Hey, everyone! It’s me again! Don’t worry, I’m not here to talk about NUS-related topics (I write a lot about that, I know). This time, I’m going to be sharing about how I fund my own additional expenses (i.e. everything that is not education, living expenses and transportation).

Before we begin, I must set the record straight: yes, this is entirely my choice. My family is financially stable, and quite frankly, I don’t think I need to work the amount that I do. But this habit started after I completed my IB examinations (the equivalent of A-levels, for those who might not know). During that time, there was an eight-month break before university began. Some of my friends spent that time attempting to get their driving licence. My parents encouraged me to learn and argued that driving would be a useful skill. They had offered to pay for my expenses, but a part of me wanted to see if I could be independent and fund it myself. So, I went to do a sales job. In the end, I made enough to fund my driving, even if I did take the final driving test twice.

From that point onwards, I got into the habit of funding what I call ‘additional expenses’ — medical appointments, musical instruments, concert tickets and travel plans all fall under this category. My Kelly Yu category 1 concert ticket, my new electric guitar and amplifier set, my travels to New York and Baltimore and Washington D.C. and my solo travelling in Taiwan and Japan have all been self-funded. To this day, the fact that I pay for all these things with my own money still brings me some sense of accomplishment.

In this article, I will reflect on my experiences of funding additional expenses and share how I manage to find work and budget for these things. I’ll also share my overall takeaway from the whole thing. Hopefully, you can get something out of this sharing, be it something practical (e.g. useful social media platforms to find ad-hoc jobs) or something more reflective (e.g. learning about the struggles that come with both work and university); I hope you manage to have your own takeaway. Without further ado, let’s begin!

Experience 1: Funding my Driving

Now, this one should come as no surprise. After all, it was the first big expense that I had paid off. As I said, some of my friends were learning to drive during the eight-month period, and my parents thought it would be a good idea for me to learn as well. They had offered to pay for my lessons, but I refused. I don’t know why, and I can’t quite explain, but part of me wanted to be independent and pay for my own things.

During that time, I spent the first two months of my break on a psychology-related internship. However, this experience was allocated to me — I had applied for the PSC scholarship, and any student, regardless of the outcome of the scholarship itself, will be allocated an internship in a government ministry. Prior to this, I had never applied to jobs. I was fortunate enough to focus on education without feeling pressured about household finances.

When my internship ended, I wanted to work again. And so, nineteen-year-old me googled ‘resume template’, downloaded it in Word format, and added as much as I could to it. I didn’t have much work experience back then, so I added all my CCAs and my recent psychology internship and applied for whatever I could. I used any platform – the more obvious ones include LinkedIn, FastJobs, JobStreet and Indeed. One of the less obvious ones I used was glints — this website is not extremely well known, but it was what landed me my sales job. I think it is a pretty good website: relatively unknown and underrated, but with a very wide variety of jobs for you to look through. I fully recommend it for those who are looking for a job but who might not have a lot of experience in a relevant field, or who might not have much experience in general.

Since I had to start being aware of my expenses, I started a budgeting sheet in February of 2021. In the sheet, I had the following headings: Date, Amount Spent, Reason, Total Spent, and Additional Gains. Date was the date I spent money, amount spent was the amount, reason was why I had spent the money (e.g. lunch with a friend), total spent is the total amount of money spent for the entire month, and additional gains was any unexpected financial gain (e.g. relatives giving money during CNY, or government giving citizens money during certain periods). This format is still the same for my most recent budgeting sheet.

During my sales job, I would write down all my expenses and then update them in the sheet. However, I was so exhausted from the job that I did not manage to collate everything and calculate my net gain or loss. It was only after my sales job that I did my administrative duties: I went through my PayNow history to find the amount given to me, and then I would subtract my expenses from my earnings. In yet another Google sheet, I calculated how much I made per month and then how much I made in total. By the time I finished my sales job, I had made enough to pay off the estimated cost of driving.

Overall, the entire experience of job-hunting and job applications, the setting up of a budgeting sheet and the calculations of financial earnings were all new experiences for me. I think valuable skills like attention to detail, discipline (due to constant recording of expenses) and hard work were all important in contributing towards my final goal. It was difficult at the time, but I managed to learn a lot from that experience. I also gained confidence in myself, and in the fact that I was actually able to be independent and pay off an expense with my own money instead of relying on my parents. That epiphany was the start of my financial habits.

Experience 2: Funding my Travels

Now, it’s no secret that I travel. My first-ever solo trip was to Taiwan in 2022. I recently went on an exchange program in 2023 to Boston, and during that time I visited New York, Washington D.C. and Baltimore. After my exchange, I then travelled by myself to Japan, and spent the first week of January 2024 enjoying the sights and scenery of Tokyo. I even celebrated New Year’s on the plane with the staff of Japan Airlines.

But with travel comes cost: flight cost, accommodation, day-to-day spending…all of these need to be considered when planning to travel. And of course, all of these need to be paid off. So, I went to work. In 2023, my summer break was spent doing a full-time internship at MSF. However, I knew that Boston and the United States, in general, would be rather expensive. So I went to work even after my internship ended. Because of the short time frame between the end of my internship and my flight to Boston, I was unable to secure a proper consistent job (most prefer people who can stay for at least two full months). Thus, I was forced to find ad-hoc jobs that I could schedule in.

During that time, the usefulness of a platform like Fastjobs really came in handy. I managed to find advertisements for multiple ad-hoc jobs. For example, at the time, there was an opportunity to work in a soccer event. It was a soccer match held in the outdoor stadium. The opportunity was advertised on Fastjobs, but I continued to liaise with them over WhatsApp. Turns out, the company hires people to work during events in the stadium. The soccer event was one example, but other events included concerts such as the Mayday concert, the Bruno Mars concert, and even the highly contested Taylor Swift concert. They would announce the dates of the event, and you can put down your name and sign up depending on your availability.

Another application that might be underrated is YY Circle. I downloaded the app on my phone to look for more jobs and ended up finding one for a Tanya Chua concert. Regardless, for those who don’t mind things like F&B, YY Circle is a decent app. It offers a decent number of ad-hoc jobs. Most are F&B, but some can be things like front desk assistants. If you’re dissatisfied with the other platforms, you can always try YY Circle.

I also used my NUS portal, NUS Talent Connect, to find part-time or ad-hoc jobs (I literally keyed in those words as my search). Through the portal, I managed to find a Japanese exchange company. They would introduce Japanese students to Singapore and were looking for Singapore university students to engage them. We would talk about life in Singapore and our experience in university. We would also help them prepare a brief presentation about Singaporean cuisine.

Overall, this experience taught me to use every possible means to find suitable short-term jobs that would fit my schedule. It involved a lot of scheduling, scanning through opportunities, and comparing (working hours, event length, and pay offered). But it was a good learning experience, especially since I had mainly looked for full-time internships.

Experience 3: Funding my Hobbies

When I came back from Boston, there were two issues: firstly, I needed more money to pay back my travel expenses; and secondly, I developed new interests. I’ve wanted to buy an electric guitar ever since I saw Kelly Yu play on the ‘Sisters who Make Waves program, and so I finally caved and bought a set. Then I found out that Kelly Yu was coming to Singapore, and I decided to buy category 1 tickets to her concert with the justification that I might never see her perform live ever again. My computer also had issues and needed fixing, and I had to celebrate the birthdays of both my parents…

In short, we needed more money. So, we went looking for more ad-hoc jobs. This summer, I had two research projects, one of which almost became my Honours Thesis. I didn’t want to take up a full-time internship, because then I would have no time to work on my potential Honours Thesis. But we needed money. One platform I used was the NUS IAAS platform (I had written about this in a previous article, you can check that out for more information). Even though the opportunities offered usually aren’t as relevant to psychology, I was fortunate to find an ad-hoc MOE position available. Another platform I used was Indeed – through that, I managed to find a job teaching chess to children. And I must say, chess truly does pay in Singapore (side note: if anyone is interested, please do contact me, my boss is always looking for new coaches).

But a new thing I discovered was the use of platforms like Telegram to find random ad-hoc job opportunities. I found myself a tuition promotion job, an ushering job at MBS, and a paid event for a psychology NGO. I have personally joined multiple Telegram channels, all of which frequently advertise ad-hoc job opportunities. All you have to do is search ‘ad hoc jobs’ or related terms in the search function, and the Telegram channels should pop up. Feel free to do that if you are looking for more ad-hoc or short-term opportunities.

Overall, I think these jobs actually taught me quite a few skills. Through sales, I’ve learnt to communicate and read body language. Through my concert work, I learned how to work a cash register as a cashier. Through other events, I’ve learnt how to find the pair of shoes I want in a shoe store. I’ve also learnt how ushers position themselves when greeting guests, and how to wait on guests in a banquet. I learnt how to teach and engage young children through my chess job, and I’m still working to improve on my abilities even as I continue my chess assignments.

As of now, I have managed to pay off my travel expenses and am trying to earn as much as possible for future travel opportunities. Now that I am a Masters’s student, I am encouraged to attend a research-related international conference. I am unsure of what conferences I can even attend, but I do still have an interest in the United States. And from experience, the flight alone is a killer. But I am doing alright. In fact, surprisingly enough, I have managed to make as much as if I had taken a full-time internship. This is in addition to my two research projects and a part-time unpaid psychology internship.

All in all, I’m really proud of myself. Over the years, I’ve learnt to work hard, be resourceful, have discipline, be confident in my own abilities, and be independent. I think everyone should try to fund one thing at least once in their life. I know it can be difficult, and it can seem daunting. But I truly think that it teaches valuable life skills and life lessons and that it helps you to appreciate the value of money on a deeper level. In summary, I would definitely support anyone who wants to take that step, and I strongly encourage everyone to just give it a try. It can be something as simple as working for a new pair of earphones or wanting to use your own hard-earned money to buy a new phone. Whatever it is, try to work for it. You’ll learn a lot if you do.

And that’s all from me! Hope you enjoyed my sharing, and see you all next time!