Singapore survival in a $2000 salary

Can you survive in Singapore on a $2000 monthly income? Of course, you can! And better yet, you can still save a little bit of money. Check out the following tips on how to survive in Singapore on a $2000 monthly salary(and still save some).

Renting a room
If you're alright on a bedspace or sharing a room, then you can save up more. Some transient houses offer shared room on rates from $10-$15 per day. For HDB's, a common room can cost you from $300-$600 depending on the number of person sharing the room. Most of the time, 2-3 persons share a common room. Sometimes, PUB is included in the rent. But in other cases, you need to pay separate for the electric, water and internet bills. Depending on the number of persons renting the room, you will divide the bills equally among yourselves.

Food
Cooking your food is one way to save up money. You can stock up groceries for the month and not eat on hawkers and food stalls. You can also bring pack lunch to your office. This will save you more money because eating in restaurants for lunchtime is more expensive especially inside malls. You would typically spend $15 a day on food alone if you will eat out. That's for 3 meals only. Snacks are still not included.

Transportation
Normally, the expense on the transportation is minimal and predictive. You can set aside a fixed amount of money for the fares on the whole month, plus some extra for night outs or excursions. It will cost you less than $4 a day for the transportation. But a much better way to minimize transportation costs is to rent a room near your workplace where you would be just walking when going to the office.

Other Expenses
This would include your toiletries and other whatnots that you usually need on your everyday living. For clothing, I recommend to set aside a fixed amount of money every month especially if you are planning to buy. If you're a guy, then you would not need to buy clothing every month. You know what I mean. For the girls, it's a different story. Especially for those who are addicted to shopping. You need to set aside a bigger amount, and weigh your priorities. For gadgets, I would strongly recommend not to buy any new gadget everytime it would come out on the market. It's suicide. Again, weigh your options and priorities.

So here's a sample calculation for a monthly budget:

This is just ballpark figures. If you're really into saving more, then you can save up more.