James Patterson ~ Suzanne's Diary to Nicholas (Lessons Learned)

James Patterson ~ Suzanne's Diary to Nicholas Review: This is supposed to be the title of this post. But I changed my mind.

To be very honest, my title is not really suitable since I am not good at reviewing any books. But hope I can give justice to it since I personally love the book. Until now it makes me critically think about its content and trying to unravel what it means and how it can help my current situation.

It is timely that I get to read this book because I am currently facing the same thing as what Suzanne and Katie were experiencing.

Just give me a little background why in the midst of all these super hectic schedule of mine, I still get to squeeze reading. I am an 80s child where technology is just a sight a way but I belong to those who had experienced playing tag, soccer, baseball, imitating pink 5 in BioMan, Annie in Shaider,  Pink Ranger in Power Rangers, and baseball bat in the field. I belong to the generation where at 6 o'clock in the evening I should already be home or else the belt was already waiting for me. In all these things I get to enjoy, as a child who had learned reading at an early years, I am more enthusiastic with reading. Be it  Comics which was very popular back then, magazines like Liwayway, pocketbooks both in Filipino (I love Martha Cecilia that I wanted to be like her before) and English, songbooks, and any reading material I can get a hold of. I had great time spending times reading that sometimes I forgot to cook rice. (It was tedious to cook back then by literally starting the fire from wood and paper). I can say I am in a mid-range reader.

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Back to the book in the title. This is a heartbreaking book I have first read this year. It is way too emotional and at the same time there are so many lessons learned.

1. Time is finite. We've known this so well. Even in savings and investing, the younger we start savings and investing, the sooner we are able to reap the rewards. It is fortunate if we all live long. But we can't be for sure know when we are going to breathe the last air in our lungs. It is good to treat every living moment with gratitude and love in as much as possible.

2. Work is a rubber ball in the five balls we juggle in life. If it falls, it will bounce back. Do not be afraid to let go when necessary and if it is already taking a toll on one's physical and mental health. We will be able to find a job that is not a work after all. Find the passion and develop it. At first, there are many hindrances and obstacles, but if we love it, we can surely beat it.

3. Health is wealth. This sounds like a cliche. I can always hear this from anyone anywhere. But in reality most of us neglect this part of our life. This is one of the five balls in our life. If we let it slide, there will be chances that it will break and there is no turning back. Lucky and blessed are those who are given second chances. But not everyone has the chance. And this we should not forget.

4. Family is everything. There maybe arguments. Times when we don't speak to one another. And even, fight over something. But at the end of the day, it will always be the same family who will catch you and be there for me when I needed them. There is no perfect relationship but we are the same family. This is one of the five balls of our lives. In the book, this is considered as made of glass. I know it can be a glass but it can also be rubber ball.

5. Friends are what keep us. A real glass for me. I don't know. I am not good at keeping friends. There were friends who come and go. What I know is that I treasure those who stay and accepts me as I am. Needless to say, I keep moving forward after a heartbreak with friends.

6. Integrity. This is ourselves. Our own self. What we do when no one is looking. When no one is appreciating us. When no one cares. It is being able to do the right thing in every situation. For every one. For our selves.

7. Bad stuffs happens sometimes and we need to keep moving forward. We always face a phase in our lives. If things go wrong, I have to remember that it will pass. I have to remind myself not to dwell on it and to pick up myself and look for the better out of it.

8. Always be grateful. Satisfaction comes from always being thankful each and every single moment of our lives. I will no longer look for something and somewhere just to feel contented. Because I know in my heart that what I have is enough. More than enough.

9. We is always so much better than I. Two heads are better than one. I know this from the very start. But being married to a loving husband, this makes it a lot more easier to make tough decisions. Decisions that we both agreed upon and face the consequences together. We do not have a perfect life choices but together I know we can make it through.

10. Live our lives. It is temporary. It is with a span. It has expiration. And sometimes that expiration is unexpected. We need to live and let others live the way they wanted to live their lives. I choose to live this way.

What do you think? For me I think, I'll hoard more of James Patterson's book. By the way, I preferred the hard bound copies best that e-books. I don't know but every time I turned a page and smelled the molded texture ignites a feeling of excitement.

I Stopped Tracking My Expenses!

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Yep, you read it right. I have stopped tracking my expenses altogether since I get out of debt in 2017. I get tired writing every centavos that I spent in a daily basis and tallying it at the end of the month. It was tedious and painstakingly hard doing the additional step of writing it down. And to be honest I am not consistent.  There were days when I was so tired that I don't even get the chance to write down what and where I had spent my last centavo in my wallet. Later on, I get frustrated with my graph because it is not tally.

Eventually, when I no longer had debts to pay, I quit tracking my day to day expenses. It no longer makes sense to me anymore. Not tracking my daily expenses has been working for me since then and until today. But mind you, I do not disregard the importance of tracking the expenses. It has been a vital part of myself when I was in debt and working my way to a debt-free life. It has helps me identify the unnecessary expenses I should have cut earlier so I would haven't had incurred any debts. It has established me a routine I followed nowadays so I became conscious with consumerism. It is now ingrained in my life that I can now easily determine what is and what not to spend my hard earned money. Talk about the habit I developed through the years.

What Am I Doing Differently Now? On Budgeting

Yet, I would like to let you know that though I no longer track my expenses in every single day, I am still conscious with how I spend my money. This also does not mean that I completely ignore my finances. I BUDGET. There is the difference. I budget the income and allot every centavo to where it should be accounted for. Because I was able to determine the fix expenses such as the monthly rent, electricity, Internet connection, my parents' monthly stipend, office fare, and school fees, I have now a definite (sometimes it varies) amount on each expenditures. The technique is to allot a little over the amount especially for the electricity bill. During summer, we usually have a higher electricity bill due to frequent use of air conditioning unit. I have to anticipate that. Otherwise, these bills are fix every month and therefore is non negotiable.

I prioritize saving and investment too so I have included these two as part of our fix expenditure. I treat them as non negotiable too. (I'll try to come up with a blog for this and how much we are actually saving and investing). The rest of my salary goes to our food and entertainment. This is the biggest variable in our budget. We have grocery money, wet market money, and miscellaneous. Grocery money is pretty straight forward. We've allotted a wet market money because from time to time, we buy the fresh market produce from the wet market rather than in the grocery. It is way cheaper and fresher. The miscellaneous money is either the dining out money or if we suddenly crave for something at home or the entertainment portion to go outdoors or stroll around the nearby park. It works this way because at least it is a guilt-free money.

At the end of each payday, there is something usually left which mostly comes from the entertainment/miscellaneous part. There are weekends we choose to stay at home and just hang around the apartment, thus it saves us with dining out money.
If this happens, I usually put the excess amount in our savings and when there is an opportunity invest it at a higher interest rate. This is what we call the Zero-based budget and it works for us.

Ways to keep me away from too much consumerism

Know that before I have reached this stage, I was once writing my daily expenses in a notebook and had been graphing it on an excel sheet. From there, I had a clearer picture of those unmindful expenses. I cut a lot of shopping and buying. (This was not the easiest part) It took me years to finally be able to identify my wants and needs (easier said before but in reality this is the most difficult part). I could not be able to identify my wants vs my needs because my mindset that time was that I needed all this stuffs. I was focus on consuming goods that ended up in our storage room and never been used for a long time.

 I don't watch tv anymore because the commercial advertisement enticed me to buy more.

I am more aware with Instagram scrolling because I feel envious with the new stuffs and travel features of the celebrities and even some friends. Please, don't judge me here. I just don't want to take self pity because at the moment, I cannot afford all those things. I am happy my friends can travel and has new stuffs but I am still a work in progress with my emotions. At the same time, because I wanted to enjoy the things that I have without keeping up with the Joneses.

Lately, this zero waste management movement is also getting into me. I've been reading a lot about it. The only thing that I can contribute at this time is not filling in the garbage can in as much as possible. Thus, I have been conscious with buying food that were wrap in flashy plastics. Candies, bite size chocolates, biscuits and drinks, I stopped buying it for myself. But remember, I have a 5 year old I am also trying to teach on this so at this time it is not completely zero waste. Hoping that soon, my little family can do more about this zero waste management. So why am I talking about this? This is a guilt free getting rid of consumerism, saving the difference and at the same time contributing to save our dear planet.

Thoughts

One of the things that help me become better (not yet the best) with budget is the use of automation. The automation ensures that I get to save and invest at the same time. When my salary comes in, the money allotted for savings and investment is automatically deducted from it. No fuss.

I think it also helped when we moved to our own solo apartment. Because, back then I saw, I needed more space than stuffs untouched for the longest time. And I have been in the process of getting most of the things we own into selling and donating to free up more space.

My mindset now has also evolved from the old self set who consume goods to a mindful consuming of goods. There are many products out there that advertise improvement of our own selves but for me going back to basics is still the best. Drinking plenty of water. Having a healthy diet. Exercise. Enough sleep. A ray of sunshine and the morning breeze at the beach.

Right now, I am more comfortable with the way I spend my hard earned income. It has some portion which is difficult because we are still living in a single income household and that is my current salary, but fairly improved since the year I started writing in this blog. (The other side hustles goes directly to re-investment)

It is a nice feeling that we are no longer paying debts because the money that should be going there is now part of our savings portfolio. Plus now I can say that I am really in charge with my salary.

Hand Craft: Crochet Works In a Series 1

I sit today in front of the desktop with literally no idea coming in. Unlike the past days when my mind is circling with plenty of ideas to write to. Today, is suddenly quite. 

I feel really tired. I still don't know where this is coming from. For the past days I've been diverting it to writing so I am focus on something other then being tired. I've had all scheduled posts that even like I am not into writing (talking) there will be continuity to this blog.

These are the days. 

Last night, I was crying when during my regular walk to home, I noticed how thin my hair is. And it hit me those what ifs? But of course, let me tell you, I am healthy as far as my blood pressure and sugar level are concern. Just may be so stressed out and burnt?

Writing is an outlet. I get to express what I feel. I get to write those words which doesn't come out in my lips. This is what I love (even though I am not good at it and incoherent at most time) I jumped from one sentence to another sentence. This is just me. 

I wanted to be positive so I am changing my thoughts. I am trying to set another mind set. I personally don't want to deal with just being 'tired'. Because of that, let me share with you what had kept me busy in 2017 and 2018 that I am not actively writing.

Flooding you with pure labor of crochet hand crafted works.

Clutch Bag with Tassels in Red and Black

Clutch Bag with Tassels in Pink and Gray

Beanie in Pink and Gray

Infinity Scarf in Pink and Gray

These are my photos. I'd be sharing more of this in the future whenever, my mind is blank of thoughts or ideas or reasons to write. I also sell made to orders of this stuffs. A hobby I enjoy and at the same time a litte hustle on the side.

Wishing you a good Tuesday morning lovies.

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How To Protect Oneself from Identity Theft

11 Missed Calls!

Honestly, who would want 11 missed calls from different numbers on a daily basis? It is annoying right? Not just that, seeing 11 missed calls makes me a little nervous as I scroll down the numbers listed. Of course, if it is coming from my mother, I wouldn't wanted to missed that call. Yet, it turned out, the calls are coming from companies offering credit cards, cash loans, auto loans, and others. Had I still been my old self, I would probably grab one those offers, especially when I had loans left and right. But, the new version of me who has learnt the hard way has finally identified that the interest I will be paying for the loans should not come to total waste of money.

I've been answering the calls whenever I get the chance and had been declining those offers and balance transfers and all they say is "I will note it here". But in the next few days, calls are still coming in. Do you experience the same thing?

There are many reasons why I don't give in to these calls, personally.

1) I am not sure if these are even legit.

2) I don't give authentication details to these calls. I only give the information if I call the hot line itself.

3) I avoid phishing and texters. Online dictionary defined phishing as the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. Texters on the other hand is through the use of sms or text messaging.

4) I am not confident with how they handle information.


5) I do not know how telemarketers works. But it is bothersome on my part. Anyone knows how to block these numbers?


In these digital age where our information is available through the centralized information systems of the banks, credit card institutions, and government, it also makes us prone to all these fraudster and our information being stolen.


We have to protect our identities and our hard earned money. We have to be always vigilant and careful with sharing our personal information. Fraudster are always on the look out of opportunities to be able to get money or your identity to steal money in your behalf.


1. Limit how much information you share. Never share your personal information such as your middle name for men and maiden name for women. Your birth date. Your mother's maiden name. These are often use to authenticate ourselves for our accounts.


2. Scrutinize the received e-mail. Fraudster sends email and lead us to click a link which may compromise our Internet security and privacy. If in doubt of an email, do not hesitate to delete the email immediately. Or if you receive suspicious email, it is always a good habit to call the institution hot line to verify and confirm if the email is legit. 

3. Properly dispose the important documents which contains delicate information such as your name, mother's maiden name, address, security numbers, birth date, and other pertinent information. 


4. Use caution when shopping in stores or dining in restaurants. Sometimes, you will be ask to fill up some survey, be careful with the information you share. Also, when using your credit cards to pay your bills. 


5. Safeguard your mobile devices. This is pretty straight forward. We've witnessed how a stolen phone can be easily access by the thieves and used the credentials in your behalf. Even a broken phone with details can be compromised.


6. Always monitor the financial and credit statements. It helps if we always check our bank records to be able to identify any anomalies and unknown transaction. Otherwise, if it is already a certain period of time ago, if you plan to dispute, it will no longer be honored.


7. Stay alert. 



Note that I do not discount all calls. There may be calls which are legitimate. Trust your instincts.

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How To Pay Meralco Bill Using Citibank Credit Card?

Uh-oh!

Yes, I still have my credit card with me until now. I started using one when I started working way back 2005, I think. Like I detailed on my previous post. I am horrible to spending using this plastic cards. Later on in my life, I can say, that finally, I have fully understood how to effectively handle and manage its use.

To this date, I no longer have carry over balance. Had been successful at it for over 3 years in a row now. And it felt so good not wasting my hard earned money on interest and late charges. Instead I am gaining even more by having some rewards points and converting it to purchase on grocery.

Just few months back, I have learned how to pay using credit card to pay our Meralco bill (electric bill).Going to any payment centers and lining up seems a big hassle for me nowadays. What I did was I called the Meralco hotline 16111 and ask if I could pay using credit line instead through online, and they informed me that it will only take 2 to 3 banking days to reflect the payment on their end.

Because I have the Citibank Mobile application on my phone, I immediately, studied how to pay for it. Below are the steps by steps procedure I took to pay online.

1). Check your Meralco Bill. What you will need is the ATM/Phone Reference number. This is the unique code you will have to enter and is located at the bottom left part of the bill.

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2) Go to you Citibank Mobile app and select the payment tab.Once you selected the payment tab, go to the All billing organizations and choose Meralco.

3) It will take you this page where you will input the ATM/Phone number reference and then hit Next.

4). Enter the amount to pay. You can also add some notes. Hit Pay. Note that on this page, it states that it may take 5 to 7 working days to reflect payment.

4). It will ask you to confirm your payment.

5). When done, the online transaction will state that it is on Pending on the transaction list.

The following day, this will now be reflected as Mobile Bill Payment - Meralco.

Done. Note that, for the Meralco bill, I cannot list it as recurring monthly bill since every month the unique code changes.

Win. win. I get to pay the bill at the comfort of our home with few clicks and I get reward points.

Oh, by the way. I only have one credit card right now so I can only write about Citibank. You can navigate your Credit Card's feature if you wanted to pay online. I hope this helps.

Working On My Options

Remember when I mentioned that I wanted to have an OPTION?

I am thinking about the topic since that day I posted it. I can feel the sense of urgency to rethink about the possibilities because I have been feeling for the longest time (actually it's just been 3 months) an anxiety to my current job post. I have been moved to a different team. New team members. Newly acquired company account. And because I am no longer as competitive and aggressive as before, I feel like I am not suited for the job description. Thus, I equate the job function as stressful. Dreadful.  Besides, ever since I embarked myself to improving my our personal finance, my priorities had unconsciously changed. I don't know, but it eventually turned me into someone who wanted to develop myself personally.

I have already waned from the old self who always wanted to be at the top of the any game. Or maybe because I aged that status quo is no longer a priority? That all I wanted now is to be at peace with myself and my own self contentment.

Anyway, as it went to, I have been reading a lot about the OPTION I wanted to have. While I really wanted to just stay at home and make most of my time, I knew from the very start that this is not going to happen sooner. I have to still have a job that feels like not working at all. But what it is?

Every time I step out of the office, I keep thinking, on possibilities of being out of the job I have right now. Sure, my salary is above the minimum and also been the single source of income for a family of three and extensions. That should be enough to motivate me to work harder and stay on this job, right? It is a single source of a household income and paying all the bills that we have - rent, electricity, Internet, food, school fees, entertainment and other miscellaneous. It also includes a monthly stipend to my parents. Also where we were able to save up and invest a portion. It does sounds really good. And honestly, I am thankful for this job I have. Really. It is already an envy of the many.

So why do I have this feeling? Am I greedy for something else? Am I not contented with what I have? Am I not grateful for the blessings that I have?

Truth is, I do not know too. I have been contemplating whether because there is an evil playing in my mind and making me feel like I should I ask for more or because I am 38 and there is so much I wanted to do but can't because I worked 40 hours a week and time is passing so fast I can't keep up? Or because I am reading a lot of blogs about FIRE and I interpret them to be anti-work?

Complex, right? I actually can't pinpoint which from those is the cause. What I know is that I really need guidance what to do next. I just can't stay in this phase for a long time.

Last night, I thought about job hunting and shift career. It actually excites me to look for something else and to have an option. At the same time, having this fear of what if I find something but the salary is not the same? What if the result is not what I expect to be? Will it make me happy? Am I selfish to think only about how I feel and what I want? There will be no turning back once I gave up the job I have. But at least I can try. I hope my gut feeling will kick in if it is truly meant for me.

Our current savings and investment is not yet enough for an early retirement and I get the calculations, it will take me another 10 years to finally be able to have a safety cushion for the next 20 years of retirement. That is if we choose not to work for the rest of our lives and just living on a budget. Definitely not the way we wanted a retirement should be.

Google’s definition for option is a thing that is or may be chosen. It is synonymous to choice, alternative, recourse, or possibility. But I am more fascinated with the freedom of choice, the power to choose, and the right to choose as its meaning.

They say that possibilities are endless, we just have to look forward and see the things in a different perspective. To which I agree. I was able to learn crochet which I thought was complicated. But I was so eager to learn that I spent time researching and learning the techniques.

 I am debt-free because I have chosen to stop borrowing money and to live below the means. 

And now I am choosing to work on a lesser stressful job.  How am I going to that?

I’d like to think that I can pattern the method I have used when learning to crochet and being debt-free to this new endeavor. It had worked for me and over the years I find it that in any thing I wanted to be, I can do that with proper approach and due diligence to learn. I may have failed at some point, but I know I have learn something from it.

1. Know what I want to learn. Being able to determine what I really wanted will give me a clearer picture of results of my actions. My desire to want something even if it looks as if it is impossible to accomplish is the driver for me to action on it. We all have different things we wanted in life but just dreaming about it will not materialize no matter how many moons has past if we do not have the will to work on it.
2.  Read/Watch. Books, blogs, vlogs, social media, YouTube, and even magazines can be a source of knowledge. At this digital age, where Internet is within our grasp, learning is now accessible and literally within our fingertips. When we want to know about something, we google it. If we wanted to learn the “how to’s”, we google it. In the same way, if we want to learn something new, we look for a good read or watch a good clip. These instructables are very helpful. I just need to figure out how to learn best.
3. Learn by doing it whenever possible. Slowly apply the concepts in actual. After all, experience is the best teacher in life. The start up is both easy and difficult. The fire in me is there to push forward but when I encountered a difficult step, I get frustrated. A lot of times, I stop it altogether, and abandoned the idea. But this step will not make me go near my end goal. The lessons learned as I progress should be able to motivate me to move further.
4. Find a community to learn with and who can mentor as well. I follow certain groups in Facebook both on my personal finance learning and crochet journey. People share their ideas and their personal experiences to certain topics. Or I can ask questions to gather more information. When I started with personal finance, I have no one to turn into. The subject about money is a taboo to almost everyone I knew before. Gradually, actual people around me started to open up if they have something they wanted to know about. I don’t give a perfect advice but I can share few tidbits on certain topics now. And it is for free. They would tell me to try being a financial adviser to which I declined a lot.
5.  Be consistent. That’s just it. I just need to repeat the cycle to get the end results I wanted.

To summarize, it boils down to what triggers me to learn or the change I wanted to happen. This will also give me the option for something else. Isn’t it wonderful if we have option rather than being stuck somewhere?