List #24

Time to make a gratitude list again:

1.  Celebrations – We still had a simple dinner with my mom on her 78th birthday last Thursday and we also celebrated Jon’s brother’s birthday last Friday.

2.  UP – I remember all the lessons I’ve learned in and out of classroom during my college years.

3.  UP Haribon – As mentioned, this group has made a significant impact in my life and I’m very thankful of being part of the group and for all the friends I’ve made.

4.  Dragon Wars – This was our movie pick of the week and while I didn’t like it much, it was still time spent with my kids.

5.  Bread – This is my new “instant” gift, I gave milk bread to my mom and brought country bread to San Juan.

That’s it for this week.  What are you thankful for?

List #23

Time to make a gratitude list again.

1.  Sean – I’m happy to have known him for 19 years.  He was a good man and has touched a lot of lives.  He’s in a much better place now and I look forward to seeing him again when it’s my time to go.

2.  Birthdays – It was my Aunt’s 90th birthday yesterday and my mom’s 78th on Thursday.  We had a grand reunion yesterday to celebrate and it was great seeing relatives from all over.

3.  Banana cakes – I brought banana cakes to the party yesterday and I’m happy that even with all the commercial cakes available, my relatives complimented me on my cakes.  Of course they’re my relatives so maybe they were just being nice  🙂

4.  BPI rewards – As I’ve written, I really appreciate the rewards.

5.  Facebook – It seems to be a part of daily life now and it is the easiest way to reach a lot of people to share news and events.

That’s it for now.  What are you thankful for?

Rewards

There are a lot of bad stuff going on, riots and shootings and crime, so I thought of making a positive post to counteract all the negativity going around.

I used to have a credit card(s) and with credit cards, you can get lots of rewards.  They have points and rebates and stuff.  This is all great if you are very disciplined and can really pay off the full balance every month to avoid paying outrageous interest on your purchases.

When I first had a credit card, (maybe 15 years ago?), I was definitely that person.  I paid everything full and could save a huge chunk of my salary.  But of course, life happened, and with that, unexpected circumstances.  So there were times that the credit card got paid minimum amounts until the amount became impossible to pay at one go.  I realized there is no way I could get out of debt without help and without stopping the usage of the cards.

So, a few years ago, I made a call and made a payment arrangement.  I’ve stopped using credit cards and finally paid off my credit card debt last year.  It’s difficult to overspend when you’re using cash because if there’s no cash, that’s it.

I do miss the rewards that cards have to offer though.  Sometimes I’m tempted to get another card but I don’t want to go through that road again.  So, I’m really thankful that BPI offers rewards for using the express payment system.  My ATM card basically functions like a debit card and I can only use the amount of cash that I have.

I usually use this for back to school shopping and groceries as it’s more convenient, no need to withdraw and stuff (I sound like an ad).  But it’s true.  Anyway, last year, they had this reward where if you purchase a certain amount, you could get Jollibee food items.   We love chicken joy so that was a great reward for us.

This year, they tied up with Chowking for their reward.  I’m not really a big Chinese food fan but it was still a good reward.  We went shopping for shoes a couple of weeks ago and we decided to eat at Chowking that time.  I think their food had improved from the last time I ate at Chowking so that was good too.

I’ve been a BPI customer for I don’t know how long and I really appreciate the level of service they provide.  I am looking forward to more great deals in the future.

List #22

Time to make a gratitude list again.

1.  Life – One of my dear friends passed away last Saturday.  It was very sudden and unexpected and serves as a reminder of how fleeting life is.

2.  Friends –  We really should appreciate our friends more and spend more time with them and enjoy each other’s company more often.

3.  Carbonara – On a less serious note, we had the best carbonara ever for lunch yesterday.  Yum!

4.  Monterey –  We were given a 1/4 kg of ground beef after shopping there last Saturday.  Extra meat! 🙂

5.  Skype – My sisters and I had a very productive meeting via Skype last Saturday night.  It was more convenient than meeting personally.

That’s my list for this week.  What’s yours?

 

Loyalty Pays

As I mentioned last Monday, I got a huge surprise when I got my Globe bill.  Instead of owing Globe something, I even have a credit in my account.

About a month ago, I called Globe to cancel my account.  I’ve fulfilled my two year contract and since I’m not a big user, I decided to go prepaid.  But when I called, they offered to lower my plan to P299 per month.  I was planning on spending about P250 for load if I went prepaid so if I keep the line, it would still cost a bit more, although not by much.  There is that added advantage of not having to change my number, inform people and load every month so I was thinking that maybe that extra P50 might be worth it.  I guess the representative noticed my hesitance since he also offered to give me an additional P100 discount so my monthly bill just be P199.  Now we’re talking.

I decided to accept the offer and it was effective the next day.  Since it was the middle of the billing period, there were adjustments on the bill.  I’ve already paid last month’s bill, so with the adjustment, I don’t need to pay this month and have credits to be applied towards next month’s bill.  Isn’t that great!

Another company I got a great reward from last week was Monterey.  They have a rewards card, like SM or National Bookstore.  But what’s great about their card is it’s free and it doesn’t expire.  Also, they can input even old receipts.  I was cleaning our desk about two weeks ago and found an old receipt, dated December of last year and they still processed it.  So anyway, since there was more than P200 worth of credits on the card already, I decided to buy some beef and use the credit towards it.  So, it was like we bought a kilo of beef for just P100.  Really great!

Anyway, I just thought of making this very positive post to counteract yesterday‘s very negative post.  Here’s to more loyal customer rewards!

 

List #21

Time to make a gratitude list again.

1.  Suspension of classes – My kids’ schools suspended classes twice last week, once for President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address since we live and go to school in Quezon City, and the second was for the typhoon.  I’m glad I didn’t have to wake up early twice last week to bring my daughter to school.

2.  Home Alone 3 – This was our family movie pick of the week.

3.  New recipes – I tried out 2 new recipes last week which my family enjoyed.

4.  Globe‘s loyalty rewards – I  got my bill last week and was surprised that I don’t have to pay anything!

5.  Internet banking – I’m happy to pay my bills online and I don’t have to go out and deal with withdrawing money then paying the bills.

That’s it for now.  Until next week…

List # 20

Time to make a gratitude list again:

1.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – As mentioned, I’m a Potter fan and Jon and I had a movie date to watch this without the kids (don’t tell the kids!) while they were in school.

2.  Home Alone 2 – This was our family movie pick for the week.

3.  Bored in the Kitchen – This is my new blog just for my cooking adventures 🙂

4.  WordPress – I’m thankful for having a wonderful home for my blogs so I can try my hand out at this writing thing.

5.  Political will – As I mentioned, I’m happy that garbage segregation is being enforced in my area and this gives me hope for our future.

That’s it for now.  What are you thankful for this week?

List #19

Time to make a gratitude list again:

1.  Sunny weather – It’s actually very hot but I’m trying to be positive so I’m grateful that it wasn’t raining.

2.  Gulliver’s Travels –  This was our family movie pick of the week

3.  3 Idiots – I watched this with Jon and it was actually very good.

4.  Birthdays – It was Jon’s mom’s birthday last Saturday and we had a good lunch with the whole family.

5.  Space – I’m happy to be living in our two-bedroom apartment.  Some people just have one room to call their home and it’s really crowded and uncomfortable.

That’s it for this week.  What are you thankful for?

List #18

Time to make a gratitude list again:

1.  All day bake day – All our meals last Saturday was baked, from breakfast to dinner and it was great.  I hope to write about it tomorrow.

2.  Yeast – I’m really enjoying baking bread and other yummy stuff using this.

3.  Home Alone – This was our movie pick of the week.  The kids got interested with the first one after Home Alone 3 was shown on the Disney Channel last week.

4.  Health care – There were some family members who were hospitalized this week and I’m happy that they’re getting medical care.  I hope they are released soon and I’m thankful that we live in an area where medical care is available.

5.  Cool weather – It’s been raining on and off the whole week and while I don’t particularly like the rain, I like the cool weather it brings.

That’s it for now.  What are you grateful for?

List #17

Time to make a list of things I’m grateful for last week.

1.  Seafood weekend – We had baked tahong last Saturday and alimango and sugpo last Sunday.  In short, good food and good company made this weekend great.

2.  Azkals game – We didn’t have time for a family movie date but we at least watched the Azkals game and it was great!

3.  Just go with it – This was the movie Jon and I watched together.  Good chick flick.

4.  Daily walks – I’ve started walking after bringing Yumi to school.  I love it!

5.  Good weather – We were blessed with good weather last week.  There were some rain but not too much and it wasn’t too hot either.

That’s it for now.  What are you grateful for?