Rent vs. Gas Expense - Is it time to move closer to work?

Should Pinays consider paying on rent and relocating to a place nearer to the office rather than spend on gasoline that is ever increasing in price?

I think this is a good idea but it depends on how much you actually spend on gas or in transportation expenses such as bus, tricycle, and train fares.

Rent usually costs 4,000 pesos up to 8,000 pesos. Of course, more expensive rent fees means more upscale apartments and locations. Aside from savings that you can make from transpo expenses, you also save on time and earn more opportunities to catch some sleep.

Imagine being able to walk to your office building and waking up to a maximum of 30 minutes before work starts. Wow, that is a dream come true for many Pinays like me.

One drawback is that you cannot bring your family and all your comfy furnitures with you when you relocate but you have more energy to work and less worries on making it on time or getting home safe.

Consider these options, I too am in the look out for space. During these times of price increase and heavier traffic, renting is an attractive idea.

Can Mangoes Help Pinays Retire Early?

Yes I am talking about mangoes, the favorite fruit of many. Last year, I came across investment information on how one can buy or invest in a single mango tree for Php 30,000 ++ and as the tree grows and bear fruits, you will receive investment income each year.

The tree starts bearing fruits after 6 years, and at around the 10th year you would have 100% ROI. The tree continues to give you income up to 50 years - which means that even if you are just lazing around for 50 years, you continue earning passive fruity income. Returns range from Php 10,000 to Php 50,000 annually. So buying lots of mango trees seems a clever idea.

The company/business/organization behind this is Golden Harvest. I found their website at http://www.goldenharvest.com.ph. In the website, there is no mention of initial investments but I researched online and found some information from its early investors.

I asked my mom about it since it seems a very good type of investment to put money into and she said that like all investments, we've got to investigate, study, and be cautious. Their office is in Ortigas so if you want to know more, you know where to find them.

There are also commissions for referrers and sellers of the mango trees but I am not one of them :)

If you would like to share some information about Golden Harvest, please do leave a comment after this post.

My first $100 from Blogging

Yehey! Aside from being a hobby, blogging was able to give me $100. Some professional bloggers earn $100 a day and that's because they dedicate time and a hefty amount of braincells to their blogs.


$100 is like a milestone for me, convert it to pesos and that's around Php 4,000. Adsense is not yet included. Most of the money is from Smorty and a bit from Blogsvertise.

Yet, we can see more earning opportunities with Project Wonderful and a newcomer called Pay per Play. Pay per play is an audio ad that plays once your blog is loaded. The ad is around 5 seconds or so and they say it will let you earn more from Adsense.

It will be awhile before I can reach $100 in Adsense though, I'm not even at 50%. So what to do now? Since we've proven we can make money with blogs, it's a good time to start looking for more lucrative money making schemes.

I was at the Entrecard Shop yesterday and guess what, I saw that some people are already exchanging entrecard points for $25 via paypal. Not bad eh? I am dearly waiting to be able to exchange e-points for some dollars.

So, hold on to your blogs because someday, all those words will also give you $100 and more! :)

Project Wonderful - Earn money from your blog

Being a work from home person is always a dreamy thought and with the current developments in the blogging scene, it's possible to make blogging a full time job. Read: It's possible.

The latest money making website I found is Project Wonderful. They let you sell ad space on your blog and advertisers with the highest bid gets to display their ad on your blog.

They use what is called "ad boxes" and you can choose from different sizes, this means you get to choose how big or small the ads will be.

Project Wonderful pays via paypal which is available here in the Philippines. As you accept more ads, the bids will get higher too and that means more money for you!

Project Wonderful is only one way to earn money from home, back track to my previous posts to read more about making money out of your pinay blogs. If you have time to write and promote your blog, surely your work will be rewarded in time.

Visit Project Wonderful's website at projectwonderful.com

Pinays can work from home with Odesk

Pinays always dream that they can work from home, beside their kids and family. Odesk has made it possible for several Pinays to become virtual employees of international companies. It's simple and easy to create an account, upload your resume, and start looking for a virtual employer.

Yup, you can earn in dollars at the comforts of your home. Most of the jobs are paid by the hour. In Girltalk (a forum for Pinays) many women have earned and experienced working with Odesk. You can read their online job thread.

Pinay Money Maker will continue sourcing online jobs and opportunities for those Pinays looking for jobs especially the working moms out there.

Happy New Year!


Note: I haven't work with Odesk so feel free to share your experience here! :)

Did Christmas leave a hole in your pocket?

Sure, Christmas was so much fun it wasn't hard to forget about budgets and savings. To be honest, Pinay Money Maker also exceeded budgets! But 2008 is approaching and we've got to take hold of our pockets and recover. Yup, expenses may send any money maker into the doldrums and create a monetary snowball effect.

First you've got to forgive yourself. Even if you can't see where your money went, be kind to yourself and think about the warm memories during Christmas. Remember the face of your favorite niece as she opened your multitude of gifts? Priceless.

Count again. Don't pretend nothing happened to your savings account during the Yuletide season. Track once more how much money you've left, it's okay to feel discouraged but hey, it's good you still have savings instead of debts.

It's not the end of the world. Come January you'll receive yet another roll of pay from work and you can use this to patch up the hole created by the oh so happy season. Think rich and even if it's not yet in your account, stop frowning and imagine how much more you can make in 2008.

Be thankful for the gifts you've received. And use them! don't stack your gifts up in the closet. Keep your gifts somewhere visible so you can actually use them. This will save you from buying the same item in case you forget.

Now is the perfect time to create your money making goals for the New Year. Would you like to start participating in Mutual Funds this coming year? or would you like to build up your time deposits? What is your money making goal?

Happy Money Making everyone!

5 Christmas Bazaar Money Tips

Pinay Money Maker was at the World Bazaar yesterday, lots of people shopping and if you observe, you can see lots of stressed out faces too!

To prevent turning this fun activity to a stressful and expensive one, here are some tips for you:

1. Go with a mission - take 5 minutes and ponder your mission, are you buying more for yourself or are you going to buy gifts for others? Most of the time it's both so just give a percentage like:

30% - gifts for myself
70% - gifts for others

Doing so will not only help you sort your money but also manage your time. Time flies during bazaars and you have to be in control.

2. Eat before you go - eat as if you are going to war, seriously. If you don't have carbs and protein in your system, you might not endure all the pushing and toe stepping : ) having a full stomach contributes to have full focus and that will prevent you from making unnecessary purchase.

3. Plan - if you have a Christmas list, bring it. If not, just keep in mind what are the items you are looking for and have a counter plan when you don't find them. This way, you don't contribute to the direction less crowd. This is not the time to think what you should get for who because there is no thinking floor space, it's either you buy or move forward.
4. Skip the abubots (accessories) unless for gifts - ever wondered where all the stuff you bought from last year's bazaar went? They went to unused and forgotten planet! Most of the time, the accessories you buy gets lost or you realize it's not going to work out for that fancy bracelet and your closet. Try to skip the abubots like trinkets, bracelets, key chains, necklaces, and fancy rings. Stick to buying stuff that can be used for all purposes like tshirts and pants.

5. Go against the crowd - from the entrance, look at the areas which are filled with people and those that still have breathing space. Go for the second if you don't want pushing and be able to enjoy looking around without hurrying up.

P.S.

Only bring your bazaar budget, mine was just P1,000 and I ended up with all useful stuff that can be used anytime and anywhere :)