Are you someone who regularly doesn't take fliers from those distributors?
I mean, sometimes, it's pretty annoying right having fliers pushed in your face. And more often than not, people just wave them away...

Well, my wife isn't such a person. She loves collecting fliers, from anywhere, at NATAS fairs, computer fairs, from kids distributing them, etc etc... To her, there's no loss. Her opinion is, just take it, you can always throw it away anytime. 

So we went to Pizza Hut at HarbourFront yesterday. We were planning on having the 7 cheese loaded pizza. It's like a stuffed crust, but the crust has the added "bo luo" on top of you.
(You know those Hong Kong Bo Luo bao kinda sweet crusty topping.)

​Picture below. 

As we entered the restaurant, she grabbed a flier which was on the cashier counter. I don't know why, she just grabbed it as we were on the way in to our seats. 

So we were ready to order this special pizza at the regular prices.
Cos we didn't expect any discount on it.
The pizza was $30.90 + root beer float $4.90 = $35.80
Or $42.14 after service charge and GST.

And we was fully prepared to pay this.

Then she looks down at the flier and say... "Hey look at this..."
​

*GASP* 40% off a la carte order of specialty pizza !!!
So we enquired if we were eligible for the promo and yes we were!!!

WOAH!!! 
So after discount...
$30.90 x 6% +$4.90 = $23.44 or $27.59

A totally unexpected savings of $14.55. 
What a pleasant surprise. 

So lesson learnt, grab fliers whenever you can. Look at the counter for brochures. Sometimes they keep them at the cashier and after you pay you realize that there is some promo ongoing which you missed. 
I wonder how many other promos I missed unnecessarily cos I've waved these fliers aside previously. 

Just wanted to share this lesson to you cos I think it's pretty useful / cool. 
Especially when we were all ready to pay full price for it already.


​<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
​
Did you like this post?

I've had this talk with my mum very often. 

It's about eggs. 
I love my eggs. I've liked eating them since I was young. 
And since I was young and since we were young, everyone said, "Don't eat the egg yolks. They are high in cholesterol and bad for you."

As times change, new information/research surface. 
According to reports, dietary cholesterol (cholesterol in food that we eat) does not affect serum cholesterol (cholesterol in blood) as much as expected. 
​

Now, that's not to say I should eat 12 eggs a day cos I like it. But rather, not to be too concerned if one day I don't eat eggs, then another day I eat 3 eggs. It's not going to make that much of an impact. 

Rather, to overall reduce saturated fats and trans fat which are both terrible for our bodies. 

And I've been having this debate with my mum for ages, even after showing her multiple articles about it, she keeps telling me not to eat so many eggs. And to me it's pretty much "Hello? Haven't we already been through this?"
The thing is, many things are hard to unlearn. We've been told so many times for so long that we just take the knowledge for granted. That new data isn't taken into account and we change our habits to reflect the new information. 

I'm sure this information is widely available if people just look out for it. But most people don't. Even doctors, I think they may know about it, but yet they still recommend not consuming too many eggs. I believe they continue to say that cos it would just confuse patients that suddenly the medical advice has changed after so many years. Or that doctors are just concerned that patients would go crazy eating 12 eggs a day and ruin their health and blame the doctors. Or, just keep the advice constant, cos it doesn't harm the patient to avoid eggs anyway. 

So this is one thing which totally bugs me. That people find it so hard to take in new information and change their conclusions. As I said, I'm not planning to eat 12 eggs a day. Some days I eat 1, some days none, but some days if I eat 3, I don't think too much about it. And no, I still will not eat five in a day. 

​Another thing which has changed is lard. 
A couple of articles snippets, below.
Basically, they talk a lot about saturated fat and unsaturated fat. 

Essentially, they are saying lard isn't as bad as once thought and that it may provide health benefits as well. 
Once again, I'm not saying we should gobble down lard like it's the next health food, but rather, let's take a re-look at it and maybe we don't need to avoid it as much as we thought.

So for me, I don't make an active effort to avoid lard or animals fats. Yes I avoid it when I can. I don't eat the pure fat bits in the middle of my ribeye steak. But I also don't go all out of the way to scrape off all the fats when eating a pork trotter. 

It's all about moderation.

I don't think too much when I eat 4 lobsters at a buffet or 10 prawns or more red meat, etc. Some days I eat more, some days I eat less. I try to eat clean good food on a daily basis. Cook with less oil and salt and additives, I don't use canned/preserved food much, etc... but when I go out I don't make significant effort to avoid "unhealthy" food. 

It's all about a balance. Some foods scientists have said they are unhealthy, and after many years, they now say it is fine. Sometimes, it's the other way around. Rather, I believe, don't overeat too much of ANYTHING regularly. I don't eat lobsters everyday. So when it's available, I just eat. I don't think too much about it. But I'm always aware when I've been overeating something for a period and take a conscious note to eat healthier food to average it out in the next few weeks. 

So the thing is, many times, we have been thought things since young. And with new information, are we able to change our perceptions? Sometimes, things are so ingrained that there's no need to change. Like... it's fine to avoid eggs. Doesn't hurt anyone to keep avoiding it. But for me, who loves eggs, the information is useful for me. Cos I can consume more, at times, and not feel too bad about it. 

Or we have been taught, carbs, fats, proteins, fiber since young. And we should eat more proteins and veges and cut carbs and fats. But that's not a complete story. Proteins can be used to repair your body or grow. However, if you don't exercise to use the protein to grow, the energy is just used like carbs. And overeating proteins will be stored as fat without corresponding exercise to use up the nutrients. 

So this post is pretty much about... well... we have learnt a lot of stuff when we were young. For me, it's been around 30 years of information. That also means the information is 30 years old. Times change, science changes, and we need to unlearn and re-learn as new information comes along and accept the new information regardless how much we would like to hold on to our past beliefs. Cos well... basically, the old info is just obsolete and no longer true anymore. Or we need to enhance our knowledge when new information comes along. It's not always yes or no only, sometimes there are caveats as we learn new ways of looking at things. Yes in this case, or no if certain conditions are met. 

Remember don't always look at last time and stay there. 
​Last time policemen wore shorts... and Now...

They still wear shorts...
CPO (Community Policing Officers) they still carry their full utility belt.

So you know how to answer when someone says that next time.
​

​<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>

Did you like this post?

I've never really thanked my readers before. 
​But I would really like to say. 

Thank you for reading this blog.

Thank you for following me through the days. I restarted posting seriously sometime before National Day. And I've seen some growth in numbers in the past 2 months since I've come back to posting. Which is really encouraging. Also, when I receive emails or comments from readers it's also very appreciated. 

I do apologize if sometimes my comments or responses might be curt or might sound rude. It's hard to phrase jokes or sarcasm online, and sometimes it comes out wrongly. 

As some of you might have noticed, I have started including an additional line at the end of my posts. 

"XXX"

Edit : Looks like I'm not going to get coffee from Google. 

Online, we read a lot about bloggers getting sponsors or making big bucks out of their blogs. But in the financial/frugal blogging space, even our best, most prolific bloggers in SG, doesn't make enough through their blog to support any form of living. 
(I'm referring to bloggers who also share their lives and not businesses like Dollars and Sense.)

We aren't like Xiaxue, MMM, ERE, LadyIronChef, etc, where we get sponsors and cater to a large number of readers, cos basically, they post about topics which more people can relate to.
It's a false impression that I, myself, also once had that I could someday effectively monetize this blog to sustain a form of living. It's just not possible. Our readers are really a niche bunch who are not the general population. 

The journey has been long since I first started writing in 2013 and took a few breaks in between.
I have managed to grow and better understand myself by reflecting as I write my posts. I think it is obvious from my tone of writing from my first post vs my current writing style, where I am more open and free when sharing my thoughts. From 30 unique daily readers to 80 to 200 to 500. I even crossed 1000 readers when I was active on Facebook recently. But since Facebook started requiring more personal info, I stopped using it and readers came back to the usual 500. 

And when I see those numbers, I am grateful and humbled. It's not a lot. Not like some of the other financial/frugal bloggers. But I never thought that I would get any sort of sustainable readership. 500 readers is 5x the size of my previous department where I worked. So, to me, it is a fairly respectable number.

Going forward, I hope to be able to come up with more creative posts and interesting perspectives which will tickle your minds and entertain you during your pursuit of financial independence. Or that I can share my experience and encourage you during the grueling farming years. 
I also hope to grow my readership so that I can encourage more people to be more prudent with their finances or to pursue their dreams and not live a life of a working drone. 

Maybe, and I do really hope for this, that we, the frugal community could come together as a force and share our beliefs. Cos I believe, there are more like us out there who are just waiting to be touched. Or they may be in an environment where they are looked down upon for being frugal or want to live their lives differently and they are trapped like many of us are. And I think by sharing and reaching out, we can form a larger community where we can encourage and support each other in achieving our different goals.
Cos I think many of the good readers of this blog are people who don't want to live a life of a corporate drone and as we build a bigger community of like minded people like us, we can find comfort that there are more people like us and we are not alone in our thinking. 

So this is what I would encourage. The word is encourage. I'm not trying to hard sell this. ​
If you believe in the above goal, cos I really think there are a lot more people like us out there feeling lost and out of place. If you believe in it and would like to try to help build this community, to take an article that really calls out to you and share it on Facebook or whatever social media platform you typically use. It doesn't have to be an article from my blog. You could take a post from My15HWW, or any other blog which you really really like with regards to financial independence, being frugal, semi-retirement, etc, and just share it, so that hopefully, as we build the community, we will be able to touch more lives. 
(I tend to like My15HWW cos his beliefs and posts are a lot closer to mine... Just sayin'.)

Anyway, I would like to end by saying, 

​For all your continued support and I hope to continue to keep posting and sharing for many years to come. Cos I really do wonder... Where would we all be 20 years from now? When I'm 55? How would my posts have changed? Would I cover other topics? 
​
​Thank you.

​<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
​

So previously, many years back, our parents usually just hung clothes out to dry.
As the years passed, HDBs became smaller and some HDBs don't get sun. Some folks don't like hanging their clothes out cos the neighbours above them would drip water from their own clothes. 

For me, I hang my clothes indoors. Cos my HDB doesn't have much of an area for outdoor drying. 
This results in a musty smell on the clothes if it doesn't dry fast enough. Apparently, some form of bacteria causes this smell which some of us know when we dry our clothes indoors. 

So typically, I dry my clothes 3 ways. 

1. Hang them to dry indoors. Even if I use "indoor detergent", there's a probability of having a smell if it's during rainy weather or if the clothes don't dry fast enough. 
It's free. So that's obviously good, but the smell is terrible, and it's not good to go out smelling bad... Duhz

2. I throw them all in the dryer. It usually takes an hour or so in the dryer. Dryers consume around 1000W - 4000W. Many people use them. They may come together with the washing machine or they may be purchased separately. For us, we bought them as 2 separate units. If I use it to dry my clothes, I usually turn it on for around 1 hour - 1.5 hours. 

Based on my SP Services bill it's $0.2072 per kWh.
So if I run my dryer, I potentially use between 1 kWh - 6 kWh, which means a cost of $0.21 - $1.24 per use. I wash my clothes once every 2 days so that's 15 times a month. Meaning the potential cost would be somewhere in the range of $3.11 - $18.65, ok the range is quite big cos it depends on the dryer and it's efficiency. 

3. I blow a fan at the clothes. I have a fan in my clothes hanging area. It's a cheapo fan. It's noisy. Nothing fancy. After washing my clothes, I hang them, then I turn on the fan for around 8 hours. It doesn't 100% dry the clothes, but it accelerates the drying process so there's no smell. I turn off the fan after around 6-8 hours depending on whether I am at home or not. By then, it's probably still lightly damp, but it will dry up by the next day with no resulting smell.

The fan uses 6W... So I on it for 8 hours each time and 15 times a month. Resulting in 720W. 
That's not even the power used in 1 round when using the most efficient dryer. 
The cost is less than 20 cents for a whole month of usage.

This is a small fan which I use for circulating the air within the small drying area. It doesn't provide any coolness if used as a desk fan. Most desk fans use around 45W so that's around 8 times more expensive than my cheapo fan. But still cheaper than using a dryer. 

We still use the dryer once in a while, when we need the clothes dry really quickly. Like when we do our bedsheets or after a trip overseas, cos there's a lot of laundry and we don't have much drying space so we need to process the laundry and get them dried and folded quickly. But more often than not, I usually just turn on the fan for my drying purposes. There's no real need to have dry clothes immediately most of the time so it really helps with the energy savings every month. 

Just thought some of you guys might like to know or like to try out if you have similar issues as us.

Cos previously, we never used a fan and we had smelly clothes for a period of time, then we started to use the dryer more often cos smelly clothes was just a dumb idea. Then I went to a neighbour's place and they had bought a fan which was too noisy so they couldn't use it for their rooms, so they put it in their drying area and they had a good experience doing that. So I tried it out myself as well, with a cheapo fan at $12.50, and it really helped with our drying issues. 


<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
​
Did you like this post?

Personally, I don't like spending money. 
Really. I know some people who like to spend money. As in, the act of spending money is fun to them. To them, money and the item/service purchased is separate. Actually there are a lot of people like that. 
They have no connection between the money spent and the product received. 

I actually get stressed spending money. Yes, I know this is not even considered frugal anymore.
It's just OCD. The more I type and post, the more I realize how abnormal I am when making decisions. 
Ok I don't get stressed spending money on everything. But most things.

So I'm ok to spend money on necessities, as long as they are classified necessities. (in my eyes)
Like expensive food. Or more expensive food. I'm ok to spend on that. Cos food is classified under necessities, even expensive food. 
Household products, like cleaning liquid, detergent, mops, toothbrush, etc. I don't think too much about buying them. Cos I know that I need to use them and eventually I'll finish using it. 

But when it comes to some other things, I find very little pleasure in spending the money. 
Like my handphone. I find minimal happiness between a $179 phone vs a $219 phone. Although I eventually bought the $219 phone, I had to go through a lot of thinking before buying it. Simply cos I was thinking whether I needed ANY new phone in the first place. I could continue using 2 phones. One for my data sim and another for my pre-paid card.
In my mind, I was strongly debating why did I need a new phone when I was currently ok with using 2 separate phones? 

Or when I was thinking of buying a memory foam pillow. It was a mere $20. And I was contemplating about it for quite a long time. Once again, I was debating with myself... I already have a pillow, why do I need a memory foam pillow? It's not even about the upgrading of my lifestyle. 

Then I have a whole load of clothes from my old days. I have some clothes from my JC days. So that's a good 15 years. Some I still can wear, some I hope that I will eventually be able to wear again. I haven't proactively bought any new clothes for a very very long time. Usually I get them as gifts. Ok before you guys think I've been wearing old and tattered clothes for 15 years, please note, that I have 3 whole drawer of them. This is almost 3 times the t-shirts and casual wear that my wife has. So I do cycle them around. It's just that there's so much that I've received through the years that they aren't worn out enough to be disposed off yet. So when I go around shopping centers, I just don't look out for new clothes. 

The thing is, in my mind, I'm always thinking. If I'm already doing something or having something and I'm living ok with it, why do I need something else? Like I was already using 2 phones, and I was relatively ok with it. So I found no good reason to "pay for convenience" to buy a new phone so that I could carry 1 phone instead. Same as the pillow. I was pretty ok with my old pillow so why the need to change? 

I also find it interested that I don't have such problems when I don't have something. 
Like when I bought my new TV. I was ok buying a 42" TV. I didn't think too much about it. I could have over-thought about it and debated with myself about a 32" TV instead, but I didn't. 
I still try to look for good deals. 
But my analysis is more independent. Cos there's no benchmark or comparison. 

Like if I never had ANY phone. I would definitely buy 1 phone with 2 sim card slots. I would not think about buying 2 phones with separate sim card slots regardless of how cheap they are.
(Ok maybe I would if they were really really dirt cheap. Like $10-$20. But that's impossible.)

Now, I wouldn't think about buying memory foam pillows though, cos after trying it, I found it doesn't suit my purposes. 

​I've heard of folks. Who really really go on retail therapy. 
As in they spend money to make themselves feel better. It's the thrill of spending, more than the actual products they get. And I've heard them say. "If you haven't spent $3000 in one day, it's not considered retail therapy."

$3000!!!!

I guess I would/may never understand that feeling. Maybe it works. The freedom to splash cash around without thinking about it. Basically, releasing all your restraints and really letting it loose just for one day, buying anything you wanted without as much as a second thought. Regardless whether you would fully utilize them or not. 

I think it may be pretty liberating to have such an experience for some. (Although I think it would stress me out.) Sometimes, these things are so ingrained in you/me. That when I look at something, I look straight at the value I get/don't get, and if I don't get the value that is required for me to "lose" that money, I'll definitely NOT get it, regardless how much I like it. 

Hmmm... I think I could explain it in gaming terms...
Spending money has negative happiness points to me. Happiness points are arbitrary. So we can't really quantify them accurately. So it's pretty much just a feeling. 
So let's say I spend $100, the act of "losing" that $100 makes me lose 100 happiness points. (-100)
And I buy a steak meal for the 2 of us. Ok not too bad. Maybe I/we feel happy so I earn 105 happiness points. (+105)
Net gain +5 happiness for spending this $100. Which is pretty ok. Cos I have a surplus after taking into account the "intangible costs".

But wait. If I spend $100 on 2 Angus Ribeye steaks, 2 Wagyu patties, 2 tenderloin cuts and the sashimi platter. I would -100 happiness points for spending, maybe -20 points of happiness for the preparation and cleaning for each meal (4 meals = -80 happiness), but I could get +80 points for each of the meals. Resulting in +320 happiness points earned, compared with the -180 happiness points spent.
A whopping net earn of +140 happiness points.

I went to Jamie's Italian restaurant at Vivocity recently and spent $31 after discount using the Entertainer app. I got a pizza and pasta. The food wasn't really bad, but it was just ok. It didn't thrill me like I would have liked it to. 
So -31 happiness points for spending, +31 happiness points for the food. Resulting in a neutral state. 
I imagined... what IF I DIDN'T have the Entertainer app???
That would have resulted in me
-62 happiness points but only gaining a mere +31 happiness. *GASP* horror of horrors, a deficit. 

So as I type this, I finally understand why I debate with myself so much over buying a new phone to replace 2 phones. 
Cos when I am using 2 phones, I already have +100 happiness points, cos it serves my purposes.
But then I have to spend $200 to buy a new phone. (-200 happiness points)
But the benefit of having 1 phone is only the convenience of holding 1 phone, so I deem that I only gain +50 happiness due to convenience. 
Essentially, I'm spending $200 to buy the convenience only, cos I already have the functionality. 
So -200 happiness for spending, but +50 for convenience, a net loss. 

I do know that I over think most things. And this is one of them. Most people just don't think too much about these things. Especially when it's $200 and below. Maybe it's more efficient. Cos it's not really a huge sum of money. And it's probably not worth getting stressed up over such purchases. 
I'll probably need sometime to reprogram my mind...
But as of now... nope I definitely do not like spending money. 
I have a very high benchmark of value per dollar spent so I tend to think too much over each item purchased cos I want a good deal/value for each dollar I burn.


​<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
​​
Did you like this post?

I like to compartmentalize things. 
Break things down to simpler parts before stitching them together again.

So I thought... what do I pay for when I'm buying something?
What am I trading off? Which part is rationale or not?
Is something more expensive cos it's better quality? Or am I just paying for convenience? Or am I buying a feeling? Or what?

So I thought about a few scenarios...
Currently I own a XiaoMi phone. It's cheap. I buy it as a phone. Nothing fancy. But I'm open to discuss about better specs and stuff. 
So I bought the phone off the retail shop, and paid $219.
My wife bought the same phone online and paid $201. So I conclude that the difference $18 is the convenience of having the phone immediately instead of waiting for the delivery. 
Then I think about the new iPhone X. It's around $1000. I'm not going to go into detailed specs. That's not the point of the post. 
I think the iPhone X is pretty cool. It has a better processor, better graphics, better camera, front and back, facial recognition, people think you're cool when you own an iPhone, etc. 
So I'd consider that the additional $800 is spent on all these other parts.

But wait... there's another aspect... within this $800, is also the cost of transferring to Android. There are many people who don't want to switch to Android cos it is just a hassle to administer. There's a lot of other folks who have switched to Android and proclaimed that they will never go back to iPhone every again. Me included. But, it is very real, that some people just keep using iPhone cos they can't be bothered to do the switching. 

Next, let's look at food. 
So I can buy a normal striploin and fry it at home. It costs around $10.
Or I can buy a ribeye at $15.
Or I can buy a wagyu steak at around $30.
All of these, I think it's pretty much paying straight off for a better cut of meat. 

So what are we buying at a restaurant? Or a higher class restaurant?
I think we could get a striploin or ribeye at around $20-$30 at a simple restaurant?
Or if we are at a more classy restaurant, they would cost $60-$80. 

So at a simple restaurant, we pay for maybe some skill of the chef, convenience of not cleaning up, some ambiance, air conditioning. So that's the premium of around $10-$20 per order above what I could get at a supermarket. 
Whereas, the premium at a pricey restaurant would probably be paying for better service, better ambiance, maybe better chef skill, better cutlery, chairs, music, etc. Is this worth the additional $50 premium? I don't know. That's for you to decide. 
For me, I like my food. Quality and cooking skill counts more than the overall experience. I've been to expensive places which had great service but sub standard food and I just felt stupid for paying a premium on lousy food. 
Furthermore, I'm not too bad a cook so I'd rate my skills above Jack's place but probably lower than some "atas" restaurant. 

Then I think about watches... $10 Casio, vs $10,000 Rolex, vs $15,000 Audemars Piguet. 
Casio tells the time... ok simple as that. 
Some Rolex's are made with gold, so there's some value there, for luxury watches, you're supposed to be buying the craft, the skill of the watch maker, the watch movement, you're also paying for the service at the counter, probably some other perks where only Rolex customers may know of? Like membership? Some exclusive club? I dunno...
Then for APs... what you're paying for is really really very much the brand and the perceived skill of the watch maker. It's more a piece of art rather than the actual raw materials put into making the item. I don't think customers are paying for better quality steel or straps, but rather the brand and how it makes them feel when wearing it. 
Same as for Patek Philippe, the branding of "You never actually own a Patek Philippe, you merely look after it for the next generation."

How about transport?
Bicycle? Let's not talk about this one...
MRT is cheap... 
Then taxis and Uber and Grab are the next in line. It's easy to see what we are paying for. An air conditioned personal transport to send you to the doorstep. The premium for this is significant as compared to MRT or bus. Essentially paying for comfort and convenience. Not much luxury here.
Then there's the car... a basic one, around $1200 per month, I pay for comfort and even more convenience I can use it as I like without having to wait for a cab to come. Or I don't have the risk that I encounter a grumpy taxi uncle or inexperienced Uber driver. I don't feel any sense of pride in owning a basic car, maybe some folks may think it's an accomplishment already?
Then what if I got a Camry? Around $1800 a month? I think it's a better car, more comfort, more spacious, more power under the hood. Maybe I'd feel happier in a Camry? It's a bigger car? More pride? I dunno. Could be safer cos there's better material? 
Then we go into the luxury space with Mercedes or BMWs. I don't even know how much per month for this. Maybe $2500? The components are usually better, definitely safer cos they take impact better. More power under the hood. But mainly, we're paying for the feel good factor. It's a Mercedes... Or BMW... it's just better... Cos... I find it tough to reconcile the price:value equation between a Camry vs a Merc/BMW.
So I think the differential between a Camry and Merc/BMW is mainly the brand, feel good, pride, the typical luxury feelings. 

The thing I'm trying to highlight is... what are we paying for? Is it worth it in your eyes? Not for me to decide. Maybe some people like the feel good factor. That's your choice. 

For me, I don't mind paying for raw materials and quality items. Like better meat. But I'm not willing to pay for convenience, like, I prefer to cook at home cos I don't find the premium for washing and cooking is worth it. 
But I'd go to a restaurant for curry fish head, where I know the fish head is pretty cheap, but I'm willing to pay $30 for it cos... well... I can't cook curry well at home and I don't want to clean that up as well. So in this case, I'm willing to pay for the skill and convenience. 

Or for watches... I don't think I'd ever buy one even if I had $10m... cos I don't like an additional weight on my wrist. I can tell time with my phone so that serves it's purpose. Furthermore, if I were to buy a $10k watch. I wouldn't wear it out in fear of scratching it. So in this case, I don't even want to pay for the raw materials, cos to me, there's no benefit in it. 

Oohh.. but the car is different. If I had $10m, I'd likely get a Camry. We really enjoy our car and the ability to drive around when we like it. We do appreciate the comfort and flexibility. Yes, I admit. It's irrational. Cos I could just get Uber Exec and probably pay less per ride and still be able to ride in comfort and style. But I like driving. It's like a hobby... really...

For those who haven't owned a car, please don't buy one. It really spoils you. I mean that in all seriousness. I never thought I'd get addicted to having a car. But after the first car, there's really a desire to just keep having it. After I scrapped the first car, I didn't have a car for a year. I was still fine. But I always did hope to get another vehicle, cos really, having it is just better than not having it. Somehow, once you start, it's hard to stop, you won't feel it til you've gotten the first one.
I never felt this way before my first car. I always thought that I would never feel this way when I was younger. I always thought a car was unnecessary and that even if I got a car, I could easily not want it when it was time to let go. I can still let it go, but I still want it. 

Or for holidays? Some people go on packaged tours? It's definitely a premium, but some people like the convenience of someone to bring them around, don't need to do their own research, etc. I don't like tours cos it's not at my own pace, but some other folks like them, or there's also the convenience for the elderly cos there's always transport available and they don't need to walk around too much or find transport in a foreign country. 

I mean all these are all valid reasons to pay more. Cos we are trading money for something else. Whether it is convenience, feeling good, better materials, whatever. And everyone has their reason to buy it. It could be subconscious or conscious. To me, I like being conscious of my desires. I don't try justifying irrational behaviour. Typically, I try to admit it. 
Like the Camry or Merc. I really would like to own one if I could comfortably afford it. Still a 2nd hand one but, nonetheless, an unnecessary desire. 

As always... awareness will set you free...


​<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
​
Did you like this post?

So recently, there have been small businesses popping up around MRT stations.
They hire a bunch of promoters and they load their inventory in a travel luggage and they hang around MRT stations. 
I've seen them around Harbourfront MRT and Newton MRT. 
They probably are at other MRT stations as well. 

There's this bunch of guys carrying shavers. I don't know the name of the brand. I didn't take much notice.
And their approach is usually, "Hi, what brand of shaver do you use? Gillette? We can provide you something at 1/3 of the price."
And they say this really quickly cos... well they need to else most folks will just walk away. 

So I encountered them and they started the same way as usual. 
"Hi sir, what brand of shaver do you use? Gillette? We can provide you something at 1/3 of the price."
Errm... I get mine free...
They look puzzled and I walk away...

Well... you see... I use hotel shavers. They are free. Ok personally, I don't have much facial hair, so I tend to shave maybe once in 3 days? So my hotel shavers last for around a month. 
When I go to hotels, I bring back maybe 2-3 pieces cos I stay there for 4-5 days? Like when I go Taiwan or the business trips with my wife. 

If I ever run out of free hotel shavers, I typically use those $1 for a pack of 10 razors found at those budget Value$ shops. Those are usually the same quality as the hotel razors. Cheap stuff but sufficient for my purpose. At worst, my annual spending for razors is maybe $2. Usually less...

So I've never really appreciated a better razor. Or maybe I've never needed one. I've used them before when I was younger. But never really noticed the difference. 
​So I'm thinking... why do people buy razors???

A quick search on Redmart shows the above prices. 
Disposable ones cost $4.40 for 6 pieces.
A razor costs $7.90 and the refills are $9.90.

HUH!?

And I'm thinking... this compared to... FREE... there's no comparison. 
I could change a disposable razor once a week. Assuming I buy my razors $1 for 10 pieces. 
At the end of a year of 52 weeks, I would have spent $5.20.

That's cheaper than anything else!!!
Ok I'm a bit baffled here cos I find no real good reason to buy a better razor. 
Like, I can even understand why people buy luxury bags or watches...
But this... sorry it really slips my mind. 

Anyway this post is pretty much about...
There are $1 for 10 razors available in the market. You may want to try them out. Or hotel ones are free.
And... can someone please enlighten me on why you are using a branded razor? 
Cos I really don't get it. 



<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
​
Did you like this post?

I did a short post on why Bitcoin has value previously.
Doesn't mean I don't think it's a bubble. It has value cos people think it should have value. Just lika diamonds or gold. They don't serve any real purpose but people just use them as a medium of exchange.

So why do I think Bitcoin is a bubble?
Well. Firstly, there is limited use for it currently. You can buy it, trade with others, but besides that, there's no real use for it. You can hardly use it to buy something. If you bring a block of gold to the coffee shop, assuming that the merchant can identify it is real gold, there's actually a high chance that they would accept gold as payment. Well I would. 

Most people are just hoarding Bitcoin cos of the profits that they hear they could make. There's a whole load of traders, speculators and hoarders. Basically, people who are feeding off themselves. How many people are actually merchants who are using it for business transactions? Bitcoin's pricing is too volatile for business transactions, unless you're doing illegal stuff. 

If I were to buy Bitcoin now, I'd basically just buy it and just keep it and hope for the best. That's all. And I think many people are doing that, thus, reducing the supply of Bitcoin and jacking up prices. 

If you read up on the Great Depression, that's what happened to gold. Basically, when money was backed with gold, people just hoarded the money, cos by keeping the supply of money limited, the value of money increased, causing deflation cos prices fell. 
It's like last time there was $1 million worth of notes on the streets, the rich people keeps $900,000 under the bed, there's now only $100,000 worth of notes on the streets. This $100,000 became to be worth more. Meaning prices had to drop. Cos the face value of the money cannot change. So last time there's more money flowing thru the system, $1 can buy 1 loaf of bread, but now, there's less money in the system, money is worth more, so $1 can maybe buy 2 loaves of bread. With no corresponding productivity increase. 
Maybe I'm not too good at explaining this part... 

So if most people who buy Bitcoin are traders and hoarders, then as more hoarders come into the game, there's less and less Bitcoin being traded. So the newest hoarders will buy it at more and more expensive prices. After a while, there's going to be only a small amount of Bitcoin available for trading cos everyone else is just hoarding it. 

That's unless, in future, people actually USE Bitcoin for transactions. If it really becomes a medium of transfer, then I think as more people get on board to use Bitcoin, then I think it will not be a bubble. However, I don't see that happening anytime soon. So currently, I think it's just a novel idea to be owning Bitcoin or Ether or Bitcash, etc etc...

Not to mention, as Bitcoin keeps splitting. They split into Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash recently. And is expected to split again at the end of the year. The power and reliability of Bitcoin drops. Think about it, if gold were like Bitcoin, and a group of people say, no we won't accept pure gold anymore, we will ONLY accept purple gold. Then a few months later, another group says, no I'm going to ONLY accept white gold, etc etc.

Bitcoin has the potential to split into 10, 20, 30 different types of Bitcoin. If that's the case, then what so unique about Bitcoin? It's going to be just one of the many other cryptocurrencies in the market. Bitcoin is powerful cos it's the first and the one with the most number of people on the system. Once it loses people, then it loses power. That's the whole point about cryptocurrencies. It's about how many people are on the system. See previous post. If Bitcoin keeps fragmenting, which they will, it will end up worthless cos the people left over will be holding bits of every different type of Coin. 

How it will end? Duno... When? I also duno. 
But what I know is, I probably won't be buying Bitcoin anytime soon, unless I see some indication that Bitcoin or whatever cryptocurrency starts becoming useful as a real medium of exchange. 


​<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>

I've been a bit upset recently.
A couple of rebates / discounts didn't work as it should and I had to make additional effort to call / email those places to try to make them work. I don't really like doing that. Cos it's like I become at their mercy cos there's nothing I can do if they just decide to deny me. 

CIMB is still giving me headache for the remaining $25.
UOB One card has some issue on my card so waiting for $50.
UOB One card has some issue on my wife's card so waiting for $50 x 2.
Esso petrol has some issue on my discount voucher for $5. 
Shopback has some issue on the rebate for $5. 

It just gives me unnecessary stress having to follow up on all these, but that's just part of the whole game. You win some you lose some. Most of the times, these rebates come in fine. And every once in a while, there's issues. It's not that there's no cost to all of this. The cost is the monitoring and headache when things don't turn out perfectly. I'm usually quite ok with 1 or 2 issues. But this month, I've got 6 issues pending so it's a bit more headache than normal.

Overall, I've still gained. I'm just grumbling a little today...

Would you guys follow up on rebates and discounts that don't work out? Or do you just let it go if it doesn't work out?
I think most normal people would just let it go. But I think people in the frugal community might be more proactive to follow up on them.


​<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>

​Max effective interest at $100,000

Any amount more than $100k only earns 0.05% interest.

The good thing about this account is you can withdraw and deposit again and as long as the monthly average balance is more than last month's balance you still get the bonus interest. 
At 0.825%, it's pretty good for a simple deposit account. However, how many people have $100k sitting around ready to park in such an account?

If you're depositing only $50k, then the effective interest is only 0.65%.
If you're depositing between $50k - $100k, then the EIR is somewhere between 0.65% - 0.825%.

If we compare this account vs the OCBC Bonus+ Savings Account,
The OCBC Bonus+ Savings Account, straight off gives you 0.8% interest on ALL your savings.
The problem with the OCBC Bonus+ Savings Account is that you cannot withdraw else you won't get the bonus interest for the month. 

The plus point for the UOB Stash Account is that you CAN withdraw and move around your funds just as long as the average monthly balance is more than last month's average balance. 

Even so, the OCBC Bonus+ Savings Account wins hands down.
Cos likely, this account won't be your main cashflow account. This is probably the spare cash account which you may use to park your emergency fund or something, so likely you won't be moving cash around anyway. 
Straight off you get 0.8% interest for ANY amount, so you don't need to have $100k. You can put in only $10k or you can even put more than $100k. 

Just too be really anal about the calculation, here's the break even points.

The only time UOB Stash account is better than OCBC Bonus+ Savings account is when you are putting in between $87,500 and $103,300.

Any other number, OCBC Bonus+ Savings account will do better.
​
Note, the EIR falls very very fast on the UOB Stash account cos the 0.05% drags down the EIR very quickly. 


Unfortunately, UOB... I think you should try harder...

​
​<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>