The “$16 Balance” Club
Can I cancel my subscription to being an adult or not? I check the T&Cs already, but the “Cancel” button is greyed out. This life… is not for me, lah.
The Math That Don’t Add Up I just opened my iBanking app. You know that feeling? You hold your breath, you pray to every God you know, and then you see it: $16.42.
Two weeks until next pay day.
How to survive? One packet of Cai Phan (no fish!) is already $6. If I eat one meal a day, I can last… 2.7 days. Then what? I eat the tissue paper I use to chope seat?
The “Nuclear” Debt I am $20,000 in the hole. Credit card interest is like a monster that grows while I sleep. Every month I work full-time, 9 to 6, OT until 8, but the money just… vwoom… disappears. It’s like my bank account has a leak.
People say, “Eh, go find part-time job lor! Go do GrabFood!”
Hello? I have two kids. One is still on formula. You know how much one tin of Abbott Similac costs now? Might as well be liquid gold. I cannot go out and deliver food because who is going to watch them? My shadow? I have no family help, no friends to tumpang the kids. I am the cook, the cleaner, the ATM, and the bodyguard.
The Choice No One Should Make Tonight, I sat in the dark for ten minutes because I was scared to turn on the light. I was calculating: If I don’t pay the SP Group bill this month, can I buy three more tins of formula?
The electric bill vs. the baby’s stomach. This is the “choice” I have in 2026.
I feel like I’m drowning in the Marina Barrage, and everyone is just standing on the bridge taking TikTok videos. I cannot give up because my kids are looking at me like I’m a superhero. But inside? This “superhero” is crying in the toilet so the kids don’t hear.
Just needed a space to vent. No family, no kakis, just me and my $16.
Today is a very, very heavy day.