it can occationaly perhaps be worth doing as I have done sometimes in Sweden

=Go to a wholesaler and pretend to aim at start retailing such. (I have done it for things as gifts, candy and clodes, but it's a disadvantage all your shirts will look the same  :lol:

E g if you want a new motorbike, you can think of buying 5 (=common minimum to be aproved as retailer) and sell them you don't want yourself, or supply the family with them  :mocking:    (There are cheap new electric ones for less than 20 000p each.)

[JJReyes]

Since "I am Bob" is planning to eventually relocate to the Philippines, my savings advice is to bring whatever you need or consider essential for the first year. Don't count on finding the same or equivalent item. If you like a particular brand or type of shoe, bring an extra pair. I would also have a laptop, tablet or cellular phone with me rather buying one in the Philippines. The local prices tend to be higher and the cheaper brands from China would be unfamiliar to you. 

 

I like a particular brand of razor blade. They keep introducing newer and more expensive ones that don't seem to work for me. So I purchased a 5 years supply at Walmart. I checked several large stores in Makati to compare prices. They didn't have the brand I liked.

 

My wife and I prefer white, fluffy bath towels. The ones in the Philippines are gray and feel like sandpaper. Maybe it's the laundry soap or the fluffiness disappears when the towel are dried by the sun. One item in a Balikbayan box addressed to ourselves would be six bath towels. I am sure Rustan's, Robinson or SM sell towels, but the good quality ones carry brand names like Chanel, Gucci or whatever. Why pay the extra money?

 

I don't know your size, but the underwear and socks are "Filipino Medium" guaranteed to fall apart within 90 days. The same with white t-shirts. Bring or ship a supply in a Balikbayan box.  

 

After a year, you are ready to go native. Never mind that the underwear is too tight; you no longer need socks because you wear slippers; and you can justify using the sandpaper bath towels as being good for your skin.

Edited August 8, 2013 by JJReyes

[Jake]

Great post starter Bob!  I think starting and maintaining a healthy savings plan in the Philippines is

dependent upon your wife or GF.  She should be just as stubborn as you are in putting away a certain

amount every month.  For example, a minimum of 1000 pesos equates to 6000 pesos in 6 months.  It's

about 150 bucks but it sure helps whenever you plan on taking short vacations a couple times a year.  

 

Also not withdrawing the max from your bank account every month is another goal you should have.

Let's say 25 bucks remaining balance X 6 months equals $150.  Is that enough for a blow out party

if you're single and playing the meat market?  Well, at least you became more popular as you pick up

the bar tab....he, he.

 

Kuripot ako -- Jake

[Tukaram (Tim)]

Eat local food!  I splurge on salami, cheese, and good bread sometimes, but usually eat whatever she cooks.  Buy your fruit and vegetables at the wet market.  Cheaper and better quality than I have seen at any grocery store.  I prefer to pay extra and get my meat at the grocery store because it is refrigerated. The fish comes from the wet market because I don't eat it and don't care where she buys it ha ha.  Lots of rice and pancit, not much veggies.  Welcome to the Philippines!

 

Shipping BB boxes is cheap.  Take advantage of it and ship everything you can!  I brought all my towels from home.  Ok, maybe I don't need a dozen towels here but I will never run out - and JJ is right about the quality here.

 

The main thing is finding affordable housing (for your $7.38 a month budget).  Don't party too much.  If you drink - drink at home it is cheaper. 

 

Very quickly you will start thinking in pesos and it may surprise you how cheap you become!  I found myself arguing with a jeepney driver over p3 change!

[Thomas]

I forgot one saving section - Making/growing things yourself.

I think mainly of things, which you want fresh often (save shoping travels) or things hard to find. Extra interesting is producing things, which you miss from your home country, but are rare in RP, so they are expensive (or hard/impossible to find).

I don't mean any hard work - for such we can hire Pinoys cheap  :)  - but things which

almost handle itself,

or perhaps take some time to make, but can be done much at the same time and can be stored long time, so the work for each isn't much.

 

E g

plant some seeds/plants (can be in a pot too if you don't have land) and add some water isn't so hard   :dance: 

If you miss a special cheese, you can perhaps manage to do an OK one yourself.

I don't know if I will bother to try to make good cheese, but if I can get milk (not dried) I expect I will make "filmjölk" =similar to youghurt, but good :lol:     because I eat it every day in Sweden, so I asume I will miss it, when I live abroad long time.

(It's very easy to make. Just bring a cotton cloth with a good "filmjölk" dried on it, put it in some fresh milk, and put it in room temperature (not over around 40 C) in around 18-24 hours. When it's ready, put it in a refrigirator. Such process change the taste, make it more creamy and make it fresh for much longer time too.)

[sjp52]

I read the book the wealthy barber and it said to take 10% off your income and put it away and then work on your budget with the rest. It has worked for me. You can set it up that your bank can do it for you. You just get use to using the 90%. I did the same thing with the ex,s alimony. The bank would take off 10% for saving and 85% for the ex ( well it seemed like that much ) and I lived off the rest. Did it for years and got use to it.

 

If you let your wife ( filipina ) take care of the finances she can save a lot. Mine even shuts off the water cooler at night to save electricity even though I have told her it probaby cost more to bring the water temperature back up to normal after being shut off all night. They know lots of ways to save as they have had to make their small incomes go as far as possible their whole lives. But the biggest savings will be having a wife who can control her family and only say yes to them ( their financial needs ) when her and I agree to it. My wifes family would never ask me for money. A needy family can suck you dry if you let them. Your income needs are proportional to your actual needs. Cost are low for a simple life and high for complex one. You get to pick.

 

Another way to save is to buy a freezer ( most Filipinos frown on this ) ( they believe in freshness, which is a good thing ) and buy quantity when items go on sale (sale ???, rare but does happen sometimes ). Freezer is also a good way to get your beer cold fast :cheers:

 

Also bob, I have shipped several tins of tim hortons coffee, might not be a savings but its a luxury I don,t want to live with out

Edited August 9, 2013 by sjp52

[JJReyes]

I would also suggest leaving an empty Balikbayan box in Canada with a close friend or relative, and money for both content and shipping. Even with careful planning, you won't have everything you need or want. The box is for items like a sudden craving for canned Canadian ham or maple syrup. You might need a small handsaw and find out the quality of carpentry tools in the Philippines to be of poor quality. Perhaps your neighbors like the fluffy bath towels drying under the sun in your backyard. Magic! They are gone and you need replacements.

[Papa Carl]

Money? Money? WHAT IS THAT?

 

First I would have to have some, in order to save any of it!!!!

 

 

Ha Ha, great subject though Bob, leave it to a fellow Canadian to think of saving money!!!

 

Great suggestions so far as well, when I get some money I will surely use all this good advice.

 

 

Papa Carl

[Thomas]

Another way to save is to buy a freezer ( most Filipinos frown on this ) ( they believe in freshness, which is a good thing ) and buy quantity when items go on sale (sale ???, rare but does happen sometimes ).

A Filipina I know got advice from an other Filipina food carts have food for sale close before they leave for the day. She followed that advice and got very sick for some days, so I don't recomend to buy such things on sale :lol:

Another way to save is to buy a freezer ( most Filipinos frown on this ) ( they believe in freshness, which is a good thing )

Well. Look e g at Tuka Rams video from market. Meet laying there in the heat, not what I call fresh  :)