Long time ago, every of our traditional parents from average income or lower will tell us stories about why we must save money. We, each have our own "grandfather" stories lah!
Here's why you should build up your savings lah!
(no matter how rich or poor you are)
(no matter how rich or poor you are)
1ST REASON
- Housing price are rising, Car COE are always on the rise, household items prices are going up too, nevertheless daily food from hawkers are always rising too! Seems like every cost and expenses are rising here in Singapore. We gotta keep up with the numbers.
2ND REASON
Sometimes, eating that little of Economy Rice Cai Png 菜饭, even in the coffeeshop... Can cost up to $5-7 for a healthy meal with fish and veges (depends on areas). Sometimes even two selections of vegetables with rice can easily cost $3-4 each plate. It's really hard to find our long gone $2 meals anymore, even it's simple food like vegetables and rice only.
At times, looking at the price, oily & msged food... Feels really kinda feel not worth, not healthy and no appetite to eat. Haha! And some say lah, add a few more dollars and we can all eat restaurant's food with better taste liao. But don't forget to calculate service charge + gst, ok?
3RD REASON
Have you ever heard economy going up? NO!!! And it's commonly heard for economy going down. So it is always going down, down and down... so you gotta save more!
But then... Some say lah, if save more...
Sometimes Life no fun, no de-stress, no-life, no good food etc etc.
Sometimes Life no fun, no de-stress, no-life, no good food etc etc.
but... of course there are other reasons why you must save lah!
Let me share with you what i practice with myself.
Let's start with the WEARABLES.
90% of my Apparels were brought during my overseas trip (not really talking about the really cheap ones) but definitely value-for-money in some ways. Eg. I get to wear a better quality material with much affordable price. And at least I won't have very much chance of wearing the same as other people.
90% of my Apparels were brought during my overseas trip (not really talking about the really cheap ones) but definitely value-for-money in some ways. Eg. I get to wear a better quality material with much affordable price. And at least I won't have very much chance of wearing the same as other people.
Other 5% of my clothing, i bought from 2nd hand flea marts or online on Carousell.
I won't say my Fashion sense is good, or nice but it's at least presentable.
I won't say my Fashion sense is good, or nice but it's at least presentable.
Secondly, let's talk about the things i EAT...
My usual working days i will try to keep to a range of $3-4 for each meals (unless i can find anything else lower than that, but i make less effort on that... It's pretty challenging). My rule is to eat healthy first before anything. For me, there's no point of eating less and starve for a cheaper plate of food. So more or less total for Meal's money is about $9-12 (unless i am still hungry, i may crave a little more). The most probably $15 per working day. So daily eating for an entire month should be around $270 to $360.
My usual working days i will try to keep to a range of $3-4 for each meals (unless i can find anything else lower than that, but i make less effort on that... It's pretty challenging). My rule is to eat healthy first before anything. For me, there's no point of eating less and starve for a cheaper plate of food. So more or less total for Meal's money is about $9-12 (unless i am still hungry, i may crave a little more). The most probably $15 per working day. So daily eating for an entire month should be around $270 to $360.
That's not all!
U know, eating makes us happy... So how are we able to restrict ourselves so so much till we are so bored in our life? There may be nothing much else to motivate us for work if we skip the foodie enjoyment somehow. I discipline myself to save up for the better but I still provide myself spaces to join friends/families gatherings and enjoy eating good food together. That's probably about 1-2 times per month. Sometimes, 1 or 3 times in fact... Depends on my schedule! Haha! It's just not a every weekly thing. Enjoyment is an reward for being hardworking for Life. So keep aside some money for enjoyment if you can afford.
U know, eating makes us happy... So how are we able to restrict ourselves so so much till we are so bored in our life? There may be nothing much else to motivate us for work if we skip the foodie enjoyment somehow. I discipline myself to save up for the better but I still provide myself spaces to join friends/families gatherings and enjoy eating good food together. That's probably about 1-2 times per month. Sometimes, 1 or 3 times in fact... Depends on my schedule! Haha! It's just not a every weekly thing. Enjoyment is an reward for being hardworking for Life. So keep aside some money for enjoyment if you can afford.
Here comes, TRANSPORT:
I don't really drive when I don't need to, if i need to drive... I'll rent a car. My Family doesn't drives, so I've no mommy or daddy's car to borrow. I don't drive on daily basis, so it's not a necessity to keep up with parking coupons or fees, petrol monies, car maintenance fees, etc etc. This save big time!
I think, Singapore's public transport is almost perfect (except for the train delay). Haha. We are so easily accessible to different places around Singapore. So why do we really need a Car anyway? Unless otherwise, if you need it daily for work usage? Um... probably.
I think, Singapore's public transport is almost perfect (except for the train delay). Haha. We are so easily accessible to different places around Singapore. So why do we really need a Car anyway? Unless otherwise, if you need it daily for work usage? Um... probably.
Another Great thing is, now we've Grab and Uber App. It makes transport so much easier and I feel it's better to be fetched than driving, at least that's my personal preference.
Let's say i travel by both bus and MRT in a one way journey from home to work and vice-versa, it may just cost the most about $5 per day (of course, depending on the distance traveled). So each month transportation should cost about $150.
DAILY UTILITIES
My Dad have this habits of switching off all lights or electricity when not in use or in the day where we surrounds by daylight. I think it's a good reminder to off your lights in the day, or before you go out or when it is not in use.
INTERNET / MOBILE DATA
These days, most of our time we're pretty much online. And some of us love checking notifications. Pamper ourselves with online news etc etc. We often used too much entertainments on our phone which exceed mobile data usage and there goes our moneys.
These days, most of our time we're pretty much online. And some of us love checking notifications. Pamper ourselves with online news etc etc. We often used too much entertainments on our phone which exceed mobile data usage and there goes our moneys.
A wiser choice is when you are bored while standing on the MRT or sitting on the bus is to play offline Games app. That will keep your boredom away for a moment plus saving the battery life for your phone, but to be exact save your mobile data lah!
When i'm outside home / office, or travelling overseas... I will always try to look out for WIFI signage. (So i can mass upload photos / videos to instagram without being heartpain) lah! My phone's plan, will make me pay additional $20 for extra 1GB of mobile data charge even when i only exceeded 0.01mb of it on the last day of the month. So it's a damn not worth it to accidentally exceed the plan given data.
When i'm outside home / office, or travelling overseas... I will always try to look out for WIFI signage. (So i can mass upload photos / videos to instagram without being heartpain) lah! My phone's plan, will make me pay additional $20 for extra 1GB of mobile data charge even when i only exceeded 0.01mb of it on the last day of the month. So it's a damn not worth it to accidentally exceed the plan given data.
PHONECALLSWe are quite fortunate these days to have whatsapp call or facebook call features which are FOC (Free-of-Charge). When you're using WIFI, try ultilise that function too!
HOUSEHOLD ITEMS
We had have heard of many Chinese friends ordered their stuff from Taobao or Ezbuy etc etc. That's a good move for super cheap item, but i am not a person who can advice because i dont buy from those vendors. I think a good place for household item is especially Daiso, most of the things you need are already in there. Unless otherwise they don't have it, your neighborhood hardware shop should have it and shouldn't be too expensive. One thing about Daiso, they have aesthetic good looking items, practical and cheap.
We had have heard of many Chinese friends ordered their stuff from Taobao or Ezbuy etc etc. That's a good move for super cheap item, but i am not a person who can advice because i dont buy from those vendors. I think a good place for household item is especially Daiso, most of the things you need are already in there. Unless otherwise they don't have it, your neighborhood hardware shop should have it and shouldn't be too expensive. One thing about Daiso, they have aesthetic good looking items, practical and cheap.
What I can't really save, is HEALTH & BEAUTY.
I feel that I'm lucky that i know my own problems, so without walking into the clinic i can buy my medicines from the pharmacy. However in Singapore, it is better to go Polyclinic to consult doctor before purchase any Medicines. Firstly, it is not advisable to take medicine that doctor didn't prescribe to you, secondly Singaporean gets subsidized rates when you consult doctors in Polyclinics / government hospital so it's worth to pay for the consultations in some ways.
DENTAL
I recently heard some of my friends went Johor Bahru just to do scaling for their teeth etc etc. I won't be able to advice on this too, because i have not tried it out in JB.
Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital is where i do for my dental checkups. Some of the payment are able to use CPF Medisave for payment. Eg. I went for my wisdom tooth extraction surgery and half the amount was used by CPF and another half was claimable by my insurance plan.
I recently heard some of my friends went Johor Bahru just to do scaling for their teeth etc etc. I won't be able to advice on this too, because i have not tried it out in JB.
Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital is where i do for my dental checkups. Some of the payment are able to use CPF Medisave for payment. Eg. I went for my wisdom tooth extraction surgery and half the amount was used by CPF and another half was claimable by my insurance plan.
BEAUTY
As we get older... Money may no longer bring back our youth. So as much as i can, i take care of my Face and Hair well within my budget.
As we get older... Money may no longer bring back our youth. So as much as i can, i take care of my Face and Hair well within my budget.
Of course, there are people who don't go facial and prefer to DIY. Apparently a friend of mine who is in her 30s still looks like 20s just by putting a DIY Facemask every single day. This may work too, as long as you detoxing and hydrate your skin well.
However, that also depending on your skin type. A further step is going monthly facial. Finding a good facial shop and within my budget is my priority. I found one, you may click and read more about it here. For my friends who have tighter budget, they usually go for promotions. There are a few facial companies which keep calling and inviting me to try their facial trial, non-stop for entire two years. Haha. If you haven't found your facial boutique choice, you may try those out (since it's free, anyway).
Some other money savvy enjoyment you can have is buying Tiny Gadgets and put it in your house / room to play or rather find an indoor home hobby. This will keep you busy and make you happy & motivated at the same time. Some of the home hobbies, can be gardening, watch movies, baking, blogging, boardgames, arts therapy etc etc.
Thank you for reading my blog!
Hope you have more ideas on how to save money in Singapore!
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♥ Thanks for reading as always!
THANK YOU AH! 谢谢! Terima Kasih! ありがとうございました!
♥ Thanks for reading as always!
THANK YOU AH! 谢谢! Terima Kasih! ありがとうございました!