$5 Challenge

From reference from SGagainstpoverty, according to the Department of Statistics, 105,000 families in Singapore are earning on average $1,500 per month. Meaning that life is a daily struggle for about 387,000 Singapore citizens and permanent residents. After paying necessary utilities, schooling, housing rental, loan instalments and medicals, they are left with about $5 a day for transportation and food for each family member. How do they do it? Hence, I decided to take on the challenge of surviving on SGD5 for my food and transport for a day.

SGD5 for the Challenge

As I come from a family of middle income, I challenge myself to follow my normal purchasing routine and lifestyle using only $5.  I feel that in this way, I can fully understand the less fortunate families in Singapore better. In Singapore, I feel that poverty is a rising problem amongst Singaporeans, it may be because of the rising cost of living in Singapore. Doing this challenge, I feel that this way we can understand and sympathise with each other, creating bonding and harmony among. We can also create empathy among one another and also to get a taste of what is like to be in their shoes.

To my understanding, every food item or transportation I take or use must be taken into consideration of the challenge as everything requires money to be purchased. I started the challenge on the 18th July, Tuesday, where I went to school and followed my normal schedule for the day. At first I did not expect much of a challenge to survive on $5 a day as the school provides reasonably priced lunches. Although I do admit that I always go to rather pricey restaurants, like 18 chefs, to eat dinner most of the time. My one meal can cost me up to $6.80 which means that in a day, plus snacks and drinks, I would normally spend $20.

Starting the challenge!

My alarm clock with the time I woke up

With a strong sense of determination, I started my challenge at 07.38am when I had woken up from my deep slumber. Following my daily routine, I had to get my usual cup of caffeine from instant coffee! The Nescafe original with 25% less sugar of 43 sachets of coffee costs about $5.75, which means that the one sachet that I drank costs an estimated of $0.13. With that, I was only left with $4.87 for the rest of my day!

My usual dose of caffeine

Cereal Breakfast

After making coffee I had made myself something to eat because breakfast is the most important meal of the day! I poured myself a bowl of cranberry and almond cereal and sat down with my cup of coffee. Assuming that I had poured a serving suggested portion (56g), the cost of the bowl I had is $0.70. With that I was already down to $4.17 for the rest of the day! 

Train Platform at Commonwealth Station (EW20)

Dover MRT (EW22)

At this point, I was certainly very worried that I would not be able to survive the rest of the day with such little amount I had left. Although I was deterred, I still felt determined to complete the challenge successfully.

Afterwards, I got changed and ready for school. I left my house and reached Commonwealth MRT (EW20) and travelled 2 stops to school at Dover MRT (EW22). As I had bought the train concession pass at $25 for a month, the estimated cost of travel per day was $0.83. With that, I was only left with $3.34 for my 2 meals.

Reaching Dover, I started my day in school as per usual.

Studying and drinking water during lunch break

At 12pm, there was a 1 hour lunch break till 1pm. However, me and my group of friends decided not to go for lunch, instead we sat at one of the schools study areas and got to work. For lunch, I drank the free water from the water dispenser nearby the area. Hence, my lunch was free!

Sports Stadium

In between classes, I did start to feel hungry but I had to dismiss the thought of eating as I had determination to complete the challenge. I did wonder though, how do these low-income families survive through the day without feeling hungry? I was definitely starting to feel hungry, but I had successfully managed to distract myself by concentrating on doing my work.

At about 4pm, I had Sports For Life, a module where it is mainly focused on fitness and exercising. It was definitely starting to get very challenging for me as I was running (literally) on empty stomach. However, after running I felt more energized and ready to start being productive. It was a great exercise to burn off all the extra calories I had been putting on!

 Economical Rice for Dinner

On my way home, I decided to drop by the nearest hawker centre to purchase my dinner. I ended up purchasing a packet of economical rice with only 2 ingredients, meat and vegetables, as I was only left with $3.34. I was lucky to get this cheap packet of food at only $3.00. Normally, if I were to purchase a packet of economical rice, I would normally get a packet with 3 ingredients to balance out the meal. Since I was on a tight budget, I guess the meal would suffice.

With that, I ended my challenge and called it a day!

Summary of the Challenge

$0.35 remaining

To summarise the challenge, I had spent a total of $4.66 and only left with ~$0.35. Doing this challenge was a tough one as I had to become more flexible with how I normally do things. Like when and what I eat throughout the day was to be controlled and restricted by my spending power. Even if there was a need to eat and replenish energy, I couldn't afford to lose more allowance for that day. Although it was a successful challenge, I feel that it would become even more challenging to continue living in this manner. Kudos to those people surviving on $5 a day, it was a really tough day for me and I really have no idea how they do it as a daily routine. However, it did seem like a great way to start a dieting plan!

The challenge would have been extra challenging if I had social events planned on that day. As normally when I hung out with my friends, I would go dine at restaurants and have a few drinks afterward. I think that with only $5 a day, it would've been impossible for me to survive.

With the extra money I had remaining, I calculated that if I were to save that amount for every day of the month, I would have an average savings of $10.50 for every month. After doing this challenge I have learned many things like to start saving up and put aside cash for the future. As savings accumulate, our money grows. I also learned that it is not necessary to spend on pricier "atas" food as it is only a want and not a need to eat there. I feel that millennials like me in Singapore should learn to control and spend their money wisely instead of spending impulsively.

After the Challenge

After doing this challenge, I finally understand how it is like to be living as one of those low-income families and the stress they face everyday due to their financial struggles. I think that through doing this challenge, it is raising awareness of the rising problem in Singapore, which will eventually encourage a solution to solving poverty. I feel that as a person, I have become more aware and caring for the people around me. I have come to understand that not everyone has the same financial status and that there are people around me who are living with $5 daily. I believe that I have matured to have a more compassionate heart and also to be more aware of what I am spending on everyday. Through this, I come to believe that good money management is a key factor to preventing poverty.

While doing this challenge, I had the thought, what if they were to hang out with their friends? What if they hung out with people like me? To me, I feel that 18 chefs and their price of $6.80 for the student meal is a reasonable price for food. Wouldn't the people living on an average of $5 not be able to hang out with their friends? They were restricted by their spending power to have a social life with their friends.  I suddenly feel the guilt of wasting so much money on unnecessary spending on "atas" food when I could have went for a hearty hawker centre rice and meat.

Amidst the challenge, I started coughing which led me to think further, what if those people surviving on $5 a day fall sick? How will they be able to visit the doctors if they are only surviving with $5 a day? Will they be able to seek for medical help if they really need it? As you know, consulting a doctor is not cheap as a single consultation of 5mins can cost you about $27. Hence I decided to do my research and to my surprise I found out that there were actually schemes that help to subsidise medical fees for the lower income families! Thank heavens the government is doing something to help these families!

Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS)

The Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) allows Singaporean citizens from lower- to middle-income  households, and all pioneers, to receive subsidies for medical and dental care at participating General Practitioners (GP) and dental clinics near their home.

Citizens who qualify for the scheme receives either a blue or orange CHAS card and with that, they will enjoy subsidies at a capped rate. 

Health assist CHAS card

Singaporeans are eligible to apply for the BLUE health assist card if their monthly income per person is $1,100 or below. They will receive a subsidy of up to $18.50 for common illnesses whenever they visit the doctors. Although it does not subsidise the full cost of the medical bill, it is the most that the scheme can do for those in poverty whenever they fall ill.

Final Thoughts

Although the Singaporean Government made the Community Health Assist Scheme to help those families living in poverty, it is still not enough done to help those in poverty. I think that as citizens we can also play our part by understanding what is like to be in poverty. That way, we can learn that poverty is not something that we want to be in, understand that there are people living in poverty and prevent poverty to happen in one's hands. 

After doing this challenge, it really widen my perspective of the world. I hadn't expect people in Singapore to be living in such a state. I really learnt to be more empathising with people and understand that not everyone is fortunate to enjoy 3 meals a day.References
Community Health Assist Scheme. (2012). What is CHAS. Available: https://www.chas.sg/content.aspx?id=303. Last accessed 20 July 2017.

SGagainstpoverty. (2017). $5 dollar Challenge. Available: https://sgagainstpoverty.org/5-dollar-challenge/. Last accessed 18 July 2017.