starlight1968sg\" post_id=\"2135727\" time=\"1719725864\" user_id=\"14025:They don't want to give that many vouchers away! They offer to everybody and sound generous, but make it hard to actually claim. I've just placed an online order - can't be bothered to queue.
Yes, i dont know why NTUC gave only a few days ...
Posts made by slmkhoo
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RE: ME TIME!
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RE: ME TIME!
MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2135681\" time=\"1719543225\" user_id=\"43981:
I see. But since using electric oven takes more power than electric hob, then using gas should be even cheaper in comparison?
Thanks slmkhoo. Didn't read but the heading seems comparing gas & electric hob. I was thinking of gas stove vs electric oven.
You use your oven alot also, I feel. Kne of the reasons I try to bake bigger batch is due to electricity usage needed to heat up big oven. Not sure how energy consuming is that actually. I think should be manageable ba as I am not doing that everyday.
You can calculate the energy consumption of your oven:
https://megafurniture.sg/blogs/articles/electric-oven-power-consumption-how-to-save-energy-while-cooking-in-singapore#:~:text=Daily%20Energy%20Use%20Estimation,SGD%20145%20for%20a%20year.
I don't use my oven to cook, except for the occasional lunch of frozen chicken pieces (like nuggets). That takes about 30 mins, and I only do it if there are 2 or more eating. I use my oven once or twice week to bake, about 1.5hrs each time? I have never tried to calculate the electricity consumption, but there are no alternatives to what I use the oven for. In general, I cook meals on the stovetop as it's faster (and cheaper, I expect). I have an oven toaster and a microwave oven to do quick heating of single or small items.
I don't know what your electricity bill is, but ours is well below the median for a 5-room flat, so I haven't felt the need to really monitor. -
RE: ME TIME!
MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2135662\" time=\"1719479616\" user_id=\"43981:
I found a couple of sites:
I think so too :sad: was hoping for someone to say it is more or less the same
https://ybhomestore.com.sg/cooking-with-gas-vs-electric-cooker-hob-whats-the-difference/
https://www.electrolux.com.sg/blog/gas-hobs-vs-electric-hobs/#:~:text=complement%20it%20well.-,Budget,higher%20utility%20bills%20over%20time.
I haven't read the details, but headline summary seems to be that gas may be more expensive upfront, but is cheaper in the long run. -
RE: Living in Singapore
MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2135639\" time=\"1719459873\" user_id=\"43981:
There is a brand of granola bars where, over the past few months, first the no. of bars in the box was reduced, and I am sure the size of the bars has shrunk too. But the box has remained the same size. The price is about the same.
Yea qty reduced, price increases, double. Milk 950ml, milo sticks reduced..next maybe the content weight in each stick? -
RE: Living in Singapore
starlight1968sg\" post_id=\"2135633\" time=\"1719454106\" user_id=\"14025:
I do that too. But unit pricing will help us notice when an item the price and packaging size remains unchanged but the quantity has reduced!
I usually calculate for a comparison among similar pdts. -
RE: Living in Singapore
lee_yl\" post_id=\"2135630\" time=\"1719453099\" user_id=\"17023:
I wish our local supermarkets would be required to state per unit pricing. That will reveal inflation/shrinkflation more clearly.
I remember Milo 3 in 1 used to have 18 sticks/sachets per pack. Now they’re only 16 sticks per pack. Shrinkflation is real
I prefer Milo Gao Siew Dai (less sugar) but it only contains 13 sticks per pack! -
RE: ME TIME!
Estéema\" post_id=\"2135581\" time=\"1719383675\" user_id=\"66413:
Someone else can collect for them: Alternatively, you may authorise a non-household member to claim your household vouchers. He or she should bring along the notification letter sent to your household, a completed Authorisation Form for CDC Vouchers 2024 (January) or Authorisation Form for CDC Vouchers 2024 (June) and necessary supporting documents (specified in the authorisation form) to the CC.
They shld allow for elderlies to print their own hard copies w/o having to Q as their children can help them print at comfort of their home.
My MIL is one who prefers the hardcopies but she’s resistant to Q today as weather really can kill. She didn’t want to walk to CC.
https://vouchers.cdc.gov.sg/residents/info/ -
RE: ME TIME!
MyPillow\" post_id=\"2135569\" time=\"1719371901\" user_id=\"70594:
https://vouchers.cdc.gov.sg/residents/info/
my mum redeemed paper vouchers last few rounds. any idea is paper vouchers still available for seniors?
Scroll down to the \"Need Help?\" section - although the website doesn't say that it's for paper vouchers, the authorisation form say so. -
RE: Living in Singapore
ChiefKiasu\" post_id=\"2135572\" time=\"1719374638\" user_id=\"3:
I probably won't bother to try for the extra vouchers. I find it hard to spend $50 at a time when I shop in person as I avoid carrying heavy items, and the cost of MRT or parking means that I won't actually get the full benefit of the $5.
Time to go shopping again... sigh. It's only till the end of June right? 4 more days. -
RE: Why students study more during school holidays
Let’s also see value in the unpaid, or less well paid. Just because people choose not to earn money, (FIRE, early retirement, “not really working”) it doesn’t mean they aren’t contributing value to society. SAHM are a case in point, as well as other caregivers. I find that some people shoot themselves in the foot by saying “I’m retired” or “I’m not working” (meaning paid work) and leaving it at that, as if they are just lazing around. They themselves seem to think that caregiving, volunteering, etc. is not active labour just because they aren’t paid.
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RE: Why students study more during school holidays
bbbay\" post_id=\"2135451\" time=\"1719120418\" user_id=\"175278:
My view (and I hope this is what the PM is saying) is that all these patterns, and whatever else people decide on, should be acceptable. There should be no judgement that one is \"better\" than the other as long as there are not laws broken, and they behave responsibly (care for their children, elderly, etc). Let's be willing to embrace variety - many will continue to work fairly continuously through their lives, but some of these may choose a career that isn't the highest-paying one they could find. Some may choose to take career breaks - to study, have kids, try other jobs, be a volunteer, etc. They may then have a second wind and go back to the same career, or try something else. Some may indeed work very hard for a limited no. of years, then relax all the rest of their lives on what they have saved. To each his own.
This is my view:
Current: a couple have been doing well academically, graduated from prestigious courses, society will expect them to live up to their potentials. They will be frown upon by parents or feel peer pressures if they settle for less.
In PM’s new society: the same couple, upon gradations, can start to plan out their life with early retirement in mind without feeling society pressure :
- they will purchase a resale, 4 room flat near East Coast.
- they do without a car
- they work till 40, saving up with their high income.
- they semi retire- working 2 days a week when they reach 40.
- on days they are not working, he could strum his guitar with his high school pals, compose music, performing in pubs, and she could train for iron women triathlon.
When social norm change, our live decisions at every stage will change too.
For those less well off, I think there are still some room to be better than now. Maybe semi retire not at 40 but 55; 4 days work week instead of 2. Down grade from 5 rm to 3 rm flat, to start “living their passion” at age 55, bcos “is a norm for people to do that in spore” -
RE: How much is enough for retirement in Singapore?
ChiefKiasu\" post_id=\"2135400\" time=\"1719022305\" user_id=\"3:
If Fairprice wants my CDC vouchers, they will need to find a way that I can use them online. If not, SS will get mine as I go there in person!
The new CDC vouchers are coming at the end of the month. I wonder what \"promotion\" NTUC is going to give this time to make us use up the vouchers -
RE: ME TIME!
Funz\" post_id=\"2135409\" time=\"1719029121\" user_id=\"6230:
That's like me - sometimes I crave something, eat, then remember that there are downsides to eating too!
Had the prata, craving satisfied and now I am remembering why I do not eat prata. LOL -
RE: How much is enough for retirement in Singapore?
MyPillow\" post_id=\"2135287\" time=\"1718851809\" user_id=\"70594:
No! Don't have the patience, and don't like face-to-face that much. A friend of mine did a counselling MA a few years ago - quite a lot of ladies do that in their 40s-50s.
have u consider counselling job before? -
RE: CNA Article - The Big Read: Fuelled partly by youths' anxiety, the internship rat race has unintended effects
I guess we all have different views. Just to say that I don’t believe that all people can or should want to rise to the top in the most competitive careers as their first choice, then drop back to a 2nd, 3rd choice if they can’t take it. I give myself as an example, which perhaps will encourage some who think that it’s completely impossible.
I did OK up to university, was never the super-competitive type, and chose to aim for a job that I felt suited me - being a librarian. I was warned - dead-end, poor pay, poor prospects… My husband supported me - we felt that I could aim to do well within the librarian career instead of civil service/legal/finance (which was what my father wanted); we were prepared to live within our means. I was spared the trying hard at a job only to find it too hard, too competitive, something I disliked or failed at. I enjoyed the work itself. I can tell you that we are the only ones of our friends who has never moved out of HDB, and live and travel at a different level from all of them. It really doesn’t bother us, our friends have not shunned us, and our family has been happy and contented all these years. My motivation has always been to do a good job, whether or not it rewards the best in terms of pay or promotions. Of course I expect to paid fairly, but if it’s 50% less than I could be earning in some other job I like less, it doesn’t matter to me, and thankfully, to my husband. He has made similar choices in his own career, and it seems my daughters adopt the same thinking.
This probably shows, again, that my family is very much an outlier, but I put this out here to show that there is no need to follow the herd in every aspect of life. There are consequences of our choices - but we can choose to be satisfied with doing our jobs as best as we can and be happier with less, rather than being stressed by the need to compete and climb. -
RE: How much is enough for retirement in Singapore?
Imp75\" post_id=\"2135274\" time=\"1718843183\" user_id=\"2358:
What does he want to do if you both retire? Unless he wants to live overseas, you can probably work something out - maybe you can reduce your work time a bit, or create more flexibility for travel etc? There's no need for both of you to retire completely at the same time. Find out what he has in mind about retirement - perhaps he just wants to change to a less demanding, more meaningful job? Or work part-time or freelance? Or play golf every day? It need not affect you all that much. As in all things in marriage, try to find a compromise!
Recently my hubs brought up again the idea of retirement. I am not v willing as I am not even 50 and although we do not have any financial commitments and our kids uni education should be quite low cost, I still feel it’s too early. We are like two different people with two different ideals. I want to work as long as I can while he wants to retire as soon as he can. Alamak leh….. -
RE: CNA Article - The Big Read: Fuelled partly by youths' anxiety, the internship rat race has unintended effects
lee_yl\" post_id=\"2135255\" time=\"1718795780\" user_id=\"17023:
Maybe I've misunderstood what people mean when they say \"do well\"? It seems to me that young people are expected to be ambitious for jobs with higher pay and status, and it is unthinkable for someone who can achieve that to choose something else unless he has already tried and got stuck and lose the fire. Perhaps we can consider it normal that some people don't have that kind of ambition, and that it's ok to choose something less competitive, even if they have the ability to climb if they wanted to? (Like that young man who gave up his civil service job to freelance in various things.) If a diploma grad chooses not to try to get a degree even if he can, is that so bad?
I think you didn’t quite get me. I mean isn’t it natural for young people to be ambitious all the way until they hit a wall (stuck for many years), then the fire in them may eventually subside?
Even if I were just a diploma grad, I would want to work hard, climb the ladder and in the meantime go get a degree.
Like how your DD went to a top JC then to Oxbridge, that is already a natural display of “wanting to do well”. As to subsequently whether she finds some jobs whose nature do not suit her and decides to settle for something simpler, then that is another matter.
You raise my daughter as an example of someone who wants to do well. Yes, and no. Yes in that she likes to master whatever she is asked to do, and that was schoolwork when she was in school. But no, she didn't try as hard as she could have, and sometimes decided that she had done enough, even though she could have done more. She didn't try to be top of the class or mind if other people scored better. She didn't try for the most competitive jobs that people with her degree would naturally try for, decide that she didn't like them, and then \"settle\" for something simpler; she chose a job that she felt motivated her even though it paid less. The job is not necessarily simpler because it pays less or is less well-regarded. -
RE: CNA Article - The Big Read: Fuelled partly by youths' anxiety, the internship rat race has unintended effects
lee_yl\" post_id=\"2135245\" time=\"1718789755\" user_id=\"17023:
It may be natural in Singapore, but does it have to be? What does it mean to \"do well\"? I don't think it should mean the same thing for \"most graduates\". Why can't it be framed as \"do as well you can\" rather than \"aim for a 2nd upper, whether they can or not\"? For a weaker student, why can't \"do well\" be getting a 2nd lower or a pass? Then they needn't feel downcast when they don't get a 2nd upper.
I thought it is normal for most uni undergraduates to want to do well? Say, they will try to get at least 2nd upper (but whether they can or not, that is another matter lah).
And upon graduation, when one comes out to work as a fresh grad, most youngsters are ambitious, want to climb the corporate ladder and do well. Only when one gets stuck for many years without promotion, then the person will sort of 认命。So to me, it is natural that young people to want to aim high.
And I don't see \"most youngsters are ambitious, want to climb the corporate ladder and do well\" as necessary - there's no need for \"most\" to feel this way, or to aim for the same corporate ladder. This creates lots of stress, and results in too many people wanting to do a small no. of jobs in a small no. of companies whether they will actually find the jobs intrinsically fulfilling or motivating. The corollary is that people who take other jobs don't appreciate them, seeing them as \"failure\". Perhaps it's something we need to rethink for our kids - if we reframe their ambition to be \"a job I feel fulfilling in itself, within my abilities, and enables me to contribute to society with my strengths\", we may have happier people and fewer jobs that remain unfilled. Let those who really want to be CEOs because they feel that's their \"calling\" go fight for those jobs; the vast majority won't like the job anyway, and not becoming a CEO shouldn't be seen to be a failure, but a choice.
I told my kids not to choose a job in which the main things that made it worthwhile to them was the pay and \"envy factor\", and forced them to give up other (non-paying) things that were important to them. The worst thing about working is the Monday blues; but if you get a job where Monday doesn't feel so blue (maybe just a pastel blue), then you won't mind working into your 70s. I'm not talking about the difference between earning $5K per month and $500 per month. Most graduates start at around $3-4K. If you live with your parents, that's pretty comfortable to start with. -
RE: CNA Article - The Big Read: Fuelled partly by youths' anxiety, the internship rat race has unintended effects
Coolkidsrock2\" post_id=\"2135242\" time=\"1718788232\" user_id=\"48901:
My daughter simply said - unless you really like that kind of job, why compete with everyone? Most of those kids probably don't really like that kind of career, but see the internship and possible job as a trophy.
A sample of the kind of competition for internship at top firms
https://www.efinancialcareers.sg/news/goldman-sachs-acceptance-rate-interns -
RE: How much is enough for retirement in Singapore?
doodbug\" post_id=\"2135239\" time=\"1718787196\" user_id=\"13281:
I agreed to cover a sick teacher for 2 weeks, and by the end of the first week, decided that it was definitely not for me! I finished my 2 weeks, but refused to stay on.
Definitely, having first-hand experience informs a person's decision making. 6 months of relief teaching and I knew I would not do it as a career. Heh.