With the summer break coming up, I surmise it wouldn’t hurt to start planning for the summer break. How do you usually begin planning for a trip? I usually begin mine with my budget. If I have more money to spend, then I begin my search for trips possibly to prestigious resorts in the country (read: Panglao Island Nature Resort, Balesin) or somewhere off the beaten track (read: Bolinao, Rizal Beach: Gubat, Sorsogon, or Pagudpod)

Here are Ways to Save on Travel

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It is so obvious that businesses thrives on consumerism. Consumerism is the attitude that values the acquisition of material goods. I did our last minute shopping today. As expected, the traffic was horrible and hair-raising. Consumerism is so alive today. Makro was full of people with overflowing carts. Recession seem to be out of the window right now. Makes me rethink my post about deflation… or perhaps we are not feeling the effects yet. And us Filipinos has to rethink our idea of huge noche buenas especially when times are harder.

I felt sorry for our neighbor but at the same time thankful for her. She is currently busy planning a “huge” noche buena for the neighborhood. Yes, you heard me, the party is for the entire neighborhood. She said it is her way of saying thanks to her neighbors for patronizing her sari-sari store– the biggest in our small village.

But while I am thankful, I felt sorry for her, since the pressure of giving a huge party is getting to her physically and emotionally. Since groceries and food is far more expensive now than last year, the expectation of the neighborhood is high and she did not want to disappoint everybody since she felt sorry for most of our neighbors are on the class D and E– just too many unemployed people and people living below poverty line. I surmised perhaps all of us owe her something in one time or another.

Anyway, that’s her way of celebrating and my way is another way. Salve at Money Smarts is offering a challenge for a budget handaan. Is there really a budget handaan? Is this possible? Actually my children and I are not going to have a noche buena but I intend to celebrate Christmas tomorrow by giving an extra-special lunch. The menu is simple and straight forward. Like I said, Christmas is about the celebration of family and not about how much gifts we gave nor received. Let us just get back to the real root and meaning of Christmas. Only the big businesses are profiting over the idea of Christmas. I think it is time for us to rethink our values and what we deem as important.

Since I have decided to skip gift giving this Christmas except for a more practical gifts to the children, I am shocked that even at the economic hoo-haas, SOME people are still giving away extravagant and obsence gifts according to the recent article by the Money Comparison Experts at Money.Co.UK,

Here goes the list: (if you are even interested anyway…)

1. The $1.6m Christmas tree: This 24 karat gold tree, encrusted with 240 jewels and weighing more than 21kg is on display in a jewellery shop in Japan.

2. Movida’s Christmas cocktail: The Movida Club, a favourite hangout for celebrities, footballers and the ‘born rich’, holds the record for the most expensively pointless Christmas Cocktail. The drink, which blends Cristal Rose champagne, Louis XII Cognac and edible gold leaf, costs $71,011 a shot and is ironically named Flawless.

3. The Krebs Glas Lauscha bauble: Not one for houses with children, this bauble is covered with intricately crafted gold and diamond detail, and it’s made of glass. At $31,000 each, they had better come wrapped in a bit more than tissue paper.

4. Ferrari go-cart: A must have for spoilt kids the world over, this faithful replica of the real thing will set doting parents back a mere $50,000

5. The his and hers chocolate portrait: No doubt designed with chocoholic art lovers with too much time on their hands, this photographic portrait rendered in chocolate goes for $110,000. At least the money goes to charity.

6. Diamond Barbie: ‘The world’s most expensive Barbie’ comes in a gown encrusted with 160 De Beers diamonds and costs $85,000. Presumably it’s not for kids, but who knows?

7. The M&S Christmas Hamper: Stuffed with the exclusive food and drink for all over the world, the Marks & Spencer hamper retailed for $1,500. It doesn’t seem to have hit the stores just yet this year…

8. Vertu mobile phone: If ‘gadget crime’ isn’t an issue, then the diamond encrusted Vertu mobile phone is just the job – that is if you have about $75,000 to spare.

9. Amour Amour Dog Collar: Not to leave out the least grasping member of the millionaire family, this diamond dog collar costs a cool $1.8m.

10. 3D Motion Simulator: The ultimate in big boys toys, this $300,000 simulator puts Nintendo and Sony in their place, allegedly.

Ofcourse all these gifts are nothing BUT frugal so, let’s heave a sigh of relief or envy perhaps and yes, move on…

Is it possible to celebrate Christmas without breaking the bank? How?

Plan ahead

Begin shopping for your noche buena dinner in November. Know your menu so you can streamline and schedule the purchases of ingredients. You can opt to buy the expensive ingredients this month and buy the cheaper ingredients on December so your budget for that month can accommodate for other pressing purchases.

Last year, my children and I spent our noche buena on a shoestring budget. Our menu was:

I managed to save a few some cash by:

1. Opting for pansit bijon rather than spaghetti. With the bijon, I used only 1 breast of a chicken, one pc of carrot and half a head of cabbage. This for a 1/2 kg bijon. To make the pansit real tasty, I used real chicken broth from scratch the day before;

2. I decided to shop for the vegetables in the regular market; It only cost me less than 100 pesos for the vegetables for the chopsuey, and hey, my chopsuey was meatless (1/2kg baguio beans; 1 pc. sayote; 1 pc. carrot; 1/4 head cabbage; 1 small head of brocolli) . For tasty chopsuey, use oyster sauce or hoisin sauce– 2 tsp will do.

3. For the fruit salad, I bought a cheaper fruit cocktail brand. I used 1 pack of branded cream and half a can of condensed milk.

Focus on your family

Good relationship within the family supersede good food. Try to focus on enjoying the company of your family and friends during the holidays. With some planning, you can actually have a frugal noche buena without ending high and dry financially…

Do you have any frugal ideas? Frugal Stories? Email me at frugal.pinoy@gmail.com

Christmas time is here and I know money-wise we will be strained to spend more in order to celebrate and be able to give. Practicality should come first so here are some gift ideas and places where you might be able to find affordable and age-appropriate gift items:

Gifts for young children. For infants, I can suggest age-appropriate toys. Teething toys are practical, as well as toiletries. For toddlers, you can get them colorful educational toys.

Gifts for young girls ages 5-10. I would suggest something practical like bags with some Disney character on them– (read: High School Musical Characters, or Hannah Montana). Ofcourse there are a whole range of expensive items but you can always choose those that are not too expensive. Try those small pouches, picture frames, hair accessories and watches.

Gifts for young boys ages 5-10. Well, cartoon characters are still in. (Spiderman, Superman, Wall-E, and even High School Musical items) For boys I would suggest school items too, especially books. If the child is into GBA or Play Station, you can give GBA cartridges and discs.

Try buying your kiddie gifts from Kidz Kraze Children’s Bazaar at the Creative Trade Center Compound at #6 Industria St., Libis, Quezon City. You can visit them on November 14-15, 21-22, 28-30, and December 5-7, 12-14, and 19-23, from 9AM to 6PM on weekends and 1PM to 6PM on weekdays. They have alot of discounted branded toys, children’s clothing and shoes. [Via Shopcrazy]

For discounted books, National Bookstore’s Children’s Reading Fair is still on until November 16.

For more frugal suggestions or inquiries, send email to : frugal.pinoy@gmail.com

One of the stress of planning for the holidays is how to be able to go through it without entirely breaking the bank. And if you have no passive income or even holiday savings to delve into, then celebrating the holidays might bring you more problems than goodwill.

Before planning anything, bear in mind the REAL reason why you want to celebrate the holidays. And to me, that does not mean celebration by consumption, because I am sure you can find other ways to celebrate the holidays other than hanging around the mall salivating over the high tech goodies and mulling over the 50% offs in the mall. Remember, stores have one primary thing in mind– TO GET YOU TO SPEND YOUR MONEY.

Here are a few ideas on how you can avoid breaking the bank during the holidays:

1. Avoid the malls like a plague. This is important because as early as October, the malls are already cranking up their advertising power to get you to spend some or more (even better) by shaving off or using “the we are on sale ploy.” Ofcourse, this would be a good opportunity for you to buy gifts and this leads me to the no. 2,

2. Avoid the malls like a plague. This is important because as early as October, the malls are already cranking up their advertising power to get you to spend some or more (even better) by shaving off or using “the we are on sale ploy.” Ofcourse, this would be a good opportunity for you to buy gifts and this leads me to the no. 2,

3. Give discounted gifts. If you need to buy a gift for an officemate, classmate, family member, children or spouse, October and November would be the best time to buy your gift for the holiday. You can get clothes off the rack or on discounted prices. You can buy CDs for your officemate and perhaps some toys for your children. If you really felt compelled to give gifts, then buy them at discounted rates. Just be careful and check out the items before paying for them because some discounted items especially clothing sometimes are damaged (missing buttons, imperfect hems, etc…)

4. Make a shopping list before hitting the malls to avoid other sale diversions. Buy what is necessary and get out of the mall. Your list has to item and shop specific, for example: if you want to give CDs to your nieces, decide on what CD and which CD place to buy before leaving the house.

5. Use debit cards instead of credit card. Debit cards are good as cash. This is why a budget and shopping list is important. You do not want to be buried in credit card bill during the holidays. Just imagine yourself paying off your credit bills on something you gave your officemates… Not to mention your forlorn face and agony when you see your credit card bill come January…

I know, I know… Christmas is giving, but we must give within our means. If we cannot pay for it in cash, we cannot afford it.

For more frugal suggestions and inquiries, send email to; frugal.pinoy@gmail.com