GreenBucks

What kinds of gifts did you give to your loved ones?

What kinds of gifts did you receive from them?

Gift-giving is a Christmas tradition that will always be there, no matter how people are, in terms of their economic standing because there are a lot of those who have lost their source of income and who are grappling to see the end of these challenges.

One of the most sought-after gifts for the last few years are tech gadgets and gizmos.

There are also those who go the old-fashion way of giving baked goodies like what we did to some of our relatives.

There are those who feel obligated to give expensive gifts especially to their children because these children seem to charm their way into having  their parents part with their hard-earned money.

There are those who got the surprise of their lives as they got engagement rings and would start planning the big day after the holidays.

What about those who got new cars or even new homes? Wow, definitely wow.

But have we thought about those who don’t get any gifts given out of love? They did have some but these were given out of pity. How did they celebrate their Christmas?

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A lot of people aim for “The American Dream”.

What is exactly the American Dream?

Living in the suburbs, having one or two cars, vacation, shopping sprees, credit cards and other luxurious and comfortable ways to live. These are good to do as long as one can afford to pay for all of this. What if one can’t pay for all of these?

But this scenario is changing.

They are losing their homes and their cars. The American government even gave out tax rebates. Fannie Mae, the largest mortgage buyer and Freddy Mac, the second largest mortgage buyer were given emergency rescue plans.

Women who used to be in the workforce are not working anymore. Banks are reporting billions of losses.

This is being forecasted as the “death” of the middle class.

Americans as well as the British are deep in debts and there is more to this than meets the eye.

Why does this happen? It is because they are spending more than they can afford, courtesy of the lending companies.

So what do they do? Get another credit to pay for a credit.

So who is to blame? The credit availability or the mindset of getting things that can’t be paid for in cash but through credits?

Read what happened to Diane McLeod in a NYTimes article entitled “Given a Shovel, Americans Dig Deeper Into Debt”.

May this serve as a lesson to everyone who loves charging their purchases to credit cards.

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Nice asked me to answer this question:

Can you share any budget or money saving tips that you find effective?

I found this very apt because of the present situation we are experiencing, not just here in the Philippines but all the over the world: food crisis, rising price of gasoline, environmental concerns, rising cases of violence among others.

On the other hand, I find this question amusing. Why? Because we have been saving, budgeting, saving, scrimping, budgeting…ok you got it, but still, no matter how much we save, nothing seems to be happening good with the budget, if there is even a budget at all.

Anyway, here are a few tips I can write about on how we try to save:

1. Instead of frying the chicken pieces, cook these with vegetables and sauce, that way, we have more servings. Same goes with fish and other food products. Be a kitchen genius. There’s no need to buy expensive ingredients if one knows how to cook well. If not, learn to cook and avoid, asmuch as possible, eating out.
2. Turn off all electrical appliances that are not in use.
3. Buying of toys and other unnecessary things are not allowed. These unnecessary things are the trinkets, small things that become junk after a few weeks.
4. Stick to the budget. The what? Yes, the budget, especially during Christmas holidays.
5. Bring food to work, or in my eldest daughter’s case, bring cooked food for lunch.
6. Take care of your things so these can last long.
7. Eat at home before going anywhere. And when going somewhere, bring packed food and drinks.
8. Ask yourself first if you really, really need a thing before purchasing. Be honest.
9. Wait for your favorite items to go on sale, even if it means a loooong wait.Who knows, you might change your mind and not buy that thing anymore.
10. Be simple. Feel joy and happiness without spending a dime by appreciating the wonderful things around you. In other words, walang malling, sa bahay na lang tayo.

This I can honestly say, our family can go to a mall to eat and browse, and window shop and leave the mall without spending on anything other than food, gas and parking ticket. Well, of course, that too is still spending so we would rather stay in the house or go for a nature walk.

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