What are your monthly expenses?

[x9200]

For the rest fussy expats who want to put their kids in International Schools, live in condos buy car etc, you might as well stay in your home country as creating an environment similar to your country will cost a lot and may not be worth it afterall!

It is worth you just need to know it and get rid of some reservation. This is a lifestyle where Singapore has a lot to offer and you do not need to be a millionaire to have a good taste of it. Having said this I perfectly realize that there are ppl who earn very decent salary but they never will go beyond chicken rice.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Sniff.......sniff-sniff......

Nah, I don't think I even wanna comment here......

[amarettoSour]

okay, now that i've been in singapore for almost 6 months i think it's time for me to contribute to this thread. when i was moving here, it was very hard for me to gauge living expenses as everyone here seems to be married with kids and/or expats with high living standard, which both i am not.

Rent: $850 - I rent a room at an HDB close to the MRT in queenstown area. Utilities are included so I don't have to worry about that
Food: $300-400 - I eat out on weekends, but for weekdays I would usually eat with my coworker at hawker centres nearby our office, which is usually $3-4 at most. same goes for dinner.
Phone Bill: $40-60 - I have a blackberry plan with Starhub and their cheapest voice plan available since I don't talk on the phone that often.
Shopping, going out, etc: $500

keep in mind i'm a single 25 year old girl and fairly low maintenance (or so i like to think!). so while everyone else have been complaining about how expensive it is to live in Singapore, I think it's just fine and dandy.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yeah, when one is Single there are a lot of options on ways to cut costs. It's the ancillaries that cause the problem, two in particular: Families & Cars.

These two change the equation enormously. Schooling is highway robbery unless you go the local route, housing escalates at a rate that exceeds the multiplier of bodies inhabiting said abode and cars (most will claim are a necessity if they have small one). There are a number of us here would have had young children and did/doing just fine without but there you are. As your utilities are furnished, you don't have to worry about that fluctuation (depending on the price of oil the Kw/Hr rates are adjusted quarterly.

But it sounds like your right in the ballpark for a single person of either gender.

[shriek]

Well guys....Here is a normal breadown

Rent- Max- Say 600 for Common Room to upto 1500 for 2+1 uNIT

So assume its say 800-900 if u split the cost for 1 room

Travel- 150
Food- Depends on ur eating habits but generally 200 in food courts with some decent outing and max 250
Phone, TV and Utilities - 100-200 max

So it comes to around 850+150+250+150 = 1400S$ shud be enuf for one person to lively pretty well a lavish life.

And top up 100$ and can round up to 1500$ for a nice month...

[shriek]

I totally agree with @amarettoSour

Life for singles or for even tat matter couples....1500$ is more than enough if u have ur own rooms...

Or else 1500 goes only for the HDB unit if its 2+1 or less...

But singles can have a merry time....I am 27 m and been around for 3-4yrs now and its well under budget.....

[geerang]

Currently in Peru my expenses are $400 USD a month - that includes everything - food, rent, transportation, utilities.

Completely and totally impossible in Singapore. You'll get a wide range of answers for what you need to get by in Sing, but S$1000/mo is about the bare minimum of existence (rented room in the boonies, utilities, transport, food) and few expats would be willing to entertain anything under S$3000/mo.

Totally untrue. There are hundreds of thousands of expatriates in Singapore earning less than S$2000/mth.

Where do you think all these construction workers, maids, retail assistants, office clerks come from?

[SGBoyxxx]

Currently in Peru my expenses are $400 USD a month - that includes everything - food, rent, transportation, utilities.

Completely and totally impossible in Singapore. You'll get a wide range of answers for what you need to get by in Sing, but S$1000/mo is about the bare minimum of existence (rented room in the boonies, utilities, transport, food) and few expats would be willing to entertain anything under S$3000/mo.

Totally untrue. There are hundreds of thousands of expatriates in Singapore earning less than S$2000/mth.

Where do you think all these construction workers, maids, retail assistants, office clerks come from?

construction workers=mostly from bangladesh , china , Thai .
maids = mostly from philiphines , myanmar ,indonesian
retail assistants = philiphines , china
office clerks = mixture of locals , philiphones , china , indonesian

[revhappy]

....Or else 1500 goes only for the HDB unit if its 2+1 or less....

This has changed some 6 months ago. You wont find a decent 2+1 HDB for less than 1800$. If you find one for 1500, it would either be in original condition, never renovated for 25 years or more! Or hardly any furniture or bang on top of a messy food court, something like the bedok market area.

So start budgeting for atleast 1800$++ for 2+1 from now on.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Completely and totally impossible in Singapore. You'll get a wide range of answers for what you need to get by in Sing, but S$1000/mo is about the bare minimum of existence (rented room in the boonies, utilities, transport, food) and few expats would be willing to entertain anything under S$3000/mo.

Totally untrue. There are hundreds of thousands of expatriates in Singapore earning less than S$2000/mth.

Where do you think all these construction workers, maids, retail assistants, office clerks come from?

construction workers=mostly from bangladesh , china , Thai .
maids = mostly from philiphines , myanmar ,indonesian
retail assistants = philiphines , china
office clerks = mixture of locals , philiphones , china , indonesian

And each and every one of them is an expat by definition.

[snowqueen]

My air/con servicing bill is $1700/year. Point is, I didn't mention it because it doesn't really apply here. That's for 15 units [/quote]

I'm trying to imagine a place big enough here that uses 15 units! Must be a nice place.

[beenthere]

Is the rate for AC service still around $100 for 4 units? I have been here long enough to make my first call.