Prior to pandemic, being a lifestyle blogger is actually expensive especially where events are happening from one place to another. Most of the time, even those all-expense paid trips are actually not expense free. And did I mention being presentable on every single occasion because you yourself is representing a brand of your own? What’s interesting is that most of our colleagues rather not talk about it or maybe busy minding our own businesses, more so our never ending deadlines.
I wanted to have this conversation with you guys because as I am celebrating my 12th year as a blogger, there are couple of questions in the past years that you guys have asked me and I wasn’t able to address that particularly saving for myself and tips on getting some best deals in town. So today I decided to share some important life hacks I discovered as a blogger. And hope that this will actually help aspiring bloggers out there. Here are my 5 tips to save money this pandemic.
1.Stop subscribing to a lot of streaming services.
This is the advise I actually told myself back in 2019. While I invest in pop culture exposure from watching what is new and trending, I realized that I will never get the chance to maximize all of my streaming services because to be honest, how many free time do we have to finally sit and chill watching our favorite series?
Last year If I remember correctly, I was maintaining 9 streaming subscriptions because I love film and television works. But now, I am maintaining only one, my HBO GO. And I saved I guess around $100/month. As someone blogging about entertainment, I realized that it didn’t lessen my ability to be updated on pop culture. In fact, I became more resourceful.
2. Find/Move to a better location in the City.
During the time when everything was normal, I didn’t really think of scouting good locations about living in the City. Having rented in Makati City for more than a decade, I realized that I am too far from where the entertainment events usually held. So when I decided to become a full time blogger, I realized that I am living south and Quezon City is way way far from my apartment. According to Colliers, I would have enjoyed a 5 to 15% real estate discount if I chose Quezon City as my residence. This is way more beneficial than me spending many years renting in Makati.
Actually, I could have done better in deciding where to live If I only knew how to determine the value of getting a unit. Thanks to Calculator.Me online because there I get to compute the value of my desired property, amortization pay over the years and other ownership costs that may arise. I remember someone was offering me a 3.5Million condo unit near ABS-CBN where blogging events were happening but I was clueless about computing for interest and stuff. Thru Calculator.Me they have all the options for you to compute investments like getting a brand new condo. It will detail your loan amortization, loan payments and a lot! What a great help for those trying to decide for their future.
3. Choose a practical internet provider.
Let’s face it. This pandemic we relied much on the internet service provider at home and for sure prior to lockdown we have this amazing postpaid plans for our phones that highlights unlimited data to use. Now that we are dealing with lockdown and I don’t think we will ever go back to normal in the next two years or so, I believe it’s time to lower your subscription plans and stick to your home internet as your main provider.
While I know that as a blogger we must be online anytime and anywhere but we actually don’t need multiple subscription plans. Just chose the most practical ones and when I say practical, those that will give you ample benefit as an online creator such as speed in your area, after-sales services and the most importantly your lock-in periods.
4. Be knowledgable about getting a car.
I know prior to pandemic, getting a car is a debatable life decision that only us can answer. Most of the time we tend to decide based on needs, if not for just getting a car. When I bought my car back in 2013, I was rushing to get one because I need to attend events and change outfit based on occasion. At that time, I didn’t really know how costly it is to own and maintain a car. Its annual maintenance and other surprise cost will take some cut in your take home pay if you’re not smart about it.
Here I am with my favorite people in Rapide during one of the maintenance visit at Rapide.
Again, I was able to find a helpful calculator to help one decide about getting a car. This auto-loan calculator is actually very helpful in terms of knowing your monthly payments, your interest rates and the likes. How come I didn’t get to use them before? Now here it is I am sharing you a helpful calculator about your car loans in the future.
5. Sell the stuff you don’t need!
If there’s one thing I have learned that is very helpful in terms of making sure cash flow is doing well, that is holding a bazaar. A Bazaar is your periodic sale of items you had –either something you bought, or a gesture from your partner brands that you actually didn’t use because of your preference. Selling your stuff is a better way to raise fund for your future travels, shopping and even connect with your readers.
You’ll never know, those items that remained sealed or unused at your home might be someone else’s important finds! In fact, I will have a bazaar next week to push some of the items I no longer needed! Way to go!
Overall, my idea of idea of savings before and during pandemic didn’t change. I share these because those are my major takeaways as a blogger in the past years. I might have done better but I guess by now I am way smarter than those years when I didn’t get much help or much needed research about anything. I might have discovered a lot from calculator.me site but I’m telling you there is actually more helpful templates and calculators there so might want to check it out!
And may I interest you to my favorite saving quotes from Thomas Jefferson:
Never spend your money before you have it.
_________________________________________________
Want something to be featured here at rodmagaru blog? Email me at rodmagaru@gmail.com.
I am also active on my social media pages! Click below and join the conversation!