Expenses Update: November 2016

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)


 

 

4 Replies to “Expenses Update: November 2016”

  1. 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.

  2. 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

    1. 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!

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