4 Ways To Significantly Decrease Your Living Costs In Singapore

According to Investopedia, “Cost of Living” is the amount needed to sustain a certain level of living that includes basic expenses such as food, taxes, housing, and healthcare. This factor can make a difference especially if your salary is sustained in an expensive city such as ours. Your salary can go further at a developing city but it may barely go buy at a developed one. Logically, it is important to take measures that help you decrease the costs. Start with these four ways:

1. SAVE ON EDUCATION FEES

Aside from transportation, housing, and food, one of the family’s major expenses is the education fee. Childcare as well as tertiary education is costly for the parents especially if they have two or more students in the family. Topping the fees are the pile of miscellaneous such as school supplies, uniforms, camps, and other extracurricular activity expenses. Fortunately, there are some organizations that offer student grants.

The NTUC Bright Horizons Fund offers financial assistance to children from underprivileged families. The amount of assistance varies according to the gross household income or per capita income. Also, there is a minimum co-payment fee of 2% and an additional S$20 for Union Members.

While adults’ aged 35 and above that earn not more than S$1,900 can upgrade their skills with the Workfare Training Support (WTS) scheme. These adults can benefit from 95% course fee funding on various courses including part-time diploma or specialist diploma at the five local Polytechnics. Imagine how many opportunities you can get after!

2. SAVE ON TAXES

Each year, hundreds of tax deductions and credits may go unclaimed due to the lack of taxing knowledge. Be sure to maximize the tax reloads that are applicable to you by checking out the information provided by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, here.

3. SAVE ON TRANSPORTATION

The good news just keeps on rolling! Early commuters can board the MRT for free before 7:45 am on the weekdays (i.e., excluding public holidays)! The no-cost rides are available at 18 MRT stations namely: Somerset, Bayfront, Bras Basah, Bugis, Orchard, Chinatown, City Hall, Clarke Quay, Dhoby Ghaut, Downtown, Esplanade, Lavender, Marina Bay, Outram Park, Raffles Place, Tanjong Pagar, Promenade, and Telok Ayer.

If you missed the cut-off timing for a few minutes, fret not. You can still indulge on 50 cents off your fare if you exited the designated stations. To be eligible for these, you must not enter from the 18 stations mentioned above. Your savings on transportation can pile up as time goes by.

4. SAVE ON WATER

We cannot live without clean water. Therefore, you must employ saving habits to lower down your bills. Learn a thing or two from this illustration:

Image Credits: pub.gov.sg/CONSERVE/HOUSEHOLDS/Pages/Watersavinghabits.aspx

Image Credits: pub.gov.sg/CONSERVE/HOUSEHOLDS/Pages/Watersavinghabits.aspx

 

Sources: 1, 2, & 3

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8 Earth Friendly Ways To Save Money On Utility Bills

1. UNPLUG

You do not need a PhD to know that unplugging your cables and electronics when not in use can help you save energy and reduce your bills. Even if you turn the switches off, appliances will continue to use energy if they are plugged in.

Image Credits: Chris Potter via Flickr

Image Credits: Chris Potter via Flickr

2. KEEP IT COOL

Cold running water uses lower amount of energy than heated ones. So, use cold water when washing your clothes and dishes or when doing other tasks.

3. CHOOSE WISELY

If you are buying a new appliance, make sure that it is an energy efficient model. Smaller appliances not only help you save more on space but on bills also. Opt for a relatively small microwave than an oven and smaller lamps than the overhead lights.

4. REFRAIN FROM REPEATEDLY OPENING THE FRIDGE’S DOOR

Ensure that you know what you must get before opening the refrigerator’s door/s. Repeatedly opening and closing the door/s will only cause cold air to escape and for the appliance to work more than it should.

5. PUT DOWN THE BLINDS

During summer and hot days, put down the blinds to prevent extra heat from coming in and prevent your air conditioner from running more on energy. Do the opposite during the cold weather to keep your home naturally warm.

6. PAINT THE ROOF WHITE

In Color Psychology, white symbolizes new beginnings while in Business, it symbolizes efficiency. By merely painting your roof white, findings suggest that it can cause a 40% drop on the energy consumption. It also cools down the whole house.

7. COVER THE POTS

Cover your pots when boiling because if you leave it open, the boiling period will only be longer and therefore requiring more energy.

8. DOUBLE CHECK YOUR BILLS

Image Credits: Phillip Stewart via Flickr

Image Credits: Phillip Stewart via Flickr

Double-check your billing amount to ensure that you are paying accurately. Do this by checking the reported bill usage and comparing it to your meter.

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In UK, Oil is Cheaper than Packed Water

Can there be an economy where oil is cheaper than water? If yes, how will it affect its countrymen?

According to United Kingdom’s The Independent, a British national newspaper publication, Oil by barrel is now cheaper than the 6 packed bottles (1.5 liter each) of Evian Natural Mineral Water.

A liter of bottled water costs about 42 Pence (S$87 or US$0.66), while it costs about 24 Pence (S$0.49 or US$0.38) a liter for gas…that is 40 percent cheaper!

The price of oil has notably collapsed, affecting every single person in the country. A market analyst for Reuters named John Kemp, highlighted the bizarre state of economy on Twitter saying that not only that the current oil price represented “an unsustainable low level” – but that it was “impossible to predict how low prices might fall”.

Image Credits: Daniel Oines via Flickr

Image Credits: Daniel Oines via Flickr

This is not the first time it has happened globally.

In 2011, Saudi Arabia’s petrol costs about 0.45 Saudi Arabian Riyal or 0.16 Singapore Dollars and 0.12 United States Dollars, which is absolutely much cheaper than bottled water. Saudi’s government spends SAR26 Billion on water subsidies every year to keep down their citizens’ water bills (Finfacts, 2011). That is equal to S$26 Billion.

An interesting thought is that unlike any other countries in Southeast Asia, the tap water in Singapore is safe to drink. We can just get a glass of tap water then refill it for free. But, a liter of bottled water in the supermarket is still more expensive than United Kingdom’s liter of oil today.

Image Credits: Luis via Flickr

Image Credits: Luis via Flickr

Although this economic state in UK may cause lower annual prices of other goods easing the cost of living of the citizens…the falling energy prices may result to inflation and threaten the financial stability of the whole country. The Bank of England backs up this statement of warning.

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