Living on a Budget

When you are short of money and your income is getting low and you are trying to save every single cent, you are living on a budget. Yap, I am living on a budget now.

And pretty much reduce my expediture during this 2 months. And you do not have to cut down on the luxuries in life.

Heres what i did.

Electricity

- For computers, switch off the LCD monitor if you are not using it, as LCD comsumes a lot more electricity than the CPU.

- If you are planning to boils lots of hot water, do not use the electric kettle to boil as the electricity consumed is huge compared to boiling using gas.

Battling hunger

- When you are hungry in between meals, skip the junk food. Instead, i purchase cornflakes and milk to go along.

- In the supermarket, go for the house brand which is usually a lot cheaper than the branded cornflakes like Kellogs. Compare the ratio of "weight of cornflakes / price" The higher the ratio, the better.

For the milk, unless you have a cow or goat at home, you have no choice but to buy from the supermarket. For this, go for the favor you like, as milk gives the taste of his meal.

For more variety of taste, choose different flavors of cornflakes.

For me, a $10.40 (1litre of milk x 4) and $4 (cornflakesm largest packet) is able to last me around a week plus if i eat everyday, on somedays, twice a day.

Considering that packet of flakes and milk is able to last me for estimated of 15 mini meals, the cost is only $1/meal. Add in the 3 minutes of washng and the cost of water needed to wash the bowl and spoon. $0.10

Still much cheaper and healthier than junk food? (=

Main Course

Eat from hawker centre or food centre, or preferably, cook your own. Since i am only adept in cooking instant noodles with egg. The cooking method is definitely not suitable for me. However if you are good in cooking, use this method.

The downside? Washing oily plates.

From the above, my spending is as follows.

Averagely, my meals cost around $10/day x 30days + $15 x2 (cornflakes) and it works out to be $330/month

Cheap? For me certainly is. It could go down even lower if i stock up some food and cook it myself at home.

** Note, the monentary value quoted are in Singapore Dollars