February has been a very challenging month for me and my girlfriend. I have exhausted most of my emergency savings and spent the coins and bills I have kept in my coin bank. But I am glad that all these outflows are being used for a worthy investment. Come April, we are already done paying the equity for our future home! 

I shared our journey for this future home last year on Hive. You may read through this link: Blog: Weekend Wandering 2 | We Got Our Keys!

But we still have the month of March to surpass. Laban lang!

Our financial *crunch time* has taught me several financial lessons. I'm glad to share some of them in this blog entry. 

Lesson 1: Learn from your mistakes

As I get older, I become more conscious of my spending habits. Though I still commit blunders (who doesn't, anyway?), I try to get the most of my mistakes and work on improving my decisions. And several of these mistakes are financial in nature. What I do is make a mental note of my blunders. If a certain product doesn't meet my expectations, I scrap it off my choices the next time. If a person failed to deliver a promise like to pay their obligations, they might not expect from me a second time they ask. Mistakes are normal, but committing them, again and again, is a big NO. 

Lesson 2: Save and be glad you did

Don't underestimate the power of coins and loose change. I love saving new 20 peso coins and 200 peso bills, as well as putting loose change in my coin bank. Whenever I see one, I regard them as 'invisible" until saving them became a force of habit. I even get attached to these bills and coins that I find it hard to let go of them! 

But when the time came for me to deposit them to augment our equity payments, I'm very much satisfied because the effort of saving them really paid off! Who would have thought that coins can pay a considerable portion of monthly housing equity? Never underestimate the power of coins. So save up for the future! Be it coins or bills or a percentage of your salary, it doesn't matter. Just do the deed and you'll be glad you did. 

Lesson 3: Pay exact amounts

This goes to commuters like me. I understand that we are all going through a hard time this pandemic, and drivers are some of the hardest hit economically. I admire those who stick to their integrity of charging only what's necessary. But there are those who overcharge and most of the time, they even annoy their passengers with their attitude! So instead of wasting your time arguing with this kind of driver, pay only what's necessary. Bring exact amount whenever possible. 

This also goes when paying for other services. Paying exact amounts helps you not to overspend because you know exactly how much you're going to part with. 

Lesson 4: Grab opportunities to save more

I use the Shopback app whenever I have something to buy from Shopee or Lazada. It gives me a little for every purchase. But little increments can be a significant amount over time. If you want to download ShopBack and earn from your purchases, you may use this referral link and earn 100 when you sign up: ShopBack

Also for my bills payment, I use ShopeePay. Not only does it save me time queuing, but it also offers vouchers and coins cashback for my digital payments! I can also pay in installments for some bills. 

And for recurring payments that charge interests for overdue, I make sure to pay in advance whenever I can so I would not only be charged unnecessarily, it frees me from the hassle of bills piling up. 

Adulting is difficult, but with proper navigation, even small financial decisions come up as big.