A Mother's Prayer

For all the mothers, whenever you feel weary, just say this prayer to ease your somehow tired soul...

A Mother's Prayer

from the book: Straight from the Heart

God, help me always to remember 

that you have given to me

the most important task in the world,

the task of making a home.

Help me to remember this

when I am tired

of making beds, and washing clothes

and cooking meals, and cleaning floors,

and mending clothes,

and standing in shops.

Help me to remember it

when I am physically tired in body,

and when I am weary in mind

with the same things

which have to be done again and again,

day in and day out.

Help me never to be irritable

and never to be impatient.

Keep me always sweet.

Help me to remember

how much my husband 

and my children need me,

and help me not to get annoyed

when they take me for granted,

and when they never seem

to think of the extra work

they sometimes cause me.

Help me to make this home

such that the family will always be

eager to come back to it,

and such that, when the children grow up

and go out to their own homes,

they will have nothing

but happy memories of the home

from which they have come.

Through Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Amen

The Envelope Method

It is always the number one rule to "walk the talk". So for today's blog I'm gonna reveal how am I really doing my own financial planning. My way is actually one of the old, traditional, mostly advised ways of organizing your money and that is, the envelope method. I don't use the traditional envelope though, literally speaking. Let me start with a brief discussion about it.

The one I'm using is similar to the one in the picture below(mine is also pink!), although mine only have 5 divisions.

I basically do the same thing as the one above, I label each division with my own categories. I have five categories, namely:

1. Bills/Groceries - under this falls electricity bill, water bill, internet bill and budget for the groceries.
2. SSS- Insurance - includes payment for my SSS as a voluntary contributor and payment for my    VUL insurance.
3. Mutual Funds - I make sure I allot a portion of my salary to my own investment for my retirement.
4. Fun Times - budget for our family/couple's dates! (its a must!)
5. Myself - a little reward for myself. (e.g. budget for new clothes, spa, cosmetics, etc)



So here's how it goes, being a housewife and a financial advisor, I make sure that everytime my husband hands me over our family income, it will be budgeted accordingly. The first four categories would be filled on my organizer and the "Myself" part would be the last one to be filled. There are some months wherein the "myself" would be left with nothing. And for me that is just OK. Because for me, its not a good thing to always give yourself all the luxury even if you can afford it. Delayed gratification is a big help in saving money. I make sure that I only buy things that I need and not just want. There's a lot of difference there.

The key here is to stick to the budget. Well, there will always be times when I have to spend more that what is really allotted but then that is OK, I just make sure it does not happen most of the time.

So, there. I hope my little "sharing" has gotten you motivated to do a simple financial planning for yourself. Even a hundred peso every payday could go a long way if you'll have the discipline to save it rather than spend it for a cup of coffee. In any activity you want to achieve, discipline is one of the keys. And make sure you also have the discipline to start it Now.
Stay Positive and Pass it on!

Wealth Within Your Reach

One of my new year's resolutions is to be able to read at least 10 books this year. But more than novels and fiction books, I want something more substantial and could contribute to my newly ventured career. So after a long thought, I finally bought a finance book. Why a finance book? Firstly, to be effective in teaching or promoting financial literacy among Filipinos (which is my current career being a Sunlife Financial Advisor), I must be knowledgeable on the subject. Secondly, because this book that I bought had convinced me with all the awards and good reviews it received that it is worth reading.

Francisco Colayco is a well-known name in the financial industry. This book shows just how much respect he really deserves in the field of financing. The book shows that hard work really pays off in the end. He also wrote about the different obstacles and failures he had to go through in order to reach his present state of "financial freedom. He also made me realize that it is okay to take risks and fail, for this will teach you something. Truly an inspiring story from someone who I actually thought had everything from the start. But no, he really started from a humble beginning.

I highly recommend this book to all the Juan Dela Cruz out there who wants to get out from the world of financial obstacles and experience financial freedom. To be informed is the beginning. Application of the things written in this book will not only teach you the value of your hard earned money, but also the value of disciplining and motivating yourself which will always come in handy in every aspect of our lives.

Stay positive! And pass it on!

About The Blogger

Hi! My name is Jocelyn Dela Cruz-Pryde. I am currently a Financial Advisor of Sunlife and an advocate of Financial Literacy among Filipinos. If you would like to know more about Financial Planning, Mutual Funds Investments and Insurances, or simply want to comment about my blog, you may contact me at jocelynldc@yahoo.com. I would love to hear from you! 

Aside from articles about money, this blog is also about being a positive mommy! As a mother, life will always be full of joys but to be able to appreciate the grandeur of being a mommy we must also experience difficulties in order to strengthen and mold us to become a better person and a perfect mother for our kids. As you read my blog I hope to inspire you and let positivity be passed on to you. If it does please do me a favor and pass it on to others too! A lot of people needs just a little dust of positivism to be able to get goin'. 

So spread the love and positivity. And remember, pass it on!

I will try to my best to include proper links and sources to some of the photos I used for my blog. But most of the time, I keep on forgetting to do so. Please bear with me with that. If you are a photographer who finds a picture of yours in my blog that you'd rather me not use, please contact me and I would be more than willing to take down the photo. Again, just contact me through my email. Thank you!