If you are looking for ways to tweak your diet and lead a healthier life, perhaps you might have…
3 Money Saving Hacks We Can Takeaway from CB 2.0
During the recent May-June 2021 month-long Phase 2 Heightened Alert (P2HA) aka. Circuit Breaker 2.0 aka. pseudo-lockdown, it was a seamless transition back to our COVID-19 habits and routines that we thought we had left behind almost one year ago.
This weekend, Singaporeans rejoiced as we received welcomed news of the island beginning to open up again (in another 2 phases – I can’t even keep track of all these names anymore). In addition, there was happy news of potential travel bubbles with Korea and Australia – another two favourite countries of Singaporeans to travel to.
One thing we can take away from these newly established COVID-19 lock-in routines and habits, is that many services and goods we thought we had to pay someone else to do – turns out, we can actually accomplish them on our own and save tons of money! Find out what money saving hacks we have learnt throughout these two lockdowns.
1. Personal facial services and skincare
During P2(HA), facial services were suspended because clients would have to remove their face mask, which put them at risk being in close contact with the beautician. As such, we had to deal with our own skincare emergencies at home.
A tried-and-tested beauty secret to soothe your skin at home is to use sheet masks every other day, one that is suitable for your skin type. I used three different mask types in rotation to calm down any outbreaks: Clearing (for acne), Soothing (with Cicapair), Strengthening (Ceramidin). After 2 weeks, you will see your complexion improve greatly.
Of course, you will need to conscientiously use proper skincare after your sheet masks to maximise the effects. You can also consider taking some health supplements to strengthen your skin barrier and quality to prevent future skin issues.
2. Fitness classes and gym memberships
With the travel lock-in, we definitely see many Singaporeans start cultivating fitness and healthy habits, partly due to CB 1.0 weight gain, and perhaps also boredom from not being able to travel. Crowds have been thronging the few local parks and trekking corridors the past year, in search of adventure.
During CB 2.0, we had another chance to work off the weight gain from CB 1.0, or at least try to have proper healthy habits this round and not gain even more weight! With the closures of contained spaces for activities that required us to remove our masks, more locals can be seen gathering around exercise corners and doing callisthenic exercises.
Even on Instagram, you will find an explosion of Personal Trainers bringing their workouts outdoors. This is quite a refreshing scene, as growing up, usually not many locals would be using these neighbourhood fitness corners. But times have definitely changed!
Of course, virtual Zoom and Youtube workouts are still alive and kicking – some Personal Trainers also offer their services at a discounted rate for Zoom coaching. Youtube has many resources that you can learn on your own, with regards to healthy dieting and exercise.
These avenues show that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get back into shape and keep fit, apart from the initial small investment into some home exercise equipment or workout gear.
3. Restaurant dining and BYOB at home
With Singapore restaurant and café dine-in completely closed in the past month, Singaporeans once again magically promoted themselves to fine-dining chefs in their own kitchen. Especially with restrictions on gatherings, it was a nice time to have 2 guests over and impress them with your cooking!
Trying out new recipes for food, desserts and taking aesthetic photos, are definitely a good use of our increased time working from home. It is a useful hobby with skills we can take with us through the rest of our life.
Even if we ordered in food delivery, we saved a lot of money dining and drinking at home. Picking a bottle of wine at your local grocer or bottle shop was infinitely more reasonable than having it in a restaurant. Perhaps once we are past this CB 2.0, learning from the past 1 year, we will be happy and content to stay home and save up even more money for our future plans.
In conclusion, it’s eye opening to see how resilient, versatile and creative we can be during these times, especially going back into (pseudo) lockdown for a second time – our routines and habits come back stronger, streamlined and more efficient. Do share some of your own healthy habits and routines that have saved you money this CB 2.0!
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