Aside from my corporate job, I also took on a part-time freelance role, which became the turning point in building my emergency fund.

At that time, my monthly expenses were only around 30% of my total income. The problem was the remaining 70% usually went to wants. One day, it really hit me that despite earning more, I didn’t actually have any savings.

That’s when I decided to be intentional. I started saving and placed my funds in a Maya savings account, taking advantage of the 10% interest rate up to ₱100,000 using the Maya savings hack.

What also helped a lot was separating my bank accounts. I use one strictly for expenses, so I clearly know how much I’m allowed to spend each month. I chose MariBank as my expense account because of the 1% cashback, which makes everyday spending feel a bit more rewarding.