Personal Budget Struggles: The Real Cost of Living Independently

Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I had a serious personal post here, maybe a year ago. Yes I had a few articles drafted and saved. Others are mere topics and outlines though. Then again, I should be thankful I have outsourced sponsored ones which have sustained the publication since then.

I have never had an escape from my busy school routines. As I had the account of my annual blogging income the other night though, I must say that the past year remained profitable where I made around PHP50,000.00 from both AdSense and sponsored articles.

I have observed though that recently my AdSense revenues have been plummeting into nearly cents each day while receiving bunch of emails about sponsored posts.

Check. I might have earned a reasonable passive income over the past year. The current one has kicked off with almost the same promise of profitability. The worry — I think I had some sort of financial miscalculations that recently, household expenses nearly caught me off guard.

Since the past few months, I have been struggling with the reality of household budgeting after taking over the apartment. My aunt and uncle, whom I used to live with for around ten years, decided to move out for good.

Before, I would just make the usual bimonthly living contributions to my dear aunt who did all the budgeting and groceries. It was as easy as that.

Things changed drastically. I started learning to manage the household chores and expenses by myself. With such an idealistic lifestyle approach however, I began making untimely big purchases that soon hurt my finances.

Worst, there were even times that I had no other choice but to take a pinch of my stock investment amidst the depressed market. Every time I would do it however, I would take a promise to make bigger reinvestments should I recover from the current losses. Sadly, I still haven’t had the chance until now.

Despite these struggles, I still have managed to settle the premiums for my life plans and insurances. At the same time, I have made little material investments which I can use for personal comfort and other creative interests. After all, the career I have chosen has but gone physically and mentally demanding. I can have simple de-stressing outlets at least.

Living independently has made me realize the need for making informed decisions and priorities in terms of managing personal finances. It might have caused me so much adjustment and stress, but looking at the positive side of it, I have had the full control of everything. What it takes, as I have always known, is an employment of practical and feasible strategies.