Macro:
Trade war intensifies as the US added Huawei to a blacklist that restricts its ability to procure components from US companies, as well as its ability to sell to the US and its strategic allies. The tech cold war has begun.
Micro:
What imbues mankind with our humanity is our concept of time.
A past, a present and a future. The English language, the dominant lingua franca, is rooted in the concept of past, present and future. The past occupies our consciousness as our memories, the present is where we live at this very moment, while the future is what we direct our plans towards.
For accountants, our lives revolve around the measurement of numbers over a scope of time.
How do assets depreciate over time? How do cash flows materialise over time? How should certain figures be projected into the future? What is the cut-off point for revenue recognition? Has an entity, based on its past records as accumulated in its retained earnings, evinced an ability to subsist as a going concern?
Mathematics is so cold. Mathematics don't lie. And to borrow the lyrics from Shirley Bassey's famous song, Mathematics won't leave in the night and we've no fear that they might desert us.
The irony is that while our concept of time confirms our humanity, so does our irrationality towards time. Exactly because to err is human.
The mismanagement of personal finance is nothing but an error made when cash flows are matched against time.
We should all approach personal finances with a cold-hearted view, structure it as a business and manage it with a cynical and calculative hand. By doing so, it would unshackle us from the many miserable, petty and ultimately meaningless struggles that we put ourselves through.
Are we not happy at a job or an occupation? Gain perspective that by staying on for X years, we would save $Y from the stint that would buy ourselves our freedom. During that X years, as we mark the days counting down to freedom, the moping and whining naturally subside. When the end is in sight, what happens on the journey can be shaken off instead of being taken personally. We attain true self mastery when we consciously serve Company Personal Finance and refuse to be held emotionally hostage by a work situation that is less than pleasant.
I find that those who are extremely focused on numbers are effective people. What gets measured gets done. Numbers don't lie to us in the way that emotions do. When numbers become an all-consuming focus, extraneous concerns burn away and fall by the wayside.
Yet, extremely calculative people are often not joyful. There is something unattractive about them. They are inward looking, selfish and sometimes even lack optimism and hopefulness. Some of them fear to dream, to think big, to exercise creativity and imagination.
Running Company Personal Finance should be tempered with joyfulness. Joyfulness stems from a worldview of gratefulness, which should always entail giving back to the stakeholders in our lives.
Who are the stakeholders in our lives? Have we defined who they are? Are we ready to pay them the dues of gratitude? How much are we ready to give?
This is a profound question which demands soul searching. It deserves soul-searching.
Daily Spending Report:
Late Lunch Total SGD 6.75 (USD 4.93) - Duck noodle soup SGD 4.32 (USD 3.15) + mixed beans in syrup dessert SGD 2.43 (USD 1.77)
Missha brand skincare products - SGD 121.82 (USD 88.92)
Monday, May 20, 2019
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Of Labour and the Value of Time
Macro:
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of my country, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, weighed in on the US-China trade spat.
Micro:
3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
I made a new friend recently who shared with me his world view about the ultimate meaninglessness of most people's forms of employment.
The true movers and shakers who will change the world and improve people's lives radically are the ones who have true meaning in their employment.
I can sense the heartfelt sentiment in his words, but I reminded him that none of what he observes is original or novel.
After all, hasn't King Solomon, son of David, lamented the same more than 2000 years ago?
The Elon Musks, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Albert Einsteins and the Wright Brothers among us have created true value for mankind.
This does not detract from the fact that the rest of us ordinary mortals have contribution to society.
While it is true that the humble cashier at 7-Eleven could well be fully replaced in 7 years' time, this does not detract from the fact that he is providing a service that commands economic value now.
While it is true that this cashier can be easily replaced and is perfectly dispensable at a moment's notice, this does not detract from the fact that he is contributing by rendering a service right now.
It does not matter if this service is puny or measly or lowly. Economics have determined that at this current point in time, this is a service that is worth something, hence the cashier gets paid for his job.
To dismiss the cashier and to write him off, is tantamount to saying that life is meaningless because eventually we all pass away, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
What, then is the meaning of labour?
Labour is to exchange time for money, money to sustain us and keep us alive.
What, then is the meaning of time?
Daily Spending Report:
Lunch - Cai png (brown rice, steamed steak consisting of the tail part of a fresh fish, long beans) - SGD6.00 (USD4.38)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of my country, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, weighed in on the US-China trade spat.
“And one point is that for us in the middle,
and especially for smaller countries, we do not wish to be forced into
making invidious choices,” he said
I live in a tiny island nation in Southeast Asia. It is easy to get tossed aside as the giants fight. My forebears on this land have survived. I want to survive - I want those who come after me to survive too.
Micro:
Ecclesiastes 1 King James Version (KJV)
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
I made a new friend recently who shared with me his world view about the ultimate meaninglessness of most people's forms of employment.
The true movers and shakers who will change the world and improve people's lives radically are the ones who have true meaning in their employment.
I can sense the heartfelt sentiment in his words, but I reminded him that none of what he observes is original or novel.
After all, hasn't King Solomon, son of David, lamented the same more than 2000 years ago?
The Elon Musks, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Albert Einsteins and the Wright Brothers among us have created true value for mankind.
This does not detract from the fact that the rest of us ordinary mortals have contribution to society.
While it is true that the humble cashier at 7-Eleven could well be fully replaced in 7 years' time, this does not detract from the fact that he is providing a service that commands economic value now.
While it is true that this cashier can be easily replaced and is perfectly dispensable at a moment's notice, this does not detract from the fact that he is contributing by rendering a service right now.
It does not matter if this service is puny or measly or lowly. Economics have determined that at this current point in time, this is a service that is worth something, hence the cashier gets paid for his job.
To dismiss the cashier and to write him off, is tantamount to saying that life is meaningless because eventually we all pass away, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
What, then is the meaning of labour?
Labour is to exchange time for money, money to sustain us and keep us alive.
There are indeed people who feel philosophically aggrieved by the apparent meaningless of labour in and of itself, and seek to fall out of the grid.
To these people, if labour were simply and only for the purpose of generating income, once income has been accumulated into self-perpetuating wealth, labour should cease.
Although I am not fit to pass judgment on these people, as I am compelled by necessity to fall in line with the grid, I do venture an opinion that labour can have meaning in and of itself.
Labour can be emotionally rewarding if our skills and talents yield a positive response or outcome where they are directed.
For those among us who are less skilled and less talented, labour serves a pragmatic purpose in keeping us out of trouble.
Because the unemployed will gravitate towards mischief, this is but the natural tendency of man.
What, then is the meaning of time?
If time can be traded for money, then why do people spend a disproportionate amount of money trying to buy time?
Let's say Mr ABC earns $5,000 per month, which for the sake of simplicity he earns $0.50 per productive minute ($5,000/ (22 work days*8 hours * 60 minutes)
If he saves 60 minutes each day per month by driving instead of public commute, he saves 1,800 minutes over a month.
The economic value of the time saved is just $900 (1,800min X $0.50 per minute)
Yet, in Singapore, the average all-in costs of car ownership can come close to $2,000 per month.
Mr ABC cannot afford the car because it is costing him more than his per-minute worth. i.e. the car only makes sense if it costs him up to $900. So if he is spending $2,000 per month for a car, the difference of $1,100 ($2,000 less $900) is simply for vanity, for intangibles, for "face".
This can be boiled down to a simple mathematical question that even a primary school pupil can assess and answer. But no one cares about mathematics when ego comes into play. In Singapore, cars can be a status symbol, and many men here feel socially pressured to obtain a car. In fact, it has become a little bit of a veben good - the more irrationally costly car ownership is, the more desirable it gets.
Daily Spending Report:
Lunch - Cai png (brown rice, steamed steak consisting of the tail part of a fresh fish, long beans) - SGD6.00 (USD4.38)
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Personal Grooming in the Light of Frugality - Manicures
Macro:
So the newspapers say that China will depreciate its currency and lower its VAT to stimulate its exports in the face of US tariffs.
Does this mean that Iphones will become more and more expensive for the Chinese consumer? China is both Apple's manufacturer and consumer. What does this augur for Apple in the short- to mid-term?
Micro:
So a friend regaled us with accounts of her trips to Johor Bahru where she scored manicures at what she deems as a "steal".
What does a manicure even mean? To me, a manicure is a social signaler as much as it as a product of grooming. A manicure tells whosoever looking at your hands that you have disposable income (social signalling effect). Of course, a well-done, tasteful manicure is in itself a beautiful rendering. (On the nails of a client with gaudy tendencies, a manicure is a parade of unsightly ostentation, but I have digressed). So, how does making an arduous journey into Johor Bahru gel with the concept of a cushy lifestyle associated with disposable income? Enduring that awful trip is in fact a very violation of cushiness!
A manicure should be performed in a cool, quiet, and elegant ambience for it to qualify as a worthwhile experience. One should never need to fight the throbbing throngs at that Johor customs clearance, undergo the roller coaster ride of public commute, and withstand the awful traffic pollution to reach the manicurist.
I cannot pretend to be holier-than-thou, because I too, have sought the services of manicurists from time to time. I enjoy the attention, interaction and personal touch of the manicurist. There is a comforting pleasure in the physical contact in such a context. I love the mirror gloss of a fresh gelish manicure. In particular, I like my nails in a shade of fiery red. It beautifies my hands instantly. But let's consider the costs - is it worth it?
Market rates for a plain (with color coat but strictly no artwork) gelish manicure is about SGD40 (USD29). A well-done gelish treatment (performed by a skilful manicurist using quality paints) should last a fussy woman three weeks, a less fussy one about 4. Assume for simplicity 12 manicures a year.
A woman who spends SGD480 (USD350) per year on manicures is forgoing SGD800 (USD584) of compounded interest (assuming 4% p.a.) over 25 years.
Let me reiterate that I am in fact an extraordinarily vain woman. At the same time, I am a highly calculative woman. I am mulling over these figures to make sense of it.
Conscious arguments for continued vanity spending:
- Why are you so sure that YOU WILL BE ALIVE for another 25 years? Who promised you that? Life is unpredictable. YOLO
- Why are you so sure that this WORLD will still be in existence for another 25 years?
- Why are you so sure that FIAT CURRENCY will continue to be LEGAL TENDER in another 25 years?
- Why are you so sure that whichever currency that you are holding will not inflate itself into BANANA?
Sure, while there are a lot of crazy, unpredictable twists and turns to life, such wild theories about the unknown have crossed into the realm of fantasy. Chaos is everywhere but we have to super-impose some assumptions over the murkiness to begin any sort of orderly planning. Eventually, simple mathematics should trump all wild speculations about the faraway future, shouldn't it?
Daily Spending Report:
Lunch - Cai png (brown rice with sliced pork stir-fried in soya sauce gravy, french beans) - SGD4.30 (USD3.14)
So the newspapers say that China will depreciate its currency and lower its VAT to stimulate its exports in the face of US tariffs.
Does this mean that Iphones will become more and more expensive for the Chinese consumer? China is both Apple's manufacturer and consumer. What does this augur for Apple in the short- to mid-term?
Micro:
So a friend regaled us with accounts of her trips to Johor Bahru where she scored manicures at what she deems as a "steal".
What does a manicure even mean? To me, a manicure is a social signaler as much as it as a product of grooming. A manicure tells whosoever looking at your hands that you have disposable income (social signalling effect). Of course, a well-done, tasteful manicure is in itself a beautiful rendering. (On the nails of a client with gaudy tendencies, a manicure is a parade of unsightly ostentation, but I have digressed). So, how does making an arduous journey into Johor Bahru gel with the concept of a cushy lifestyle associated with disposable income? Enduring that awful trip is in fact a very violation of cushiness!
A manicure should be performed in a cool, quiet, and elegant ambience for it to qualify as a worthwhile experience. One should never need to fight the throbbing throngs at that Johor customs clearance, undergo the roller coaster ride of public commute, and withstand the awful traffic pollution to reach the manicurist.
I cannot pretend to be holier-than-thou, because I too, have sought the services of manicurists from time to time. I enjoy the attention, interaction and personal touch of the manicurist. There is a comforting pleasure in the physical contact in such a context. I love the mirror gloss of a fresh gelish manicure. In particular, I like my nails in a shade of fiery red. It beautifies my hands instantly. But let's consider the costs - is it worth it?
Market rates for a plain (with color coat but strictly no artwork) gelish manicure is about SGD40 (USD29). A well-done gelish treatment (performed by a skilful manicurist using quality paints) should last a fussy woman three weeks, a less fussy one about 4. Assume for simplicity 12 manicures a year.
A woman who spends SGD480 (USD350) per year on manicures is forgoing SGD800 (USD584) of compounded interest (assuming 4% p.a.) over 25 years.
Let me reiterate that I am in fact an extraordinarily vain woman. At the same time, I am a highly calculative woman. I am mulling over these figures to make sense of it.
Conscious arguments for continued vanity spending:
- Why are you so sure that YOU WILL BE ALIVE for another 25 years? Who promised you that? Life is unpredictable. YOLO
- Why are you so sure that this WORLD will still be in existence for another 25 years?
- Why are you so sure that FIAT CURRENCY will continue to be LEGAL TENDER in another 25 years?
- Why are you so sure that whichever currency that you are holding will not inflate itself into BANANA?
Sure, while there are a lot of crazy, unpredictable twists and turns to life, such wild theories about the unknown have crossed into the realm of fantasy. Chaos is everywhere but we have to super-impose some assumptions over the murkiness to begin any sort of orderly planning. Eventually, simple mathematics should trump all wild speculations about the faraway future, shouldn't it?
Daily Spending Report:
Lunch - Cai png (brown rice with sliced pork stir-fried in soya sauce gravy, french beans) - SGD4.30 (USD3.14)
Monday, May 13, 2019
The Weekday Food Question - Cai Png is KING
Macro:
The trade war between China and the US escalated last night, with China erecting retaliatory tariffs against the US. President Trump blustered on Twitter. Stock markets worldwide fell.
Micro:
FrugalSingaporeGirl's food prejudices.
As I have stated in the introductory blog post, I fell victim to lifestyle creep over the years.
During at least the past 5 years, I was seldom satisfied with a simple, bare basics lunch. I feel compelled to eat something fanciful (double of the price of a cai png**?) - a Soup Spoon set meal (approx. SGD 10, USD 7.30), an entry-level restaurant noodle soup dish at Xin Wang (approx. SGD 13, USD 9.50), or a takeaway Cold Storage salad (approx. SGD 9, USD 6.60). If I eat cai png, I would forsake rice, ordering a lot of meat and vegetables to upgrade it to a low-carb meal. This approach inevitably cost a premium. If I ate at a cheap place like a non-air-conditioned hawker centre, I would round up the meal with a freshly squeezed fruit juice (approx. SGD 3, USD 2.20) to use up what I saved on the main meal/ compensate myself for eating at an uncomfortable location.
** Cai png, that humble meal consisting of a staple base of rice accompanied with a selection of pre-cooked vegetables/meat/fish/egg, had fallen so far below my radar that I nearly forgot that it can be a meal choice. It is the cheapest type of meal available and it offers good variety in terms of taste and nutrition. It is value for money.
Why have I grown to dislike the Cai Png?
Cai Png is not necessarily the healthiest food you can find
Because of white rice and palm oil. I have grown snobbish with the years and developed a disdain for white rice. It is too high-GI and contributes to weight gain. Sugars in refined white rice surge into the blood stream and wrecks havoc with the skin, causing collagen elastins to collapse. Palm oil is the other evil - hawkers not only use it liberally but also use the worst-quality, cheapest version they can get their hands on. Cai png is gross!
Cai Png is .... depressing
Nutritional considerations aside, cai-png is associated with a particular way of life in Singapore - the humble and the poor and the unglamorous. It is a fixture in the (not unfunny) stereotype of the fat and unattractive male office worker who buys cai png and eat it alone at his desk, spooning out of a styrofoam box in front of his computer. Lifestyle creep meant that I outgrew it. But being now determined to be humble (for blessed are the humble in spirit), I decide to fully embrace the cai png every lunch!
Intermittent Fasting promotes frugal eating
Since I started practising Intermittent Fasting after Chinese New Year, I am only eating two meals a day, breakfast and lunch over a 4-hour window. This opens up a leeway for me to eat starchier, more filling foods during these two meals. I have observed myself for the last two weeks after I reverted to cai png. My weight has been under excellent control - white rice during lunch has had no adverse impact.
Moreover, my strictly controlled eating hours ensure that my body fully burns up the carbohydrates as fuel during the time when I require energy, which is essentially the office hours (9am to 6pm). When I reach home, I dive into bed on an empty stomach, ensuring no lingering ill effects from carbohydrate ingestion in the afternoon.
How to address the nutritional concern?
Nutrition can be achieved by selecting better cuts of meat/fish from the caipng stall - I usually order a fish steak that is cooked and served on its bones. I value protein and must have a portion every day, and Cai Png is one of the rare places that still cook fresh fish in their bones.
Food Spending - SGD 6.60 (USD 4.82)
In the morning, I begin feeding at 9am. Breakfast consists a soya-flour muffin with tuna fish filling from Mr Bean and a wholemeal bread sandwich with organic hazelnut spread. The sandwich is prepared with materials from home. All coffee and tea from the office pantry.
1) Soya-flour muffin with tuna fish filling - SGD 1.60 (USD 1.17)
2) Cai Png (white rice, palm-sized stingray steak, sliced potatoes) - SGD 5.00 (USD 3.65)
Food Tips
1) Eat Less - By practising Intermittent Fasting. Imposing a feeding window naturally ensures that volume of food intake reduces over time. I have also observed a genuine decline in my appetite with time - physical needs do shrink with psychosomatically. I have lost 3 kg over 3 months on IF, may not sound impressive but considering that I am 1.6m tall and began with an already relatively low base of 52kg.
2) Prepare Food at Home - In time, I shall cut out that breakfast soya-bean muffin habit.
GOAL REITERATION
I aim to spend SGD 310 (USD 226) on food per month including occasional trips out with my friends. Will I achieve this?
The trade war between China and the US escalated last night, with China erecting retaliatory tariffs against the US. President Trump blustered on Twitter. Stock markets worldwide fell.
Micro:
FrugalSingaporeGirl's food prejudices.
As I have stated in the introductory blog post, I fell victim to lifestyle creep over the years.
During at least the past 5 years, I was seldom satisfied with a simple, bare basics lunch. I feel compelled to eat something fanciful (double of the price of a cai png**?) - a Soup Spoon set meal (approx. SGD 10, USD 7.30), an entry-level restaurant noodle soup dish at Xin Wang (approx. SGD 13, USD 9.50), or a takeaway Cold Storage salad (approx. SGD 9, USD 6.60). If I eat cai png, I would forsake rice, ordering a lot of meat and vegetables to upgrade it to a low-carb meal. This approach inevitably cost a premium. If I ate at a cheap place like a non-air-conditioned hawker centre, I would round up the meal with a freshly squeezed fruit juice (approx. SGD 3, USD 2.20) to use up what I saved on the main meal/ compensate myself for eating at an uncomfortable location.
** Cai png, that humble meal consisting of a staple base of rice accompanied with a selection of pre-cooked vegetables/meat/fish/egg, had fallen so far below my radar that I nearly forgot that it can be a meal choice. It is the cheapest type of meal available and it offers good variety in terms of taste and nutrition. It is value for money.
Why have I grown to dislike the Cai Png?
Cai Png is not necessarily the healthiest food you can find
Because of white rice and palm oil. I have grown snobbish with the years and developed a disdain for white rice. It is too high-GI and contributes to weight gain. Sugars in refined white rice surge into the blood stream and wrecks havoc with the skin, causing collagen elastins to collapse. Palm oil is the other evil - hawkers not only use it liberally but also use the worst-quality, cheapest version they can get their hands on. Cai png is gross!
Cai Png is .... depressing
Nutritional considerations aside, cai-png is associated with a particular way of life in Singapore - the humble and the poor and the unglamorous. It is a fixture in the (not unfunny) stereotype of the fat and unattractive male office worker who buys cai png and eat it alone at his desk, spooning out of a styrofoam box in front of his computer. Lifestyle creep meant that I outgrew it. But being now determined to be humble (for blessed are the humble in spirit), I decide to fully embrace the cai png every lunch!
Intermittent Fasting promotes frugal eating
Since I started practising Intermittent Fasting after Chinese New Year, I am only eating two meals a day, breakfast and lunch over a 4-hour window. This opens up a leeway for me to eat starchier, more filling foods during these two meals. I have observed myself for the last two weeks after I reverted to cai png. My weight has been under excellent control - white rice during lunch has had no adverse impact.
Moreover, my strictly controlled eating hours ensure that my body fully burns up the carbohydrates as fuel during the time when I require energy, which is essentially the office hours (9am to 6pm). When I reach home, I dive into bed on an empty stomach, ensuring no lingering ill effects from carbohydrate ingestion in the afternoon.
How to address the nutritional concern?
Nutrition can be achieved by selecting better cuts of meat/fish from the caipng stall - I usually order a fish steak that is cooked and served on its bones. I value protein and must have a portion every day, and Cai Png is one of the rare places that still cook fresh fish in their bones.
Food Spending - SGD 6.60 (USD 4.82)
In the morning, I begin feeding at 9am. Breakfast consists a soya-flour muffin with tuna fish filling from Mr Bean and a wholemeal bread sandwich with organic hazelnut spread. The sandwich is prepared with materials from home. All coffee and tea from the office pantry.
1) Soya-flour muffin with tuna fish filling - SGD 1.60 (USD 1.17)
2) Cai Png (white rice, palm-sized stingray steak, sliced potatoes) - SGD 5.00 (USD 3.65)
Food Tips
1) Eat Less - By practising Intermittent Fasting. Imposing a feeding window naturally ensures that volume of food intake reduces over time. I have also observed a genuine decline in my appetite with time - physical needs do shrink with psychosomatically. I have lost 3 kg over 3 months on IF, may not sound impressive but considering that I am 1.6m tall and began with an already relatively low base of 52kg.
2) Prepare Food at Home - In time, I shall cut out that breakfast soya-bean muffin habit.
GOAL REITERATION
I aim to spend SGD 310 (USD 226) on food per month including occasional trips out with my friends. Will I achieve this?
Me and My Blog Manifesto
What happens when you trawl the internet for information on Personal Finance and all you can find are blogs written by men? Everything is written from a man's perspective and sensibilities. So I have decided to fill in the gap by joining the blogosphere and putting up my two cents' worth.
PERSONAL FINANCE FROM A WOMAN'S PERSPECTIVE. What kind of frugal woman do I wish to be?
1) To look good while practicing frugality
The stereotype of the frugal woman is one who is just a depressing sight to behold. She wears her frugality on her face and her body as if it were a shroud of sadness. She is probably not even proud of it - her constant frugality has muted all her sense of self-awareness, reducing her to a walking personification of miserliness.
You know - that type of woman who has a yellow-green or grey-brown complexion from denying herself a proper skincare routine. Who wears dull clothing from obscure sources. With the blunt haircut from continually deferring trips to the hairsalon.
Yes, you can get rich from being drab, but have you deprived yourself from the healthy joys of life in the process?
I want to be stealth-frugal. To upkeep a positive and upbeat appearance without anyone suspecting that I am a practicing penny-pincher. It is easy to get rich by abusing oneself like a scarecrow, it is a higher level to be frugal but to look as if one is worth a million bucks.
2) To feel good while practicing frugality
Frugality is to exercise a high degree of discretion over all forms of spending.
In popular parlance, it means to be "WOKE".
To be deeply conscious of the immediate and long term personal impact, as well as the externalities, of ones consumption decisions.
To be "WOKE" is to be in touch with ones inner truth. Making sound decisions on what to spend on and how to spend comes nothing short of that.
ABOUT ME
I need to explain who I am in order to set a context to the above objectives.
I am a Singaporean female residing in Singapore. I am a Chartered Accountant of Singapore.
I am single, childless and without dependent.
I spent the initial years of my working life as a penny pincher.
Over the years, lifestyle inflation crept in and I lost my edge. I went through fits and phases of extravagance, now I would like to resume the straight and narrow path.
I will use the blog to document my EXPERIMENT.
The objective of this blog is to find out just how low my spending will be, starting from 14 MAY 2019.
I aim to keep my spending to SGD 24,000 (USD 17,525) per year, or SGD 2,000 (USD 1,460) per mth, excluding my mortgage payments (there is no other liabilities).
JOIN ME ON THE JOURNEY!
PERSONAL FINANCE FROM A WOMAN'S PERSPECTIVE. What kind of frugal woman do I wish to be?
1) To look good while practicing frugality
The stereotype of the frugal woman is one who is just a depressing sight to behold. She wears her frugality on her face and her body as if it were a shroud of sadness. She is probably not even proud of it - her constant frugality has muted all her sense of self-awareness, reducing her to a walking personification of miserliness.
You know - that type of woman who has a yellow-green or grey-brown complexion from denying herself a proper skincare routine. Who wears dull clothing from obscure sources. With the blunt haircut from continually deferring trips to the hairsalon.
Yes, you can get rich from being drab, but have you deprived yourself from the healthy joys of life in the process?
I want to be stealth-frugal. To upkeep a positive and upbeat appearance without anyone suspecting that I am a practicing penny-pincher. It is easy to get rich by abusing oneself like a scarecrow, it is a higher level to be frugal but to look as if one is worth a million bucks.
2) To feel good while practicing frugality
Frugality is to exercise a high degree of discretion over all forms of spending.
In popular parlance, it means to be "WOKE".
To be deeply conscious of the immediate and long term personal impact, as well as the externalities, of ones consumption decisions.
To be "WOKE" is to be in touch with ones inner truth. Making sound decisions on what to spend on and how to spend comes nothing short of that.
ABOUT ME
I need to explain who I am in order to set a context to the above objectives.
I am a Singaporean female residing in Singapore. I am a Chartered Accountant of Singapore.
I am single, childless and without dependent.
I spent the initial years of my working life as a penny pincher.
Over the years, lifestyle inflation crept in and I lost my edge. I went through fits and phases of extravagance, now I would like to resume the straight and narrow path.
I will use the blog to document my EXPERIMENT.
The objective of this blog is to find out just how low my spending will be, starting from 14 MAY 2019.
I aim to keep my spending to SGD 24,000 (USD 17,525) per year, or SGD 2,000 (USD 1,460) per mth, excluding my mortgage payments (there is no other liabilities).
JOIN ME ON THE JOURNEY!
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