My Priority for the New Year – Saving Money in 2010

This is officially my first blog post as an unemployed individual!  I AM FREE!!!

I have decided not to go corporate anytime soon.  I vowed to myself to have at least two months of “me” time / vacation before considering the possibility of applying for a company and industry I would want to be in again.  Even so, I still think I’d stop working and focus on my blogging and internet marketing since I still earn at least enough to keep me alive and fund my hobbies.

Although, I think I would also need to “save” more.  To be honest, I don’t have solid savings from the 2 years I worked in a company (shame).  Yes!  I am poor, I have no savings.  I spent them all on gadgets and travel.  I said to myself that I will spend and enjoy the earnings I had first before I save and plan for my serious future.  😉

Good thing nothing major of a tragedy happened to me, if not, I don’t have enough money to pay for unexpected expenditures!

For the new year, I think my focus should be more on making my financials stable.  It’s time I think of allotting some of my earnings to savings.  This way, I can pay for any unexpected future expenditures!

I came across this article online on Ways to save money.  It’s a good read actually and I am super guilty for violating the 7 ways on how an individual can save money.  I am not a house buddy and lately I have been abusing my credit card (due to my many travels).  If you know me,  you’ll agree that I love my car and I love driving around!  Blah, this is another savings killer as I often take this out just to drive around and discover new places.  It’s all good but for the new year, I think I’m cutting down on this.

Here are my personal list on ways on saving money:

1.  I should wash my own car.  Since I would have all the free time I need for the new year, I thought, why not clean my own car?  It’s a win-win situation!  I can save from paying people to wash my car.   Not only that, it would also serve as an “exercise” for me.  I also just need to buy a wax for my car and in this case I think I can save more than having to have it “Waxed and washed” by carwash stores for PHP 375.

2.   I think it’s also time to purchase the best car insurance.  Ever since the Ondoy tragedy here in the Philippines, car owners have been regretting that they did not purchase the car insurance with “force majeur” (acts of God) coverage.  Since I don’t want to spend major on “unexpected expenses” I think I’ll just take the safe side and purchase a nice insurance in case another tragedy like that will happen again.  Also, since I’m the kind of driver who swerves a lot and I always get my mom worried.  Maybe I should let her purchase the car insurance for me instead… That will be a big savings for me lol

3.  Another way to save is not to ignore and clip coupons.  This should actually stretch our dollars or pesos.  I have lots of these coupons on the planner that I bought.  I often forget to bring them when I shop though.  I guess I should just think about something hard first before I purchase something.  I might have coupons for the things I buy that would really give me great savings.  $10 worth of savings is big enough for me if converted to Pesos.  That would allow me to buy one decent meal already.  Or, I could use it to pay for my url renewal.  Many sites offer coupons as well to those digitally and web savvy like me.

4.  Gadget diet.  I think for now, I have all my “necessary” gadgets.  One slr, 2 lenses, a compact cam, a laptom, 2 cool phones.  Those are my necessities.  Although, I am so tempted to buy a netbook, I kept on thinking I really don’t need it.

5.  Cook food or dine home.  Since I won’t have a job.  I’ll stay home and take advantage of my mom’s cooking.  She pays for groceries.  Why do I need to dine out? 😛

6.  Pick travels.  I think I should travel less to the places I have been to and go to places I haven’t been to instead.

7.  Cut on expensive entertainment.  I love watching movies, but I have cable at home that shows lots of movies as well.  I can also borrow DVDs from friends instead of going to the cinema to watch every latest cool movie showing.

These 7 are the things I have thought of for myself for now.  I shall add the list if I think of more.  All seven items may not apply to you but I bet you also have one common goal like me.  How about you?  Any money saving tips you can share for 2010?

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21 comments

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  2. Hi Hannah! 🙂 Your post is very helpful! I’m currently running a contest on “What’s Your 2010 Financial Goal” and this post right here can serve as your entry. All you need to do is post your permalink on the comment box of my blog and you can win a planner! 🙂

    Cheers,
    Teeyah

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