My Top 7 Frugal Resolutions for 2013

Wow!  Is it 2013 already?  I’ve been hiding in my bunker and just managed to get out now.  LOL!

Seriously, I’m so happy that I have now a bit of time to blog that I can’t stop myself not to joke.  The stress of overworking and settling personal matters is beyond me now.  Whew!  What a relief!  I feel so free I can pack my bags now and travel the whole wide world (I wish, but I’m preparing for this in the very near future).  LOL!

Anyway, what am I doing here writing about resolutions when the first quarter of the year is ending?  Resolutions are often written in New Year’s month, right?  Well, I don’t need to follow the norm and do that.  Resolutions should be made every time you fail.  The only thing we can do when we fail is to get back on our feet and plan again on how to succeed.  At least, that’s the way I think.

Honestly, I’m a bit ashamed every time I look at the title of this blog – A Frugal Cebuana Blogger.  Frugal my ASS!  There’s no frugality on how I live the past few months – none and nothing at all! So what am I doing here blogging about frugality and stuff? Well, this blog is my anchor that pulls me back every time I got swayed into a different bloody direction.  As overspending is a bad habit of mine, this blog would somehow remind me that I should get back to my original resolution and slowly get away from my old lifestyle.

A frugal lifestyle is not easy.  It would take complete self-restrain and discipline.  So here are my top 7 frugal resolutions that I should keep in my bloody head starting NOW!

My Top 7 Frugal Resolutions for 2013

1.   Stop being gallant and let others pay for me.  Yes, yes, yes!  I have this “pride” thing in me that I often have the urge that I don’t need any one to pay for me.  It’s actually a habit, and oddly I always feel satisfied every time I’m the one who pays the bill.  Stupidity or generosity, this is something that I need to minimize to control my expenses.

2.  STOP eating out.  For God’s sake!! This habit is sooo horrendous!  My partner and I often eat out and we often spend over a thousand pesos, and that’s just for the two of us – a friggin’ waste of money as we can always eat a meal worth Php200 (or lower than that) at home.   Jeezzz!

3.  Turn off the PC and its electric fan before dozing off.   This is actually a product of my laziness.  Our monthly electric bill always shocks me.  Every time I went to bed, I often think that I’ll only sleep for around 3 hours and get back to work.  But, that never happened.  I often wake up 8 hours after that and when I checked my PC; it’s still running as well as the electric fan that I use to keep it from overheating.  Aside from wasting money, I’m also endangering our lives by keeping these appliances on when we are asleep.  I need to stop this right now or else….  Regret always comes at the end.

4.  Learn to say NO, NO, NO! For those who know me personally, especially my family and close friends, they would definitely say that I’m the generous type.  I seldom decline when a friend or a family member would ask me to give or lend them some money.   Once they approached me, I often feel obliged to help them as I always think that it’s better that I’m the one who give than I’m the one who beg.  Stupid or compassionate, my habit to always say yes is not helping me financially.  Why?  Because not all those who borrowed me some money pay me on time and a few haven’t paid their dues at all. ):

5.  Start meal planning to cut back expenses in food.  I often read about meal planning on some frugal blogs that I often visit.  But, I never really attempted to try it.  NOW is the time to start planning for our meals.

6.  Create a daily expenses tracker.  I’m done creating this and I just started recording our daily expenses.  This will help us in minimizing our day to day expenses by giving us some clear factors which of the stuff we buy are not that important and which are the ones that are causing us to spend a lot.

7.  Create a monthly savings tracker.  This one is of utmost important.  I really need this to track my achievement and to measure if I have maintained my resolve.  For those who are like me, still struggling to get away from their overspending habit, then I strongly recommend that you create this tracker first.

So, what else?  I really want to add an 8th resolution but I can’t do it right now.  My 8th resolution would be to stop hanging out in coffee shops.  But, at the moment, I really need to go to one every time I’m not at home as my work requires me to have a stable internet connection.  F*ck  SmartBro!  Its connectivity and speed can’t be trusted.    Yes, I have a SmartBro USB Broadband stick but it’s a big failure. (I really want to elaborate this but it would take me another blog post to share my experience.)

Let’s get back to my pending 8th resolution.  I really, really want to avoid coffee shops but going to my fave shops is now one of my pastimes.  Also, I’m sooo addicted to anything coffee.  If a doctor would examine my intestines, he will surely find remnants of coffee in there.  I consume coffee daily and I can’t work without it in my system. Tsk.

 

N.B.: If you are reading this post up to this line, then I’m sure, just like me you’re also struggling to live frugally or you’re also planning to live as one.   For sure, you have your reasons why you decided to adapt a frugal lifestyle.  Share them by commenting below.

 

Photo above is used under Creative Commons License. Credit.

About Empress

Empress is a tech enthusiast who loves to read and write. She founded Empress Content Writing & Digital Marketing Services to help small entrepreneurs grow their business.

5 thoughts on “My Top 7 Frugal Resolutions for 2013

  1. That’s correct we don’t need to follow the norm and do that. Resolutions should be made every time you fail.

  2. I’ve been trying to do some of these things to save money too. It’s just so hard to say NO when you’re friends ask you to go eat out for dinner whom you haven’t seen in a while! However, hope we can both perservere!

  3. I think resolutions help you focus and accomplish things one at a time. We have so many things going on in our lives, it becomes difficult at times to handle everything together. This is the time you take recourse to resolutions.

  4. Resolutions should be made every time you fail.It’s just so hard to say NO when you’re friends ask you to go eat out for dinner whom you haven’t seen in a while

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