This is LiN's Life

Well, its not really that big, but if you graduated in 1998 in the midst of the Asia Economic Crisis, you would understand. Started out with 0.5 bonus back when Im with NUH, 8 years in the work force now, its slightly better at 2.2. Mind you, its 2.2 and not 3.2 (unlike a Radio DJ reported earlier on)

If you know me well, you would know that I control my monthly budget very strictly. I have a strict routine of noting down the commitments/expenses/ bills for that month a wk before my pay is credited into my account.

The truth is for 3 years when I first started working, I have no savings at all. My pay and bonus disappears into thin air and I dont recall spending on something big or useful at all. Thank god I dont own a credit card back then!

So one day, I sat down with my bank book and the single digit printed on the very last line and I thought to myself, what should I do to get out of this recurring trap. So I started to write down my montly budget and Im proud to say that I do this without fail every month since 2001.

This December, however, there is a special additional committment: For Lil Baby + Car

Yap, as you all know, Lil Baby is on the way. And the car had been a much discussed matter ever since the Pregnancy Test kit had a "+" sign on it.

After much deliberation and lots of calculation, we decided that it is a practical decision to purchase that car. Sending Lil Baby to the baby sitter everyday, plus the trips to the in-laws every wkend. It would be too much of a hassle to lug Lil Baby and the pram and everything else to the west side of Singapore and back to the Northeast. Plus the total sum of the taxi fares would definately add up to more than the amount we would spend on petrol.

So with Marina and Ramli's help last Sunday, we went shopping for a car. *Special thanks to Marina and Ramli and babies for helping us. We owe u guys one*

We had wanted to get a smaller car, something that would not incur a monthly payment of more than $400 per month. But after much discussion on their experience (they started off with a hatchback car which they found difficulty in trading in 3 yrs later), we decided to get a slightly bigger but still affordable car, a sedan, mainly for the larger boot space.

Kia Rio, Auto, 1.4, in Sunset Orange.

It was quite a bargain, at 42K+, it comes with leather seats and sports rim which Marina told us that it would cost an additional 1-2K. The sales person also gave in to Marina's bugging by adding in free Solar Films and some other car stuff which I dont understand. Oh and a free iPod. With such a bargain, to me it didnt really matter that its in Sunset Orange.

But the big significance is that I have to be even more strict with my budget...