And we think, sometimes we spend 1 hour just thinking of where to go.
Our usual haunts are Vivocity, Suntec City, IMM, Liang Court, City Hall, Ion Orchard area.
As mentioned in previous posts, we wake up quite early and we go out and eat breakfast, walk around a bit then have lunch then go back home around 2pm or so. That means we have to park somewhere for around 5-6 hours. Sometime back, I was really concerned about parking costs. I mean, we go somewhere on Saturday, then we park there, then we eat something, then we walk around aimlessly just for the sake of getting out of the house, then have lunch then go home. It seems like a total waste of parking, which ranges between $4-$10 depending on where we park. It's very much like driving to eat, then parking, then waiting to eat again, then driving home.
More recently, I have taken a more open approach to parking fees. We both have minimal hobbies. We like eating and just hanging around, watching shows, etc. We both like to get out of the house on weekends, cos it's a way to de-stress get some air, for her, it's a way to get in touch with civilization, cos working at a corner of the country is a very different environment from the central area.
My wife doesn't like to sweat, so she likes hanging out in air conditioned areas, where there is a lot of places where we can stroll. So I've come to think of parking fees as a hobby cost. A couple of bucks every week just to take a walk around. Something like taking transport to east coast and paying a couple of bucks to rent a bike to cycle. Or others may rent a fishing rod for prawning to catch some prawns. Or playing pool. If we don't take a car, then we'll just have to take public transport, and the cost of public transport isn't cheap either. Around a dollar to and fro. So it's not significantly more. Ok there's fuel cost as well. Which is around $1 per 10km based on my past calculations.
Maybe it's just my own way to rationalizing the expense, so that my mind doesn't need to think about it as much. Cos if we keep counting all these costs, then the most efficient thing to do is to stay at home and do nothing.
Although I am fully aware that this might result in a slippery slope of good excuses. Where we might end up rationalizing things which are irrational to begin with. Like I may think of buying new clothes when the one that I am using is torn. When there are loads of other clothes in the drawer just waiting to be used. I may rationalize to myself that those clothes are old and I need a new one. In truth, I have a load of clothes since my JC school days. Some still fit, others are kinda small and I'm hoping that someday they will expand to fit my new size. Many of the clothes I wear now were from that batch, and hopefully, I would never be able to convince myself that I need new clothes. As old clothes are still in very good condition.
Or maybe someday I'll tell myself that I'll always need a car, cos MRT trains are too crowded. Hopefully, that day will never come. Cos seriously a car is a really huge expense which should not be incurred. My monthly expense for the car including depreciation and everything is $1,200. This car has a lifespan of around 5 years, so 5 yrs x 12 mths x $1,200 = $72,000. It's a staggering amount of expense. Note that the cost of the car is already included in this amount.
The thing which I might be able to convince myself is to get a sim only plan for my phone. After my recent downgrade of my M1 home internet, my mobile data allocation got dropped from 1GB per mth to 500MB per mth. It has been somewhat more inconvenient. Not that I need more data, actually, I think I don't use 500MB on any month, I come close to 500MB. But throughout the month, I tend to be more aware of my mobile data usage cos I don't want to exceed it. So I do have this nagging feeling at the back of my head all the time when I use data when I'm out. It would be quite a big difference in cost though. Something like $25 per month which is what my wife is paying as compared to the $4 per month which I am paying.
My wife has been trying to find excuses to buy shoes. She has been going to KL quite often recently and she can find shoes at around SG$30. So she keeps convincing herself that her existing shoes are "falling apart" and that she will throw away a few of the old ones to get the new ones. I've been trying to prevent her from overspending in this aspect. Luckily the last time we went, they didn't have her size.
Anyway, do you have anything which you feel guilty doing but constantly find yourself convincing yourself to continue with it? I'm sure everyone has some. Nothing wrong with it, just that it's always good to be aware that it's a guilty pleasure or convenience and that you probably shouldn't indulge in too many of these habits. Cos awareness is always important, so that if the time comes that the guilty pleasure starts getting out of hand, you will know when to stop. Like if parking fees go up to $20 per Saturday, then I think I might switch to taking public transport instead.
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