AMAZING!!

AMAZING!!!

I am so glad to share my WFH Saving Hacks with you all and when I start this, I cannot stop:

1. Instead of making multiple trips for grocery, I would make only 1 trip to buy 1 week worth’s of grocery that can last the family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children aged 10 and 14) for 3 meals namely, breakfast, lunch and dinner. You might ask, is that evening possible? My answer is yes, for breakfast, we have bread with milo or coffee. For lunch, we cook one pot dish for example, curry chicken for Monday, braised chicken wings for Tuesday, Fish Soup with Noodles on Wednesday and so on. For dinner, we shall have 3 dishes, namely vegetables, meat and soup. On the last day of the week, it is the happiest time for the children as they prepare the hotpot and cook anything that is left in the fridge to prevent food wastage for lunch and dinner. This being said, we have saved a good $300.00 to $400.00 dining out or tabao-ing of 3 meals for 4 people weekly.
2. We use a good thermal pot frequently which not only helps to continue to cook the food, it also keep the food hot for 10-12 hours. This means that we do not have to turn on the stove or rice cooker for hours to boil soup or cook a decent meal. Re-heating is also not necessary as the food is kept hot. Do a research and invest in a good one, my current one is as old as my 14 year old son (I bought it at $120.00 14 years ago) and it is still working like magic. I have also convinced many of my friends and colleagues to get 1 thermal pot of their choice from the open market and they are loving it.
3. Cook only enough for everyone, not extra for just in case. If someone is still feeling hungry, a cup of milk helps.
4. In the event that cooking is not possible, we will call the nearby food stores directly to place order and we will collect the food ourselves. This means that we do not have to order food via any food ordering platforms where the same food items are priced higher with delivery charges. If there is no contact number for the food stall that you wish to order from, there is one more saving tip for you. Bring your own reusable containers. Nowadays, each takeaway container will cost a minimum of 30cents. Please save your money and save the mother earth at the same time.
5. We would usually do the grocery on days when there are promotions and charging to my credit card that has the highest cash rebate and mall points. Instead of driving that incurs petrol and parking costs, we will bring our grocery trolley along and walk home within a good 15 mins.
6. If the family has the habit of eating their meals at different timings, this is a good opportunity to change! Eat together at the same time means more bonding time and lights at the dining room will be switched on for a much shorter time during dinner since everyone will be eating during the same period.
7. When washing the dishes, soak all the dirty plates, bowls and utensils in a pail filled with water with little dishwashing liquid. This helps to remove the grease during soaking so that the cleaning is made easier and quicker while saving water.
8. Look out for good promotions from the various open market electricity providers. They provide promotional rates and sometimes come with additional perks like shopping vouchers.
9. Instead of constantly charging of laptops and mobile phones, we switch off the power socket as soon as it is 100% charged.
10. We would turn off the wifi and Bluetooth on the mobile devices after 11pm to prevent the battery from draining out unnecessarily.
11. To keep the temperature further down at home, we have purchased the solar film online and pasted them on the windows at home ourselves. For 3 bedrooms and 1 living room, our total expenditure was $80.00.
12. In the afternoon, children would do their homework with me in the living room where my WFH desk is setup. This means that we only switch on 1 fan to cool everyone down instead of 3 individual fans.
13. On hot nights, the four of us will bond together in the master bedroom with aircon switched on economic mode instead of the living room. At times, the children will bunk in with us too.
14. Many times, we would add the items we need to purchase in the online shopping cart and wait for special promotions such as 7.7, 8.8 online sales that allow stacking of vouchers and utilise earned points to make online purchases such as fresh seafood like salmon, cod fish, prawns online, bulky products with free delivery.
15. Being truthful, WFH means that you may be browsing online more often that you used to be. Before you purchase that pretty dress, latest gadget or cooking pot at that tempting special price online, please browse away from it for 30 minutes, walk around your home and re-think if it is truly a need or it is just a want. My family and I have been using this method and trust me, the final outcome is that it is usually a want and you end up not buying it, thus saving money.

Working from home can be tough. In the hot Singapore weather we often switch on our air-conditioning in order to stay cool in the summer heat. Instead we can often opt for other cooling methods such as getting an ice cold drink, placing ice in front of your fan or even investing in a misting fan!

Cooking instead of ordering delivery would also be a great option to save some cash. This even allows us to eat healthier and cut down on salt! Alternatively we can take a walk to our nearest kopitiam to grab our favourite dish without the unnecessary delivery fees while getting some exercise

Best #WFH saving tip is to remember how we can become more environmental friendly. Apart from saving our planet, this helps to save our pockets !

This range from supporting our local food stores at the hawker or coffee shops instead of food delivery, thus reducing carbon footprint and allow you to bring your own container, reducing plastic waste. This meant a reduction of delivery fees and takeaway container fees from your pocket.

Secondly, tap on natural sunlight and fans instead of switching on lights and air-conditional. You will see a reduction in your utility bills.

Remember this tip, those few cents saved each day will be accumulated and can become hundreds of dollars shortly.

Here are my #WFH money hacks:
-Cook easy one dish meals (i.e. using a rice cooker) instead of delivering food. It's healthy and fuss-free!
-Let in natural light instead of turning on your room lights (Save money and the earth!)
-If the weather is crazy hot, on the aircon for a short while just to cool the room down..

Buy (or order) food in bulk, and freeze them for later consumption.

1. save on delivery fees or transport fees.
2. avoid having to leave home as much as possible.
3. avoid covid.
4. save your money, save your life.

#WFH has allowed us more time to prepare our own meals as compared to dining out. Planning for meals ahead help to consolidate grocery expenditure and saved us a significant amount as compared to constantly dining out. Preparing home cooked meals also let us become more conscious about the food that we eat, leading to healthier diet, which in turn less visits to the doctors and cost savings!

Since #WFH, our areas of spending has reduced, making it a good starting point to keep a habit of tracking our spending. Being aware of our spending also helps us plan our finances better, as it shows clearly which areas can be better budgeted, and how much we can set aside for investment/ future plans.

Another point to note is to pick and choose which credit card to use for our general spending, since most cards have a minimum spend to get the most rebates.

Since WFH, the main portion of our expenses usually goes towards food. I reduced this expenditure by reducing the number of times I dine out/takeaway or order delivery. Instead, my family does grocery shopping and we take turns to cook for the family during the week. This way we drastically reduce the amount spent on food, plus we get to eat healthier food and learn a new skill all at the same time.
But not gonna lie though, the first 2 weeks of this arrangement was real tough since only my mother was a good cook prior.

Of course, due to our schedules, sometimes no one is available to whip a meal up for the family. When this happens, we order delivery instead. By grouping up with neighbours at times, the order is eligible for more discounts saving us a ton. I usually order via Grab using paylater. This way at the end of the month, I can charge the amount to my DBS credit card, then use My Preferred Payment Plan to pay off the charge over 3 or 6 months which happens to have an ongoing promotion with no one-time processing fee and 0% effective interest. The cash “saved” then works harder for me in my investments or simply by earning interest in my bank account.

I am a healthcare worker and unfortunately, work from home is not a norm for me. However, my girlfriend is working from home.

This means that I’ll arrange to have dinner at her house every weekday before going home.
This helps us to save at least $15 in total every weekday!

$15x20=$300 per month, which is a lot of money to save for young couples aspiring to buy a house and build a future together.

Cheers

My favourite WFH money hack? I simply reduced all my nonessential expenditure and consolidated the extra savings from my WFH routine (vis work in office), and regularly buy or do regular savings plan in a variety of bond-focused unit trusts with monthly dividends, as well as equities.

Sharing more:
With DBS multiplier interests being cut, I simply moved the money I don't intend to touch out of the multiplier account to a mix of Digiportfolio, REITs and fairly OK credit-rated income-focused bond fund unit trusts. This way, I raise my monthly "interest" payout to compensate for the muted DBS multiplier interest rates.

While my payment of credit cards is always very stable and reliable, I choose pay by interest-free instalment for purchases above $100, so that I have more cash in hand at any point in time and can use that to RSP my income-generating unit trusts to pay off these mini instalments. Bills and expenditure are very easy to monitor when you don't spend a lot.

I don't sleep with air-con, so that my children can. Also eat their leftovers.

I never spend more than what I can afford, eat/take out only 1-2 times a week, and always try to save about 10-20% of my salary, which is near the national household median (I am the only earner). I'm a single dad of 2 kids and have a very litigious-minded and mad ex-wife, so I have also very unnecessarily spent a ton of money on lawyers to handle her madness. WFH made me work longer hours and on weekends. Further, I got no investment or finance background. So if I can still save and do money hacks and make my savings generate fair recurring income, so can most folks.

Other very lucky breaks - dumped a ton of CPF OA into the STI ETF during the 2020 market crash, so am now taking "accumulate" or DCA approach in that area. Emptied out most of life savings to buy bank shares during 2020 dip and exited at 20-35% profit less than a year later. Dumped the earnings into multiplier account, Digiportfolio, income funds unit trusts and large market cap REITs - and reinvest dividends.

Other hacks:

• Cut down on food delivery expenditure, or cut off completely.

• Reduce expenditure on beverages from food courts, coffeeshops; instead either live healthily by drinking water or getting your beverages from the supermarket.

• If you don't already have them, invest in a hot water pot/dispenser, a toaster oven and a rice cooker. These can be used to make simple drinks and meals. Get your food from the supermarket, and set a target of 5-8 home-cooked meals a week to reduce cost of buying takeouts or ordering deliveries.

• Spend less on new clothes given WFH is part of the new normal. If there are bulk discounts, buy some of the same presentable clothes because you are after all going to appear on Zoom anyway.

• If you don't already have it, invest in a fan to keep cool while WFH. Use your air-con for an hour and turn it off for 2 hours, versus using it for 3 consecutive hours, then use the fan instead.

• Cancel your gym memberships. Just go to the playground or fitness corner and bang out your dips, pull-ups, inclined rows, step-ups, burpees and mountain-climbers. Jog around your neighbourhood or cycle on the park connector. Most of us live in HDB, so walk up the stairs. Stay active and healthy without spending too much.

• Move your recurring payments (bills, season parking, utilities) to your POSB everyday credit card to get cashback, and also check the boxes of your DBS multiplier account.

• Use the above savings and do dollar cost averaging with your - based on risk profile and appetitie - Digiportfolio, bond fund unit trusts, equities unit trusts, or stock market equities.

All the best! Don't survive, but thrive!