Simple Budget, Simple Life

2 years ago , I shared my achievement of hitting $100k cash before 28. Today, I'd like to share how I accumulated >$50k within 2 years time. Honestly, saving around $25k a year is nothing to brag about. But I hope that with my revised tips - which doesn't differ much from what I had two years ago - would inspire or motivate you, especially the younger ones, to do the same for yourself.  To save money, start with discipline. Set a goal - When I achieved $100k at 25, I set myself a new goal to hit $200k by 28. I still have some time to go and may or may not hit $200k given that I've huge expenses coming up (wedding and housing/reno). But, having this goals helps me to work towards it. - The thing is, I don't force myself to save a fix amount each month because I think I am disciplined enough. I still continue my indulgence of eating good food, going for holidays, and buying stuff I like because I know I have a healthy amount of savings to afford it.

I've gotten lazy. I should have joined the hype like everyone else talking about my 2017 achievements and setting 2018 goals, but no, I felt like there wasn't a need to. Who would be interested in my 2017 achievements anyway? But I figured, tracking these down are not for you, it's for me. It's for me to document down bits and pieces of my thoughts so that one day I can look back and recall what I went through. So hey, it's the 2nd week of 2018. Work has drained the hell out of my soul and I've only worked barely 1 week this year, although I've had a sucky end to 2017. When others were celebrating, I was buried with work. While others were chit chatting casually, I was stuck in meetings and meetings taking notes and doing loads of useless nonsensical stuff that does nothing to improve my life. The only thing I gained out of these was my salary. I am trading my time, my soul, for money. 2017 Review Ok, enough of complains. Here's a throwback on what

I went for my 7 days holiday to Taiwan in Sept and was thankful that the typhoon didn't disrupt my trip but it was super hot there! I always thought Sept would be a pretty good time to travel - think autumn leaves and cooling weather. I was so wrong. It felt hotter than Singapore, and the sun was just so unforgiving. I turned from a pale girl to a roasted one there. So, if you're travelling these these few weeks, please put on your sunblock, sunglasses and a cap! My 7 days trip brought me to places like Hualien, Yilan and Taipei. I would say this was a pretty relaxing trip since my partner and I went back to the hotel at around 7-8pm each night. Our motto for our holiday was "No rush, no madness". Honestly, it was made possible because it was pretty boring in Hualien and Yilan. Here are some of the places you can go in Hualien, Yilan and Taipei: Hualien 1. Wang's Tea House  - this was my breakfast and lunch to-go place. Love their red tea with bubble and t

Like all budget savy young couples planning their banquet, we all aim to clock as much rewards be it cashback or miles from our banquet purchase. After all, a banquet, even at a restaurant, sets us back to a 5 digit sum for more than 100 pax. My partner and I have decided to hold our banquet at a Chinese restaurant next year. So, a few months back, we made our deposit of $2000 to lock in the wedding date. Prior to this, I was at my desk calculating the different cashback I would receive using various cards. After all, my coordinator assured that I could swipe different cards to gain the maximum rebates. Also, it helps that my Chinese restaurant is categorised under "Dining", which meant...more cashback :D (too bad if you hold it at a hotel!) After researching, it boiled down to 2 cards: 1. BOC Family card 2. POSB Everyday card The BOC family card gives me 7% cashback from dining and the cap was at $100. Really good card to use. Also, as a Smartsaver account user, I

One of the best feelings in the world is travelling for a holiday. But before this, we often go through the worst feelings planning for a budget holiday (if you're a rich kid, please ignore this post 'cause it's not relevant for you yo!) I recently went through a hair-pulling experience planning for my Taiwan trip for 2. My partner is supposed to plan it for me, but I trust no one when it comes to making wise (money) decisions. I don't know what type of personality I have, but I really need to be in control and know I'm making my money worth when booking for flights, hotels and what's not. I'm not niao ok, just particular about how I spend my money 😂 Who wants to pay full price when we could pay cheaper by being a little more diligent? I'll summarise the following tips on what I did to save money from my Taiwan trip. Look out for airlines promotion - Sign up for your favourite airlines newsletters to know the promos first hand and hit it when

I blogged about my achievement of having $100k savings before age 28 some time back. One way I could achieve this was to make sure my money grows through FDs. However, in recent months, the interest rates have been dropping. I used to see CIMB offering 1.8% p.a for a $10,000 fresh funds deposit, now it's 1.2% p.a for a 6 months tenure with a minimum $20k deposit. One year ago, I chanced upon the State Bank of India  offering a 1.6% interest p.a on minimum $10k deposit. It was the best deal I've seen then. I was contemplating about putting my money into a foreign bank but went ahead thinking that the Deposit Insurance Scheme would insure me. Prior to making my deposit, I popped into the bank to enquire on the FD rate, just to be sure it was 1.6%. The bank teller looked at me and asked, "Do you have $10k?", "Are you a Singaporean?". When I told her I'd be withdrawing my money nearby and am a Singaporean, she gave this insouciant expression and cont

Hi there. We're now halfway to the end of 2017. Time flies isn't it? I remembered (actually I didn't, only realised when I looked through my blog posts), blogging about my "achievements" in 2016 at the start of the year . For the past half year, things was rather smooth-sailing. Work was ok, I had a 10% increase in my salary, bonus was decent considering the market outlook now , and I've also added in a few stocks to my portfolio....of which only Keppel Reits earned me some money. The rest were disappointing but thank god I won't lose my sleep or sanity over the losses. Truth be told, I haven't been monitoring my finances. I've been lazy keying in my daily expenses. Previously, I was diligently clocking what I spent and monitoring my budget because of my eagerness to hit $100k. Now that that's fulfilled, my next goal is to hit $200k in cash savings by 28. I seem to have lesser motivation to keep track of my monies now. But here's a brea

As we countdown to 2017, I was reflecting on my 2016. 2016 was an average year. Nothing exciting to shout about and nothing major happened.... Until I started to browse through my blog and reviewed my financial portfolios. As I browsed through my blog, I looked back at the little things that happened. I got engaged, got a shock from my health screening results which turned out to be nothing bad (pessimist really), achieved $100k cash savings and this is excluding CPF at 25, transferred money to my mom's CPF which made her happy, travelled overseas twice albeit to nearby areas, and got around $10k performance bonus. These are little milestones and achievements worth clapping for. Here's my throwback to 2016: Jan - Got engaged, but feels bad for wasting his money Feb - Started this blog to pen down my thoughts - Went for health screening.  Had a health scare because I didn't understand my health report. Took the chance to upgrade my hospitalisation plan to the best Ma

Another month. Again? April zoomed by so quickly that I couldn't remember much that happened. Luckily, I take note of my expenses giving me an inkling of what I did/spent on. My expenses in Apr were as follows: Fixed expenses:  $525 Variable expenses: $1,355.07 Food - $260.82 Had 5 western food this month such as Astons, Tender Chicken, Texas Chicken Treated my family to korean food @ Masizzim via my groupon voucher - not fantastic, but something special for my folks but I reckon they prefer Chinese food more :P btw, even with my $50 voucher, I had to top up $43 more *gasps*...nvm, once in a while indulgence. I really think we can eat more at the same price at tze char stall haha! A treat for my fiance at Tsukada Nojo for their famed bijin nabe aka collagen soup. My 2nd trip here and am still loving the soup. I'm a soup lover, what's more, their collagen soup is so thick....but I got quite a bit of sore throat after the meal. Also, the price is n

Time flies. It's April tomorrow. I've been getting a little lazy with my budget tracking. Used to key in my purchases immediately into my phone but am now more laid back by keying in only at the end of the day or days later. Thinking back about what was most memorable in March were the following: Exercised on 27 Mar by hiking at Mount Faber BUT  not only did I not sign-up for the 2x bonus points for my steps tracker , my tracker died on me during 3/4 of my trek! Hopes to continue such long walks with my partner on a monthly basis Having a pleasant shock when I knew of my bonus :O. Was expecting a good grade, but not such a good grade. I know such luck might not come again, but 曾经拥有，好过没有。So glad to be rewarded well, although my basic pay is not very competitive la.  Visited Gardens by the Bay for the Sakuras but I'm so disappointed. It was Good Friday and the place was so packed. Not only that, the flowers seem rea

Before I start, sharing this quote I came across from the internet that resonates with me: Don't you agree? In the month of Chinese New Year, I felt like I gained more than I spent because of the angbaos I received. Hehe. But, I'm not sure if this is the 2nd last time I'm going to get my angbaos because I want to get married soon! Argh, gotta discuss more with my bf. Right now, we're just too passive. Fixed expenses: $525 Variable expenses: $1,304.69 Food - $161 Mainly weekday lunches and a few dates and treats for and with my bf Shopping & Misc - $566.45 1 blogshop dress, NTUC shopping, a Groupon deal & Oakley sunglasses for my bf etc $$$ to my mom for her birthday, health checkup, $10 TOTO (got 3 rows with 2 numbers T.T), and visit to the TCM because of my really weak stomach. Any recommendations for good sinseh? Foresee spending more on Misc for such health visits, but I hope it's worth it. Travel expenses - $477.24 $448.64 f

Inspired by my favourite finance blogger - Mr 15HWW , I hope to document my monthly expenses. I've been tracking my spendings diligently every day and it has become a habit for me to key in my spendings into my spreadsheet. I could do it on the go as well as I synced it to my phone. While there are times when I forgot to key in, I'd do so the following day. This makes me remember what I've spent on and let me know how much I've saved vs my earnings. However, I don't really analyse my spendings. For eg, if I spend more this month on food than the other months, I don't really care or be mindful of my spendings next month. I see myself as a disciplined and self-controlled lady and also believes in eating well. But my meaning of eating well is not to eat abalone, seafood and shark fins everyday la! It's more of eating healthy or food that I feel happy eating with my colleagues, fiance or family :) Also to share, I seldom eat cold desserts or snack a lot cau