Steph's Friend

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Personal Financing

I attempted to log all my expenditures for today. This means that when I spend money, I will take note of it so that I can check if my expenditure is low or high.

Today I decided to go to Suntec for the PC Show 2008. I am looking for a few things in particular. They are a webcam, a digital camera and a MP3 player (yes, I have been procrastinating on buying one since don't-know-when). I took a bus from my home to Jurong East MRT.

Item 1: Bus fare from home to Jurong East MRT = $0.67

Then I alighted and walked towards the MRT station. The MRT arrived and I walked in. After a few stops, there was this lady standing in front of me. She was talking over her phone. It was loud so her conversation could be heard. She used certain words like "chamber", "percussionist", "modules", "teacher", "SSO"...etc. In case you don't know, SSO is the abbreviation for Singapore Symphonic Orchestra. From there, I figured that she was a musician. It seems that she was looking for a percussionist...hm...interesting...I am a percussionist. However, she mentioned over the phone a few minutes later that she didn't want any Year One percussionist, reason being that she can't get along with them. Hm...okay...

Anyway the train reached City Hall and I tapped my EZ-Link card.

Item 2: Train fare from Jurong East MRT to City Hall MRT = $1.14

Then I went to DBS Bank over at Raffles City to deposit some cash. Next I went to the food court and ordered my lunch. It was a plate of chicken rice.

Item 3: Plate of chicken rice = $3.80

I got thirsty and bought a bottle of water.

Item 4: Guardian Distilled H2O = $0.55

After that I made my way to the PC Show...

When I arrived, it was not really crowded, there was still space to move about. I looked around a few booths and a few things caught my eye. There was this Final Year EEE student from NTU who was over at one of the booths. We talked for awhile and I realised that I was keeping him from his work so I moved on. I saw this interesting device. It was a portable solar battery. It charges itself from the sun and you can use it to charge your handphone or MP3 player or PSP or whatever. Interesting.

In the end, I bought a webcam. It's 5 megapixels with an in-built mic.

Item 5: PROLiNK PCC5020 Web Camera = $25

Is it cheap? I think it is compared to the other cameras around.

After walking for awhile looking at the cool gadgets and stuff, I decided to stop and went to grab a bite.

Item 6: Aunt Anne's Zesty Roselle Pretzel = $2.70

This was nice. It was sweet with a tinge of sourness. But I think the price was too expensive. It's enough to buy one loaf of Gardenia.

After eating the pretzel, I got thirsty. I realised that my water bottle was empty. And so, I went over to Watson.

Item 7: Watson Distilled Water = $1.25

I get the feeling that it's expensive. Anyway, I got tired and went back home.

Item 8: Bus 502 from Suntec to home = $2.20

I thought that it was interesting to write down the things you spent for the day and look at how you spend your money. From here, I can see that taking a bus home is much more expensive and takes a longer time than if I were to take the MRT and bus back home. $2.20 is much more than $0.67 plus $1.14 (2.20 > 0.67+1.14). The bus ride back home was stuffy and crowded. Haiz...if I knew, I would have taken the MRT back. Of course this is true if the going and coming back trip costs the same.

So for today, I spent a total of...$37.31. Hm...that's a lot for one day. If I didn't buy the webcam, it would be $12.31. For transport, I spent $4.01. Which is one-third of my expenditure less the webcam. Whoa...transport is already one-third. Maybe I should travel to somewhere nearer.

Anyway, here's an interesting find that I am sure you have seen before.


Now tell me, a bus carrying 20 passengers emit 55x20=1100g of carbon dioxide per kilometre while the average car carrying one person emits 180g of carbon dioxide per kilometre. If that's the case, which is more environmentally friendly? The bus or the car? Think about it.

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