Goals! Update for First Quarter of Year 2016

I just got back from a vacation last week and it was fun! We had a lot of first actually. Jami’s first airplane ride was the highlight of it. Next na lang yung beach and our first major trip as a family ever! Hehe.. We went to Boracay for 3 days and 2 nights which I’ll tell you about in the coming days. =)

Anyway, sobrang bilis ng panahon ano?! Grabe we’re halfway thru May and ilang tulog na lang, June na agad! OMG. Hindi ko ma feel ang panahon!! For some Mommies out there, feel na feel nila because another school year is about to start! I heard from some of my officemates na nag papaaral ng kids, grabe na talaga ang tuition fee ngayon! Kaya I really have to do something about our finances to make sure na maka cope up kami sa gastusin later in life especially kapag nag school na si Jami.

Well, I am going thru major changes now especially in our finances since it’s the very first time that I understood how to budget our money. And because of our recent family getaway, mejo kailangan munang magtipid. Hehe..

This post is just a look back on what I want to achieve this year. From time to time, I wanted to be able to understand how our life is at this point and what we can do to change to plan B if plan A isn’t working. At the start of this year, I have posted my goals here in the blog and even printed it out to make sure that it’s accessible whenever I want to focus.

Financially

**Savings - I wrote about continuing the 52 weeks money challenge that I had last year. This was a fail since I never get the chance to save following this. I was actually putting the money in a cooperative in the office and we're about to get the money by the end of June. It was a mid-term savings that I had (since it's 6 months) from January and I am so glad my money earned Php500 the last time I was checked. I had 2 shares so it was a total of Php1,000 for both shares. Not bad isn't it? Saving Php600 per month in my atm savings won't give me that much of an interest diba? So I am quite happy with it. I was thinking of adding more shares pero there might be some changes in the coop on the next term raising the amount from Php300 to P500 a month so I might have to think about adding a share.

**Junior Savings Account - Back in 2014 when I started a Junior Savings Account for Jami. It was a form of a passbook to basically just put in money as long as I can and give it to Jami when he's older. It took a year before I realized that I am not making progress on this part so one of the plans I had this year was to actively put some money in it. Since this passbook doesn't earn a huge amount of interest, I minimized the amount being placed to Php1,000 a month. Later this year, I have decided to make this as our emergency fund. I have read in a book that Emergency Fund should always be accessible anytime for any emergency situation that may arise. I am aiming for a 3 month worth of my salary and hopefully, I can pull this off by the end or at least first quarter of next year. At this point, I am still far from the goal but I am loving the progress that we're making. =)

**Loans - I am still working on paying these loans from government agencies (Pag-ibig and SSS). By the end of June, once the coop was released, I'll use the money to pay off the Pag-ibig loan. I hope I could manage to pay both of them this year.

**Additional Income - I am so glad I was able to use some of my 13th month pay last year to buy a convection oven that I am using to bake goods. I sell them in the office and I am so glad that it was a hit. I am looking forward to grow the business although I stopped last week due to our vacation. Hoping I could get back this week and moving forward. =)

Family

**Staycation - It is still one of the plans this year. I was thinking of having a staycation on my birthday although there were still plenty of bills to pay due to our recent trip. I still have couple of more months before the year ends so hopefully, this can be made possible. =)

**Travel - Early this year, I was able to score a seat sale for a roundtrip ticket in Boracay. At last! It was Jami's first airplane ride and family's first out of the island tour? Lols. Although traveling could really be fun but expensive, I'll be planning our travel carefully in the future and make sure that it's only one major travel per year only. Hehe. We also had the chance to go to Baler in March so we had 2 this year na. =)

**Househelp - This is definitely the least in my priority at the moment. I can't accommodate another expenses (yaya's salary, food, electricity etc that she's going to use). Since Daryl's not working at the moment, sya na lang ang mag aalaga for the time being until he finds a new job.

**Daryl's Passport - Second least priority since we're not leaving the country anytime soon anwyway. So this can wait.

**Family Photo - As the days are passing by, we are getting to use with a family photo. It started when we traveled to Boracay. It was really fun taking pictures of us so this will continue and I hope we could post more of this in the coming days. Ang hirap lang because walang magpipicture lagi so it has to be selfies lang lols. =)

Blog


**Renew blog domain - yes, I was able to renew this in January.

**Blog Event - I was able to attend an event although it wasn't as plenty as last year so I hope I could attend more in the coming months.

**Earning - I failed to blog often since I was really busy with baking and office so earning is one of the least that I could expect in this blog. =)

 **Projects - there was a project being offered couple of months ago but never heard anything from the client yet.

**Giveaway - yes! I had my first giveaway which was sponsored by Trisopure. May isa pa ngang hindi na claim. Lagi ko kasing nakakalimutan! hayyy.. Tomorrow, I'll drop by in 7-11 para mai ship na talaga.. Sorry Jing. :)

**Improve Blog Photos - nothing has changed. Camera became one of my least priority so sorry na lang sa basher ng blog na ito. Pagtyagaan muna ang photos for the meantime. :p

I saw some improvements in some part of the plan. I am so happy at least I made some things possible and I can't wait to accomplish all of these that are remaining. There were some additional plan/goal though, like getting a VUL from Sunlife which was my very next priority. I am looking to start probably around July. =)

How about you Mommies? Did some of your goals came true? 

My 2016 Goals

It's the first Monday of year 2016!!!

Back to school and work na! Honestly, ang dami kong back logs na dapat ng maipost nung December pa pero until now, I can't find the right timing to post each of them., Hayyy.. Hoping I could start with it this week.

Anyway, I have been seeing a lot of posts about their 2016 Goals! Syempre papahuli ba ako? Hahaha! I was looking thru my old posts if somehow, I blogged about my 2015 goals pero hindi ko mahanap at hindi ko maalala kung saang post ko isiningit so I can't say that it's my yearly thing. But then, hindi naman siguro huli ang lahat for that diba?

source

I had my 2015 goals written at the back of my planner. I went back to it last night so I could see if I was able to fulfill each goal. It appeared to me that not all the goals were ticked that indicates na nagawa ko na but then, happy ako because there were some goals that I was able to accomplish! Yey for that! I reviewed the goals and I realized that I still want to go ahead with most of them. Most of the goals I have this year was a continuation of what I wrote last year naman.

I categorized my goal this year to make it easier for me to see my priority better.

Financially

• Savings - I basically want to go ahead with the same plan I had last year in achieving my financial goal. I would want to continue my 52 Weeks Money Challenge in the same format I had last year. As I said, it was customized on how I get paid so it'll be easier for me rather than following the usual increment. I am pursuing the 10 peso increment still which will leave me Php13,780 at the end of the challenge. 

Dates on the photo was for 2015 calendar

That was the old dates and template, I haven't been able to update it yet but it was how exactly it looks like. Bi-weekly, I will spare Php530 (alternate of high amount+lower amount e.g Feb 8 to Feb 14 (Php480) + Feb 15 to Feb 21 (Php60) = Php560). Although I have a different approach this year, I am hoping that I'll be able to finish it until the end of the year. I have the Php300 from the Php530 savings as a share to my 6 month long cooperative here in the office so that leaves me Php230 to spare every week. I think it'll be easier as I would see the coop share as a responsibility more than my will to save the money. Php230 is easier to spare than the whole Php530. Kind of the same pero with coop, I won't be the one holding the money that could save me a lot of stress for not buying anything unplanned plus the interest that my money will get.

• Junior Savings Account - Back in 2014, when Jami was 8 months old, I started a BDO Junior Savings account for him so I could save some money while he's growing up. I just then realized that I failed to update the account and I haven't been able to deposit any money since then. This year, I will spare Php300-Php500 every pay check to be deposited straight to Jami's bank account. Every money he'll get from our relatives and friends (birthdays Christmas or any occasion) should go here. 

• Loans - Back in 2012, I filled a loan from these 2 government agencies (Pag-Ibig and SSS) that up to know, hindi ko pa nababayaran. Imagine kung magkano na ang interes nito. When I went back to corporate na kasi, I was trying to have it deducted sa salary ko pero hindi na tinanggap because it's past the 2 years keme na daw. I have to go straight to their agencies to fix it so I'll try my best to find a way to go to their offices. I am planning to start from the lowest so I could tick it off once fully paid.

•  Additional Income - I am planning to find a business I could get into for a purpose of an additional income. I was once told by a friend that and swerte ko daw sa business so I have to consider this. When I get to think about business, nanghihinayang ako with my online business that I closed down dahil nga sa hirap pagsabayin ang full time work then online business. Nawawalan ako ng time kay Jami.

Family

• Staycation - Since last year, I want to at least have one staycation for the 3 of us where we could just lounge and take a rest while staying in the city. This didn't go ahead last year since it was replaced by our Photoshoot. 

• Travel - it was also a continuation of my goal last year. I would like to go to Boracay which I think is the best when you have a toddler in tow. Alam mo yun, yung makapag relax lang talaga. We don't have to take all the activities because we have Jami but the thought of setting foot on the powdery sand and the beach.. hayyyy... Missing the old days na kasagsagan ng travel. I was suppose to book a flight during a sale seat pero male late na ako sa work so hindi ako nakapag pay over the counter. =( Sana matuloy na this year!! I also want to have another summer getaway either with my side of the family or just the 3 of us. I was in-charge kasi to plan the family reunion this year pero wala pa akong nauumpisahan.

• Househelp - I badly want to get a nanny for Jami so someone could watch over him while Daryl and I go to work. I also want to have someone in-charge of Jami's eating habit para masanay na sya to eat table food. Yan kasi yung dapat talaga namin pagtuunan ng pansin. House chores naman I can do every weekends. Mejo maselan naman din ako sa paglalaba so mostly, si Nanay ang naglalaba eh. Hehe or if she's not around, ako na talaga.

• Daryl's Passport - I have been bugging him on getting his passport so if we'll get a chance to book a cheaper flight then we could always push through with it. I planned to get one for him during Jami's application pero hindi naman complete yung requirements nya. Nyek! sabi ko nga sa kanya, kapag nagkaroon ng Zombie outbreak at required ang passport para makaalis dito sa Pinas eh maiiwan sya. 

Daryl: Papakain na lang ako sa Zombie!

• Family Photo - I am so mad at myself hindi kami nakapag Family picture 2 consecutive New Year na. hayy naku! I want this to become our yearly thing na din eh. Nice kasi you can always compare yearly of how your family's growing diba? =) 

BLOG

• Renew blog domain - It is due to expire this January na so I have to make sure I'll update it. =) 

• Blog Event - I am looking forward to attend more Blog event this year so I could meet more Mommies. You'll never know whom you'll be friends with! Ang sarap maging friends ng mga Mommy Blogger sa MBP, Promise! =) Attending more relevant event is definitely a dream come true for me from this blog no! kala ko kasi talaga dati, wala ng mararating ang blog na ito eh. It opened a lot of opportunities for me.

•  Earning - The least I could expect from my blog is to earn money. Anything that I earn from it (small lang naman syempre), goes to this blog. If it's monetary, I always make sure that I'll invest it on this blog like the domain name. When I get more monetary benefit from it, I'll have a theme custom made for this blog so it'll be more appealing to all of you. =)

• Projects - I was so lucky to be part of Mommy Bloggers Philippines where I first got the longest project I had so far. It's still ongoing and I am looking forward for more this year. =) 

• Giveaway - I have been blogging for almost 2 years na since the re-birth of this blog in March 2014 but until now, I never hosted a giveaway pa. I am planning for one pero wala pang budget. Alam nyo na, wala naman akong sponsor so I have to get everything out of pocket. Hopefully on the 2nd Anniversary of It's Mommy Jen blog, makapag giveaway ako as a thankful token for those people who have been reading my blog. 

• Improve Blog Photos - Sabi ng troll/basher ko, improve ko daw yung photos ko. Wala kasi akong matinong camera that I could use to take photos. Hopefully this year, magawan ko na ng paraan para wala ng masabi ang dakila kong basher. 

Well, I still have some goals pero small personal wants lang naman like shopping of clothes for me etc. I am thinking of setting up a timeline for each of these goals to make it realistic. I have yet to create a timeline for it. Once finished, I'll show them to you too. =)

Goodbye 2015!!

O.M.G!! I can't believe we have one day left before the 2015 ends! Promise! Di talaga ako makapaniwala that I have to leave 2015 behind and will start a new year ahead! Parang kelan lang kasi, I was counting the days for October when I was really busy then in a blink of an eye, 2016 na! O.M.G talaga! hehehe. Do you guys were like that too?! Or sobrang attached lang talaga ako sa 2015?

Anyway, I am looking back on my 2015 and found out that there were a lot of things happened - good or bad were welcomed wholeheartedly. I wish to discuss to you some of the highlights of this year that's about to end.

January

• I was able to buy my own domain name as www.itsmommyjen.com. I received a token from this blog so I think the one that needs to be credited for was this blog din. =)
• Due to lack of time and inspiration, I closed down my Online Business. It was growing big that time and I can't do everything on my own so I have to weigh my options and decided to choose my full time job. 
• I also started my own 52 weeks Money Challenge. I made my own template that suits my salary pattern.

• January 20th marked my first Anniversary from the company I am working for. =)
• My Nanny and I decided that she'll be staying in our house although she could always get the chance of going home. But then on the same month, I realized that she's stealing things and food from my house kaya when I had the chance, I told her not to go back anymore. 
• We moved to another apartment when Daryl and I lived together in December but it was in January when I showed the house to you. Pero we went back to the old house in the middle of the year so we could get the bigger house. Currently, we were living with my brother.

February 

• We went to San Fabian, Pangasinan beach (Daryl's hometown). It was Jami's first ever beach encounter. =)

• Visited Manila Ocean Park and here. 

March 

• I started reading financial books.
• We bought Jami's first bike. =)

• Jami was sent to San Juan De Dios Emergency Room because of a deep cut on his point finger.

April

• Daddy celebrated his birthday so I bought him a gift and a birthday cake of course. =)

• Checked out Jollibee Funtasyland in the afternoon. Sayang lang yung free tickets ko because it was scheduled in the early morning. =(

• My side of the family had our reunion (beach in Batangas) after our last one 5 years ago. 

• I started to get the confidence in cooking meals for Daryl and Jami. 

May

• I had the chance to shop for a little where I enjoyed going inside Daiso. 
• I discovered Zomato. =)
• We also tagged along with our officemate on their clubhouse at Antel Grand Village in Cavite. It has a great clubhouse. 

June

• Daddy's birthday gift was my Hair Treatment which I really wanted even after I gave birth to Jami. Thanks for making this happen Babe! =)

•  We went to Fun Ranch in Alabang for Jami's Playdate.

July

• For our 9th year Anniversary, we had our side trip to Baguio during our short stay in Pangasinan for Daryl's cousin's wedding. 

• Jami had his first passport =)

August

• Attended Mommy Bloggers Philippines event in Fun Ranch Ortigas for Rebisco's Vitacubes.

• We got to eat at Mati's Meat and Bread in Filinvest, Alabang.
• My 52 Weeks Money Challenge ended here since I had the money spent for some important matter because I failed to budget our money. 

September

• Nothing spectacular happened this month although I was really glad I was able to try some new restos and got to meet Elaine from Zomato. =)

October 

• We had Jami's first Photoshoot + First Family portrait

• Mommy Bloggers Philippines Halloween Party at SkyRanch Tagaytay.

• Jami celebrated his 2nd birthday at Jollibee Macapagal South

• I attended Blogapalooza 2015 and met my mommy bloggers Nheng and Jho. =)

November

• I was invited at Breakout PH and Victoria Courts at #VPartyMidnightSeries. I sure had fun!!! =)
• Also got the chance to try MedSpa's Body Scrub, Whole Body Massage and Facial in Las Pinas. Thank you for a day of pampering UPHD and MBP. =)

• My 3rd year High School friends met up with our kids in Mall of Asia. This was the day I almost lost Jami. 
• I attended the Art Attack event at MonsterArt in SM Dasmarinas. 
• Jami had his first ever Dentist visit.
• We also had our Mommy-Baby bonding when we had our first cinema experience. We watched 'The Good Dinosaur'.

• I also had my first ever blog project for 3 months. =) Thanks to those who believe in me and my basher/s who leave nasty comments on my blog to improve my statistics. =)

 December 

• We had our second Dentist visit (read here) where Jami had his tooth filling. =)
• Mommy Bloggers Philippines held it's 'Christmas to Remember' Party at the Linden Suites (which I was yet to blog about). Tambak na ang December ko ng blogposts!
• I helped my sister in preparation for my niece's 1st birthday. It was so fun DIY-ing the dessert table. Pumayag syang i-blog ko about it so stay tuned for that. =)
• We were also invited by Coi to Maco's first birthday party. Thank you Maco for having us. I was really glad that I got invited to a personal event from another Mommy friend that I met here in the blog. I felt so special na hindi lang pang online ang friendship diba? =) 

I am really having trouble believing that New Year is just around the corner. Those were the things that are listed in my planner that made it to reality although I know there were somethings that I blogged about that didn't make it to the list. Of course I can't write them all here kasi highlights nga diba? Hehehe. I had my goals to be posted here again by start of next year just to remind me from time to time. I failed to do this yata last year (or I can't remember lang). I have no regrets in establishing this blog again after I stopped in 2013 because I can get to review those moments in my life that I can no longer remember.

I would like to thank my family and friends for always being there for me thru ups and downs. Alam nyo naman kung sino-sino kayo. I love you all and I wish we'll all have a bountiful, happy, healthy 2016. To my readers (anonymous and those who were leaving comments) I really appreciate that you had all the patients in the world to read my "corny" blog. This blog has been an extension of myself as this served as my diary too and whatever that comes up my way. I guess I really love to write, tamad lang talaga ako magsulat. Buti na lang computers were invented. Thank you all and I hope you'll be blessed this coming year. Thank you for being there. =)