Money-saving tips for 2025: 7 small & simple steps that add up

As the new year begins, it’s the perfect time to rethink money habits and set new financial goals. Whether you’re saving for a dream home, a vacation or simply want to spend and save smarter, starting now can make a big difference. These simple Singapore money-saving tips for 2025 are small steps towards your huge goals.

Singapore offers unique opportunities to save, and with a little strategy, those small savings can add up fast. In this guide, we cover everything from maximising government schemes to cutting everyday costs. Ready to make this your most financially savvy year yet? Let’s dive in and start saving!

1. Maximise CPF Contributions

Maximising your Central Provident Fund (CPF) is the first and foremost of our money-saving tips for 2025 (and probably every year). Contributions to your CPF Special Account (SA) earn attractive interest rates of 4-5%, significantly higher than what your bank offers.

By making voluntary top-ups to your SA, not only do you benefit from compounded growth due to the high interest, but you can also enjoy tax relief of up to S$8,000 annually. For parents, topping up your children’s CPF accounts can also be a strategic move, ensuring they start their adult lives with a financial cushion.

2. Use the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS)

If you fall into the lower-income bracket, using the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) will likely be the best of our money-saving tips for 2025. WIS provides both cash payments and CPF contributions to encourage savings and supplement incomes.

WIS can significantly enhance your monthly take-home pay and build retirement savings without additional contributions. The cash component is disbursed quarterly, providing regular financial support, while the CPF contributions go into your accounts, helping with housing, healthcare and retirement needs.

3. Participate in SkillsFuture

There are few easier ways to grow your bank balance than getting a larger salary, and better qualifications really help. The SkillsFuture program gives Singaporeans aged 25 and above an initial S$500 SkillsFuture Credit, which can be used to offset the cost of courses in sectors, including IT, finance and healthcare.

Various government agencies regularly update the list of eligible courses, ensuring that the options remain relevant to current job market demands. By reducing the cost of professional training, you can improve your employability and potential earnings without significant financial burden.

4. Tap into the U-Save Rebates

U-Save Rebates make it to our money-saving tips for 2025 as part of Singapore’s GST Voucher scheme. This scheme is designed to help lower- and middle-income HDB households offset their utility bills.

Rebates are distributed quarterly, and the amount depends on the size of the HDB flat. Make sure to check that you receive the maximum amount to which you are entitled. It can add a nice little chunk to your bank account.

5. Get NSman Tax Reliefs (Self, Wife & Parent)

NSman tax relief is not just for NSmen but also their families. NSmen can get a deduction of up to S$5,000 on their assessed taxable income for the previous year. Their wives and parents can get up to S$750 each.

While this is automatically assessed, make sure you don’t fall between the cracks. For example, if you are an NSman and your son is as well, your tax relief should be S$1,500 and not just S$750.

6. Apply for the Baby Bonus Scheme

Your little bundle of joy comes with a bundle of cash, apparently. The Baby Bonus Scheme  includes a cash gift and contributions to the Child Development Account (CDA), which can be used for the child’s educational and healthcare needs.

For the first and second child, parents receive up to S$11,000 in cash gifts, and this increases to S$13,000 for the third child onwards. Additional contributions are made to the CDA matching parents’ deposits dollar-for-dollar up to a cap.

7. Get into the saving habit

The last of our money-saving tips for 2025 can be easiest or the most difficult. Yes, there are schemes and programs that will give small boosts to your bank balance but there is nothing like the power of saving and growing it with compound interest.

Here are 3 tried and tested ways to cut down immediately:

a. Limit digital payments

It may go against everything you’ve heard but this one step can jolt you into realising how much you are spending. Instead of beeping every transaction, withdraw and keep a fixed amount of cash in your wallet for the week. It’s a clear wake-up call when you hit the limit mid-week.

b. Use automatic deduction

It’s so pleasing to see that bank balance boost every payday, right? Set up a giro to automatically deduct a certain amount every month and park it in an account with a higher interest rate. Alternatively, you can open a fixed deposit account that pays the best interest rates.

c. Cancel subscriptions

Whether it’s Netflix, Disney or the dozen other subscription services, the odds are you don’t need more than one. It goes the same for newspaper and magazine subscriptions – do they really give you anything that you cannot get online?

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