Retirement and Getting FREE Entertainment

In this post I will cover how you can get free entertainment without paying for it. By this I mean: books, music, tv/movies etc. When you're retired, you don't want to be spending your money on these things except maybe for a few exceptions. So here are some ideas for you.

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.

I do still buy a book here and there occasionally. Just yesterday I bought this Japanese muffin recipe book for SGD5 from Kinokuniya budget alley at Liang Court. Japanese books are expensive and not available from NLB, so that's my excuse. But SGD5 for a dream, I think its ok :)

Newspaper/Magazines:
You can get them like books! Online! There are occasion when I do allow myself to purchase magazines.

1. 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! 
2. 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!
3. 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!

Recently I just go to YouTube, search whatever  I am in the mood for, and listen to it. The ads can be annoying at times, but hey! Free music! Somethings got to give!
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.

• Esplanade Free Events
• Botanical Garden 

OK, that was a longer post than I expected. Hope that was useful for you!

Ref:

Shape Magazine/Run

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.

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.

Ref:

Cordycord's Food Related Post @ Midnight

BreadMachine @ Midnight

Coffee Machine @ Midnight

Waffle Mania @ Midnight

Retirement and Getting Free Money

Does being retired means cancelling all your credit card and stop spending money and live as a house hermit? Well that's not how I plan to do it. And even if you are not retired yet, you can still find ways to stretch your money so that you have more to go towards your retirement fund. So today's post is about stretching and getting free money that is available our there, 

Above photo shows most of the the loyalty card and credit card that I hold. We often hear that you should be careful about credit cards as it makes you spend more money than you intended, or that loyalty is a scam that makes you part with more of your hard earn money. Well, I think we need to strike a balance here. If you are going to spend the money anyway, and there is a way to get some money back in return, why on earth would you want to pass up free money? Of course, all the above are not a necessity if you don't need them by all means! But I still like a little luxury in my life even after I retire.

Take for example my spending today - Sunday (Total Free Money SGD$25.60)

1. I went for morning walk with a friend today from Bedok to Marine Parade. On the way back, if it didn't rain, we could have taken the free shuttle bus back. Total transport cost SGD$1.23, although if I had it may way, that could have been zero. (Savings SGD1.04 on bus to Marine Parade)
2. I decided to treat her breakfast, so we went to Cedele. I am a member of theirs, but my membership have lapsed. I renewed by membership at SGD$40, and got SGD$60 credit back (SGD$20 free money). Our breakfast cost SGD$25, I treated my friend to a nice breakfast for SGD$5 for two person. I still have SGD$35 in credit to use on another special occasion.
3. Since I have a 1-4-1 drink offer in my Starbuck card, we decided to go there for drinks after that. I had a ice blended and she had a later. I paid SGD$7.60 for my ice blended, and her latte was free. (SGD$5.60 free money).
4. I went to the National Library to collect a book I wanted to read. By doing that, I was already saving money instead of buying it. The fact that I choice not to reserve it also save me an additional SGD$1.55 because I have checked the book's availability the night before. (Savings SGD1.55)

So yeah, lesson learn: don't be lazy. walk more. And if there is a deal to get, do fully utilise it. So although none of the below paid me any money at this point to write about their benefits, I thought I share how I benefit from them:.

• Credit cards and reward system. While working, I do go for business trip and I paid all my hotel bills by credit card. This give me enough point which I usually exchange for free money of SGD$20 Jack's Place voucher cause I love the steaks there. 
• Kris flyer reward system. Since I fly quite frequently, I signed up for it for FREE and after 1.5 years, I've earned enough for a free return ticket to Taiwan worth free money of SGD$800? So even if I quit today, I know that at least I can still have one good trip in the future already paid for.
• Starbuck Card. I got my first card worth SGD$10 for free from my ex-company on a Staff Suggestion Scheme. Signing it up gives me free cake on my birthday month (free money of SGD$7) plus from time to time 1-4-1 drink offer. Once, I topped up SGD$100 just to get a free organiser which was just awesome! 
• Golden Village Membership is also free. On your birthday month, you also get 1-4-1 movie tickets, so that's free SGD$13. Plus I think you save on booking fees if you book online.
• Popular Membership. The Popular card is free when I signed up for 3 years cause they gave me back my money in voucher. I haven't really benefited much from it except stuffing my drawers with beautiful notebooks, but I've always wanted a Popular card and it was a good deal the time I sign up cost it usually cost SGD$10 per annum. Popular card can also be used in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
• Kinokuniya card belongs to my husband, but I use it cause sometimes, you just have to buy books :)
• Tang Membership. I got this card for free when I was buying some clothes there. I love their kitchenware, so I kept it hoping to use it in near future. Well I recently did, getting myself a snack maker that had an original offer price of SGD$69 but was on sale for SGD$59! After paying, I got around SGD$6 credit to my membership for future use. On your birthday month, you also get more discount. And from time to time, they also give free sample cosmetic. 
• Hotel.com offers discounted price and free hotel stay after collecting 10 nights stay. Since I travel so much, it was a no brainer to sign up for it. I have benefited quite a bit from this loyalty problem, most recently earning around SGD$70 of free hotel stay. Previously it was also known as Hotelclub.com. 

I've shared all the info of all loyalty programs mentioned here below in the reference section. Of course there are tonnes of other loyalty programs that are totally worth your time to look up on . If you have any good deals to share, do add on in the comments so that we all can save more money and retire early without compromising our quality of life.

Ref:

Cedele Membership

Kris flyer

Starbucks

Golden Village

Popular

Kinokuniya

Tang Membership

Hotels.com

Money

OK, so let's take out the elephant (or in this case, my Money Saving Kitty!) in the room out and start talking about. And by that I mean talking about MONEY! How can anyone retire in Singapore at an early age if you are not from a rich family? The cost of living is so high here. Well guess what, I am not going to go there. This is not about what is the right or wrong way to do that. This is about how you can find ways to achieve that goal. So let me share with you how I plan to do it. 

First a little about me. I am a Singapore PR originating from Penang Malaysia, and I am married, and live in a 4 room HDB. I don't have any kids, but I am supporting my 2 parents in Malaysia. I do have a post graduate in Software Engineering and do earn an above average salary (median Singapore Salary in 2015 was of SGD3.7k). But I've never been one that is aggressive in terms of salary, and to be frank, I am probably the lowest paid among my peers. But let's get salary our of the equation here and just focus on our goals of retiring! If we are always tied to the idea of salary, we can never free ourselves from being employed! So let's start sharing:

How much money do you save

And how much money you spend makes a lot of difference here. Do you spend everything you earn? Or save them? How is your cash flow? Lucky for me, I don't really spend money. Growing up poor kinda limits your imagination on what you can spend on. So I more or less have been saving more than 50% of my salary since I started working. Here is roughly what I spend on a monthly basis (in 2017 while still being employed):

• 100SGD on utilities (Singapore Power bills + Singtel Mobile Bills)
• 100SGD on transportation (MRT or bus, and my office is like 15mins by bus)
• 300SGD daily meals (On average I try to spend 10SGD per day on meals)
• 300SGD misc (credit cards, entertainment, treats, shopping)

So in general, I need around SGD2k to survive monthly. This does not includes allowance to my dependences, insurance, taxes and healthcare!

Singapore government also have this thing call CPF where they deduct around 20% of your pay for your old age fund which they only give out when you reach 65 years old.

Are you in debt? How is your cash flow? 

My HDB which was bought for SGD220k in 2004 is fully paid off within 7 years from the date we purchased.  This is not average for Singaporeans, but let's just say me and my husband don't trust ourselves to commit to a long term loan. I do still have one debt I am still servicing for a small condo I purchased in Penang back in 2013? This is my backup plan for retirement back in Penang should I ever need to. I hate paying rent. Renting feels like your bucket has a hole in it and water is always rushing out and you can never get those money back. 

Passive Income, how do you plan to support yourself after you retire.

Currently my goal is to have a passive income of at least 500SGD a month. So that's 6000SGD per annum. I plan to use the rest of my savings so far to help me reach my death bed. I have also not ruled out getting fun jobs to learn new things, pass the time and earn a small salary to get by. There is also an option of renting out our flats or room to supplement our income. 

In reality? My condo in Penang generates enough from rental to stop me worrying much about my mortgage for the place. So that kinda took care of itself. I do invest in shares and blue chip investments, and inclusive of bank saving account interest, I kinda achieved 50% of my targeted passive income currently! Yay. And my investments can only grow along the years. By the way, I don't consider investment and insurance as expenditure cause I fully intend to gain back my money at the end of it. If I am being naive, do share your thoughts with me!

I think I'll stop here for today. If you have no idea what I am talking about till now, perhaps I can recommend you to read Rich Dad Poor Dad. It explains all the above simple enough, and should be able to get you started. I know that is where I started learning about cash flow and passive income. I'll leave the link below so you can have access to it. And because we need to save money here, my link is to the National Library Board so that you can stop wasting your money buying books and spend it achieving your retirement instead!

Ref:

Rich Dad Poor Dad