Becoming Coupon Crazy

I used to only use the coupons for clothing, drug, book and electronic stores. I found that those were the ones that offered worthwhile discounts when we shopped, be it Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Borders, etc. Lately, I've started to pay more close attention to the grocery store coupons that I receive in the mail, especially after I saw a special segment on America's Cheapest Family - the Economides, a family of 7 living on a $35K a year with no consumer debt.

For about a year, I had been receiving coupon books from BJs, a wholesale club here, but due to my impatience to browse and cut coupons, I never paid attention to them and it went to the trash as fast as it came, along with all junk mail. A few weeks ago, inspired by the Economides, I took the time to flip through the booklet and cut coupons of the things I thought I might need. I brought them along on my next visit to the store. At the checkout line, I was amazed to find that I actually shaved $20 off our final bill after scanning in all the coupons I had!

I now use the pocket inside my bag to store all coupons and gift cards I have so I can pull them out at a moment's notice. I also google coupons online when I intend to make purchases. Getting the most out of our money is as thrilling for me as it is practical. With the price of oil inflating all other prices, it is worth the few minutes it takes me to check for coupons to get 5 to 20% off any purchase price! That's a few more dollars in our pockets and why wouldn't I want that? :)

“Third Party” Legislation – Homewreckers may become legally liable

Usually, a messy divorce follows an affair where the husband and wife duke it out in court for children’s custody, possessions, etc. while the person who is the cause of the break-up can walk away without much consequence.

Now, it may actually be possible for the wronged individual to also go after their spouse’s paramour for damages. Apparently, South Carolina is mulling over a law that would enable someone to sue the third party who caused the break-up of their marriage.

I think it’s a brilliant idea. A lot of people will think twice about something if it can hit them right where it will really hurt – their pockets. If a jilted spouse can prove that a person was the cause of the upheaval in their lives, then I think the homewrecker should be made to pay, literally.

In fact, I would bring it a step further. It should not be just the spouses who can sue but the children that come from the broken home, as well. Boy, I could think of a couple of women I would have happily taken to the cleaners. Their money and possessions in place of my stolen childhood. It still would not have been a fair trade but I would have taken it, nevertheless! :)

Our Madonna on Britain's Got Talent

Oh, anong say n'yo, mga kapatid???



Go, Mado! Ang luha ko umagos ha!

We'll be praying for you. :)

Leaving Comfort Zones, Embracing Change

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

I've loved this quote for years and have often chewed on it. But years before I read it, I instinctively knew that change was something I had to welcome and embrace. Somehow, I had drummed it into my brain early in life to use change as a means to explore as many open doors as I can. My circuitry shorts at the thought of “What ifs.” “At least, I tried…” is a more satisfying musing for me, whether I failed at the endeavor or not. Whenever I get too comfortable and life’s humming along, I wonder sometimes what I’m missing out on. That’s when I try to stir the pot and see what comes up – a new hobby, a new place to see, and a new opportunity. I never close a door to a possibility until I feel that I’ve fully explored it.

In my late twenties – I was living in a Makati city condo, had a full-time live-in maid, working in a great-paying job, very comfortably entrenched in my family, social and work circles. I was getting a lot of singing and acting jobs, had another steady job and had an incredible network where I had a good standing.

Then change presented itself – an incident happened at work and I quit the following day for integrity’s sake. No matter, I trusted that God had a handle on everything. Besides, I thought I could better focus on my gigs. A few weeks later, a friend of mine told me that her sister, a huge Disney Exec, was asking for recommendations for representatives from the Philippines for a Millennium project that they were doing. She warned me that I was overqualified for the position and the pay wasn’t big but she thought she’d run it through me because she knew that I wanted a short break from hectic Manila life and live and work somewhere else for a couple years. “What the heck...” I thought. This was an opportunity I would truly wonder about all my life if I didn’t do it. Pondering on that and the other things it would have led to would have been utter torture for me. I figured that if I didn’t like suburban Florida, I could always go back to Manila and re-enter its lively, cosmopolitan scene.

So off I went, leaving everything that was comfortable and went to a place where I had little money, no family support, no social network or standing and a totally different way of living. It was tough adjusting in the beginning and breaking the stereotypical myths people thought about me and where I come from, but I didn’t care much as I still had the adventure I intended to have. I had my few sad moments but they were outweighed by my discovery of who I truly was outside all the influences I had been living under all my life. I saw the kind of person that I was even when no one was watching. This was the point in my life when who I am became solidified. The greatest gain I had was growth, and in a way I never could have had I chosen to stay put.

Change is a short but much feared word. At some point, all of us want and need change and we have different attitudes towards it. There are those that are ready and itching for it, those that are fearful but curious, and those that are using every excuse not to do it - a person that they don’t want to leave, age, weather, etc. - refusing to admit, whether consciously or subconsciously, that it is fear and pride that paralyzes them from going into the unknown.

I believe that there is more to fear in not reaching our fullest potential in every way. It’s been said time and again - no pain, no gain. No risks, no rewards.

One day, we’ll look back at our lives and inevitably think of the opportunities – those that we wasted and those that we seized. Will we shrivel in regret or be bursting with thankfulness? I guess that will depend on the choices we make in the present.