Comments on: Does Your Monthly Household Expenditure Exceed $4,388?

By: to JL

to JL — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:23:39 +0000

No choice, you are a typical middle income family. you are really lucky to make 6K, don’t aspire too hard

By: JL

JL — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:31:05 +0000

im very fortunate after reading all the above. Im 30 yr old, earning $6k from my full time job..limelight part time in teaching once a wk, $1k. hubby earn pathetically 3.2k a mth.

utility: $120(i seldom on air con to save $$)
maid $590
milk/diaper $500 (cos my 1yr dotter drinks milk like camel n refuse to eat anything else!)
mum: $400 (for overlooking my maid n baby)
Car+petrol+rd tax etc: $1100
Insurance : $500per mth(only mine) +300per mth(hubby)
My own personal expenses: i cut down all my shopping after delivering my baby… really practically all to save for my kid! FOOD: $300
Public transport: Poor me gotta take mrt..cos hubby work in ulu place.. our timin diff.. i nd to sacrifice to take one trip of mrt ;$60
hp/broadband: $100 (combine of mine n hubby; we select cheapest plan)

Overall.. i think is not how much u earn.. its how much u save that matters… n how hard u try to strive n work hard… i really got NO LIFE.. work two job.my full time job already take up 12 hrs a day ; five days a wk. Sometimes..lookin back.. i really salute myself for being such a tough cookie workin so hard.

By: JL

JL — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 16:49:00 +0000

I guess for our case is slightly better.

CPF loan: 1k fully covered by CPF.

Contribution to parents (both mine and my wife side) $1000 total. Well, that the benefit of parents having more than 2 child so that each child has less to give to parent in future

To our joint account for future planning. About 2k per month from our combine income.

Car: 1000 per month
Utilities: 200
phone/internet: About 200
Makan combine about $1200
misc: 400
Insurance $200+ from CPF per month cash $100
Total: actual spending average about $3k per month.

Rest is personal saving for my wife and me and we do save quite a healthy percentage.

So quite ok at this point of time. We figure having a BB will bump up another 1k per month but the current saving from joint acct is sufficient for future rainy days.

As my parents leave just a few blocks from me, we do get a healthy saving from our 5 meals a week at parents place (rotated between both his/her parents as my wife don’t really cooks.

Why bother when home makan is just 3 blocks away?

By: ttiatlen

ttiatlen — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:58:09 +0000

Seems to be a lot of thoughts here that having kids is an expensive affair. It may well be. But fact is, once you’ve decided to, it’s a matter of finding the money. Think of it this way, if you could force yourself to put aside $1,000 from each month’s worth of salary, could you work out a viable budget?

Once you’ve put aside that amount, go have the baby. $1,000 per month for about 3 years. By then, put the child in full day care. Costs do go down significantly as the child gets older.

And whatever saved can then be invested.

There is no real need to have an insurance for the child. He/she has no dependency who really need the cash. But do buy medical insurance (can use Medishield to pay).

Over time, would be worthwhile to also start putting aside some $$$ towards the child’s education.

By: Sorry Ms Poverty

Sorry Ms Poverty — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:50:39 +0000

so the 13% GDP growth does not benefit everyone. why does the government keep harping on GDP and temasek profits when the benefits are not felt on the ground? it may create a feel-good effect, but it’s only temporary. people will realise sooner or later that the good news is just an illusion and only pockets of people benefit directly from it. what’s worse is that these pockets of people are usually the ones who are already better off.

i’m sorry to hear of your plight, Ms Poverty. but hang in there, your children will grow up, go out to work and then you can enjoy a better life. from what you described, i think you are managing very well given your situation.

By: Ms Poverty

Ms Poverty — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:58:39 +0000

“Retirement” is a dream for the poor. How can I retire when I will be servicing HDB loan until 65 years old and by then my CPF still $0 (all withdrawn to pay for flat) and bank account still $0?
Poor people are destined to work until they die or maybe I should go and die now.
You see if die before paying up the housing loan then Home Protection Scheme will pay up my outstanding loan and my orphaned child can rent the entire flat out at roughly $1500 per month.
With a simple mathematical calculation, you will find that it is more profitable for me to die now.

By: Sad

Sad — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:34:10 +0000

Hi Ms Poverty..it’s very sad to hear your story..

So what if our GDP grows 20%++ and outperforms China? The lower income class will continue to struggle..and work till 65..

By: Ms Poverty

Ms Poverty — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:21:50 +0000

After seeing that everyone is living high lives and not seemingly realising that they are among the very fortunate… I would like to share how the poor manages household expenses in Singapore.
Single parent income $1800 (Take-home)
Mortgage 3-rm HDB $600 (About $200 is cash)
School fee govt primary school $10 (Only $5 is cash)
SP Utilities $150
HDB Conservancy charges $36.50
Singtel residential line, mobile line, internet broadband $100
Insurance $300
Car Never will own one
Public Transport $200
Remaining cash goes towards buying food and necessities, including medical expenses.
Maid no money for one so my kid stays home alone when I’m at work
Piano classes, tuition, overseas holiday are meant for the rich
Savings = $0 I’m lucky if my bank still have money left before reaching the next payday

By: poor kid grown up

poor kid grown up — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:01:44 +0000

Alan, i fully agree that education is very important. what i was trying to say is that we should make it more equitable, more fair to the poorer families.

i can see that poorer kids are losing out in education if they can’t afford expensive enrichment classes and gadgets and such.

i acknowledge that parents are partly to blame, so that was why i suggested that schools (ie MOE) should try their best to help the poorer kids.

one way is to do away with expensive opt-in stuff, be it enrichment, overseas immersion or an expensive calculator. if a certain gadget or a certain subscription is deemed important, make it compulsory, and schools should offer financial help to those kids who can’t afford.

if schools make such things optional, there could be two effects – one, the poorer kids will feel left out and feel inferior and even blame their parents; two, the poorer kids will lose out in learning opportunities, exacerbating the rich-poor gap.

when i was a kid, it was much more equitable. no expensive gadgets to buy, and no expensive overseas trip to go to.

By: middleclass

middleclass — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:33:24 +0000

As a parent I constantly worry about how good a job I’m doing with my kids.
I always debating whether I am or I should be projecting my aspirations, ideals, shortcomings, phobias, etc onto my kids.
How much freedom and liberty should I give my kids to live their own lives and choose their own paths.
What would be my response be if my kids have different ideas from me on what they want to pursue in life and what happiness are to them?
Parenting really makes every other task in life looks trivial.