Based on my observations and conversations with colleagues below are some of the reasons why most of us fall victim to the paycheck to paycheck predicament:
- overspending on payday
- credit card payment
- GSIS, SSS, PAG-IBIG, bank and other form of loans
- emergency or unplanned expenses like an emergency visit to a dentist, sickness
- minimum salary
- house rental
- kids tuition payment
- nanny or househelper’s salary
- large utility bills (electricity, water, telephone, gas, etc.)
- impulse buying
- large transportation expenses to and from home to work
- latest gadgets
- imported brand mentality
The list could go on and on. It’s so easy to spend our hard-earned money. Most of our expenses are quite reasonable, really. But if we justify each and every expense and purchase we make then, we will always be in a quandary come payday. Sooner or later, things will catch up on us – so many bills unpaid, conflicts at work, family problems. Unfortunately, money, in one way or the other, plays an important part in our personal dilemma.
May be it’s time we go back to the drawing board, take a stock of our life and revisit our life’s little and big goals and relate that to our daily expenses.
Is the way we spend our money in keeping with the way we want to live our life, with our goals and dreams – with the things that matter most to us?
