Why I chose JB: My journey to Johor Bahru
MY STORY OF WHY I CHOSE JB
do you want
to live well yet save more?
Because you are sick of spending carefully and not see your savings grow due to inflation. That WAS me. So I pack up my belongings, leaving from Singapore to the other side of the bridge, JB (Malaysia). In an attempt to take control of my life. So that I can live well AND save more. In essence, leaving Singapore so that I can start living in JB (Malaysia).
WHY I CHOSE JB, Blog Posts
I tell you about the how’s of living in JB as well as play and work whilst earning SGD so that you can avoid my mistakes. Live better, with my tips and tricks.
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THE BIG REASON
Why I chose JB, Malaysia
In Singapore, you can earn good money but you also spend it quickly. As an educator tutoring A level students, I run around the island weekday nights and weekends between Bishan, Hougang, Kembangan and Jurong East.
Teaching since 2004, I have healthy student numbers and earn quite well. Around S$6-7k (about USD4728) per month circa 2019. On certain months, close to exams where classes and student numbers increase further, I can even hit S$10k.
However at the same time, the amount I get for doing much less work than back in school feels like nothing when I want to live well.
For e.g., valuing privacy and peace highly as an introvert, I opted to rent a 1 bedroom condominium unit that costs S$2k a month. I have to sacrifice almost a third of my average monthly income from teaching just to fulfill my living preferences.
And that is before I include taxes, transport, meals (eating out and cooking), various subscriptions and communication tools. All in, I end up with less than a third of the income from teaching left.
Sometimes in order to live well, I make lifestyle changes like opting for higher quality meats, such as grass-fed beef, and gym memberships and travels, this further depletes whatever is left for savings.
At that stage, living well AND saving seems to be at opposite sides of the bridge. And I want the best of both worlds (who don’t haha).
For starters look at this video where I compare the price of a common delicacy available in both SG and MY below.
So, that led to my decision to not renew my rental, packing up my belongings and crossing over from Singapore to living in JB (Malaysia) in search of living well AND also increasing my savings. That was March of 2020 and the beginning of COVID pandemic lock down… 😅
So continue to my blog where I detail what happened after.