Buying Hope on a shoe string budget

Save! - NA

The long and the short of it:

Gamble on the odd ToTo or Big Sweep to tempt fate into giving you a windfall. BUT don't overdo it or get hooked!

Additional or local tips!
$1 for ToTo quick pick gets you 1 set of lucky numbers and if there's no queue, you'll be out of the shop in less time than you can say "I want to Huat big ah!"

$3 for the big sweep ticket so you will end up spending $4 a month if you gamble like me. Hehehe I buy my hope on a shoestring budget. :p

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This is just a fun post. I don't gamble much. Honestly!
Though that's probably what hardcore gambler's say... Hehehehe


I know that in the long run, the statistics are against me but there's always hope that I may just buy that one winning ticket!

Photo credit - sgyounginvestment blog

I do enjoy buying the odd lottery ticket about once a month just to tempt lady luck into making me a millionaire.
(There's this Chinese saying... Buying a hope. My Chinese sucks so I can't write it in Chinese characters. Any readers out there that can helpz? lol)


But in the end, I know that I am buying the lottery just for the fun of saying I buy lottery tickets. I'm not ever serious about winning anything and sometimes forget to check my lottery ticket for weeks and months until I find it in the midst of some receipt stacks. 



You should too. Gamble responsibly and never bet more than you can afford to lose!!!




This is just a fun post about the changes in the Singaporean lottery's (ToTo) winning odds. Dollars and Sense website has just done up a calculation of the odds here. (Disclaimer here - I'm not a statistician so I can't confirm the numbers!)

Please don't anyhow gamble!

Cheap Toiletries

Save!  -Depends.

The long and the short of it:

Don't overpay for toiletries!
NTUC, Watsons and Guardian stores sell them at much higher prices than at some smaller neighborhood stores!

Additional or local tips!
Do a super cheap ass combo by using shopping mall vouchers! (Read earlier post here)
And remember to buy above $20 so you can scan the receipts to get shopping mall rewards points if you're shopping in Capitaland Malls.

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I used to buy all my toiletries from Watsons or NTUC thinking they were the cheapest.
Oh little did I know how wrong I was... I have since discovered Swanston at Chinatown and one that's closer to home, Venus Beauty at Tampines Mall.


Their shampoo, soap and other hair and facial products are wayyyyyyyy cheaper. You can expect to save between $2-6 per item. *Jaws drop* right...


They may be parallel imports but hey, they work just as well for me so why pay more for the same stuff?

Yahoo Finance has just highlighted this too!

Free Uber rides today only!

TODAY ONLY!!!

Save! - $10-50 on taxi fares

The long and the short of it:

Uber is giving 2 free Uber Taxi and Uber X rides today! And today only!

Additional or local tips!
Mai Tu Liao!!!

The 2 Free rides are only for today (which is 8 Oct)! Up till Midnight!

Who doesn't love pleasant surprises in the mail?

In the heat of the taxi apps competition, Uber is upping its game by offering free rides for its Uber Taxi and UberX rides!

We, the consumers, win when there's competition! Don't you just love a really free market?

Here's the proof of the free ride :D

What are you waiting for!
Chiong ah!!!

This is even better than their previous promo.

Cooking saving hack Part 2 - Breakfast at half the time and water!

Save! Depends. You'll probably save more time than money.

The long and the short of it

Boil your eggs and steam your buns at the same time! (Ok that sounded just a little rude :p)

Added tips!

Bring your eggs to room temperature first. Cos one of my eggs burst open during boiling. Not much mess just that the boiled egg isn't going to be a looker.

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Behold! The lazy man, save cooking time and save water all-in-one pot breakfast!

All my eggs and buns in one basket.

I know I know... it's all a little bit underwhelming. But Hey! You save water, time and gas.
It's still money saved no?

Any worries about the water not being safe and cleaning up to be more of a hassle... well those aren't true.

I've thought about it (all of a grand 30 seconds) and came up with the following Q&A to allay thine fears:

Q: You disgusting person you!    What if the egg breaks during cooking and it coats your pot with egg bits! Won't it be hard to clean?!

A: Using another pot will result in the same mess what...

Q: You unhygienic animal!    Won't it be unhygienic what with the metal steamer insert?!
A) It's boiling water... People use that to sterilize canning jars... It's safe. Period.

Q: Liar!    Won't it take longer to steam with more mass in the pot?
A) Yes it will but erm not noticeably. Anyway you don't watch the water to wait for it to boil so I guess you ain't gonna catch and save on that 0.5 millisecond extra gas used in the cooking of those 2 eggs.

Q: You heathen!    It's against Nature to eat eggs with buns! The pairing of the two are against my religion!
A: Fine. Steam the eggs and boil some sausages instead... Or steam the buns and boil sausages instead... Go think up your own combination / combo...

Q: You're a destroyer of worlds!   Cooking eggs other than by itself in pure unadulterated water is against the laws of the galaxy and will cause a cosmic imbalance that risks turning the world onto itself, causing a massive super nova to erupt! Thus destroying the world!
A: Go jump in the lake you mad F***...

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.

UOB's giving moolah to make you use their estatements

Save! Earn! - $20

The long and the short of it:

- Go play the game
- get a score of 7 and above
- subscribe to estatement
- make 2 transactions. Just transfer your funds (min $10) to-and-fro your own accounts with other banks.

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UOB's trying to get people to migrate to estatements and they're dangling carrots.
You just need to:
1) Head over to their game site - http://uob.com.sg/toss-win/

2) Play a game
3) Score above 7
4) Subscribe for estatement
5) Make 2 transactions. Just transfer your funds (min $10) to-and-fro your own accounts with other banks.

DO NOTE!!!!
There are T&Cs.
The most important is being the 1st 50 customers who perform the online transactions during each week. I would suggest trying at midnight for the next opening week which is on 25th August 2014

Doncha say I neber tell you hor.

http://uob.com.sg/toss-win/

A $20 carrot is not too bad!

BTW so... the moral of the story is... Don't do anything like subscribe to estatements unless they dangle some goodies!

I know... Super evil right...

Short size at Starbucks

Save! - $0.50 per cup! Or $26 per year if you hangout there at least once a week.

The long and the short of it:

There's a smaller size for Starbucks coffee than what's listed on the menu. Get it to save some moolah when you just wanna hang out at!

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So... here's a hack that I just tried courtesy of HWZ forum's lifehacks thread.

47) don't know if applicable for singapore... in starbucks, besides the "Tall" (350ml) and "Grande" (470ml), there is actually a "Short" (240ml).
You just have to tell the staff you want a "short". This size is not advertise on their menu. of course, there's the smallest, "Demi" (89ml) but is for espresso shots. might be a wols tip, oh well. - trashtalker

Well me trashtalker, it works! Thank you!

I can now get my usual house brew for $3.20! - as compared to the usual $3.70.
Sadly I can no longer BYO mug due to logistical reasons otherwise I could potentially get a decent cuppa and a nice cooling, wifi-ed, air-conditioned, hipster-ish hangout space with friends for just for $2.70!

An added tip, you can ask for hot milk to go with the daily brew. You don't have to drink black tar.

Don't scoff at that $0.50! With that BYO mug thing, that's a savings of $1 every trip now!
This is definitely a keeper.


See previous:
Using the Starbucks Card
BYO Cup @ Starbucks