My wife didn’t want to waste food-Ex. From Eden. She wore her clothes as long as she could before buying new ones. Not all are like that, she said. If she is frugal and resourceful now, that will help you both later when married. Let her know that quality will be needed in your country too. Here are some of the things I have observed with my wife: Using empty containers like for alcohol wipes to put flowers in.
Reusing food containers from carry out after cleaning them. Buying inexpensive organizers for our stuff. Using empty containers for organizing bathroom supplies and in the kitchen. The way she organizes the refrigerator. She used empty laundry detergent containers I had for the purpose of collecting our change according to the kind of coin. There was the time I told her there was no more toothpaste to squeeze out, then she cut the top part off and lo and behold, there was toothpaste up in there I wouldn’t have been able to use! It is a small thing but it typifies how she operates in the home she is making. She took several light weight dumbbells I had and uses them to keep someone from opening the patio door to break in (like using a stick or rod). She looks for big sales on anything.
She has bought some clothes at department stores but also at thrift stores for 1 to 3$, very nice clothes. Using grocery store plastic bags for lining the trash containers. Buying a box of birthday cards instead of the individual ones. Saving leftovers. Always looking for the least expensive food that we like. Early on our living expenses didn’t increase when she got here in America. She wants us to use shampoo for hair and body so we don’t have to buy two different products, just so we can save some money.
Little things like this add up. I was concerned how she would handle “having things” and access to money, but like anything else, we talked about this before we married. We talked about how she handled her money in the Philippines, how responsible and unselfish she was. I trusted I would be marrying a woman who would transfer this attitude over here and she has. Sure, it costs some money to marry a Filipina who is in the Philippines, but in all likelihood she will naturally look for ways to save money here and there which will help pay some of that back, probably all of it over time. She is likely to discourage unnecessary spending, which is good. When my wife arrived in January of 2016,
I got her a checking account just for her, put some money in it, and taught her how to write the transactions in and balance it. We have also practiced with our other accounts and with on line banking for when she is ready to track all the spending (I still do this). I have taken her to meet our financial adviser so she gets an overview of money being saved for the future. Allowing her to be included in all this and always referring to the money as “ours” is a good way to make her feel responsibility for our finances. She had us get two different credit cards that would help with cash back. Saving actually appeals to her.
She told me living is day to day in the Philippines in many cases so saving for the future isn’t a priority. She wanted to help save when she got here. Now she has a job and saves quite a bit, while helping back home, paying a couple of bills and even a 401-K.
If your Filipina is the main bread-winner of the family, she will already be used to using money for the greater good. I think she will like having more money to be responsible for.
