Simple Budget, Simple Life

This is a post to myself. I know you're a difficult person to please. You've expectations of everything. You take many things seriously. And, you play again and again in your head, what people said of you and to you. You wish to stop these thoughts from coming. But you can't. Those childhood memories keep flooding to you in your dreams. You dreamt about being looked down upon. You dreamt that you could hear what they were gossiping about, and it was all about you. You wondered how could they bear to say or joke about a kid. You were only a kid, you were only a teenager. What is there to compare about? You got frustrated. Why didn't your parents say anything? How could they allow people to say that you're stupid? How could they not shut them up? Thoughts like these still lingers and you cried. You also dreamt about the lack of parental love. You dreamt that your parents are biased against you. You remembered your mom coming out from the shower and spa...

Every month, I look forward to pay-day. But my most anticipated moment of the (work) year is my PB. Wish I could click enter many times This is the time of the year where I eagerly await my report card. This is also the time when people feel excitement, happiness, anger, betrayal or disappointment on how they are assessed for their work over the past year. I've been in my first job since graduation and had received 4 performance gradings. So far, I thank lady luck for blessing me with above average gradings. At least, despite the frustrations felt at work, I am encouraged that my contributions are acknowledged. This time each year, I'd feel my heart palpitating as I open the document announcing my performance grading. I remembered having the same feeling as I logged onto my university portal to see my semester results. That's why I akin this to my report card. The thing is, I would never know how I'm assessed each year. It's quite a joke that I've ...

I've dated my partner for close to 5 years. I always joke that I gave him my youth (that's true). 5 years is a long time. I also joked about how if we're fortunate enough, we would already have a baby (好命的话，我的baby可能1岁咯). Unfortunately, we have been sorely unsuccessful in getting a flat. I probably am more anxious than him because I feel like I've an expiry date, and my biological clock is ticking. I know there are some stories of mummies at 40s and 50s, but I'd rather meet my goal of having kids before 30. I used to think I'd get married and have kids at 23. Then it postponed to 25. And then to 26, and then to 28. It got delayed all because we have not secured our own home. I want to start a family soon. But, without a flat to call our own. It's tough. We are not comfortable staying in each others' houses too. In-laws relations, proximity to workplaces and "it's never the same staying in someone else's home, cause it's never as ...

Just applied for the CIMB FD at 1.2% for 6 months with $20k. I have been thinking if I should apply for this or park my money into shares. Guess I'm not that stocks-savvy to take the plunge. Regardless, this FD will earn me an interest of around $120.  With my BOC Smartsaver max out at $60k, this 1.2% interest is slightly better than me leaving the remaining money in my Fastsaver. Will keep a look out for other deals to park my extra cash. Btw, the FDs promotions this year have been disappointing. If you wish to apply for the CIMB F.D, do note that promotion ends on 13 February 2017.

Happy Lunar New Year! With mandarin oranges being one of the core items that you bring along for house visiting, I'm sure you'd have at least a pair of oranges in your house. Other than eating it, how about making the full use of this amazing fruit by saving the peels? It's environmentally and pocket ($) friendly. FYI, these works well for any citrus peels :) Here's what you can do with your peels: 1. Make it with tea  You could either dry it like how the video does, or just pour hot water on freshly peeled skin 2. Use it as a air freshener  Boil the peels in hot water to help freshen the air in the kitchen and pour it into a spritz. 3. Make candies 4. Put it into green or red bean soup Add zest to your dessert with these mandarin peels! My parents do that to give the soup extra taste :) 5. Make an all-purpose toxic free cleansing agent Lastly, my personal favourite for kitchen use. For those families who whipped up many dishes over the...

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...

It's just one week to Xmas! No wonder the crowd at Orchard yesterday. There were full of people at Takashimaya, ION looking for gifts....or are they impractical ones? Every Christmas, we fret over what to gift to friends, colleagues and families. I, as a self-proclaimed ultra practical person will never buy gifts that are impractical. I'll SMH and feel disappointed when I received impractical gifts like chocolates (very insincere leh, unless it's Royce lol), The Body Shop lotion (no use la!), piggy banks (I'm big enough leh!) and notebooks (not laptops but jotter books! They're fancy, but I get so many free during fairs and I can't finish using!). Since I'm already spending money liao, might as well gift something useful right? Better late than never, so here's my guide to 5 last minute below $30 Xmas gift ideas if you want to gift something practical. Disclaimer, what's practical for me may not be for you and if you're purchasing these onlin...