How to save even more money during this circuit breaker

Since you currently don’t have transport expenses (unless you’re an essential worker, of course) and aren’t able to eat out, you might find that you’re saving quite a bit of money during this circuit breaker.

But where is all that extra cash going? Because if you’ve been getting food delivered every day or doing more online shopping than usual (no judgment there — there are only so many things to do at home), you may not actually be saving more. In fact, you may spending more than usual.

And considering how the Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on the importance of saving for a rainy day, what with many people across the world getting furloughed or even losing their jobs, it might be wise to grow your nest egg as best as you can.

1. Check before you buy

It’s not that you should give up online shopping — it’s perfectly fine to give yourself the occasional treat. But it’s easy to make impulse buys with online shopping,  especially when what you ordered turns out to be, well, nothing like it was described.

And though you can check the reviews beforehand, how do you know they’re not generated by some spam bot?

Here’s the solution: Run the feedback through websites like ReviewMeta.com, which analyses the reviews on an e-commerce site to tell you if they’re real and trustworthy. That way, you’ll at least make sure that you’re not spending money on something that isn’t the real deal.

2. Go pure data

When was the last time you took a serious look at your phone bill? We bet at least half of you reading this are wasting hard-earned dollars on your severely under-utilised mobile plans.

With Internet data services being as reliable and ubiquitous as they are nowadays, is there still a need to pay for talk-time and SMSes? In fact, when was the last time you made an honest-to-goodness telephone call that was routed through a switchboard?

Making the switch to data-only mobile plans is a good idea because 1) you save money on services you don’t need and 2) you’re almost guaranteed to get more data, which saves you from expensive data-top-ups or excess charges.

3. Make your own tea or coffee

Still making a Starbucks run every other day to the outlet closest to your house? There’s no good reason to fork out the equivalent of two hawker centre meals just for a pick-me up, especially when you can brew your very own coffee or tea right at home.

The equipment you need can be easily bought for the price of two or three cups of that fancy beverage, and you’ll soon be saving so much money that you’ll be thanking yourself for when you actually need the cash.

4. Learn to love the crock pot

Learning to cook your own meals can save you significant amounts of money, replacing the costly food deliveries with more reasonably priced options. And with fancy equipment like sous-vide circulators, going home cooked doesn’t mean giving up restaurant quality meals.

Because sous-vide is nothing more than cooking food at low heat over a long period, a slow cooker can give you the same delectable results. Simply look up some recipes, throw together the ingredients in a heavy-bottomed slow cooker, crank it on and let time do its thing.

5. Switch to house brands

House brands aren’t a new invention, having been around as soon as supermarkets realised excess raw materials leftover from the manufacturing process can be used to create products with respectable quality and margins.

However, households are still stubbornly paying more for the branded stuff, ignoring the savings they could gain by switching to house brands. Yes, quality is important, but it’s not the most reasonable thing to be paying more for branded versions of certain everyday products.

Consider house brands for toilet paper, tissues, over-the-counter medicines, pantry staples, jams and spreads and even frozen and canned food items to watch your savings rack up.

6. Make your own cleaning products

What you’re pouring out of that bottle of commercial cleanser isn’t magic. Rather, it’s stuff that causes chemical reactions. But do you know where chemicals originally come from?

It’s nature, and it turns out some of our everyday foodstuff or pantry ingredients can be combined to remove stains or eliminate bad odours just as effectively as off-the-shelf products.

We’re talking about recipes that involve vinegar and salt, which can be used to polish brass. And for an all-purpose cleaner and deodoriser, just combine baking soda and warm water.

Need to remove pesky water rings? Non-gel toothpaste (i.e., the white parts) and baking soda will do the trick. You can find tons more DIY recipes all over the Internet.

7. Ditch your electricity provider

The Open Electricity Market now has 13 electricity vendors available to meet the energy needs of Singaporean households, and its launch has been rolled out progressively since Nov 2018. With this fierce level of competition, you can bet there’re savings to be had.

Afraid that switching to a retailer might affect your electricity supply? Don’t fret, SP Group will continue to operate the national power grid and deliver electricity to everyone, so there’d be no disruptions during the transition.

Have a look at the rates and packages being offered by the contenders and suss out what you feel is the best deal for you. You can easily do so here , but note that you’ll have to wait till the scheme is rolled out to your geographical area.