Economy and Lifestyle

With the current economic situation, people are understandably nervous of what's going to happen next. It seems that the future of the working society depends on the future of the stock market. Most of the retirement funds are tied to various investments which are currently under enormous beating at the Wall Street. The only thing that we could do is to hope and pray that if we are truly in a cycle, we are now moving up, instead of moving down.

There is really very little thing that we could do if the financial gurus are playing with our retirement funds. We cannot let our money sit in a drawer at home hoping that one day it will grow. Once inflation kicks in, the value of our one thousand today will be reduced to just one hundred in a few years. Thus, we have to take on risks and let our money grow on its own - with a little help from our friends at the Wall Street and lots of prayers for better economic growth. However, in our own day to day routine, there are a lot of things that we could do. This is the part where we have a lot of control -the opening and closing of our own wallets.

I read a lot of "how-to's" from the experts and from other people who have better understanding of how the economy works. I'm thankful for their advice - some of them do make sense and some are just plain common sense. Why spend if you don't have anything to spend? I can say that credit cards are the culprits here as they are creating false purchasing power. People can easily acquire things without the necessary means to pay for it - money! Instead, we show a plastic card and along with it, a promise to provide the "money" at a future date.

Please don't get me wrong. Credit cards are good - if they are not abused. It is very useful if you don't want to carry cash with you. It also gives you a sense of security for emergencies and allows you to earn little perks ... airline miles, hotel points, cashbacks, redeemable points, etc. However, along with these little conveniences is the expectation of discipline and control when it comes to the use of the card.

Like any person in this planet, I also experienced the temptations first hand of having in my wallet something that I can use for things that I want, even though I don't need them and perhaps not have money to pay for it. I realized how hard it is to control myself when I see in front of me a really nice dress, or a fine furniture that will match my sofa, or a little something for my kitchen, living room, etc. The nice things just won't go away. They are there for the taking and I have the card to get them! Well, got my own share of card balance later on and some headache thinking how am I going to pay for it.

Thus my promise to be disciplined from now on. With the economic problems, I got to change my lifestyle. The change may not be drastic (since I don't have anything to spend lavishly on anything anyway in the first place), but will still help me feel better that I am not spending on unnecessary things.

First to go is my "tv/movie expense". Looking at my monthly expenses, I realized that I have subscriptions to the movies from the mail, weekly visits to video stores, elaborate cable TV memberships, and foreign TV programming subscriptions through the net. Come to think of it, I cannot really watch all of them in a month even if I allot a daily schedule for the movies. Perhaps I just wanted the feel of having them when I need them, but in reality, it's seldom that I would need them given my daily schedule.

Next to go would probably be my visits to the salon for my hair color. I am still young but I have premature greying so there is a need for me to color my hair. Gee! I feel pampered with my hair color sessions but with a cost of around $70 per visit, I'll just pick up a do-it-yourself color kit for $6.99 at the grocery and do my coloring at home.

I'm thinking of scratching off my frequent visits to the mall. I cannot only save money but save on gas as well and occasional heartaches brought upon by the realization that I cannot afford at the moment some things that I might want. Anything that you don't know won't hurt you... or anything that you don't see won't tempt you. I'm sure my spending would be less if I'm not in a place where there are things to buy. And be careful with the computer mouse at home. Be sure that they are not pointing on internet stores all the time.

There are probably a hundred ways to cut back on spending and be safe from the ups and downs of the economy. But the one thing that I cannot give up will be my love for eating out. It's great to just sit down in a restaurant and be served with food after a day's work at the office. I read a lot of articles saying that eating out eats your budget, but comparing the cost of a little sandwich in a restaurant with what you can make at home from the grocery, the difference is not that much. But the joy of sitting down and enjoying the food prepared for you is worth the extra money spent in these very uncertain times. I'll just be smart in choosing the place to eat - no dinner over $10 for me.