Frugal Living

How do you usually prepare for the celebration of any of your family members?

I know this is a hasty generalization, but most Pinoy tends to break the bank in order to celebrate their birthdays. But with this strained economic time, lavish birthday parties is simply out. So how does a frugal mom plan and celebrate their children’s birthdays?

Honestly, not counting my children, I do not celebrate my own birthday with food anymore. Since children are still enamored with birthdays and cakes, I plan and celebrate my children’s birthday to the tee and ofcourse, breaking the bank is not an option.

Plan ahead.

Like any event of the year, I allocate funds for birthday celebrations 3 or so months before it happens. Since my children are still young, their social circle is smaller and the number of guests are minimal. And since it is my children’s birthday, I do not control the invitation list. Meaning, the guest list only contains my children’s close friends. No extra acquaintances. This is your children’s birthday– not yours. You will save more this way because I promise, if you have your own set of friends and your husband’s set of friends in your children’s party, the number of mouths to feed will increase not to mention the booze. A children’s party should remain a children’s party.

Make a Realistic Spending Plan.

Create a menu and allocate for them, then base your future birthday plan on the menu.

Example: (DAUGHTER’s BDAY)- estimated guests- 20 children

Allocate Funds and Stick with It.

Since you have a spending budget for the birthdays, you can allocate funds for it 3 or so months prior. Since the budget is P2,670 or P3,000 for the food, you might want to allocate and save for P3,000 per birthday. In my case, I have 4 children, so I have to allocate for P12,000 a year for birthdays.

I have opened a savings account for celebrations like these. Since P12,000 is alot, I pledged and allocate P1,000 each month for the birthday funds. To make things easier also, I have automated my contributions, and I have authorized my bank to deduct P1,000 every 7th day of the month from my main account to the events fund. This makes everything hardly noticeable. You can make the same plan for Christmas noche buena celebration and other celebrations for the year. Darn, if I can do this, anyone can…

Do you have other spending and saving tips? Share them with me at frugal.pinoy@gmail.com