After 8 years, I finally reached 100k a month salary.
Eight years. That’s how long it took me to go from a 14k-a-month no-benefits contractual job to breaking six digits. No safety net, no connections, just grinding through every performance review, every late night, every “sorry, budget freeze” until it wasn’t a freeze anymore.
Nine months ago I hit 74k and thought that was already enough of a reason to finally move out. So I did — got my own studio unit in Makati. Solo. No more sharing a bathroom with four other people, no more eating on my bed because there’s literally nowhere else to sit. I used to pay 5,000 a month for a bedspace and now I had my own key, my own address, my own space to breathe. I thought, ito na ’yung pinaghirapan ko.
Then this January, I finally broke six digits. 100k. I remember thinking baka this is the year things actually get easier. I’m finally climbing up in this world.
Nagkamali ako.
Then the oil crisis hit. My dad lost his job. My sister needed a bigger allowance just to get to school because fares kept going up. My mom has always been a SAHM so there was never a backup income there. Biglang, ang 100k ko na parang malaki ay naging pambayad na lang ng lahat ng kulang.
I was already stretched. And then yesterday happened.
My dad collapsed from exhaustion and got rushed to the ICU. He’s been out every day for the past two weeks applying to anything he could find — warehouse, delivery, construction work.
I’m writing this with one hand on my head trying to figure out how to pay the hospital bill without taking a loan, while also keeping my family afloat until my next cutoff. Wala akong mahanap na maayos na sagot kahit ilang beses kong i-compute.
I already messaged my landlord. I’m moving out. I texted my old roommates asking if I could move back into the bedspace.
Akala ko ang six digit salary ay katumbas na ng financial freedom. Turns out you’re just one crisis away from debt. One crisis and I’m basically starting over, except now with the possibility of debt on top of everything.
Ang hirap lumaban ng patas dito. You do everything right tapos ganito pa rin pala ang mangyayari. Nagpo-post lang talaga ako kasi kailangan ko lang magsalita kahit saan.
Salamat sa pakikinig.