Sweldo na naman. It’s that time of the month when you’ll see “Describe your sweldo using a movie title/song title/movie line/song line” on your FB timeline. It’s that time of the month when the monthly Lazada and Shopee sales looks so tempting. It’s that time when we splurge a bit so that we can treat ourselves to something nice. The time of the month when all our bills and payables come knocking.
And since it’s sweldo, my wife and I are again in front of our computer with the bills and payables. For the longest time, we’ve been trying to save up to ensure that we’re prepared for the kids’ college. They wanted to be doctors, so we have to make sure we’ll be able to afford med school.
Budgeting has been ugly and frustrating for us for the past several months. We kept on trying to save, but every time we see our account the day before sweldo, it is almost always ₱0 or very near to it. Despite wanting to save, it seems like we were getting nowhere.
I sighed. Another month has passed, and we are still no better off than when we started.
My wife sat there staring at the screen, I could see on her face the frustration I was feeling with our budget and savings. We both didn’t know what to do. Suddenly, her face lit up and I knew she had a lightbulb moment. She smiled, “You know what?”
“Uh… what?”
“I remember my friend helps people to budget and fix their finances. Maybe she can help. What do you think?” she said as she reached for the laptop and started looking for her friend in her friends list.
I, we, were both desperate, “If she can help us with this mess, why not?”
We met with my wife’s friend. It was an eye-opening experience meeting and talking to her. Despite the distance, we agreed on an online meeting wherein she discussed a lot of things. She made us realize our goal, what we were doing wrong with our budget and savings, and what we had to do to reach those goals.
The best part of that meeting was that she promised us she’ll help us through our journey.
The process is not easy. It is actually quite challenging but seeing our savings – and even investments – grow is very fulfilling. It is really nice to have an expert that can help and guide us through this tough time.
Months ago, I promised my kids that as long as they study hard, they won’t have to worry about med school expenses. I’m glad to think that when they do go to med school, my wife and I would not have to worry about med school expenses.