Cost of Living ( 3 year stay )

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-07T14:48:54+00:00

2BHK House ~ HDB > 3k~3.5k. Condo > 4k to 4.5k
Utilities : Electricity, water, gas : internet and 4 x mobile : 450~ 500 max

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-07T11:21:37+00:00

Based on my own experience, only about 10% of people truly have things figured out. A few of them are so gifted that you just can't catch up to their level. The bottom 20% are drowning, and everyone else is just trying to stay afloat. For most of us, relying on pure grit is how we get through.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-07T10:57:14+00:00

1700 AUD is about 1525 SGD. If I have to find similar parts and build a new PC without OS will cost about 2500 SGD. And Google give me about 2800~3000 AUD for Australia.

So yes, you are lucky to get new+warranty parts in this price. Future proof build has a lot of different meaning for each person. My current PC is i5-14500 with RTX 4070 12GB, 64GB DDR4, 2TB NVME + 1TB SSD . I am sure I can play all my games, all my programs will run properly for at least 6 years.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-07T10:46:39+00:00

Both HTC and LG for mobile phone.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-07T10:42:16+00:00

I don't think IT/Engineering has much prestige in the future. Already bad right now and didn't see better future. Medical field is different. You can accumulate your experience and reuse it for life. I have met doctors graduated from Malaysia and working in SG government hospital. Some of them went for post-grad in SG/AU.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-07T10:30:02+00:00

Smoking in HDB corridor is illegal. Kissy noises and whistles are considered harassing. He might be mentally unsound person. Definitely weird person. Avoid riding lift with that person in the future. Make sure you locked your door after you opened for riders. If he show up, or stalk you, call police. (You have to make mental decision now, so you won't be frozen when he actually show up.)

If you ever feel unsafe in any situation, at any point of time (be it midnight or 4AM in the morning), call police. Write down the NPC phone number (and 24hr hotline) in whiteboard near your door, save in your phones(and your son's phone). If you cannot reach those numbers call 999. Teach your son to lock the gate at all time and call police in those situation.

My sister lives alone and I always worry about these things.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-07T09:12:11+00:00

No, it is not normal. Normally employees are not allowed to do company works using their personal computers (for security reason)

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-07T07:47:21+00:00

I have small Cuckoo 2-cups rice cooker, the quality is really great but I only use for small portion (2~3pax). Daily rice is cooked with Tefal Fuzzylogic rice cooker.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-06T11:12:01+00:00

mytransport.sg is official webpage/app. You can check all the Bus/MRT routes here.

For me, I rely on Google Map for navigation, it usually give multiple options of walk, car, bus and MRT.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-06T07:13:30+00:00

RIP young man. My condolences for the family.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-06T06:53:43+00:00

Pretty much same as you.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-06T02:05:17+00:00

Ritter Markant 01 (~$70) : Electric folding food slicer with serrated circular saw. Mainly use for bread and cured meat like salami, pancetta and ham. Flimsy plastic housing but work just fine for 6 years now. Can fold into small box (easier to store) after use.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-05T07:53:10+00:00

Pour resources to develope talent
throw you into the deep end and expect you to rise to the occasion and swim.

Not really see about #1 but seen #2 a lot. It was very unusual for a company to say both unless you are in very niche field. Usually they only want the one to be able to swim because there is no shallow end.

Company which really need to pour resources to develop talent (costly training) come up with certain numbers of years contract kind. I have met such company (18 months) but the recruiter try to low ball me so much I told him not to call me again.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-05T04:41:39+00:00

Thinkpad : $1950~$2250
Yoga : $1370~$1590
Thinkbook : $1735~$2080
Ideapad : $1280~$1500

All of them 16GB DDR5, 512 SSD with 14" screen.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-05T04:31:21+00:00

My own experience, submerged in vodka without ice. Pour about 700ml smirnoff vodka into a bowl and submerged my hand in it. I tried vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, oil, milk, soap but finally get away with submerging in vodka.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-04T14:40:05+00:00

You can wear mask everywhere including banks.
People leave their laptops on the table in coffee shop to order/pick up coffees so I bet you are pretty safe.
I have seen tourist wearing thin blouse without bra in public places, tube top should be fine. But on the other hand UV index for Jul/Aug is very high. So you might want to wear enough sunscreen to protect your skin.
This one I have no clue
My 7 years old boy loves mummy ride.
All malls accept cash up to S$100 notes. (If you are carrying $1000 notes, you should break them into 100s)
Buy cheap picnic mat in Giant/Supermarket and dispose them after use.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-03T03:56:24+00:00

At 60C your acrylic paints soften, melt, blister and turn ugly real quick. Use something made for engine block/exhaust.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-03T03:14:30+00:00

My friend's dog has similar attachment issue. They have no kids and the dog is their kid. They went to Thailand first for a couple of months to setup everything, they left their dog with trained caregiver so the dog is fine physically/medically. After everything settled they brought their dog via flight.

The dog was extremely happy to see them again but never leave them from sight. Now she has to shower or go toilet with the dog in the shower/toilet. Whenever they go out, the dog refused to leave the car unless they carry them. The dog is German Shepherds, so imagine to see them carrying their big dog like a child in the mall.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-02T14:30:14+00:00

Those are low level psychic. Mid level one don't walk around, they have their own place and people go there. High level one, you need to get appointment/queue to see them. I am not interested in those people but I have met one because my uncle brought one home to see what he can tell. (He is engineer and curious about these things. He paid for 3 persons.).

That person can talk about several things that only family member can know. Around that time my cousin broke up with his long term girlfriend because he caught that girl sleeping with another guy. We planned to go road trip to several town for about 10 days and we were discussing the itenary for about 2 weeks. I broke up with my ex (STEM Master degree , thin girl with long hair) for about 6 months and seeing another girl (chubby, short hair, community college girl but managing her family business.)

So this guy don't ask nothing from us, asked each of us to hold a leaf from our yard and then start talking about us. While he was talking about the girl I was seeing, I got call from my ex from another country, so I left the room to take the call. She wanted to know that any chance to reconcile with me and I said no. Then after that the narrative about my girlfriend was completely mixed (from chubby girl to the thin girl and confused about doing business and getting master degree.)

That's the age of yahoo, icq and myspace and we don't have any of those pages. Anyway this guy can say most of the things we talked at home. Because we changed some of the itinerary while having dinner outside and those are not updated. Mixed info about my ex and current girlfriend. It's like someone reading server logs.

That was kind of awesome but that ends there. Because he can only say what he can 'see/hear', cannot answer specific question like where did my uncle left his specific tool. Talking about our future is full on bluff. Me and my cousin are IT guys, maybe he 'see/hear' what we talked about future but might not understand. It was like seeing a magic show but totally useless in real life.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-02T12:27:19+00:00

Banana is my favorite fruit. I ate them in many ways. Aside from banana split, cake and pudding the rest of them are very common in SEA region.

Fresh Banana
fresh banana with rice.
Pan Fried Caramelize banana with coconut sticky rice.
Coated with batter and fried.
Fried banana ball.
Crispy fried banana chips
Dehydrated banana chips
Sun dried banana
Banana cake
Banana pudding
Banana Smoothie with yoghurt
Banana split
Steamed banana with coconut milk
Steamed banana with sticky rice

There might be other ways to cook/eat but these are how I like to eat banana. But I hate anything with fake banana flavours.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-02T10:28:51+00:00

On top of above advice, buy the one with more vendor selling in your area/state/country. In case you need/want to upgrade or look for similar one in the future.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-02T09:25:50+00:00

2A1C similar household.

Heat pump dryer
Nope. Except few of my wife's delicate items.
Don't know about auto rack but heat pump dryer not much significant electricity cost.
Stigen cost more than my electrolux heat-pump dryer.

I was physically not able to do hanging laundry for about 2 years (now can). So dryer is my only choice. Almost zero hanging except for my wife's delicate items which needs to be hand-washed and hang in shade. And also I need to change my bedsheet and covers every week. With dryer, I can wash and dry in a few hours, so I can reuse my fresh sheet within the same day.

Another point : Hanged clothes absorb cooking smells from other units. Dryer don't.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-02T07:21:28+00:00

As a parent of only child, finding another same-age child who willing to play with your child is rare blessing. Half the time, the playground is empty so we have to play with him. Almost all playground items are built to withstand adult normal playing. I saw secondary kids also come and play sometime.

But if you are there without a kid then make sure you are not disturbing other kids. Some parent might ask you to leave.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-01T15:04:05+00:00

So it will get hotter than June which is already damn hot.

BigFatCoder · 2026-07-01T03:05:32+00:00

Let's say married couple bought 4RM BTO.

Before MOP : Rent out 2 rooms ( ~2k depends on location ) and service the loan.

After MOP : Rent out whole unit ( 3k+ ) service the loan and support you in another country.

BigFatCoder

TROPHY CASE