Reah Bunsoy Online

The no-bag-for-one-year deal is over.  Yesterday was January 8 and I am proud to say I survived 2009! I thought I couldn’t do it but thinking about the prize made me overcome temptations.

So did I get my prize? No, not yet. With the baby and all the expenses, my husband and I made another deal: to zero our credit card bills and then the prize is all mine. I agreed.

For now, I’d just settle on the gifts and the bags I’ve amassed the past few years. I’ll be selling a few over at eBay though because I don’t really use them and I need extra kaching-kaching.

Funny how I received a bag exactly a year after I gave bag-shopping up. I got this lovely, lovely bag:

Hello Chanel!!!I just love, love, luuurve this! It’s worth the one year I fasted.

By the way, I happened to buy just one bag last year. The only bag I was only allowed to buy—a diaper bag! I got the Paul Smith messenger bag for me, errr…Noah.

So there, a new deal. God, help me.

DAY 30. And now, the end is near…and so I face the final curtain. Yiha! It’s the 30th day of my 30-day blog challenge. I haven’t really been faithful to blogging but at least I was able to write about my thoughts and the things happening in my life for the past four weeks.

I thought I couldn’t do it but well, I did!

There are so many things I wasn’t able to tell you though. I’ve got a lot of blog-worthy stuff in my head that I was just too lazy to write about. Oh well, there’s always the next thirty days. :p

And since the challenge is about to end, I’m feeling generous. I decided to give away Starbucks gift certificates (classic to!) to the first five readers who will tell me their favorite entry among the 30 blogs and tell me why. I will only be accepting your answers via SMS.

Text me your FAVORITE 30-DAY BLOG CHALLENGE ENTRY<space>REASON<space>NAME<space>BLOG URL<space>ADDRESS. Then send to +63917535REAH. That simple!

I will send the gift certs to your mailing address. And oh, you can only join if you live in the Philippines. Sorry.

I have a confession to make: I currently have 8 credit cards. E-I-G-H-T!!! I’ve got four from Citibank, two from BPI, one from BDO, and one from HSBC. The last one was just a supplementary from my husband. I told myself I’d keep only three or at least one from each bank but they just keep on coming.

I first applied for one back in 2004 but it was not approved. Union Bank must have thought I was not capable to pay then because I was only earning PXX,000 and I was just new to the job then. I told myself then, that yeah, it wasn’t time yet.

Then an officemate approached me a few months after. She was a freelance agent for Citibank and suggested that I applied. She was confident my application will be approved and true enough, I got my first ever credit card after two weeks. And exactly two weeks after that, BPI sent me three cards after filling out an application form at a booth in Glorietta.

I could not contain my joy when I got my credit cards. Then, it meant more purchasing power for me. I was still conscious about using them so I’d set a limit for myself when shopping and pay up immediately.

That was before.

I forgot how and when I got the other cards from Citibank. I just remembered applying for another one but the bank just keep sending more. In fact, I got another one last month. The BDO card, well, the bank sent it to me about four months ago since according to them, I’m a good client. (Define good?).

Among my eight credit cards, the HSBC card has the biggest limit. I’m not telling you how much but since it’s just a supplementary card from my husband’s account, I don’t use it that often. If I do use it, I’d pay up before the cut-off date. Good girl.

There’s something special about having these plastic cards. I somehow feel proud because this means that banks do trust me and that I have the capability to pay. Thing is, I sometimes abuse that power. Especially before, I’d find great joy in charging my purchases using the cards but cringe when I’d receive the statement.

I can’t say I’ve dropped the habit completely. I’ve changed though since I’d leave them when going out. My husband always tells me to pay in cash instead. But when I’d run out of cash, I’d bring out a plastic card to use. You’ll never know when there’s an “emergency”, right?

Credit cards are not evil. It’s just how you use them. Most of the time, they’re very helpful. No, I’m not talking about my shopaholic tendencies but purchases that really matter. You know: bills, home appliances, groceries, plane fares, etc.

Right now, Josh and I are trying to zero out our debts. We’re trying very, very hard. I am trying so hard not to use them anymore but there are emergencies. By emergencies, I mean real ones. I have given up on shopping for myself except last July when I’d buy myself gifts from Joshua. LOL!

I’m planning to reduce them to four. Perhaps I’d have the other three from Citibank canceled and leave the one with the biggest limit active. I’d cancel the other BPI card too because I don’t use it often as one is enough. The BDO card, I’d have it canceled before the year is up. There are just too many tempting offers from the bank. Hehe.

I’m still trying to be smarter about my finances. I’m glad I have a husband who studied economics, works in an insurance, was a previous banker, and is thrifty. Perfect for a spendthrift like me. Teehee.

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