Sadly, we can't eliminate the extra spending but what we can do is damage control and spending smart.
One of the best money savers so far I've experienced is cooking your own meals. I reckon I spent about less than $200 on food per month and mind you it involves 4 meals a day. On average, a meal in Singapore costs about $5. If I were to eat lets say 4 times a day, it would have cost $20. 1 week will be $140. 1 month will be a whopping $560.
Alright, just for the purist out there who thinks, "HEY! there's no way in hell I'm going to spend $5 on every meal for 4 times every single day!".
Let me put it this way then:
Our body NEED food. We should be constantly be feeding our body with clean, nutritious food to keep our metabolism burning, to maintain the sugar levels, to control our cravings, to maintain our core temperature, to prevent our body to enter a catabolic state where it starts feeding on our muscles for energy to burn fat.
In Singapore, the fact is eating HEALTHY IS NOT CHEAP. It's hard to find healthier alternatives in Singapore. Let's use McDonald's as a really good example. Another food joint that "promotes" healthy eating by offering healthier alternatives but priced unreasonable higher than other burgers there.
Chicken McGrill Salad: $5.60
Quarter Pounder w/cheese: $5.10
Big Mac: $5.10
McSpicy burger: $5.10
Yeah.. so much for promoting healthier food.
The best is still to buy your own food and cook your own meal.
I just did groceries shopping for the whole week yesterday and here's a list of the stuff i bought:
- 7 packets of frozen fish (each packet has 3 200 grams fillet..nice!) - $17.50
- 4 stocks of broccoli - $5.00
- 1 tray of egg (30 eggs) - $1.80
- 5kg of brown rice (1 bag) - $8.90
Total cost: $33.20.
All of the above is able to last me for a week and supplying me with 3 meals for a day. (The 4th meal being the oats and eggs for breakfast.) If you do your maths, 1 meal costs about less than $2! A whopping savings from eating out.
It's easier to say it out than done. The next challenge is cooking the meal yourself. I won't lie that there are days where I really dread to get up early or stay up abit late to cook my meals late at night. But I believe that if you want something bad enough, you have to work hard for it.
