I guess for many of us who just graduated, the point of graduation was also the point where we became financially indebted. Cos the tuition fee loan and what-nots started coming in. A friend asked if I am solvent. I thought he meant if I can dissolve in water, but yes, I am financially solvent. My humble saving from national service and holiday work can cover my tuition fee.
I'm not good at making money, neither am I good at spending money. I'm just better at saving money.
I guess a large part has to do with the way my parents administer pocket money to us when we were young. They didn't give us on regular basis, but rather, gave us one lump sum and made us manage it. So before the time I learned "credit on the left, debit on the right", we already did our own financial statement. Every cent of spending had to be recorded down. With one sum of money, you would want it to last longer, compared to a regular allowance which you can always spend and wait for the next payment.
I would term myself stingy, if not thrifty. I remember when I was in secondary school, I went to the economical rice stall and ask the auntie, with $1.20 what can I get. And she would gave me $1.20 worth of mix vegetable rice. I chose a junior college that is nearby my place, so that I could walk 20minutes to school and save on (was it?)90 cents per day of transport money. During national service I opted to stay in camp and religiously ate at the cookhouse. That was the time I saved up the most. In university, 9 out of 10 times my meal costed less than $2. 60 cents coffee was of course, a luxury (but sometimes, necessity:P). I was one of the rare ones who didn't buy a laptop, and every month I would look at the calendar and calculate if it was more worth it to buy concession pass or to just pay per trip to campus.
Just the other day over lunch we were talking about financial assistance, which reminded me about the time when I was involved in handling financial assistance. Once we visited an applicant's place, and saw that his house was full of CDs, he was playing a game console, even his mobile phone model was newer than ours. Of course you can't judge a person's financial status solely on properties he owns, but sometimes it makes you wonder if his status is that bad afterall. Hell, he declared he spent $5 per meal!
I just feel that rather than submerging ourselves in
self-pity, why not do something about it? Poor also has poor way of living. Don't scream poor and at the same time spend money like flowing tap-water.
Singlish | 
