Birthday Perks

Thought of compiling some birthday perks for the month as it is mine this month.. and hopefully will help you uncover some gem that you might have missed. 

On second note.. it is quite sad for people to have birthday in February, the shortest month of the year.. meaning you get at least 1~3 days less to enjoy such perks. 

Anyway, jumping ahead.. I've split these to a few categories so feel free to jump if the category doesn't interest you. 

Personal/Finance

Tiger Broker (Gold Member) - 5 general commission-free trades within 30 days (birthday perks are the same across Silver/Gold/Ace, you just have to graduate from "Uncertified" trader)

Food

Paradise Group (Gourmet Rewards) - 2x rebate throughout the month, meaning a whooping 20% on the subtotal spent

Genki Sushi (Genki Club) - Birthday 20% off nett spend

Shopping

Shopee (Gold Member) - SGD5 voucher on min. SGD10 spending (I think Gold Tier is the only tier with this voucher)

Uniqlo (App Member) - in-store SGD5 off on a min. SGD60 purchase.

BHG (Member) - 20% Birthday Voucher (off regular price items) to redeem at the customer's service counter

Don Don Donki (Bronze Member) - SGD5 off on next purchase (no min. and only during birthday month)

Honestly there aren't much other noteworthy ones such as small promo from qoo10 etc.

Cheers

New Credit Card - Citi Cash Back+

Saw the following promotion and definitely not passing out on free cash; 

    "Apple AirPods Pro or $350 cash (Citibank credit cards)"

And of course the catch is that you have to be a new-to-bank customer. I had a student clear visa card with Citi ages ago where I canceled last December since student card has limited perks and I wanted a new-to-bank perk. Seeing that it hit SGD350 cash bonus, I jump on it immediately. 

Rationale

The Card that I picked is Citi Cash Back+ which is a no frill, no cap 1.6% cashback card. Initially, I wanted to go after the Citi Cash Back card which gives 8% cashback on groceries/petrol and 6% on dining. However, such good cards usually come with frills such as minimum monthly spend of SGD800 and also cap of cashback at SGD80. This is a little troublesome for me to keep track tbh, thus I went for the no frill. 

Current Cards

My main card is still UOB One card, but I've been spending >SGD1k - <SGD2k which makes me give up quite a bit of cashback since UOB One card is by tier. Now I am keeping track to make sure I spend only around SGD1k on my UOB One card and the rest to the no frills card. 

Consideration

Another factor I considered was my monthly expense.. I projected and plan to spend less this year, ideally charging only <SGD2k monthly is an easily achievable goal but stretching it to <SGD1.5k charges to card. I had a good start with my UOB One card at around < SGD1.2k for Jan.. so another SGD800 on top of my UOB One card of SGD1k easily sustainable at least for now. I can always come back and reapply the cash back card when I see increment of my expenses. 

Cashback Versus Miles

Seeing that I no longer talk about miles.. can see that I am currently in the cashback camp against the miles although I started out in the miles camp. I just see that accumulation of such miles a bit of tedious work.. but I still maintain my DBS Altitude card where I will probably charge large cost items to. Cashback tbh is a quicker relief especially on daily expense.. and also I do think that I am happy flying normal economy class so let's see how it goes eventually. 

Rewards

Of course I picked the cash, hard cold SGD350 by just charging SGD200 to the card (easy-peasy), will post an update once I get the card and get the bonus! I am happy with my cheap Xiaomi wireless earphones for SGD20.. and for expensive ones I still have my over-ear Sony noise-cancelling one. 

I plan to cancel my Standard Chartered card soon to return as a new-to-bank customer in the future as well. 

What's your take on rinsing the new-to-bank bonuses on your non-main cards? I feel that it is still free money, so why not leverage on it. On that note, HSBC has one of the worst service ever, they denied my application without proper reasoning despite my credit score being the highest. #highlynotrecommended. 

Food Deal: Wok Hey

 If you're following me for a bit (although, I'm still new), you'll know that I love food and my expenses are usually towards food. While I try to eat affordable, I also don't limit my upside for yummy food. 

Starting another section under my blog, "Food Deal", on yummy food that I eat and also deals that come along! Wanted to start posting my food reviews.. but then again, who will be interested? Personally, also don't think I have that much time.. 

Anyway! Wok Hey! Was thinking of getting this for lunch but the queue is always a pain and to my joy, they actually have a proper website that allows you to order online for self pick-up.

But why is this on my deal feature? Because it saves you time! Kidding.. Apparently I might already be late to this.. but they have a Member Rewards system. 

5% Returning Voucher

Woot! 5%! But still, every cent saved is every cent that can be compounded. 

However, they're smart to limit the redemption to 30days after your transaction. 

Maybe share your food deal with me~ always love to save an additional cent! 

And do head over to their website and order away here. Btw, I am not affiliate to Wok Hey nor this is a sponsored post. I also don't get any referral, just sharing for everyone's joy!