I fail at budgeting

I wonder how people budget their money to buy groceries.
I am terrible at this.

Should I make a list?
Should I not buy over my cash budget?
Should I not use my sup cc for this?

I should just be using about 500 for groceries and even after contemplating for things, I end up with 1,772.20 for my first one for 2019.

I actually bought a water container so that is about 469.75. I am living alone and I don't have a refrigerator. I want to put water in a safe place that gives me the option to add ice to it. Also if I am marketing vita juices this would come in handy. So I accept that is a big purchase this time.

I tried to not buy canned goods that were over 20php but that is hard to come by now especially because the one I like is 27php at least. I like Century Tuna because the others are really too fishy for my taste.

My grocery list was

1 Crab and Corn (I like this and I wanna try eating more soup. Since I don't know how to cook any from scratch I would have to buy them for now.)
Downy and Ariel liquid soap (I didn't buy the bottled ones because I can't carry it too heavy maybe next time)
1 small bottle of Zonrox color safe (it seemed better to buy in a bottle. This was lighter than the Downy and Ariel ones.)
1 pack of the seaweed flavor shake thingy for chicken (I plan to use the breading and the seaweed flavoring separately.)
A box of baking gloves (100 pieces - I need it for cooking and cleaning since I have to clean my apartment from time to time. I know this is single use plastic but I need it since I don't like rubber gloves at all.)
A bunch of beef loaf, meat loaf, sardines, and corned beef (they were the ones with cheaper than 20php canned goods)
2 regular sized Century Tuna Flakes in Oil (emergency food provision)
2 regular sized Hunt's pork and Beans (emergency food provision)
1 small bottle of fish sauce, soysauce and cooking oil
1 Hunt's tomato ketchup (I chose the bottle that is plastic since it looks refillable to me.)
1 small bottle of Head and Shoulders Lemon
1 small refill for Johnson's liquid soap
1 small can of Jolly mushroom (I wanna try out if I like mushrooms that I cook. I don't have a problem with other people's mushroom dishes. I had to resist buying sauce to go with this. I will just look for a recipe that uses soy sauce with mushrooms. I also saw shitake mushrooms in a can. I will get around to that when I learn how to cook regular mushrooms.)
1 set of plastic reusable food containers (the glass ones are heavy and expensive but I will buy them next time)
1 bag of cheese cake (for emergency breakfast and snacking at work)
1 small plastic container of strawberry stick-o (for snacking at work)
1 ecobag (I forgot mine, I know it's my fault.)

I am going to get whacked when the bill comes out again so I should make sure to use them well.
I still have a bunch of stuff I really need to buy.

A induction oven ready POT. I will buy one that can cook pasta so that I wouldn't need to buy a small one and a large one. I should be able to cook some stuff with that and the pan that I already have. I would only make these big purchases for January then not make anymore for the rest of the year. I want to make sure that I can handle all the cooking I want to do.

I also need two trash containers. One for daily trash and one for recyclables. I should buy a big one and a small one and get some bio-plastics or keep all the paper bags that I encounter in my daily life.
I can't do the stuff that eco-friendly folks do and I am not going to even attempt to go that extreme. But I already have a reusable straw from my office-mate and that seems like a good place to start. I would need to get a thermal travel tumbler later on. I will ask the universe to send me one through other people.

I also want to buy clothes. One per paycheck if possible. I really don't have any decent clothes that I picked out. Almost all my clothes look like they are something my mom would wear because literally since I got fatter, I only had clothes from her "bin" since I hate shopping. They are economical and useful but not at all a reflection of my personality. I like green and solid clothes. I also need some clothes for exercising. I wouldn't mind spending more than usual because from my experience when I buy cheap stuff, they don't last for a very long time. And I have to buy yet another cheap one. It's okay for pajamas but for everyday and work clothes, it is really not a good thing.

I will update you if I ever learn any budgeting stuff on my own.
If you have any tips to give me, let me know.

2019 : No Excuses

I am returning to this blog after many years of not using it.
This is partly because I miss blogging and hope to do it again.
I don't have the face to do vlogs nor the patience to edit videos.
I would most likely just be posting about daily things and it would be unbelievably boring.
But yeah. I am really back.

This year my POWER PHRASE is NO EXCUSES

It is hard to choose this pair of words because I think I am the laziest person that I know.
BUT for 2019, I want to do many things and there are just no more room for excuses.
I am going to be 35 in 2019 and I won't think I should live in a way that is not sustainable for me.

So there are a few things I want to do this year. No pressure to finish them all but no excuses not to try either.

#NoExcuses1 : VITA+ my life

I want to join the VitaACE team. 

I got a great opportunity with some people. So I am saving up for a chance to be a part of that group.
Even if I am not in the first 30, I will save to get the money for it.

#NoExcuses2 : Say Bye to 20KG 

I want to lose weight and I think the best I can do would be 10 to 20 kilograms.

I will start with stretching first then move on to actual exercises. I haven't done any actual exercise in YEARS. So I have to take it one step at a time. I did my first stretching in years this morning. It was hard. I used to do it so easily when I was a varsity player so I regret not doing it continuously after high school. I could have kept my health problems at bay and kept my slim body if I did.

#NoExcuses3 : ERDR - Eat Right, Drink Right!

I want to eat right and drink right. 

I don't drink alcohol anymore since getting GERD but I have yet to eat right. I want to switch to better and fresh food. This means I have to learn how to cook them. I am helpless on this front so I have to make an effort to learn. I live alone now so I can cook in my place and no one would know if I sucked or not. I have to give up regular soda for some other options life Life Cola. If I am going to make juices, I hope I can keep up to just drinking VitaPlus juices. My mom said she likes the guyabano flavor. As for me, I want to try all the flavors and see which one is my favorite.
It's not about going on one of those trendy diet that actually works on others. It's more on changing my relationship with food and cooking. I need to learn how to cook to eat the food I want without having to be subjected to other people's recipes that are often too high on sodium and other bad stuff.

#NoExcuses4 : Side Dishes Jjang!

I want to learn how to make at least five Korean banchan.

This is going to be really hard but I hope that I can make it. So that I would be able to get things going. I hope to buy a ref in the future so I can store them longer. But for now, I would put it in a cooler so I can it them within two days at least. I won't be making big portions since I live by myself. The ones in the Korean stores are just too expensive for me to buy on a regular basis. If I can learn how to make some of them, that would give me enough confidence to try the more complicated dishes. I have ZERO cooking skills and I can barely make an omelet. Most of the stuff I make ends up looking like a jeon. So I guess I have one side dish down.

#NoExcuses5: WritoNoExcuso

I want to write more and not be lazy on my deadlines.
I won't be returning to Fiverr since I realized that it really isn't my style. I would focus on things on Essays.ph and fiction writing.
I want to finish a story to send to PHR this year. No matter what happens, rejection or not, I just want to e-mail them one manuscript.

I am in no way the cafe-writer that some are. I need to have my own noisy space to write and talk out loud. I would often say the lines my characters say so it's not a good idea to pop open my archaic laptop in a cafe and write there pretentiously.

#NoExcuses6 : Pay Yes Swipe No!

I want to clean up my credit. Even from Mombank.

I need to pay off my phone. Then I want to buy a new laptop. I really need one for writing and work.
I should limit myself to Pentagon and Blackpink related expenses for this year. Or at the very least YG & Pentagon related expenses. For the rest, I won't even bother.

#NoExcuses7:  SHOW ME THE SHOW MONEY!

I want to save money for my show money for South Korea. 
I heard it's a bit much so I should work hard for that.

#NoExcuses8: KPOPforACause 

I want to do birthday charity work and prepare for the Pentagon 3rd Anniversary properly. I would be setting aside money for those things.

#NoExcuses9 : Paymaya Karduh!

I need to get a physical Paymaya Card. I will use it more this year and hopefully switch my paypal to be connected to my paymaya instead of the sup cc I have right now.

I know what you are thinking, why get rid of my sup cc when I have it? It's not helping me control my spending. But with PayMaya I have to put money on my account for the card to work, even for online shopping. 

For the most part I would be using this for Fanmaum charity projects. 

#NoExcuses10: LEGIT Universe!

I need to get my fancafe account to associate member again in the Pentagon Fancafe. I already got the first and second official membership card (the second one is coming soon). I have been downgraded to regular member from associate member due to the issues from last year and was too lazy to get it verified again. So I will be doing that with my Thumbs Up! Album before it is too late.

This was the first Universe membership kit had in it.
I still hate the thief who took my photobook.
May you rot in the darkest part of the universe.

#NoExcuses11: Bonus for Eomma

I want to give my bonus to my mom not to pay off something but just really just give it to her to spend on whatever she wants.
I have been giving her my bonus for a couple of years now but mostly to pay off my sup cc debt.

#NoExcuses12: #365days on IG 

I am doing the #365 photos thing on IG so I can post more about the things I do and see. I am not dating anyone right now so there won't be any weird lovestagram things there. My IG is synced with my Facebook while my FB sends my public posts on Twitter. But since IG is posted on FB as private it might not get synced to Twitter. But doesn't matter. I rarely check my Twitter account anyway.

It started with Familia posts #1of365 and would move on to the rest of the year. Even if I can't post them on the actual day, I hope to take daily photos making every single day. I don't want 2019 to pass without me knowing that the heck I went through. It's something for old me to look back on when I am forgetful and nostalgic. So be prepared to see a lot of GOLDEN PIG me (although I am an OX) this year! Follow me on IG - pinaywriter. As for Facebook, I still don't add people but the follow button should be available. THIS IS ME 

View this post on Instagram

#HappyNewYear #2019

A post shared by Simone (@pinaywriter) on Dec 31, 2018 at 8:12am PST

I hope that I can continue to blog and write about my life in this blog. I don't want to let it go and I don't think I can ever forget the memories I had as a blogger. So since I can't move on to other modes, being RETRO is not such a bad thing.

I hope we all have a wonderful 2019!