THE recession has made Mrs Manbir Chyle Lalwani stop and think every time she goes shopping. 'When I see something I want to pick up, I ask myself, do I really need it'
'Earlier, I would go to the supermarket near my office and pick up what I needed. Now I ask myself: Can I get it cheaper somewhere else?' said the mother of a six-year-old boy.
Mrs Lalwani, 36, runs an advertising agency called Sketch Worxs. And she told tabla! that the recession has definitely made her and her family more careful. 'Last year the family took four vacations. This year we decided to hold back on the holidays,' she added. Another area she and her husband, who helps run his family's import and export business, have reconsidered is property investment.
'While property prices have gone down, the market is very uncertain, so investments have been tamed,' she said. Mrs Lalwani is not the only one watching her purse like a hawk in what could be Singapore's worst recession.
Ms Uma Chandran,a secretary in a shipping company, has cut down on taking taxis to work and having post-work drinks with her colleagues. She said: 'All are watching their pockets these days. I am definitely more careful about spending.' She has started packing home-cooked lunches - usually rice and curry - to save money and eats at her desk or at the office pantry.
'I am quite lucky my mother cooks for me. I initially found it to be quite a hassle carrying the food in a crowded MRT train but I got used to it,' added Ms Chandran, 25.
One upside to her cost cutting? Her 2kg weight loss.
'I guess that is something to be happy about,' she said.
Then there are those like Ms Kanmani Corine, a stewardess with a major Asian airline who has not made any drastic changes to her lifestyle. Yet. She still eats out with her husband of three years, a civil servant, several times a week.
But the 30-year-old admitted that she is starting to feel worried about the economy. After all, most airlines in the region are cutting flights and consolidating their routes to save money.
Ms Corine's basic monthly salary is less than $2,000. Her travel allowance bumps that up to almost twice the amount.
'My only worry is that, with fewer flights, I might not get called up to serve a flight, which means I don't get paid the allowance,' she said.
If the working professionals are feeling the heat from the recession, Indian students studying in local institutions are already hurting from the pinch. Said Mr Rashu Jindel: 'Everyone I know, including myself, has cut down on unnecessary expenditure. We should not put pressure on our parents back home who are paying for our education.'
The 20-year-old third-year economics student at the Singapore Management University (SMU) shares a room with six others at the SMU hostel in Prinsep Street, paying about $500 a month for a single room.
He said that rents are likely to increase by $50 to $100, so the belt-tightening has begun. He is making simple meals in his hostel's kitchen rather eating out at the local cafes as he used to do.
Rent is also a big issue with students like Amrita Sareen, 18, a first-year visual communications student at The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
She was renting a private apartment with two fellow students, paying $2,000 a month. Now she has moved temporarily to a student hostel in Chinatown that costs her $500 a month while she looks for cheaper accommodation. 'The cost of living in Singapore, especially during this downturn, is high,' she said.
While some students are cutting down on personal spending, others who live with their parents here are doing so as a family.
'Our family has begun switching off all the main power outlets in the house at night,' says Ms Nitharsha Theivendran, 25, a final- year mass communications student at the Management Development Institute of Singapore.
She added that, on short trips around the neighbourhood, she and her family members walk instead of taking public transport and they are 'making a conscious effort to spend only on basic necessities'.
The recession is also making the job hunt a lot harder for graduating students. Especially those who intend to stay in Singapore and look for a job. 'The recession is affecting me the most in the job market,' said third-year SMU economics student Nayana Mariam Jacob, 20, who had hoped to find a job in the financial industry before the global financial meltdown.
She said that internships at banks are harder to find as some banks are not accepting interns at all or are hiring in very small numbers.
So what is the action plan for at least the next 12 months'
Said Mrs Lalwani: 'I am not sure what will happen in the second half of the year. The best is to be prudent, now so we can be prepared later.' Not many will disagree. -tabla!
