Anyone knows of affordable hotels in Singapore?

At work, our department is planning a team trip to Singapore. We're planning to stay for just one night. Since I'm helping my colleague to organise, we're trying as best we can to plan the trip during the Great Singapore Sales which is happening now till July. We plan to go end of June.

Money is an issue as we have a budget to keep to. We're trying to find some decent hotels either somewhere along Orchard or someplace close by so that we can easily get to Orchard.

The cheapest ones I've seen on websites cost around SGD200. Some of these aren't even at Orchard. We really want to make this trip but if we can't keep to our measly budget, then it looks like we will need to find some place else to go.

Does anyone know of any decent and affordable hotels? Do share if you know. Thanks!

There are always options

When people talk about managing money, the first few things that most people think about will be managing savings and spending. One important aspect is also to manage your debts. And in case you think debts only mean housing and car loans, do think again. Do you have credit cards? If you are owing on them, those are your debts too and more often than not, they seem so hard to repay, don't they? If you're nodding along and thinking that's true, don't fret too much. You always have choices to reduce your debt either by paying more of them off at any one time or choose cheaper rates to pay off your debts.

The latter option is a wise way to reduce your debts. You can always do credit card balance transfers. That means transferring your debt on one credit card to another. One place that has comprehensive information on credit cards as well as available balance transfer programs is Credit-Land. I like this site because it offers relevant resources to me and at a glance, I'm able to compare options open to me. It's a one-stop-centre where everything I need to know is right there. While browsing, I came across a few 0% Balance Transfer options. You know what that means? You get to pay zero interest on your amount owing! This is a great opportunity to save some interests.

There are also lots of useful financial information on this site. It's a good place to get started in learning more about credit and finding the best deals that suit your financial needs.

What I REALLY did on Mother's Day

In my previous post from a tag, I wrote that on Mother's Day, what I really wanted to do was to bake a cake for the family. But it didn't happen...

Mother's Day started the minute the clock struck midnight on Saturday night. My most valued "gift" was not having to wake up whenever baby stirred from sleep. Because it's Mother's Day, I got to sleep through it all while Ray took care of baby's wants throughout the night. But baby was behaving himself, hardly giving much fuss that night.

I decided to take some time to get a haircut. After that I shopped for groceries before going home. Once I got home, baby was taking his nap so I had an uninterupted lunch and even managed to check my mails for a while. When baby woke up, we played for a while and I fed him steamed papaya for the first time. He's always excited about tasting new food.

The afternoon whiled away and before we knew it, it was time to head out for Mother's Day dinner. We brought along baby's porridge and he got to eat together at the dinner table for the first time.

It was a pretty relaxed day, and I felt rejuvenated not having to rush through chores and instead spent some time on my own doing things at my own pace. Maybe I'll save the baking for another day...

Earn a little something doing what you like

How would you like to be able to do something that you enjoy and make money at the same time? Wouldn't that be considered a dream job? If I had such an opportunity, I wouldn't think twice about letting it go. After all, like most people say, opportunities don't always come knocking on your door twice. However, it's not easy finding that dream job. The next best thing to do, perhaps, is to blog for money if you already enjoy blogging. Who knows, you could be making more than just a little money if you are offered lots of opportunities. If you would like to get started, go try out Bloggerwave.

What I REALLY Want To Do On Mother’s Day

This year is my very first time celebrating Mother's Day as a mother and with mom, too. Mummy In Vain tagged me to write about what I really want to do on Mother's Day. Here's what it is for me.

We won't be going someplace commercialised to celebrate. Instead, we will head to one of our favourite restaurants for dinner. Apart from the planned dinner, I do have something else I would love to do - to bake a cake.

You see, I don't bake often due to time constraint. Now that there's a baby in tow and we have no maid to help out, it's not easy to juggle chores, caring for baby and getting time to do my own thing.

I love to bake. Not because my cakes taste awesome that I get nice complements on it. I love to bake simply because I feel that the aroma of freshly baked cakes fills the house with a lot of warmth. Baking, much like cooking, is from the heart. How can it not be? You spend lots of time in the kitchen preparing, cooking/baking, washing and serving. To me, all the hassle of preparing food for your family is always done out of love.

Since I haven't baked for years, I would love to put on an apron and bake away for the family. It's a way to let mom sit back and enjoy tea break that's made by daughter to mother. Well, hubby would get a couple of slices of those cakes too, no doubt. =)

And as a mother, I would be happy enough to wake in the morning and see my little boy sleeping soundly, and then waking up with a smile and reach out his arms to be cuddled.

Now that would be a perfect Mother's Day for me.

What about you, Dancing Queen and MamaBok?

To sell or surrender?

I have a few insurance policies that I plan to hold for the long term. I know of many people who buy a few of the same type of policies. I only buy one of each and that's already quite a heavy load to sustain.

From conversations with people who hold a few policies, they feel that they need more than one policy to give them enough returns or protection should they need to make a claim on whatever situation that hits them.

Some of them have halfway through the term of the policies decide to cash in on them by either selling or surrending the policies. They have done enough research to know which is the better option. According the them, selling endowment policies in the secondary market makes you more money than if you were to surrender the policies to the company you purchased from. It's quite substantial how much more you can cash in from the secondary market, which is estimated to be up to 35% more from the insurance companies.

So if you have thoughts about cashing in, do it the intelligent way.

Time flies

Time really flies...my little boy is already 8+ months old. It's been a long while since I updated this blog about him.

He's an active little fella who wants to crawl so badly that he would use his head to bulldoze his way even if he's not strong enough to get onto all fours. He's started on solids now and he's enjoying his food. I can tell he's gonna grow up and love food, just like his parents. He's also very talkative and we have no idea what he's rambling about. We just ramble back!

He loves being in his walker and it is a big saving grace for us sometimes when we need to put him down to do some work. But he doesn't like to be left alone so we still need to be in the same room. That's just as well because we still need to keep an eye on him anyway.

We've also introduced some baby programs to him, the likes of Baby Einstein. But guess what? He enjoys the Bee Movie more than any Baby Einstein programs! So much for trying out condusive educational programs, huh?

That's pretty much a summary of what he's been up to. It's been so much pleasure watching his every progress all these months. here's one of his recent photos...he doesn't look as "funny" as his younger pictures back then... :P

You have choices

Do you realise how many types of credit cards there are in the market? All banks offer easily more than 5 types of cards each, not to mention other finanical institutions who join the crowd in offering more array of cards.

Sometimes, as a consumer, it is rather difficult to decide which cards give the better deals thus deserving a place in the wallet. It's just as well then I discovered an resources that can help in credit card applications by offering comparisons of different cards at a glance so that you are better informed of the benefits of each. You don't need to run between banks to find out information of each card individually. This saves you a lot of time and effort.

If you face issues with credit reputations and worry about not being able to get your applications approved, fret not. This same website offers credit cards for bad credit too.

The site also provides useful information about credit cards and helps users to manage their finances better. Where else would you be able to learn about credit cards and how to use them wisely? It's truely a one-stop credit card resource. Do check it out.

The cubicle dilemma

In my first job, I was an auditor. Being one, it means behaving like a nomad in the office. By nomad, I mean not having a fixed working desk to call my own. We had a common area to use when we worked from the office. The reason for being a nomad is because we're expected to be out at clients' offices most of the time.

In my second job, I had a desk of my own but then it was in a really weird arrangement. It's actually a very long stretch of tables put together and we sat next to each other at arm's length, with no separators. That to me was already a big improvement to my nomad days so I was fine with it. Plus I sat next to a very nice lady and we always chatted and worked together. So the arrangement worked for me.

Then I moved on and this time, I had more decent desk space. That company was an open-concept office, so there were no cubicles installed. Everyone and see everybody, near or far. With that job, over time, I got to move into a room. I was excited! I guess anyone being offered a room of his or her own for the very first time would be excited. But not long after I moved into that room did I realise that it gets rather lonely. Back then with the open concept, whenever anyone wanted to take a break from work, they can just turn around and have a chat with a colleague or talk about lunch plans while working. In the room, it was just me, the computer and the four walls. So, I often got out and talked to my colleagues because I wasn't used to the isolation though I liked the privacy.

I left that job and moved on where I was entitled to a room but they had run out of them. So I was seated at a shared cubicle. This time, I didn't quite mind it because I got to enjoy the company of colleagues again!

Now, in my current job, I have a similar seating arrangement with shared cubicles. But come Monday, I'll be shifting into a personal cubicle. Again, I like the privacy of my own space and I get lots and lots of space with it too. I also like the fact that there's a window behind me. But I am quite sad about the part where I would feel isolated again. Sometimes I wonder if the benefits of having your own space outweigh having easy access to friends around you. After all, they are the ones who make life more interesting at work.

Perhaps it just takes some adjusting to, and making more effort to get out of my own space and be with the others. It's just that it seems a bit weird to hang around people's workstations, doesn't it?

Wrong number??!

I'm sure you've received calls from strangers who called your number by mistake. I bet you've also been the one who made the mistake of calling a wrong number. Today I just realised something...

How do you react when you call a number, ask for your friend and get told that you've dialled the wrong number? A lot of people would just quickly apologise and hang up. Some sound rather embarrassed about the simple and honest mistake too.

Here are some behaviours I've observed over time and I find them rather peculiar. I hope you're not any of these! :P

1. The perfectionist

Stranger: Hello, can I speak with A?
You: Sorry, you got the wrong number.
Stranger: Wrong number? Cannot be wat...what's your number?
You (when in a nasty mood): Why should I tell you??!
OR
You (when in the best of mood): 012...(you give the number).
Stranger: Eh, correct lah...so, no such person is it?
You: No!
Stranger: Ok.
Line goes dead.

2. The chatter

Stranger: Hello, can I speak with A?
You: Sorry, you got the wrong number.
Stranger: Oh! Is this 012....(reads out your phone number)
You: Yes...
Stranger: Hmm...how come ah? It's the right number woh...
You: .... (what can you say to this stranger at this point?)
Stranger: Thank you ah...
Line goes dead.

3. The Non-Believer

Stranger: Hello, can I speak with A?
You: Sorry, you got the wrong number.
Stranger: Wrong number? Really?
You: Yeah.
Stranger: Oh...so A is not around la?
You: I told you it's the wrong number. No such person here.
Stranger: Where is this?
You: .....(do you see a need to continue this conversation?!)
You hang up on the stranger.

4. The Rude One

Stranger: Hello, can I speak with A?
You: Sorry, you got the wrong number.
Stranger hangs up on you immediately.

Have you encountered similar experiences? They're quite fun and entertaining when I'm having a good day...but totally annoying when I'm busy or having woken up on the wrong side of the bed.

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