Books:
If you buy books, its going to take money, and its going to take up space and maintenance time. I've stopped buying buys a few years back even though I've always wanted a library of my own. They just take up too much space in my home! I started my limiting myself to only buying from my favourite author (mainly Terry Pratchett), but since he has passed on, I've stopped buying all together. This includes magazine subscriptions.
My main source of books now is NLB (National Library Board) which I adore and don't know how I would live if I were to move away from Singapore. Any books I want, I will borrow from the library, and even for new books, I will just place a reservation there that cost me SGD1.55 per reservation and collect it from my nearest library. No complaints there! Period!
I also have a Kindle, you can read all about it here in my other blog. eBooks and eMagazine may not be as awesome as the read thing, but still, it helps! It lowers down the cost and space. So very much worth switching to. You don't need to have a kindle, you just need a reader on your mobile phone or laptop/personal computer.
Newspaper/Magazines:
You can get them like books! Online! There are occasion when I do allow myself to purchase magazines.
- When there is a special offer where you need only buy one copy and get a goodie bag or free gift for it. Example during exhibition or fair, you can buy a magazine and get a goodie bag full of sample toiletries and food product. Buy it!
- Or if you are like me, I only buy from Kinokuniya as they have special gift for each magazine and I usually pick facial products cause one small sample can last me usually half a year or so. So far Liang Court is still my favourite Kinokuniya branch in Singapore, plus if you drive, the parking is SGD3.15 per entry during weekends and public holiday!
- If you want to join an organised run (e.g. to keep fit or to lose weigh), join the Shape run. When you sign up, they allow you to subscript to their magazine for SGD2 a copy! Shape has more reading materials that will benefit your than other fashion magazine. Plus, Shape run is an awesome place to buy cheap yogurt/milk/cereals etc! Yes, I know, very aunty of me... FYI, I've stopped subscribing as well cause the magazines were piling up, and the max run is only 10KM, and I hate the tops they give yearly. Whoever design women sports wear seems to hate women to the max.
Music:
YouTube is your answer! Especially if you are like me and have free unlimited wifi at home. But if you don't, YouTube is still the answer, cause you can search website to convert YouTube clips to audio files! Anyway, it's hard to buy CDs in Singapore these days, so just find it online!
Some musics you can find on YouTube which is hard to find in a physical store:
- Classical music for certain purposes. Usually I listen to classical music at home cause it changes the mood of your home to make it more serene and calm. Try Mozart music of relaxation or studying. Or endless loop of Pachabel Canon.
- Soundtracks. I love soundtracks, and with YouTube, you can listen to them sometimes even before the movies are released in Singapore!
- Cafe Music. I recently discovered cafe music cause I wanted a Starbuck kinda feel at home, so I search Starbuck playlist and ta-dah! The other types of music you can try are foreign cafe music like Italian or French to change the ambiance of your home. I also love Japanese Jazz and Cafe music. It really makes me feel happy at home listening to it!
- Live concert/unplug version of music. Some of my favourite music are live performances that are not available on CDs. And yes when I find them, I convert them and keep them!
TV/Movies:
I don't believe in watching TV cause it's such a waste of time. It's also a waste of money if you have cable although it can be quite educational. Luckily for me, I usually just watch travel programs, cooking programs, documentary and talk show. And all these I can also find on YouTube! So stop wasting money on TV! As for movies, well, try to get a cheap ticket if you have to go watch them in the cinema, or sometimes Community Centre(CC) or malls have free screening! Check them out! Some of the items I watch on YouTube
- Daily talk show like Daily Show with Trevor Noah and John Oliver's Last Week Tonight are my favourite to watch, all available online one day after it is aired in US. Just search!
- Cookshows. Alton Brown is one of my favourite, Cooking with Dog is another easy Japanese cooking clip I enjoy, Honeysuckle is always a joy to watch.
- but you can find almost everything else online.
- Travel: Anthony Bourdain, Abroad in Japan etc...
- Documentary. Just search damn it! BBC, National Geographic etc...
Concert/Plays/Musicals:
OK, so unless the concert/musical is not coming to Singapore or in my case, banned in Singapore, (Book of Mormon), you should watch it online. When I travel overseas, I also try to catch plays and operas because believe it or not, it is so much cheaper overseas! E.g. I purchased an Italian Opera ticket for only SGD40. I don't think I can get such a price in Singapore. Sure the airflight there is going to burn, but hey! Bucket List items are part of retirement fun right?
Else, get cheaper tickets! Or enjoy free/cheap local production! Here are some ideas for you.
OK, that was a longer post than I expected. Hope that was useful for you!
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