Ever since we switched to a single-income family (career break ftw!), and our family dynamics changed with our little peanut’s birth, we have drastically shifted our salary allocation. We used to allocate a lot of our money to our fun fund meant for traveling and decompressing after a hectic year. But right now, our focus shifted to ensuring that we are prepared for the long term if we decide to permanently keep this current arrangement.
We also had to adjust our spending allocation as inflation in Singapore is getting tougher to manage and we observed our expenses skyrocketing in the recent years. Coupled with our new goal in mind, we have reviewed our monthly salary allocation and this is how we allocate our salary, after CPF deduction.
Parents Allowance
Our parents on both sides have retired and we decided to give our parents plenty of spending money to ensure that their retirement is peaceful without the need to worry about money. We also opt to pay off some of their bills so they do not need to dig into their savings to cover these expenses.
Allocation = 25% of salary
Bills and More Bills
When we first move out to stay in our EC, reality hits us REALLY bad when we realize everything needs money. There are electricity bills, water bills, internet bills, maintenance fees, subscription fees, and so on. Budgeting was tough in the first few months as we set up our services. Now, we are a lot more experienced and better a bit better at budgeting for our bills. We also tend to budget a little bit of buffer to cater for unexpected one-off expenses.
We realize that bills have taken a more significant bulk of our salary due to the GST increase, changing weather conditions that resulted in more electricity consumption, and higher tariffs for consumables.
We have a system of deducting most of our bills via GIRO to hit the requirement of higher interest-saving accounts.
Allocation = 25% of salary
Daily Expenses
We noticed a significant increase in our daily expenses since we started to cook at home a lot more. We tend to be a little more rewarding in our grocery choices and choose organic or fresh produce for our meals. Every single time we check out our groceries at the counter, we are also astonished by how much a grocery run can cost. We feel like a deer every single time the cashier announces our spending.
With our little one, we also noticed consumables like tissues, wet wipes, and toilet paper tend to be used up very quickly and we are always constantly stocking up on them every few weeks. We also have to budget for our little peanut’s expenses such as diapers, baby food, toys, and so on.
Allocation = 30% of salary
Home Crisis And Improvement Fund
Whether you are just moving into your new home, or staying in your current home for a while, many homeowners probably know that appliances and furniture will eventually break down, and you have to replace them, urgency dependent on how much you use them.
We do not know if it is a coincidence or we are damm unlucky, but many of our appliances such as washing machine, fridge, oven, and stove broke down right after 5 years of use. We blew through 5 years of our fund in one sitting and we are so glad we decided to set up this fund immediately after our stove broke down (the first time) right after the warranty period ended.
Allocation = 5%
Family Fund
It is a rename from our fun fund, but now that we are a family of three, holidays as a family take on a different meaning and we decide that it is important for us to explore the world as a family, to get exposure to new sights and to experience new adventures together.
Allocation = 5%
Savings
We blew up our savings during our delivery of little peanut, and we were not able to save any money in 2023 (in fact, we ended 2023 with a negative balance). Moving forward, we would have to slowly build back up our savings. We are really glad our excessive savings in the past provided us with a safety net during our times of need.
Allocation = 10%
Moving Forward
As we transit to a single income family in Singapore, we find that most of our money is being spent on daily expenses and bills. Inflation is getting high in Singapore and we observe that food prices, groceries, and household goods are trending higher each month. Our bills are also getting more expensive with the increase in GST and we have observed an upward trend in our bill expenses.
Moving forward, we are hoping that we can sustain our lifestyle on a single income so that we can spend more time with our little peanut. We hope that we can save a little more aggressively a few months down the road as we try to optimize our spending. Till then, lets see if 10% of savings is achievable, or we would have to adjust it again.
Last Updated: 17 Jan 2024
