2016 annual expenses of S$120,000

The week and the year 2016 is coming to an end with one more day of work before I get to enjoy another long weekend. Looking forward to a nice Japanese dinner with good friends tmr on NYE before counting down to the new year 2017 at their place!

I might have another post about 2016 in review but it’s been a tough year on many fronts for my wife and I. We had great times with each other, our families and friends but I can honestly say we are happy to have survived 2016. Let’s hope 2017 is better for us.

• Annual expenses of S$120,000
• Average monthly expenses of S$10,000

Granted, the annual expenses took into account all of our discretionary & non-discretionary spending and contributions to our parents. Examples of such spending are: mortgage, maintenance fee, home insurance, cable TV & broadband, home appliances & furniture, groceries, dining, overseas travel, public & private transport, car, whole life insurance, personal & property tax, gifts etc.

What struck me was the figures were significantly higher than 2014 and 2015 while our salaries increased at a much slower rate. That’s the thing about lifestyle inflation. It creeps up on you and it’s easy to fall into a habit of spending more to make ourselves feel better from the higher stress of earning more money. Almost like a coping mechanism for dealing with tough times.

I’m putting this skyrocketing annual expenses down to an especially difficult year but bad habits can be hard to break once they are formed. It’s probably time to go back to basics for the new year 2017. One small step at a time as we try to get better at the overall management of our lifestyles, jobs and interpersonal relationships.

We have to believe that slight improvements every day, week and month will eventually translate into progress. Wish us all the best in this!