A challenge for the family .....

I was reading on Yahoo! News Singapore about how some analysts said retrenchments could hit us here in Singapore as early as December, while others predict the full impact will be felt in the second and third quarter of next year. The article went on to describe how a 42-year-old who works as a pool cleaner hopes to survive the hard months ahead. He earns about S$1,450 a month before contributing to the Central Provident Fund. His wife is a homemaker and he has two children. The family spends about S$300 every month for household needs.

Now the number got me thinking how difficult it must be to manage S$300 for household needs. I mean, I am very guilty of spending more than that amount for food for one person. So I spent sometime thinking how the family manages with S$300. I find it hard, maybe even impossible.

So my curiosity led me to approach this topic with my family and I suggested a challenge for them - for the month of November, we give it a try and see how we do with S$300 for food expenses (so if we eat out as a family, it will have to come out of that S$300). It's going to be interesting and I have no idea if we will be able to do it but I am curious to see what we need to do to keep to the budget. If you are interested in this challenge, give it a try and let me know how it goes ....