Afford what you want and be cheap.

Ok, so how does one boost his/her chances of affording something he/she wants?
the answer is simple. You have to be a cheapskate (by cheap I actually mean frugal. but cheap sounds funny so i'll use cheap).

Being cheap is like being a laser light. It has a concentrated focus instead of wide angle lights which tend to cover a lot of area, but illuminates weakly. With money, the same principle should be adopted. We have to spend only for specific things, outside of which, should bear minimal, if not no, expense.

For example, I always avoid eating out in fastfood establishments that try to be cheap. I tell you, a value meal isn't exactly a value meal and it's price will never ever come near to the cheapness of the local eatery. Why? because you, the customer, funds everything from the electricity, to the air conditioner, to the employees, managers, the franchise, and the new equipment that they buy every time their equipment depreciates to the full and that's only some of the expenses. In the sense of fastfood establishments being a status symbol, who the f*ck will think of you as of upper status when you eat some mcsaver's in Mcdonald's? and did you ever notice that the satisfying meals are downright expensive while the value stuff are like half of your normal meal consumption at home? that's because they have specific price ranges and they tailor the food to the cost of production and operation. so aren't you paying for food that's totally reduced just so it meets a certain price range with all expenses thrown in? where's the value in that? Plus the ambiance is well, minimalist. ugh. but if you're hobby is actually eating in these middle-class fastfood restos, go ahead and splurge.

I have no problems whatsoever with restaurants though. They tailor the price to the amount of food and not the other way around. So expect to spend much but rest assured, you'll be leaving with full storage so to speak.

Now, why did I just allow splurging on hobbies? well, money is a resource and depriving yourself of what you want and not allowing yourself to do what you want to do just so you can "save" money is downright stupid. If you're a camera hobbyist, splurge on cameras. if you are a violinist, splurge on violins. However, I should warn you that to maintain that euphoric feeling of having something new like a new camera model has its negatives.
That's because things depreciate, and things go obsolete. The only thing that definitely appreciates (raises in value) and definitely can't depreciate is land. So a 2010 camera has a lower price when sold in 2011. Say you bought it for 49000 pesos, if you sold it by the next year, it'll turn like 39000 pesos that's 10000 pesos vaporized right there. But there's a trick though. You can splurge on lenses instead. Why? because they minimally depreciate. A 60000-peso lens is still about 60000 (or sometimes even more). A violin is a one-time buy and it superbly appreciates by age (discretion of the appraiser) so the violinist only has to spend for bows and can sell his/her violin and buy a new one every 5-10 years or so.

Another way to end up with more money is to return items aggressively. When we encounter defects (personally, I encounter a lot of these with my sneakers). It took me 2 weeks of going to and from the Nike shop just to replace my faulty pair of Cradle Rocks (the right shoe was kinda crooked) and a month to refund my trekking shoes. When you sense something's wrong, return the product right away and NOT BECAUSE YOU'RE DONE WITH IT. Seriously, people with real problems end up taking as hoaxes make the product management more skeptical in terms of giving refunds/replacing. Refund saves you money and replacing the item also indirectly does the same thing. Why? because having the product replaced saves you from not using your defective shoes and ending up buying a new pair.

Next tip is, drink water. Almost all restaurants have a nice filtration system (else, they won't have a sanitary permit). I love water. It saves you from spending for overpriced drinks and it saves you from trying out sh*t ones. One time, in a turkish restaurant, I ordered a glass of milk with a weird name out of curiosity and it set me back 100 pesos. Turns out, it was kinda like an unpasteurized Cow's milk and so it tasted like it's in the process turning completely sour. I complained and the waitress told me it's just the way the turkish make their milk. The argument was futile since of course, every customer has to try out all sh*t in a resto to filter the good food from the bad food.Plus, you ever see those cooking showdown judges? their chosen beverage is water. That's because water rids the tongue from being influenced. Try eating something spicy then drink something sweet like cola then eat it again. Cola dampens the spice. you end up with a weird aftertaste. So save yourself from these worries. Drink water.

For your perishable needs, buy wholesale and for your other needs only buy when there's a sale. For example, a can of TacBac (canned bacon with 10-year shelf life) is cheaper than canned tuna when bought wholesale while it costs nearly 3 times more than the canned tuna when bought at retail. Tacbac is great for camps, overnights and when our maid's on a holiday. for an example on non-perishable items, a Hanes shirt has superior quality, no-nonsense, comfortable cotton. So? I wait for a major mall sale and I splurge. These things don't go obsolete and brand recognition is fair. Buying a Nike shirt sporting the latest sports icon and tech will probably go obsolete in a month or two, and definitely within a year.

Always use coupons. Coupons are like a restricted form of money. They are restricted to a certain product and/or a certain time period. Use them as they save you money. :D (I actually use coupons when I have them... even on first dates and I tell you, it's a good way of sorting out the cash chuggers from the good ones). I actually have a stingy chinese girlfriend right now and she spends for an Awfully Chocolate cake for me once in a while and I spend for some local pastries. Cheap. Win-win. :D

Never get a credit card (PayPal can be through debit card anyways you know). You ever see how credit card companies are desperately attempting to coax you to getting a credit card? One instance was that there was an 80% sale on selected crocs items in a mall in our city, upon going there, to my surprise, there was an entrance fee or you'll sign up for a credit card. Now the reason why they're doing that is because they fail in ads and in giving away credit cards like candy so they have to put you into a situation wherein you have to seriously think of whether or not to get a card instead of simply thinking of signing up as a hassle. They market these cards as a status symbol but you see, credit cards make you incur a CREDIT, a LIABILITY, NOTES PAYABLE, a DEBT. As with every debt, there's interest and we're talking about 10% interest rates or higher here. Banks don't want you to come at the end of the month and pay your debt in full. They want you to miss payment for you to sink more and more into the oblivion of debt and you end up spending a large gunk of your money for interest. Instead, have a debit card (an example is the ATM card). It may have limited usability (since banks want you to really have a credit card so they don't really try to coordinate with establishments regarding atm cards and they charge heavily for inter-branch withdrawals) but it's DEBIT, that's NOTES RECEIVABLE and it incurs interest INCOME. However minimal that interest rate is, no matter the hassle of having to switch branches is, ATM machines are everywhere though and just enjoy the peace of mind (and that dignified feeling) because you're not incurring debts and interest expense. :D

Living on the cheap doesn't only exempt the stuff you want but also tipping people. In restaurants, in hotels, or in any other place you go to regularly, tip BIG. Why? because it's an investment of goodwill. You tip so you can have better service and so the waiter/bellboy/whatever will be more specific with their replies to queries. Take for example when you ask the specialty of a house. For a regular customer, they'll respond with the food that's about to get spoiled so they're on special so people are more likely to buy them before they're spoiled (so they saved themselves from incurring a loss). But if you tip big, the waiter will be at end in explaining which is which, what is what and will surely ensure that your orders come on time.

Last tip, don't buy something that you don't need or want. I mean it. Sometimes we spend for something just because someone tells us to do so or not doing so makes us feel that we are inferior to others who do. Don't get intimidated next time you and your friends eat out and you're the only one who orders water. Don't feel inferior when you're wearing a discount shirt when your friends are wearing some shirt made from the same cotton but just has a stupefyingly big logo of a known brand centered. I think it's truly inferior for us when we fail to stand up for ourselves and we bend to the pressure of having to spend for something that we don't want really want to spend for.
LOOK: FINANCIAL WEALTH AND STATUS IS DETERMINED BY HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE AND NOT BY WHAT YOU BUY. SINCE WHAT YOU BUY IS BASICALLY MONEY GIVEN AWAY TO PEOPLE AND MONEY GIVEN AWAY TO PEOPLE IS ONLY NECESSARY IN CASES OF KIND-HEARTEDNESS OR A NEED/WANT FOR THAT PRODUCT. I like sneakers, I don't mind splurging on them, everything else is of minimal spending and all the money saved goes to the bank for worry-free interest (withholding tax deducted from your interest isn't exactly a worry. it's liability to the government for crying out loud) and I don't exactly give money to those beggars with minor disabilities knowing that blind masseurs and single-armed/single-legged tricycle drivers exist. SAVE MONEY. IT'S A PRECIOUS RESOURCE.

So just follow these tips or tweak them to your liking. Cheap doesn't mean poor but instead, it's an indirect sign of strength since we're strong enough to avoid the pressures of the material world that wants us to spend and so we should stay or become, well, cheap. :D

DISCLAIMER: Money isn't everything but it can basically be in exchange for almost everything. They say money can't buy life (in the form of continued earthly existence)? then how come there are a lot of poor people who blame loss of loved ones because of lack of money? They say money can't buy dignity? look at those kids on the street who don't have money to buy shorts/underwear are stripped off of their dignity because they have to wear those shorts with large holes that their orifices (private parts) are seen. Money shouldn't be connected with GREED or OBSESSION. Money is rather neutral: it can be used for one's own interests or for others. Your choice of either.