Originally written on my dayre (www.dayre.me/estherxie). Download the app and follow me there for random musings!
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$100/week challenge - day before
I have decided!
I shall be taking up a new challenge for myself, to only spend $100 this week! Starting tomorrow and ending on Sunday. That's like $14+ per day? Hopefully can! Usually I take cab to work and sometimes I take cab home. Plus my workplace is in city area, so lunch plus a drink usually goes beyond $10. And I have dinner outside everyday, that's another $10. Recently I spend an average of $40-$60 every single day :x just on cabs and food, not including other stuff like shopping!
Am gonna record my spendings on dayre as I go so that I don't forget, and I can't say "never mind lah next week then challenge". Hehehe.
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$100/week challenge - day 1
And I failed before I even start.
Last night I kept telling myself, I must not cab to work today. So I went to bed earlier than usual and guess what, I woke up late!!
Am now in a cab to work and that's probably $20 off my $100 which also means $3 off each day's budget and that's a sad $11 from $14. For lunch and dinner. In city area. Anyway, just glad that a normal cab picked up the oncall job today. Last week I kena Mercedes cab twice.
I had a dream just before I woke up, and in it, bf was driving me to work. When we reached my work place, he charged me $25! I bargained it to $23 but still felt quite upset that my budget has been cut by 1/4 so quickly, and that my bf didn't tell me the ride was not free.
Ridiculous dream right. In real life where got bf drive gf to work and still charge her one! Hahaha.
So... $100 - $18.80 = $81.20
Forgot that I shouldn't use nets cos that's an extra 30 cents off my budget.
My colleague just asked me if I want tea because she's going to get one for herself.
I said no, but i realise I said no cos I don't feel like drinking tea. Not because of my budget. In fact, I wasn't even considering about my budget cos it didn't occur to me that getting a cup of tea would affect it.
Now I know why I always run out of money so fast.... Cos I never notice all these small small things I spend on!
By the way, although I'm counting in taxi fare, I won't be counting in bus/mrt fare that is deducted from my ezlink cos it's too troublesome. I shall consider it free transport since I topped up last week with last week's budget. Hahahah. But if I need to top up my card anytime this week, it will be $10 out of my pocket and $10 deduct from the $100 Budget.
Hello autocorrect, why do you keep capitalising the b in my Budget? See, there u go again. Very mafan to keep editing u know.
Lunch time! Went to Kopitiam instead of my usual Food Republic. Cheapest food in foodcourt: cai fan.
I just tightened my braces and teeth is painful so I ordered tofu (afew piece only *sad*) and steamed egg. No meat!
$3.60. Not bad! Usually a plate of main course at food republic is average of $6-$8 and up. This is almost half price!
But dunoe later will hungry or not.
Couldn't resist and ordered drink. To save 20 cents I order Teh-o Peng instead of my usual Teh Peng. $1.60. But hor, it is very not nice. Rather pay 70 cents more for Teh Peng from Toast Box.
$81.20 - $3.60 - $1.60 = balance $76.
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Time check: 5.05pm
Hungry already!
Just ended a work meeting and heading back to office now. So tempted to grab something to bite but luckily my painful teeth makes me think twice.
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Should I sign up for gym membership or buy a treadmill?
Overall treadmill is cheaper. And I think I will use it more often compared to having to make plans to head to the gym.
But the gym is very near my office.
But minimum 1 year commitment wor.
~
Oh no. I am craving for kebab rice. That's $9.50. 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
Paisei cai fan again for dinner. Haha. So uncreative. Also because I can't think of anything else I can eat cos my teeth is still very pain after my braces tightening session 2 days back.
Forgot about my budget and almost ordered fish! I remember at my previous workplace the fish alone was $4. More expensive than this entire plate but I still ordered it often, cos I like eating fish!
I think the Aunty kelian me because after I said enough, she went back to give me more egg. Haha. And also offered me free soup. So awesome!
Anyway I realise this $100/week budget is probably no big deal to most people because I realise if there is $2.50 - $3.50 food around, spend $50/week is already very possible! But here don't have..... I think.
Actually I don't mind just the egg and rice leh. Also quite yummy. But nobody just order 1 dish and 1 rice right?! Probably will kena scold by the stall. Hahaha.
Ordered the bitter gourd only because everything else on the menu is either fish or too hard for my braces. Turns out the bitter gourd is quite hard also.
$76 - $3.60 = $72.40.
Shall tahan till I reach home for a drink. Thanks to me taking cab today -.-"
Remind me not to order bittergourd ever again. It's so bitter!!
Oh and it's amazing how I didn't have any meat at all today.
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$100/week challenge day 2
Today's update.
Took the bus and train to work!! I deserve some praise. Hahahah. Could be earlier but when I woke up, I heard my sis went into the bathroom so I climbed back to bed to sleep abit more.
Was feeling hungry so decided to have proper lunch. $5 for a bowl of fish ball noodles. Having a hard time swallowing those fish balls even after cutting them into kids bite size because my teeth is still abit painful and can't bite food.
Only have myself to blame because I was considering whether to tell the stall I only want fishcakes and no fishball, but by the time I finished considering, my bowl served already.
Should have started this challenge next week. saw a lot of cheaper food but too hard for my teeth. And I'm still very hungry after finishing my noodles. Jialat.
After lunch shopping.
Weekly dose of 8 days - $2
Yoghurt to replace Teh Peng - $1.05
While at giant, saw lots of cheap alternatives for food. So guilty to have spent $5 for lunch when it could be lesser!
Dinner at 75 cents. The cheapest it can get. Hahaha.
Actually I found some better food at $2-$4. But teeth pain, better not. Maybe tomorrow! Wah so many choices at giant I am so excited for my meals the next few days!
On budget doesn't mean cannot indulge in buying supper for the family!
Instead of our fave BreadTalk floss bread which is $1.70 per piece x 4, I got this kaya bread from giant. $1.20 for this, just nice four piece for my family! :)
Plus eat cup noodles for dinner, later confirm hungry. One stone throw two birds. Haha.
Oh mum say cannot eat the kaya bread cos she not feeling well. Ok one piece I leave for tomorrow breakfast. Bought another piece of cheese bread for her instead. $1.20.
$72.40 - $5 - $2 - $1.05 - $0.75 - $1.20 - $1.20 = $61.20
Wah like this also add up become a lot wor
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$100/week challenge day 3
Hello! It's challenge day 3 today and I'm already on the verge of giving up. Hahahah.
I woke up at the right time to catch a bus and train like yesterday, but felt so tired I decided that paying for cab was worth it for those few mins more of sleep.
Eh yes, I'm on a cab now.
And I'm still tired. So I dunoe if it was worth it or not.
Before this, I didn't really realise that I was spending so much per day just to go for work. Really is bohua. Maybe my next job I should just find something 5 mins away from home so that I don't spend so much time and money on traveling to and fro.
How do you people do it? If I am really so hardworking and take public transport all the time, everyday I have to leave house at 830am. Then after I end work and quick dinner, I'd only reach home at 930pm. In order to wake up at 730am, I'd probably have to sleep by 1130pm. Means after bathing, I only get less than 2 hours of personal time per day.
Suddenly paying for cab sounds quite worth it.
Cab fare $19.05
Can eat lunch for four days.
Lunch $2.90
Got cheaper alternative $2.60 for vegetarian sandwich but no, don't need so kelian lah hahahah I need my meat.
Now I'm craving Teh Peng. Should I should I?
Hehehehe cannot resist.
-$2.30
Total $5.20 for lunch, actually like this I can eat a nice and more filling meal at McDonald's leh. My plan is backfiring. 😩😩😩
Yay kebab rice. Finally a proper meal! $9.50, but not deducted from my budget cos bf came to fetch me home and he is treating. Hehehehehhe. #我赚到 #playcheat
Kelian de bf. Hahaha.
Also scored a free drink from him woohoo
Just paid my phone bills for last month. $124 :'(
Super miss those days when we had unlimited data!
Today's balance $61.20 - $19.05 - $2.90 - $2.30 = $36.95
By the way, I forgot to eat the leftover bread yesterday. Hopefully tomorrow I remember for breakfast!
I thought I reach home already won't spend anymore money so I did the above summary of my spendings today BUT spoiled rabbit line sticker got new release!!! Must buy!
- $1.28
= $35.67
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$100/week challenge day 4
I was sooooooooo tempted to heck it and take cab this morning.
But I remembered I'm only left with 36ish for the week and forced myself out of bed with both eyes almost shut and only a minimal gap to choose my clothes.
And, I wanna praise myself because I took awhile to choose my shoes but still managed to catch the bus! It came late today because I remember checking the time when waiting for the lift and feeling sian cos I knew I won't make it for the arriving bus and next one is 20 mins.
No lah I never use the bus app. I just know. From experience. Hahahah machiam I always take bus.
Don't like using bus apps when I haven't reach the bus stop because it's so useless!
Imagine you are 5 min away and the arriving bus is 3 min. I don't like to know in advance that I am going to miss the bus. Haha.
The "late" bus arrived immediately after I reach the bus stop feeling relieved that there were still people, meaning the bus didn't left just a minute ago, which is quite a miserable feeling to experience early in the morning.
Start of a good day! I also remembered to bring my bread from the night before. Woohoo.
Oh I missed the train because I decided to leisurely ride on the left side of the escalator today instead of climbing up the right.
But it's okay! Cos the next train came in 1 min. Oh I love trains so much more than stupid buses. I'd rather have no seat on the train than no seat on the bus. Whenever I have to stand on the bus, I have to clutch on the pole with all my strength because buses loveeeeee to swing left swing right and abrupt stop one.
Getting abit wordy hor? Anyhow paste a sticker here to make it more illustrated. Haha if here can use line stickers, u confirm see me with more stickers than words. Line stickers are soooooo cute and expressive.
So anyway. I spent awhile to choose shoes today because my "office shoe" de strap broke yesterday and I was thinking which to replace.
"Office shoe" is a pair of heels that I leave in the office for lazy days when I wear slippers to work, then suddenly got meeting or what can wear.
Criteria for office shoe
- must be a heel
- easy and fast to wear (slip on)
- versatile for any attire
- not so chio design so that i am unlikely to wanna wear it on non-workdays
- not so comfy design for the same reason above.
- abit contradicting, but still must be comfy enough to walk around without being wobbly. Maybe can choose one that is comfy for short-wear but not comfy for long-wear?
So difficult to choose a pair from my collection that fulfils all the above except the one that broke.
Lunch: plain waffles at $1.20
Drink $0.90
I'm getting better at this. Haha. My colleague suggested $40/week challenge. I think I will declare fail on the first day.
Was feeling hungry the entire afternoon. Now that I'm about to end work already, then I realise I haven't eat my bread. Aiya!
Dinner is sushi at $2. Not sure if I'm on a budget or on a diet. Lol.
Today's balance:
$35.67 - $1.20 - $0.90 - $2 = $31.57
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$100/week challenge day 5
I deserve a fail because I took cab again this morning. $18.30.
But I improved ok, I managed to take cab only three days this week, compared to five last week! I deserve some praise. Haha.
Met Nad for lunch and it was great catching up! Plus she brought along a super cute gift that she and Jacelyn got for me in Korea. I will take photo tomorrow and post on Instagram hehe.
We had McDonald's! Ordered mc chicken ala carte for only $2! And nad shared her fries with me too! #我赚到
Yay nice meal!
Belated birthday treat from Clare ❤️❤️
Ice cream wafer for dessert yum yum!
Taking mrt home now and when I pass the gantry, I saw that my ezlink left $3.60!!!!!! Nooooooooo if i top up my card I'd be left with only $1+ for two more days!!
Anyone wanna make a guess if I would pass or fail this challenge? Haha.
$31.57 - $18.30 - $2 = $11.27
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$100/week challenge day 6
I'm entirely convinced that the universe is out to make me fail the challenge. Read on.
First, I Overslept Today.
I have a food tasting event at 12pm and I woke up at 10am. After doing the housechores and getting myself bathed and dressed up, I'd be left with only 1hr of travelling time. Taking the mrt would take 1hr 30mins. In normal circumstances, I'd cab down but I'm only left with $11.27 challenge budget and it'd be such a waste if I give up just like this!
Suddenly I remembered there is something called bus, and I went to check the timing required. One hour! Just nice! So I decided to bus there. But my ezlink is another problem.
Luckily, yesterday I told bf about my ezlink's low balance (if I reload, it's gonna be $10 outta my pocket and budget will be left with $1.27!) and he reminded me about the spare ezlink which he gave me awhile back. It had $10 value in it and I used it once or twice before chucking it aside.
If you are wondering, he gave me the ezlink because he customised it with a photo of him diving.
So anyway, I went to find that ezlink cos I have no idea where I put it. I spent a long time searching high and low in all my bags and wallets. Didn't find it anywhere although I found lots of lipsticks, coins, and old keys which I thought I lost.
The coins would be useful if I really got no money left but that's not the case mah. Not like I can use those coins I found to add on to my challenge budget right. Hahaha.
I was thinking, "bobian liao lor, take cab liao lor".
After a long time, I finally found it under some card holder thingy. Heng ah.
Ok after I found the ezlink, I took out my dress and ironed it. Then I went to bathe. Then I put on the dress and realise it's too short -.-
So I went back to my wardrobe to find another dress. And ironed it.
Then I put on the dress and realise I'm wearing wrong bra. (Cos I needed a strapless bra for this dress).
So I went back to my wardrobe to find a strapless bra but because it's too messy, I cannot find! Usually when I don't need one, it keeps appearing but when I need, it hides.
After I finally finished dressing up, I walked out of the house. It was less than 30 mins to my food tasting and I was going to be terribly late.
So anyway, I waited at the bus stop for awhile and decided to msg iris to find out how long more before the next bus arrives.
And I got this.
What??? After all the trouble I took to take a bus!
Checked the app for an alternative bus route and found one which I have to make a transfer and the journey is 68 mins. That means I will be very very very late for my lunch and I might as well not go.
Plus bus journey timings estimated on apps are usually inaccurate. For example if the app states 1 hour, the actual time is likely more than 1 hour 30 mins. And this only applies to buses. That's why I think buses rides are very unreliable.
But I boarded the bus and decided to calm down and put on my makeup first. Yea I still haven't put my makeup at this point.
When the bus only reached Tampines 15 mins later, I decided I rather trust the mrt and alighted. Took the mrt and arrived one hour late. -_-
But hey! I didn't fail the challenge yet hehehehe.
Lunch was at Sopra Cucina. So yummy and satisfying. Probably my most full meal this week. Haha.
I finally get to eat proper food leh. Aren't you happy for me??? Hahaha.
So after lunch we found somewhere to sit and chitchat. For free. Lol.
Climbed two overhead bridges today as a result of my dramatic morning!
Saw this blue slide thingy on one of the bridges. What's this?? for what de?? To skate down? Not scary meh? Very steep leh!
And now bf just picked me up and we are going to watch the move "our times: 我的少女时代" So happy! I've been looking forward to this movie for so long!
Lol I focusing on dayre until I almost followed bf into the gents. And he tsk-ed me.
竟敢tsk me. Dunwan talk to him already.
Lol.
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我的少女时代 IS SO NICE!!!! MUST WATCH!
Super love!! Even when the credits start rolling, nobody wanted to leave the cinema! 超爱徐太宇！
After watching 我的少女时代，I went home and listened to 小幸运 nonstop. Having withdrawal symptoms from the movie. I wanna watch again!!!
我好像已经错过#我的少女时代，我的徐太宇。 Sobs!
每个女孩心中都住了一个林真心，希望有个男生像徐太宇一样义无反顾地爱自己。
❤️❤️❤️
❤️❤️❤️
Dinner at Aston. Bf gave me half his double up chicken. Hehe. Love Aston's chargrilled chicken! Would love it more if they had shoestring fries and sunny side up for sides.
Oh ya before the movie we had awhile to spare so we played games. $8/hour/pax. But we had less than an hour and the connection of the console kept having problems and couldn't load games. In the end we only played 4 racing games before we had to leave. So he paid $16 for 4 racing games for less than 30 mins. So bohua.
I spent $0 today.
$11.27 - $0 = $11.27
So anyway, for my 7th and last day of the challenge, I will skip tomorrow and resume on Monday because I'm heading out with the family tomorrow and usually I'd have to do my part and pay some expenses. Can't possibly tell my parents they can't cab or eat what they want because of budget right? Hehe.
I'd see you all here on dayre on Monday! ❤️ meanwhile I shall go dream and smile to myself about 徐太宇.
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$100/week challenge final day
Woke up early today but I missed the bus.
I was just afew metres to the bus stop and i saw it drive away right in front of me. -_-
So tempted to take a cab!
Took the cab to the mrt station. ($6.20)
And I missed the mrt right infront of my eyes!!!!! -.-"
By the way I also forgot to bring out the spare ezlink which has value in it.
So I topped up my card.
But can we just pretend I'm using the other card? Heh.
So maybe it's a blessing in disguise I didn't catch the bus cos I wouldn't be able to ride on it without my ezlink. But paying coins would still be cheaper than my $6.20 cab fare to the mrt station.
And, my sis just messaged to say that she got a free bus ride cos of some train breakdown thingy.
Sian. I'm wondering how to eat lunch and dinner with $5.07 left. My initial plan costed $5.70. If only my 7 and 0 can exchange position.
Nowadays whenever bf ask me what im eating for lunch, I ask him to read my dayre. Haha.
Initial plan was the $2.70 packet of Nasi Lemak from giant for lunch but since I'm only left with $5.07, I figured I only have $2 to spare for lunch.
So I bought a stick of meat balls at $1.50, hoping to buy plain rice with curry chap at 50 cents from the economical rice stall.
But, the rice ended up being $1.40.
So my lunch is $2.90.
Should have just eaten the Nasi Lemak from giant!!!!
Now I only have $2.17 for dinner. Sobs!
So I was gifted this Starbucks card from the nice people at Gumtree, and thought I could get myself a cup of nice ice cafe latte but, the card machine 好 spoil不 spoil，今天 spoil !!!!!
So no ice coffee.
Sad.
$2 fish burger from Burger King for dinner. I could have the $0.95 Coke float if I didn't overspent for lunch.
I have $0.17 left after everything!!!! But actually is considered exceed budget if we count in the spare ezlink, the meals treated by bf and my friend and the movies and the food tasting.
Wah $100/week is really quite difficult!
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$100/week challenge: day after
Anybody keen to know what happened after my $100/week challenge?
I pampered myself.
Hahahaha. It's almost like a yoyo-diet. You know how after a week of dieting you'd probably gorge on food? It's the same. After a week of being stingy with myself, I decided to splurge all I want. Lol.
Yep. I took the cab to work this morning. And it was the most awesome feeling ever when I knew I had a choice of sleeping afew more minutes!!! Shiok.
Forgot the cab fare. Estimated $18-$20.
For lunch, I had pig trotters with rice $7.80. And Teh Peng $2.30.
Dinner I had Popeyes $4.50. Prefer Kfc but here don't have.
Actually wanted kebab rice ($9.50) but lazy to walk over. So I saved $5 hahahah.
Teh Peng again, $2.30.
Then I bought a couple of sports wear, $61.50.
And now I'm on a cab on my way home.
Like this more than $100 in a day already! :x
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