Diary of a Pulubi is a book by Chinkee Tan giving tips on how to earn and control our spending. "Pulubi" means poor. What makes us poor? What habits are making us poorer?

Chinkee Tan is a motivational speaker and talks about success and taking better control of your finances. He is a successful businessman, a pastor and a life coach.

In this book, he gave examples on why we are having financial stress which causes distress in our lives. It is not about lack of income or money. We lack knowledge and discipline.

He listed 22 things we should do what makes us spend more and how to avoid them. One of the reasons that is consistently mentioned is PRIDE and NO SELF-CONTROL. We envy what others have and so we wanted it to. We should SPEND WITHIN OUR MEANS.

Avoid too much shopping

If you don't have plans on buying anything, avoid the malls and even groceries. If you do, don't bring all your credits and your cash. Stick to what you intended to buy. Sometimes we go to the mall to window shop, to kill time, or when our emotions are high we tend to spend more. It is not bad to shop, just that we should shop within our means.

ASK YOURSELF if you have enough money to buy what you wanted to buy without borrowing from others.

Weddings are about two people deeply in love and not two people in deep debt

"...til debt do us part."

Before getting married, be sure that everything to the smallest detail is well planned. It's okay not to invite everyone. Those who matter to your life should be celebrating with you, invited or not. There are a lot of things we want but we cannot have it all. Learn how to adjust and prioritize. Don't spend too much or you might will end up borrowing money that you will be paying the rest of your life.

Don't compare yourself to others

There are those who brag about what they have and where they have been but what you don't know is that they don't have money to buy food to eat. When emergency comes that needs money, they don't have anything and they end up borrowing. They look cool and act cool but that is all there is. Don't compare yourself to them and be like them. Be grateful and content with what you have.

Some have upgraded this and upgrade that. They have the newest gadgets and cellphones. If you want to have yours upgraded, go ahead if you can afford it now. Otherwise, learn how to be patient and wait.

Eat to live or Live to eat

Real people understands when you say that you are cutting back on your expenses so you say "No." Do you always say yes when people invite you to go eat or have coffee in expensive places even if you don't have money?

Because you want to be good friends with people, you go with the flow and sometimes we make an excuse that we left our wallet and borrow money from our friends.

How often do you eat out? How many frappes or coffee do you drink in a day?

There are cafes that offer cheaper beverages with the same and sometimes even more that caters to your taste. What are you buying and who are you buying for?

Be practical. Instead of eating out during your lunch break, bring food instead that you cooked at home. Other coworkers I know would make this as a business opportunity. They will prepare delicious food and showcase their cooking skills and let others share with the food. If people like it, they will request for orders. Not only were you able to save but you were able to profit from it.

When hosting a party, you don't have to spend much and again you don't have to invite the whole town. Remember, it is not a competition of who prepared more food, how posh and expensive the venue is, who came to the party, etc. It's not about what others would say but it's about the moment and what is the true meaning of the celebration.

The act of giving

Do you give it all? Do you have the Superman syndrome?

In our desire to help others, sometimes we give until we have nothing left for ourselves. We even go as far as borrowing money so others will have something to use. Their responsibility becomes our responsibility.

There is no problem in giving. The problem is in giving too much. Why not teach them how to help themselves? Don't let them rely on charity alone.

I cannot emphasize enough when I say learn to say NO. How can you help if you cannot even help yourself in the end?

Family comes first BUT parents should not treat their children as investment so that they can depend on them when they need something. How about their future family? The same goes with children. They should not treat their parents as a bank as if they have an unending resources.

Invest in your future. Invest now.

Unnecessary Consumption

Are you the kind of person who buys things just because you can?

Some relatives of us when they come for a vacation here in Philippines, they would stock their ref with food and keep stocking them while they are still here. We are the caretaker of their house when they are not here. When they go back to the States, they would ask us to look after their house. When we will check the contents of their ref, there will be spoilt food cooked and uncooked. We keep reminding them time and again to buy only what they needed. There were even groceries that already expired kept somewhere that they would suddenly remember and inform us about it.

Do you buy food just to comfort yourself that you have something in stock? Do you use energy and water just for comfort?

Learn how to economize and buy only what you need.

Air fare sale! Sale! Sale!

You saw your friend's post about his/her recent travel and you want to go there, too. However, you do not have money. What do you do? Borrow or use your credit card. YOLO, right? Pay forever, right?

Travel when you have saved enough money. There are many blogs and reviews online that you can check. There are tips that you can learn about traveling on a budget. Book ahead and plan ahead. Find alternatives. Maybe traveling is your passion? Then learn how to make money out of it.

Why do you buy gifts and souvenirs? Is it to brag that you have traveled? Buy gifts for the people who really matter to you and you matter to them.

These are some tips and lessons that you already know but are you applying them?

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