Expenditure Breakdown for September 2022

 

This breakdown only includes recurring daily necessities. It excludes mcst fees, kids enrichment cost, credit card rebates, income/property tax and Medisave topup.

Food takeaway: S$90.30

Petrol: $216

Dinning out: S$270.01

Groceries: S$417.52

Electricity: S$354.13

Water: S$19.67

Gomo: S$18

Singtel Wifi: S$39.90

Total: S$1,425.53

This is quite surprising to me. If this amount remains consistent, I can cover all of it with two of the best in class cards. Citi cash back 6% for dinning, takeaway, 8% for petrol and groceries. UOB One 3.33% minimum for water, electricity, gomo, wifi.

S$19.67 for my water bill because of the one off $100 utility credit. So essentially, it should be $119.67

Groceries is alot lesser than usual because I redeemed more than $300 worth of Fairprice vouchers, gotten from my Trust Bank link referral.

Lets discuss how to reduce the cost of each segment:

Food takeaway: Wrote a post about it can read here and here.

Petrol: Use the ECO mode if you have one, it reduces your petrol cost by 25%. Also adopt defensive driving, ie drive in a stable and slow manner don't step aggressively on the accelerator, keep your ride as smooth as possible. Pump your petrol at Sinopec Bukit Timah and pay with Citi Cash back plus Sinopec card to get a total of minimum 31% upfront rebate.

Dinning out: On special occasions its ok to spend more, but usual dinning out use the Fairprice app and dine in in a Kopitiam with wide variety of cuisine to choose from. You get linkpoints, 10% discount and can use linkpoints earned from groceries to offset, stack with the 6% rebate from Citi cashback card. Nowadays Koptiam becoming more atas, with branded stalls like Coco ichibanya, Thai express etc.

Groceries: Sign up to be a Fairprice union member if you do groceries frequently. You will get a ton more link points and you will get dividend from ntuc shares as a form of rebate, definitely worth it. I stopped using online apps like Redmart and NTUC online because its just not worth it anymore.

Electricity: Main bulk of the cost comes from air-conditioning. If possible use less aircon and switch to fan instead. Sharing the same heater for bathing is also useful. Imagine heating 3 big tanks of water compared to only 1, sure more cost saving for the latter. Pay your bills with UOB One get 3.33% rebate.

Water: Don't waste it. Do less rounds of washing machine spins, excess unwashed use hand to wash. Don't bath for too long. Pay your bills with UOB One get 4.33% rebate.

Just a few tips to remind myself. Hope this month's expenditure will be lesser.