Cost of Living in Singapore

My personal monthly spending on food, rent, entertainment, etc.

Hi! Long time no see! I haven’t been writing for quite some time because of work (I mean as a noob who happens to be the dumbest, I need to impress my teammates first 😅). Anyway, here’s a post about the living cost in Singapore, particularly “my” living cost breakdown. Enjoy!

1. Food

This will depend on what type of food you order. A decent meal at a fast food stall or hawker center usually costs $5. If you are extremely frugal, you can order chicken rice or some noodle that costs only around $3. A normal drink like tea or lime juice costs $1, so you might want to bring a bottle of water everytime you eat. On average, if you don’t cook and don’t get free food, you will spend $15–20 per day.

As for me, I got a free dinner from my office. I always cook breakfast at home, either toasting bread or cooking Indomie (35¢). I always stock Salmon, eggs, and canned tuna. By cooking, I probably only spend like $2 per breakfast meal. I always steal free juices from my office so I don’t have to buy drinks. This way, I only spend 8–10$ per day for food cause I only need to order lunch. Nevertheless, I still spend like $30 to eat high-quality food on weekends 😃.

Of course, expensive food exists 🥘. All-you-can-eat food costs around $25–50. And don’t ask me how much restaurants near Marina Bay Sands will charge 😅.

2. Rent and Utility Bills

This is definitely the biggest source of my outcome. 65% of my monthly spending is for paying rent and utility bills 🐊.

I rent a 2-bedroom HDB unit with my friend for $1,900. I use the common bedroom (toilet outside) and only contribute $900 for the rent. Bills consist of electricity, water, and gas usages. We are quite ‘lavish’ as we use aircon every night (and in the afternoon on weekends), instant water heater (known to be very wasteful) on every morning shower, and washing machine quite often. Thus, the bills can reach $200 per month for 2 persons. As we split the bill evenly, I only pay at max $100 for the bills. In summary, I pay $1,000 per month at max for rent.

If you want to get laundry access and a room with an air conditioner, you can get a room as cheap as $800. I believe rooms with a price lower than that are either quite shabby or located far away from the city center.

Sure, you can get a 1-bedroom studio at a condo, but it will cost you around $1,500–2,000 per month 😛.

3. Transportation

If your travel is only between 3–5 stations, you will spend $1 for a one-way trip. Expect $2–3 for a round-trip travel from home to office per day. If your place is not near from the MRT station, no worries, you can ride a bus and will only be charged for a transfer fee, usually won’t exceed 10¢. Multiply it by 30, hence you will on average spend $40–60 per month for transportation. FYI, the minimum cost for a bus ride or MRT ride is 77¢, even if you only travel for 1 station.

4. SIM Card

If you are going to stay at home and in the office for a very long time, and the only thing you care is internet data, a prepaid SIM card is a better option. In Singapore, incoming calls are charged. I use M1 as my SIM card, and every month I always buy the $14 data package, which offers 2GB data and free incoming calls for 1 month.

5. Fibre Broadband Internet

Singapore offers an unbelievably f*cking fast internet access for a f*cking cheap price. For $45 per month (this includes a free TP-Link router!), I can get 1 Gbps internet. And it’s for real, the installation-guy showed us the speed test results first.

That speed is only reachable if you use LAN cable. With wi-fi, my iPhone can access 250 Mbps speed, and it’s still pretty fast 😆. My old laptop can only get at max 40 Mbps speed though because of its old wi-fi hardware. As a comparison, back in Indonesia, a 20 Mbps internet costs $35. Not to mention that the network is pretty unstable…

6. Entertainment and Well-Beingness

Many types of entertainments, but I will only tell you the activities that I have tried.

• Swimming

If you live in a condo, OR if you have a friend staying in a condo, swimming pool access is free. If you don’t, public swimming pools are really cheap in Singapore. Clementi swimming pool complex only charges $1.3, and the locker only costs 20¢ 😃.

• Watching Movie

Watching movie is on average $12–15 per movie. I only tried WeCinemas and it cost me $12.5. Beware: use your ears very well as there are no English subtitles, and don’t be shocked when they show you the subtitles in Mandarin 😢.

• Badminton

At Clementi Community Center, it costs $5 per badminton court for one hour. There’s also free indoor badminton courts, but I’m not sure how the playing queue works there…

• Gym

Varies a lot. I heard there’s a gym that costs only $30, but on average, I think it’s around $100 per month.

7. Shopping

Clothes’ price is more or less the same as those of in Indonesia. Any brand you can find in Indonesia, it will most likely exist here too. If you want “Pasar Baru” vibe, you can visit Bugis Village. Electronic gadgets, however, are often more expensive. I plan to buy a new gaming laptop and it costs $2,600 in Singapore, but it’s only Rp23.000.000 in Indonesia (~$2,200).

So to sum up, here’s my monthly spending in Singapore excluding shopping.

Food: $500

MRT: $60

Rent + Bills + Internet: $1000

SIM Card: $14

Entertainment: $20

Total: ~$1,600

Can you achieve a much more cheaper life? Sure you can! Although for a decent life, I’d say you’ll still need to spend at least $1,200 (rent in a $600 room, probably no air conditioner though…). If you can spend below that, good for you then lol.

Sounds very expensive? Don’t worry, if you live in Singapore as a skilled worker, you are guaranteed with minimum salary of $3,600. Or if you’re a mid-skilled worker, then $2,200 of minimum salary. That way, you’ll still save a lot of money.

That’s all, I hope this article is helpful! 😈