Yesterday is history

Yesterday was errands day. Went to the drugstore for the maintenance medicines of my parents and then went to the supermarket afterwards to pay for our utilities and buy some stocks.

As years go by, I can say that our budget for basic necessities have been decreasing. Who am I to complain when I do not have any contribution right? I know that my dad's pension is not enough to cover for everything and with the increase in a lot of basic commodities, all we need to do is to adjust. During the pandemic, we would go to the supermarket twice a month and a Php3,500 grocery supplies was only good for 2 weeks. However, now, we try to fit our Php5,000 worth of groceries for a month. It really breaks my heart to go to the groceries nowadays. It was once a therapeutic feeling for me whenever I go to supermarket but I think it is the opposite now. How come there is an increase in the prices of basic commodities but there is no change with the monthly minimum wage or pension of a person?

There was a survey in the news last week of the things that people have been sacrificing because of the increase in the prices of goods and services. Below are the data:

43% Leisure activity or travel
29% Dining out
14% New clothes or things
14% Medical check-up
0% Gadget

If you are to sacrifice one thing in the choices above, what would it be? I think can sacrifice all of them except medical check-up. However, if I were to choose one that is very much applicable to me then it would be dining out. I may not be literally dining out but ordering food online is still part of it. Just for this month, I think I have spent Php5,000 on food deliveries. Imagine that it is already equivalent to our monthly grocery budget but this was only good for 4 deliveries. Yikes! I really have to cut down on food deliveries if I do not want to get drowned in a pool of debts.

I was surprised that no one would want to sacrifice gadgets. But in reality, I know that majority would sacrifice medical check-up over leisure activity or travel. Take for example my uncle who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. It took him months before he agreed to have himself checked. He prioritized buying a new car over his health. He is only relying with his pension yet he still decided to buy a new car over his health. He said, "if I am going to die, then I am going to die". He said that prior to buying a car yet he himself knows that he was already feeling weak. Whether young or old, some people are really sacrificing their health. That is why I feel sad for the elderly because they would rather use their money for their basic needs other than prioritizing their health. If only our country would have free hospital care benefits and maintenance medicines for the senior citizens. Having free hospitalization is the top reason why my aunt and uncle do not want to leave Canada even if they really want to stay here in the Philippines. I wouldn't blame them because you get to save a lot especially on maintenance medicines. My parents have been taking their maintenance medicines every other day just so they have some money for other living expenses. Then there are those who would cut their medicines into half just so they can drink it everyday. Different people, different way of skimping.

When we got home, I told our helper that we needed to fit the meats that we got for a month. We got a kilo of ground pork, a kilo of pork meat, a kilo of tilapia, a quarter of marinated milkfish, a kilo of chicken wings, half a kilo of chicken liver and the rest were basic neccessities like oil, condiments and toiletries. Then our helper jokingly said that if she were to cook pork adobo, she would only put a few pork meat then she would add a lot of hard boiled eggs just to make it look many. LOL. I told her to divide the kilo of pork meat into 4 so that it will be a quarter of pork per day. Diet? Absolutely! LOL.

I guess having a side job is really required now for everyone who has a primary job. Well for a bum like me, I think I really need to figure out what it is that I want to do with my life. Clock is ticking. Tick-tock, tick-tock.

June 21, 2022

P.S. lead image is a photo of my watch.