Woah this is a good streak.
Many comments by readers which allow me to express more things.
Especially things that don't impact me...
Cos when things don't impact me, I don't think about writing about it. Cos I don't even know it needs to be written about.
Many comments by readers which allow me to express more things.
Especially things that don't impact me...
Cos when things don't impact me, I don't think about writing about it. Cos I don't even know it needs to be written about.
Hi ERSG, Would you share the details on how you are able to keep your expenses constant all these years, taking into consideration of the inflation costs?
--Ben
So you guys might think I'm mad.
All of us should know what is inflation... but yet strangely, I don't think I've ever written about it.
Cos... yea... it doesn't affect me...
What the hell?!?!
I'll the story short... How much can you eat?
If you understand this statement, there's nothing much to read below.
Otherwise, here we go.
So when I started work, around 25 years old, expenses was around $2,000 per person? Something like that I suppose. That's what we earn, so can't be much more than that.
And since then, 10 years or so back til now... well... $2,000 or so is still the pay of quite a bunch of people.
When I was working, we went out to eat for lunch, drinks, whatever. Phone bills, no utility bills cos we usually stay with our parents. Maybe we buy some clothes, whatever...
Ok. Chai-png at lau pa sat was around $3.50 at this time... depending on what you ordered.
Then life goes on, your friends get married, I close in on 30 years old, we don't go out as much. We still eat lunch out if we're working, drinks, whatever... blah blah...
Ok. Chai-png at lau pa sat... is still around $3.50...
Although I do admit other types of food, like fishball noodles, ban mian, have increased in price, maybe percentage wise, we are talking about 15%... $3 to $3.50, or $4 to 4.50... whatever.
Now I'm 35... I live with my wife, our expenses has changed, we have our own bills to pay, we go out less, blah blah blah... chai-png is still around $3.50...
Ok so what am I getting at? Simply put, how much can we eat? Even if we eat fishball noodles. The expense increase is likely $4 per day times 20 working days = $80 and if we increase by $0.50, it's going to be $90. Hardly a dent in expenses on a monthly basis.
Now, I do think inflation is real, but extremely over-hyped.
My lifestyle has changed throughout the years. But, I made do with what I had.
Most of the time, if you only have $2,000 in the bank, you will make do with $2000.
Which is why I wrote previously about getting my salary in one bank account, but I will transfer $2000 to my float account and spend only from my float account. So basically, I never had an increment for years. So I just made do with the $2,000. Or whatever number I set years back.
It's quite simple really. If you spend $0, then inflation is well... ZERO.
If you spend $1,000, then... yea you get the picture.
So... how much CAN you eat?
The question quickly becomes one of changes in our lifestyle.
Or rather... Lifestyle Inflation.
Now this... is more serious.
The baseline is simple.
We need a home, food, insurance, utilities, phone bills, Town council, property tax, medical, transport.
If you don't work, all the above still need to be paid. Well... for most people.
If you work, you have what I would call working expenses such as income tax, better clothes, socializing expenses, eating out, entertainment to relieve stress, and here is where it usually adds up...
So I really do wonder... where has inflation hit me?
If a restaurant increases their price, I just stop going. I used to go to "Itacho" for sushi. They increased their prices so I stopped going and looked for alternatives.
Like buying cheaper sashimi, and eventually cutting the habit anyway.
Cos that's what it is... Itacho is a lifestyle choice, or lifestyle inflation.
It's not that I don't eat sushi or jappy food entirely, I just find other alternatives once the value proposition doesn't make sense anymore.
I remember when we used to be dating and I went to Swensons cos that was cheap enough to bring a date to, but fairly good enough place to eat. Now, Swensons would be overpriced if I were to be a youngster again, so I'd likely bring a date to Saizeriya if I was at that age now. You can get a fairly good western meal at a good price, and no 10% service charge too.
Telcos used to be cheap, then they forced their prices upwards and made users pay for unnecessary speed and data which I didn't need, so I ended up doing my $4 mobile "plan".
All time low, I haven't found anyone who has beat this plan yet and still retained some form of connectivity.
But a normal user should be getting the SIM only plan at around $25 per month. Anything more than this is a lifestyle choice.
When I was younger, we really went out to eat dinner very often. After work, my wife/gf and I would go out instead of going home to eat. So spending $60 per night once or twice a weekday would be very normal. Those days, we didn't need to pay for household stuff, utilities, etc...
But as things moved along, we just naturally made the transition to eat at home. Not cos we wanted to save money, but rather, we grew older. We can't keep eating rich expensive food, which is probably less healthy. Saving money just naturally came along.
Til the current situation where I cook Sundays through Fridays. Cos we are just "old" folks hanging around at home. Saturday is spent at our parents place so I don't cook on Saturdays. Sometimes we still go out, but it's seldom. Once again, it's not cos we want to save money, it's just a natural transition, especially since I don't work, so I can cook, and she's happy eating what I cook.
Every time we go to KL, I miss my own cooking, cos it's a lot less heavy and salty. Some steamed rice, a little bit of meat and/or vegetables. Less oil, less salt, but still flavorful.
Transport has become more expensive though, bus and MRT prices have almost doubled. But I don't travel much in general. And if you travel daily cos of work then the income should cover the transport expenses. And once again, this also becomes, how much can you spend on transport? How much does it impact your monthly expenses?
You see... inflation in itself doesn't really leave any mark when looking at basic expenses.
But once you look at lifestyle inflation, the numbers become eye boggling.
I could eat at Saizeriya for around $30 for the 2 of us, or we could go to a fancy steak restaurant (Lawry's) at $150 for the 2 of us. If we do that once a week, then the numbers quickly add up. Let's not even talk about inflation.
An additional $120 for 4 weeks is almost $500 more per month.
Even a once a month lifestyle habit hurts more than inflation ever could. Assuming you don't have a lavish lifestyle in the first place.
I would think where inflation really hurts is property prices/rental and medical expenses. But I don't think about these too much, cos there's not much I can do about them. I've already bought my place so my housing is settled. And medical insurance is... well pretty affordable. Not cheap, but still fairly ok. It could be worse.
Now all the above is if I kept my lifestyle pretty constant. $2,000 per month is manageable currently, but all of us like a good deal, so there's all the promos which we play with and freegan stuff which I am involved in... all these allow us to live a richer life than what we really spend on. Like one for one promos are good marketing for restaurants. They are supposed to introduce you to the place and you're supposed to love the food so much that when they withdraw the promo, you're supposed to return and be willing to pay full price. But that's not the case for me or at least the frugal community shouldn't be so easily swayed. If the promo disappears, we're supposed to disappear along with it and find other deals to enjoy. There's always another deal out there. And of course, the best deal is free.
So I don't really understand inflation, cos I don't really have any relationship with it. I'm not really affected by it. And I think it's really due to my lifestyle choices cos the impact of inflation just isn't very much in real dollar terms, and I can always adjust my spending pattern to work around the situation and find a better deal.
I suppose people feel inflation the most when they don't adjust to inflation. Like Lawry's used to have a 300gm steak at $70 many years back, and now $70 only buys a 200gm steak... I'm not sure anymore, I don't go there anymore.
Or I could use $70 and buy 1.5 kg of tenderloin and cook it at home myself. Or I could buy some Wagyu or ribeye. Or we could go to Napoleon restaurant with the Entertainer App, and we could get 2 servings of tenderloin with a slice of foie gras for around $50.
(We've stopped using the Entertainer App cos we felt it induced more spending cos we always try to go out and eat to "make the subscription worth")
Anyway... in the above example... yes there is inflation, so I made changes to my habits to adjust for them. Do I really feel like I've missed out on anything? No not really. I still get a good quality steak for a good price and we enjoy our meal. Yes, it's not the same place or same flavors, but it's not the end of the world.
And some of these changes might even make us happier, cos we may like the cuisine more than the original place.
So... what is inflation?
How much of inflation is due to your lifestyle choices?
How much of your REAL needs are really affected by inflation? I'm thinking... not a lot.
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Did you like this post? If so, could you "blanjah" me 1/4 cup of my morning coffee pls.
Many thanks for continuing to come to this blog to read my posts.
All of us should know what is inflation... but yet strangely, I don't think I've ever written about it.
Cos... yea... it doesn't affect me...
What the hell?!?!
I'll the story short... How much can you eat?
If you understand this statement, there's nothing much to read below.
Otherwise, here we go.
So when I started work, around 25 years old, expenses was around $2,000 per person? Something like that I suppose. That's what we earn, so can't be much more than that.
And since then, 10 years or so back til now... well... $2,000 or so is still the pay of quite a bunch of people.
When I was working, we went out to eat for lunch, drinks, whatever. Phone bills, no utility bills cos we usually stay with our parents. Maybe we buy some clothes, whatever...
Ok. Chai-png at lau pa sat was around $3.50 at this time... depending on what you ordered.
Then life goes on, your friends get married, I close in on 30 years old, we don't go out as much. We still eat lunch out if we're working, drinks, whatever... blah blah...
Ok. Chai-png at lau pa sat... is still around $3.50...
Although I do admit other types of food, like fishball noodles, ban mian, have increased in price, maybe percentage wise, we are talking about 15%... $3 to $3.50, or $4 to 4.50... whatever.
Now I'm 35... I live with my wife, our expenses has changed, we have our own bills to pay, we go out less, blah blah blah... chai-png is still around $3.50...
Ok so what am I getting at? Simply put, how much can we eat? Even if we eat fishball noodles. The expense increase is likely $4 per day times 20 working days = $80 and if we increase by $0.50, it's going to be $90. Hardly a dent in expenses on a monthly basis.
Now, I do think inflation is real, but extremely over-hyped.
My lifestyle has changed throughout the years. But, I made do with what I had.
Most of the time, if you only have $2,000 in the bank, you will make do with $2000.
Which is why I wrote previously about getting my salary in one bank account, but I will transfer $2000 to my float account and spend only from my float account. So basically, I never had an increment for years. So I just made do with the $2,000. Or whatever number I set years back.
It's quite simple really. If you spend $0, then inflation is well... ZERO.
If you spend $1,000, then... yea you get the picture.
So... how much CAN you eat?
The question quickly becomes one of changes in our lifestyle.
Or rather... Lifestyle Inflation.
Now this... is more serious.
The baseline is simple.
We need a home, food, insurance, utilities, phone bills, Town council, property tax, medical, transport.
If you don't work, all the above still need to be paid. Well... for most people.
If you work, you have what I would call working expenses such as income tax, better clothes, socializing expenses, eating out, entertainment to relieve stress, and here is where it usually adds up...
So I really do wonder... where has inflation hit me?
If a restaurant increases their price, I just stop going. I used to go to "Itacho" for sushi. They increased their prices so I stopped going and looked for alternatives.
Like buying cheaper sashimi, and eventually cutting the habit anyway.
Cos that's what it is... Itacho is a lifestyle choice, or lifestyle inflation.
It's not that I don't eat sushi or jappy food entirely, I just find other alternatives once the value proposition doesn't make sense anymore.
I remember when we used to be dating and I went to Swensons cos that was cheap enough to bring a date to, but fairly good enough place to eat. Now, Swensons would be overpriced if I were to be a youngster again, so I'd likely bring a date to Saizeriya if I was at that age now. You can get a fairly good western meal at a good price, and no 10% service charge too.
Telcos used to be cheap, then they forced their prices upwards and made users pay for unnecessary speed and data which I didn't need, so I ended up doing my $4 mobile "plan".
All time low, I haven't found anyone who has beat this plan yet and still retained some form of connectivity.
But a normal user should be getting the SIM only plan at around $25 per month. Anything more than this is a lifestyle choice.
When I was younger, we really went out to eat dinner very often. After work, my wife/gf and I would go out instead of going home to eat. So spending $60 per night once or twice a weekday would be very normal. Those days, we didn't need to pay for household stuff, utilities, etc...
But as things moved along, we just naturally made the transition to eat at home. Not cos we wanted to save money, but rather, we grew older. We can't keep eating rich expensive food, which is probably less healthy. Saving money just naturally came along.
Til the current situation where I cook Sundays through Fridays. Cos we are just "old" folks hanging around at home. Saturday is spent at our parents place so I don't cook on Saturdays. Sometimes we still go out, but it's seldom. Once again, it's not cos we want to save money, it's just a natural transition, especially since I don't work, so I can cook, and she's happy eating what I cook.
Every time we go to KL, I miss my own cooking, cos it's a lot less heavy and salty. Some steamed rice, a little bit of meat and/or vegetables. Less oil, less salt, but still flavorful.
Transport has become more expensive though, bus and MRT prices have almost doubled. But I don't travel much in general. And if you travel daily cos of work then the income should cover the transport expenses. And once again, this also becomes, how much can you spend on transport? How much does it impact your monthly expenses?
You see... inflation in itself doesn't really leave any mark when looking at basic expenses.
But once you look at lifestyle inflation, the numbers become eye boggling.
I could eat at Saizeriya for around $30 for the 2 of us, or we could go to a fancy steak restaurant (Lawry's) at $150 for the 2 of us. If we do that once a week, then the numbers quickly add up. Let's not even talk about inflation.
An additional $120 for 4 weeks is almost $500 more per month.
Even a once a month lifestyle habit hurts more than inflation ever could. Assuming you don't have a lavish lifestyle in the first place.
I would think where inflation really hurts is property prices/rental and medical expenses. But I don't think about these too much, cos there's not much I can do about them. I've already bought my place so my housing is settled. And medical insurance is... well pretty affordable. Not cheap, but still fairly ok. It could be worse.
Now all the above is if I kept my lifestyle pretty constant. $2,000 per month is manageable currently, but all of us like a good deal, so there's all the promos which we play with and freegan stuff which I am involved in... all these allow us to live a richer life than what we really spend on. Like one for one promos are good marketing for restaurants. They are supposed to introduce you to the place and you're supposed to love the food so much that when they withdraw the promo, you're supposed to return and be willing to pay full price. But that's not the case for me or at least the frugal community shouldn't be so easily swayed. If the promo disappears, we're supposed to disappear along with it and find other deals to enjoy. There's always another deal out there. And of course, the best deal is free.
So I don't really understand inflation, cos I don't really have any relationship with it. I'm not really affected by it. And I think it's really due to my lifestyle choices cos the impact of inflation just isn't very much in real dollar terms, and I can always adjust my spending pattern to work around the situation and find a better deal.
I suppose people feel inflation the most when they don't adjust to inflation. Like Lawry's used to have a 300gm steak at $70 many years back, and now $70 only buys a 200gm steak... I'm not sure anymore, I don't go there anymore.
Or I could use $70 and buy 1.5 kg of tenderloin and cook it at home myself. Or I could buy some Wagyu or ribeye. Or we could go to Napoleon restaurant with the Entertainer App, and we could get 2 servings of tenderloin with a slice of foie gras for around $50.
(We've stopped using the Entertainer App cos we felt it induced more spending cos we always try to go out and eat to "make the subscription worth")
Anyway... in the above example... yes there is inflation, so I made changes to my habits to adjust for them. Do I really feel like I've missed out on anything? No not really. I still get a good quality steak for a good price and we enjoy our meal. Yes, it's not the same place or same flavors, but it's not the end of the world.
And some of these changes might even make us happier, cos we may like the cuisine more than the original place.
So... what is inflation?
How much of inflation is due to your lifestyle choices?
How much of your REAL needs are really affected by inflation? I'm thinking... not a lot.
<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
Did you like this post? If so, could you "blanjah" me 1/4 cup of my morning coffee pls.
Many thanks for continuing to come to this blog to read my posts.
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