How Long Can You Survive Without A Wallet?
8 Days|July 20, 2017

Longer than if you forgot your phone, as we discover after attempting to not use our wallet for six days, opting for contactless and cashless payments over cash and cards for transport, dining and everything in between.

Jasmine Teo
How Long Can You Survive Without A Wallet?

TUESDAY

AN EASY RIDE

I kick things off by booking a Grab car to head to my appointment. I’m not-so-secretly thrilled that this challenge coincides with a $5 off per ride promo on the app. Instead of having lunch out, I head back to the office in my second Grab ride for the day (I survived almost entirely on private car hire apps for this experiment) and order a Japanese bento set via Deliveroo (www.deliveroo.com.sg). The $3.50 delivery fee alone is probably what a thrifty person with a tiny appetite spends on lunch, but I’m a regular user of food delivery services, so I’ve accepted delivery fees as a necessary evil. At work, I set up the i-banking app on my phone — I’m going for a hotpot dinner and was planning to get a friend to pay first, then transfer the money to her with the app. It turns out to be a treat from one of my friends to celebrate a new job. It pays to have good pals — literally.

Used wallet: 0 times

WEDNESDAY

ROOKIE MISTAKE

I wake up with a brill plan (or so I thought). I’d split my journey to work into two trips to capitalise on the Grab $5 off promo, and tapow lunch on the way there. So a ride that usually costs $14 ($9 with the discount) is $8 and $10 respectively (I paid a total of $8 for the entire journey with the discount). I save, er, $1 and $3.50 on my lunch delivery fee (assuming I ordered from Uber Eats or Deliveroo)!

This story is from the July 20, 2017 edition of 8 Days.

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This story is from the July 20, 2017 edition of 8 Days.

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