I go for anything that’s cheap. For example, why would I spend P700 for that brand new shirt with the crocodile logo when there’s an ukay-ukay shirt at P100 and with a print that says “Sex is Overrated”? It’s hip, it’s practical, it’s cool. And more than just simply a statement, it’s pro-micro economy. It’s the ginabot-crazy people like us who sustain the livelihood of pungko-pungko vendors.

Of course, what we save in cash we more than pay for in non-monetary ways, like by allowing ourselves various forms of inconvenience otherwise not experienced by mall goers. The P600 that I saved from buying an ukay-ukay shirt is what I get in exchange for almost dying of suffocation inside the ukay-ukay store. For my P600 savings, I have to live with the thought that the shirt’s previous owner could have smelt like dumpsite in the armpit region.

And forget about food hygiene in a pungko-pungko corner. Surviving the experience is easy: if a thing is lying still, it’s lumpia; if it moves, it’s a cockroach.

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