Saturday, July 26, 2008 The lighter side of scrimping By Ober Khok
THE sun never tires of rising each day. It never allows any storm to delay its appointment with mankind.
Like a sunny side up egg, the morning sun heralds the beginning of a new day, which I mark by digging into my morning eggs.
Lately there’s been some juggling in my house, some digging into hidden wealth: coins stashed in unused mugs, coins under the bed, paper bills tucked between the pages of Grapes of Wrath.
Dusty book. Good hideout.
My aunt, Tita Blitte, announced the other day that the family has to scrimp here and scrimp there. “Times are hard,” she said over lunch.
“Tita, ka-drama sab nimo, oy,” Krystal said.
“Ay, didn’t you hear that news on ABS-CBN? There was this guy from the government who said that Pinoys just have to learn to live with the hard times and do some budgeting. He said Pinoys just have to work harder, look for second jobs—“
Joy interrupted. “Tita, galisod na man gain og first job, second pa kaha?”
I sat there, watching the women of the house. It’s really women who do most of the worrying when the family’s table fare is threatened by rising prices in food.
And so, as a tax-paying dude, a good son and a concerned citizen, I decided to dedicate this column to all Pinoys out there.
This is the ultimate solution to poverty and hard times. Call it the Ober Khok Files (OKL) for the Agenda Against Poverty (AAP). Scrimping Made Easy (SME) could be the other title of the AAP program.
Normally, I would charge P1,500 for this seminar (which includes an ID, two snacks, lunch and a bag stuffed with a ball pen of an unknown brand, a cheap notebook and mimeograph copies of the seminar). But you get this seminar for free because you’re my friends.
Here are the valuable solutions.
Lesson 1: eat less. If you used to pile your plate with one cup of rice, give that other half to your better half. You will be saving one serving of rice for your two children or for your supper if you have no children.
Lesson 2: skip one meal. By not eating one meal you save on budget. But then, according to Illustracio, my friend, his neighbor is skipping breakfast because they can’t afford to miss lunch.
“Lunch is also a problem for them because they don’t even have enough money to buy squash to sautée later and a half kilo of rice.
“Rice is P32 per kilo and squash is P10 per small slice. So, does that mean they surpass the AAP expectations? Should they also skip lunch so they can save more money?”
I looked at Illustracio and told him about the next lesson.
Lesson 3: if you don’t have anything to eat, don’t eat. This lesson is backed by a recent Social Weather Stations survey.
The survey reported that involuntary hunger in Metro Manila rose to a record high of more than one in every five households.
A total of 16.3 percent of families nationwide — 2.9 million households or around 14.5 million people — experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the previous quarter, up from the 15.7 percent (2.8 million families) reported in March.
With egg yolk dribbling down my white shirt, I realized how blessed I was to be eating the sun twice a week and still calling it scrimping.
