Set myself for a SGD100 challenge and see how long it can last from daily purchases. That will determine how my spending will be in 2023 when GST is increased to 8% plus ongoing inflation plus NO INCREMENT for 2022! 😠Okay fine. At least I still have a job so I should be grateful.
The rule for this challenge shall be paying for purchases using my $100 cash. You will see just my lunches, dinners and other miscellaneous purchases because I will bring my breakfast from home to work so cut that part. The result maybe disappointing but let us just find out!
5 DECEMBER 2022 - DAY 1
My Lunch of the Day from Tong Fong Fatt Hainanese Chicken Rice for $3.50. I had Roasted Chicken Rice (my favourite) and the meat was tender with the skin giving out the savoury taste. To compare the fragrant rice with the one at 925 Chicken Rice, I would favour 925 Chicken Rice more because of the light flavour taste.
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| Roasted Chicken Rice |
Our Dinner of the Day is Homecooked Udon Soup with whatever ingredients at home. Just buy Udon (3 packs) for $2.60 plus Sun-dried Figs and Mixed Nuts for $11.55 from NTUC. I recommend you peeps to buy Shiro Dashi Sauce from Don Don Donki because we used that to make Udon soup base and it was good. And instead of putting udon directly to cook in the soup, cook separately with boiling water to wash away the alkaline taste, drain it and pour over the soup. It really tasted so good like those we had in Japanese restaurant. But then just one round of cooking, I used half a bottle already. Note to self: 1 cup of Dashi Sauce to 9 cups of water. Perfect ratio.
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| Homecooked Udon Soup |
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| Homecooked Udon Soup |
BALANCE: $100 - $3.50 - $14.15 (include healthy snacks) = $82.35
6 DECEMBER 2022 - DAY 2
1st Christmas lunch for the month starting with my colleagues. Had Mexican food at The Taco Bar nearby our office. I had Tacos with Pan-seared Fish and they ordered some sides like nachos and churros. Cost me $18.14. But money well-spent because the fish was good but a little salty. Luckily the salsa had minimized a little of that. Probably I should have squeezed some lemon/lime over too.
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| Tacos with Pan-seared Fish |
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| Nachos |
Our Dinner of the Day will be vadai $4 for 10 small pcs, fried veggie snack $3 per pack and a pack of beehoon mee with chicken wing $2.70. The vadai and veg snack were very addictive even though it was cold already. The veg snack has the strong spice taste which I like.
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| Beehoon Mee with Chicken Wing and Pasar Malam snacks |
BALANCE: $82.35 - $18.14 - $9 (lottery) - $3 - $4 - $2.70 = $45.51
7 DECEMBER 2022 - DAY 3
My Lunch of the Day will be Kway Chup set for $5. The stall is located at Hong Lim Food Centre Level 1, facing the stretch of shop houses. However, I find the taste bland and braising not long enough but other items in their menu like duck noodles, I find it flavourful. I shall just stick to duck noodles next time from this stall.
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| Kway Chup Set |
Our Dinner of the Day is Hokkien Mee $5 and pasar malam snacks $6 for 2 packs. The hokkien mee taste good and quite a lot of ingredients, especially fish cake. The stall name is 848 Seafood and I'm impressed with just 1 cook and 1 assistant with so many orders. I can see the cook working on the wok non-stop. Salute.
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| Hokkien Mee |
BALANCE: $45.51 - $5 - $1.50 (battery) - $6 -$5.20 (including takeout container 20cts) = $29.31
8 DECEMBER 2022 - DAY 4
My Lunch of the Day will be Dry Mee Siam from Fun Toast at $3. Not everyday they will have this during breakfast hours and I observe like alternate days they will sell. It has fishcake, super thin quarter size omelette and hotdog. Mediocre taste as I have tried before but for convenience sake, just grab!
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| Fry Mee Siam |
Our Dinner of the Day will be from the same stall as yesterday (848 Seafood) but bought Yang Chow Fried Rice $5. The taste was good (wok hey) and the portion is big which I can share with Mister. Worth it and bless the owner.
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| Yang Chow Fried Rice |
BALANCE: $29.31 - $3 - $5.20 (including takeout container 20cts) = $21.11
9 DECEMBER 2022 - DAY 5
There isn't any spending for my lunch today as you know the Yang Chow Fried Rice from previous day was so big that I could share with Mister. So I literally took another half of the Fried Rice to work. Isn't that money saving? But... I need to go buy lottery so I still need to spend.
Our Dinner of the Day will be Pasar Malam snacks $7 in total, again along with instant noodles we cook at home.
Okay if I have not say before, I will say it again. Pasar malam food are ridiculously expensive as compared to last time. I chose those more worth the price unless otherwise Mister request, like the one below on the left. Used to be $2 for 6 pcs or 8 pcs, and now some stalls sell them straight $4 for 8 pcs and some even sell $2 for 4 pcs thinking that people are stupid enough not to know that if you buy 2 packs, is also the same as $4 for 8 pcs like other stalls. Why waste 1 more plastic to hold the food? So silly right? And some are cold and left outside for awhile and it tastes sour. Next time, I shall grab a frozen pack from Sheng Siong and deep fry at home. Then the snack on the right is more reasonable at $3 and one full pack. That's what makes me go back again over the few days.
Was at NTUC and initially wanna buy eggs but I couldn't find the house brand Pasar ones that used to cost $1.70 to $1.95. Now it is priced at $3. Apparently all the eggs are $3+ up and no down. Such a sad thing. Egg shortage plus inflation make my diet not workable anymore. End up buying Bobo Xi Dao Fishcake for $2.45 after deducting rebates. Also from $2.50 increase to $2.80. Sigh... *speechless* Salary also no increase lor.
BALANCE: $21.11 - $10 (lottery) - $2.45 (NTUC) - $7 (pasar malam snacks) = $1.66
CONCLUSION
So a total cost of total of $79.34, about 80% goes to food over 5 days. I will eat in the day and share food with Mister for dinner because I don't allow myself to eat too much at night as I'm on diet. So the rest of the money went to miscellaneous like lottery, household items and so on. Why I don't want to cook? Save the hassle of preparation, cooking, washing, electricity and gas usage for my couch potato time after a day at work. I will cook on weekends if I'm not lazy. Haha...
My colleague told me a story: In a class, a student who earns little, buys a $7 Starbucks coffee yet complaining not having enough money, while the lecturer who earns more, buys $1 coffee from a vending machine in school never complain.
Earn < Spend > = -ve
Earn > Spend < = +ve
Get it? But every individual has their own way of managing their finance so the above situation may not happen to everyone. For me, I make sure I set aside a small portion for saving and the rest is up to how I manage. Even with me earning average also feel the pinch lah. Cannot believe how everything is increasingly not worth the price with low to average quality. Sigh...
So over to you now. Is SGD100 a day of your expenses, 5 days (like me) or stretch all the way 7 days or more?
Disclaimer: All the above were paid by writer. Not sponsored post. Based on writer's own views and opinions and not representing anyone.