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#PlsSaveMe – That Day When We Hit Rock Bottom

September 15, 2019
sad photo of a woman

Hitting rock bottom is something that I expect to happen at least once in a person’s life. I realized it early in my life because I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. My mother is a teacher and my father worked as a fireman (he’s retired now), they were earning just enough for the 3 of us siblings, no savings for the future.

Fast forward to 2016, the time when I and my siblings have already graduated and have started a family of our own, when I was 5 years married with 2 kids, I thought I was doing better than my parents because I had savings. But I was wrong. It wasn’t enough…

The company where I work closed but they paid me enough money for the months that I would be unemployed and for the delivery of our 2nd baby. SSS maternity benefit has been settled, so for me, those months were purely spent on hibernating and making sure I delivered my baby Martina safely. Everything went smoothly, Martina finally came out, my eldest Louise started schooling, hubby’s happy with his job, we still had money so we planned for a double celebration of Louise’s birthday party and Martina’s christening. The party was a success, my parents and siblings from Mindanao attended so it was a week-long happy moment for us.

But a few days after the celebration, hubby Fred got really sick. His gall bladder had some complications which needed urgent surgery. The day that he was admitted, I got really sick as well because of UTI and mastitis. Imagine that, I was left alone with a newborn baby and a preschooler, nursing a fever and suffering from a swelling breast.

husband after laparoscopic surgery

Fred and I were living paycheck to paycheck that time (we still are at present actually, but wiser I believe). We were confident we can cover everything while I was still unemployed but nothing has prepared us for that problem. We had no more money for hospital expenses. Of course, there was health insurance but unfortunately, it reached the limit. I didn’t even have the money to go see an OB for checkup and medicines. My parents and siblings already spent huge when they joined us in our celebration so they had no extra money. We were left with no choice but to let my mother-in-law cover everything that time, even for my check-up. We were very thankful, but I cannot deny that I felt a little bit useless. It was a shame on our part as a married couple. We had nothing…

Lesson learned from that problem – Save big as much as you can…because you really don’t know what lies ahead.

After that incident, we started saving again. I accepted a job which is a great help even up to present, however, we are dealing with a problem right now because of another financial mistake that we did. Yes, we do have savings but we’re still not debt-free. We still owe money from my mother-in-law, a car and a few credit cards to pay off. I sometimes ask, “When does this end?”. Fred and I are really working hard just so we can reach that moment that we can finally announce we’re debt-free. But right now, all I can share is our story, telling you that whatever financial problem you’re dealing with currently, you’re not alone. That if you feel tired of working hard but still unable to save, you’re not alone.  Together let’s continue learning from our mistakes, let’s set goals, and try our best to be smarter with finances.

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