Where do you live, and how much do you spend a month? (Only if you're comfortable with sharing, of course!) And share with us, what's the biggest challenge that you face when it comes to managing your personal finance? 👇 P.S. Hit the LIKE button if you enjoyed the video or if you wish to see more videos on the topic of money in the future!
Live in Jakarta with ~$250 monthly expense (about ~15% of total income). My food expense relatively low at ~$60 because I cook my own food (thanks god for creating potato as super food). And I almost never eat meat, because I don't like it and logistically expensive. I try to supplement my nutritional intake by eating high protein food in the weekend hangout. My biggest challenge is to find a guest house at ~$150 but provide all of basic needs (water, electric, cooking gas, wifi, air conditioner, etc) and close enough so I can walk to work. The rest of my money goes to saving, courses and various investment
Live in Sweden and we are a family of five. With rent and everything, around $2200/month. Biggest challenge is for us food and unexpected costs. With three kids and a pretty active life, takeaway is a lifesaver but costs. And also kids and having a car is always a lot of unexpected costs, lol.
I live in the US, in one of the pricier states, and also manage to get by spending about $1,000 a month, including fixed expenses. Some months are a little higher, some months are a little lower. I believe the lowest I could get by on would be around $850, but I will admit, many of my circumstances are pretty lucky (for example, my rent is very low considering the area I live in.) My biggest issue with finances is when I am drawn to an expensive item. I can hold off on cheaper items, but more expensive items really entice me on occasion. Even if I wait a few months to get the expensive item, there's still a chance it won't work out. I feel bad having to return things. It's just hard to predict whether I could truly benefit from an item, and if so, if I've found the right version of that item for me. I'm really happy you guys have found a balance that works for you in terms of how your money gets earned and used.
Here in australia cost of living is high so my monthly expenses are quite high as i have a mortgage and i also support some family members. Basic expenses is mortgage is $1600, family support $1500, food $500, utilities $350. Even though i have a fairly good income i still try to live frugally, i don't eat out, i have my own home gym, i ride my bicycle or walk everywhere, i try to limit my ac etc...I actually enjoy the challenge and discipline involved in mindfully living a minimalist way.
Canada (east coast) monthly rent is 1300 (split in half with my partner), about 250 a month on groceries, 80 for internet and electricity, 50 for phone, and around 200 for going out (although not so much now with our lockdown) 😁
I personally think being successful in life is when we find what is comfortable for our own lives, spending in what makes us truly happy at the present without ignoring a restful future. Great video.
I retired in 2019 at age 36. my partner is finishing up his employment run and will join in 3 years time. as minimalists, SGD500 per mth is highly possible, we seem to get by completely fine with it. movie projection room, enjoying cooking, and buying classic styles when necessary is the way to go for us. everything else enjoy is in Nature and is mostly free of charge. pandemic has not really impacted us much, because we were already living streamlined way before it.
@@alexs_33 after working for about a decade, I had slightly over 100k. my earliest salary was 3k, and last was 5k. I tried to put away 1k minimum at least each month. keep in mind, these figures are in the context of Singapore.
@@alexs_33 as for investing, I only started earlier this year, making use of the down prices due to the pandemic. I felt safe doing this after 2020 and seeing how the playing field has changed and will continue to change due to covid. these are my riskier investments which I would not recommend to others. my safer investments are savings with a component to unit trusts. these are safe options for investing, if you have 50k liquid that is sitting around. they should function as supplementary safety net, not your primary, and should pay out nicely in 10 years.
The Golden Rule of personal finance is to spend less than you make. There are two challenges there: making sure you meet that goal, and don’t be too cheap in order to spend way less than you earn. Balance is the key!
Great Video! I would love to see more finance/money related videos in the future! My monthly costs vary between 200 and 300 Euro (324 - 485 SGD) per month, but I think that is very low for Germany, where I live. The biggest expenses are Food and eating out while most of my hobbies are for free (go for a walk and listening to a podcast, running, read books from our local library, watch UA-cam Videos etc.)
Thank you so much for this video. It actually came at the perfect time. I'm a student right now and my main source of income is private tutoring and I had actually just had multiple students opt to stop lessons after I informed them of the need (or strong recommendation) to switch to online lessons due to new government measures literally announced today. I was fretting over the lost of income when I saw this video and realized I spend only slightly less than you guys do as a household despite my low income and I suddenly felt like things would be okay, I just needed to work on my spending habits. Edit: I live in Singapore and spend about 500SGD/mth (however, most of my expenses are kindly paid for by my parents so most of my spending is on food, phone bills and leisure). My largest challenge is probably FOMO.
Yep, that was an issue for me when I finished university and got my first job. I chose to do a job that has significantly less pay than my contemporaries but brought me a lot of satisfaction and fulfilment. But it meant I had to be pretty careful with my spending. At first, I tried to keep up with my friends - many of whom were in their first jobs but with minimal fixed expenses (e.g. no mortgages yet), which meant they had a lot of disposable income. After a few months of going out with them and essentially spending like them, I realised I couldn't keep up. I had to learn to live within my own budget. So I explained things to my friends and how I won't be going out with them to fancy restaurants and shopping with them, etc. Most of them were super understanding, and even adjusted how we met up (e.g. going to parks and beaches to catch up instead of going to concerts). Some did not really understand why I was like this, and that's ok too. We just hung out less.
This is really interesting, thank you. My biggest challenge is shopping for leisure. I enjoy it and I find it easy to justify purchases and hard to find things to do that make me as happy. Still working on it, its not something I can give up on.
Your costs are actually surprisingly sensible for what people would think of Singapore as a high CoL place! Your food costs are definitely expensive however despite your frugality, which sounds like a local market issue. The rest of the budget is really good considering the lifestyle you two lead.
About the food cost, living in Canada, for 2 people we send arround that number, maybe a little bit more. It looks pretty accurate from my point of view.
$500 per month is very high for 2 people I am cooking for 8 people $600 +\- per month The idea is I buy from wet market general cheaper than supermarkets 4 vegan meals in a week means lots of vegetables Avoid processed food if possible generally more expensive Of course not forgetting plain water
I live in Singapore and spend about $700-800 a month as a working adult in my early 20s, not married yet and planning to buy a BTO soon! In pre-covid times when I had to go back to office every weekday, my spending was more, at about $1k a month due to buying outside food everyday and transport.
Yo, this is so well thought out and presented. Thanks for being transparent with some of your finances. I've been working to live more frugally myself, it's tough but has been so rewarding.
The dedication to keep the water and electricity bill this controlled is impressive!🤯 Don't think I can do that now but definitely will try out the $5 mobile plan!
Ayee nice to have you CK! It's actually more habitual than dedication, tbh. We've been trying to keep our energy consumption down for many years now, so it's not something that we have to think about, really. We would say it's actually harder to keep within the data limit of a $5 mobile plan, than it is to keep our energy bill down 😂 internet addiction is real. Keep up the good work, cheers! 🍻
We live in Singapore as a couple and spend around the same as well - SG can be pretty cheap and affordable if we don't splurge on everything and have more home cooked meals! :)
I love this! in Singapore we're always forced to upgrade our lifestyle whenever we earn more. it's like a never ending rat race... I love how both of you are contented with the very basics yet not being overly frugal. It's basically boiling down to things we need and we don't! Currently I think I'm spending more than both of you combined haaha (even without paying for any bills on my end) so this is a good goal to stretch for!! Just one question if you happen to see - what would you recommend someone with a busy life style to cut down on? Main bulk of my expenses are for grabs (to save time) and food delivery/eating out. Not much time to cook. :(
We think that would depend quite heavily on individual lifestyle! Like, in our case there's no way (and no point) for us to cut down on our transportation expenses, but it may be the complete different for you. Spending money to save time is the smart thing to do in many cases, but if it were us we would probably ask ourselves if we're overvaluing the time that we saved (proportionate to the amount of money spent).
The best advice I could ever come up with on saving money, Never buy snack again, just stop snacking, don't even snack on nuts or fruits or veggies. No snacks. Only breakfast lunch and dinner, I recommend only cooking with fresh produce, no boxed or bagged or preserved foods, all fresh perishable foods. My favorite dinner is fried rice (rice, sesame oil, green onion, onion, carrots, garlic, soy sauce,) you can modify however you want, use any meat you want Usually I'll make four portions worth of it, My favorite breakfast is quinoa, eggs, and spicy sausage, (I'm an athlete, these three ingredients are high in protien, and sausage has other important nutrients for fitness) If you'd like something more flavorful, try replacing sausage with chorizo. For lunch I usually drink what I like to call a "super smoothie" almost always using kale and berries, and whatever other ingredients I can get in there for further nutrients (I do this for athleticism, and because it's incredibly quick to digest, making me feel good the rest of the day) These are also really cheap to make, but you need a good blender, and it takes some practice until you get good consistent smoothies. This is the healthiest diet I could come up with when I was studying nutrition, My lunch and breakfast are usually the same, but I like to explore different dinners, (and I experiment a lot with different smoothies) Avoid sugar. Just trust me. You'll get plenty of sugar from other foods especially if you do daily smoothies. Food costs are usually the most difficult to overcome, there's been a lot of times I had to starve myself to pay rent. When I cut out snacking I nearly halved my grocery expenses, I still buy deserts and snacks rarely as a treat, I like it that way, instead of expecting them every day I earn them.
Yes, everyone has an opinion 😆. Our biggest spending category is food. On top of not cutting corners on quality of food (local and humane isn’t cheap) we like to go out to eat. We still manage to put quite a bit in savings since we don’t really spend on other stuff. Neither of us is into shopping for leisure, no car payment, we don’t buy the latest technology, etc. Loved the video!
Our family of 3 (2 adults and a 13 y.o., plus cat) living in Canada, Gatineau spend about $60K per year. Rent and hydro are about $1200/mo, food is the 2nd bigest, and we mostly cook at home. Car is paid off in full, maintenance is affordable. Internet $80/mo. One cellphone $60, second is paid by my husband's workplace. Working from home, one salary. Kid goes to expensive private school. We save a bit too. Can very easily tighten our belts by 10-15%!
I instantly clicked into this video! I also strive to live a simple life and spend very little money so I don't have to work so much to earn money. I strongly agree that we shouldn't compromise on food!! Living cheaply in Singapore is still possible depending on our choices and willingness to simplify our lives.
I live in Tangerang Selatan for about 4 years. Cost live here a lil bit pricy in Indonesia. I always write down my expenses every day for every purchases. I have my monthly expenses in early month. I spend 30% - 35% for monthly expenses. It is including food, monthly needed, transportation, utility rent costs, etc. I live in a dorm with my collagues and it’s help. My office near with my dorm too so I just have to walk to go to office. 40% -45% for saving and investment, 5% for charity, 20% for lifestyle. I love minimalism too!
Great video! I have wanted to go live alone for a long time, but because of the pandemic, I had to stop. I find the example of your finances very interesting.
Great video! I live in Manila and run my own garments business. I consider myself thrifty but I splurge a little when it comes to food and dining out. I track my spending with an app to keep me aware of where my money goes. Financial literacy is a really good topic. Kudos to Thoughtworthy Co for putting this video up and talking about a topic some consider taboo. 👍🏼
Greetings from Bangalore, India! This video kind of debunked my perception of Singapore as a very expensive place to live. Some of the expenses you listed is quiet on par with an Indian metropolis. Here's what I spend* in a month(coverted to USD and rounded off) *there many who spend far less. Water and Gas - $20 Electricity - $10 per person (I don't own an AC) Home Internet - $15 Mobile Plans - $5 Transport - $300 (I drive around in a car, a scooter would be 1/10th of this and we don't have an MRT yet) Food + groceries - $150 (for a 4 member family) Entertainment - $10 for a year (stopped movies and concerts after pandemic) Misc - $75 (repairs + maintainance)
Wow, I wish the US had some of these price points (cell phone payments, internet, etc). Next year I plan on moving to landline instead of a cell because the prices are ridiculous here and I hardly use my phone besides the occasional text and the GPS. Hoping to implement you guys’ spending habits into my life so I can pay off student loans faster! 💪 thanks for the inspiring video! (Btw I live near Atlanta, Georgia and the living expenses are ridiculous... ☹️)
Thank you for your video, which was, as always, a real pleasure to watch. Your videos are always beautiful, interesting and well made. And it is really nice from you to have shared those numbers with us, because money, as you said, is a sensitive topic and people rarely share how many money they spend. Personally, I am a french student and I lived alone for the first time in September of 2020, but with the covid I came back to my parents' home at the end of October. So for September, I spent a bit more than 200€ (323,53 SGD I think), but it was the beginning of the scholar year so I had to pay for some books and other things, but most of my spendings were for food. And i did not have to pay the rent because my parents can pay it.
If you are satisfied/content/happy with your life, then keep doing what you are doing. What other think is immaterial. They don’t pay your bills and never will so their opinion is just that an opinion without substance.
on my own I spend 220 eur on Dietary and 100 eur on Selfcare per month Dietary = Food, Drink, Supplements, Etc Selfcare = all products used to maintain your appearances (includes Hand Wash, Shampoo, Moisturizer, Sunscreen and even washing clothes) I seperate Groceries into two catergories, Dietary and Selfcare haven't had anything that doesn't fit in either category
Because many costs have risen so much post Covid our biggest expenses are food and helping our adult kids. Luckily our mortgage is small and almost finished.
i really enjoyed this video.. it seems like ppl think there is only 1 way to save money, use money and yeah money money money.. but I really prefer this perspective of money and frugal living. thank you for sharing~ i get paid monthly and by the end of the next month im broke.. never sure how, since most of my money is a fixed amount a month.. I never really know where my money has gone.
I think my expenses are quite low as compared to my peers (I don't drink, grab, eat out etc) but the top 2 category that my money goes towards are books and hobby *money flyyyyy hardcore design book collector and I love to try out new creative works like building my own furniture, screenprinting etc I like to think that it is an investment expense haha #PersonalDevelopment since I will be in the creative industry next time. Anyways great video once again! Freaking love yall so much
For sure they're an investment if you stay in the industry! Such cool skills to have; we would love to know how to build our own furniture or do our own screenprinting 😍 Aww thank you, take care and stay safe yourself! 💕
I really love this. I've been thinking of going freelance (I'm a copywriter) and potentially travelling or something because I've been feeling more anxious recently. Sometimes it's so easy to put pressure on yourself to be successful regardless of mental health.
I think the biggest challenge has been managing the discretionary expenses. It’s so easy to spend too much on things that don’t necessarily add as much value we we thought. Or maybe that’s the problem - we don’t think through or weight it out as much as we should have before spending.
Am in my late 20s. I track my saving instead of my expenses as I found that it's easier and create less anxiety. 😅 I save first before I spend any of my salary. In short, 50% expenses (included commitments), 25% saving, 15% investment, 10% goal/dream/lifestyle. *I had saved up my emergency funds
I save money. Fixed deposit, private retirement scheme, endowment plan. (Ensure that they surpass the inflation rate in your country.) You may allocate a small portion of your money to try on different methods first before deciding on methods that suit you best.
We spend about 5x as much as you do, but then again we are 8 people in our household and also have a person renting a room contributing to our water bill and a bit of electricity. (Prices for Energy are also quite high in Germany)
Wow, watching this and having the sudden realisation that I probably don't need as much data now that I am WFH... AND THEN it made me realise that I probably need to give more thought to my spending habits... because somehow this didn't occurred to me at all and I've been WFH for 1 year already?? may I ask what mobile plan are you using right now?
As a 24 year old who just started a career in the massage industry in Australia, my biggest challenge is not earning enough/being underemployment. At college they sold the dream that massage therapists are in demand, and that we'll be booked and busy (=more income) however the reality doesn't reflect that, which was really disappointing. I'm still having troubles coming to terms with that and will have to seek other ways to build my income. At the moment I don't spend a lot for leisure/entertainment as a young person, I mostly spend my money on education, counselling and groceries. I am still living at home, bigger expenses such as utilities and private healthcare are taken care of by my parents. I've been keeping my expenses to a minimum without sacrificing my happiness but yes definitely need to look further into building income.
I am 36 and currently living on a passive income so i no need to worry about bills at all. And also i have another sideline which pays me every month as well . So basically this sideline , passive income and a part time job i am doing right now. I commit 3 to 4 days work week. As slacking at home doing nothing cam get really boring. The only burden i have right now in my life is paying off the mortgage . Another side income i forget to mention is also i rented out 2 rooms to tenants, i am living in a hdb four room flat ( not bto) and collecting extra 1200 sgd per month for a number of years now. I am not rich at all , just living and maintaining a minimalistic lifestyle as well. Just may never know when the funds i have now can be use for emergencies at any unpredictable moment.
cool. whenever i go shopping at malls or online, i have to ask myself countless times whether i need this now, want it now or it can wait. it can be confusing at times but it set the pace of the kind of lifestyle one wants. its good not to spend money mindlessly. I keep a balance worksheet where income from my work is in my left column (debit) while expenses are in the right column (credit). Each month i move my savings online to my saving accounts or SRS account and credit them in the left column. I try as much not to touch them unless absolutely necessary which are rare and in between. I live in my single BTO paid fully by CPF so i am lucky not to be having to worry about mortgage. good content always and stay safe. see u around soon.
I'm shocked by the amount for food. I guess that's ok for two people but I try to spend $100 a month just for myself and when I get to $120... I got something nice like shrimp or scallops.
No matter how much I save. For some reason, I'll be sneaking into my savings at the end of the month, a tiny bit. But thanks for sharing. I would take a thing or two from here and cut costs as much as possible.
Thanks! Unfortunately we're probably out of touch with modern dating 🤣 our "online dating" was on MSN, not Tinder 😂 But don't worry too much about it. Just be yourself, be nice, and be patient!
Electricity at $20 how? Water and gas at $30 how? I live in SG and am 24 this year and I fork out at least 100 plus per month on Electricity and water combined. However, the one that is most expensive would be the phone/broadband/tv set up for me which cost me close to $300 per month! Honestly can't wait to downgrade my mobile phone plans and unsubscribe to the super expensive tv packages especially since with gst and service charge it cost almost 20 plus dollars. Heart pain.
@@ThoughtworthyCo Really applaud you guys for being able to manage your finances very well. Somehow looking at this makes me motivated to do the same thing too 😊 Keep up the great work, I will always look forward to the contents you guys upload 😀👍
We use M1 for our home broadband and circles.life for mobile (you actually can't find it on their website but you can google it). Blogs like seedly and moneysmart have a list of the cheapest mobile plans available. Cheers! 💕
If you live primarily for yourself, eg: 1) don’t need to support parents (their medical and monthly allowance); or 2) put aside monthly donations to help the less privileged then you are saving a large chunk of money for yourself. Personally, I find doing 1) and 2) joyful and uplifting. They are rewards that money cannot buy. So it all boils down to making lifestyle choices. No inherent right or wrong.
That’s very cool I’ve only got to watch part of this video so far are you chilies in America you’re automatically charge $50 minimum for sewage $30 for water minimum and $79 minimum for electricity even if you don’t use it And $39 for gas
Hi, do you live in Singapore? Could you also add mandarin subtitles? I wish I could show my parents your content, so they can learn how to become more wholesome. I can't speak Chinese well myself to explain :p.
Yes we live in SG :) We would love to add mandarin subtitles too so that our parents can understand the videos we make, but we're not sure our translation can do our content justice either 😅 Try out the auto-translate feature, sometimes it does a decent enough job!
I think I'm going to go ahead an find a cheaper phone plan, I work from home, and even when I was out before, I wasn't using data. (I'm spending 50-60 a month for my phone and feel like it could be so much less)
i believe they have jobs or their own business/income from youtube right? But i think they mentioned they are paying off from CPF so which means they have a job. Wont be hard paying off HDB anyway.
Currently we use a simple Money Manager app by www.realbyteapps.com/ We've not used enough to know if it's the best one, but it's been working for us so far :)
Where do you live, and how much do you spend a month? (Only if you're comfortable with sharing, of course!) And share with us, what's the biggest challenge that you face when it comes to managing your personal finance? 👇
P.S. Hit the LIKE button if you enjoyed the video or if you wish to see more videos on the topic of money in the future!
Live in Jakarta with ~$250 monthly expense (about ~15% of total income). My food expense relatively low at ~$60 because I cook my own food (thanks god for creating potato as super food). And I almost never eat meat, because I don't like it and logistically expensive. I try to supplement my nutritional intake by eating high protein food in the weekend hangout.
My biggest challenge is to find a guest house at ~$150 but provide all of basic needs (water, electric, cooking gas, wifi, air conditioner, etc) and close enough so I can walk to work.
The rest of my money goes to saving, courses and various investment
Live in Sweden and we are a family of five. With rent and everything, around $2200/month. Biggest challenge is for us food and unexpected costs. With three kids and a pretty active life, takeaway is a lifesaver but costs. And also kids and having a car is always a lot of unexpected costs, lol.
I live in the US, in one of the pricier states, and also manage to get by spending about $1,000 a month, including fixed expenses. Some months are a little higher, some months are a little lower. I believe the lowest I could get by on would be around $850, but I will admit, many of my circumstances are pretty lucky (for example, my rent is very low considering the area I live in.)
My biggest issue with finances is when I am drawn to an expensive item. I can hold off on cheaper items, but more expensive items really entice me on occasion. Even if I wait a few months to get the expensive item, there's still a chance it won't work out. I feel bad having to return things. It's just hard to predict whether I could truly benefit from an item, and if so, if I've found the right version of that item for me.
I'm really happy you guys have found a balance that works for you in terms of how your money gets earned and used.
Here in australia cost of living is high so my monthly expenses are quite high as i have a mortgage and i also support some family members. Basic expenses is mortgage is $1600, family support $1500, food $500, utilities $350. Even though i have a fairly good income i still try to live frugally, i don't eat out, i have my own home gym, i ride my bicycle or walk everywhere, i try to limit my ac etc...I actually enjoy the challenge and discipline involved in mindfully living a minimalist way.
Canada (east coast) monthly rent is 1300 (split in half with my partner), about 250 a month on groceries, 80 for internet and electricity, 50 for phone, and around 200 for going out (although not so much now with our lockdown) 😁
I personally think being successful in life is when we find what is comfortable for our own lives, spending in what makes us truly happy at the present without ignoring a restful future. Great video.
I retired in 2019 at age 36. my partner is finishing up his employment run and will join in 3 years time. as minimalists, SGD500 per mth is highly possible, we seem to get by completely fine with it. movie projection room, enjoying cooking, and buying classic styles when necessary is the way to go for us. everything else enjoy is in Nature and is mostly free of charge. pandemic has not really impacted us much, because we were already living streamlined way before it.
That's wonderful. What a way to live
I hope I can achieve this as well.
Can I ask how much savings did you have before retiring and also did you do/or still doing investing prior to your retirement?
@@alexs_33 after working for about a decade, I had slightly over 100k. my earliest salary was 3k, and last was 5k. I tried to put away 1k minimum at least each month. keep in mind, these figures are in the context of Singapore.
@@alexs_33 as for investing, I only started earlier this year, making use of the down prices due to the pandemic. I felt safe doing this after 2020 and seeing how the playing field has changed and will continue to change due to covid. these are my riskier investments which I would not recommend to others.
my safer investments are savings with a component to unit trusts. these are safe options for investing, if you have 50k liquid that is sitting around. they should function as supplementary safety net, not your primary, and should pay out nicely in 10 years.
The Golden Rule of personal finance is to spend less than you make. There are two challenges there: making sure you meet that goal, and don’t be too cheap in order to spend way less than you earn. Balance is the key!
💯💯
One of the most important lessons is to build a small house. A large house is expensive to maintain.
Great Video! I would love to see more finance/money related videos in the future! My monthly costs vary between 200 and 300 Euro (324 - 485 SGD) per month, but I think that is very low for Germany, where I live. The biggest expenses are Food and eating out while most of my hobbies are for free (go for a walk and listening to a podcast, running, read books from our local library, watch UA-cam Videos etc.)
Thank you!
Nice, yes there are so many enriching things that one can do for free 🙌
Thank you so much for this video. It actually came at the perfect time. I'm a student right now and my main source of income is private tutoring and I had actually just had multiple students opt to stop lessons after I informed them of the need (or strong recommendation) to switch to online lessons due to new government measures literally announced today. I was fretting over the lost of income when I saw this video and realized I spend only slightly less than you guys do as a household despite my low income and I suddenly felt like things would be okay, I just needed to work on my spending habits.
Edit: I live in Singapore and spend about 500SGD/mth (however, most of my expenses are kindly paid for by my parents so most of my spending is on food, phone bills and leisure). My largest challenge is probably FOMO.
FOMO is probably the downfall for many people in their late teens and 20's! Keep working on it and you'll do fine, good luck!
Yep, that was an issue for me when I finished university and got my first job. I chose to do a job that has significantly less pay than my contemporaries but brought me a lot of satisfaction and fulfilment. But it meant I had to be pretty careful with my spending. At first, I tried to keep up with my friends - many of whom were in their first jobs but with minimal fixed expenses (e.g. no mortgages yet), which meant they had a lot of disposable income. After a few months of going out with them and essentially spending like them, I realised I couldn't keep up. I had to learn to live within my own budget. So I explained things to my friends and how I won't be going out with them to fancy restaurants and shopping with them, etc. Most of them were super understanding, and even adjusted how we met up (e.g. going to parks and beaches to catch up instead of going to concerts). Some did not really understand why I was like this, and that's ok too. We just hung out less.
@@Moontess Yikes, really hope most of my friends wld be understanding like yours. All the best man!
This is really interesting, thank you. My biggest challenge is shopping for leisure. I enjoy it and I find it easy to justify purchases and hard to find things to do that make me as happy. Still working on it, its not something I can give up on.
Totally understand, we're not immune to the allure of shopping ourselves. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
*retweet*
Great video! Thanks for sharing!
Your costs are actually surprisingly sensible for what people would think of Singapore as a high CoL place! Your food costs are definitely expensive however despite your frugality, which sounds like a local market issue. The rest of the budget is really good considering the lifestyle you two lead.
About the food cost, living in Canada, for 2 people we send arround that number, maybe a little bit more. It looks pretty accurate from my point of view.
$500 per month is very high for 2 people
I am cooking for 8 people $600 +\- per month
The idea is
I buy from wet market general cheaper than supermarkets
4 vegan meals in a week means lots of vegetables
Avoid processed food if possible generally more expensive
Of course not forgetting plain water
@@maypong2007 but is the average. You are lucky of being able to pay so cheap.
I live in Singapore and spend about $700-800 a month as a working adult in my early 20s, not married yet and planning to buy a BTO soon!
In pre-covid times when I had to go back to office every weekday, my spending was more, at about $1k a month due to buying outside food everyday and transport.
Really well made! Loving the gorgeous typography :))
Thank you! Cheers!
Money is such an important topic and I admit we don’t calculate our budget or expenses so we spend more than we should.
Yo, this is so well thought out and presented. Thanks for being transparent with some of your finances. I've been working to live more frugally myself, it's tough but has been so rewarding.
The dedication to keep the water and electricity bill this controlled is impressive!🤯 Don't think I can do that now but definitely will try out the $5 mobile plan!
Ayee nice to have you CK!
It's actually more habitual than dedication, tbh. We've been trying to keep our energy consumption down for many years now, so it's not something that we have to think about, really. We would say it's actually harder to keep within the data limit of a $5 mobile plan, than it is to keep our energy bill down 😂 internet addiction is real.
Keep up the good work, cheers! 🍻
You two should do a minimal collab 😜
We live in Singapore as a couple and spend around the same as well - SG can be pretty cheap and affordable if we don't splurge on everything and have more home cooked meals! :)
I love this! in Singapore we're always forced to upgrade our lifestyle whenever we earn more. it's like a never ending rat race... I love how both of you are contented with the very basics yet not being overly frugal. It's basically boiling down to things we need and we don't!
Currently I think I'm spending more than both of you combined haaha (even without paying for any bills on my end) so this is a good goal to stretch for!!
Just one question if you happen to see - what would you recommend someone with a busy life style to cut down on? Main bulk of my expenses are for grabs (to save time) and food delivery/eating out. Not much time to cook. :(
We think that would depend quite heavily on individual lifestyle! Like, in our case there's no way (and no point) for us to cut down on our transportation expenses, but it may be the complete different for you. Spending money to save time is the smart thing to do in many cases, but if it were us we would probably ask ourselves if we're overvaluing the time that we saved (proportionate to the amount of money spent).
The best advice I could ever come up with on saving money,
Never buy snack again, just stop snacking, don't even snack on nuts or fruits or veggies. No snacks.
Only breakfast lunch and dinner,
I recommend only cooking with fresh produce, no boxed or bagged or preserved foods, all fresh perishable foods.
My favorite dinner is fried rice (rice, sesame oil, green onion, onion, carrots, garlic, soy sauce,) you can modify however you want, use any meat you want
Usually I'll make four portions worth of it,
My favorite breakfast is quinoa, eggs, and spicy sausage, (I'm an athlete, these three ingredients are high in protien, and sausage has other important nutrients for fitness)
If you'd like something more flavorful, try replacing sausage with chorizo.
For lunch I usually drink what I like to call a "super smoothie" almost always using kale and berries, and whatever other ingredients I can get in there for further nutrients (I do this for athleticism, and because it's incredibly quick to digest, making me feel good the rest of the day)
These are also really cheap to make, but you need a good blender, and it takes some practice until you get good consistent smoothies.
This is the healthiest diet I could come up with when I was studying nutrition,
My lunch and breakfast are usually the same, but I like to explore different dinners, (and I experiment a lot with different smoothies)
Avoid sugar. Just trust me. You'll get plenty of sugar from other foods especially if you do daily smoothies.
Food costs are usually the most difficult to overcome, there's been a lot of times I had to starve myself to pay rent.
When I cut out snacking I nearly halved my grocery expenses, I still buy deserts and snacks rarely as a treat, I like it that way, instead of expecting them every day I earn them.
Yes, everyone has an opinion 😆. Our biggest spending category is food. On top of not cutting corners on quality of food (local and humane isn’t cheap) we like to go out to eat. We still manage to put quite a bit in savings since we don’t really spend on other stuff. Neither of us is into shopping for leisure, no car payment, we don’t buy the latest technology, etc. Loved the video!
😆 Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
Our family of 3 (2 adults and a 13 y.o., plus cat) living in Canada, Gatineau spend about $60K per year. Rent and hydro are about $1200/mo, food is the 2nd bigest, and we mostly cook at home. Car is paid off in full, maintenance is affordable. Internet $80/mo. One cellphone $60, second is paid by my husband's workplace. Working from home, one salary. Kid goes to expensive private school. We save a bit too. Can very easily tighten our belts by 10-15%!
Interesting, thanks for sharing! 🙌
Binge watched almost all of your videos in one sitting. Thank you for all the inspiring and informative videos! 👍
Thank you for that, really appreciate it! 💕
Thank you for this video, this was super interesting!
Thank you, really appreciate that!
I instantly clicked into this video! I also strive to live a simple life and spend very little money so I don't have to work so much to earn money. I strongly agree that we shouldn't compromise on food!! Living cheaply in Singapore is still possible depending on our choices and willingness to simplify our lives.
Yup, food is definitely worth spending on (within reason, of course)!
Our electric bill was still at $50 a month even when we didn't heat the house for Oct. Through December.
I live in Tangerang Selatan for about 4 years. Cost live here a lil bit pricy in Indonesia. I always write down my expenses every day for every purchases. I have my monthly expenses in early month. I spend 30% - 35% for monthly expenses. It is including food, monthly needed, transportation, utility rent costs, etc. I live in a dorm with my collagues and it’s help. My office near with my dorm too so I just have to walk to go to office. 40% -45% for saving and investment, 5% for charity, 20% for lifestyle. I love minimalism too!
Great video! I have wanted to go live alone for a long time, but because of the pandemic, I had to stop.
I find the example of your finances very interesting.
Thanks! 🙌
Well spent expenses - thanks guys !
Great video! I live in Manila and run my own garments business. I consider myself thrifty but I splurge a little when it comes to food and dining out. I track my spending with an app to keep me aware of where my money goes. Financial literacy is a really good topic. Kudos to Thoughtworthy Co for putting this video up and talking about a topic some consider taboo. 👍🏼
Thank you, really appreciate that!
Beautiful inspiring video, thank you
Thank you! 💕
Thanks for sharing! I love your videos.
Thank you! 🙌
Greetings from Bangalore, India! This video kind of debunked my perception of Singapore as a very expensive place to live.
Some of the expenses you listed is quiet on par with an Indian metropolis. Here's what I spend* in a month(coverted to USD and rounded off)
*there many who spend far less.
Water and Gas - $20
Electricity - $10 per person (I don't own an AC)
Home Internet - $15
Mobile Plans - $5
Transport - $300 (I drive around in a car, a scooter would be 1/10th of this and we don't have an MRT yet)
Food + groceries - $150 (for a 4 member family)
Entertainment - $10 for a year (stopped movies and concerts after pandemic)
Misc - $75 (repairs + maintainance)
Great video !!!! Support from fellow Singaporean =)
Glad you enjoyed the video! 😊
Making me want to move to Singapore!
Wow, I wish the US had some of these price points (cell phone payments, internet, etc). Next year I plan on moving to landline instead of a cell because the prices are ridiculous here and I hardly use my phone besides the occasional text and the GPS.
Hoping to implement you guys’ spending habits into my life so I can pay off student loans faster! 💪 thanks for the inspiring video!
(Btw I live near Atlanta, Georgia and the living expenses are ridiculous... ☹️)
Love the vids guys, keep it up. Hello from Croatia 😃😃
Hello 🙌🏻 and thank you!
Thank you for your video, which was, as always, a real pleasure to watch. Your videos are always beautiful, interesting and well made. And it is really nice from you to have shared those numbers with us, because money, as you said, is a sensitive topic and people rarely share how many money they spend.
Personally, I am a french student and I lived alone for the first time in September of 2020, but with the covid I came back to my parents' home at the end of October. So for September, I spent a bit more than 200€ (323,53 SGD I think), but it was the beginning of the scholar year so I had to pay for some books and other things, but most of my spendings were for food. And i did not have to pay the rent because my parents can pay it.
Thank you for the kind words, and for your sharing. Hope the covid situation is settling down over there, take care!
@@ThoughtworthyCo Hope everything is ok from your side too. Have a nice day.
If you are satisfied/content/happy with your life, then keep doing what you are doing. What other think is immaterial. They don’t pay your bills and never will so their opinion is just that an opinion without substance.
💯👍
on my own I spend 220 eur on Dietary and 100 eur on Selfcare per month
Dietary = Food, Drink, Supplements, Etc
Selfcare = all products used to maintain your appearances (includes Hand Wash, Shampoo, Moisturizer, Sunscreen and even washing clothes)
I seperate Groceries into two catergories, Dietary and Selfcare
haven't had anything that doesn't fit in either category
Because many costs have risen so much post Covid our biggest expenses are food and helping our adult kids. Luckily our mortgage is small and almost finished.
How blessed your future children will be, having you two as a living blueprint!
We try our best, but we know parenting will be tough! 🤞
i really enjoyed this video.. it seems like ppl think there is only 1 way to save money, use money and yeah money money money.. but I really prefer this perspective of money and frugal living. thank you for sharing~
i get paid monthly and by the end of the next month im broke.. never sure how, since most of my money is a fixed amount a month.. I never really know where my money has gone.
Glad you enjoyed it :)
Tracking our expenses is a habit that has really helped us have a better understanding of how we've been spending our money!
I think my expenses are quite low as compared to my peers (I don't drink, grab, eat out etc) but the top 2 category that my money goes towards are books and hobby *money flyyyyy hardcore design book collector and I love to try out new creative works like building my own furniture, screenprinting etc I like to think that it is an investment expense haha #PersonalDevelopment since I will be in the creative industry next time. Anyways great video once again! Freaking love yall so much
For sure they're an investment if you stay in the industry! Such cool skills to have; we would love to know how to build our own furniture or do our own screenprinting 😍
Aww thank you, take care and stay safe yourself! 💕
I really love this. I've been thinking of going freelance (I'm a copywriter) and potentially travelling or something because I've been feeling more anxious recently. Sometimes it's so easy to put pressure on yourself to be successful regardless of mental health.
Hope you feel better soon! Good luck and take care of yourself 💖
Challenge = self control
I think the biggest challenge has been managing the discretionary expenses. It’s so easy to spend too much on things that don’t necessarily add as much value we we thought. Or maybe that’s the problem - we don’t think through or weight it out as much as we should have before spending.
Am in my late 20s. I track my saving instead of my expenses as I found that it's easier and create less anxiety. 😅 I save first before I spend any of my salary. In short, 50% expenses (included commitments), 25% saving, 15% investment, 10% goal/dream/lifestyle. *I had saved up my emergency funds
I save money. Fixed deposit, private retirement scheme, endowment plan. (Ensure that they surpass the inflation rate in your country.) You may allocate a small portion of your money to try on different methods first before deciding on methods that suit you best.
Family of 5(3kids), monthly expenses is $5600. We are east and west with my partner
We spend about 5x as much as you do, but then again we are 8 people in our household and also have a person renting a room contributing to our water bill and a bit of electricity.
(Prices for Energy are also quite high in Germany)
Water + Gas + Electric are already 480 EUR each month.
My biggest challenge would be my inability to increase my income via job hopping or side hustles due to being locked in a contract
Wow, watching this and having the sudden realisation that I probably don't need as much data now that I am WFH... AND THEN it made me realise that I probably need to give more thought to my spending habits... because somehow this didn't occurred to me at all and I've been WFH for 1 year already?? may I ask what mobile plan are you using right now?
We're on circles.life, but you can also look for a list of the cheapest sim-only plans on blogs like seedly or moneysmart. Cheers!
As a 24 year old who just started a career in the massage industry in Australia, my biggest challenge is not earning enough/being underemployment. At college they sold the dream that massage therapists are in demand, and that we'll be booked and busy (=more income) however the reality doesn't reflect that, which was really disappointing. I'm still having troubles coming to terms with that and will have to seek other ways to build my income. At the moment I don't spend a lot for leisure/entertainment as a young person, I mostly spend my money on education, counselling and groceries. I am still living at home, bigger expenses such as utilities and private healthcare are taken care of by my parents. I've been keeping my expenses to a minimum without sacrificing my happiness but yes definitely need to look further into building income.
Sounds like you're really trying. As long as you keep thinking in the right direction, we're sure you'll get to where you hope to be. Good luck!
I am 36 and currently living on a passive income so i no need to worry about bills at all. And also i have another sideline which pays me every month as well . So basically this sideline , passive income and a part time job i am doing right now. I commit 3 to 4 days work week. As slacking at home doing nothing cam get really boring. The only burden i have right now in my life is paying off the mortgage . Another side income i forget to mention is also i rented out 2 rooms to tenants, i am living in a hdb four room flat ( not bto) and collecting extra 1200 sgd per month for a number of years now. I am not rich at all , just living and maintaining a minimalistic lifestyle as well. Just may never know when the funds i have now can be use for emergencies at any unpredictable moment.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing :)
The biggest challenge for me for my personal finance is online shopping apps like lazada and shopee. So I'm planning to uninstall them.
cool. whenever i go shopping at malls or online, i have to ask myself countless times whether i need this now, want it now or it can wait. it can be confusing at times but it set the pace of the kind of lifestyle one wants. its good not to spend money mindlessly. I keep a balance worksheet where income from my work is in my left column (debit) while expenses are in the right column (credit). Each month i move my savings online to my saving accounts or SRS account and credit them in the left column. I try as much not to touch them unless absolutely necessary which are rare and in between. I live in my single BTO paid fully by CPF so i am lucky not to be having to worry about mortgage. good content always and stay safe. see u around soon.
Seems like you have a great grasp of your financials 💪 Cheers!
@@ThoughtworthyCo still far from the target but at least with the tips you shared will be there soon enough. :) stay safe.
Excellent post.
Thanks! :)
In the Philippines, I made a budget of PhP 10,000 a month. (conversion, 50:1 USD)
I'm shocked by the amount for food. I guess that's ok for two people but I try to spend $100 a month just for myself and when I get to $120... I got something nice like shrimp or scallops.
Love the content!!! Just wondering, where do you get your white T shirt from?
Hey thanks! Shirt is from Uniqlo 🙌
haha i initially thought this was an ad for uniqlo based off the clothes in the thumbnail 😆! thank u for this informative video ☺️!!
My WiFi alone is $130 Canadian. The cost of living here seems way more expensive.
No matter how much I save. For some reason, I'll be sneaking into my savings at the end of the month, a tiny bit. But thanks for sharing. I would take a thing or two from here and cut costs as much as possible.
Thanks for watching! Hope it helps in a way or two 🙌
Your voice is crisp.
i love this
thanks!
awesome video! its wonderful you found each other! so hard to find a partner like that in sg! any dating tips? much appreciated haha
Thanks!
Unfortunately we're probably out of touch with modern dating 🤣 our "online dating" was on MSN, not Tinder 😂
But don't worry too much about it. Just be yourself, be nice, and be patient!
Electricity at $20 how? Water and gas at $30 how? I live in SG and am 24 this year and I fork out at least 100 plus per month on Electricity and water combined. However, the one that is most expensive would be the phone/broadband/tv set up for me which cost me close to $300 per month! Honestly can't wait to downgrade my mobile phone plans and unsubscribe to the super expensive tv packages especially since with gst and service charge it cost almost 20 plus dollars. Heart pain.
We don't think we're doing anything special, really. Not using the air-con and water heater probably did most of the work 😅
@@ThoughtworthyCo Really applaud you guys for being able to manage your finances very well. Somehow looking at this makes me motivated to do the same thing too 😊 Keep up the great work, I will always look forward to the contents you guys upload 😀👍
In fact you could also cut down on your usage and use your GST voucher to fund your utilities usage.
How do you survive in Singapore without AC? Just rely on Fan?
Yes we rarely turn on the AC, but the fans are often on full blast 😅
@@ThoughtworthyCo how about the humidity? Do you guys live in high floor unit btw? I feel in SG it's humidity+heat that's unbearable
Wow do you mind sharing what you use for home broadband and your $5 mobile plan telco? You guys are really inspiring!
We use M1 for our home broadband and circles.life for mobile (you actually can't find it on their website but you can google it). Blogs like seedly and moneysmart have a list of the cheapest mobile plans available. Cheers! 💕
I live in India and we spend 300 dollars every month. And love your videos
Nice! Thank you! :)
Well done.
Thanks!
If you live primarily for yourself, eg:
1) don’t need to support parents (their medical and monthly allowance); or
2) put aside monthly donations to help the less privileged
then you are saving a large chunk of money for yourself.
Personally, I find doing 1) and 2) joyful and uplifting. They are rewards that money cannot buy.
So it all boils down to making lifestyle choices.
No inherent right or wrong.
May I know what mobile plan and home broadband you are using within your budget?
We use circles life for mobile and M1 for home broadband :)
That’s very cool I’ve only got to watch part of this video so far are you chilies in America you’re automatically charge $50 minimum for sewage $30 for water minimum and $79 minimum for electricity even if you don’t use it And $39 for gas
I hated that but understood somewhat since the minimum pays for maintenance of the system.
Do you allocate the majority of your savings to furnitures? Because yours look fancy and it's great!
Actually... our furniture is 70% IKEA and 30% Muji (also not high-end), so thankfully we can still afford that haha. Thanks!
Totally same spending with me. I also spend about 10% of what I earned. And invest the rest
SGD5 mobile plan?! 😳 Please share deal. Thank you.
Circles.life has a $5 plan. Blogs like seedly or moneysmart have a list of the cheapest sim-only plans in SG!
Hi, do you live in Singapore? Could you also add mandarin subtitles? I wish I could show my parents your content, so they can learn how to become more wholesome. I can't speak Chinese well myself to explain :p.
Yes we live in SG :)
We would love to add mandarin subtitles too so that our parents can understand the videos we make, but we're not sure our translation can do our content justice either 😅 Try out the auto-translate feature, sometimes it does a decent enough job!
I think I'm going to go ahead an find a cheaper phone plan, I work from home, and even when I was out before, I wasn't using data. (I'm spending 50-60 a month for my phone and feel like it could be so much less)
Do look around for deals! The mobile plans we're using aren't even marketed on our telco's website 😅 Good luck!
Can you talk about your housing cost like how you guys afford it etc
i believe they have jobs or their own business/income from youtube right? But i think they mentioned they are paying off from CPF so which means they have a job. Wont be hard paying off HDB anyway.
May i know do you use any platform to keep track on ur daily expenses? Please do share with me. Thanks!
Currently we use a simple Money Manager app by www.realbyteapps.com/
We've not used enough to know if it's the best one, but it's been working for us so far :)
what do you do or intend to do with all the money you saved/grow?
Hi, what brand of white shirt do you use?
They are mostly from Uniqlo!
During the pandemic, I learned to cut my husbands hair. That saved us $30 us a month.
Wow. Where do you live? $20 for utilities? $30 for gas. $5 cell phone bill? 😳I live in CA. I’d feel like a millionaire with these expenses.
This is Singapore, one of the "most expensive cities" in the world! 😅
I think if there are kids, such lifestyle may be more difficult
Does that mean that you don’t watch Netflix ?
the moment I heard your voice I knew you were Singaporean lol
❤️
There are $5 mobile plans.....? 😦😦😦
Yes! Circles Life has one :)
First!!!
haha congrats!
Pro tip: cutting your hair by yourself👍
Good one, but it takes courage to give it a try for the first time! 😅
Great video! Thank you for sharing
Thanks for watching!