NU 12 Week 2 - New Spending Habits/ by CdlC

Hi Sir Saguinsin,

Kindly acknowledge receipt of my NU 12 Week 2 - New Spending Habits/ Routing.

I also sent the other two homeworks last week - NU 12 Week 1 and Factors Paper. Kindly acknowledge receipt for both as well. 

Thank you very much sir. Merry Christmas!

Warmest Regards,

Camille Dela Cruz

ENTREP S20

ENTREP S20

Mr. Jorge Saguinsin

NU 12 Week 2 – New Spending Habits/ Routine

Camille A. Dela Cruz

Looking over which NU topic to write about, I was delighted that the next topic– New Spending Habits/ Routine was the topic for week 2.  I was enthusiastic and excited because this was the topic that I greatly relate too. I've been experiencing financial difficulty recently due to my undisciplined spending habits, which is unacceptable and needed immediate improvement and change.

In my family, I was known to be the most "kuripot" person. I would rather save my money than spend it on anything. One weekend in 2001, my mom was quite surprised to see bundled money in a square rusty tin can (hehe.. apparently that was piggy bank at that time). She confronted me when I got home and asked me where the money came from; she was astonish to find out that I've been saving 100% of my allowance and not spending a single cent. Growing up till college, I had that strong discipline on spending, however, it all changed when I started to earn my own money. I was spending lavishly to the point I was consuming beyond my means. There were several reasons behind this irresponsible action: 1. I had no control 2. I wasn't aware of my priorities yet 3. I was enjoying too much. All of these wrong perceptions led me to a path of destruction. I ended up having a huge amount of debt on credit and no savings at all.  

Before the year 2011 ended, I had to talk and push myself to fix the financial side of my life. During the course of this self-reflection, I came up with a 2-year road map, a vision on where I want to see my financial matters 2 years from now and what strategies will I do to reach this objective. A part of the strategies is identifying what my monthly expenses are. I realized that I wasn't aware anymore how much money I bring out. These expenditures are the essential things I need to spend on, like medicines and personal toiletries, and exclude those unnecessary like clothes, eating out, watching movies, etc. At first, I wrote everything down and kept the receipts but it was so tedious and there were several times I would lose the receipt or forget to log my expenses. Since technology is sort of man's best friend, I used the available apps that would help me log all my expenses and see everything instantly. I know this isn't new for everybody but it was definitely new for me! I never knew that technology could be of a big help to my dilemma. Every time I would spend, I would just log it into the app and then it will automatically add up and instantly show how much money I have left. So after using the app, I became more aware of my monthly expenses. This awareness gave me the ability to know and control after. Just the opportunity to know made me really happy.

I believe the importance of all of this, is that when the moment comes when an aspect of your life is turning to be uncontrollable or in a bad light, one must STOP, be aware that there is something wrong, find out the reasons behind it and take action to address such before its too late. I always believe that people are responsible for their own lives and they should not blame anybody but themselves. In this experience, I learned to take things in my own hands and change the course of my life and lead it to a better path. 3