Briathrail // Albert 2MNG

This was imported from my old Tumblr blog posts.

It’s been more or less 6 months since I moved here in Singapore for work.

So far, regarding work… I must admit it’s not smooth as I wanted (I tend to be hard on myself at times), but as far as performance goes, I think I’m still on par. Learning something new every now and then about my field of work has been refreshing to me. There are things that my new boss tells us that makes me go, ‘hmmm never thought of that before, how can I put it in use right away?’.

I’m grateful for some of my coworkers for arranging this new experience for me. Originally I was hired by my company’s PH base as an offshore web developer, and there I worked for 5 months. They pushed that I be hired to be an onsite web developer in Singapore, and it’s a foot in the door for me to get some “international” experience on my resume, so I agreed right away. Although I felt bad for my cats I left at home. My sister is currently looking for adopters for my female cat. The cats were my companions for the around-3 years I stayed in a condo unit in Mandaluyong. And leaving pets behind was a great regret of mine, but I had to make a decision for my future.

My salary here is more than 2.5 times the salary I earned in my company last year. But, I have to plunk down money for rent (I live in a three-bedroom unit with 2 other people, and we share the expenses), allot money for daily expenses and stuff, and my real take-home money… well, it’s at least still quite a sum. But I’m trying to save as much as I can, because I know winds can change at a moment’s notice, and I just want to be well-prepared for any and all scenarios.

When it comes to expenses… whew. Once I landed in SG, I immediately downloaded an app that is able to help me keep track of my expenses. I soon developed a habit of logging in any expenses related to food and utilities. So far, I’m staying below SGD 600, that’s my sweet spot. But when it comes to personal expenses, I must admit I splurged. Singapore has many more options for the real shoppers, and online shopping here is a breeze. Also, discounts galore, so I kept an eye on the more substantial promos that came along in Shopee and Lazada.

So far, my most expensive purchase is a Lenovo Thinkpad E485 last October. It cost me around SGD 917 – its base price is around 300 lower, but I maxed out some of the optional specs (16GB RAM, extra 128GB SSD, middle-option processor for AMD) and I took advantage of the extra price off for AMD-powered laptops they have, so I ended up with a pricey yet substantially nice laptop. Also, instead of going to Harvey Norman or Courts, I went straight to Lenovo’s SG online shop. What I got was a nice laptop just literally a couple of weeks off the factory line. It’s a purchase I felt I needed as my old laptop was buckling hard at the weight of trying to run Windows 10 on a 4GB machine that is already more than 5 years old. And this is a laptop I felt will last me another half-decade or so.

The second expensive purchase – or should I say purchases – are my new collection of Japanese light novels. I bought them at Books Kinokuniya in Orchard. They stock literally hundreds, if not close to a thousand, titles of manga and light novels. I only bought English, of course. But so far, I kind of got cocky and happy I finally get real options instead of the ones at Fully Booked, so I bought one, then two, then… currently I bought 18 manga and light novels (majority light novels) at around SGD 25 apiece, and two NewType magazines. They’re handy when I’m tired of staring at computer screens, a nice eye rest.

The third set of purchases are just Nintendo Switch physical cartridges I bought at TOG. So far I bought Captain Toad, Octopath Traveler, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Torna EP, Crash Bandicoot trilogy, and NBA2k19. I already preordered SSBU.

The fourth set of expensive purchases… ahhh, here is where I am half-full with self-loathing. Because the first two above are ones I never had second thoughts. The third ones, ehh I like games. These are the ‘wants’ – some needs, some not.

• An Under Armour pair of shoes, with a t-shirt and a nice UA squeeze bottle for SGD 83. As I went to register for an SG marathon last month, one of their sponsors, UA, had a nice promo of 25% off when you buy a shoe with a shirt. So I selected a running shoe with a UA Manila shirt (figures) and the discounted total was still within 90 (my target) so I bought it. At that point in time, I needed another pair of shoes – my two shoes in SG is just one pair of black-ass Sketchers I bought for PHP 2200 (my default work shoe) 7 months ago and one pair of Decathlon running shoes I bought for SGD 60.
• Then Lazada’s 9.9 came along, and those mystery boxes were just oddly alluring, so I thought, what the heck, let me plunk some cash and see what we get. One of the mystery boxes contain electronic materials – four of them, and two I’m already using. The other two items on that box is a tale for next year. The second mystery box is a gaming box with random PS4 games, a small Assassin’s Creed shirt, an Isabelle AC amiibo, and a random artbook. Here is where I struck even –  it contained FFXV Royal Edition, which retails at an amount a few dollars less than what I paid for the box. It came with two other PS4 games and one PC game that I’ll probably sell later, maybe by March.
• Then I tried Shopee. It was nice, so I bought a laptop sleeve, a polo shirt, a cellphone cover, and a new ezLink card (Aggretsuko). Just small everyday items. The laptop sleeve was especially nice, will help keep my new laptop scratch-free. And by the next time I.P. comes to town I can give back his Gudetama ezLink with extra credit.
• Oh no, 11.11 came for me. No Black Friday, I didn’t buy anything on that day. 11.11 had the goodies. And Lazada brought back mystery boxes, so I went for them. As well as more I-don’t-really-want-but-I-need items. I bought a Reebok pair of shoes at a heavily discounted price. I bought a Kamiliant luggage at a heavily discounted price as well – the nice American Tourister luggage I had is still at PH due to size considerations, and the one I used in going back to SG had its wheels broken off, so I can’t use them anymore, and I needed a luggage for when I get the itch to drop by home. And I went for another two mystery boxes. The first one was a Soul audio box – came with a very nice set of Bluetooth earphones, a freebie pair of wired earphones and an earphone cover for SGD 29. Not bad. The other was an American Tourister box that contained a gleefully nice backpack that’s built for business travelers, with a neck pillow for SGD 29.

As expected, my officemates quickly caught on and they teasingly make the “make cash rain” hand motion everytime a delivery guy came with a package for me.

Then there’s three other necessary purchases. First, IKEA. I had to buy a small, cheap bedside table (Knarrevik, what the heck is that), less than 20. Then, I had to buy another iPhone – same model as my previous one, 5S (I loved its small form), but with 64GB. Bought it for SGD 180. Then I had to buy an ironing board and a Tefal iron, less than SGD 30. A nice bedsheet, blanket and pillowcase set me back SGD 50.

Gah golly, listing the “wants” made me want to throw my wallet around the room in a fit of what-the-fuck. But those “wants”, some of them have quickly evolved to needs – the multi-plug cable and the quick-charge plug came in handy real fast, the bed items I used right away and the iron+board are plenty helpful – and several of them will also become needs next year, so… well, the shoes are nice. Utility, even. I didn’t buy casual shoes, I bought running shoes. I look forward to trying out the UA shoe in the race next week.

Also, I was happy that Singapore has an active gaming/anime community and demand, as I went to both AFA and GameStart conventions. At GameStart, I splurged on keychains, shirts and pins for around SGD 60-70, and at AFA I just went for 3 items (some of the sellers there are the same creators I saw at GameStart), two awesome shirts and one haori, for around SGD 70-80.

Despite my excesses, I managed to rein in my more financially masochistic tendencies, and I still have a very good amount saved in my bank account. And come December, I don’t see anything I need nor want to buy (aside from games, as I plan to buy Katamari Damacy, and that alone), so I’m pretty safe from the Christmas wallet-busters. And next year, I plan to plug the last hole in my PH-related expense – I plan to convert my old Smart postpaid plan (the one I got as a work account in my previous employer that I converted to personal use) to a lower monthly plan, as that phone number is tied up to my various online and bank accounts. Either that or I shift everything to my Sun number, which can be a hassle.

I still want to stick to my goal of saving more than 10K SGD at December next year, if circumstances permit me to reach that date 😉 

For gyms, I’ll probably stick to ActiveSG until an Anytime Fitness opens up near Holland Village. I loved Fitness First’s amenities thanks to my officemate friend who brings me occasionally on weekends as a guest, but I am unwilling to plunk down a huge chunk of money due to *something* I feel deep in my gut related to my stay. I’m still staring at a small glimmer of uncertainty, so I’m unwilling to make any long-term commitments. That’s also the reason I still stick to a Singtel prepaid account – I usually just buy their SGD 20 data plan, which is usually enough to last me a month.

For next year, I will resume a goal I put aside this year due to my relocation – my trip to Japan. I definitely am budgeting already for that – I’ll set aside enough money for a week’s worth of enjoyment, but just enough so I can still realistically reach my other saving goal above and have a bit of emergency funds to spare.