Simple Budget, Simple Life

It's the time of the month...the ladies would understand. Every month, I'd get bad cramps which makes me breathless, giddy and helpless. It's during such periods of sickness that I have morbid thoughts - what if I drop dead and die? How can I avoid such pains? Why do I have to suffer like this? Can I just remove my womb? It's also during such times that I pause to think about my health. I start to think I need to exercise more, eat better, treat myself better, and take care of my health. When I'm my usual self, I don't bother much with such thoughts. Anyway, for the first time in my 30+ years of life, I've started acupuncture...in a bid to get pregnant. I wonder how long and how much more I have to spend. Getting pregnant is not an easy task for me. After the TCM consultation, I know I've a lot of issues to tackle. I've poor sleep, poor appetite, frequent back aches, frequent cramps, cold feet and arms, poor blood circulation, poor digestion. All the...

Work 1 year into my role and I'm jaded. I guess I'll never find a job I'm happy with. But the consolation is that this job is relatively easier than the previous, so I'm just cruising along...until I get fired.  I resonated with the quiet quitting term that's been all over the news recently. I guess I've been quiet quitting all these while. People said it's a term for cruising, doing the minimum, or performing at your payscale. I've always been the type who knock off on time, though I am more enthusiastic in my first few work years. Somehow, my bosses acknowledge my efforts and I don't have to wayang. As I grow older in my career, things change. Because of how "quiet" I am, I may not get into the good books of bosses. I don't talk to bosses nor bother talking to colleagues to showcase what I'm doing. I don't bother  to wayang. I don't bother suggesting ideas to improve work - I did try recently, but it backfired. I'm bet...

WFH has been wrecking up my mental and physical health. Here's how my day-day life looks like. Honestly, it's so predictable and standardised, I could type it down quickly. Weekdays My day starts at 7.30am - 8.20am vs 7 - 7.15am ages ago when I've to report in office.  Brush teeth, don't even comb hair (if there's no zoom), don't even change clothes or bathe, and plonk myself in front of my laptop. Start work at 8.30am - saw most colleagues offline - most of them only starts at 9am, #win Frowning as I see the number of emails and follow-ups; trying to clear each obstacle at a time so I'd left with 0 email at end day. Work, work, work until sometimes I forgot about lunch time, until Hubby knocks on the door and ask me - Today eat what? Lunch time Either dabao or cook some random unhealthy meals like maggie mee. Try to make it more healthy by adding broccoli. No, I dont do meal preps. No, despite having this lifestyle for the past 2 mont...

<source pic in hyperlink> In the past, when I hear "circuit breaker", I'd link it to Science/Physics. Not anymore. People crudely calls it CB. Even before CB kickstart, my company had started implemented WFH - if you've no biz in office, don't go. And, I love it. I love staying home. And, it's CB Day 6 today. With a week of reflection plus past experiences, these are my personal benefits of WFH: 1. Wake up late/Extra sleeping time I now get to wake up at 8.20am, brush my teeth, comb my hair, and saddle myself on my chair and prep for work. 2. Save transport cost I always love telecommuting since it helps me save on my commute. That's around $2 savings a day of not taking the public transport to office! 3. Save lunch money and translate into groceries cost for hubby and I Eating in office costs way more because after half a day of angst at work, all of us crave for good food. And good food usually meant spending $15-$30 per mea...

I've heard about the $5 screening offer from HPB last year but didn't bother. Until I came across articles on pap smear and cervical cancer and it got me thinking that I should perhaps do a test.....for $5. I initially thought that all I had to do was to show the clinic my IC and I'd be eligible for the $5 screening. Turns out, we need to present a letter for verification before we can enjoy the rate. I then checked out the HPB website  and contacted their hotline to request for the screening letter. I vaguely recalled receiving it sometime back, but probably lost the letter 🤭 The officer on the hotline told me that the letter generation will take 2 weeks. Oh gosh, another example of the slow service from government agencies. I told them to expedite as I want to have the scan soon. No promises, they said. And I wondered, how many procedures backend would it take for them to "approve" my letter?  🤔 Shouldn't such letters be built inside the h...

If you have wisdom tooth that has yet to be removed, please get a referral from the polyclinic and arrange an appointment at the govt restructured hospitals. For me, I headed to KTPH for my surgery after reading all the good reviews despite staying very far away from KTPH. One dentist that stood out was Dr Sylvia Tay - google her and you can read all the positive reviews about her. Trusting the online reviews, I knew I had to get her to do my surgeries. I have 3 wisdom teeth to be extracted. One at the top just required normal extraction. The other two on the bottom were the ass - both were impacted, with one protruding slightly out and the other totally covered by my gums. My journey started when I experienced pain on my left gums and reckoned it was wisdom tooth pain. I did a check with my neighbourhood dentist who told me he could recommend me to his counterparts for the removal - estimated cost, $1k+ per tooth. I've blogged about this previously during my 1st surgery so...

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...

I've a total of 4 wisdom tooth that has yet been extracted. People say that if you dont feel aches, there's no need to remove those tooth. But, I've been having toothache on my lower right molar area. I knew my 4 wisdom tooth were growing in weird directions during my x-rays years ago. The dentist said that she could not remove them as they're still growing and it is possible that my tooth would grow vertically just like normal tooth which does not require extractions. However, years later, I could see that my 4 wisdom tooth are impacted - meaning, they are growing against my molars. Also, I've noticed food stuck at the gums between the molars and the wisdom tooth - very gross because there is a hole that traps food already. I've been putting off the extractions for the past few years. My dentist wanted to do a X-Ray for me to check on the tooth before assessing if I should remove them but I didn't bear to spend the money on the X-rays :X. Was also thin...

At 7.30pm, my fiance messaged me.  JUST IN: Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat collapsed during Cabinet meeting; CT scan shows he had a stroke says PMO. I was shocked.  Judging by the number of posts published by the various MPs and Ministers, we could tell that his stroke was a serious one.  I've have never met him, and we don't know each other, but I was affected.  I was possibly feeling concerned because he is a respectable Minister yet, as with all humans, succumbed to stress, leading to a poor health. Many people are like him. Or are on the way to be him. One Minister wrote, " I could see that he was very tired. I have been telling him that he was overworking so much that it will affect his health ." Mr Heng has been steering many big and heavy projects/committees and could possibly have neglected his health at. And then, I reflected on myself. Obviously, I don't hold as big a hat as him, but, would I one day work too much that I breakdown? How ...

Other than sharing about my financial journey, at the end of it, what I want is to have a healthy body and mind to enjoy my fruits of labour. I'm not just financially conscious, but health conscious as well. I used to not care about what I eat since I wasn't fat. But, I would always have bad stomachaches and cramps. Furthermore, I don't exercise. After a few painful episodes, and after visiting the TCMs, I knew I had to do something to improve my health. One of my New Year Resolutions is to eat better. I am trying to cut down on my fast food intake, and raw food such as salad and sashimi. People tout salads as a healthy choice, and I wont' disagree depending on what sauces you add, but I don't think my body suits cold food like salad and sashimi. I still indulge in my hawker food such as hokkien mee, char kway teow, but usually eat less oily food such as fish porridge, fish soup bee hoon, ban mian etc. I have also cut down on my cold drinks intake as my body con...

In my previous post, I explained why there is a need to buy the best hospitalisation plan . Note: that is if you can afford the premiums. Purchasing a hospitalisation plan is to protect your wealth from hefty medical charges but the key is to protect your health. I'm always heartened to see the Government spending all efforts to encourage citizens to eat well, exercise, retire well etc. I came across the Screen for Life website , which is really wonderful in guiding you the type of health screenings and immunisation you need to take at your age. Have you also attempt to walk 10,000 steps a day? On a long day, I will hit 20,000 steps. Usually, on a work day, it's 8-9k. At work, I try to walk about as much as I can, doing simple things like filling up my cup or taking toilet breaks. My bf has also set an Exercise Day on 27 March, so that we can take part in StepsChallenge.sg Bonus Points Day ! Got their free steps tracker watch months ago as well, just not wearing it ...

You must be thinking why a lady in her 20s is telling you this. Simply because, this young lady has just received her medical report and there are some issues that need medical advice. Your Health is Your Most Important Asset. It's not too late when you're healthy. I purchased the NTUC Enhanced Incomeshield plan since I started working. I knew I needed some wealth protection because I've always been a weak kid. I also happened to know that my parents did not purchase any insurance plans for us because "Daddy has no money for those". Honestly, I was dumbfounded. I was angry and I cried. I felt that my parents didn't love us enough. Which parent does not purchase insurances for their kids? I always thought we were covered. "Why didn't he purchase hospitalisation plans for us!?" I exclaimed. "What if something happened to us and we had no money to treat?!" My mum probably thought I was really senseless and selfish to say ...