Swaps to Save Money | Budgeting Tricks For Homeowners
Budgeting | Singapore
by Priyadarshini
7 December 2021
Are you a new homeowner in Singapore? As a new homeowner, you have to manage a variety of bills. For instance, mortgage payments, fixed fees such as utilities (water, gas, and electricity), property tax, and WiFi, etc. As well as day-to-day expenses such as groceries, meals, and other household necessities. And, especially now, when we’re all staying at home and working from home due to the Pandemic. Prices like energy will very certainly rise (lights, fan, aircon, charging devices, oven, microwave, etc). In this blog, we tell you some simple swaps to save money:
Simple Swaps to Save Money in Singapore
Change to a different electrical retailer
If you’re still paying the regulated electricity tariff (currently 24.13c per kWh, inclusive of GST), this is a no-brainer. Because you can get guaranteed savings of up to 27% on your monthly electricity bill, which translates to over $200 saved per year for a typical family of four in an HDB 4-room flat.
Because energy plan prices are continually competitive with ongoing promotions, it’s truly a consumer’s market because you can always choose the one that offers you the best price and/or value.
Use a credit card instead of cash to receive rebates
Do you still insist on paying in cash for everything? I know some of my friends still do. For a variety of reasons, including doubting their own self-control and avoiding the convenience of online shopping.
Credit cards, on the other hand, offer good incentives. Especially if they are matched with your regular spending categories (groceries, petrol, dining, utilities, etc). Since you’re going to spend the money anyhow, why not spend it while also earning rebates or other credit card benefits?
LED bulbs should be used in place of incandescent bulbs
The National Environment Agency (NEA) declared in 2018 that all light bulbs sold in Singapore would be “minimally as energy efficient as LED bulbs beginning in 2023.” According to the report, this would save homeowners around $3.5 million in energy bills each year.
If you still have non-LED lighting in your house, consider upgrading to more energy-efficient LED bulbs. The LED bulbs use up to 85% less electricity to generate the same amount of light and can last up to 20 times longer. LED bulbs do not get as hot as incandescent bulbs (which might be good news if you have a lot of lights in your home and want to save on energy costs when cooling your flat).
While the initial cost of purchasing LED lights and the physical labour of changing out each bulb may be inconvenient, you will save money in the long run.
It is acceptable to purchase (some) frozen food
There are many advantages of having a large-capacity freezer. Frozen berries in my morning smoothie are like the best thing ever! And frozen mushy peas simply taste better. Frozen meats and fish last much longer in the freezer; all I need to do is gently thaw them in the fridge overnight for best results.
To save water, replace your toilet fixtures
PUB established a Water Closet Replacement Project in 2017 to help people who live in older homes and have non-water efficient toilet fittings such as taps and toilets. The older fittings use 9L of water every flush and do not have a dual-flush option, whereas the new water-efficient fittings include a dual-flush option and do not consume more than 4.5L of water per full flush and 3.5L of water per half flush.
Households living in HDB flats built between 1987 and 1992 who are currently on community assistance schemes would receive free replacements under this project. Other households in HDB flats built around the same time can also apply for replacement at a reduced charge.
With these few tricks up your sleeves, you can control your expenses and use these swaps to save money.
