Recently I was bored and started searching early retirement youtube clips, and came across these interesting clips. Sure most of these clips are in US context, that's why I'm hoping to start something more localised here. But still, it is good to be used as inspiring references for your goal :)
Below is a clip about retiring by 40 (US context). Mainly they talk a lot about moving to a cheaper country to live. If you live in Singapore, hey, you could do that too! Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam! For me, it's probably going to be Malaysia although I do fantasied about living in Japan and maybe I'll write a post about that one day on why I think that is possible! But back to this clip...
Click here
The next clip is also by the same person, I've already added him to my Facebook like page :P It is about budget travelling and long term living in well, South East Asian country. The example here is Cambodia, and I really like the way he explains it, that it is possible if you just want to stay abroad for a short period of time. I totally agree with him. I stayed in Bali before for 2 weeks, and the cost was really low. Each meal was SGD7, and that's in a cafe or restaurant! I could have easily survived on less if I had wanted to! Anyway, watch this clip to get some idea on cheap long holidays.
Lastly, here my fave clip and hero of early retirement, the ever so cool Mr Money Moustache. He has a blog full of resources and I have added it on the right side reference link. And this clip is the most entertaining one I've seen so far on youtube. The wonderful thing about him is, he has since retired for 10 years! Starting at around 30! So yeah! Plan early! Plan ahead!
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Saturday, March 18, 2017
SP Utility Bill
In today's post, I thought I'll share with you my monthly utility bill. So for month of February 2017, my bill was around SGD70. Usually I try to keep it below SGD80 per month. And thanks to Singapore Powers, you can actually analyse your usage with your neighbours and national average. They even measure you against efficient target, and apparently we're not doing too badly.
Mainly me and my husband currently work full time, so weekdays are spend mainly in the office. If I retire, I would be spending more time at home cooking, so most probably the bill would go up some what. Even when my parents visited us, it is usually not more than SGD120 a month.
Our home is fully air-con, but we hardly turn it on. In fact, I usually on it during Hungry Ghost Festival cause I can't stand the smell of smoked coming in from outside. Usually if the night temperature exceed 30 degrees Celsius, then air con is being used.
For our gardening, we used recycle water from our sink. We also have a water outlet on top of our toilet flush, so you can wash your hand and the water is being used to flush the toilet. It's supposed to save water.
At the beginning after we moved in, we've also changed all bulbs to light saving bulb, and have a table lamp with soft lighting in almost all the rooms at home. It give a warm yellow lighting at night, and save a lot on bills! Previously our bills were usually around SGD80+ nearer to SGD90. But now, it is significantly lower. I also unplug appliance that we don't use so often.
For hot drinking water, we only boil whatever we need to consume as and when, and whatever left over is put into our cold water container. We do have an oven, a bread maker, a toaster/waffle maker , hot water heater etc. All things that uses high electricity. But we don't use hair dryer, wash dryer, or iron.
I do think that new technology do help cut down the bill. Example would be efficient light bulb, newer fridge model, plasma TV. So do keep your things in good maintenance always!
As compare to average household, I guess our bills is rather low. I'm not complaining. I'm just sharing so that you can also compare how efficient your household is. Every quarterly or so, we also get rebate from the government. I have gotten a few bills before where my bill is actually in the negative range! Lol.
My goal is to keep it below SGD100 a month, cause when I retire, I only budget myself that much for utilities, and that includes my mobile bill (if I still maintain a phone that is).
To check your bill online, you can do so at Singapore Utilities Portal.
Just to share, in Malaysia, my aunt's utility bill is almost always free every month! This is because in Malaysia, if your bill is below a certain amount, it is free. The government consider this a poverty level, and I think that is so awesome! Especially if you plan to retire in Malaysia! (although I think this may only apply to Malaysian). So what my aunt does is, she doesn't really on the fan as she has a windy balcony facing the sea. She also doesn't cook, and doesn't have much electrical appliances at home.
I wish Singapore have such incentives. That could encourage people to be more efficient, and it would defiantly help those people more in need. Just a thought.
Friday, March 10, 2017
Retirement Daily Schedule Planning and the Need for Discipline
Retiring from work, and especially if you are going to spend most of your time on your own, the lost of structure could be a frightening thing. For example when you are working, you know what time you have to wake up to go to work, the commute is routine, and at work you have given task to complete, and when it's time to knock off, you go home, eat your dinner, rest, and next day repeat. But when you stop working, what do you do with your time? And who is going to be there to ensure you don't slack off? Well, the answer is up to you! And nobody is going to be monitoring you and telling you that you are wasting your time or cutting your pay! And that to some people, may be a frightening thought.
Well you first have got to have a plan. Perhaps have your days planned out. Have some kind of structure, yet enough freedom so that you don't feel like you're confined by anything. How your day goes its entirely up to you! But I would definitely recommend that you have some idea before you just go cold turkey! Cause if you don't, you may end up wasting a lot of your time away not achieving much. Even if your plan is to rest and do nothing for a month, it's still a plan! Just remember, you are going to have A LOT OF TIME the moment you stop working! 40 hours extra at least, if you're a working adult in Singapore.
Here's my rough plan for my weekday:
- 6/7am : I still wake up early cause I love morning when its cool and quiet.
- 8am: I'll go to the market to do my marketing (yes I do my marketing on a daily basis, pretty French chic eh?)
- 9am: Have breakfast (optional to have it earlier as well), clean house
- 10am: Prepare meal of the day after that.
- 10am: Spend 2 hours on a project. (Step 4 and 5 can be interchanged depending on the effort of the meal)
- 12noon:Have lunch at noon
- 1pm: Spend 2 hours on a project
- 3pm: Have tea.
- 3:30pm:Spend 1 or 2 hours on a project
- 5pm Go for a walk or exercise
- 7pm: Bath and have dinner
- 8pm: Entertainment: TV, read, internet, music, planning next day's meal
- 12midnight: Sleep
Projects in the above list can mean: crafting, writing, researching things up, baking, experimenting, going out exploring, planning, reading, volunteering, blogging, learning a new skill, learning a new language etc.
Ideally I can afford gym membership after I retired, and there is a gym I can get to without spending money on transport cause I love my gym! And doing things while everyone else working solves the crowd problem all together. Even eating out on weekdays can be significantly cheaper.
Why do I have such a detailed list? Cause I have been doing the same thing whenever I am off, or there is a long weekend holiday. I have also been planning my retirement for more than a decade now! My only fear is discipline. Cause when you don't have to report to anyone, it is easy to get distracted by the computer, by your bed, by Facebook, by almost anything. And it is also easy to slack off by putting off preparing your healthy meal daily, or skipping your exercise. Also, don't forget the discipline to control your spending now that you have removed the luxury of a regular income!
So I think retiring early involves a lot of planning, discipline, and creativity! Something you won't be having much of if you work full time cause work is going to dull your thinking! (unless you're doing what you love of course).
Saturday, March 4, 2017
Kitchen Products That You Can Invest In
Being retired doesn't mean you can't enjoy the finer things in life. It just mean maybe you need to find alternative ways to enjoy it at a lower cost. So for me, purchasing the following products never crosses my mind as being a waste of money. Especially so since I'm the type that love staying at home and enjoying my own company. I know these products may not be for everyone, but the main point of this post is to share with you that you don't have to waste mindless amount of money for things you love. Just learn to make them yourself! And with technology, these products can help you!
1. Bread Maker
I love bread. My household of two goes thru 1 to 2 load of Gardenia bread a week, costing us almost SGD$5 per week. And the prices of bread keep increasing. For such a simple thing, why waste so much money on it consistently? So I got this bread machine for SGD$399 back in 2010. It is now 7 years old and have serve us well. A pack of flour cost us SGD$2.45 at the lowest price, and it makes 4 loaf per pack. That's SGD$0.60 per bread. Even if I add in all the butter, sugar, yeast, salt and what ever goodies I want for my bread, at most it is going to cost me SGD$1. I still save more than 50%. So yes, I say invest in a bread machine if you love bread. It also make scones, cake, dough and jam!
2. Capsule Coffee Machine
Ok, I admin this isn't the most environmentally friendly way of drinking coffee, but this is my only bad habit, so I allowed myself this small luxury. I got this back in 2013, and it is now 4 years old. f given a choice, I would have gotten a Nespresso machines as my sole purpose was to consume needless supply of espresso. At a coffee shop, a shot of espresso easily cost you cheapest SGD$2.50. With this, it cost me SGD$0.90. So I don't really spend much money on coffee outside of my home. I don't drink it daily, maybe just weekly. I take coffee more as a supplement, a leisure drink than a necessity. The machine cost us SGD$199, and it has stopped us spending dumb amount of money drinking hand crafted or chain coffee outside. I'm all set for retire with this in my kitchen!
3. 3-in-1 Snackmaker
My latest kitchen aid. I got it mainly for making waffles, and it cost me SGD$59 at a sale. I was already prepared to pay SGD$69 for it, and was so happy to get it SGD$10 cheaper. Why I bought this? Cause I love waffles, and I love toast bread, and this comes with a grill as well. So let's count the profit and lost. If you have a sandwich outside, especially a toaster one, it's going to cost you SGD$3 to SGD$7 or more depending on the filling. Waffles? Cheapest SGD$7 in a HDB cafe, to maybe SGD$15 at a fancy one. With this, my batter cost around maybe SGD$3 maybe SGD$5? (2 eggs, milk, flour, butter, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla). And each time I make around a dozen! So I usually have them as a meal (SGD$2.50 per meal?), and have one week supply of breakfast after that! Why wouldn't I buy these? Duh!
Finally, a little tip. The idea of it all, is to make your home so nice and cosy that you don't really need to go hang out outside and waste your money. Just do it at the comfort of your home. When you spend outside, it's going to cost you a lot, and it's going to last a few hours. When you spend it on these items, it's going to cost you a lot, but last you for years! So although I always have the idea of going to a cafe with my laptop and look cool, I could never get myself out the door when my home cafe is so much nicer! It has all my favourite:
- Plates and dishes - I do spend money on nice plates, bone China, pottery etc to make the dining experience at home cozy and like cafe setting.
- Tea - I now buy in pack and pack them individually on my own like the photo above. It cost me SGD$7 for the tea, and SGD$2 for the bag, and I have like half a year to one year supply of my favourite tea. If I go to cafe, I can only go twice with that same cost.
- Free WI-FI - my husband work for a telco, so we get unlimited broadband at home
- Free ice water and any water and snacks - my fridge is always full of food.
- Free transport - I don't have to travel anywhere
So yeah, that's what I do. I don't mind people coming over to socialise as well. I just don't like spending ridiculous amount of money for things that can be had at a lower price without compromising the quality and standard. This also means that once I know how to cook a dish, I refuses to order it when I'm eating out. This has save me SGD$$ when I was having a risotto crave last time. Now if only my husband let me cook steaks at home.... Unless the restaurant can make it better than me, I usually don't order things I can cook at home.
If you enjoy reading about the above topic, you can also cross over to my other blog on some of the things I do at home to save money, but mainly because I also love making stuff at home.
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