We all have them. Every month, we get bills
from various services like telcos and Singapore Power that we need
to take care of just to be able to continue getting vital services
we need to function normally. The problem, however, is that these
bills are often very annoying to take care of, easy to forget, and
can actually cost us quite a lot of money. According to
ValuePenguin's study, the average cost of monthly SP bill alone was
about S$148 per household. If you add your bills for your mobile
and cable TV costs, you could be easily spending at least S$200 to
S$300 just on these fixed costs alone.
At ValuePenguin, we are laser focused on helping
consumers make informed financial decisions that can help them
maximise the value of their money. Saving money on these monthly
recurring bills is just one of those decisions. If you can save
S$50 per month, you could saving over S$600 every year, which could
help you afford a big purchase or an extra vacation. Below, we
break down these monthly recurring costs into 3 major components,
and provide some insights on how you can best maximise savings on
each.
According to our research on the average
cost of monthly SP bills, approximately 90% of SP bill is
composed of electricity and water bills. This means that gas only
accounted for 10% of about S$150 people are paying every month to
Singapore Power. Therefore, the best way to save on SP bill is to
focus on reducing electricity usage and water consumption. Below
are a few tips on how you can achieve this goal.
1) Reduce Use of Air
Conditioning: Given Singapore's climate, it's
impossible to avoid keeping A/C on at all times. However, A/C is
also one of the most
energy-intensive consumer electronic devices ever, and
therefore represents an opportunity to save massively on your
electricity bill. One way of reducing your A/C usage is by using
thick curtains or shades. These can block out light and heat from
outside, thereby helping you maintain the temperature in your
room.
Another way to do so is by spending as much time as
possible outside of home. Most venues like offices, restaurants,
cafes, classrooms and gyms have good air conditioning. If you can
spend more time at work, school, gym or even socializing with
friends, you can either improve your performance at school or work,
or increase your overall happiness by becoming healthier and
spending more time with your loved ones. At the same time, you will
be saving a ton of money on your electricity bills.
2) Air Dry Your Clothes: Dryers
are another set of electronics that consume a lot of energy. If you
wash and dry your clothes once a week, you are probably spending at
least S$5-10 on your dryer every month. Instead, you could consider
air drying your clothes. This has an additional advantage of saving
not buying a machine and dryer sheets.
3) Shower Quickly: Since water
bill accounts for approximately 40% of your SP bills, this is
another good place to start figuring out how you can save on your
monthly bills. If you are like me, you might love to take hot &
steaming showers that list 10-20 minutes. If you just turn on your
shower tap and plug your bathtub drain, you will be shocked by the
amount of water that you are using while you shower. It is
estimated that a shower consumes about 8 litres of
water per minute. If you can finish your shower within five
minutes instead of 10, that's 40 litres of water saved each time
you take a shower. Depending on how many times you shower on each
day, this could translate to a massive amount of savings.
4) Use LED light bulbs and Water-Saving
Taps: these are smaller savings, but little savings
can add up to a big sum over time. Using energy efficient
appliances like LED lightings or water saving taps can definitely
add up to an insignificant sum all year around, though definitely
not as impactful as the measures we list above.
The next big area of possible savings on recurring
bills is your mobile plan. We found that popular mobile plans in
Singapore cost about S$50
per month, and includes about 150-200 minutes of outgoing
calls, 1,000 SMS messages and and about 2-3GB of data. Then, the
most crucial thing you can do is to use your Wifi whenever and
wherever possible to make calls and send messages to your family
and friends. As you know, most places in Singapore have public wifi
available for free. Not only that, you can now make free calls on
services like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp or Skype, so you
technically never have to use your minutes or SMS.
Given that going over your limit for calls, SMS or data
can be hugely expensive, utilising wifi can be a great way of
making sure you never reach your plan's limits. For
instance, Singtel, M1 and Starhub charge
about S$10.7 for each GB that exceeds your data plan's limit. Not
only that, it can also help you get a cheaper plan with lower
limits or easily share your plan with your family, which can help
you save S$15 or more every month.
Lastly, you should check to see if your company, school
or associations ahve a special discount available.
Another neat way of saving on your monthly recurring
bills is to smartly utilise your credit cards. There are a number
of cards in Singapore that provide cash rebate on recurring monthly
bills from telcos and SP. For instance, HSBC
Platinum Visa card can save you 5% in cashback on your
recurring mobile, cable TV and internet bills every month.
Both UOB Delight
Card and OCBC 365
Card can save 3% on your recurring telco bills from
SingTel, StarHub and M1. POSB Everyday
Card is also unique in that it provides a 1% rebate on
your SP services bills, as well as other recurring bills like
mobile and internet.
Lastly, if you are paying S$20-S$100 on your cable TV,
you should consider cutting your cord. Unless you are a huge sports
fan, most shows that you would find entertaining are available
online either for free or on Netflix for just
S$7.99 a month.
The article 7
Data-Driven Ways Of Saving On Your Monthly Recurring
Bills originally appeared on ValuePenguin.