The Pillow

Last Saturday night, we were at the hospital for Zady’s 4th anti-rabies shot. A group of people talking in the middle of Emergency Room caught my attention. I overheard that one of their family members just passed away. Two women who were part of the circle sat in front of us.

Disclaimer: Hindi ako tsismosa, medyo malakas kasi ang mga boses nila haha!

After a couple of minutes, a relative entered and gave a purple pouch to the woman in front of me who looked puzzled.

“Ano ‘to? Saan galing ‘to?”

“Nakuha namin sa unan ni Nanay. Nagulat kami may nakapa kaming matigas pagbukas namin ng unan may pera pala.”

Another family member joined their conversation,

“Kaya pala bago pumunta ng ospital una nyang hinanap yung unan nya. Yakap yakap nya.”

They were referring to a red Hello Kitty pillow held by the one who just came in.

“Kada siguro nagpapadala ng pera sa kanya nagtatabi talaga siya. Ang dami nyang naipon.”

I shared this story to my husband and he replied, “Ang galing no? Di nya na pinahirapan yung mga kapamilya nya. Alam nya na rin siguro oras na nya kaya ‘di nya kinalimutan yung unan.”

On our way home, I realized that;

1. We should never discount the power of saving.

2. More Filipinos, should be educated about proper ways of saving money. Have you heard the story of the forgotten money? I chanced upon this on Facebook. A retired family driver saved money inside his closet many years ago and completely forgot about it. Last year, his wife discovered his savings (if my memory serves me right, the amount is between 50-100k) but got heartbroken because they were old bills that have no value anymore. They tried their luck in Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and explained the situation but failed on their first attempt. What if Nanay’s family did not notice the pouch? That’s money that would be thrown away which could have been used for medical or funeral service. It would be unfortunate, right? You can start the education inside your family. Who knows, maybe your parents are doing the same method of saving. Ask then teach them.

3. It’s never too late to start saving. The best time to do it is now. There’s a lot of tips out there! Saving does not mean you’ll choke yourself and not experience the things you want. It means you budget your money so you can cover all needs, pleasures, and emergencies.

4. Knowing that you are going to have a decent final resting place will give you peace.

Rest in peace, Nanay. Thank you for your story. I am pretty sure it’s not a coincidence that I happened to know it.  I hope you have a red pillow up there.

 

Nocturnal Mom’s tips on saving money:

Tips 2018 Edition

4 Reasons Why It’s Hard to Save Money

5 Easy Money-Saving Tips