I'm starting to get a sense of my expenses for my stay here.
All numbers are in US Dollars.
We do expect to be eating out on weekends and that's quite expensive. Around $30-$40 for 2 pax, depending on where we eat. A Korean meal for 2, bibimbap & seafood tofu soup is around $35 after 15% tip. US Dollars!
Groceries aren't too expensive. We can buy meat and stuff in bulk.
$30 worth of beef can last 2 weeks.
$20 worth of pork can last 2 weeks.
$10 worth of chicken can last 2 weeks.
A whole cabbage is around $1
However, recently we bought a bunch of valueless calories.
Some assorted chocolates and chips. These are quite expensive.
Total spent on this has been around $30.
But this will probably last for 1 month. We'll probably cut down on these cos it's just unhealthy.
Bought a couple of packs of almonds for snack at $7 per pound. Or around SGD10.50 per 500 gm. Around the same price as SG. I'll probably switch my snacks from chocolates & chips to almonds or other healthier snacks.
Household items and toiletries are expected to be quite low, especially after my shipment comes. Cos I have all my detergent, shampoo, bath gels, etc in there. I'm probably going to spend less than what I project.
Petrol is relatively cheap here.
$2 per gallon or SGD$0.72 per liter.
We don't travel around much unless we go out a bit further on weekends. A drive to my wife's office is around 7 minutes away. I've used slightly more than half a tank of fuel for these 13 days.
So I'm expecting to pump 15 gallons every 2 weeks. Around $60 per month.
Electricity is going to be interesting.
There are multiple options available. Multiple different contract durations. Different costs per kilowatt at different times of the day, etc.
We opted for a floating wholesale rate of energy.
The idea is... we pay a $10 fee to this company which allows us to buy power at wholesale prices. The price changes ever 5 minutes. If the demand is high, the price goes up if demand is low, the price is cheap.
From what the company says, they only earn the $10 subscription fee.
Most other companies will absorb the risk of the fluctuating energy prices. So they tie consumers in with a contract, then estimate the amount of power a customer will use and estimate the prices of electricity then they will give an average price for the period of the contract. Of course, due to the estimation, the company will have a margin for them to earn their profits and cover any errors in their estimation.
The companies will buy power at fluctuating wholesale prices then do their calculation and charge consumers for taking the risk of the changing daily prices.
So our electricity bill is expected to jump around a lot as the seasons change.
Summer is going to be hot, so many Americans will turn on the air conditioning for long periods. So the prices of electricity will be high in the summer months. I'm hoping that we will be able to survive the heat in summer due to our Singaporean training. So maybe we won't need as much AC as a typical American.
I'm hoping that we will be saving money having low power prices during the other seasons.
And when the peak season comes, we won't be using as much electricity.
Based on reviews for this method, I'm estimating that the electricity bill will be between $30 and $150.
Water & Gas is calculated by the apartment management.
They take the entire usage for the whole estate and have a method of apportionment based on the apartment and how many people live in the apartment. I'm expecting it to be around $20 per month.
Gas is for the hot water in the apartment. Cooking is using electricity.
Rent is $1,437 after discounts. We signed a 13 month lease.
However, if we choose to stay at this apartment after the term is up, the rent will jump by around 25% cos the discounts will not apply after.
Renter's insurance is compulsory for renters, we paid $132 for the whole year. This is if we do anything and someone sues us for it. Like inviting guests to the house and someone slips and falls. Or if my cooking causes a fire and burns someone else's apartment.
Home internet is $29.99. However, I expect it to be higher due to taxes and fees. Usually there's always extra taxes on top of the listed price. Too bad that's how it is in US.
My own mobile plan is $300 for 12 months. It's a prepaid card. It's the cheapest thing available at an average or $25 per month. I have to fully pay the $300 upfront. BUT there's taxes. So it averages at $27.50 per month.
Other plans need contracts to achieve $25 per month and the amount of data I get per month is less.
So I decided to just pay $300 straight up and not have to think about mobile plan for the next 12 months. Hopefully I'll be back within the year.
Car insurance is crazy expensive. We did a rough check yesterday night and it is around $120-$220 per month depending on car purchased and how long I got my US licence for. Which is... 0 years. I used to pay SGD200 per YEAR in SG.
We have a number of one time expenses due to our move here.
We had to spend $400 just to apply to stay at the apartment. This is the same for all apartments. So if we decide to move out of this apartment to another place, then we will have to pay application fee to change apartments as well. I'm starting to think we shouldn't have rented this place. Cos the rent will jump after 13 months and we will definitely have to move to another place and we will need to have to pay another few hundred of application fee when we move.
Furniture in the house. We need to buy mattress, sofa, laptop table, plates, pots, other miscellaneous stuff.
The fridge, dish washer, microwave, oven, washer & dryer are already included in the apartment so no need to buy those.
Based on a rough estimate, $500 should be just enough to buy the stuff required to set up the house.
We're planning to get a cheap car. Hopefully less than $5000. As long as it runs with minimal issues, I'm not too fussy.
The decision is whether we should buy a cheap car or lease a car. Anything more than 6 months, buying a car is cheaper. However, there's more issue cos we need to maintain it, pay for repairs, and sell it when we leave. If we lease, we can just return the car. There will be some breakage fees for returning the car early but we're expecting the company to pay for those if they send my wife back before the 2 years is up.
We had to buy a modem & router for our home internet. It's $75.20 but after tax it ended up as $82 or something. I forgot the amount. So yea... that's the issue. We don't know the tax until after we buy the item.
So these are the amounts I'm expecting for the coming months. I still have my usual Singapore expenses, like insurance and all that.
There's a few things missing. Like medical insurance which is covered by the company.
So it's not entirely reflective of a normal American household.
I'll probably update the actual numbers end of Feb after I've moved to my permanent apartment.
Remember, all numbers are in US Dollars.
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