Money is the root of all …

We all have different views on money. To some money itself is life, to others it is the root of all evil and the cause of suffering in this world. To others it is a luxury in excess while someone else might just never seem to have enough to keep himself alive. With such vast differences on how we treat money it is easy see why the only thing we agree upon is that money is essential for our day to day lives.

When we classify something as essential we value it a lot. So what exactly is the true value of money? One could argue that money’s value can be measured by how much it can buy others may say it depends on the value assigned to it, hence a million pesos is greater than a peso. Still the more green minded might say that its value can be measured against the big green, the dollar.

While all those definitions are true, I find that the best way to see money’s value is to see it for what it is really worth. This value differs from person to person and cannot be measured.

Growing up my parents stressed the value of money. Like most kids I got both the “money doesn’t grow on trees “ and “if you want something you have to work for it” lectures.  Repetition made sure that those words were ingrained in my mind.

 I’m sure we all valued money even at a  young age. As a kid my parents gave me my allowance in lump sum at the start of the week, if I ran out of money during the middle of the week then it was my fault and I would have to suffer the consequences. That was my first taste of the true value of money and how ‘hard’ life was… well not really.

I grew up without much want and though we weren’t rich my allowance was more than enough to get me both what I needed and wanted. If I needed extra cash my parents were close by and I could more often than not convince them into giving me a little extra.  Such was the case in high school where many of my projects were funded by my parents. Cartolina, Illustration board, markers, glue, printing where usually charged to them. I basically I only paid for the extras while my parents paid the necessities.

You could say my life was more than adequate and that I could have easily abused my parents but I didn’t. I saw what they had to go through to provide for our family and I knew it was no easy task.

For a long time that was how I measured the true value of money, through other peoples eyes. Boy, was I wrong…

When I entered college it was a totally different story. I left the comfort of my home for the big city, Manila. At first everything worked out for me. They sent me a lump sum allowance at the beginning of every month which I would have to budget. No problems there, or so I thought.

Things began to change when I slowly realized how different my spending in college would be. Aside from the fact that life in Manila is generally more expensive I was alone now so I had no source of extra money. For the first time in my life I was forced to account for and budget what I had. This was a bit new to me since I never had to do any real budgeting before.  

Along with accounting for every little peso comes the realization of how much you really spend and how little you have. When it was all written down I saw that was going over budget.

Aside from the day to day expenses, I didn’t account for emergencies. This is what really threw me off budget. Medicine for fever and paying for a dentist was never cheap but when you pay for it yourself you realize just how expensive these things are.

Then of course there’s the case of delayed budgets. Recently I suffered from this, apparently my parents forgot to send me money before they left for vacation. According to them it was useless to send me money since I would be joining them soon. That was my first taste of deficit.

Okay so maybe I exaggerate the gravity of my situation. It’s not like any of the situations mentioned above compare to the day to day struggle of the poor of this country. However my reactions are genuine. In the past few months in college I have learned to appreciate money and place higher value on it.  

I realize of course that my life is still relatively easy as I am still dependent on my parents. Thinking about when a time when I will be working and providing for myself is a little intimidating. If I am having problems now when the money doesn’t come from me I imagine it to be much harder.

Of course, I have a few years to perfect my skills in budgeting and accounting. Both my parents say it was never easy when they started earning but they eventually learned the ropes. I only hope that someday I may too.