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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Of Personal Finance



I’ve just recently discovered the awesomeness of personal investing. Yes, I’ve known there are riches to be digged in the stock market, but it’s just now that I’m really appreciating it. It all first started with my desire to pay off all credit card debts and so, I twisted my arms and legs last year just to get me started. I had these feelings of panic and nausea back then every time I think of my total monthly balance and it made me cringe. And so I read all personal finance blogs, Yahoo’s Finance section and any other resource I could find to educate me on how to go about really paying off debt. It was a very unsettling feeling- when I thought I can never get up from the shithole that I was in. Luckily, I had a very POSITIVE influence that I really, really stopped swiping my way to the end of each month while I delivered my salary to the payment centre the day I received it. How did I do it?

  • ·         I lumped my purchases in my Metrobank Card then called HSBC for a balance transfer. Between the two, HSBC had the better rate for Balance Transfer at that time. Then, when it was done, I cut my Metrobank Card so that I can focus on paying for the monthly due on my HSBC card.
  • ·         Of course, there will always be temptations to use that card again for a new shirt or an awesome pair of shoes, but I resisted it by drawing a budget for myself. I added all my expenses in a month, then subtracted it to my total net income. After that, I set a daily allowance for myself. In order to stick to it, I also modified my lifestyle of eating out whenever it is salary day. Well, this will not be a walk in the park I thought but I tried the first month, second month and so on. Although there were times I gave in to temptations, I just regarded it as a setback and then stuck to my budget again.
  • ·         After that, it was going smoothly. However, I actually had budget for spare expenses such as when I really, really need to it out or when I just can’t resist to buy new stuff. This has worked for me because if I get to spend it, then no harm done because I’m still in line with my budget. And if I didn’t get to spend it, I saved it.
  • ·         Now, for saving. I allocated 1K each month to my savings envelope and I never defaulted because I already made it a habit to stick to my daily allowance. In fact, it was not that a big sacrifice actually. I found out that 1K is not a huge deal so I forget about it the moment it was dropped inside the envelope.
  • ·         Finally, when January came this year, I was already looking for other ways to earn or let my little savings earn for itself. With reading various financial articles, I learned that you can actually earn more when you put some moolah into stocks or mutual funds. And so the plethora of research came and I decided to try my first ever investing experience with FAMI- the investing arm of Metrobank. Since their office is near ours, it is convenient for me to transact with them.
  •          Finally now, I’m just waiting for next year to reap the rewards of my investment. With all things bright in the Philippine economy, I’m confident that I will be able to profit from my fund of choice. Although it may not be that lucrative, but still, the earnings of my standby money will be more when compared to just leaving it in a savings bank account.
More posts about investment and personal finance are to come at AT. These are exciting times!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

2012's First Post: Google Adsense Issue


And so procrastination got the better of me last year. I was not minding Avid Thinker at all, content in my thoughts staying as thoughts- without putting them into paper. Shame, I did not even attempt to redeem Avid Thinker when the new year came. Again, there are plenty of excuses why, up to this time, I haven’t posted even just a welcome note for 2012. It actually took a message from Google Adsense that I finally moved my butt and thought of how to remedy the issue:


adsense-noreply@google.com
02:55 (19 hours ago)

to me
This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not
accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello,

During a recent review of your account we found that you are currently
displaying Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our program
policies
(https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=48182&stc=aspe-1pp-en).

--------------------------------------------------
EXAMPLE PAGE: http://briycee.blogspot.com/2010/03/gone-too-soon.html

Please note that this URL is an example and that the same violations may
exist on other pages of this website or other sites in your network.

VIOLATION(S) FOUND:

COMMENT SPAM: As stated in our program policies, AdSense publishers may
not display Google ads on pages with adult or mature content. While we
understand that it may be challenging to monitor user-generated content,
such as comments, on your site, we require publishers to check that the
webpages containing their ad code complies with our program policies. More
information about this policy can be found in our help center (
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/as/bin/topic.py?topic=30284 ).

REQUESTED ACTION: Please make all necessary changes in the next 72 hours.

If the violations are corrected within the aforementioned time period, ad
serving will not be affected. If changes are not made and/or other policy
violations are encountered during the review process, ad serving will be
disabled to your site.

ACCOUNT STATUS: ACTIVE

Your AdSense account remains active. However, if we continue to find
problems, we may disable your entire account. Therefore, we suggest that
you take the time to review the rest of your network to ensure that all of
your other pages are in compliance with our policies.

Issue ID# 12141459

--------------------------------------------------
Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team
 
=====================================================
 
There and then, I logged into my blogger account when alas! They are now using Tagalog in the profile page. “Is this for real?” I thought, as I frantically clicked sub-menus with Tagalog text still. Oh, I hardly believed it that they automatically translated it to Tagalog! (Wonder why? It’ll be a subject of another post – dialect variations in the Philippines). I tried to keep my calm, and found a way to go to the home account page IN ENGLISH. When I got hold of the comments that made Google Adsense Team call my attention, I deleted all of them. In fact, I tried to delete all the previous comments in my posts but due to time constraints, was not able to erase them all.
When I checked back that particular page, I noticed another malady – the layout had distortions blocking the letters and ruining the overall AT design! Oh my, another issue to address right away! So I looked for a simple, clean design and decided right there and then to implement it. And what wonders it did to Avid Thinker! Now, you can see a brand new look, and a new post that goes with it. To top it off, I’m now ashamed of my procrastination, and here comes the pact to make as much posts as I can starting RIGHT NOW!
Who am I kidding? It certainly remains to be seen.. Hmmmm

 

Saturday, May 7, 2011

MSI Wind Review

I am a lazy writer, I confess. I have this usual compulsion to hurry. Hurry my bath, hurry my meal, hurry to work, hurry the call of nature in the restroom, even. Everything about me these days seem to be always in a hurry. Hence, my writing is now being affected and I tend to hurry my thoughts. Yes, in putting ideas into words, I hurry as well. So instead of making an intimate netbook review of my own, I prefer to GI (google it) and here, I found one extensive enough from Kevin O'brein of Notebook Review.



Sleek, isn't it? Now, would you like to have it? It's for sale, actually. My needs have upgraded to a desktop so I'm selling it for 15k PhP only (slightly negotiable; credit or cash). This baby is still not one year old from my care and believe me, I'm great at providing TLC to babies. Want to know other details? Do post your inquiries here. *wink*


Great Blogs Followed

As I've been away too long and just made my first ever post of the year this May, I want to somehow make up for lost times. I never thought I ever missed blogging until I clicked the "Add Post" app of blogger again. So here's what I did. I checked what fellow bloggers have been up to lately and they're quite doing great! So much so that I am following them now:

www.whirledpieces.blogspot.com - can be shitty and weirdy sometimes, but Jonas is always great reading for me. The Whatever Works banner aptly describes the blog. Try it, may work for you too.

www.reginawritesagain.blogspot.com - is that soft yet strong girl you'll not find in this modern world often. She has that wonderful character you'll instantly like. Take a peek now!

www.acupofair.blogspot.com - a chronicle of how the world is through a bum's eyes. See Louie in action, humor, faith, drama.. you name it, this blog has it!

Excess: Does LTV ring a bell, guys? *winks*

Website Competition Update

Glad to be back again! I just want to do a follow-up on my last entry. Well, what happened to the website competition I burdened myself with? The end date was sometime in January, 2011. We did not make it to the first spot, unfortunately. Nor to the second and third. In fact, the host announced the placers in last-first order and so I thought we never got in when she called the first last placer. Because I thought if ever we will get a place in the contest, the last place would be the most possible recognition we could get. Who wouldn't think that CWP is worth it since we didn't do much work on it? The criteria were so many that we only get to place one link on it - this same, old blog of mine! A bit of  SEO work was also undertaken but that was it. Apparently, somebody else did worse on their homework. So when the host moved on to the next placer, lo and behold, it was Cebu Web Portal being called! However small the award can be, it is still a wow feeling when you get recognized by something you had sweat-en out on. 

Here are some of the placers (as far as my scratched head can remember):



And to all the winners, kudos everyone. To the losers, congrats still!