Profile: staying with parents and owns a car. I like to write about expenses because I like to save money without compromising on quality of life.
The "Avg Yearly" is distorted as I bought my car between 3 and 4 years ago.
Expectedly, car and food are the biggest categories. Without a car, the average yearly would be ~$16k instead.
How about you guys? Are you spending more or less than me?
Car (auto transmission):
I realised it's the number of fuel top-ups / fuel consumption that matter more instead of the mileage/litre clocked per month. There are times when I have to travel to some places near my house for work that involve more traffic lights along the way, resulting in lower mileage and higher fuel consumption as compared to going to office that is farther away via a highway. However, both routes consume roughly the same amount of fuel on each trip hence the number of top-ups has been very consistent at an average of 2-2.5 times / month since Day 1.
I took good care of my car battery and tires and recently changed only after 3 years. I also go for the cheapest servicing and avoid buying unnecessary stuff. I also will make use of heavy rain to wash my car for free -- not the small rain kind as they tend to leave dust behind.
Remember to pump the right kind of petrol for your car -- if it just needs RON 95, then don't pump 98 which is unneeded and more expensive.
Car insurance: In my first year I had a relatively very expensive insurance as I was a "newbie" driver in terms of experience. Though there are ways to go around this issue, I'd still suggest readers out there get your driving license as early as possible. The insurance cost should get reduced significantly year after year especially with the NCD. In recent years I buy from FWD which is one of the cheapest and sometimes they even have promos such as birthday discounts and $200 CapitaLand vouchers.
Food:
Most of the time I eat at home or food courts / hawker centres. About once or twice a week I go to restaurants and even so I always make heavy use of restaurant booking apps and Entertainer.
Use Chope to get FREE Chope Dollars for each booking
I use the correct credit card for grocery shopping at Sheng Siong to get 5% cash rebates.
Computer/Electronics/Phone/Clothes/Furniture:
Usually I use them for as long as I can and avoid buying on impulse.
Phone:
I switched to a SIM-only plan with no extra SMS and voice minutes as I have little use for them. Usually I call via Whatsapp using data or get the caller to call me.
Insurance:
I just buy the cheap AVIVA-MINDEF group term life for early and terminal CI coverage, and an Integrated MediShield to cover hospital bills.
Holiday:
I make heavy use of ShopBack, Agoda and AirBNB for discounts. For example, Agoda usually gives 5-7% discount while ShopBack gives an additional 6% cashback for Agoda and $5 cashback for AirBNB.
Sign Up for ShopBack to get additional cashback for Agoda
Use AirBNB to get extra discount of up to S$45.
Just stay in 3-star hotels most of the time. You can also choose to stay slightly outside of city centers for cheaper rates, provided there are convenient transportation available. I usually don't buy flight add-ons such as extra baggage / extra leg room.
| Avg Monthly | Avg Yearly | Remarks | ||
| Total | $ 168,804 | $ 2,010 | $ 24,115 | |
| Car | $ 52,607 | $ 626 | $ 7,515 | Monthly payment + petrol + parking etc. |
| Clothes | $ 1,207 | $ 14 | $ 172 | |
| Computer | $ 3,000 | $ 36 | $ 429 | |
| Dental | $ 418 | $ 5 | $ 60 | |
| Education | $ 780 | $ 9 | $ 111 | Courses |
| Food & Groceries | $ 25,200 | $ 300 | $ 3,600 | |
| Furniture | $ 937 | $ 11 | $ 134 | |
| Health | $ 650 | $ 8 | $ 93 | Health-related expenses |
| Insurance | $ 6,300 | $ 75 | $ 900 | |
| Parents | $ 14,706 | $ 175 | $ 2,101 | Allowances |
| Phone | $ 3,819 | $ 45 | $ 546 | Phone prices + bills |
| Tax | $ 13,275 | $ 158 | $ 1,896 | Income tax |
| Transport | $ 6,480 | $ 77 | $ 926 | Public transport; still taking occasionally |
| Holiday | $ 17,052 | $ 203 | $ 2,436 | |
| Treats | $ 1,849 | $ 22 | $ 264 | Gifts, treats including friends' weddings |
| Others | $ 10,526 | $ 125 | $ 1,504 | Unnecessary spending |
| Wedding | $ 10,000 | $ 119 | $ 1,429 |
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI would say you got off on the right footing. Live well within your means and inculcate a frugal habit early and these good traits will stay with you for life.
Sometimes the extra savings you built up in your early career will come in handy especially when you start to have a family. I remember only too well when in our mid 30s to early 40s, our monthly expenses would exceed our monthy income - from having to pay for child care for our two kids, car maintenance, parents' allowances, food, home loan, holidays, insurance, income taxes, and the list goes on. The yearly bonuses and our savings helped tide us through those cash strapped periods.
Fast forward to today, our two children have graduated from university but our frugal habits stayed. The big difference is now our savings which we have invested in stocks and property is generating a passive income stream that more than covers our annual expenses. This happened three years ago.
What this meant is that for last three years, we were able to save 100% of our salaries and then some. And it gets better from here. We invested the savings to generate more passive income. A virtuous cycle. Our expected passive income for 2019 is $190,000. Last year's was $177,000.
Like I said, you are on to a good start. Keep at it and the rewards will follow. And soon you will also realise that you can and should reward and pamper yourself once in a while - like travel business class and stay in 5 star hotels. We did that on our significant wedding anniversary milestones.
Hi there, thanks for dropping by. That's a very admirable sum of passive income.
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