SINGAPORE: Figuratively speaking, love may seem free, but realistically? It’s incredibly expensive. Take it from a Singaporean woman who spends over $1,000 a month on dates alone.
In a post on r/SingaporeRaw, a Reddit forum, on Thursday (Sep 12), she shared that her spending shot through the roof after she started dating again.
“Dating in Singapore continues to be super pricey,” she said. To reduce her expenses, she even made several changes. She opted for budget-friendly meals instead of extravagant dinners, capping their food expenses at $20 per person.
She also limited their meetups to a few times a week. But despite her best efforts to reign in her spending, the costs of dating kept on piling, leaving her stunned by the financial strain.
“I feel like I’ve cut down on most of my impulse purchases and I’m still spending over $1k a month on dates, even after we split some costs,” she confessed. “It’s starting to become unsustainable despite my relatively comfortable salary for my age.”
She then asked the community, “How do you guys afford dating in Singapore?”
“Are you paying for dates? Stop doing that.”
Singaporean Redditors were shocked by the hefty sum she was shelling out for dates. They pointed out that if she keeps footing the bill for such expensive outings, it’s time to either reassess the dating dynamics or explore more budget-friendly activities.
One Singaporean Redditor said, “Are you paying for dates? Stop doing that, it’s okay to pay for the first date if you want but offer to split 50/50 eventually.”
Another commented, “$1k a month on dates??? Mine at most $200-$300 a month hahah going 5 years with my SO. I only meet my SO once a week. and we always facetime everyday cause why not?”
A third Redditor expressed, “Wow that’s a huge sum, and keep in mind that you split with your partner! A good date will have 2 meals, a tea break and some activities in between (window shopping, hiking, chatting whatever). If evenly split, I think $100 per person is really good.”
A fourth Redditor suggested, “If you want to meet so often, then just stop going to “date” places and start doing “comfortable” things instead, like maybe going library, parks, (strictly) window shopping, IKEA, beach, gardens by the bay (non paid areas) etc etc, eat at Kopitiams or bring your own food out for picnic.”
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