February 27, 2021

Beginner’s Guide To Growing Houseplants

Lobang: https://www.moneydigest.sg/beginners-guide-to-growing-houseplants/

From vibrant succulents to the elusive variegated Monstera, the popularity of growing your own houseplants spiked during the pandemic. Visually driven social media has become a haven for foliage fanatics. Simply ask your friends, who are proud plant-dads or plant-moms, about their collections and they will gush with enthusiasm.

Although this botanic popularity may seem like a fad, people have long been maintaining a love affair with plants. Let us focus on the Millennial generation. Their love of plants roots from the self-care and wellness movements. This generation spend money on wellness categories such as boutique fitness classes and athleisure wear. It only make sense that they embrace the physical and mental health benefits offered by plants. Swipe through Instagram to see what I mean!

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Growing your own greens is a healthy way to save money and to enjoy fresh produce at home. When done correctly, you will be able to significantly cut down your grocery budget. Moreover, growing houseplants can help improve the indoor air quality. You just have to set aside a budget for gardening.

The total bill for a DIY garden will vary by the type of plant grown, the number of plants purchased, and other factors. To calculate the true cost of starting and maintaining a garden throughout the year, add the following factors together.

Cost of plants or seeds
Cost to provide nutrient-rich soil (i.e., dirt, fertilizer, and worms)
Cost to water plants
Cost to protect and structure plants (e.g., cages, coverings, and fences)
Cost of tools and accessories (e.g., garden forks, gloves, and spade)

Do your research when growing an arsenal of tools. You can start with these basic tools.

1. Gloves

Gardening is a wonderful hobby. Keep things on the pleasant side and avoid a thorny situation by using the right pair of gloves. Garden gloves should be durable, but not bulky.

2. Garden Fork

Garden forks can dig into dense soil better than spades. Forks with straight tines are used for digging and are great for rocky or clay soil. Forks with square tines are stronger than flat tines. Lastly, forks with slight curves to the spines are useful for scooping mulch or turning compost piles.

3. Spade

Spades are short-handled square shovels. A spade will help you to dig holes, create edges, and move small mounds of dirt from one are to another. It may be pricey, but a good spade will last for a long time.

4. Hoe

Hoes are useful in cutting down weeds and preparing your flower beds. You garden will dictate which hoe suits it best. For instance, a veggie garden may require a sturdy and wide hoe.

5. Watering Can

There are hundreds of styles, sizes, colors, and nozzle options when buying a watering can. However, the two basic types are plastic and metal. The plastic type may not last as long as the metal type.

6. Trowel

A trowel is useful for moving soil, digging, removing weeds, mixing fertilizer and much more. It is essentially a handheld shovel.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

I hope that this article gave you enough information to get you started. With everything else, do not forget to have fun! Embrace the physical and mental benefits that plants have to offer.

Sources: 1 & 2

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New Insurance Savings Product: Dash PET offers 1.7% p.a.* on the first $10,000!

Lobang: https://www.moneydigest.sg/new-insurance-savings-product-dash-pet-offers-1-7-p-a-on-the-first-10000/

Dash PET by Etiqa Insurance, the latest insurance savings plan available on Singtel Dash, allows users to Protect, Earn and Transact – basically taking care of you! You can earn up to 1.7% p.a.* with no additional criteria required, making it absolutely hassle-free! At 1.7% p.a.*, this makes Dash PET highly attractive especially given the current climate of uncertainty and falling bank savings interest rates. Here’s how Dash PET can take care of you.

Singtel Dash is an all-in-one mobile wallet for your everyday needs, from your commute to paying at your favourite hawkers, supermarkets and restaurants, and even for your online purchases.

Enjoy attractive returns with capital guaranteed

Earn 1.7% p.a.* for your first S$50 – $10,000, and 1.2%* for amounts above S$10,000! This means that up to the first S$30,000 earn attractive returns of $410 (1.37%) per year. Ensure that you maintain a minimum account value of S$50 to start earning these high interest rates on your funds. You will be glad to know that your capital in Dash PET is guaranteed.  It also comes with SDIC protection.

You won’t be kept on a tight leash with Dash PET (pardon the pun)

This insurance savings product offers the ultimate flexibility by having no lock-in period. Once your account is active, you can top up your funds anytime! This can be done at your convenience via Dash wallet or PayNow from S$1, or via eNets (minimum S$50 top up).

If you wish to use your money, you may withdraw anytime from S$1 to your Dash wallet (free) or to your bank account via PayNow (S$0.70 transaction fee applies for each transaction).

Highly accessible given low entry barriers

Some financial instruments in the market may require hefty contributions or long lock-in periods, which may not fit into some people’s financial needs. With Dash PET, all you need is S$50 to start saving and insuring. For instance, students can save their allowance or internship pay into Dash PET first to earn attractive returns. They can then withdraw via their Dash wallets to pay for their everyday expenses like their favourite bubble teas and even hawker meals.

Self-employed or gig economy workers who may not have regular monthly income can take advantage of Dash PET to save as it does not require them to complete the myriad of tasks required (e.g. meeting monthly salary crediting, minimum spends, etc) to unlock bonus interest rates.

Finally, there is no fall-below fee if the account runs low, so savers are not penalised when they have higher expenses for the month. One thing to note though, you’ll need to maintain at least S$50 average daily Account Value for the calendar month to enjoy the rates of return and Dash PET benefits.

Takes Care of You

The value provided by Dash PET is immense. It allows your capital to grow at an attractive rate, offers the flexibility for you to withdraw funds for everyday expenses and protects you by offering insurance coverage. Furthermore, the Protect element comes from the layer of insurance coverage of up to 105% of account value in case of death as well as financial assistance benefit for Covid-19.

As demonstrated, Dash PET is the PET that takes care of you by helping you to save and insure better!

All it takes are 3 simple steps to start your savings journey with Dash PET:

  1. Download the Dash mobile app (if you are not an existing user)
  2. Sign up for Dash PET through the Dash mobile app
  3. Top up your Dash PET account from either Dash Wallet, eNets or PayNow

In these uncertain times, it is prudent to consider safe and flexible options to start saving smarter and allow your hard-earned savings to work harder. With Dash PET, Singtel Dash aims to be the companion app for saving, insurance, payments and more!

Disclaimers

  • The information is meant purely for informational purposes and should not be relied upon as financial advice.
  • Dash PET is not a bank account or a fixed deposit. It is an insurance savings plan that earns a crediting interest rate.
  • * Guaranteed 1% p.a. + 0.7% p.a. bonus on first S$10,000 for first policy year. Guaranteed 1% p.a. + 0.2% p.a. bonus on above first S$10,000 for first policy year.
  • This policy is underwritten by Etiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd. (Company Reg. No. 201331905K). This advertisement is for general information only. Terms apply. Full details of the policy terms and conditions can be found in the policy contract on dash.com.sg/dashpet. Protected up to specified limits by SDIC. As buying a life insurance policy is a long-term commitment, an early termination of the policy usually involves high costs and the surrender value, if any, that is payable to you may be zero or less than the total premiums paid. You should seek advice from a financial adviser before deciding to purchase the policy. If you choose not to seek advice, you should consider if the policy is suitable for you. This advertisement has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Information is accurate as at 1 February 2021.

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Social Media Marketing Strategy: 5 Steps to Boost Sales

Lobang: https://www.moneydigest.sg/social-media-marketing-strategy-5-steps-to-boost-sales/

As we all are well aware how social media marketing can be a game-changer for an influencer or a brand whether it’s in terms of getting more leads or getting more engagement. And since you are here reading this article, I’m sure you must be aware of it too. It’s true that today almost every brand is on social media platforms in order to boost their sales and gain popularity for their brand, but only a few are successful in doing so. Hence when you are competing with those bigwigs, we suggest you go prepared and learn how you can make your social media marketing strategy</a successful. 

Hence here we have listed 5 common ways that will help you boost your sales, so we insist you read till the end and make sure you include them in your social media marketing strategy. 

Be where your potential audience is

Let’s start with the most obvious and the most important step that will help you boost sales, and that is of course by understanding on which platform your audience is. By being aware of where your targeted audience is spending most of their time, will help you save your resources, as of course, you can have your account on different social media platforms but that will take your time plus money. One should have their profile on different social media platforms but should focus only on those platforms which have the majority of their potential customers. 

Whoever you are targeting, whether it’s an individual, business, or a company, and age group of your audience will help you decide accordingly. You can also dig into your existing customers’ data and find common characteristics, or just simply ask them which platform they use the most through a poll or a normal post. Other than that one can also spy on their competitors, there are many tools in the market that show how many hashtags used on different social media. You can use their hashtags to know on which platform it is being used the most. 

Collaborate with social media influencers 

Today where everyone is using social media platforms to gain wider reach, and every brand is competing to increase engagement on social media, it gets hard for new players to stand out. Hence collaborating with social media influencers can be a great way to boost your sales. Contact social media influencers with 10k – 15k followers, and ask if they are willing to post about your brand on their page and stories in exchange for a free product. As most of the customers get influenced by the recommendations made by influencers. 

You can also find niche groups, they charge according to the quality of their followers. But make sure before buying services from any niche group or influencer, see how they interact with their audience, do they have a positive relationship with them or not. As this step will definitely help you gain wider reach and hence will boost sales. 

Create a community and engage with them

If you want to increase engagement on social media platforms and generate leads then you’ll have to build a relationship with your audience. You’ll have to interact with your audience, so instead of just posting about your products or services, have a conversation with your audience. In order to gain the trust of your fans, you’ll have to show them that you care. 

To do that make sure you make your audience a part of your brand, share behind the scenes, show how they can relate with you, show the humorous side of yours and share something that is valuable to your fans. On social media, like Facebook and LinkedIn you can even form a group, which will help you engage with your targeted audience even better. 

Boost sales through giveaways and contests

Giveaways and contests are a great way to gain wider reach, as everyone loves free stuff. The engagement that you’ll receive from it will help you rank up, and your brand will be able to gain wider reach. But make sure you understand your audience before hosting any giveaway or contest, as the prize should excite your audience. Ah! And make steps simple, the more simple it is the more engagement you’ll get. Almost every social media platform for contests and  giveaways has a set of rules and regulations that needs to be followed, hence don’t forget to read them. 

There are plenty of advantages of hosting contests and giveaways as it’s a great way to grow your brand fast, increase engagement and gather new leads. It will help you stand above that noise and show your audience why you are worth following, this way people who are interested in your product or are curious about your brand are more likely to turn into loyal customers. 

Use social media Advertisement

Investing in social media advertising is the most preferred way for brands to make their brand familiar to their audience as it’s quick and the most effective way to boost sales. And every social media platform has an option to promote its brand or create ads through its advertisement feature. This will help you create visibility for your brand among your targeted audience and it will help you reach the right customer. 

The best thing about social media advertisements is that they let you target your exact audience, you can target your audience on the basis of demographics, location, interest and so much more. And if you are wondering that it will make a hole in your wallet, it won’t as every social media offers a wide variety of options even for brands who have a low budget. 

You can customize your campaign according to your needs or goals. Plus, social media advertisements show ads to those who are most likely to search for your product or are looking for similar products, hence it will definitely boost your sales. 

Conclusion

And so we’ve reached the end. There are many other ways through which you can boost your sales, that I’d love to add but for now being aware and implementing these major 5 steps will be more than enough. 

If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to leave us a comment. Till then see ya. 

 

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