Being Contented Helps You Save Money

There are many ways to save money. I know of probably 1001 ways to save money and I am pretty sure that most people know how to save money too. But I guess there is an underlying reason why people do not save money. It is because they have not learnt contentment.

Being contented with the things that you have in life is one of the first steps when it comes to saving money.

Whenever I spend money, I realise that I can actually save money if I curb my WANTS and simply be contented with the little things in life. This is probably true for many of us and it's perhaps the reason why we are constantly buying new things and upgrading our cars and stuff.

Learn to be contented and you will find that you can save alot more money without much effort.

What Am I Saving For?

Saving money is good.

But we need to know what we are saving money for.

Is it just to see our bank accounts grow fatter? Do we have a clear purpose in our savings?

We can choose to spend our money today. Or we can save it up and spend it tomorrow. When it comes to saving, we need to know why we are not spending the money today and instead saving it up. I am writing this post to tell myself why I am not gratifying my desires NOW but instead putting money aside in a bank account.

Here are a few of my savings goal (in terms of priority) for the short term as well as long term:

Short Term Savings Goal (5 to 10 years)

1. COE for my current car when the COE expires (estimated $25K)
2. Europe holiday
3. Down deposit for 2nd property

Long Term Savings Goal (10 to 30 years)

1. Retirement
2. Child's University Education
3. 2nd Car
4. 3rd Property

This reminds me that I need to start saving for my short term goals.

How Much to Save?

What percentage of your income should you be saving?

I was reading Tan Kin Lian's book on financial planning where he advocates saving a total of 50% of your income (inclusive of CPF savings). That works out to be around 15% to 35% of one's take home pay depending on your income bracket with the rest of the savings coming from your contribution to CPF.

This is interesting because most advice that you get nowadays is that one should save 10% of your take home pay. Personally, I feel that TKL is correct. Saving 15% to 35% of your take home pay in addition to your CPF savings should put you in good stead for your retirement planning.

Too often, people think that just by saving 10% of their savings or by just relying on CPF savings, they will have enough for retirement. That simply cannot be the case. If you only have a working period of 40 years in your life (age 25 to 65), saving 10% of your income will add up to only 4 years worth of salary.

How can that be possibly be enough for retirement with the long life expectancy in Singapore?

So throw the idea away that saving 10% of your take home pay is enough. You ought to aim much higher just to be sure.

Breaking the Psychological Barrier

I have related this story to many people before.

Most people have a psychological barrier when it comes to saving. If they have been saving 10% of their income, they find it hard to increase the absolute amount they are saving even as their income increases.

This is because with a rise in income, their expenditure also goes up. So if they have been saving $300 per month since they first started work, it is not uncommon to find that they will STILL be saving only $300 per month even when their income has already doubled or even tripled.

Some people are savers and some people are spenders. So I guess the savers have developed better money spending habits over time. The way to go about saving more is to practice paying yourself first. Make sure that you save a portion of your money before you even spend it. And do make sure that the amount you are saving is minimally 10% of your income.

If you could heed TKL's advice, a savings of 50% (inclusive of CPF contributions) of your income will be a good start.

Money Saving Tips

A little while back, I wrote an article on 1001 ways to save money. I thought that I could expound on some of the common money saving tips proposed by various experts and see how it can actually work out in the Singapore context.

One of these money saving tips that you commonly hear is this:

Shop at outlet stores. You can find a lot of nice, even brand names, clothes for a fraction of the price.

Outlet Stores in Singapore

In the first place, I don't really know where to find outlet stores in Singapore. I am not much of a shopper so I would really appreciate if everyone can share the best outlet stores in Singapore to get stuff like clothes and shoes.

Outlet Stores in Malaysia

Over at Malaysia, I frequently come across Factory Outlet stores and also the Reject Shop. These shops often carry certain branded shirts at really a fraction of the price. And that is in Ringgit also! Tell me about a good deal.

The shopping mall just opposite the new immigration complex is where you can find a Factory Outlet store and a Reject Shop. If one does not mind making the trip across the causeway, you can find pretty good deals there.

Higher Electricity Bills

A rise in oil prices will push up electricty tariffs again for the 4th consecutive quarter.

The new rate for the April to June period is reported to be at 23.56 cents which is 3 per cent higher than the current rate.

The Straits Times reported that it will translate into an increase of $2.47 for a family in a four-room HDB flat. Hopefully that will be all that I am paying in extra for the month of April.

The increase in prices is largely due to the price of fuel oil which has gone up over the last 3 months.

You might want to re-read my Save Electricity Save Money post to avoid a shock when you receive your electricity bills for April.

Bus Trip Cost Only 91cents

I have been travelling on buses quite frequently recently and realised that bus fares are actually quite reasonable.

A single trip costs me only $0.91 . So a two way trip adds up to about $1.80. That is pretty affordable for my trips when I give tuition.

While travelling by car would be much faster, I get to save on the carparking. This adds up over the long haul.

It makes me wonder whether I should just sell my car away. Afterall, maintaining a car in Singapore is a costly thing to do. I reckon that it costs me about $1100 per month based on all the charges. Yikes!!!!

If you can resist the urge, you should not buy a car especially if you are single.

Think of all the things you can do with $1100 per month in EXTRA cash. You could literally eat at restaurants every single day.

Sheng Shiong is Not the Cheapest

Sheng Shiong Supermarket has always been associated with being cheap, or should I say it correctly: "Providing goods to customers at a cheap price."

I did not start out as a fan of Sheng Shiong as the first store that I visited happened to be located at Jurong Superbowl. During my visit then, I found it to be disorganised, messy and more like a wet market. The impression that was left on me was that there was a reason why Sheng Shiong managed to sell its food so cheap.

Then over the years, I realised a slow transformation that took place. Sheng Shiong seemed to be able to upmarket itself and provided a very clean shopping environment for customers while still providing very good value for money. They also started a fresh seafood section with live lobsters, crabs, prawns and even abalones!

Over the years, I begin to associate Sheng Shiong with being the cheapest supermarket around.

Today, I was proven wrong. I visited NTUC Extra and realised that some items in NTUC were selling much cheaper than Sheng Shiong. The blueberries were selling cheaper than the blueberries in Sheng Shiong. Much cheaper!

So it goes to prove me wrong that all cheap stuff can be found at Sheng Shiong. As a consumer, you still need to know where to shop to get the cheapest goods.

But overall in terms of price for the majority of grocery goods, I will still rank the supermarkets as follows:

1. Sheng Shiong

2. Giant

3. NTUC

4. Cold Storage

The only other option is to cross the causeway into JB to do your shopping there.

Where do you do your grocery shopping? Do you shop at only one particular supermarket or do you go to various supermarkets to get your groceries?

AIA Achiever - Good or Bad?

In my previous article, I compared an endowment plan with an ILP. Many might think that an ILP is a silly way to save for my child's education. After all, there are much superior ways like "Buy Term Invest the Rest".

Today, I will share with you my personal experience with one ILP that led me to be a little more accomodating towards ILP amidst the anti-insurance stance taken by most people.

AIA Achiever

I bought the above mentioned plan some years back. I believe that it is no longer in the market. Some insurance agent sold it to me as an investment plan and conveniently left out some important details about the "downside" of this policy.

Anyway, for the first few years, I hated the plan. I thought that it was the worst plan that I could have gotten. Afterall, I had to pay premiums for 7 years before I could withdraw the amount out. (When I bought the plan, I thought that I could withdraw the money out once the policy has been incepted for 7 years)

I was really thinking of surrendering the plan very early on as I felt that the 7 year waiting period was simply too long and I could put my money to better use elsewhere. However, the high surrender charges before 7 years made me think twice.

In the end, I continued servicing the plan and recently, I just crossed 7 years of premium payment.

What I Like About Achiever


Now that the 7 year waiting period is over, I have discovered that I actually do LIKE this ILP. When I look at the amount of money inside, I am amazed that 7 years of consistent saving have actually yielded me with results that I am quite pleased. I took up this plan as a means to fund my retirement. It has served me well thus far and the actual cash value is much higher than that shown on the benefit illustration for 9% compounded annual returns.

In addition, I get to log into AIA eCare easily to check on my monthly statements and can do my fund switches easily too.

What I Don't Like

It is of course obvious that there are aspects I do not like about the plan. Here are a few:

1. Policy charges every month.
2. Supplementary benefit charge based on face value of policy. This is payable for 10 years.

However, when I consider this to any endowment plan or whole life plan, I find that it suits my overall portfolio very well. It gives me the necessary protection and savings.

Would I have done things differently now?

I am still torn between the "Buy Term Invest the Rest" strategy and the other whole life approach.

If I had bought term insurance and invested the rest using something like the Share Builder's Plan by Philips Capital, I might have gotten higher returns. I might also have gotten worst returns.

If I could turn back the hands of time, I seriously do not know whether I would have bought this plan.

I know many people have complained about the bad returns or low surrender values from their ILPs. I am perhaps the minority that have actually sticked through with my ILP instead of surrendering it. As such, I now see the "fruits" of my labour. It gave me a disciplined way to save for my retirement and gives me protection as well.

Saving for My Child's Education

As most of you know by now, I have started a POSB Kids Savings account for my child.

The main purpose of this account is to save for his university education. This account also allows me to deposit all my spare coins at no charges.

The figure that I am aiming for is S$100,000. Yes, it might not be enough for an overseas education in 20 years time but I guess it is better than nothing.

Having been deprived of the chance to study overseas because of the lack of money (alas, and also the lack of good grades to get a scholarship), I always felt that I was "disadvantaged" in a certain sense because I did not get to study abroad.

My SAT score then was 1390. Not very high but sufficient to get me a place into universities like Brown University and University College of London (I can't remember what were the other universities that I applied to). However, the lack of funding made me decide to pursue a local university education instead.

This is something that I do not wish my child to face. I hope to be able to have the financial capacity to put him through his studies overseas if he is able to make it into any university there.

I have seen so many people who have gotten worse grades than me but have been able to pursue an overseas education at quite reputable universities because they have the financial means. Is this fair? Nope. But this is life, and life isn't fair sometimes. It also won't be fair when I become a millionaire faster than them even though I don't have the same qualifications as them =)

My child, if you read this someday...know that Daddy is saving up hard for your education. I am doing my best yah?

$1375 and counting...everyday, I drop all my spare change into a little container which I will then deposit into his university fund. I wish I had started saving for it earlier.

POSB Coin Deposit Machine

This is some additional info regarding the POSB Coin Deposit Machine for those of you who have lots of coins and would like to deposit them into one of your savings account with DBS or POSB.

1. What is this Coin Deposit Machine?
This is a new 24-hour self-service terminal that allows you to deposit coins at our selected branches/Electronic Banking locations.

2. Who can use this Coin Deposit Machine?
Customers who wish to deposit coins into any DBS Current/Autosave Account, DBS Savings Plus Account, POSB Current Account, POSB Savings Account may use this machine.

3. Can I deposit my coins to more than 1 account for each coin deposit transaction?
At any one time, you may deposit the coins into one account only.

4. What are the accepted denominations and currencies?
Only Singapore Dollar currency is accepted. The accepted denominations are 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, 1 dollar (floral series only).

5. How much coin can I deposit each time?
There is no minimum or maximum amount for each coin deposit. The maximum number of pieces deposited is however, subject to the load capacity of the machine.

6. Do I need to sort the coins according to denominations before depositing at the machine?
No, your coins can comprise a mixture of the accepted denominations of 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, 1 dollar (floral series only).

7. Can I change the amount of my coin deposit after placing them into the coin deposit machine?
You may retrieve coins that are still in the coin tray and not inserted into the machine. Once the coins are inserted into the machine, it will be counted and deposited accordingly.

8. When will my account be credited?
Collection time is daily at 2pm (except Saturdays/Sundays/Public Holidays). Deposits before collection time will be credited on the same business day before 8pm while deposits after collection time will be credited on the next business day before 8pm.

9. Are there any charges levied for coin deposits?
Coin deposits through the coin deposit machine are levied fees based on $0.0075 (0.75 cents) per piece, and total charges rounded off to the nearest 1 cent. Coin deposit fees will be waived for deposits into Children's accounts (age 15 years and below). To enjoy this waiver, you will need to drop the coin deposit receipt in our Quick Cheque Deposit box. Refunds will be processed by the next business day (Mon-Fri).

10. Who can help me if I encounter a problem using the machine?
You may call us at :
DBS Phone Banking : 1800-111-1111
POSB Phone Banking : 1800-339-6666


Read Related Articles:
1. Opening POSB Kids Savings Account
2. Saving Money on Coffee
3. How To Get Your Credit Card Annual Fee Waived
4. 1001 Frugal Things To Do (Very Popular Post)

Opening A POSBKids Savings Account

Today, I walked into the DBS branch at Great World City to open a POSBKids Savings Account.

The reason for opening it is twofold:

1. Firstly, to start saving a sum of money for my child's education (pre-school, primary school, enrichment classes, university education) and stuff. I am already investing some money for my child's education but would like a more liquid form of savings so that I can make withdrawals anytime.

2. Secondly, this account lets me deposit all my coins without any charges. I have lots of coins lying around the house always and having such an account will let me save regularly for my child.

Nevermind the low interest rates. As long as it allows me to deposit my reservoir of coins without charge, I am a happy man.

So the amount that is in the bank account now stands at $1350. Hopefully, I can start putting money into this account more regularly.

Saving Money on Coffee

While doing some Christmas shopping a few weeks back, I bought some nice roasted coffee from Marks and Spencers that cost me $11.90. It is also Fairtrade coffee which means the farmers of the coffee beans are being fairly compensated. (You can read about their fairtrade stories here)

I figured that it would replace my daily cup of coffee from the coffee shop downstairs which costs me $0.70 per cup.

I cannot kick the habit of drinking coffee so I have no choice but to make my own coffee.

The roasted coffee should be able to make me at least 30 to 40 cups of coffee based on my estimations. 40 cups of coffee would cost me $28.00.

We will just have to see how disciplined I am in making my own coffee instead of buying coffee from coffee shops or Starbucks.

The coffee is pretty nice but it does not taste like the Robusta coffee beans that are commonly used in Singapore coffee shops. It lacks the aroma and is slightly acidic. I am guessing it is Arabica beans - the kind which westerners like to drink.

Perhaps I need to use some condensed milk in the cup I am drinking now.......

Why Hawker Food Tastes better than Food Court Food

I ate a beef don at Thomson Plaza yesterday and I was amazed (or should I say disgusted?) at the food quality. There were like just 6 pieces of beef and the rice was soaked in a gravy that did not really taste japanese or anything. The miso soup was also terrible and tasted nothing like miso soup at all. All this cost me $5.50 and I would most probably never eat that again.

All the years in my life, I have always wondered why hawker food tastes so much better than food in the food courts.

Now, I think I know the answer why.

I used to think that it was the air-con in the food court that somehow affected the quality of the food. I then realised that it was not necessarily the air-con but the people that made all the difference.

I believe that most food court stalls are not actually owned by the people running it. There might be a small exception but I believe most stalls are actually owned and managed by the food court themselves. Many of them are actually hired by the food court themselves to operate the various stalls. These people (usually PRCs) are hired and are not the business owners.

They simply do not care about the quality of the food or the service that they provide. They are just there to make a living without having to bother about profits and customer service. I have seen these PRCs trying to speak Mandarin to Malays and Indians before... totally oblivious to the fact that these people do not understand them!

Compare this to the hawker centre where the stalls are runned by the owners themselves. The owners put in the effort to make sure that they smile at you (okay, some of them do smile) and at least maintain a reasonable standard of the food quality.

Hawker food for me always tastes way better than food court food. I don't know if it is true for you but it certainly is for me.

Not only is hawker food much nicer, it is often much cheaper too!

How to Get Your Credit Card Annual Fee Waived

Today, I managed to get my credit card annual fee of $150 waived.

How did I do it?

It is simple. All it takes is a simple phone call to customer service.

I have a DBS credit card and all I did was to call the customer service hotline. I waited for roughly 5 minutes to be put through to an operator.

All I asked was that the annual fee be waived. The customer service officer was extremely polite and did not even ask for the reason why. She just said "Okay" and it was done.

She then went on to inform me that I had some points that were expiring and advised me on what to redeem which she proceeded to help me with too.

Just a few simple steps and I saved $150!

Most banks are more than happy to waive the annual fee as long as you ask. If they refuse to budge, you can threaten to cancel your credit card and place your business with other banks. That should make them budge.

Read Related Articles:

1. 1001 Frugal Things to Do

2. Being Frugal

3. Save on Home Repairs

BookFest @ Singapore 2009

For those of you living in Singapore who missed the Penguin Book Fair held at Singapore Expo recently, here is another chance to grab books cheap. (I am not sure whether the prices will be as cheap as that at the Penguin Book Fair though.)

The BookFest @ Singapore 2009 will be held at the Suntec Convention and exhibition Centre from 11 December 2009 to 20 December 2009. This is organised by Popular so I guess you can expect to see the same range of books that you find in Popular and Harris bookstores.

The only thing is that since it is held at Suntec, I guess the rental of the place will be slightly higher and that might result in the books not being priced as attractively as at the Penguin Book Fair.

At the Penguin Book Fair, I managed to grab a grand total of 7 books. (Prices ranged from $5 to $10) They are the following books:

1. Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman
2. The Three Trillion Dollar War by Josephy Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes
3. First, Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham
4. The Last Tycoons by William D.Conan
5. The Assault on Reason by Al Gore
6. Fateful Choices by Ian Kershaw
7. The Walmart Effect by Charles Fishman

I guess these books will last me all the way till end 2010 when the next Penguin book fair comes again. I will then swipe up all the books that I hope to be able to get at a huge discount.

You can view the site to BookFest 2009 here.

Read Related Articles :
1. Penguin Book Fair & $50 Competition

Penguin Book Fair & $50 Competition

Penguin Book Fair at Singapore Expo (3 Dec 09 till 6 Dec 09)

I visited the penguin book fair at Singapore Expo and the only thing I can say is that if you LOVE books and you really want to find good deals, make your way down to the Penguin book fair.

Books are going for as cheap as $3 (they mentioned $1.00 but I couldn't find those books). I checked and realised that certain books which I bought for $20 to $30 at normal bookstores are going for as cheap as $8 to $10. That is a lot of SAVINGS if you are an avid book reader.

I saw some people pushing around like carts of book so I guess that they must be shopping for their entire year's worth of book there.

Seriously, if you have a budget of $100 to spend on books each year, just drop down to the Singapore Expo and you can easily buy 10 books! That is enough books to read for a year.

I myself bought over 10 books (including children books)

$50 Competition

I started a competition to give away prize money of SGD 50.00 here.

Competitors, please continue to take note of the following pointers.

1. Consecutive postings by 1 user will be considered as a single posting. For example, if User G post 5 comments consecutively, it will be considered as 1 single posting. Users are allowed to post multiple comments but are encouraged not to post consecutively to confuse others =)

2. Only 2 ways to win. First way, be the 50th comment and win $50. Second way, if there are less than 50 comments, be the last person to comment in 24 hours. Based on my last count, there were 38 comments already so somebody will surely walk away with $38 already.

Follow this link to see the competition
http://sgfinancialfreedom.blogspot.com/2009/12/free-50-to-give-away.html

How To Eat Chicken Wings

I have been eating chicken wings for a cool twenty over years now and just realised that I have been eating it the wrong way!

Here is one way to save money...by eating your chicken wings cleanly so that you are not wasting any of the meat. See the video below:

Save On Home Repairs

I just fixed some leaking shower head recently and realised that it was really a simple task! Saving on home repairs is much simpler than I thought it would be.

Recently, the shower in my bathroom started to leak and water seemed to be squirting out of the hose that linked to the shower head. There was an obvious crack and it need replacing.

You see...the problem is ...in all my years of schooling or staying at home with mum and dad's, I have never had to fixed a broken shower head.

If I were ten years younger, I would have just called the plumber or repairman in.

But the wife looked at me squarely in the eye and said: "My father says that it is really easy to fix it. Just go buy another of those things and it can be done."

So I went out and bought those bendy flexible pipes (I am not sure what you call those things) for less than $10 from one of those provision stores and returned home.

I was not even sure how to get started and there were no instruction manuals or stuff that came with the piping system!

To cut the long story short, I just simply unscrewed the shower head from the pipe that it was connected to and replaced it with the new one. It took me less than 5 minutes to get the job done! It was that simple.

I felt like a man...a real man ..you know what I mean? Like some young boy who had just crossed into manhood.

Anyway, I figured that I must have save a good thirty to forty dollars repairing the stuff myself instead of calling a plumber. Looking back at how easy the task was, I think the plumber would most probably be laughing his head off after fixing it for me as it was REALLY such a simple task! Just screw it off and screw it on...

Anyway, I realised that everyone could do with some tips on saving on home repairs:

1. Get Free DIY advice. Search the internet or youtube.com to look for how-to videos to carry out simple procedures like fixing a tap or replacing the light bulbs.

2. Learn Their Lingo. To cut the best deal from those contractors and repairmen, you need to be able to speak their lingo. If you are not able to speak their lingo, they will know that you know next to nothing. Before calling on them, be sure to check out forums and sites to be better informed so as to be able to speak their language. (For example, I was getting a quote for window grilles recently and searched a few forums to find out what was the average price that people were charging for window grilles. In addition, I learnt that they charged window grilles per square foot so when calling the contractors for a quote, I simply asked them how much were they charging per square foot of aluminium bronze colored window grilles. When I did not asked them how much they were charging, they simply offered to come down to my place to do some m easurements.)

3. Get 3 quotes or more. Try to get 3 quotations or more whenever you plan to repair something. You will be amazed at how much money you can save.

Read Related Articles:

1. Save Electricity Save Money

2. 1001 Frugal Things to Do

3. Top Ten Money Saving Tips For Financial Freedom

1001 Frugal Things to Do

Hi people,

I realised that a lot of people are really concerned about saving money and stuff. So I have scoured the internet and forums for a list of things that people do to be frugal and to save that extra bit of money. I don't do all these stuff listed here (okay, the list here does not run to 1000) but at least it gives you an idea of what others are doing to save money and how you can incorporate it into your very own spending habits. You will be amazed at some of the ideas suggested here!

1001 Ways to Save Money and Be Frugal

• Buying food that is about to spoil. Supermarkets offer steep discounts for food that is going to expire. They are not fresh but they are definitely safe for eating!

• Free entertainment and books at the library.

• Cook and Eat at home

• Eat at a friend's place

• Unplug devices in the house that you are not using

• Switch off all lights

• Keep thermostat down, use blankets to stay warm

• Dry 2 loads of clothes at once

• Set the dryer to 10 minutes shorter than usual

• Use the dryer with 2 dry towels. It seems to make the clothes dry faster.

• Use formula milk + vinegar for pancakes instead of buttermilk as stated in recipes

• Don't buy Starbucks

• Make your own coffee and carry it around in a travel mug

• Drink nothing but water the whole day

• Stock up on items that are on sale.

• Hang up clothes to dry instead of using the dryer

• Switch off the aircon in the car

• Don't bring money out with you.

• Eat left overs for your next meal

• Exercise to keep warm (for those in cold countries)

• Use Skype instead of phoning for long distance calls

• Cancel channels that you are not watching on cable TV

• Use the microwave to warm up a cup of water instead of boiling an entire kettle full

• Carpooling

• Shop at the dollar store or those 1.99 shops

• Buy petrol that is cheaper

• check whether your company offers discounted rates for your mobile phone plans

• Use those discount coupons at the store.

• Take a shower at the gym

• Set timers to your thermostat or airconditioner

• Re-use your valentine day cards

• Shower in cold water.

• Wash your disposable utensils and re-use them

• pack a lunch box for the kids

• Buy and sell your own house to save on the commissions

• Paint your own house

• Repair your own house

• Grow your own vegetables

• Cut your own hair

• Color your own hair

• Do your own facial

• Wash your own car

• turn off that home-shopping channel on TV

• Wax your own car

• Walk to work

• Use a fan instead of the airconditioner

• Take a nap

• take public transport

• Don't upsize your meals

• Avoid jam packed roads to save on petrol

• Take the budget airlines

• Accept old furniture from friends and relatives

• Dig out old clothes to wear instead of going shopping

• Get husband or wife to hand deliver things instead of wasting money on postage

• Call up the diaper company for free sample diapers
  

• Call up the milk company for free samples of formula milk

• Turn the car engine off when waiting for someone

So here you have a comprehensive list of things that you can do to save money and be frugal. Any other great ideas to share? Feel free to leave a comment!

Electricity Bill

I am so ashamed of myself.

After writing an article about saving electricity, I was dismayed to find out that my electricity bills for this month was a record HIGH for the past 6 months.

The bill added up to slightly over a $110. That is for my little family of three living in small flat of around 900sqft.

Perhaps it was due to the higher tariffs on electricity this month....but still no excuses...

I think one of the main reasons for the sharp rise in my electricity bills is due to the fact that I have been switching on the air conditioner too often while working on my blogs. The weather does get a bit hot and stuffy at times in Singapore. Yes, even during the nights!

It also does not help that the little one has been switching on every switch in the house that he can get his little finger on. (we discovered that the iron was switched ON for an ENTIRE day when we returned home one weekend)

The next month will be a challenging one as I try to lower my electricity consumption for the entire household.

That means less of the aircon and switching off all unused lights. I will update on my progress next month.

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2. Save Electricity, Save Money
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