Category Archives: Interesting Topics

How to Stretch Your Budget

Posted on September 30, 2013 by greenbucks| Leave a comment

So you want to stretch your budget? Me too.

If you want to achieve this goal, you have to prioritize the things you need to scrimp with and splurge on.

You can stretch your budget by making intelligent choices and decisions. Here are a few steps to consider:

  • Write down what you need to purchase and prioritize the more important ones to the less important ones.
  • Before purchasing something big, ask yourself: “Do I really need this now or can purchasing it wait for later?”
  • Write down what you spend on, be it a chocolate bar or a new bed, to help  you monitor where your money is going. You may be surprised to see that you are spending more on non-essential things than on the must-have items. (Are the hair pieces worth the investments than going to the hair salon every few weeks or so for a new hairstyle?)
  • Make room for financial investments, be these real estate property, shares in the stock market or financial plans. Talk to a financial adviser so that your investment does not end up in the wrong hands.

Read more tips here. 

P.S. I wrote the article linked.

Posted in Interesting Topics, Money Watch

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Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Posted on July 5, 2013 by greenbucks| Leave a comment

Do you snore?

Ask your spouse or a family member if you snore when you sleep.

If you so snore, let it be known that snoring signals obstructive sleep apnea, a common sleep disorder. This may lead to weight gain, high blood pressure and/or cardiovascular diseases.

People all over the world experience this condition called obstructive sleep apnea. It has potentially life-threatening effects when undiagnosed. Obstructive sleep apnea impairs a person’s ability to reach deep and restful phases of sleep.

It is a disorder where a person asleep stops breathing. It comes from the Greek word “apnea,” which means “without breath.”

When a person sleeps, all muscles of his body relax including the soft tissues at the rear of the throat. As this area becomes more flaccid, the tissues collapse into the space meant for air to pass through, making a person with sleep apnea stop breathing during sleep, as often as hundred times an hour, causing inadequate oxygen supply in the body.

With each apnea, the brain receives a signal to awaken the person so he can resume breathing. This may result in a snorting, choking, or gasping sound. Snoring, on the other hand, is the sound made as air passes through the narrowed airway.

The following are some of the effects of having obstructive sleep apnea:

  • fatigue
  • daytime sleepiness
  • increased chances of accidents

These conditions may be associated with obstructive sleep apnea:

  • high blood pressure
  • arrhythmia
  • stroke
  • heart failure

 

The following are helpful to maintain a healthy lifestyle:

  • healthy diet
  • exercise
  • enough sleep from 6 – 8 hours

Do you need help with snoring, whether yours or a loved one’s?

To help sleep apnea sufferers, the Asian Hospital Medical Center (AHMC) provides treatments to reduce socially unacceptable snoring to treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.

AHMC has a Sleep Laboratory with a comprehensive range of diagnostic tools and treatment procedures to help sleep apnea sufferers. It is located on the 9th Floor Wing B of the hospital and operates 5 days a week, 24 hours a day.

For inquiries and scheduling of sleep study procedures, call Asian Hospital and Medical Center’s Pulmonary Services at 876-5815 or 771-9000 local 1936.

Posted in Health, Interesting Topics

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Small Businesses

Posted on July 1, 2013 by greenbucks| 1 Comment

Based on my observation, there are some people who usually do not look highly on people who own and run a “small business”. Those who usually do are the ones who go to a fancy office wearing fancy clothes and getting their salaries via the ATM. On the other hand, they grapple with traffic on the road, face-off at the MRT/LRT during rush hours and constantly tugging between having to buy that new pair of fashionable shoes versus just paying the latest credit card bill first.

Those with small businesses however, are not any different from the corporate slaves. They too have their shares of struggles: too little time to do other matters because all the time available is spent tending the small business and making it big later on, headache-inducing tasks of balancing business-related matters, and a host of others things that may curb the enthusiasm to continue what is being done and just give everything up.

Here are a few small business ideas that can mean a good ROI if handled properly, meaning using the right approach, the proper timing, the proper venue and the right attitude:

  • meat processing like tocino, longganisa, relleno, products but make sure that you passed the proper health inspection licenses
  • carinderia or food delivery for offices if you love cooking
  • massage and nail spa places
  • specialized stationery and other paper-related crafts
  • sewing special request clothes, especially in the time where cosplay is “in”
  • souvenir thingamajigs
  • flower arrangements
  • party needs

There are a lot more small business ideas out there, just be sure you attend the proper training, get the proper licenses and certificates and put your heart in what you want to accomplish and you are good to start.

Posted in business, For Information, Interesting Topics, Philippines, Saving

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Looking for Party Needs in Metro Manila

Posted on June 8, 2013 by greenbucks| 1 Comment

Let’s Paint D’ Town Red is a party needs provider for your planned parties, debuts, inauguration of offices, christening celebration and a lot more.

Here is a Ninja Go theme backdrop:

Bubble Show at Kaleb's Ninja Go birthday party by @letspaintdtownred_8

Jungle party magician

twisted? mangled?

More photos here.

Posted in Interesting Topics

Inside Pakil Church

Posted on May 18, 2013 by greenbucks| Leave a comment

One of the churches the hubby and I went to for our 2013 Visita Iglesia travel was San Pedro de Alcantara Church in Pakil, Laguna. This I must say, is hands down, one of my favorite churches. We went here a few years ago but not for Visita Iglesia.

Here is a photo I took and edited in Instagram:

Pakil Church

It is kinda different though that the altar’s patron saints are covered because it was Good Friday when we went here.

For reflection about Lent, it would have been better if there was appropriate serene atmosphere inside but people (like me!) are on the move with a lot taking photos, not so subtle talking inside the church and children playing with their tablets and their gadgets and permitted to walk to and fro.

I did not expect music that will stir the soul kind of thing (but the idea is a nice one, especially for reflecting on why we do what we do during these trips which in turn will take our minds off some of the things we left behind like the loads of laundry or perhaps the need to buy bach mouthpieces at wwbw or even where to eat after the trip) because there is always a crowd where out of towners like us drive in droves for a chance to see these beautiful and historical churches.

People should put more respect not just to these church structures but to the faith that the congregation believe in.

Posted in Interesting Topics