November 10, 2011

Impressions of the BDJ Power Planner

verabear Issues of the day, Ramblings and Brain farts, Shopping 16 Comments

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. Smile

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. Smile

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. Smile

October 30, 2011

Envelope System

verabear Ramblings and Brain farts, Shopping 9 Comments

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?

October 24, 2011

Shoot. Eat. Blog.

verabear Food Trip 6 Comments

I blog.

For years, blogging has been a central part of me. From Tblog, to Bravejournal, then Blogger, Vox (posts are now in a Typepad blog), and ultimately, Where the Moon Shines. I am also behind The Newbie Photographer and Between the Covers.

“I should blog this” and “I want to share this” pervade my thoughts.

I shoot.

Photography is also important to me. These days, the iPhone 4 is my everyday camera but I’d love to spend quality time with Deena again soon.

Good photos look wonderful on blog posts. Smile

I eat. I love to eat.

And I realized, I love taking photos of food just as much as blogging about it. Marrying my three loves (blogging, food, and photography) would be a dream lived in the flesh. Being the Sooo Pinoy Ultimate Food Blogger would be a giant step towards that. Smile

My recent post on Tomato Kick is one of my favorites. The photos are ? (click a tomato for post):

And remember when I first baked Tres Leches Cake? Another favorite:

The everyday food is also worth showcasing, it ain’t just special cakes or restaurant food that deserve air time after all. Simple convenience store Japanese chocolate deserve spotlight too:

Check out my Food archive for more yumminess.

Time for a new set of photos from an old-time favorite restaurant, The Pancake House along E. Rodriguez.

Mom ordered the Grilled Maple Chicken with Fruity Salad. I’ve had this before and love the fruity combination with the honey mustard dressing.

Chicken with Mushroom and Asparagus Linguine for me.

The top photo is what it looks like on the menu. The bottom is what I got.

Before I proceed, let me say this: I love Pancake House and will go back again and again. Maybe not on a Sunday night because it was packed with families. But I will never order this pasta dish again. The description on the menu said nothing about being spicy. It was too hot for my tastes. I realized too late that the red stuff generously sprinkled on top was chili powder.

I couldn’t eat it. I ended up ordering another dish that they could serve in 10 minutes. The maldita in me wanted to return the dish and refuse to pay for it, but my Mom said to just bring it home for Alfred and order a different one (he liked it, by the way). I complained about the misinformation and settled for the unexciting Carbonara.

Still, it was a good meal. We capped it by sharing regular sized frozen yoghurt, topped with bananas and Honey and Almond Crispies.

Oh how I would love be the Sooo Pinoy Ultimate Food Blogger. The thought of 101 restaurants in 10 destinations in 30 days is just so exciting! Where do I sign up?

———————————–

The Pancake House

E. RODRIGUEZ
275 E. Rodriguez Sr. Ave., Quezon City (beside St. Luke’s Medical Center)
411-1411 / 411-1413 / 411-1417

October 18, 2011

Tomato Kick

verabear Food Trip 5 Comments

We had an interesting lunch. Drove all the way to Maginhawa Street at the UP Village for this. On the way, we passed the old ECPAT Philippines Office, where I had spent so much of my younger days. The place looks so different! The gate and the fence are no longer there. And it looks like it’s now a Café or a specialty store (I did a quick search and it IS a restaurant, Gayuma ni Maria).

Today, we had Shanti dining with us. She was kind enough to agree to take my wallet to the office so I wouldn’t have to drive home without a license (and penniless). The least I could do was treat her out to lunch. I hope she enjoyed it as much as we did.

Shanti ordered Salsa Pork:

It’s grilled liempo, with Salsa on the side. We all liked it. The fat and skin on the pork was crispy. There’s enough to share.

Here’s a closer look at the salsa:

Alfred had Sisig, with three cups of rice!

This dish was spicy, it had a lot of sili, but also maybe because Alfred put a lot more chili sauce on it. It’s also good to share, but the boyfriend had all of it. Smile

I chose a healthier plate, Tuna with Egg Sauce topped with Asparagus:

I don’t know why, but I was somehow imagining tuna flakes ala Century Tuna. So I was pleasantly surprised to see two huge chunks of tuna on my plate. The sauce was tasty, I really liked it! Even this was good enough to share as well.

Close up:

The tuna tended to be a little dry near the center, but it was still good.

My order came last, and this was the last to be served, Stuffed Tomatoes:

One plate has four of these. Stuffed with seasoned ground beef and topped with mozzarella cheese. It also has vinaigrette dressing. I absolutely love this dish. I will go back for more.

For drinks we had two glasses of home brew iced tea, and water. The bill was Php 765, and it was worth it. If I wanted to save, I’d skip the iced tea and just have water. Sharing would be a good idea too.

Tomato Kick has an artsy vibe, the whole place does, actually. The tables on the balcony is a nice spot to just hangout, specially with this afternoon’s weather (cloudy w/ rain showers). There’s a used bookshop next door (Bookay Ukay) and took a lot of willpower to stay away from it. A tattoo place was also next door, and a spa, among others. If I remember correctly, that whole space (old house) used to be the offices of World Vision in the Philippines, before they moved to their own building in Quezon Avenue.

The only downside? The ladies room. Tomato Kick doesn’t have its own CR, but there’s a common one shared by the tenants of the establishment. It’s clean, in the way that CRs in gas stations could be clean (no, don’t imagine the worst). There’s tissue, and there’s water. You will have to use a dipper to flush the toilet though. Even at its present state though, I wouldn’t be discouraged to go back.

**All photos are mine. Copy and use but always credit back to this blog.

Tomato Kick

55 Maginhawa Street, UP Village

Quezon City

02-4895503

October 16, 2011

BC bloggers 2011

verabear Ramblings and Brain farts 0 Comments

The first time Paula of Mommy Diary sent a callout for members to her new blogging circle, I signed up. I was one of the first to ever be in a BC Bloggers list, and I was there in the BC Bloggers’ Party. Smile

Now it’s time we get a fresh set of links. And I may be a day late, but I’m still signing up!

I will have to give credit where it’s due. The BC Bloggers Secret has probably done my blog a lot of good, specially in earning it’s Page Rank 3. So thank you Paula, and BC Bloggers who have kept my link active all throughout these months.

Apart from seeing BC Bloggers post all over blogosphere, you will most likely see posts go up about ongoing discounts from web hosting providers, like this amazing deal from FatCow. Just go to http://www.fatcow.com/secret/ and sign up for an unlimited hosting deal for only $2.95 a month. It’s only valid until October 31st, using the code PINK, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. FatCow will donate 10% to the American Cancer Society for every new sign up. It’s such a steal, and for a good cause too.

If I didn’t already have an unlimited hosting account, I probably would sign up for this sweet deal.

So there, check out BC Bloggers and link up with likeminded bloggers. And also checkout the special hosting deal mentioned above (not an affiliate link).

Stitches & Words

Impressions of the BDJ Power Planner

Like this:

Envelope System

Like this:

Shoot. Eat. Blog.

Like this:

Tomato Kick

Like this:

BC bloggers 2011

Like this:

Impressions of the BDJ Power Planner

Share this:

Like this:

Envelope System

Share this:

Like this:

Shoot. Eat. Blog.

Share this:

Like this:

Tomato Kick

Share this:

Like this:

BC bloggers 2011

Share this:

Like this: