cash flow

It was definitely the lowest point in my life when I went to Singapore (see related article o.f.w. journey (part 1 of 2) and o.f.w. journey (part 2 of 2)). During that time, I was under emotional turmoil, physically dead beat, mentally exhausted, spiritually down, and financially unstable.

Prayers helped me a great deal to be optimistic about life even though I was in crisis and in a tight budget. During my first 6-months in Singapore, I painstakingly jot down ALL my daily expenses in order to control my cash flow. I created my own template in Microsoft Excel and categorized each expenses. It helped me monitor my expenses on groceries, transportation, phone bill, rent, internet, cable, electricity, and water.

At that time, I lived in cash and NETS (payment via the ATM card) basis. I’m the kind of person who lives within my means and habitually think twice before buying things. I routinely ponder if it’s a necessity or a luxury. One more thing, I opted not to use my credit card otherwise I will be a dead meat!

I used to buy fish, chicken and vegetables and normally cooked Filipino food like paksiw, sinigang, tinola, adobo, torta, fried fish or chicken, boiled vegetables, etc. I mixed and matched whatever I have in my stocks just to have a variation.

The funny thing was, I customarily count the fish or chicken and divide it by 3 or 5. In that way, I can have fish or chicken for three days or five days. Of course, vegetables will be my dish in between those days. Healthy food is a must because it’s expensive to get sick. I do have noodles and canned goods in my stock but it’s for contingency measure only.

My housemates treated me well and always made it a point to lighten up my mood. Furthermore, they used to invite me to dine out especially during Friday’s and Saturday’s. That’s big savings for me! 😀

When I received my first paycheck, I treated them to a delectable seafood delight at BeiSheng. We had mouth-watering chili crab and other seafood delicacies. It was absolutely delicious! I will never forget the taste. Yum yum!

Ahhh… those were the pathetic days. Nah… Let me correct that, those were the TOUGH days. Now, I learned how to save MORE for the rainy days. Not much but enough to support myself even if I don’t work for a couple of months. Whoa! That reminded me to “refill” my rainy days budget. It’s nearly empty. I don’t want to be a bummer.

Let’s all save for the rainy days! Yipeeey! On second thought, let’s all build a pipeline to achieve financial freedom. Wheeeeeeeeeeeey! Aja!