by Tan Hui Yee, Danielle Ang, Lynn Lee, Susan Long, Sandra Davie, Radha Basu, Wong Kim Hoh, Chua Hiah Hou

27. Fix the fixed costs

MATCH your mobile phone usage pattern to your mobile phone plan. Opt for all-day free incoming calls to give you greater control over how much you pay.

Instead of being enticed by the 'free' mobile phones that telecos offer to commit you to a two-year contract, go for the cheapest plan that meets your needs. You can always upgrade to a more expensive plan later, but you cannot downgrade to a cheaper one after you sign on without penalty fees.

If you need a mobile phone to stay contactable, but hardly ever call or text anyone, opt for pre-paid cards that cost as little as $15. Look out also for discounts that come with bundled lines.

Finally, if you have two cable TV set-top boxes at home, ditch one and tune into cable from one location. That can save you $13 each month.

The same applies to cars. If you only need a car for weekend family outings, opt for an off-peak car that will get you a $17,000 rebate that can be offset against your COE Quota Premium and the Additional Registration Fee, plus a discount on your road tax.

28. Smart appliances

SO YOU'VE just bought a new flat and want to reduce the bloodletting on your wallet. One smart way is to check out the National Environment Agency's website at els.nea.gov.sg/mels/aircon.asp before heading out to furnish your home.

The NEA runs a labelling scheme which gives the most energy-efficient air-conditioners and refrigerators four 'ticks', compared to fewer ticks for power-guzzling ones.

A four-tick air-conditioner, for example, saves about $350 in electricity bills a year compared to a one-tick model, while a four-tick fridge saves about $100 a year. Stay away from fancy add-ons like automatic icemakers and cold water dispensers.

Smart choices include using instantaneous water heaters instead of storage water heaters. The latter needs to be turned on for about 20 minutes before a shower to heat up all the water in the storage tank.

The National Environment Agency estimates that for a family of four showering 40 minutes each day, using a 2,000-watt instantaneous water heater would save about $19 a month, compared to a 2,000-watt storage heater.

Switch from electric airpots to thermos flasks for storing hot drinking water. This saves about $20 each month, assuming the airpot is turned on 24 hours each day.

Use pressure cookers instead of conventional pots. Also invest in induction cookers instead of conventional gas cookers. They may cost twice as much as gas cookers upfront but they do not waste energy heating up your kitchen instead of your pot.

For lighting, go for compact fluorescent lamps rather than traditional incandescent light bulbs as they last longer and use up to 80 per cent less electricity. That alone will save you about $15 per bulb per year in power bills.

For those already stuck with less-than-perfect appliances, fret not. There are other ways to pinch pennies.

For starters, clean your air-conditioner filter regularly as dirty filters impede air flow. Set the air-conditioner temperature to the highest comfortable temperature. For every degree raised, you save about $20 a year.

Place your fridge away from heat sources like sunlight, cookers and the oven so that it does not have to work overtime to cool the food inside. Allow some space around the fridge - about 5cm - to allow heat from its compressor and condensing coil to escape.

Go to www.e2singapore.gov.sg/energy-saving- tips.html for more energy-saving tips.

29. Doing homework

BUYING a home need not be a mind-boggling exercise if you know where to look. Apart from getting a housing agent to source a property for you, you should also pay a visit to property auctions.

Until recently, properties could be picked up for a song as many repossessed homes were put up for sale. The number of repossessed homes has since dropped. But there are bargains - if you do enough homework.

Check the classifieds for auction listings, and then call the auction house to find out more about the property and arrange a viewing. Get a handle on its valuation. Have a chat with the auctioneer.

Ms Grace Ng, Colliers International's deputy managing director and auctioneer, says that an auctioneer can give you a good idea of how willing a seller is to part with his property at a certain price - without actually disclosing his reserve price.

A case in point: A 1,862 sq ft freehold apartment off Dunearn Road, valued at between $2 million and $2.1 million, changed hands for just $1.9 million in an April auction.

Don't get carried away waving the auction paddle, and you should do fine.

30. Liquid assets

LITTLE things, such as washing clothes on a full load, repairing leaks promptly and using the half flush in the toilet, go a long way in slashing your water bills.

According to national water agency PUB, if you cut your shower by one minute, you save nine litres of water.

If you rinse your teeth with a tumbler instead of under a running tap, you save 11 litres. And if you wash vegetables and dishes in a filled sink instead of under a running tap, you save 14 litres.

Choose appliances with more ticks, as graded by the Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme. Three ticks represent products that use the least water.

A normal washing machine, for example, uses 125 litres of water for every 5 kg of laundry. But one with three ticks uses only 45 litres for the same load. That translates into savings of 80 litres of water per wash - or about $53 a year.

Consider installing thimbles and constant-flow regulators, which help to reduce tap water flow and reduce wastage. Or cistern water-saving bags, which cut down the volume of water used per flush.

Such water-saving devices can reduce water consumption by 5 per cent, which adds up to a tidy sum. A typical HDB four-room household consumes an average of 19 cubic metres of water, or $35 a month.

If you want to go further, collect rinse water from the washing machine for mopping the floor, or reuse water from washing vegetables for watering plants. Besides saving money, you'll be saving the planet, too.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on July 5, 2008.