Budgeting for tougher times ahead. What's yours?

[Wonder-ful]

My family of 5 have actually cut down on our expenses quite a bit with the following adjustment -

Family Cost-Saving Adjustments
• Dining: Restaurant outings only for birthdays and special occasions.
• Drinks: No more soft drinks — healthier and cheaper.
• Travel: One year-end trip, usually to nearby countries.
• Household Help: No maid only cleaner every alternate week (4 hours).
• Shopping: Buy online whenever possible for deals and convenience.
• Transport: Walk to nearby places instead of using the car.
Use 95 petrol instead of 98 octane. Car self wash
• Groceries: Switch from Cold Storage to Sheng Siong or NTUC.
• Utilities: Aircon not allowed during the day.
Hope all can share any other cost saving ideas

[sharonkhoo]

@rinsider We have been fairly moderate in our living all these years! We already practise most of what I see listed in this thread, so we probably aren’t going to make many changes. The only ones I think we may look into:

“Vampire power” - I think we only have our fridge and wifi on, and TV on standby - will look around and see if there’s anything else that we could reduce.

Travel - we are in the “semi-retired” phase, and so already planned and booked 2 trips this year. We just got back from a week in China (fairly inexpensive), and will be going to the UK for a couple of weeks next month. Again, we’re already fairly moderate in what we’ve booked. One thing we are considering is not renting a car and using trains instead for travelling between cities. Within cities, we had already planned on using public transport anyway, and most of this trip is centred on various cities. I plan to do some research and comparisons this afternoon! Thankfully, we have free cancellation on the car and accommodation, so as long as we can find reasonable alternatives, it’s possible to tweak. My husband was talking about another trip later in the year - will see how things go.

Suggestion for cooler sleeping - use bamboo mats on top of the mattress! We started using them when living in China during the hot summers (we didn’t have aircon), and we’ve continued the practice in Singapore. We just use fans. I don’t know what our electricity bill is, but my husband says it’s lower than the average 4-room flat (we are in a 5-room).

[sharonkhoo]

Travel - we will be going to the UK for a couple of weeks next month. Again, we’re already fairly moderate in what we’ve booked. One thing we are considering is not renting a car and using trains instead for travelling between cities. Within cities, we had already planned on using public transport anyway, and most of this trip is centred on various cities. I plan to do some research and comparisons this afternoon! Thankfully, we have free cancellation on the car and accommodation, so as long as we can find reasonable alternatives, it’s possible to tweak. My husband was talking about another trip later in the year - will see how things go.

In case anyone thinks that switching from self-drive to using trains (this is for UK travel), think again! We found that we don’t really save money as we also rebooked some hotels to prioritise being near public transport and city centres. I also decided that I would like to have a washing machine and kitchen at a couple of the places, which also increases the costs. We made the changes anyway as my husband is concerned that the middle east war may affect petrol supply. So we’re going to backpack like students again!

[thebottomsupblog]

Just to throw in another related topic. How do you feel about friends/acquaintances now asking whether you can chip in some $$ for rides, especially if they’d dropped you off out of goodwill before?

This came up in conversation recently, so it’s actually happening, especially for those who have to share rides regularly

My personal philosophy is that we should never expect anyone to do anything “for free” for us, and I would weigh the amount that’s being asked for against the cost of a Grab/Gojek ride. (It would likely be much less!) I might even think twice before accepting a ride offer now, if it’s out of the way.

I think despite our best intentions, these things can cause a lot of awkwardness. If one is requesting, then just be honest and clear about how much to chip in, and leave others to accept or reject!

[rinsider]

@thebottomsupblog from the get-go, I always insist on contributing to some of it or just split the cost approximately. Normally I’ll just ask the friend who booked the ride how much the overall fare is. Even if they don’t ask, thank god for PayNow! I’ll still send a reasonable amount that covers my part of the ride. Am I weird or rude?

[thebottomsupblog]

@rinsider Oh if it’s Grab/Gojek, and I’m the one that’s feeling lazy/tired and wants to take a ride, I’ll usually cover the cost if there’s someone else with me, and choose a drop-off point that’s good for both. I treat it as my own ride.

The conversation I was referring to in my previous post involved people who drive, who’ve been dropping their friends and fam off out of goodwill. It’s quite tricky to suddenly make a request for cost-sharing, I feel! But personally, I think it’s a fair request to make, and no one should expect to be ferried around for free.