Inflation in Singapore! 4 effective lifestyle changes you can make

Want to make some new friends? All you need to do these days is go to the HDB void deck or common area and exclaim loudly, “wah lao, everything so expensive now!” I guarantee all the heartland uncles and aunties within earshot will chime in with their personal grievances.

According to this CNA article, inflation is currently at 4% in Singapore, a nine-year high. Ouch. It could be worse, though. Our 4% is nothing compared to the US’s 7.9%.

The point is, inflation is here, it’s everywhere, and, like the Russian troops in Ukraine, there are no signs of it going away.

The media outlets are all having a field day writing tips on how Singaporean commoners can deal with rising costs. So of course I’m gonna join in the fun.

What’s causing inflation in Singapore?

Inflation is happening because of multiple factors. Globally, there’s high oil & gas prices and supply chain disruptions, while locally, the lack of imported labour is a huge factor.

So rather than tightening your belts indiscriminately (what kind of life would that be?), we should narrow our focus to a few key areas.

High energy prices affect our petrol and electricity costs, of course. Groceries get a double whammy thanks to high energy prices and supply chain disruptions. But the champion is F&B because it’s ALSO hit by the labour crunch.

Below are some ways to reduce expenses in those 4 areas.

1. F&B: learn to cook restaurant-style food

Because F&B is the hardest hit by inflation, the most obvious lifestyle change to make is to cut down on dining out.

There was a recent episode of Talking Point in which Steven Chia learns to make truffle pasta to try and cope with inflation. At first I laughed, but I realise now that it’s very worthwhile to learn how to recreate restaurant meals.

“But my boiled vegetables don’t taste like restaurant food!” you wail. OK, I have tips.

First, don’t be shy with the oil and salt. And always add sauce. You think restaurants care about your health?! Same principle applies to sugar when you’re trying to recreate cafe or storebought drinks.

Second, turn up the heat. Commercial kitchens often use super high heat cooking as their burners are a hell lot more powerful than ours. I know it’s not for the faint-hearted, but fortune favours the brave.

When you sear chicken thigh at high heat, drench it in teriyaki sauce, and eat it with rice — for maybe $4 in total — you’ll be amazed at how you ever agreed to pay $15 for a teriyaki chicken don at a Japanese restaurant.

2. Groceries: shop with an open mind

You will notice that my cooking tips aren’t at all about sourcing expensive ingredients like wagyu beef or fabulous air-flown produce.

To make the most of your grocery budget, you must be flexible about what you buy. When I grocery shop, I don’t have specific ingredients in mind. I just have categories like fruit, veggies, and protein, and then fill them in with whatever is cheap and available.

Learn to love local and regional produce. Mango, papaya, pineapples and watermelon are more inflation-proof than apples and oranges. A $1 bunch of kangkong can work just as well as $5 imported baby spinach in ang moh recipes. Seriously, try it.

Grocery shopping with an open mind can lead to fun new discoveries. Because of the recent spike in egg prices, I bought tau kwa and learnt to make scrambled tofu (both Indian and Japanese style). I thought it was gonna be gross — but it turned out even better than eggs.

3. Petrol: use public/human-powered transport

Now, I don’t like cars and I don’t think there’s any point in owning one in Singapore. But if you have one, you’re probably well aware of how expensive it is to pump petrol these days.

However, there is no rule that all car-owners must drive all the time. You can mix and match your transport: take the MRT on weekdays, drive out on weekend outings, jog to supermarket to pick up milk. The newer MRT lines are grossly underutilised, by the way. Ah Gong built so many MRTs, but you don’t want to use…

Now that we can walk around unmasked, I love walking to places and then taking the bus or MRT home (or vice versa). Singapore is amazingly walkable and it’s so fun to explore new underpasses and overhead bridges.

Some people have this weird dichotomy between recreation and transport. For example, I see people driving cars to parks and pulling a bicycle out of the boot. “Why not just cycle to the park in the first place????” I want to scream every time. Please get rid of this mentality. Sometimes transport IS the fun part.

4. Electricity: manage your electricity bill

The final tip is for managing electricity inflation, i.e. your utilities bill. This is a relatively small expense compared to food so we do not need to be super extreme.

The easiest thing to do is to change your electricity provider if you are still on SP. Choose a 24-month fixed rate plan because it’s almost certain that prices will continue going up.

Next, understand what appliances contribute the most to your electricity bill. It’s easy to get hung up over very small things like unplugging your devices and turning off the lights, but it’s really heating and cooling that suck the most electricity. So if you can optimise your air con, water heater, fridge, and washing machine (if it heats water) usage you’re good. There are some tips here.

As warm-blooded animals, heat is highly relative. When I cycle at midday, in full furnace heat, the ambient temp when I get home feels like air con. Likewise, a room feels 5 degrees colder immediately after a scalding hot shower. It’s pretty easy to hack your body when you grasp the basic principles.

What about everything else?

Apart from groceries, food, petrol and electricity, many Singaporeans are also likely to get hit by inflation in the following areas.

Housing: Those with a bank mortgage need to watch out for interest rate hikes in the coming year or so. Meanwhile, if you’re renting, your rent is unlikely to come down anytime soon.

New car: COE is super expensive these days (sadly applies to motorbike COE too). But even without factoring COE, car costs are still shockingly high.

Electronics: Smartphones, computers and other devices are expected to remain expensive due to global chip shortage.

Personally I think these are luxuries, unlike food and transport. So you can choose not to buy them, or buy a lower-cost one that meets your needs. The less your expenses are dominated by these big-ticket costs, the more inflation-proof your lifestyle.