Finally Debt Free

Nice title huh.... I'm having doggie dreams just coz of it. It's great that I've finally been able to pay my sister and I've also given her my payment for my Citisavings Loan. That done, I can go back to focusing on my emergency fund and my Metrobank Savings Plan. Right now, my envelopes don't look so good, they're practically empty. But it's alright, Thea will be able to pay me back soon and I've got some "bonuses" coming up. I gotta take care of my visa soon but aside from that I don't think I have any big expenses coming up.

The Lost 2 Weeks

Yeah, yeah.... Lousy title :D But I couldn't think of anything else to call an update on the last two weeks, so there!

Anyway, I've updated my sidebar and I'm excited because I'll be able to pay my sister next month... That means a lot to me and will really help ease my mind a bit. You see, I obsess when I have debts, I'm always looking forward to the time when I'll be able to pay it off and I constantly compute when I'll have enough money for it.

I'm also happy because I have some savings and will be able to afford a ticket if I suddenly need to go back to the Philippines. I have a credit card but I don't want to use and abuse it :P

Thea and I are no longer going to tutor Sugar. It sucks because the kid is so darn nice and fun to be with. We live near them now and it's so convenient to pop in and visit them but it's awkward... Her mom said that they're going to Hanoi for vacation and they're not sure if they'll have her tutored again when they come back. Anyway, that's also one source of income less, which of course, sucks.

Moon is always busy so we don't see her much. She did drop in 2 Sundays ago and we had fun chatting with her. (note: I still owe her eight 2-hour lessons)

I now have 11 kids under my wing at the Kiddie Group. They range from 2 years 10 months to 4 years 10 months. They're crazy and active. Good thing I have wonderful helpers, Ruben and Ang. I dunno what I'd do without them... Hang myself, probably. Hehe.

It's a good thing it's summer vacation at the moment so I'll be getting about 10 classes per month with NES. It's a big help considering that I'm now making less than I used to. I still don't want to become a full time teacher there...

We're still keeping a tight grip on our finances, but, we're eating better than we used to. Living a stone's throw away from the supermarket is good because we don't own a refrigerator. Thea shops daily and we're not going way beyond budget. We still have a bit for snacks and such. Thanks to my aunt, who gave us some money, we can afford to eat out this month and buy little things for the house. Our old landlord also lent us a small television. Maybe we can scrape a bit of cash to buy a DVD player... Oh well, first things first.

And my favorite is.... I'm getting better at riding a bicycle. At least, I think so.

Quick Update

It's my third month here in Vietnam. We've moved to a new house nearer the center of the city which means no more expensive taxi rides. Yey! I'm way better at riding a bike than I was before and I can now manage to join people on the roundabout.

My job(s):
1. I work 5 days a week at a small international preschool . I handle the 3 to 5year olds.
2. I help at the baby group on Saturdays.
3. I work part time at the Natural English School, they give me 1-4 classes every week.
4. I tutor Sugar (11 year old girl) with Thea 3 days a week.
5. I tutor Truc (16 year old girl) once a week for two hours, we just converse in English.
6. I tutor my friend Moon whenever she has free time.

I don't earn much from all these, but I'm surviving... and happy :D

I haven't set an amount for my emergency fund, but basically I'll be putting in 20% of any amount I receive or earn, except for the fee for tutoring Truc, which I'll be saving the full amount of. To date I owe $300 USD from my emergency fund, I'll be saving an additional $25 USD every month for that for 12 months to take care of that.

I'll also be putting aside $100 USD every month for 3 months for my visa renewal, Metrobank Easy Tuition Savings Plan and Citisavings loan.

An Aimless Post

Living in a country where being financially successful makes you or breaks you has made me think about a lot of things. Being wealthy would be nice but in truth, I don't really need or want a lot of money. True, I'm looking forward to that day when I could say that I'm financially free but I'm in no hurry.

Right now, I'm nowhere near it. Yet I'm hoping that everything that I'm doing would lead up to it, or at least help me. I realize that my main problem is that I have no real idea of who or what I want to be. I want to be good and I want to be free, but either one's not a lot of help.

You see, I'm basically a floater who's getting by with the skills I've always had, or been good at. What do I mean? I went to college and took a course where if I wouldn't shine, I would be average. I took AB Communications because it sounded interesting and fun. And it was. I did some OJTs at different places but I never took a risk afterwards and tried to practice it. Instead, I loafed around for a bit then loafed a bit more when I took a job at a call center. Okay, lemme get something straight. Working in a call center is no walk in the park, it's a real job with real responsibilities. I took my job seriously and did my best, or rather, I did what I was best at. I survived and while I didn't exactly go to the top of the ladder, I did get recognition for my work and got assigned some big responsibilities. But still, it never really demanded a big chunk of me. I guess it became my security blanket. So next thing I did was that I decided that I needed to get out, fast!

It took my 2 1/2 years, but I finally resigned at the end of last year. I did some online writing and relaxed at home. I became a bum.

Then I left. I'm here in another country taking refuge in another skill that I've always had and been always good at --- English. So that's it. I dunno what I'm doing to my life. Haha. Aimless post of an aimless person.

Anyway, to get a little back in track or at least go somewhere near my financial freedom thingy... At this point, I'm doing my best to get rid of my debts. That's on top of my list. And then, I need to save and invest for God knows what while I contribute to my parents' finances. Maybe I'll think of a plan soon. Good luck to me :D

Luck, Hard Work and a Tight Grip on Finances

This month is a big challenge for me and my cousin's GF. People have been very good to us and so far, the goals we've set for this month finally seem doable. I am now a part time teacher at the Natural English School. This week I only have 3 classes, and if that continues, I'm looking into a very small paycheck by next payday. It's not even enough for my 2 month share for our new house. :P At the moment, I have another job prospect in the works, but again, that will not be a full time job so it's very sketchy at this time. In two weeks, my cousin's GF and I are going to continue tutoring which will cover food expenses. I have taken on a student who will come to the house 4 times a week for private tutoring. It might be bad business, but since she also is a friend, I couldn't bear to ask her to pay a lot of money. I've heard that the standard rate is $5/hour, but I gave her quite a bargain. Anyway, it will still be a lot of help considering that two weeks ago, we had no idea how we'll be eating this month.

I am managing our finances this month and it is to be hoped that there won't be untoward incidences or surprise expenses. I'm expecting a tiny salary next month so I need to put away as much as I can this month. Unfortunately, our finances had to be pooled for this month so I couldn't put away the usual amount for my savings. Good thing, I'm still keeping a savings plan in the Philippines.

Luckily, there has been some changes with the way our money has to be spent. So we can finally allocate a small sum for food expenses. Whew!

$920 (how much we can spend) = 14.720.000 VND + 100.000 VND (borrowed from Sonny)

8.400.000 VND = rent new apartment

1.850.000 VND = for emergencies and for some essential stuff for the new apartment

1.400.000 VND = bills due this month plus some unpaid bills

1.350.000 VND = re-upholster sofa that the dog destroyed

1.170.000 VND = food and other expenses

650.000 VND = rent motorbike & two helmets

*****

If things go as planned, my share in all the expenses would only be $350 which leaves me with some credit for July. :D I dunno how much I'll be earning by then so I have to put away as much as I can. Next month I'll be sending at least $200 to my sister. Gotta pay off my debts....

personal debts (shared with my cousin's GF) about $82 each
$100 = deposit for the new apartment (due in June)
630.000 VND = Nha Trang and Dalat trip (due in August)
400.000 VND = Sonny (due in June)

Budget Plan for May

How do you budget when you don't have money? Teehee. As of the moment, we are on the negatives. We didn't want to, but we had no choice but to borrow money from an officemate just so we can go to work till Tuesday and leave some food for my cousin when we go to Nha Trang and Dalat. By the way, that trip is virtually free thanks to the Natural English School. We'll be going on that trip with about 20 or so people from April 30 to May 3. Unfortunately, there is a fee for entrance and the rides at Vinpearl Land, a cable car ride and one other thing. We've been given no choice but to go on that trip because we don't have anything to eat at the house, plus our seats and accomodation were reserved a long time ago.

Anyway, to start off, here's the list of bills and other things we need to pay for in the month of May:

• 8,400,000 vnd - 3 months rent and deposit for the new apartment (1,600,00 vnd was paid in advance: borrowed $100 for this)
• 2,500,000 vnd - 10 months payment for the internet (under contract)
• 1,800,000 vnd - re-upholster sofa that the dog, er, destroyed
• 600,000 vnd - rent a motorbike
• 500,000 vnd - utilities
• 200,000 vnd - taxi fare for one day

TOTAL= $862.50 (no budget allotted for food yet)

and the catch... we only have $880 to spend for all these payables and food allowance =)

The Current State of My Affairs

I started this blog thinking that it will feature only my financial progress (or decline). Little did I know that it would also become my diary and travel blog --without pictures it looks very boring so I'll post everything later. Anyway, to start off with the financial aspect, let me give an update:

Investments and Receivables:
Metrobank Easy Tuition Savings Plan: PhP100,000 (by February 2017 -- no witholding tax)
Prudentialife Education Refund: PhP39,000 (by October 2009)
Personal Loans: 300usd (by July 2008)

Debts and Payables:
Citibank Savings Loan: PhP13,602 (PhP2267 monthly until October 2008)
Metrobank Easy Tuition Savings Plan: PhP49,980 (33++ every 3 months until November 2011)
Personal Debt (eek! I hate this, gotta sell my videocamera soon): PhP2+++

Savings:
100,000 VND (about PhP260) and some change in Philippine Peso.

Darn! My savings looked way lot better back in the Philippines. But hey, I can't be discouraged. I gotta continue with the financial plans I started to have back home. I arrived with a few hundred dollars at this country and I intend to leave with a more than that in my pocket (literally because I don't use a wallet). However, first things first.

Viet Nam doesn't really have much public transportation, locals rely on bicycles and motorbikes to get around. Buses are rare and have few local routes. Children are trained at an early age to ride bikes and it is a common sight to see a toddler loosely holding a parent's shirt while riding a motorbike. I had no knowledge of this when I set out for Viet Nam. I have heard that there are a lot of motorbikes on the streets but the concept of a lack of public transportation was far from my mind. Motorbike taxis cost about 2usd and regular taxi cabs cost about 4usd for 6 kilometers. Unfortunately for us, my cousin, his girlfriend, and I, are not allowed to ride a motorbike as per an agreement with my other cousin's ex-girlfriend. That was our downfall. Furthermore, the Vietnamese practice siesta --- like the Europeans. Filipinos are familiar with the concept, but it is virtually unheard of in our native country for shopowners, schools, and even some companies to have a brief shutdown for this reason. Because of that, the school were I work closes for 5 hours and resumes at 430pm. Therefore, we take a taxi 4 times a day for 6 days a week. For an average work month with 26 work days, we spend a minimum of 325usd per month excluding weekly trips to the market and other shops. By the way, the house rent costs 200usd and my salary is 500usd. My cousin's girlfriend also works but between the two of us, we can barely make ends meet. Anyway, to make the very long story short:
1. We're moving to a new apartment ASAP (May 20 at the earliest) : We need to pay 8,400,000 vnd (about PhP21,895.8761) by May 5 and pay Ms. Khanh $100 by June 5. That's 3 months rent plus 1 month deposit
2. We're left with no choice but to rent a motorbike for a month, that will cost about 600,000vnd (about PhP1,500) which is way cheaper than the cab fare

In a couple of days we've made some big decisions that will really have a big impact on our stay in this country. Time will tell if we've made good ones. The new apartment includes a contract for one year and will tie us to this province until the 20th of May next year. In addition to that, I have to learn how to ride a motorbike in case of emergencies (i.e. my cousin falling asleep and failing to pick us up).

There's more than a week to go before payday but we're on the verge of bankruptcy. Luckily, friends are around to feed us and we'll be able to get through next week.

I'll give an update in a few days once we've refigured out how to stretch our money for next month. By June, I'll have a better savings plan and I'll be able to send money home to reduce my debts and help my parents out.

*About work:
1. Beginning May I'll be with the Natural English School as a part time teacher only and will be making $12 per class (1.5 hours)
2. 3 times a week, Thea (my cousin's girlfriend and I) tutor a friend's daughter and make $6 each per session
3. I'll be in training for a teaching position at another EFL school - will update salary once I finish the teaching demo