Brunch is not cheap – any cafe-hopping millennial can tell you that. I was a cafe-hopping millennial and I could have told you that. And yet, I went for brunch or high-tea almost every other day. I considered them my well-deserved treat – I was so busy in my previous job that I didn’t even have time to use up my annual leave or go on long holidays. So when I had nothing to do, I decided I deserved nice things. Bad choice. I depleted the money in my bank account in no time and towards the end of my unemployment, I only had $100 in that account. My sisters started paying for my meals when I went out with the family and refused to take money from me. It made me feel bad and regret my life choices even more.

After my boss confirmed that the department was closing down, the CEO asked to meet me and offered me a role in another department. I turned it down. It wasn’t my area of expertise and figured I would simply be dead weight to the team. He asked if there was any other roles in the company that I wanted. Again, I said no. The thing was, I had been looking to leave the company but was afraid of the change. This gave me the opportunity to uproot myself and find my roots elsewhere, so I didn’t want to remain in the company. A colleague told me I should have just taken up the opportunity while looking for a new job to make sure my source of income wouldn’t be cut off. Looking at my bank account back then, she was probably right.

Yes, four years after graduating and I was still paying off my student loan. I used a family member’s CPF money to pay for my degree and had to make monthly repayments. I was living pay check to pay check at the time, so I didn’t have a lot of money to spare. I was paying about $150 a month and even when I was unemployed, I continued to pay that sum although I could’ve applied to suspend it until I got a new job. I only suspended repayments after the money in my bank account was depleted and they couldn’t make a deduction. If you are in the same situation as me, please go to the CPF website and request for a suspension. It takes less than five minutes.

I have a savings fund – two, in fact – but I refused to dip into them when I was jobless. I viewed those funds as my emergency funds or retirement funds. I didn’t have a lot of savings, which was why if I had used it, all the money would have been gone in the blink of an eye. One of my savings account was a save-as-you-earn plan that takes a sum of money from your primary account every month and put it in a separate account. Although I was not earning anything, the bank continued to funnel money into the savings account, and like the fool I was, I didn’t suspend that either. Again, poor life choices.

I left the company end of August and didn’t start looking for a job until December when money ran low. Obviously, I didn’t realise going for job interviews would take time. Was it a mistake? Yes. Did I regret it? No. I spent several trips going to watch some of my K-pop idols in concert during my unemployment and seeing them kept me going to a bad place when the going got tough. I lost money but kept my mental health condition in shape, so fair exchange I guess? But please, don’t do this if you are in debt.