Day 91: Weekend Market

The weekend market along the corner of Ramos Extension and Escario Streets.
It begins every Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon.

Barely on my second day after our move from BXU, I started to miss home terribly...the familiar places, the traffic-free roads, the corner stores and outlets where I buy our needs, and all the other stuff I'm used to there.  Well, my spirits got an uplift when I was told of this weekend market nearby (across the road from where we live actually) that's teeming with fresh produce - fruits, vegetables, live chicken, farm fresh eggs. 

After learning about it, I couldn't contain my excitement and actually rushed to the location with my two girls in tow. It was indeed a sight to behold! Just looking at the cornucopia of goodies made my fingers itch to once again experiment in the kitchen. 

The only downside to this neighborly trip is the price...I was taken aback at how expensive it is here. Well, if I got the stuff in the supermarket, surely it'll be more pricey so this was the best alternative. Gosh!!! I so miss the "bagsak-presyo" produce of Butuan!!! Imagine, here, the bananas are priced per piece and not per kilo. There goes my kids' favorite fruit...we'd probably consume dramatically less here than we did back home...

With my small eco bag filled with as much as my budget would allow, I set for home, quickly planning in my head the cooking trip I'll have this weekend...dum dee dum...

Day 200: The Fruit of Kuya's Savings

Remember my blog entry about Kuya Jarred's savings from his daily allowance?  Well, once it hit a little over the P100 mark, he decided that it was time for him to spend his stash for something he liked. 

Upon arriving at the local mall, he went over the selection of miniature cars available on the store shelf. For nearly an hour, he searched for  the one that he liked that would fit his budget. At a smaller specialty store, he found this Hotwheels bread van miniature and decided that it was what he wanted to buy. For P99.75, he got a new spanking red toy car to join his collection of similar miniatures. 

I'm not so sure if he made the right decision to spend his savings right away...he could have waited a tad longer and saved some more money to probably buy something that was more interesting. Oh well, it is his money anyway and he should be the one to decide what to do with it. I just hope and pray that he learns the value of money and making the right purchase decision while doing this exercise.

Day 182: Savings

I don't remember at what age my parents first allowed me to bring money to school. From what I can dig up from my memory gap-filled mind is that as early as Kindergarten, I could already purchase stuff from the school canteen. At the time, we didn't use money but "chits" - our parents were the ones who exchanged real money for small laminated cards that had various denominations and gave these to us for use in school.  I know that I used to buy Cone Marshmallow Candy, Fruit Balls and Haw Flakes to bring home to my little sister then. 

Recently, hubby and I decided that it might be the right time already to allow Jarred to receive daily monetary allowance so that he will learn the value of money. The actual amount isn't much really (P10.00/day) but it's enough to teach him to save and keep a budget for whatever he wants to purchase for himself. He was told that he could actually do what he wishes with his allowance but advised that he could save up the money so that he could buy something really big for himself this Christmas.  For the past two weeks, every time he comes home from school, he automatically reaches for the coins in his pocket and places them inside a big blue vase. By weekend, he takes account of his savings and mentally calculates how much he still needs to purchase a most-coveted prize...a Hotwheels Color Shifters set.