How to Redecorate Your Home on a Limited Budget + Tips to Manage Finances

This post was written in collaboration with Grab. While we are financially compensated by them, we nonetheless strive to maintain our editorial integrity and review products with the same objective lens. We are committed to providing the best information in order for you to make personal financial decisions with confidence. You can view our Editorial Guidelines here.

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It’s been a few years since you moved into your place, and short of spending on a total re-renovation, you’re thinking of redecorating just a wee bit. Perhaps it’s to brighten up your space (you’ve been staring at the same four walls during work-from-home), or to change out that tired-looking sofa before the New Year rolls around again.

While some home items aren’t too expensive — such as a pot of money plant or a picture frame — there are big-ticket items that, while you can still afford, you’d need to tighten your family’s belt for the month.

The budget gets even tougher to balance especially when you’re juggling multiple commitments such as family expenses, mortgage payments, allowance for your elderly parents, kids’ school fees, and so on.

Did you know that there’s a way to ease your budgeting headache?

With PayLater by Grab, you can:

• Purchase big-ticket items but delay your payment by a month, or
• Split the bill into four interest-free instalments over 4 months

You can receive your purchase upfront in both cases as Grab pays the merchant in full.

 

How to use PayLater to balance your budget

If you’re new to the “buy now, pay later” concept, PayLater by Grab does exactly this. Even if you’re not planning to use it yet, you can first activate this payment method on the Grab app (Open Grab App > Payments > PayLater under Financial Services), so that you can enjoy flexible payments with no interest, no fees and no upfront cost (as long as you make the payments on time), while enjoying your new purchase immediately in the near future!

There are 2 ways to PayLater:

• You can pay in 4 monthly instalments, which means you just pay 25% of the total purchase price of the item each month. How’s that for reducing your budgeting headache? OR
• You can schedule your payment for the following month, especially if you’ve gone over budget this month. It’s kinda like paying a credit card bill.

About lump sum payments & IPP Ahh, but why not pay in full or use credit card instalment payment plans (IPP) like we usually do, instead of PayLater? Apart from the early termination fee of S$150 per instalment plan imposed on Cardmembers who choose to cancel their existing IPP (there isn’t any additional fees for PayLater), let’s look at the pros and cons of each: Lump sum payment Instalment payment plans PayLater by Grab Opportunity cost Missing out on potential interest earned from the balance amount Able to invest the balance amount to earn some interest Cash flow More strain on the wallet, less available cash for urgent needs Less strain on the wallet, more available cash for urgent needs Total amount paid (based on a 0% interest IPP) Same as purchase value Might include hidden fees & charges Same as purchase value  Duration Immediate From 3 months or up to 6/12/24/36 months, depending on the IPP Pay next month or in 4 monthly instalments Commitment One-off Decreases available credit card limit; can’t cancel credit card used while IPP is going (might incur credit card annual fee) Does not affect credit card limit Oh, and the instalment amount typically doesn’t attract any credit card rewards, cashback or other perks… but with all PayLater purchases, you can still get GrabRewards points! Yay!

 

Using PayLater to balance your budget

With PayLater, you’d avoid the headaches of a lump sum payment and credit card IPP. Here are some ways it can help you balance your budget:

1. Avoid paying more than you should — no interest, no fees and no upfront cost (as long as you pay on time).
2. Helps with cash flow — splits a big purchase into 4 smaller payments to be paid over 4 months, so that you won’t need to fret unnecessarily over money.
3. Don’t lose out with opportunity cost — continue to save and invest to earn interest on the rest of your cash, and you’ll still have money for any urgent needs.
4. Easily track your spending — PayLater’s instalments and postpaid options show what exactly you’ve spent on at a glance within the Grab app. This makes it much easier when you’re keeping track of shared finances with your other half or doing household accounts at the end of each month.
5. Never miss a payment — you can automate payments from your GrabPay balance or linked card. It’s virtually impossible to miss a bill and keeps you from incurring any admin fee.
6. Low admin fee even if you miss a scheduled payment — this is just a flat $10 to reactivate your suspended PayLater account each time, so the maximum you’ll incur is $30 if you somehow miss all 3 payments.
7. Flexibility to make early payments — no fees, unlike other instalment payment plans.
8. Inspires responsible spending — each PayLater user is allocated a maximum limit, based on their spending history with Grab. This is to ensure you spend within your means (a single instalment may seem affordable, but having multiple instalments all adds up).

 

Using PayLater to redecorate your home

Within the Grab app, when you click on Shopping and scroll to PayLater merchants, you’ll see a whole slew of vendors on the app across many categories, including those that specialise in home and living, as well as electronics. There are currently hundreds of merchants on PayLater.

Some of the top home and electronics merchants available on PayLater include household names such as online furniture store HipVan, gaming/office chair specialist SecretLab, monitor and 4K Smart TV brand PRISM+, and home care brand Dyson.

In addition to being able to shop top brands and PayLater for your purchase, Grab partners with merchants to offer PayLater exclusive discounts and promotions! From now to 17 November 2021, enjoy these deals:

• 25% discount on your first PayLater instalment purchase with promo code “NEWPAYLATER” (capped at $30)
• Osim: Up to 54% off + extra $50 discount 
• Qoo10: $30 cashback and a chance to win 1,000,000 GrabRewards Points
• Hipvan: $30 off + Free delivery (Promo code: GRAB30OFF)
• Picket & Rail: $50 off (Promo code: PNRGRAB50)

Additionally, get up to 11% spend back in GrabRewards points on online shopping with PayLater on 11.11 (min spend $80).

More exclusive merchant deals available here.

 

Other tips to manage your finances

In addition to using PayLater by Grab, here are more ways to balance your budget when redecorating:

1. Plan ahead for the thing(s) you want to buy so you’ll know how and when to budget for it
2. If possible, set aside money and save up for the item(s) in advance, so that this spending won’t come from say, your groceries budget
3. Wait for a sale if the item is not urgent
4. Get the item secondhand if you don’t mind
5. Pool your purchase with neighbours to save on delivery fees

Ready to begin redecorating?  Activate PayLater by Grab and start your budgeting journey. 

 

Note:

PayLater is available for eligible users only. To be eligible, you should be:

1. A Grab user
2. 21 years and older
3. Platinum, Gold or Silver GrabRewards tier member, and
4. Have used either credit or debit card for at least 3 Grab transactions in the recent month.

If you fulfil the above criteria but are unable to activate, Grab is unable to offer this service to you just yet.