Grocery Bills

[amazed and delighted]

Kubes & Us Too, are your families the ones off the TV - 18 kids and counting and Jon and Kate + 8? 

I can't work out how you could spend that much cash on groceries.  I drink alcohol most nights and we don't live off noodles and rice but I'd struggle to spend that much in a week.  This week so far I've spent about $200 and won't go shopping again probably until Friday when I might spend another $50.  If I went to 360 at Ion and bought all the fancy stuff in there for our meals for a week I don't think I could manage to spend that much, even with booze!

what did you have for dinner tonight......just out of interest?  Was it foie gras with truffles?

I'm not having a go, but I'd love to know how the other half live 

[condiem]

Hey its nice to hear someone actually talking positively, I know Singapore is expensive but $600 a week on groceries is ridiculous.  What about the singapore people who work on markets etc they can't afford this overpriced food.  Anyway if you earn $120k a year can you live a comfortable life in Singa?

[Quite Honestly]

Hey its nice to hear someone actually talking positively, I know Singapore is expensive but $600 a week on groceries is ridiculous.  What about the singapore people who work on markets etc they can't afford this overpriced food.  Anyway if you earn $120k a year can you live a comfortable life in Singa?

This is all relative.  I wouldn't think anything of spending GBP200-300 per week on groceries/booze etc so S$600 is not a stretch even if the prices were comparable.  They are NOT!

Singapore is a miserable place to live if you don't have the money to enjoy it - mainly because aside from the locals who know no different, expats do generally have a reasonably high disposable income.

You really do NOT want to be the poor cousin here!   You cannot live a comfortable life on S$120k per year - yes, you can exist, but why would you?

[John Ramb8]

Well said PP.

Singapore used to be strikingly cheap [I'm talking in the 90's]. Now a beer in a bar is what $10-15 

Most groceries I buy here, I could get for half the price in Tesco in London. AND London is not a cheap place...

Shocking (but I'm a short timer, only three months left till I ship out.... relieved sigh)

[dis 10 and 11 landlord]

Singapore is a miserable place to live if you don't have the money to enjoy it - mainly because aside from the locals who know no different, expats do generally have a reasonably high disposable income.

You really do NOT want to be the poor cousin here!   You cannot live a comfortable life on S$120k per year - yes, you can exist, but why would you?

you know what - ->> vice versa.

i have lived abroad 20 yrs now, and i say the same about some of poor insular local sods here where i am.
those who know nothing further than the holiday havens of Vegas and Hawaii ...and Coach factory outlets - yea .. NOT!

and sour grape daily about immigrants with spending power coming in to buy up all the elite real estate and luxury cars.

[Quite Honestly]

Singapore is a miserable place to live if you don't have the money to enjoy it - mainly because aside from the locals who know no different, expats do generally have a reasonably high disposable income.

You really do NOT want to be the poor cousin here!   You cannot live a comfortable life on S$120k per year - yes, you can exist, but why would you?

you know what - ->> vice versa.

i have lived abroad 20 yrs now, and i say the same about some of poor insular local sods here where i am.
those who know nothing further than the holiday havens of Vegas and Hawaii ...and Coach factory outlets - yea .. NOT!

and sour grape daily about immigrants with spending power coming in to buy up all the elite real estate and luxury cars.

Sorry, but I don't have an effing clue what you just said!  Considering you have lived in Canada for 20 years your English is bloody appalling.  Wanna give it another try?

[I'm alright]

You cannot live a comfortable life on S$120k per year - yes, you can exist, but why would you?

why would you?  well because it is easier to be less well off here than in some countries - the weather being a big bonus.  We live on less than S$120K and do OK. I'd rather be living here earning what I'm earning than living back home on an equivalent wage.

[Kubes.SG]

Kubes & Us Too, are your families the ones off the TV - 18 kids and counting and Jon and Kate + 8? 

I can't work out how you could spend that much cash on groceries.  I drink alcohol most nights and we don't live off noodles and rice but I'd struggle to spend that much in a week.  This week so far I've spent about $200 and won't go shopping again probably until Friday when I might spend another $50.  If I went to 360 at Ion and bought all the fancy stuff in there for our meals for a week I don't think I could manage to spend that much, even with booze!

what did you have for dinner tonight......just out of interest?  Was it foie gras with truffles?

I'm not having a go, but I'd love to know how the other half live 

Nope,  it's Mr & Mrs Kubes plus 3, including the maid.  She eats what we eat.

The other night we had roast pork with all the stuff that goes with that.  Checked and Mrs Kubes thought the pork cost about $70.  With it was about about $15 worth of veggies.  Mrs Kubes always brings home with her Saturday shop some lunch, she and I have various sashimi and sushi boxes while Kubletts and maid love chicken or pork rice, for a total of about $50.  We eat lots fish (mainly fresh salmon), beef, pork and chicken.  The Canadian salmon fillets are around $10-15 each - 1 for each of us.  Good pate and cheese are at least $20 per package - these have to be the biggest rip off.  The really small ice cream tubs are $10, plus we go through 6-8 litres of milk per week at nearly $4 litre.  I am cutting back on fruit juice, but still get through 2-3 litres that cost about $18.  Kiddies drink about $15 worth of juice a week.  Then you have all the stuff that the 4 females in the house need, I've got no idea and want to keep it that way.  My needs are simple: toothpaste, shampoo and soap every few months.

For the laundry, the maid seems to use vast amounts of product.  She cleans all the bathrooms twice a week (5) and washes/mops the floors twice weekly.  She has the washing machine going 5 hrs a day.  So lots of cleaning products consumed it appears.  (wonder if she is selling them off?)

[paa]

Have a household of 2 adults + 3 teenagers + dog.  Spend about the same as Kubes.  I refuse to buy anything food from China, most of our meat is from Australia, kids go through vast amounts of milk per week, mainly organic veges and fruit, nice wine and it is expensive.  However have just gone maidless and our monthly bill has dropped by approx $700 per month.  Also since maid has gone our laundry detergent which she would go through in less than 1 month has lasted me 3 months.

[Cheap cf Kubes]

to PP, Your bill is a quarter of Kubes. He spends $700 a week compared to your $700 a month or was it a typo?

I am curious, does Kubes actually work? He seems to be on this forum constantly posting very detailed and in depth posts. I am guessing that he is the trailing spouse. 

[to pp]

paa's bills have dropped by $700 per month, it is not $700 per month. Big difference.

As for Kubes......

[Cube]

Kubes, I hope you have bought good medical insurance for your family. They sound like they're on the way to being obese, if they're not already in this state now.

[Kubes.SG]

Do I look obese?  The kublettes and Mrs Kubes are all on the ideal BMI (though that measure is largely BS).  The maid however is not even 5' tall but is probably the 2nd heaviest in the household.

We are right into low GI, and haven't cooked potatos, white rice or had white bread in the house for many years.  If you want to stack on the weight focus on a high carbohydrate diet.  It you want to be lean, go for a high protein, high fat diet.

PS:  must use butter.  Margarine is the pure trans-fat and a fast-track to coronary heart disease.

[Mr Singers]

The maid however is not even 5' tall but is probably the 2nd heaviest in the household.

After your wife?

[Boomz]

It’s been couple of years since we left SG, but found out from old excel worksheets that we spent about SG$ 300 each week on groceries to maintain me, madam, teenage daughter and the maid.  We mostly eat local / Indian fare with the odd “continental” indulgence thrown in. 

90% of supplies came from NTUC, others from CS with the occasional foray to the local wet market.  We would have a super breakfast each morning, lunch for madam and maid and a full table dinner for all each night.  We never eat Beef/Pork but lots of poultry, sea food and fresh fruits/juice each day, while 4 pcks of UHT would last the week.  All our maids (3 over a period of 5 years) ate similarly.  In fact one of them would pack a huge hamper for her weekly outing to lucky plaza and beyond.

We entertained about twice each month with lots of wine and Indian booze + plus heavy meals like Biryani and stuff.  We aren’t too much beer drinker but appreciate fine wine and liquor which was picked up from duty free.

Now back in India our groceries bill is about same but we eat fresher stuff, spread is more lavish and the entertaining more frequent.. So yes, in that way SG was expensive but not backbreaking.