My Fifty-Peso Breakfast

Upon arriving at the office after an hour of commute, my stomach was crying as though I didn’t eat at home before leaving. Well our home breakfast turned out bad somehow so I was not able to eat much.

So I nudged my husband and we headed straight to the office canteen, which I seldom visit since I had my own kitchen. I was an avid customer when I was still single and was living as a bed-spacer where there is no chance to cook your own food so the only option was to eat out. Back then, our office canteen offers the most reasonable cooked meals and snacks. And it still does!

Counterclockwise:

1. Omelet (P25): The egg in this omelet has a great value added to it in the form of tomatoes and onions. An egg averagely costs P5, so it’s a nice move to integrate additional ingredients for it to finally cost P25. What I like about it is that it is not salty, as most Filipino dishes are. It’s just a plain and simple goodness.

2. Champorado (P15): This is the half serving and I loove champorado! It’s made from glutinous rice and choco tablea, topped with evaporated milk. I always order the half portion of a serving to save on cost and just to satisfy my sweet craving. A whole order costs P25.

3. Avocado Juice (P10): It’s the wonder fruit’s season once again, and this is my first time to eat/drink avocado for this year. The nutritious fruit was blended with some milk and sugar to come up with this delightful drink.

There, my tummy is now happy, and I’m ready to seize the day!

Can you tell me about your breakfast?

Large Mango

Just when my day is about to end, a vendor came and sold LARGE mangoes for Php 50 each.  I bought two.

I can hold it only if I stretch my fingers wide open, and its about twice the size of a regular mouse, or a regular mango.

Look, it appears like this when placed atop a laptop:

I got too excited to eat it, cautious not to get another cut on one of my fingers as I peeled and sliced it.

The taste: sweet and just a little bit sour. I ate it with bagoong alamang or shrimp paste. It’s the perfect match, but I was expecting it to be a little more sour.

The mango came from Batangas and the seedling was said to have come from abroad, thus the extra large size.

I still want the native unripe mango. Nothing beats its juicy and crispy sourness! (Drooling)

It’s Monday and I Miss Home

 
Once again I find myself in front of my office laptop. Occasionally glancing at the clock and counting the hours before it’s 5 PM, I managed to do today’s tasks in a breeze and now it’s blog time.

I’d want to be productive and all in my work but not all our dreams do come true in our expected time. I want to be the best I can be, yes of course, while I’m earning. It’s just not my ideal job right now, or for a few years now. It came to a point when I stay just because of my salary. The heck why did I stay here for so long?

But I’m thankful that God has given me work, which I remember praying hardly for about seven years ago. I strongly believe in the dignity of working and working hard for that matter, because this is one way through which God can bless the works of our hands.

That’s why I want to be the best and make work a form of my worship.

But look at me, God knows how depressed I am in being just another employee and with all frustrations building up through the years, I am afraid to step outside this company in fear that my qualifications have been stuck and that no other company would accept me now.

Time is ticking away and I actually do not have a concrete plan to leave because I’m waiting for something to happen first. Actually I don’t want to leave, I just want a big break. Something new in what I do. Something that will make me have that sense of fulfillment and accomplishment.

Like when I’m at home with my family.

Well, these are my sentiments especially after a love-and-fun-filled weekend. I miss home and everyone in it.

Win a Trip to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

My husband and I are fond of joining raffles and contests and we have our hopes maintained to be high although up to this point we haven’t won any yet.

Yesterday I did my shopping at Robinsons Supermarket Galleria and upon paying at the cashier using my Citibank Visa, I saw this small notice at the counter:

It’s a promo for Visa cardholders that purchased Php 1,000 worth of items in participating stores (single receipt).

I was qualified and I took that picture to be my basis on how to join the raffle.

When I arrived home I immediately registered my receipt at http://www.robinsonsretail-visario.ph and received a confirmation email that I now have an entry.

Good thing that the promo is until June 15, 2016 so I still have some time to earn more entries. Gotta buy at Robinsons stores for now, and hopefully win that trip to the Olympics!!!

Update as of June 14: Sadly I wasn’t able to add an entry since I did my suceeding purchases in other stores. I’m still hopeful though for that slim chance of winning.

 

Load that coins.ph Wallet! (Thru SM Bills Payment Center)

Upon exploring other convenient means for me to load my coins.ph wallet, I learned that I can save a lot in my cash-in fees by buying from SM Bills Payment Center. Cash-in fee is what you pay the cash facility that will enter the purchased amount to your wallet so you can make your payments/transactions through coins.ph.

In my experience with 7-Eleven, they charge 2% on top of the purchased amount. For Php 2,000 I’m charged with additional Php 40.

For SM Bills Payment center, I will be charged Php 20 for a Php 2,000 load. I initially liked to load Php 10,000 and the fee was just Php 40. I think for a minimum of Php 4,000 and up, the fee is fixed at Php 40.

So if I’ll earn Php 500 as the 5% rebate from the Php 10,000 (assuming that I’ll load prepaid telephone subscriptions with the whole amount), then I’ll get a clean Php 460 when that cash-in fee is subtracted.

That’s a decent earning, right? I’ll just have to establish my customer base and process as much transactions as possible.

I’m actually dreaming of selling Php 100,000 worth of bills payment/loads/etc. in a month. So that would give me about Php 4,600 additional income in a month.

May I succeed! 🙂

About my SM Bills Payment Center experience:

I did my money order thru the coin.ph app. The complete instructions was sent to me through email. It said I should pay a total of Php 10,040 at any SM Bills Payment Center (which is very rampant in my city) through the biller Dragonpay within two days. So I did it in SM City North EDSA Department Store. That was around 2PM and my wallet was loaded with Php 10,000 at around 8 PM. That was pretty fast! I am so satisfied with how these things are going. I think I’m all set up. I can have my transactions full-blast!

 

 

Load That coins.ph Wallet! (Thru 7-Connect)

After learning about this personal payment center and downloading the app, which is so easy to use, I needed to load the coins.ph wallet in order to conduct my first transaction.

I was glad that they have a lot of methods on how to load the wallet. Here’s an excerpt of the few ways via website:

I initially chose the first one, 7-Eleven coinsXpress. I just had to order for a wallet load in the website or via the app first, and then I received a confirmation email from coins.ph containing the complete instructions on how to complete the order. It said I should pay at any 7-Eleven store for the purchased load to enter my wallet.

I pass by a 7-Eleven store on my way home each day so on that particular day I dropped by the store, went directly to the cashier to pay for my coins.ph wallet load. In the same email, a reference number was given and it came with a barcode which the cashier can just scan. Unfortunately the scan thing did not work for some reason – maybe because she was scanning on my phone screen – so I just gave the reference number. Out came the receipt after I handed a total of Php 1020. Immediately there was this notification on my phone that I received the Php 1000 load in the wallet.

I was good to go! I re-loaded the prepaid number of my office mate right away. For P50 Globe load that I sent, I was instantly given the 5% rebate, which is P2.50.

Coins.ph is true, and it’s working! I’m excited to do more with this app.

 

The Wind Blew the Clouds and Rain Away

It was past three in the afternoon and it was a great relief to see the extreme summer brightness outside fade away into a gloomy shadow of the clouds that thickened up in the sky.

The humidity was threatened to dissolve in the anticipated rain.

I sent myself out into the garden to cultivate the soil and contribute a bit to this suffocated planet’s flora. The ground had opened its soul to receive another strong May downpour – something I planned to take advantage of to shower my newly-planted cuttings should the downpour come. 
I finished my work at around 5 pm. There was no rain. Just me and my new plants which I manually watered. By the way in the garden was my husband, too, doing his own garden thing, and our little one occassionally cheering us up or making us smile. That made the afternoon more meaningful, even without the wind-blown rain.

It Was Just Out of Boredom

Yesterday as I was browsing my Facebook page there was this ad telling about a woman who was a walking payment center through coins.ph. I clicked the link and it redirected me to the story about how the particular woman earned by paying bills, re-loading cellphone credits, and many more.

Being the one that pays all our household bills, I considered the idea of using this just for something new to do and to avail of the rebates (for extra income). Initially I also want to be of service to the people around me who need to pay their bills and conduct other transactions more conveniently than usual.

Here’s a primer that is simple and easy to understand. I got it from the website and it convinced me in no time to download the application, sign up and start my own payment center right away!

All I needed was a phone, which I have: Samsung Galaxy Core Prime Duos. This is where all transactions will be keyed-in. Actually if I don’t like to use my phone I can also transact in the website but using the phone is more flexible as I can do it anywhere and probably anytime.

It was not stated but I also need a good internet connection, which I also have, since the transactions can only be carried out online.

I also need to add money to my wallet, which is initially empty. The money in the wallet will be used to pay the transaction that will be requested by my first customers.

This got me really excited and I’d be happy to share my coins.ph experiences here. I’ll keep you posted!

 

 

I Judged Her by Her Old Clothes

I remember an instance about five years ago when I particularly judged someone by the things they wear.

It was during my first earning years when I really didn’t care much about saving for my future or even for anything. It’s like a monthly shopping spree where I can buy whatever I want with my own money until it’s all gone. It’s caring for myself after all yeah.

So when I observed one particular fellow about her choice of clothing and why the hell is she still using that old piece when she can just buy a new one, I was in that position of concluding that she’s poor. (I wish I’ve been blogging during those times so we can have a direct reference to a post from then about this.)

So much has changed in my life in the half decade and surprisingly, now you can find me using old things when I can just buy new ones!

It’s embarrassing but a good thing that I needed my husband to realize the value of things. It’s been difficult for the most part, but I’m happily keeping up.

For the things that I already own, I should regard them as though they are the last on earth. They should be taken care of so they can be used as long as possible, and they should be used up first before looking for a replacement.

I’m no longer minding much about how others might think about what I own. If a person will judge me the way I did five years ago, then I just hope they too woulc realize that wealth, if ever present, cannot be measured and flaunted in material things alone. Life is not about impressing others. And it wouldn’t hurt if you’re not using new things all the time.

Sweet Day’s End

Having someone to go home to is such a wonderful thing. After another long day of toiling and keeping up with the world you can take out all your masks and stop pretending that you’re all okay. You can just bury your burdened face unto their chest and feel that heart beat for you. That warmth that you share is enough to keep the world go round again for as long as you’re living.

Indeed God knows that it is not good for us to be alone that’s why He authored marriage – the highest form of intimacy that humans can have.

I am tired, and yet am glad that at the end of this another day I can rest and recharge beside the one whom my soul loves.