I didn’t expect such an overwhelming outpouring of shared experiences when I asked Seedy users about their best money-saving tip (https://seedly.sg/posts/what-s-your-best-money-saving-habit/?pcid=256899).
I believe asking such a question is always useful even if I can anticipate the responses. Sometimes people share experiences that make me rethink things a little. For instance, I would not think of walking for 30-45 minutes to reach a destination, but knowing that people frame this as a bonding exercise makes me motivated to reexamine my lifestyle and see whether I can incorporate new habits.
I also take the liberty to share some of my more unorthodox money sharing habits.
- Routinise a simple lifestyle
- Pay yourself first. Park your money on platforms where withdrawing money is more inconvenient
- Calculate your hourly wage. Frame potential purchases in terms of the number of hours of work you will need to put in. This may help you think twice about spending.
- Track your expenses so that you can know what your unnecessary spendings are and cut down accordingly
- Plan your journey and take public transport instead of Grab (a private hire car). Do surveys during your commute to earn petty cash and optimise time.
- Save on public transport by walking, if the weather permits. Even for journeys that will take 30-45 mins.
- Avoid places where you may potentially spend money
- Avoid impulse purchases. Leave the items you fancy in the shopping cart for a few days. Spend on needs, not wants
- Avoid gambling, smoking and drinking
- Bring your water bottle wherever you go
- Embrace hand-me-downs (kids’ clothes, adults’ clothes, furniture, electrical appliances)
- If you have a dryer-cum-washing machine, wear the same outfit for the entire work week. This cuts down on the need to buy clothes.
- Pick up books at book exchange corners outside public libraries. Deposit them at recycling machines after reading them.
- Read books more often & write book reviews - cut down on entertainment expenses like movies and theatre plays
- Buy a few days’ worth of bread at neighborhood bakeries so that you can get a plastic bag. Save on buying plastic bags
- Or embark on intermittent fasting and skip breakfast altogether
- Meal prepping at home so that you can buy your bento lunch to work
- When you dine out, make reservations with apps like Quandoo to qualify for cashbacks in the future
- Buy things in pairs or packs to reduce the cognitive load related to buying replacements
- Buy house brands whose quality is comparable to more established brands
- Buy on promotional days and use the vouchers to offset your next purchase
- Save for a year all the $5 bills you receive
- Save $1 in Week 1, $2 in Week 2, and so on. Reap the fruits of your manageable labour in Week 52.
cross-posted on my blog