Simple Budget, Simple Life

All good things always come to an end. Readers would know I'm quite an advocate of BOC, given it's relatively attractive rebates and interests it has been providing me. Just a few hours ago, I received an sms from BOC informing of the "enhanced" benefits for my Family Card. From 23 Apr, enjoy 10% cash rebate on Dining everyday (local & overseas) & Movies. Plus, get 5% on Telco bills! Continue to earn 5% for Online, Supermarket, Hospital bills, selected merchants & 2% on supplementary card.  At first glance, I smiled. Dining rebates is now enhanced from 7% to 10%; movies are now included for cashbacks; and enhanced 5% on telco bills! That was until I opened the T&Cs  link. And then I frowned. The BOC Family Card was my main card for dining spends. With 7% rebates on all dining, with a max rebate of $100, it was the best dining card I could find. Clocking above $500/$1500 on this card also gives me a 0.8%/1.6% interest on my BOC Smartsaver. The ...

I'm back! I finally had time for a short breather after days of overtime at night and weekends for work. I've been complaining to my partner that I badly need a break. An overseas break. I needed to get away from the constant beeping on my phone and away from my work laptop. So, in between my daily commute and lunch breaks, I've been checking out deals for a short getaway. My budget...below $500 for two for a 4d3n trip. With some luck, I managed to book my Bali trip at <$400 for air tickets and accommodation. Next up was booking my travel insurance. I was comparing the premiums across the usual insurers when I came across Poli cypal which offers attractive discounts for travel insurances. On top of that, the incentives for booking through them was a $5 discount on the insurance premiums and 15% cashback! At the time of blogging, MSIG Traveleasy and Sompo are running up to 60% and 45% discounts for their plans. In the end, I shortlisted Sompo where the initial pr...

For the past 2 months since the end of December, I have not been resting well. December was supposed to be a dull period; workload should have lessen since the bosses are mostly overseas; but it wasn't. Due to a big project I'm handling, I've been working really late every day. I've also been waking up early and reaching office before my official start time - not because I want to, but because my brain is constantly alert and worrying about the mountain of work that needs to be done. I haven't been sleeping well. It's Feb now. Things are not turning better. In fact, I would have more OTs and more stress as things are moving so quickly. Staying late in office is one thing, attending constant meetings, preparing for constant meetings, presenting, then working on the agenda items after meetings is other. Things are made worst because I'm the only one in my department involved in the project. Over the past week, I got to know of 2 good news. One, I receive...

I am always on the look out for the best place to park my money. This is one of ways I accumulated $100k cash savings before 28 .  So when I came across the Feb 2018 Savings Bond, my eye popped. The SSB is not new to me. I've subscribed it twice - one in Oct 2015 (the first SSB), and the next in May 2017 - at $5k each. The interest rates are pasted below for reference: Oct 2015: May 2017: Both bonds gives me decent interest rate. However, the con is to hold it out for 10 years before I receive an effective interest of above 2%. Imagine my delight when I realised that the Feb 2018 SSB gives me 1.55% just after 1 year. That beats any fixed deposits out there. Furthermore, I can redeem my Savings Bonds in any month before the bond matures, with no penalty for exiting early!  Year from issue date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Interest, % 1.55 1.59 1.67 1.77 1.91 2.07 2.26 2.44 2.61 2.75 Average return pe...

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 ...

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...

Owning a personal finance blog doesn't mean I scrimp and live a sad life. It also doesn't mean I'm stingy and deprive myself from material stuffs! There are things that I'll never regret spending on....and that is GOOD FOOD With no interest in makeup, expensive clothings and bags, these have saved me money... but I do spend quite a lot on food, more so with a gluttony partner. Also, being a boring person, I naturally have nothing interesting to do with my partner except to hunt for good food lah. I love my hawker food, but sometimes, we gotta spice things up a little when we paktor right? And we all know dining in Singapore is a costly affair. While I've spent quite a bomb dining out, I've been making use of a few tips for the past few years which helped me save money without killing the joy! So here are some tips you could use to save money when dining out. You may thank me later :P 1.  I came across the eatigo app two years ago and have been ...