Okay lor! Burst then let it burst! Trying to find the comfort level of spending per month (think this is my usual) for us and from there see what can be reduced or taken away from our expenses. I doubt is easy because every day, your mood is different. Sometimes, you feel like shopping, splurging, and having something better to eat. Sometimes, you just want a simple day to go by swiftly.
11 AUGUST 2023 (2ND HALF OF THE DAY)
PASTRIES/BREAD: $27.76
SHOPPING: $221.50 (3 T-Shirts)
HOUSEHOLD: $12.10(Ant Baits & Garbage Bags)
TRANSPORT: $11.50 (His Grab ride)
ENTERTAINMENT: $50.90
Decided to get food from Tiong Bahru Bakery instead of Tim Ho Wan since I bought them a long time ago their Baked BBQ Pork Buns to try. Since already burst the $1000 budget, let it go then. Read more about Tiong Bahru Bakery here.
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| Tiong Bahru Bakery at Vivo City |
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| Homecooked food at my parents' |
Popped by my parents for a while and had dinner with them too. Then they must be bored though tired and ended up following me to IMM for a walk. They bought a stainless steel pot from Giant at $4.90 which I highly recommended due to the price and perfect size. Then bought milk/dark chocolate digestive biscuits at Mark and Spencer that were going at 3 for $10.90. Good deal from M&S. Also I got t-shirts from Calvin Klein too. When you are at IMM, you can't go back empty-handed, at least for me.
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| Our usual purchase from M&S |
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| Love CK's simplicity and smooth, stretchy material |
12 AUGUST 2023
FOOD DELIVERY: $43.18 (Average $21.59 per pax)
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| Our Brunch |
We got our food delivered to the doorstep for the whole of Saturday since we were just gonna be sloths at home. 2 rounds + cooking instant noodles for supper. Enough of splurging.
I am so glad that the cake flour and baking powder are finished after this last round of baking. I found 3 pieces of chocolate in the fridge to put into baking. Am I lucky or what? Definitely too lazy to bake or even cook at home so all unnecessary items have to be cleared from the kitchen by the end of 2023, or maybe earlier. If you haven't watched my cake-baking video on YouTube, don't miss it again.
13 AUGUST 2023
BANANAS: $2.35
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| Homemade Pancakes |
Am making pancakes for brunch, to clear rice flour which I know won't be in one session. Surprisingly, the pancakes were soft and fluffy using rice flour. Not bad actually. And because having used up the baking powder, I googled DIY baking powder which I already have the ingredients required. Thank God!
Homemade Baking Powder: 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp corn starch (I use corn flour), 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
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| No more baking for a while! Woohoo... |
Ta-da... won't see me baking for a while at least. I like seeing pretty food or bakes but to make them myself, is kind of time-consuming plus, I'm not a good cook or baker.
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| Simple Egg Fried Rice with Sides for Dinner |
There you have it. His dinner for Sunday without spending. All you need is to dig hard into your fridge and create your own dish.
14 AUGUST 2023
VITAGEN DELIVERY: $10.50
FOOD: $31.40 (Mine + His)
TRANSPORT: $12.50 (Ezlink top-up + bus fare)
Finally took a day off to head out with my bestie a.k.a Tai Tai Day. At first, we met at MBS for Ralph's Coffee Shop but they had filming till 11+ am so we headed to Vivo City for a simple Onigiri meal before our Van Gogh exhibition at RWS. After the exhibition, Bestie was quite determined to go to Ralph's so we headed back to MBS again. Read about the food review here. And also the Van Gogh exhibition here. Don't forget the video on my YouTube channel!
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| Our brunch at Mr. Onigiri |
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| Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience at RWS |
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| Finally at Ralph's Coffee Shop |
15 AUGUST 2023
Dinner: $5.20
Zero spending for myself because the food was provided for trainees on ESG. Had a nice bento set actually, just the salmon being a little dry. And his dinner was Braised Duck Noodles with extra noodles and a braised egg. And it was good!
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| Bento Lunch catered in the office |
16 AUGUST 2023
Breakfast and Lunch for me: $9
Lottery: $28
Dinner for him: $4.40
Somehow this Yong Tau Foo stall that I patronized many times has a better Laksa version now than before. I like that it has a somehow richer flavour for me.
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| My Yummy Lunch |
I understand how some complain that economical rice stalls are anyhow charging, some going as expensive as $11. Shock of my life too. But once I find a stall that charges reasonably, I will stick to it as long as I can unless I find an even cheaper alternative. Not revealing where this stall is but from my experience, their charges are like this:
- 3 Vegetables: $3.00
- 3 Vegetables + 1 Meat: $4.50
- 2 Vegetables + 1 Meat: $3.80 or $4.40 (Depending on what meat you getting)
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| His Dinner cost below $5 |
17 AUGUST 2023
Brunch and Dinner for me: $82.29
Dinner for him: $16.95
Transport: $10
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| Still reasonable Brunch with a drumstick for me |
Headed out to meet friends after work so ordered food delivery for him and I spent extra more outside because it was a post-birthday treat for my friend. Read about my food review of PS.Cafe here.
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| Tiger Beer-Battered Fish & Chips |
18 AUGUST 2023
My Breakfast and Lunch: $11
Online Shopping: $4.55
Our Dinner: $17.50
Snacks: $11.60
Decided to try this Vietnamese food stall at the food court right below my office building since there isn't any queue. No queue = Yucky food? I don't think so actually. Probably some don't have an urge for Vietnamese food. Expensive but convenient for me on rainy days. Got me Grilled Chicken with Rice Vermicelli which was quite a good choice. The grilled chicken was tender and savoury, also drizzled over the rice vermicelli with the sauce provided. Taste so good. And I like this type of rice vermicelli.
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| Vietnamese Food Stall |
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| Grilled Chicken with Rice Vermicelli for lunch |
Always overspent at Wu Xiang Beehoon stall (opens from 3-10pm if I remember correctly) but to be honest, it has never been cheap because it charges per item. Once in a while is fine. This stall that I got my food from cooked quite nice and fragrance fried bee hoon, which usually a must-have when we order.
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| Our Friday Dinner together |
19 AUGUST 2023
Food Delivery: $47.40 (from Uncle Penyet)
Cake: $32
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| Half Cooked Half Bought Lunch |
The half-cooked half-bought lunch for an early birthday celebration for the mom. Instead of thinking so much, ordered from Uncle Penyet (or Indonesian Express) for their fried chicken wings and prawns. Their fried prawns are a must-order for me for their crispiness and freshness like those served at a Japanese restaurant. Knowing that they couldn't finish all (always forever), brought home a box for our dinner and next day brunch. Money saved!
20 AUGUST 2023
Grocery: $8.30
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| Our Brunch for Sunday |
Bee hoon from Friday and steamed it to its original texture. Now I really find microwaving food tends to dry them up. Even when you can put a cup of water for moisture while microwaving, I still find steaming a better choice now. Lastly, the food brought home from Saturday: fried chicken meat into the porridge and fried prawns into the air fryer. That's our brunch.
Side note. When I'm super contented on finding cheaper eggs at the wet market, regardless of the sizes at $2.60 for 10 eggs, only today I found out it has increased by 10 cents. Though it isn't significant, eventually when their price is on par with supermarket, you know eggs are no longer the best and convenient option for protein.
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| Our Sunday Dinner |
My freezer is emptying already. Digging out the necessary to cook Yong Tau Foo. Used Fish Soup Paradise Signature broth to cook Yong Tau Foo, cleared balance tau pok and wu xiang, and spent $4.60 for fresh ingredients to cook. Freeze the balance soup for the next cooking.
21 AUGUST 2023
Vitagen Delivery: $10.50
Breakfast for me: $2.30 (curry puff & carrot cake)
Dinner for him: $5.40
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| His Happy Food a.k.a Dinner |
Bought the same braised duck noodles and this time, added 1 braised egg and 1 braised tau kwa. This stall served very nice braised sauce and fragrance chilli. No wonder Mister loved it.
22 AUGUST 2023
My Breakfast/Lunch: $2.30 (a piece of carrot cake and a pack of beehoon)
His Dinner: $4.10
Face Cream: $43.20
I couldn't decide if I wanna have them for breakfast or lunch but honestly, it didn't matter so long I save one meal cost. Throw in 2 eggs, chai po, and spring onions for this omelette. No seasoning at all when I got chai po that is savoury. Added my greens as the base.
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| Breakfast for me in the end |
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| Made it fancy for my visual pleasure |
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| The roasted meat was good |
Another noodles request for dinner so bought the nicer stall preferred by him. Then decides that I must save my face so U-Turn back to my dermatologist clinic at the other stretch of the shophouses to get face cream. Yes... the clinic saved my face so many times and now, I can't trust any beauty products anymore, especially on my face.
23 AUGUST 2023
My Breakfast/Lunch: $7.50 (soy pudding & Yong Tau Foo)
His Dinner: $4.50
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| My Lunch with the greens from home |
Back on my diet and had zero carbs for lunch. Yong Tau Foo without rice or noodles, along with my greens from home. Chose a lot of proteins and I'm so satisfied now.
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| His Dinner with a dish that is mine |
Decided to add 1 more dish (usual 3) in his economical rice so that I can have that 1 dish without paying for another pack. That tofu dish is mine!
24 AUGUST 2023
My Breakfast/Lunch: $3.29 (curry puff and carrot cake + coffee)
His Dinner: $10.10
All thanks to the wonderful colleagues around me. Got my Caramel Macchiato at Luckin Coffee for $0.99 only! However, it was just for the 1st order when you downloaded the app but good enough. Really, sharing is caring. It smells so good and so is the taste. Perfect for my taste bud.
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| Luckin Coffee at Collyer Quay |
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| A cup of less-sweet Caramel Macchiato |
Perfect timing when my colleague was distributing the treats. I can have the soybean pudding with rice dumplings for lunch. As for the pancake, let me see if I wanna have it for tea break or dinner.
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| Perfect for my lunch. Money saved! |
A dinner take-out from this stall for the 2nd time since its opening. Read my past food review here. Surprisingly today, he said the noodles texture was springy, like 细蓉面 that appeared in Hong Kong drama. The pork ribs were fragrant with in-depth flavour. And the dumplings soup (5 pieces) was so-so.
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| Dinner take-out place |
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| His Dinner for the day |
25 AUGUST 2023
My Breakfast/Lunch: $31.50
Our Dinner: $151.60
Grocery: $93.75
Decided to have that pancake for breakfast so have it steamed for softer texture before I gobble down. Leaving some space for lunch and dinner.
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| Breakfast on a Friday |
Colleague brought us to a new place for Korean Fried Chicken indulgence during lunch. They found the music too loud and noisy. Don't know if it is a sign of aging. Wahaha...
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| Lunch Venue with my colleagues |
Long story cut short. Their sides were refillable and seems like all 5 of them were nice. The braised potatoes were flavourful (so was the fish cake strips) and I thought they might have fried it before braising. So different.
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| Refillable sides. All my favourites. |
The Seafood Pancakes were so crispy and so were the Fried Chickens. Yang Nyum Boneless Chicken was on the sweet side and non-spicy. After having 1-2 pieces, that jelak-ness creeped in. Luckily we each ordered a watermelon juice to cleanse or refresh our taste bud. Oh we were given a tiny bottle of Korean Yakult.
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| 4 ladies, 2 plates of fried chicken and a seafood pancake |
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| This is so comical |
Already planned a dinner with Mister at Himawari. Read about Himawari Japanese Restaurant here. Fresh sashimi which we will have at least few rounds since is a buffet (you can go for a la carte too). And their Saba Fish is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. But honestly, the portion size is smaller than the last time we had. Kind of sad. However, they upgraded from paper ordering (for buffet) to a QR code. Just order straight from your phone to get food serve up on your table.
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| Sashimi |
Grocery shopping to restock our kitchen, again. Hope we make effort to cook on weekends instead of letting it rot in the cabinet. Good luck to us.
That's all for this month-long challenge (a bit sick of it) but life still goes on whether we spend more or less though is more like a thrifty or indulging life. The spending for past 14.5 days is $1081.92. Plus $1000 and that gives us a total of $2081.92 in a month. What do you think? Reasonable or ridiculously lots? Haha... CHEERS!
Disclaimer: All the above were paid by the writer. Not a sponsored post. All reviews are based on the writer's preference and taste buds and do not represent anyone else other than herself.