All too often we are asked how we can manage our finances when it is only Cecille who earns in this family. She's not in the corporate world earning humongous corporate salaries. She is, in fact, in client services.
And yet we manage quite well with her humble pay.
We can afford to give tithes, extend assistance to family and friends in dire need and still have some left for savings. We can still, on occasions, indulge on our favorite food or go on out of town trips, thanks to promo fares.
But many genuinely wonder how.
Nothing unusual, really. It is just Cecille's view of rewards.
Most salaried folks to tend pay themselves after being paid. They believe they deserve the reward after braving the tide of deadlines, screaming clients, tons of paper works, office politics, mean bosses, the HR Dept, overloaded public conveyances, daily traffic.
Cecille, however, views it differently. Oh yes, she does face the same screaming clients, deadlines, paper works, office politics, traffic, the works. She trudges on like anyone else.
What sets her apart is she views her WORK as, in itself, THE reward. As such, there is little desire to further pay herself after getting paid.
She believes that being able to make ends meet against not being able to because she is without a job, makes all the difference. And it is this difference that moves her to respect her work and constantly add value to it. After all, you nurture the tree that feeds you.
This attitude has flowed down to all aspects of our daily life. We manage well mainly because we can identify the need from the want. I would like to believe this is the core of excellent money management skills and Cecille has become very good at it.
We learned to value money, importantly the effort behind how it was earned. It has taught us to prioritize, to invest only on what is truly essential, to be basic. And it has prepared us well during this time of biting global economic crisis.
We may not be as jeweled as the prominent Juan's in our society, nor can we readily afford those boutique cafe's in the business district, or those pampering foot spas or manicures, or afford the latest gadgetry, or join the frenzy of those midnight sales.
But we know how to be happy with less and it has given us an overwhelming sense of freedom.
Equally important, it has allowed us to share.
