Day 51: Spaghetti Sunday

My three kids are typical youngsters who love Pinoy-style spaghetti. It's no wonder that it's on top of their minds whenever we pass by the towering signages of either Jollibee or McDonald's.  However, ever since discovering that a typical meal at any of these two outlets would cost our brood of five at least P350, we've tried to lessen, if not eliminate, going there for meals.

The last time the kids were treated to their fave spaghetti was over the Christmas holidays in Cebu. I knew they'd love a spaghetti weekend so I tried to fit the meal budget so that I can prepare their favorite. Looking for frugal means to still enjoy a childhood favorite, I discovered that using certain ingredients could still make a mean spaghetti without being too expensive. Instead of ground beef, I use CDO corned beef that's being sold per kg at the grocery. By substituting such, I can still afford to add mushrooms and hotdogs to the recipe. As for the hotdogs, I use the secondary hotdog line of a famous brand - in this instance, instead of the CDO premium Bibbo brand, I use their Idol brand. The kids would barely notice the difference since it's mixed in the sauce anyway. With a budget of P260.00, I was able to make enough spaghetti that stretched to three meals. The first two meals were with pasta and the third one was with rice already as the pasta ran out. Not bad eh?

As you can see, the kids had bulging bellies after eating and it was "clean plate" all the way!

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.