I AM DZOI » for better or worse

Managing Money the Right Way

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:21:14 +0000

Here’s how to manage money the wrong way: don’t think about it. Assume that you have enough in your bank account to last you for a good long while. Hope that there’s enough on your debit card to afford whatever it is that you’re about to buy, and pray you don’t get over drafted. Repeat “I’ll pay for this later” as often as humanly possible.

However, if you want to be truly financially stable and possibly afford the new gadgets that you want to keep for yourself, here’s how to manage money the right way:

Check Your Account Every Day
Some people are afraid of checking their balance because they don’t want to know how bad it is. This is not a responsible way to live. Check your funds every day, so you can get a good handle on what you can and can’t afford.

Save Your Receipts (Digitally)
No one wants to carry slips of paper around everywhere, but since we live in a technologically-driven world, that’s no longer a requirement. If you’ve got a phone equipped with a camera, just take an image of your receipt and toss the paper. The photo will be labeled with the time and date, so you know how much you’re spending on what and how often.

Schedule Your Payments
The older you get, the more bills you have to pay. Get a master list of all your monthly expenses. List how much you expect the bill to be, and when you have to pay it—or when the money is deducted from your account. This way, you can keep track of your expenses without missing a payment.

Plan for the Unexpected
As John Lennon said, life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. There’s no telling what you might find yourself suddenly facing, but it helps to start saving now. Tuck a small percentage of each paycheck away in an interest-generating savings account to help you out when there’s an unexpected emergency.

Explore Your Options
If the unexpected does happen, and you find yourself short on cash, check with your bank or lending companies to see what your options are. You may be able to use a service like Great Plains Lending online installment loans to loan you cash that you can pay back on the schedule best suited for you.

The Golden Rule
If everyone follows this piece of advice, they could avoid another recession: don’t buy what you can’t afford. If you’ve been stressed out for a while and need to treat yourself to something to keep yourself sane, go for it. However, if you just really want that 3D TV or the latest iPad or Macbook, and you’ve already taken out a second mortgage on your house, give it a little more thought.

Managing money the right way involves planning, scheduling and common sense. A little extra time will be well worth it.

Do you have other great money management ideas? Share them in the comments.

The Oscar – Party Photos

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:46:10 +0000

Sharing some of the photos from our previous party. The Husband dressed as Elwood from Blues Brothers, myself as Holly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Sandy as Cher from Clueless and Meg as Danny Zuko from Grease. We were supposed to get her a leather jacket but couldn’t find one so we just rolled up her sleeves. It was fun even if we lost the best in Costume award plus we were able to test our mobile studio, which was as expected, a huge hit.

More photos here.

Learn While You Wait

admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 06:27:41 +0000

Good news! Sandy’s school is offering a special program for the nannies or guardians who are waiting inside the school premises. In order to maximize their time and help them acquire new skills, they can choose between massage therapy school or computer lessons. My nanny was so excited about the computer class and immediately expressed her desire to sign up. I’m glad the school is offering this as I feel that our hard-earned money is also being used for helping others. Not only it will help the nannies learn a skill that might be able them to get a different job from what they currently have but I think this will also prevent too much gossiping in school because they have nothing to do. As soon as we get the go ahead, I’ll fill out the necessary forms so Sandy’s nanny can start attending the classes.

Tying the Knot

admin — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 02:52:38 +0000

Oh my! I can’t believe my friend is shopping for a diamond ring. Who knew he’d get married huh? I’ve known him for years and the only constant thing that ever comes out of his mouth is that he’ll never get tied down. He loves seeing his friends get married but he’s afraid of the ball and chain himself, as he lovingly calls matrimony. I guess seeing happily married couples finally made an impact. Or ….. and I hope that this is not the case, that he just got tired of single life and would be settling down just to get away from it. For the sake of his future wife, which is also starting to become a good friend, I hope his heart and soul is really into it. Luckily, they don’t know this blog exists or else, reading this post will be a huge spoiler!

Brunch with Friends at Serendra

admin — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:20:35 +0000

Isn’t it obvious how we love to eat?

Last Saturday, we met with our long-time friend Teresa for brunch. She only comes home once a year so I was pretty excited to see her and her son, Nico. The gang was almost complete too, with their kids in tow. However, the husband and I decided not to bring our kids since Meg was still recuperating from roseola and we didn’t want Sandy to get sick as well.

With the girls. Weird that we didn’t have a photo with the men.

Some photos of what we had. The artichoke (New Orleans) was to die for while the lamb (Clawdaddy’s) was pretty good too.

Just seeing the much-loved artichoke here makes me want to go back there and order two!

Good Day Today

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:11:35 +0000

Guess what happened today? Me and my online friends went shopping online! Well actually, we waited for Glo to reach the shop so she can take photos of the merchandise on sale. She posted the bags at exactly 7AM, (can you believe we’re all wide awake at that ungodly hour) and I immediately found what I want. It was equally stressful and exciting. I would love to be in Glo’s shoes because I’ve always wanted to be a personal shopper when I was young. I find it exhilarating browsing through sale items even if it gets too crowded. I wouldn’t mind snatching items from other people too because that’s part of the thrill! I’m sure The Husband wouldn’t understand but I know he’ll still go with me as I will need someone to carry all the items.

Today is a holiday (Independence Day) so The Husband is home. We are avoiding malls right now because of the flu so we’ll just do a quick grocery shopping at Robinson’s. We’re really thankful that the Robinson’s grocery store is only a five-minute drive from our house. I’m still going to work because after that early morning shopping, I really need to finish my already very delayed project so I can get paid.

I won a design bid yesterday. I was so shocked because I wasn’t really counting on winning. It was actually just an experiment to see if the project owners award the project based on the lowest bid or the quality. Since I’m one of the higher bidders, you could say it’s the latter. I still think the rates are too low during bidding wars. If I participate in lowering my rate for the sake of winning, then it will be harder for designers worldwide to give a fair price.

That’s about it this Friday. Have a good weekend all of you!

The Reason Why I’m Sick and Some Party Photos

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:03:18 +0000

No, I’m not going to play Doctor here like Alpha (thanks for all your advice though, most of them worked). But since Jacqui left a message that she’s sick too from late night partying, I realized that the last party we attended was really the culprit. We went home late that Saturday, around 1AM with Sandy still awake in my arms. The night was filled with laughter, shouting (and some crying hee hee) and plenty of drinking. It’s no wonder I woke up with a dry throat that later turned out to be the worse cough ever.

If there’s one thing I’d change about that night, it would be that we’ll try to go home earlier. OR, we will not eat the food from CCME. We all had tummy problems after eating the leftover food that I hoarded after the party. OR I will not drink Tequila (perhaps 4 shots will do) too much. OR I will speak in a normal volume. OR I will just drink plenty of vitamin C from now on.

Sigh. My only wish for Christmas is that we will all get better and that we will not welcome New year with another episode. It sucks to feel like this, really.

But back to the party. It was so good to see old friends again. Some of them we haven’t seen for more than two years so it was a very memorable night. The number of kids have increased too so double the fun. We weren’t able to take pictures of the much-awaited gift giving because we were all busy handing out gifts and hoarding them at the same time. So to my offline friends who are probably lurking my blogs and flickr for some photos – thank you so much for all your gifts. I was so happy to get my wishlists – Pride and Prejudice and Somewhere in Time DVDs. I would’ve wanted a new set of sexy lingerie but nothing beats watching Mr. Darcy tell Lizzie how she has bewitched him body and soul.

Some photos from that night:

With the kids (three years ago, it was just us posing in that same sofa)

The Men

The Women (nice background BWAHAHA)

Another Wedding I Hope

admin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:36:31 +0000

There are only a few single women left in my group of friends. Which means my chances of attending a beach wedding is getting smaller each year. They will get married in the future that’s for sure so I’m counting on anyone them to turn their wedding into something grand. Possibly caribbean weddings or hold it in a Chateau somewhere in Italy might be acceptable. But kidding aside, I really love beach weddings. It’s not as stiff as traditional ceremonies plus it’s just so romantic.

When people get married, they forget the romance and immerse themselves instead in the preparations to make it perfect. If I have to do it all over again, I will book at this jamaica all inclusive resort and spend my days getting excited with my future husband. An inclusive resort like the one that Super Club offers is highly recommended when it comes to non-stressful weddings. You can add as many amenities as you want on your package and even have the wedding ceremony for free.

Some married couples I know decide to renew their vows while they’re enjoying their romantic vacations. At SuperClubs, if you decide to do that, they will arrange it immediately. SuperClubs guarantee a wedding made in heaven but even if it’s a simple ceremony or a renewal of vow, then you can be sure it will be as romantic, what with the perfect backdrop of the blue ocean, white sandy beaches and palm trees.

Crazy Dreams Again

admin — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:31:31 +0000

My less than scary nightmares have started again. It wasn’t the ghost, paranormal stuff that will usually make me turn on the lights at night when I’m sleeping but more of the disturbing kind. For two straight nights, I’ve been dreaming several instances of me and The Husband – fighting, one of us leaving each other, or not married at all. In my dreams we are always at the 2nd stages of relationships. The part where we start seeing the annoying habits and that every little thing seem to bug us.

I always wake up feeling bad, hurt or longing. But mostly, I just want to reach out to him and have him hold me. Because even if those annoying stuff and non-stop bickering happen in real life as well, I’m a bit happy that it’s not happening right that moment, that it was all just a dream. Most of the time my dreams will show me that I married someone else or that I haven’t even met The Husband. Or that I’m going out with an ex-boyfriend who wasn’t really right for me and that I’m looking for a way to break up with him but I can’t. So I’m always glad to wake up. Relieved to see The Husband’s face and know that I’m lucky I found him, despite our differences. Which if you think about it, isn’t all that much.

Better Prepared Than Sorry

admin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:33:57 +0000

Since I’ve been seeing plenty of life insurance quotes online, I’ve decided to send some of the links to my cousin-in-law. She and my favorite cousin are expecting so I thought of suggesting that they get a quote for their child’s future.

I remember that The Husband and I got ours as soon as we’ve decided to have a child. When you’re single or childless, these things doesn’t really enter your mind, especially if it won’t benefit you directly. But when you have a child, his/her future is the only important thing that you’d do whatever you can to make sure they’ll get by even when you’re gone.

Not many people would like to talk about death and beyond but it’s always best to be prepared. If you still don’t have life insurance, I highly suggest you get one. The healthier and younger you are, the cheaper you will have to pay.