Spare change

I went to buy groceries with my mom last weekend, and she said she's bringing her yellow booklet along. She's had it for a long time, she said, but this is the first time she decided to use it. The yellow booklet is the QC senior citizen grocery discount booklet, and in order to use it, the buyer of the groceries should be 1. A senior citizen (duh), and 2. Buying meat, fruits and veggies.

My mom said she doesn't really use it because the discount is so little, but then she thought that, hey, it's a discount, and she might as well take advantage of the privileges given to her generation. I said, yeah why not? and so we ended up at the grocery with a yellow booklet; she went to shop while I (and my ate) went to enjoy the aircon and help her carry later on.

At the cashier, my mom showed her yellow booklet and the lady at the counter promptly applied the discount--for about P3,000 worth of groceries, my mom got a... P65.00 discount. She chuckled at the measly amount, saying, "Only 65?" to the similarly amused salesclerk. Just then, the couple in line behind her, also in their senior years, joined the conversation. The gentleman showed his own yellow booklet, and told my mom, "Well, that can buy you a liter of gasoline!" And my mom said, "That's true!" and they all had a good laugh about it.

These days, when everything seems expensive, I think people can grow a lot in the virtue of poverty. It's not about going around looking ragged and kawawa, but about being detached to material things, and being willing to give up certain luxuries from time to time.

Like in the story earlier, my mom saved 65 pesos. It's so little, it's just spare change! But like the old man said, P65 can buy you a liter of gasoline. It can also buy you an Adarna book, a bar of Magnum, a fast food value meal, a few trips on the MRT, six turon from the jolly jeep, 26 pieces of fishballs, 65 pieces of Mentos. In other words, P65 pesos can go a long way if you know where to put it. The virtue of poverty, after all, is also about planning where your money goes.

On a related note, a prudent person can get an extra P65 a day if she just knows how to find it--like by taking a bus instead of the usual taxi, by not switching on that aircon when there's a good fan, by making your own iced drink at home instead of lining up for bubble tea, and by taking advantage of your suki points whenever you can get them (but remember, don't shop to collect points, rather collect points when you shop).

Oops, time's up... more thoughts on saving, fundraising and poverty in another post. GTG!!