‘You can still live a comfortable life in SG without much money,’ Swiss TikToker says

SINGAPORE: A Swiss woman who regularly documents her life in Singapore in videos on TikTok and YouTube recently went viral for saying how grateful she is for everything she has in the city-state.

“Compared to a place like Switzerland — where no hawkers exist and public transport is very expensive — you can still live a comfortable life in Singapore without much money,” wrote Mary Mueller in the caption to a June 5 video, which has reached over 100,000 views on TikTok.

@swizzyinsg

The reality of not being rich in Singapore.. And I am grateful for everything you see in this video. Compared to a place like Switzerland – where no hawkers exist and public transport is very expensive – you can still live a comfortable life in Singapore without much money. To me anything that enables me to stay here is worth it and I am grateful for every day I get to live and work in this beautiful city-state😌 And let’s be honest: Hawker food is the best food anyway🤭 #singapore #singaporelife #hawkerfood #singaporehawker

♬ original sound – Mary – Mary

In her video, Ms Mueller highlighted “the reality of not being rich in Singapore,” which included “always” taking public transport, moving four times in one year, doing her groceries at Value$, buying food at hawker centres—and taking home the rest when she can’t finish it, and so on.

She wrote that she is thankful for everything she featured in the video and that anything that allows her to stay in Singapore is worth it.

“I am grateful for every day I get to live and work in this beautiful city-state, and let’s be honest: Hawker food is the best food anyway,” she added.

Many TikTok users have since commented on her video, including one who said, “I’m rich, but I still take the train and shop at Value Dollar. No need to waste money.”

Another sympathised with Ms Mueller’s point about having to move several times. When asked why, she explained that landlords continue to raise rents. Some even do so mid-contract and are willing to pay back rental deposits just to get tenants to move out.

When a commenter wrote, “You are already rich if you are able to live in Singapore,” Ms Mueller agreed.

There was some degree of pushback to the video, however. One TikTok user wrote, “You still get a room with a nice view and eat a decent meal. You haven’t met really poor people in Singapore yet.”

“It’s all relative. What you have is luxury for someone else elsewhere,” another pointed out.

Some told her that taking public transport and eating at hawker centres don’t necessarily have anything to do with being rich.

Others, however, wrote that they appreciate her perspective.

“Hey, welcome to the club of normal people living in the most expensive city in the world. There’s many of us,” wrote one.

“I like that you shed a more general view of what the normalisation of life in SG is. CRA (Crazy Rich Asians) is a grossly misguided way of seeing Singapore that many younger migrants here for work think of in aspiration. Hope they don’t get that picture only. It was never SG success and is not a future success of SG either.” /TISG

Read also: Swiss woman says, in SG, queueing, chope, Singlish, calling people “Uncles & Aunties” are ‘bizarre Singaporean habits’