Not trying to give you a solution but just my personal sharing :

I live in Sengkang and work at Changi Business Park (CBP).
Every morning I wake up at 7am and take a direct bus at 7.30am to CBP. It takes me no more than 5 mins to reach the bus stop from home, and no more than 3 mins to walk to my office. Total journey is about 35-45 mins depending on traffic. Since i take the earliest bus, it is usually not full and nobody sits beside me.

Lunch is a bit of problem as the nearest makan place is 10 mins walk away or 5 mins free shuttle bus away. I normally bring some food and eat in the office. I bring food portion that are just nice for me, which helps me to avoid over-eating since food portion is SG is quite huge.

I leave office around 5.20pm and reach home at 6pm. I normally tapao food back for myself and my family. We are done eating around 7.30pm and after that will be family time (with 2 kids). Once in a while there will be night conference at 11pm or so, but I try to cut down the frequency to just once a month.

Overall my stress level in SG is still okay.

I think it might cost you something in between 1.6k to 2.0k
If you top up a bit you can rent a whole HDB 2-3 room (maybe a little further from MRT). Besides the condo facilities, is there any reason you want to rent a condo room?

This post has been edited by Dark NT: Mar 20 2013, 01:04 PM

Wow, congrats man.

I am still working on my first HDB. Hopefully can get before end of this year.

The totally not-cool cooling measures made me change my plan from a HDB EA (4 bed room) to a 5R (3 bed room)

Anymore of these not-cool things coming will lower it further to 4R...

When I first came here and made my first withdrawal at the POSB ATM, I stood right behind the person using the ATM. Then some one pointed at the queue to me..

Never thought the queue can be that far away from the ATM...

In my opinion the boredom is not derived from your location (MY vs SG), but rather depends on how many friends you have in MY vs. SG, how familiar you are with the places, how much you are willing to spend etc.
I hope things will get better for you.

I also have a few of those Seahorse mattress (~$30 each), bought them for family members who came to visit us.
I got feedback that its too hard to sleep comfortably.

You can try to find mattress sellers in your neighbourhood plazas and markets, shophouses.

Alternatively if you can also google for online furniture seller. I once bought a wardrobe online, about $150 inclusive of delivery. (not Courts or Ikea..)

Are you actually staying with this Singaporean Aunt of yours ?

Hi Guys, any advice or sharing on this would be appreciated.

I recently got my PR application approved, for me and my family (wife and kids). Now my mom in law (MIL) is currently staying with us in SG under a dependant pass (tied to an employement pass) helping to take care of the kids.

I called ICA today and enquired what will happen to the Dependant pass holder once I complete the PR formalities (it's actually not very clear on both ICA and MOM website).

I was told that the Dependant pass shall be cancelled through MOM (via Company of the employment pass holder, or the EP holder herself). Once the dependant pass is cancelled, a short term visit pass shall be issued for 30 days, which means the Dependant can continue to stay in SG for 30 days (just like a regular visitor).

All these makes sense... However, if my MIL leaves SG within this 30 days (say back to MY for a few days), she might not be able to come back to SG, because a Malaysia passport holder can only stay in SG for a max of 60 days (out of a 90 day period).

Unless my MIL applies for a Long term visit pass, which will take 4-6 weeks to process. I plan to apply this immediately after we get our PR IC (or even earlier if possible). But the risk remains - If within 30 days my MIL don't get her Long term visit pass approved for whatever reason, she has to leave SG, and might not be allowed to re-enter SG. And the issue is of course no one to take care of the kids.

Yup, I asked and its inclusive of the time spent under the DP.
Thanks for your suggestion.

I really don't mind going to JB every week for a U-turn.
It's just that after the U-turn my MIL face the risk of not able to re-enter SG.

Talking about food I actually like the peppery BKT! It's more appetizing, but my kids can't eat it.

Other food court type SG food that I like -
The Curry soup based YTF
Chap Fan (considered cheap n good)

Food that I cannot accept -
CKT with black sweet sauce
Fish mee hoon with MILK!

How is this not applicable outside SG?

Mee too. In fact this is the biggest reason I move to SG.

I worked in MY for 12 years and moved to SG 1.5 years ago.
I suffered a big drop in my standard of living. Used to have 2 cars (fully paid) and 2 apt units (fully paid) in MY.
Can only afford a used car (on loan) and rent a HDB in SG.
But the fact that my kids can roam freely in the park is priceless and worth the sacrifice.

Of course we never let our guard down. We still practice the same level of alertness wherever we go!

My wife was on DP.
After she found a job in SG, her employer applied EP for her.
I forgot what happen to her DP pass (the physical card)... either it was returned to MOM when my wife collected the EP, or I returned it to my company HR.

What if one despise both parties? still go back to vote? for what?

Is this part of project M ? Wait a minute....

You can find such info from Property Guru Sg, it has a lot of property listings.

My cousin went to view a unit (1 bedroom HDB) in Commonwealth area last week, the asking price was $1.8K/m.

I asked a lawyer that I know to translate it.

Some of the things to do (based on my recent experience) after an EP holder obtains PR status, and the physical blue IC.

1) Your employer should have been informed much earlier. They should require a scan copy of your IC.

2) Go to your nearby community centre to apply a new Singpass using your new blue IC.

3) Send an email to IRAS to inform them your PR. They will require a scan copy of your new IC. Otherwise when you login to IRAS using your new Singpass, an error will occur.

4) If you own a car, inform LTA. They will also require you to fill in a form and scan new+old IC to them. This will update your car ownership details from Malaysian IC to SG PR IC.

5) For driving license, need to visit the nearest Traffic Police centre to update your license. $25.

6) For HDB parking, actually no action needed. When the old season ticket expires, log in using new Singpass and buy a new season ticket.

7) Kids' school or kindy. Should enjoy the PR rate from the following month school fees.

Up to now, I did not inform other parties like Bank (savings), Credit card bank, landlord... I assume they don't need to know, but do share if you know something I don't.

And.. all the above government dept actually reply to my emails within 2-3 days. The reply may not be very clear (copy and paste type) but give them a call will clarify most doubts.

This post has been edited by Dark NT: May 15 2013, 11:28 AM