Marriage and Beyond

I am glad to report that we are definitely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel from where we are at. We have completely paid off the outstanding balance of one of our credit cards. The hubby and I collectively have a total of four credit cards, minus the supplementary card, which generates one bill with its primary.

When I went to check with EliminateDebt.org I was encouraged to press on to eliminate debt and be more vigilant against accumulating them back. Their site reports that most adults have a minimum of two credit cards – sadly, we fall under this category. That is also one of the reasons why we paid off the aforementioned credit card balance. Before the next cycle of renewal, I would have to call them to terminate my account. That Citibank Visa was a pre-approved one awarded to me for having had a good credit standing with them the previous years. Now I know better than to accept extra cards when they come calling to bug me with another. Continue Reading »

One of the other sources that most stay-at-home moms use to add income to their households is through affiliate programs. In the internet, many bloggers use paid-to-blog services, but sometimes this could be time consuming. For those who have been blogging for a while, especially those with sites that are already getting constant and regular traffic, earning through commissions from sales and ads through their sites is a better alternative. Especially here in the Philippines where prices of fuel and commodities continue to rise, finding ways to increase household income is really important, particularly for growing families. But always remember that it is God “who gives you the ability to produce wealth”, according to Deuteronomy 8:18. So families need to depend more on God rather than themselves, knowing that it is He who provides us the means, the strength and even the opportunities for all the work we are able to do, whether it is blogging or any regular job.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him,
and he will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

One of the major issues in marriage is the finances. There are some couples that we know that manage their finances as if they are still not married. Although they may have their reasons, this kind of set up may have some setback in the later years. When a couple gets married, they give each other their full being, that’s precisely why it is called a union. How can it be called a union when finances is taken off the equation?

We have always believed that there is no other way our family lives but through transparency in everything. This was the very first thing we were told to value right from the first meeting we had with the pastor we saw for pre-marital counseling some seven years ago. The starry eyed couple we were back then were introduced to the realities of finances in a marriage and how it breaks many families if the issue is taken for granted.

One of the things that we have learned through the years is to consolidate bills such that the interest rates that we then have had reduced to a minimum. Continue Reading »

This post will be related to the previous one even as it again concerns the family finances. When you’re young, one tends to be carefree and cool about things in the future. Although I consider myself to be relatively prudent, (Thanks Ma!), there were still things I could have done better at, even in the earlier days of our marriage. Like even with the limited resources we had back then, be could have started small and saved a little at a time.

We are now in the time of our lives that we are left with no other option but to tighten our belts and prepare for the major happening in any growing family’s life – preschool education. Our son is soon to enter preschool and we still have zero budget meant for that particular expense.

But we should on our way there in no time. We intended to have three Savings Accounts intended for different purposes. Continue Reading »

Two days ago, when our old bed was sold, one of the buyers saw my wife’s laptop saw her website.  This guy asked about our business, thinking that maybe it’s the same as his business.  He is involved in a home-based telemarketing job where he works four hours a day earning a fixed income of $5.50 per hour (but starts out at $3.50 for newbies) and sells to people he talks to and he gets an additional earning of $20 per sale.  I suddenly became interested because my wife and I have been really considering getting a replacement for our 1989 Nissan California.  We intend to raise the money for the down payment of a brand new car from our blogging business and the monthly payments from this home-based telemarketing job.  We are just about to inquire about the details of this job but based on the experience of the guy we talked to, everything sounds so believable and doable.