It has probably been years since I last saved, because most of my money immediately goes to my bill payments for the house each month, buying sustenance at home (such as food, toiletries, laundry, cleaning etc.), then things I need for work (supplies, clothes, shoes etc.) and lastly spending money when I go out (family, friends and officemate or sales force). Although when it comes to my personal interest or hobbies it is not quite often, because I will only buy stuffs when its necessary. Then I saw and bought this alkansya can that says “#IponChallenge for 2019”, were you start saving from January 2019 until the end of the year and when you succeed, you will end up with Php72,000. Printed on the alkansya are highlighted moneys bills (these are categorized by P1000, P500, P200, P100, P50, P20 and P10) and underneath each money bills are circles where you shade them for each money that you put inside of the can once you completely shaded all of the circles, you’ll end up with Php72,000. However, I got this alkansya can last November 2019 where I paid about Php100 for it at Landmark. Normally you do not buy these, because it is either useless or too late cause the year is almost over so why bother. I did not think about it too much and just bought it. What is P100 pesos when the end results will give you Php72,000 and for me it is an amazing achievement, because I believe it is never too late to start the challenge even if its almost the end of the year. I just scribble the sides of the can and wrote “Started November 2019 to 2020” … I made it a point that the year 2020, I will start my savings journey again as I am not getting any younger anymore and I needed to start thinking about my future.
I got really excited with my new year resolution for 2020 and so I first opened a new savings account at Eastwest bank near our office. I put in my first Php30,000 savings I’ve earned last 2019 and even added another Php25,000 last March 2020 (right before the lockdown started). Then Covid-19 pandemic happened making it difficult to save. Earning money is hard especially for me since I am in the training department, because all our training events have been cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic, making the ipon challenge even more challenging for me as I barely earn enough to make ends meet.
Saving during the pandemic is hard, because you must allocate the majority on the things that are important. Numero uno are the basic essentials (foods, meds and lots of disinfecting items) and the monthly bills. It is a good thing its pandemic, because you get to avoid the temptation of buying or shopping right? but no, because technology has greatly evolved wherein online shopping (Lazada & Shopee) became the latest trend during the pandemic. This made it difficult for me to save because I can access everything online. I always try my best to shell out any money I can to help with the expenses at home and to be honest our real breadwinner is still my dad, because he is the one providing for everyone at home, which is why I wanted to start saving so that no matter what happens I have spare money in the bank that I can use for emergencies.
Saving money is not a walk in a park… you must be very discipline when it comes to your everyday expenses and try your best to set money aside for saving. In my case whatever money, I can scrounge up or what’s left from my salary I try my best to always set it aside for my alkansya. This is very hard for me, because I always wanted to help my dad out in providing for my family, but of course my dad would always tell me to focus on fixing my life first and get back up on my feet again. I promise myself to still try to help- out to the best of my abilities, so I sacrifice my personal interest and try to manage my finances by focusing on the things that our important. As each month passed, the shaded circles keep on increasing and every time you look at feel very happy and excited to see what you have accomplished. January 1, 2021 I finally opened my iponchallenge alkansya can and started counting the money bills that I have collected, and it was a worthwhile experienced. I never could have imagined that I could have accomplished this challenge even more so not be tempted to use the money I have worked hard in saving in buying something for myself (like a new laptop or a new phone). Instead, I deposited everything in my Eastwest savings bank and even added some of the money I earned last December 2020.
This made me learn that saving money is really a tough thing to do, because temptation is everywhere, and you might end up spending it all when you give in to your desires. However, I know the fear of not being able to do anything when the time has come and not a day goes by that I do not think about it. The money that I will save can become something that will help me in the future either it is for a career path change, for personal leisure, investments or for emergencies. We can never really tell, which is why saving for the future can be hard, but in the end, it is important because you will never know what the future holds.