where the moon shines

Here I am again, blogging from my iPad. This time though, I am typing using a Bluetooth Keyboard.

Alfred bought it for me as a very very late birthday present. It only cost PhP 990, a third of the cost of an Apple keyboard for the iPad. I hope I get to use it for a loooooooong time.

There are other compatible keyboards sold at CD-R King for the iPad but this was the one I got because of its size. There’s a pocket-sized one but typing with it would be too uncomfortable. My iPad already has a case so I didn’t go for the other style. Besides, the case wasn’t as good as the one I already had.

There’s talk of tablets being issued to OMs at work and we’re all looking forward to that. I’ve always wanted to use my iPad for work, but there’s no Wifi access there at the moment so I wont be able to send my work to my email like I do with my phone. Another alternative for me is to finally upgrade the iPhone to iOS 5 so I can get the wifi hotspot functionality and take advantage of my 24/7 unlimited Internet connectivity. But once the tablets are issued to us, Wifi won’t be my problem anymore.

We’ve been discussing getting a new (personal) laptop so Alfred and I wouldn’t have to wait for each other’s turn on the PC. But if I get one, it would have to be good enough for photo editing and digital scrap booking. I would want it to be fast, of course. A MacBook is ideal, but way out of my budget. Just now, I’ve sort of decided not to get a laptop anymore. I’ll just spend the money on premium iPad apps. Much of my blogging and surfing could be done here anyway, right? The rest I can do on the PC when Alfred is done with his games and PP.

Back to CD-R King. That store is full of stuff! Imagine they even have LED TVs now. My 19″ LCD monitor seems to have died already, and I’m seriously considering getting a replacement from the gadget store for the masses. We’ll take the monitor to the Qube store at Gilmore where we bought it 3-4 years ago and see if it can still be revived.

For Pinoy readers, would you consider buying an LED TV or monitor from CD-R King?

With all the Black Friday sales ongoing in the US and online stores, now is a really great time to start Christmas Shopping. Here in Manila, bazaar season is starting too. I don’t remember bazaar shopping much last year, but maybe this time we’ll go to a bazaar or two (Greenhills not counted).

I’ve ticked a couple of names off my Christmas list already. I shopped through the convenience of the group-buying websites. I only get from the reliable sites, those I’ve tried before and personally used by friends. Got this to give my Dad, who doesn’t read my blog so it should be safe to say so here.

This is the perfect solution for him to take his favorite music with him in his car – which doesn’t have a CD player, just like mine. For my car we have the Garmin which not only helps with navigation, but is also an FM tuner for the iPod/iPhone. This player I got for Dad is already sold out, but CashCashPinoy still has an AVT GPS Navigator up for grabs, it plays music and videos too.

I also bought a deal from Groupon Philippines, one I won’t reveal because the intended recipients might be stalking my blog as we speak. But it’s a very good deal, the same type of product is available at Lock N’ Lock stores at a huge price difference. I was so stoked I bought two sets! So go checkout GrouponPh!

I still have quite a list to go through. I don’t know what to get my Mom yet. Although there’s nothing wrong to give generic gifts to specific groups of people, for my Mom I don’t want to get something like Sferra linens, kwim? I’d like to get her something really nice that’s for her and not for the whole household. So what to get for Ma? That Sony Cybershot DSC TX10 camera on sale from Amazon last night would have been a real good gift. I hesitated though so the ones on-stock now are not as cheap, but still marked down.

Anyhoo, how’s Christmas shopping going so far?

The Belle de Jour Power Planner 2012 was launched last month, October16th, at an all-day event at the Eastwood. In keeping with the travel theme of the planner, the fair was dubbed Take Flight. We don’t usually go to events like that, but Alfred and I went out on a hot Sunday afternoon to check it out.

I must admit though, I wasn’t really after the planner, but an online vendor was having a booth at the fair and I so wanted to check them out in person.

Off we went. Walked around and missed the entrance to the fair, and walked around some more before finding it. Straight to the Suelas booth we went. I picked a pair of shoes and then we moved on to see the rest of the tents.

Since there was 20 pesos off the price of the planner, I decided to go ahead and get one. 2012 would be the 6th year that Viviamo, the company behind BDJ, is crafting these special planners for the modern Pinay. This is my first one, ever.

I got it before I ever saw photos of the 2012 Starbucks planners – which I think I want to get too. I skipped on the 2011 planner but I got one as a gift. (You can read about my Starbucks planners here, and here)

It’s just the right size, not too thick and not too heavy.

I love that it has a, what do you call it? A band to keep it closed when it gets too thick.

Purchase comes with a BDJ card, which I think can be used with vendors to get discounts, or to access events. It’s also a membership card.

It came in a pocket page that looks like a temporary insert. I’m looking at keeping it there though. A pocket for loose paper and other stuff I tend to collect.

And the inside pages are great! I can totally see it being a Smashbook of sorts! Check out some of the inside pages on their site here. I only took a photo of this first page with a nice message:

It also has sooooo many discount coupons! All those discounts more than make up for the cost of the planner itself. For just these, the BDJ Power Planner should be in every girl’s list of unusual gifts for her.

I’m still not sure if I will use this or give it away. See, I’m not a very organized person and a ‘power’ planner really isn’t my thing. I’ve recently started making lists and like doing them and ticking things off the list, so maybe I’m changing too. So yes, I will probably keep this and use it. So will I skip Starbucks Christmas this year? Maybe not. I can never have too many notebooks anyway.

I probably should start a Personal Finance category on this blog. I think about it sooooo much.

Why?

I earn a significant amount of money. It should be more than enough for a single woman living with her parents, or even for a kid-less couple. Even with the car payments, there should still be enough to save.

As it goes though, I hardly save. There’s always just enough left over. And I hate that feeling of always having to look forward to the next pay day. Counting the days until my bank account is replenished. That is just not the way I want to live.

Back in 2010, I wrote this piece to Start Saving Now! For awhile I did it diligently. I followed my own advice and I built up my savings account. Later that year, I bought my iPad. I also switched jobs which disrupted my cash flow for a month. I was okay, but it meant that my savings account was dented (and it still hasn’t fully recovered).

Remember that show on Discovery, where a financial expert goes into the home and helps the couple sort out their financial issues? I can’t remember the title of the show and I don’t see it anymore so perhaps it’s been discontinued. One of the techniques she teaches couples is to stop using their credit cards, and set their weekly/monthly budget in jars.  I did a version of that. I set a two-week budget and I have to stay within that budget for all expense types. It really helped me save. I didn’t use jars though, I still kept my money in the bank and withdrew money as I needed. It was the recording that kept me in line with the budget. I used my Starbucks planner (that I had with me almost everywhere) to record everything.

Another variation of the jar system is Dave Ramsey’s Envelope System. The idea is to budget your paycheck, have an envelope per category, take the money from the bank and fill up the envelopes. When the money is gone, it’s gone. You can’t fill it up again.   What happens if the two-week period or the month is over and you still have money in the envelopes? The article doesn’t say, but I would either add them to my savings, or add it to the following payout’s budget. The latter would be specially helpful when saving up for a big purchase that won’t fit in your monthly allocation.

I think I will do the envelope system this time around. I’ll take the money from the bank and stow away my credit and debit cards so I won’t be tempted to spend more than what I have in my envelopes. Hmm.

These Receipt Organizers from Beabi would be perfect (both images credited to the Beabi website):

You can even keep change in these because they zip up. They’re reusable and would definitely last longer than your normal paper envelopes.

But more than what envelope to use, the most important thing is to define my expense categories. Will I include clothing there? I don’t buy clothes every month though. If your work includes a uniform and you know you will need to get repairs done or get a new one every few months, you should factor that in somehow. If I were to allocate an annual budget for nursing uniforms for example, maybe it would be good to plan how much that would be and then set aside money each month to build up to that budget. In my case, setting up a clothing budget every two or three months might already be a good idea to help me build up my wardrobe.

I’m excited at the idea. Before I figure out my categories though, I’ll have to sell this to the boyfriend. We both have to be doing this, not just me.

What about you? Do you follow a system for budgeting your personal finances?

Thanks to Livedrive, we are surviving a hard drive crash. The other night, I turned on the power on my PC to boot but it wouldn’t spring to life. I knew then there was a major problem. I didn’t panic. I was a bit worried that some of the most latest photos we transferred to the PC would be lost – we’ve had unreliable Internet connection lately so I wasn’t sure they’ve been backed up.

I checked my backup via the iPhone app and it looked like things were intact. But I also then realized what we won’t be able to recover: photobooth photos from Amir’s baptism. The good thing is all those photos have been uploaded to Facebook. They are low-res photos though. Still, the memories will be preserved.

Alfred was very worried – he wasn’t sure if photos from their Tuguegarao roadtrip last month were backed up. He’s checked, they were. There would have been no way for him to recreate those photos, so we’re very happy they’re safe. I am currently having difficulties restoring the backups though, not yet sure if it’s a Livedrive issue or a problem with my connection again. I shall find out tomorrow.

Purchasing the Livedrive subscription was a very sound decision. I’d renew in March, that’s for sure.

Check them out. Sign up and backup your files automatically.