People living in other countries have the option to bugger off and
go live in a cheaper city or town when the cost of living in the
capital rises. Unfortunately, Singaporeans don’t have that option,
assuming they actually want to remain in the country.
Still, that doesn’t mean we should automatically pay top dollar by
buying all our necessities here! With much cheaper neighbouring
countries just a bus, ferry or short plane ride away and the
ubiquity of online shopping, it’s easier than ever to avoid buying
stuff in Singapore.
Here are six things that are cheaper elsewhere and relatively easy
to procure.
Many people think it’s too “leceh” to drive across the Causeway to
buy groceries. But it’s probably because they don’t know exactly
how much money you can save by buying your food and toiletries in
Johor Bahru.
A few years ago, you could save about 30% on your groceries by
buying in JB. Now that the Malaysian Ringgit is lower than ever vis
a vis the Singapore dollar, you can save much more, in many cases
up to 50%.
Assuming your household expenditure on groceries and toiletries is
about $500, you can save a pretty respectable $250 just by scooting
across the Causeway. If you’ve got a car, you can hop over using
the Second Link, which tends to be less crowded than Woodlands.
Otherwise, take a bus across the Causeway and then cab back.
If you’re serious about grocery shopping in JB, try to arrange to
go regularly with friends, so you can carpool there or share a cab
back. You can’t be the only Singaporean who’s keen on saving money
on groceries.
Most Singaporeans head to the hypermarts like Tesco at KSL City, AEON at Tebrau City and Sutera Mall
and Giant. The biggest
savings tend to be on things like baby milk powder and breakfast
cereal, as well as products that are made in Malaysia.
While virtually everything is cheaper, you get better savings on
some items than others, so it’s a good idea to start tracking
prices at your local supermarket so you can compare them with the
prices in JB.
I’m a big fan of borrowing books from the library, but there are
some books it’s just not practical to borrow, especially if you
need to hold on to them for a long time or they’re for reference
purposes.
Unless you’re talking about those awful assessment books for kids
at Popular Bookstore, most books in Singapore have to be imported.
And they’re not cheap—you can usually expect to pay about $15 to
$20 for a paperback novel.
If you are ordering a fairly large shipment and don’t mind second
hand items, consider buying your books from Amazon’s second hand section and then
shipping them back using a service likeBorderlinx or vPost.
Even hard-to-find books often have second hand editions, and I’ve
gotten some for as little as $3 or $4 including the price to ship
them to my vPost address.
For some reason, vitamins and dietary supplements are super
expensive in Singapore. If you’ve ever walked into GNC, the prices
are enough to give you a stroke.
Most people who regularly buy vitamin supplements already know
they’re cheaper on iHerb. We’re talking about less than half the
price here, including the cost of shipping.
If you don’t use off-the-shelf skincare or haircare products, you
might want to consider getting them online too. For instance,
brands like Dermalogica are way
cheaper on Amazon and Strawberrynetthan in Singapore.
It’s not just owning a car that’s expensive in Singapore. It’s also
darned difficult to get your car serviced without being ripped
off—many mechanics here are more concerned about getting you to
replace parts than actually fixing your vehicle’s problems.
If you know where to go, car and bike servicing in Malaysia can
cost almost half the price. Although there are hundreds of popular
recommendations, it’s best to go with a friend who’s familiar with
a workshop in JB to be safe.
Getting your vehicle washed in Malaysia is also much cheaper, and
some Singaporeans only ever wash theirs when they’re across the
border.
If you’re happy go buy all your furniture from Ikea, more power to
you (hey, I do it too). But if you’re the house-proud type who’s
willing to spend thousands of dollars on a sofa, consider buying
your furniture and homeware in Bali or Thailand.
Bali is home to so many artisans it’s even the place where all the
Pinocchio souvenirs in Italy are actually made. If you’re looking
for high quality Wooden furniture, you can’t beat prices here. In
fact, you’ll pay more for shipping than you will for the actual
furniture items.
Thailand, particularly Bangkok and Chiang Mai, are great places to
buy homeware including lighting, rugs and those very charming
triangular floor cushions you see in the rasta-looking bars.
Many Singaporean retailers source for their own products in
Thailand and Indonesia and then sell them at much higher
prices.
If you’re buying several items, your cheapest option is to ship by
crate, for which you pay a flat fee. Ask the vendor if they arrange
for shipping and insurance to Singapore. Many are used to
Singaporean customers and can arrange for everything.
If you work in the sort of place where you actually have to show up
looking decent, adding a few crisp tailored shirts or a slick suit
to your wardrobe can make you look a bit more presentable. But
tailors in Singapore are expensive—you can usually expect to pay at
least $1,000 for decent tailored suit.
Unless your boss is paying you a ton of money to look good at work,
head to Bangkok for tailored businesswear. You can get great
tailored attire at 1/3 the price—a decent work shirt should cost
around 850 baht (34 SGD) to 1,000 baht (40
SGD). If you already have existing tailored
shirts that fit well, you can just bring them in and have them
replicate the design.
Some people prefer Hoi An in Vietnam or even Shanghai, but Bangkok
is the cheapest and easiest place to fly to and the destination
Singaporeans are the most familiar with.
Ask your friends and many of them will have favourite tailors to
recommend. There are zillions of tailors all over the city, but if
you have no idea where to go, shop around at MBK.
The
post 6
Items that Singaporeans Who Want to Save Money Shouldn't Buy in
Singapore appeared
first on the MoneySmart
blog.
