As we pre-paid for one of our trips in 2018, it’s no surprise that the past month’s expenditure surged past $5,000 again. In a month of celebration, catch-ups and gift-giving, we spent about $5,300.

With December’s entry, the yearly expenditure came in at $53,000 and on average, we spent about $4,400 a month. This is an amount slightly on the higher side as I was quite confident we could keep to $50,000 at the start of the year.

It’s really alright though since we were still able to clock a very decent saving rate on our income. Moreover, there has been really no conscious attempt to control or rein in the expenses over the past year.

I will probably summarise the entire year’s expenditure and post some thoughts of them in an upcoming post.

Eating Out: $630

Hawker ($168) – There were about 18 entries so it’s quite clear we are not cooking as often as we should be.

Fast Food ($43.80) – 1 entry each at Wing Stop, Burger Up and Mac. We met up with some friends recently who have not ate Mac for years. I am really pondering ver whether we should do a blanket ban on fast food for at least a few months.

Restaurants ($418.20) – 10 entries and we spent about $40 for each visit.  What’s interesting is they were all at different places and about 4 were meet-ups with friends to catch up. There were also two occasions when I went to for low to mid-tier buffets and truth be told, I didn’t really enjoy those meals. I think I have come to the stage where I can no longer enjoy gouging myself silly on buffet spreads.

Groceries: $137.65

Supermarket ($50.45) – 4 trips to NTUC Finest.

Wet Market ($87.20) – Just 2 trips to the Kovan market as lessons started resuming and there were some weeks when we didn’t have free mornings. One highlight was that we invited a friend over and cooked some salmon for lunch.

Beverages & Snacks: $91.70

Snacks ($79.60) – Two Bing Su, two Godiva icecream (1-for-1) and a impromptu durian purchase in the middle of the month.

Beverages ($12.10) – Two cups of Koi and some sugar cane at a hawker centre.

Utilities: $215.10

Electricity, Gas & Water ($117.90) – Electricity usage was about 380kWh for this month. 38KWh of gas and 7.8 Cu M of water meant the bill added up to $117.90.

Cellphones ($97.20) – $51.55 for me and $45.65 for the Mrs for our mobile services. Mine comes with upsized data to 7GB.

Transport: $100

1 EZ Reload transaction for each of us. This is one area I might not track so closely as I begin to use Grab Shuttle Plus services in Punggol and get involved in bike-sharing services. There’s temptation to lump all of them in as fixed transport costs at $100 a month.

Departmental: $682.40

Clothes ($323.60) – I am responsible for most of these as I bought a jacket and some long pants to renew the wardrobe during the year-end sales.

Personal Items ($30.80) – I changed my Casio watch strap and the Mrs bought a lip balm and some shower wash.

Books & Stationery ($328) – Assessment books and storybooks from the Popular Bookfest at Suntec.

Miscellaneous: $1,770

Gifts ($420) – A wedding lunch and the bro-in-law’s ROM reception.

Travel ($1,350) – We bought air tickets to Phuket and booked a 5 night stay at this fancy Amatara Wellness Resort during May. We like to make arrangements for a trip right after coming back from a vacation. This maximises the utility since we can then spend the next few months looking forward to the beach holiday.

Total: $3,626.85
Overall Total: $5,287.85 (included fixed expenses of $1,661)