Living within your means

THERE is nothing wrong with being in style or having a taste for signature brands as long as 1) you can afford it, and 2) it matches with your personality and physique.

When I was a budding teenager, I also hungered for something that would improve my personal and physical attributes, only to find out that I cannot afford any. I have since learned to accept my financial incapability and settled for what I can afford only.

Along the way, I discovered that things that we need in our daily lives need not be expensive. I love watches but I don’t buy and never have bought anything beyond P2,500. If I am using watches more than that amount, they are gifts from my brother as “pasalubong” after their tour outside the country.

When my son Kevin was a teenager, my brother bought him a Casio G-Shock. Afraid that he might destroy his Casio watch while playing basketball, I bought him a cheap a China-made watch worth P29.50. He refused to use it. Hence, I ended up using it as far as Pagsanjan where it was soaked in water, and stopped running. On our way to Manila, I placed the watch on the dashboard to dry. When it dried up, it began to work again. See? It didn’t have to be expensive. It may have lasted for more than six months but for P29.50, it was worth the price.

There’s one thing funny about parents. Some can be very stingy with their own needs but not to the needs of their children. I was one of them. I hardly buy pants more than a thousand pesos. In fact, I hardly buy new pants because my brother had plenty of “seconds” from their factory. But my children, well, they get the more expensive ones without any hassle.

As I come of age, I found material things only second to my real happiness. I don’t buy expensive clothes so that when it’s time to let go of them or give them away, it’s easy as pie. But mind you, they’re not so old.

A few regrets were when I bought something a bit expensive while on vacation in other cities only to find out later that I really don’t need it or like it. They found their way to my relatives, and those who have less in life.

I telling you this because of the opening of a new store for men’s and women’s signature clothings! Their products are not cheap but they have their own kind of clientele. Not that I can’t afford it today. It’s just not necessary. It’s like that saying, whether you drive a new car or old, they both bring you to your destination.
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Mon Tulfo’s column caught my attention. He said that the son is as vindictive as the mother who gave no quarter to people identified with the Marcoses. Noynoy is making life miserable for his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, even if she’s quite sickly. He keeps company with people who are his close friends, shooting buddies, and former classmates. That’s why he’s so slow in firing any of them from his Cabinet, even if they’re corrupt or inefficient. But wait a minute. Even if one is honest, yet he condones the dishonesty of friends, doesn’t that make him dishonest, too?

This is exactly the logic that Sen. Grace Poe would face if she decides to run under the Liberal Party. She can’t be silent on the guilt of some LP members. Or that would make her equally guilty. She can be better off outside LP as some are all praises for her show of independence.

In fact, when she visited Cagayan de Oro City, those who admired her sense of independence are now entertaining doubts by mere prospect of her joining the LP or running under it.
Duterte-Poe na!