I am a saver and I use the delayed gratification method. I hope to inspire others to save.

I came from a humble background. My father distributes newspaper, holds a F&B job and another F&B job at night. He also picks up items like a garang uni and I enjoyed second hand clothes, furnitures etc since young.

As a result, I become a saver.

I made most of my decisions based on dollar and cents. Most of my clothes are recycled items. I choose food from the menu base on price.

Before I entered NUS, I worked part time and even on public holidays to get double pay.

I managed to go on exchange programme with grants and didnt pay anything as I receieved grant.

I also borrowed books from the library and photocopied them with my company’s photocopying machine when I was on the night shift.

I also sold my books and projects after every semester.

I managed to save and pay off my study loan before I graduated.

When I started the workforce, my starting pay was $2700. Then, the financial crisis hit and it dropped to $2500. I worked for under 3k pay for the next 3 years before I became self-employed.

As a self-employed, I earned about $10k to $15k a month. I saved and managed to get my BTO fully paid before I reach my MOP. I also paid for my car with cash. We chose the cheapest but new car.

When my wallet got fatter, I walked into branded shops and tried to buy one of the branded items. I looked at the price and felt disgusted, and I walked off. Paying such a high price for these items doesnt make sense for me.

I continued to stay with my in-laws.

When I become a parent, I got recycled items for my children. I almost didnt buy any clothes, same for myself.

Then in my mid-30s, I realised I have saved almost $1m, mostly in cash. With that, I purchased a freehold landed property.

I continued to stay with my in-laws.

I leased out the property, finding a tenant to finance my mortgage. I am now saving up for a second property.

Once I get my second property, I will move to my landed and find more assets to buy.

This is my story. From garang guni to landed. I hope everyone can start saving.

Is my bf stingy or is he right?

I make 2k/month while my bf makes 18k/month.

The other day I told him he should be spending 9 times on me of what I spend on him. Like if I buy him a 5 dollar meal, he has to buy a 45 dollar one next time to match my contribution.

He strongly disagrees with this view as he said there are certain costs which don’t scale that way.

I think he is just being cheap. Shouldn’t money contribution be based on percentage to be fair? I think it’s only logical what. Like if I spent 200 dollars on him that’s 10% of my salary.

Even if he spends 900 dollars on me that’s more but it’s just 5% of his salary so to him it’s less what right?

Netizens’ comments

• Since you like to be so calculative, next time when you all buy house you will get only 10% stake in it
• How much money you want, no problem, limpeh burn for you.
• Next time u buy six piece nugget for him
  Make sure he buy 54 pcs for u ok
  Remember to eat them all by yourself
• That’s no right or wrong. You don’t have right to whatever he is making unless you work for him. How much percentage he wants to spend on you is his own prerogative.
• I would rather he spend 5 dollar on you and the rest of the 40 dollar into future funds for major purchases such as houses/reno/wedding whatsoever. How much can you contribute to those? Basically none. You are just taking his money for granted at the present for your own wishes. Wake up your idea, sit down with your boyfriend and have a mature talk on money handling, both current and future, before he move on to another person. Dont expect to be spoon fed by your boyfriend. He isnt your ATM.

A netizen shared how he drastically cuts down on his spending and saved the money that he didn’t use, and after half a year, had $10k in spare cash.

Here is what he said

“I work as a stall assistant at a food court and I make about $2,500 per month, and after deducting my CPF contribution of 20%, I bring home $2k.

I don’t have a wife or any children, so my expenses is solely me myself and I.

In the past, my spending was a little crazy for someone with an income like myself, I used to go drinking and partying with my friends all the time, every weekend.

On average, I spend about $1k plus on drinking per month, and the rest is split between buying my cigarettes, food, bills and etcetera.

I was living paycheck to paycheck when I realised that I had to cut down on my spending, because I was borrowing money far too often near the end of the money just to survive.

So I decided that if I were to cut down on my spending, it’s all or nothing.

I stopped drinking altogether, and every time my friends ask me out for drinks, I flat out reject them.

And just nice my mobile contract ($155/month) was expiring so I ported over to Circles life and got a SIM-only plan with a monthly bill of $20, with about 60gb of data.

Because i work at a food stall, I get to eat the food there for free so that’s 2/3 of my meals covered, and I limit myself to a max of $5 for the remaining meal.

I also quit smoking altogether, which is a whole other nightmare in itself – smokers should know how horrible and difficult it is to quit smoking.

On average, my monthly spending went from $2k per month to $250 per month, and the remaining amount of about $1.7k goes untouched.

I went from spending the entirety of my salary on nonsense, to saving almost all of it, and my health also improved from quitting drinking and smoking.

After about half a year, about 7 months, I have about $10.5k in savings.

I am planning to go on a short holiday and spend a little bit of my savings (budget maybe $2k), before I start saving again.

My goal is to have close to $100k in savings in 5 years, wish me luck!”

A netizen shared how she lost her job more than 2 months ago and is currently struggling to find a new job, applying for hundreds of job listings with little to no replies.

Here is what she said

“I used to work as an accountant with a salary of about $4k plus before I was let go by my company, and since then I have been sending my resume to companies trying to get a new job.

I think my resume is pretty well written, it is the same one that I used to get my accounting job many years ago and details my many experiences and roles in my career.

For context purposes, I am 27 years old and have remained loyal to my current (now former) company, so my resume is not really illustrious.

And I also only have a polytechnic diploma.

But anyway back to my job hunt, it seems that most of the jobs that I see online are looking for people with degrees and experience in the related field.

I don’t have a degree but I do have experience, but the employers appear to be blind to that fact.

I have sent hundreds and hundreds of emails and job applications, about 500 plus by now, and only ONE employer has replied.

That one reply invited me for a job interview, which I went about 2 weeks ago and have gotten no update from them, so I assume they have someone else in mind already.

This is very demoralising, and I just wanna ask, anyone has any ideas or tips to make me stand out from other job applicants?”

I’m with my girlfriend for 3 years. She’s been bugging me to marry her and it’s really starting to stress me out.

I didn’t tell her I actually have 6 figure savings accumulated from my deceased father’s will on top of my own assets and let her think I’m a pauper. She even gave me money once when she thought my family finances were tight but I rejected it.

A part of me decided she is the one after she did that.

My mother told me to never flaunt our wealth so as not to attract the wrong people so I guess I start to feel funny about money since young. We mostly go to hawkers and only visit restaurants when there is a special occasion like birthdays or Christmas.

Our dates are usually very low costs. I like that when the weather permits, we have the habit of alighting earlier from the train or bus and spend more time walking together and talking to reach our destination.

I lied to her that we can’t afford a flat yet and she showed hand me her savings and say she can and kept asking me not to waste her time in a joking way. Her family is pretty well to do. Her dad even gifted her a car when she got promoted but she sold it as she’s not confident driving.

The problem I have with my GF may be insignificant to some couples. I don’t really have any major red flags or issues about her. Even if she’s not my gf, I would think of her as a great person to have around. I know other men will find her very eligible given her looks, personality and family background. My mother loves her and already considers her a daughter-in-law. But I have a but. I’m not ready. We are in our late 20s.

How do you become ready?

I’m so in love with her but I just couldn’t make myself get down on one knee and ask for her hand in marriage.

Here are what netizens think:

• You just need competition. Once the danger of losing her becomes very real then u will treasure her more.Let her go out and work and be in the company of guys who are waiting to flaunt their wealth and generosity to her. U will become better after losing her.

• It is a typical scenario. When you have her, you don’t treasure her. When you lose her, then you will regret why you never treasure her. She is way more mature than you. Her future have you but your future do not have her. Let her go. You can’t even be truthful to her when it comes to money.

• Please do a good deed and break up with her. She deserves better. It’s one thing to not tell her your savings but another to lie about being a pauper. She sounds like a nice girl and deserves someone who is honest with her. I hope she dumps you soon