100 Thing Challenge

I've been meaning to share 100 Thing Challenge to you. I find it fascinating because I am a minimalist. I don't like consuming things that cause clutter to my home.

This might come odd to you but I like an almost empty fridge.

My husband and I share this odd "like". To me it means that we consume what we buy. The fridge is filled with food after a big supermarket visit and it clears out as days go by. I love it!

The only challenge I'm still tackling is getting rid of a lot of clothes. I'm not sure if I already mentioned it in previous posts but I'd like to live on clothes that fit my closet that's a size of a wardrobe. I have too much.

I already gave away extra pots and pans. Our dehumidifier is saved for a coworker's relative. Our rice dispenser is awaiting collection from a friend.

Anyway, I might want to try the challenge when we move overseas. We're going to start over and not ship any of our stuff here. I'm excited to do it! We talked about getting a sofa-bed and a coffee table. It's going to be a change of lifestyle, but that's the point.

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Salary increase at 3%

I am not happy about it but I am thankful. We may be having hard times right now and the best attitude towards it is to be grateful, pero hindi ko talaga sya maramdaman. Disappointed ako dahil 3% lang.

My last year's pay increase was 5%.

It doesn't mean that I did not deliver or perform. I can honestly say that I did well for the past year and if you could read my performance review you would think that I'd be getting more than 5%.

The increase is to take effect next week backdated for 2 months. It took the higher leadership a long time to finalize increases for many people, including me, and I get a feeling because our managers had to fight for them. I'm lucky that my manager is fair.

A friend of mine in Payroll told me that others didn't have any increase because they didn't deliver or improve their performance. Wow. Here I am still thinking that a yearly raise is a right and not a privilege.

My head is stuck on inflation at minimum of 4% anywhere in the world (but I'm sure I'm wrong about that), and so to earn less than that puts the person who doesn't get any increase (or does but below inflation rate) in a worse position even in the assumption that their consumption practice stays the same.

So yes, I am not happy about my salary increase but I'm thankful that I have a job.

Rich in the Philippines

I read this blog post and I was blown away! I can't believe that my family in the Philippines belongs in the upper middle class in terms of income. All this time kasi akala ko middle class lang kami. I mean, compared sa mga kakilala ko nung college na "rich", malayo naman kami ron. Wala naman kaming BMW or Mercedes Benz or wala naman kaming mall na nakapangalan sa amin. Yes, I knew people in college who owned gas station franchises, owned flashy cars, owned farms, malls, and other forms of wealth.

As I kept reading the post, what really blew me away was the 3 Predictors of Wealth. My family meets all 3 predictors. Really, owning 3 air conditioning units is a predictor??? 3 cars maybe, but a/c units? Owning doesn't necessarily mean using them regularly, no?

What bugs me is that the predictors don't take into account savings or investments at all. It was all about consumption, except for the 1st predictor. Owning (or consuming) something, to me, is not an indicator of wealth. I've met a few people who prefer to own less and yet have a massive bank account.

There's a need to shift our paradigm in the Philippines. The idea of wealth being tied to an object is perhaps the reason why we change cellphone models as though it were a necessity. It's obvious that if you have a lot of money, it means you can afford to buy things. That's what I think is one of the reasons why people consume -- because it gets the message, that they can afford to buy, across.

What do you think?

One down, 2 utangs to go

Image by Walt Jabsco via Flickr

As of today, our lowest debt is paid off! It was a hire purchase for our Bosch washing machine and a Jamie Oliver set of pots and pans that totaled $2,230. We took that loan 2 years ago on a no-interest-for-2-years installment plan. I am so happy to report that we paid it off in 2 years! Wahoo!

Bali 2 consumer debts na lang that are both on credit cards. Current balance to kill is a whopping $17k!!! Mas malaki pa nga yan early this year ($20k) pero unti-unti nababawasan namin without incurring more charges to it.

Kaso ang plano namin is not to be aggressive on paying the credit cards off kasi kelangan naming i-bump ang Move Overseas Fund. We plan to be aggressive towards paying the cards off pag andun na kami sa bagong bansa namin. Sa ngayon, we pay a fixed amount of $410 to the cards, which is way more than the minimum. I follow Dave Ramsey's advice regarding paying debt, although sa ngayon di ko magawa ang debt snowball. Lahat ng wiggle room namin sa savings namin nilalagay. Pag naka-settle na kami sa lilipatan namin, we'll make sure na yung mga wiggle room monies namin ay mapupunta sa pagbayad sa mga utang namin.

Huling hirit: Ayoko nang magkautang!

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