How to NOT Live From Paycheck to Paycheck

Paydays usually fall on the 15th and the 30th. When I still worked at my first call center, and if the 15th fell on a Saturday, we'd get our pay on the 14th. The funny thing was, it's still the 13th and people are already itching to withdraw from ATMs. We'd call the last few days towards the payday "tingbits". That's short for tingbitay, an expression Cebuanos use that means "running low on cash". My salary used to be between P10,000 - P15,000 at the time.

Since I was a fresh graduate, the frugal living that I led and taught my younger siblings were carried over by habit and I managed to live somehow without asking for allowance from my parents.

Then I met Lifestyle. I met Starbucks, Bo's Coffee, met with McDonald's and Jollibee as much as I can, and even forgot that I used to see Carinderia to shell out just P20 during midday.

Regretfully, whenever it was payday, I always found a way to spend it and just lived from paycheck to paycheck.


I got really lucky with my second call center job. I was getting paid between P18,000 - P22,000. The pay was scheduled every other Friday at 5AM, so you'd know when to expect it. There were no delays. The best part was when the company switched from Unionbank to BPI, a BPI Direct Save Up account was set up with it. I had it set up so that P1,000 gets transferred to the Save Up account as soon as my salary comes in. There was no way I can withdraw the money from the Save Up account unless I transferred it back to my account.

Needless to say, with how much I spent and with the failed investment I put my entire family into, I ended up transferring every single centavo I saved. Since I knew that I''ll still get paid the next Friday for coming in to work, I still lived from paycheck to paycheck, and even borrowed money from my younger siblings even when I was earning so much.

On to my current job as a public engineer, I am getting paid P9,000, but I don't live from paycheck to paycheck anymore. In fact, I even managed to open a bank account and have started an emergency fund.

As a casual government employee, our payroll is between the 1st and the 15th, so we get to sign our Daily Time Record sheets on the 16th. We have to make sure that if we were out on field or were on leave on any dates in between, that they have been approved, otherwise we won't get our pay.

So taking care of your own record is okay, but here's the catch. No one in the same payroll sheet gets paid unless everyone takes care of his/her business. So what if it's already the 20th and someone still hasn't filed their leave?

Well, no one on the same payroll as that person gets paid and most likely has borrowed money from the ones who have been paid.

Because of the constant delay on pay, I re-learned my frugal ways from way back forcefully. And I had to look for a another job online. Here are also the factors that helped:

1. I don't have to pay rent. I now live with my parents. There's just three of us and they do need a babysitter and an occasional nurse. I don't charge them a single centavo.
2. I don't have to pay the electricity and water bills. Daddy insists on paying. I just have to pay for the Internet billS. That S is intentional.
3. I don't have to commute. I now drive a motorcycle, which only needs P100 for fuel every week. Sometimes Daddy feels generous enough to even hand over the P100.
4. I get free food at home. I only have to pay for lunch, that's if I don't bring lunch to work. Since it's just the three of us, I don't mind shopping for groceries.

So basically, shelter, utilities, transportation and food's been take care of. I don't really need to spend on anything else. All my needs are covered.

It all comes down to spending for my wants. I use my salary from my day job to take care of my wants and bills, and my salary from my other jobs for the emergency fund, investments and savings.  And when I have an upcoming travel, I set up a separate fund for the trip.