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TIMES
are truly hard—a fact that our readers know only too
well.
Prices
of various commodities, including gasoline, continue to
rise even as the government recently announced that the
economy is doing great.
When the
wife keeps complaining about the ever-rising prices of
her groceries, you know that she needs additional money
to keep up with the cost of feeding a family.
But
where do you get that additional money when you’re just
an ordinary employee who has to keep juggling his
hard-earned salary?
We
recently read something about “money-traps” that we can
do away with in order to cope with the hard times. For
instance, let’s take the case of auto detailing packages
or a carwash.
A lot of
carwash or auto detailing shops will surely get angry
about this one but in reality the cost of having them
done on your car daily or even twice a month will really
drain your pocket. For a complete car detailing job, one
will shell out about P2,000. Doing it twice-a-month will
set one back by almost P4,000 a month or P48,000 a year.
If you
go for a daily carwash at P100 a day for 20 days a
month, that translates to P24,000 a year (excluding the
P20 tip each time your favorite carwash boy tidies up
your car).
If
you’re a coffee addict, chances are you drive to your
favorite store every time you go to the office and buy
one cup of your favorite blend that goes with your
favorite cake or sandwich. If a cup of coffee goes for
at least P100 and the sandwich costs P100 per pack,
that’s a total of P200 a day. Multiply that by six days
a week and you’re forking out P1,200? That’s almost
P57,600 a year, señor!
The
other money-traps mentioned in the materials we read
were cigarettes, alcohol, bottled water, lunch outs,
interest charges on credit-card bills, vending machine
snacks and the like.
For
motorists, the most significant money-trap is gasoline.
These days, vehicle owners spend at least P2,000 a week
on fill-ups. Multiply that by four weeks in a month and
12 months in a year—that’s more than P100,000 out of
their pockets!
If you
are one of those who can’t avoid using their car or
vehicle every time they go out, it is imperative that
you must find ways to save on gas. Developing gas-saving
driving habits is an excellent way to save money. These
should not be done only once in a blue moon but
practiced every day while you are on the road.
In the
past, we’ve written about tips on how to keep fuel
consumption to a minimum: Avoid jackrabbit starts (you
are not participating in a car race so be gentle on
those acceleration); avoid unnecessary sudden stops
(sudden braking prevents you from taking advantage of
any forward momentum which translates to more gas
consumption); plan your trips beforehand (don’t worry
about looking like a takusa or takot-sa-asawa
when you take those clothes to the laundry or even run
an errand to the nearby grocery); remove all those
unnecessary things in your vehicle to lighten the load
(not the important spare tire, please); maintain a
relatively good speed on the highway by not exceeding
2,000 rpm (more than that means high gasoline
consumption as proven time and again in eco-runs
organized by several car manufacturers and fuel
companies).
Yes,
“money-traps” are truly a part of our lives and the
trick is knowing how to avoid them.
****
WE
attended a recent press conference sponsored by Generali
Pilipinas (GP) that introduced a new insurance
measurement tool designed to calculate the cost of
rebuilding a home.
The new
service is part of its “Be Safe and Sound” Home Safety
Campaign, which was launched with the
Makati
city government and the Philippine National Red Cross.
The estimator helps homeowners determine the right
amount of insurance coverage that is sufficient to
completely rebuild their home in case of a disaster.
This is
one great measurement tool that can be used in order not
to overpay or underpay one’s insurance policy. I hope
Generali Pilipinas could come out with a version for car
and vehicle owners that can become a yardstick in
determining the value of their car or vehicle.
Among
those seen during the launch were Makati Councilor
Junjun Binay, members of the Makati Disaster
Coordinating Council (which is reportedly the equivalent
of 911 in the Philippines today) and GP officials such
as chief marketing officer Joe Ferreria and assistant
vice president for marketing division Michael Perez. |
