Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Attended " How to be Truly Rich Seminar"

Last Saturday, hubby and I attended this seminar conducted by Bo Sanchez. It is a good seminar especially to those who are just starting on financial literacy. He discussed some things that we already know but we still learned a lot from him. We are planning to attend other seminars or trainings like this in the near future and be on track again on our Journey to Financial Freedom.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Lessons Learned from our Daughter's Hospitalization

Here are some our lessons we learned from our daughter's hospitalization. Some would sound simple and funny but they are still lessons learned that you can also learn from.

1. Trust your instinct.
Tuesday night before she was hospitalized. I noticed a different sound on her breathing. I asked hubby to text the pedia if we can give her antibiotic. The Pedia told us that she should see our baby 1st before she can give a prescription and also advised us of her clinic schedule for the Holiday. Hubby and I already filed an advance leave of absence for the coming Friday. Hubby said that we can bring our baby on that day. I suddenly felt that she must be brought to the pedia so she can take the proper medication as soon as possible. Upon seeing my baby and hearing her breathing, the pedia told hubby that she can't let them go home. They need to stay in the hospital. Our baby has Ashma. It's good that I trust my instinct of bring her to the hospital that day. It could have gone worse and our hospital bill could have been more!

2. A Credit Card can save a Day
Since it was a different kind of emergency and we are not fond of bringing a lot cash. Hubby used our credit card for the Hospital Downpayment. The transaction is much easier. Aside from that, we're able to use the charge slips for food freebies that we had for our meals.

3. Philheath Card is a Necessity.
Our Hospital bill could have been ~20K. Thanks to Philhealth! We only pay a little more half of the total bill. So if you are not yet a member, you better enroll now. You can be an individually paying member for only 100/month or 1,200/year. This is just a little amount compared to your peace of mind.

4. We can live without a TV for 5 days.
It sounded like a joke but it's true. We stayed in a semi-private room for 2 days and a private room for 3 days. All of these rooms have no TV. There were no other rooms available. It's still an advantage because our bill could have been more. Anyway, on these days w/o a TV, we became creative on how we entertain our 9th month baby. It was all fun!

5. Blessings come unexpectedly
We could have touched our EF. But we're blessed not to have to because a long time loaned money was paid. It was even a little more than the amount that we need to pay for the hospital bill that we charged to our credit card. Thanks to Him!

You might be curious why we pay for the hospital bill and we should have a health card. Actually, we have one but our trusted pedia is not accredited. It's okay anyway, her PF was pro bono.

Loving my Credit Card

I love my BPI Credit Card. Aside from getting 3% rebate for filling up our tank with Petron products, we are also getting food freebies.

Last Month, we're able to claim a lot of Jolly Hotdogs, Ice Craze, Fries and Burgers. This Month, we're able to claim a lot of Chicken Joy and Peach Mango Pies. It was a great help especially on tough time. My daughter was confined in a hospital last week. We're able to save some on food expenses by using the charge slips. We're able to have 2 free lunch for 3 people. Not bad, right?

If you have a BPI credit card or even a debit card, you can click here for the details of their food freebies this month.

By the way, this is just some of the good things that we can get from our credit card. But we also need to remember that we have to pay our purchases before the due date to avoid finance charges.