So much water and so little to use

Save!  -Depends.

The long and the short of it:

We have a tremendous amount of rain fall in Singapore and all that water is just getting flushed down into the sea. Collect em and use em!
Beware dengue though!

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Singapore receives like, a crazy amount of rain in a year. When it rains, it just pours (well mostly). A large amount of that stuff flows into our reservoirs and even more of it just flows back into the sea. It's just a huge resource waiting to be exploited!

So... If you live near the ground floor or at the ground floor, grab some buckets and collect some free water. You can use that clear, kinda clean, sky juice to mop your floors and flush your loo. It'd be cleaner and less gray than using water from other washings.


I can't do that cos I live higher up on a HDB and until someone invents a safe way to harness rainwater from the 17th storey, I'll refrain from sticking out a pole to hang a bucket. Least someone gets killed by killer litter.

Oh don't shower or brush your teeth with rainwater though. You'll probably get sick.

Going to the market with NTUC Vouchers

Save! - About $130/yr if you spend about $50/week at NTUC.

The long and the short of it:

Buy NTUC vouchers at a discount and use said vouchers to shop at NTUC. Remember to use your card to get LinkPoints.

Only applicable if you are not spending over $500/month using the OCBC NTUC Visa Plus! card which is only available to NTUC Union members. Cos that combo gets you can even better rate.

Local tips!

Check out Gumtree, Carousell, HWZ and the usual forums for people trying to cash in their vouchers. Just be careful of deals that sound too good to be true. Don't get scammed.

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Now that you've whet your appetite doing some frugal groceries shopping, here's a more advance level challenge. Using vouchers at NTUC.

Not many people know this yet or don't bother with it, but you can still receive NTUC LinkPoints when you shop using NTUC vouchers. (I've checked with them on email and have tested this out so it works as of 4 April 2014)

So where's the extra savings? Well, there are usually people on forums such as Gumtree, HWZ and Carousell looking to cash in their vouchers. NTUC vouchers should go for at least a 5% discount on those forums. Sometimes, the vouchers may even go for 10% off. Just make sure collection is not out of the way otherwise your 5% savings will end up enriching SMRT or SBS!

A word of caution - Don't get scammed!

If the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

An example would be a super good voucher offered at 40% discount but requires you to do payment via internet banking or Western Union and they will mail the vouchers over afterwards. There is a risk that the seller will run off with your money.

Cash On Delivery (COD) is the safest or paypal (Should be able to claw back payments).

If it's Yellow let it Mellow, if it's Brown Flush it Down

Save! $20 per year on flushes

The long and the short of it

If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down.

Local tips!

Use outside toilets also can.

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The common adage - If it's Yellow let it Mellow, if it's Brown Flush it Down... Just how much can you save?


This is a bit unhygienic but if you do practice it, it can save you about 2-3 flushes a day but with today's water saving toilet bowls, you'll only end up saving about $20 a year. It's not a lot and honestly doesn't seem to be worth it considering that you run the risk of stinking up the home.

So here's a better way. Save your waste water to do manual rinses and flushes. Where to get the waste water you say?

1. From brushing your teeth and washing your face each morning. (I can fill close to half a bucket just with this.) Though you might think eeeewwwww water from my mouth?! Remember where that water is going... into the toilet bowl... Not exactly a clean place either.
2. From the washing machine (might be a little stinky with the soap smell but ok once it's been diluted with water from other sources)
3. From washing vegetables (not meat hor. The oil is not good for your toilet plumbing.)
4. From mopping the floor

And if I could, I would also save my shower waste water but alas, I think my family will freakout if I stopper the drains to pump out water after each shower!

I've been doing this for a few months now and there is little to no smell, the bowl water will look a bit cloudy but I can live with that.



What can I say, I hate waste and it's just sinful to use good drinkable water to wash down our crap. It's a sin I say!

This is quite advanced so do it only if you can stand it!

Bar the soap

Save! Maybe $50 per year? Cos shower gels are *&(%#! expensive as hell while bar soaps are cheaaaapppppp!!!

The long and the short of it

Go for the bar soap.

Local tips!

Don't drop it in camp next to an indian fella!
Heh heh heh just kidding...
(No offense ah my fella indian countrymen :p The cheena babi in me just couldn't resist this stereotypical toilet humour.)

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This is simple and probably more for males cos it's about daily no fuss maintenance and they usually heck care beauty labels etc one.

STOP USING LIQUID SHOWER GEL!

Just use the bar soap. It's more or less the same and it costs at least 10x cheaper. You'll save a tonnes of moolah just by making this switch.
They are also easy to store and you can buy in bulk too to save even more.

You just can't stack those bottles of liquid shower gels

AND to further minimize waste, just slap your new bar soap onto the last slivers of the old bar soap and they will merge into one. Totally zero wastage.

Shower gels you still need to open the cap and put your finger in to dig... if you know what I mean...

So happy together...

Same for the soaps you use to wash your hands. Get a bar soap. Bloody cheap.