It has probably taken months, (if not a couple of years), but we have finally settled down into a “consume home-cooked food” by default routine.

It helped that some of our favourite go-to places have either removed their set lunch menus or raised prices. This meant that spending a little bit of time cooking at home and packing our meals became the best proposition on most weekdays.

This had a big impact on our expenses as we only spent about $3,100 in March.

Let’s hope we also see some positive side effects on our waistlines a few months down the road. =p

Eating Out: $361.90

Hawker ($114) – Just 13 entries this month. On average, we only eat out at hawker centres or food court once every 3 days.

Fast Food ($14.90) – 1 meal at Mac and another at Popeye’s as I went for a run to Sungei Serangoon one night due to a cancelled lesson. 

It’s been years since I last ate this and the fries, chicken tenders and biscuit were an awesome combo!

Restaurants ($233) – We basically dined at restaurants at most twice a week during the past month. They were all deliberate choices, ranging from Ichiban to the Sembawang White Bee Hoon to dim sum @Canton Paradise with a bunch of retired and semi-retired folks.

Groceries: $323.60

Supermarket ($158.60) – A major expense was getting Gillette razors for my shaver. I have tried using the basic razors koped from hotels and bought from the Value Shop. But honestly, I found them slightly uncomfortable.

Wet Market ($165) – 4 trips to the Kovan market on Thur mornings. The Mrs has started to buy pork belly and they have been incorporated into meals shown in the pictures below.  

An absolute feast: fish maw and crab soup along with braised pork belly and radish

Salmon with quinoa and eggs

A chicken breast wrap serves as a quick dinner in between lessons

Beverages & Snacks: $50.70

Some bak kwa and a small packet of Irvin’s salted egg potato chips for the Mrs to try!

Utilities: $197.09

Electricity, Gas & Water ($93.99) – Electricity usage was about 261kWh for this month. 39KWh of gas and 7.0 Cu M of water meant the bill added up to $93.99.

Cellphones ($103.10) – $51.55 each. Both our plans comes with upsized data to 7GB.

Transport: $50

1 EZ Reload transaction for the Mrs.

Departmental: $55

Clothes ($55) – We bought some items from Billabong during a 50% sale for our upcoming trip to Phuket.

Work: $47

Books and Notes ($47) – Some books purchased at Popular

Miscellaneous: $350

Gifts ($350) – A wedding lunch and a birthday dinner celebration for my mother-in-law. 

My MIL loved the decor for the longevity buns and of course the 贺词 from the staff

Total: $1,435.29
Overall Total: $3,096.29 (included fixed expenses of $1,661)

“Those who attend to small expenses are always rich” – John Adams

Thanks for reading.