TOPAZ HORIZON

I mentioned recently that hubby and I are thinking of investing. To prepare for that big financial leap, I've signed up for Expense Register. I know I could've used Excel but I'm on a new MacBook and I don't have Microsoft Office programs yet so I just looked for a budgeting tool online.

Anyway, I figured if I knew where all our money is going, I can pinpoint where we overspend, cut that and funnel it to investing instead. Well, lemme just tell ya, we're spending too much on food!

A huge part of our money goes to meat, veggies, bread, milk (a LOT of milk!), fast food deliveries, cookies, cakes, Coke, etc etc!

The "Other," which is the next biggest piece of the pie, is actually gifts and donations, tips for waiters and delivery boys, and the kids' vaccinations. So we're a generous family. But seeing it on that pie like that makes me want to stop giving gifts! Or just stop eating out and ordering in so we won't have to tip!

The "Personal" slice covers shopping for clothes, shoes, haircuts, etc. But for this particular month, that meant our life insurance policies. Hmm. Maybe I should put insurance policies under another category.

The "Recreation" slice is only huge because this month, we spent a lot on Vito's birthday party. Normally, recreation is books, movies, travel. Since procreating, we've not been recreating (sigh!) so normally, we don't spend a lot on leisure stuff anymore.

So now I'm wondering where I can shave off money so we can invest in mutual funds or stocks. Gifts? Service tips? Dining out? Ordering in? Chips and candy? Coke? All of the above? This is driving me nuts! I don't like budgeting at all!

I just discovered Cuzo, a fabulous Proudly Pinoy bag label! Remember when I used to sell bags? I was gunning for Cuzo levels! Well, actually, I was thinking Hermes haha but that was in my outer-space dreams. In my realistic dreams, I was thinking of selling bags the way Cuzo's doing.

To those former customers who kept asking me to make satchels in different colors, I present to you Cuzo's adorable satchels:


But since I have had my fill of satchels (haha!), I'm more interested in a nylon tote. You see, I walk to work and my bags aren't faring well in this horrid rain. The cloth ones get drenched and the leather ones are getting ruined! So I was thinking of buying a Longchamp Le Pliage but it seems everywhere I look, everyone has a Longchamp and I'm really not into blending in with the masses.

So when I saw these fabulous nylon hobos on Cuzo, I got super excited!

brown

black

green

blue

They're called the Jess Coat Nylon Bag. The photos don't do it any justice. At all! I got the brown bag for my mother-in-law and it is super fabulous! The shape is so classic, the handle is comfortable, there are so many pockets inside and its bottom is protected by leather. Truly a fantastic bag! When Mom saw the bag, she loved it, too!

So now I want to buy a new Jess Coat bag for myself. Which should I get: basic black, goes-with-anything blue or that amazing green?

There are more bags at Cuzo's website. Shop shop shop!

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P.S. Get P100 off purchases worth P1,000 and above just by using this special voucher: 08152312topa. Valid from today till Aug. 23 only! Shop shop shop!

Let me just tell you a story I remembered while I was brushing my teeth earlier.

I think this story was from a pastor's sermon a loooong time ago, when I was still a teenager. The pastor said that a married couple came to him for counseling. Their marriage was most definitely on the rocks and it was all because of toothpaste. Toothpaste! Husband can't seem to remember to twist the cap back on the tube despite wife's repeated reminders, and the sight of that cap on the sink just tells her that he doesn't pay any attention to her.

So the pastor said all the usual pay-attention-to-your-wife and be-more-patient-with-your-husband advice but clearly that kind of advice just wasn't going to work. So finally the pastor gave up.

A few weeks later, he noticed that the couple were happily chatting. He went up to them to ask how they found a compromise. The couple said, "Oh, we didn't compromise. We found another solution!" Ladies and gentlemen, this saved their marriage:

Any relationship expert will tell you that for a relationship to work, you both have to find a middle ground, to compromise. Well, folks, sometimes there is no such thing as compromise because seriously, how can anyone be happy if no one got what they wanted?

I think that sometimes you have to give in, sometimes he has to give in. There's no such thing as 50-50 in love. It's always 100%! Some things you have to accept will never change and you'll just learn to live with it. Is it so hard? Not really. That's when love comes in! Or, in the case of the flip-top cap, creativity!

For the record, this isn't a sponsored post. We just really use Colgate! Well, Vince is a loyal Colgate guy. Me, I always buy whatever's cool and new! Yes, Vince and I have two tubes of toothpaste since he, ever the OC guy, carefully uses up the tube from bottom to cap. I squeeze it right smack in the middle.

Vince likes the plain, no-nonsense, pasty kind. I like flavors and gels and claims of instant teeth whitening, 24-hour freshness, and other empty promises! So in our case, compromise is never going to happen. And that's okay!