I am pretty late with this update as I was outfield during the past few days on my reservist. This is my first ever cycle at 30 years old and truth be told, I hope I am never called up again.
I am currently nursing multiple mosquito bites and still recovering from my sleep debt and 90% of the time in camp and outfield, I am basically just waiting for time to pass.
And it doesn’t help that as a self-employed, they are just paying me my rank pay and I have to go through some inconvenient processes to prove my income.
Last but not least, my expenses have actually gone up during the past two weeks. Urghh… #endofrant
Eating Out: $731.60
Hawker ($245.70) – Canteen breaks everyday to make the mornings pass faster in camp. And when I am outfield, I tend to treat the NSFs as well.
Fast Food ($12.70) – Just a couple of Mac meals.
Restaurants ($473.20) – Likely to have been lower if not for the drive out during lunches. I am actually perfectly ok with cookhouse food but if your friends decide to drive out for lunch to make time pass faster, it’s pretty hard to reject.
Groceries: $175.60
Supermarket ($145.60) – Ice-cream and junk food galore as there are promotions for my Haagen Daaz, Lindor Chocolates and Oreo Thins.
Market ($30) – Replenished nuts for my breakfast and snacks from Bugis before the prices increase as we approach Chinese New Year.
Beverages & Snacks: $64.20
Snacks ($45.80) – Outfield, when the storemen and drivers are out packing rations, I almost inevitably pass them $10 to help me buy kopi-o when they pass by the canteen.
Drinks ($18.40) – Generally at least one cup of Koi every week.
Utilities: $198.89
Electricity, Gas & Water ($102.34) – Electricity usage was much higher at 353kWh for this month as we tried out our new air conditioner in the living room for a few days. 14KWh of gas and 7.3 Cu M of water make up the rest of the utility bill.
Cellphones ($96.55) – $51.55 for me and $45 for the Mrs for our mobile services. Mine comes with upsized data.
Transport: $230
1 EZ Reload transaction for me and 2 for the Mrs. And multiple cab/grab/uber rides as the nearest bus stop to my camp is probably a 1.5km walk away. And one is likely going to get chased by dogs if you walk.
Miscellaneous: $2,060
Marketing Expenses ($2,060) – I have talked about it here and the ROI for this piece of investment is likely going to be pathetic. Direct mailers to condominiums are freakingly expensive and I have found out that it doesn’t work as well as I have assumed.
Total: $3,460.29
Overall Total: $5,145.29 (included fixed expenses of $1,685)
I think it’s amazing that you are managing to keep up posting of your monthly expenses. I’ve slacked off for a year and clearly the increase in expenses are making an impact on my savings rate without me knowing it.
Hi Mickey J,
It doesn’t take much time and effort on my part.
Anyway, great to see you writing again!
I like how consistent you are in tracking your expenses! I definitely don’t monitor to such an extent and by categories. Maybe in the future when there are only cashless transactions for everything and there’s an app to auto-track all the expenses by categories with minimal effort on my part!
Cheers,
TFS
Hi TFS,
I honestly think that day is not far away!
I believe tracking does help to minimise, albeit just slightly. Maybe I am just an expense data freak!