Previously, I read about fellow financial bloggers trying to live a minimalist life and I am trying out my own too! By trying to be a minimalist, it teaches me about conscious living.
Taking Cold Showers
Starting from April this year, I have been taking cold showers. You save on the gas services and there are benefits too! According to research studies, taking cold showers reduces stress and prevents depression.
The gas services bill used to be an average of $28 per month. For these few months, the average amount spent on gas services is around $10.
Save the Environment
My family use Shokubutsu Body Foam for showers. Do you always throw away the bottle when its empty and buy a new bottle? The bottled version cost S$9.50. The refill cost $4.80. That is almost 50% savings if you get the refill pack! Not only you save money, you are saving the environment by not throwing away the plastic bottle.
Bring Your Own Breakfast
I started to bring my own breakfast to work almost every day. Most of the time, it is a simple two slices of break with jam. A loaf can last me a week. Sometimes when I have the cravings for more heavy food, I will skip bringing breakfast and eat Bee Hoon from the coffee shop near my workplace. The problem in Asia is breakfast sometimes can be unhealthy as most Asian breakfast are oily and fried. Some examples are Fried Carrot Cake, Nasi Lemak and Fried Bee Hoon.
Skip That Tea Break!
I used to take a short tea break during weekdays at work. During the break, I will buy coffee from the nearby coffee shop which cost me around $1.20 per cup of coffee. Nowadays, I bought sugarless instant coffee from NTUC Fairprice supermarket. One packet has 20 sachets and cost around $$5.95. Thus, each cup of coffee cost around S$0.30. That is four times savings!
Sell Unwanted Things on Carousell
I am sure some of you sell things Carousell too. I started to declutter my store room by selling unwanted things on Carousell. Some of the things I have sold are camera leather case, movie blue ray disks and passport covers. A total of S$50 bucks I made so far. It is quite weird as it seems passport cover is the most popular item I have sold so far. I have sold a total of three passport covers.
actually, you need to calculate per unit to make sure it is cheaper:
bottle = $10.55/L,
packet = $8/L…
so it is a saving of ~20%..
i ever come across that the latter is slightly more expensive, even though the quantum price seems quite cheap (maybe due to human error?)
this is a good habit, i started this when i stayed overseas. and have continued this till now..
chance upon minimalism recently, been throwing away stuff that i keep for yrs and never used.
the change would to for less possession. Online shopping/shopping habit has to change which seem very hard with the urge to buy things now and then, esp from amazon.
would go for a paperless lifestyle as well.
Saving via showering with cold water is kinda extreme if do not like it
used to bring lunch to work but it doesn’t taste fresh