This coming Oct 31 is declared as World Savings Day! didn’t know this until I was given a chance to be invited to the “Usapang ipon for the new normal” – a webinar with Izza Glino of SavingsPinay.ph and Cebuana Lhuiller.
During the talk, I didn’t realize that I’ve been needing this for the longest time! and she’s been dropping truth bombs on the spending habits before the pandemic happened. Sure thing that I’ve been allotting my hard-earned money on bills and insurance, but not much on savings.
My spending habits before until 2020 BC (before covid) are more allotted in my food expenses, clothes, collectibles. leaving me with little to no savings every sweldo day.
But now that I am now working at home, I realized that I am saving more, and indeed it is a NEED esp at this time. My Izza’s tips during the talk is doable.
Didn’t even realized that I’ve also been doing some of her tips without realizing it, I think I just have to continue doing it for I have bigger and grander personal plans for next year (and I don’t wanna jinx it!)
Sharing with you my takeaways from her talk:
Review finances – I have to pay for the electricity, family car, credit card, internet and my personal insurance. Also my accumulated IOUs from relatives. I have to sacrifice some things which is by now EASY (for I rarely go out since lockdown started, and also for health reasons, hello may covid pa po!)
Listing the expenses – I have a schedule notebook where I listed all my allotted bills to be paid in this specific schedule.
Lessen the luho – Since I rarely go out, there’s less chance for me to buy stuff, and though I have several items in my shopping app, I have to think several times if the item that I added is a NEED or a WANT (and if it makes me happy) before making the necessary purchase.
Set saving goals – I have grand plans for 2022 and I started using the coin bank as my small but effective way to save money, and I make sure that any extra money that I have is listed on my coin bank, making me see the small but sure progress on my savings.
Start small – we are familiar with the popular slogan “great things start from small beginnings”, this also applies to saving up and to materializing our financial goals. As long as we are firm in our savings then we will not have any problem with our finances in the future.
Increasing income sources – may it be from an additional job opportunity, a writing gig, online streams (vlogging or podcasts) or if you have additional finances, you can use it as an investment on other means (stocks, crypto, axie?) as long as it has a guarantee to increase your income streams for additional savings.
On starting small on savings
It’s never too late to save up and it is really ok to start small, and good thing Cebuana Lhuiller as a 24k Micro Savings Card – an upgrade from the regular savings card that has perks similar to the ATM, minus the high opening deposit and daily maintaining balance requirements.
As explained by Cebuana Lhuillier Bank’s Head of Digital Banking and Strategic Alliances Ms. Lorna Tecson, “This is as easy as depositing a minimum of P50 to open an account or P1 to reactivate a dormant account, and you can, with a minimal or zero fees, send, receive, save money with interest and withdraw from nearby Cebuana Lhuillier branches and BancNet ATMs.”
This initiative will encourage everyone – daily wage earners, freelancers, and kids alike to open up a savings account and for them to start saving up for their future.
