I thought the law there is very strict toward littering, but when I visited there four days ago I saw cigarette butts everywhere and people just standing and smoke not in a smoking area. Was it because of the F1 event right around that time?

I live at a relatively new HDB estate in a non mature area that was opened 3 years ago.

A kopitiam was built downstairs that had 10 different food stalls.

In the past 6 months, 7 of those stalls have closed! (and have not been replaced by new businesses)

Is the economy really so incredibly awful? I wonder how expensive rent is for these types of stalls compared to the old school hawkers.

Anyone experiencing the same thing in their area?

My air purifier showed a PM 2.5 reading of 300+ at 1PM, got so shocked I went to grab my other air purifier to run them both at the same time.

Until now both are still read albeit better at a reading of 150.

I’m not normally home in the afternoon, is the haze usually this bad at this time?

EDIT to update: Reading has gone down to about 30 now after I increased my AC fan speed! Suspect the reading went up because my cats used the litter box..

Hey everyone, need some advice on how to handle a situation safely.

A group of neighborhood youths frequently hang out in the high-floor stairwells and sky terrace of my block to vape and loiter. For anyone thinking I’m just being petty, no, they have been genuinely annoying and have been disrupting the block recently.

I tried reporting them to HSA previously. They visited their unit, but the neighbors somehow found out it came from us and we got some angry looks/confrontational behavior. Things have since cooled down into an awkward silence, but now the kids are back to vaping again.

I don't want officers knocking on their door or visiting my floor because it will just point fingers at us again. I just want plainclothes teams to conduct routine, random spot-checks on the public decks so they can hopefully get caught in the act.

The issue is that the official HSA form forces a Singpass login now. Is there a loophole or a proper way to trigger public sweeps completely anonymously without using Singpass or calling a hotline? Thanks.

I fucked up and didn't preorder any air purifiers while overseas while the haze here got worse, just came back and air purifiers are all sold out online and in store while psi is nearing 300. Never seen this level of national-scale panic since Covid.

I am desperate for any solutions that can help combat this haze. Air conditioning does not seem to be sufficient as my throat and nose are still itchy. Heck at this point I dont care what the price tag is, just need a suitable environment when staying at home.

Edit: Just preordered a novita air purifier at another Harvey Norman outlet with 3 day wait time for about $250. Will get by with some kn95 masks for now.

I've been on a temporary work visa in Europe for almost a year now and I'm enjoying my life here and I want to stay longer, maybe even live here permanently. However, every single day when my family calls me, they ask me when I will return home. I dislike my family dynamics back home and I genuinely feel very depressed and frustrated living with my family. I don't know what the future holds and I don't know if I'll even find a permanent opportunity to stay here, but I feel so pressured by my family constantly asking me when I will return, I've tried explaining it to them but they don't get it. My family constantly harps on how great living back home with them would be and the amount of opportunities there exist in Singapore. But how do I tell them that what I want is different? They don't seem to get that the things I want in life and my interests differ from theirs.

I have an impending sense of doom when I think of returning back home, not because of Singapore particularly, but because of my family.

Hi everyone, where can I buy instant Dashi packets?

My spouse and I applied for our BTO 2.5 years ago, when we were both full-time employees. Our flat is due to be completed in less than a year, and we were happy with the HDB loan amount offered based on our HFE at the time.

Since then, we’ve both spent the past year working abroad as self-employed creative freelancers. My income has been steady, and my projected reported income this year will be almost double what I was earning when we first applied. My wife’s income has dropped quite a bit, but I’ve been able to make up for it, so our combined household income should still be around the same as when we applied. She’s also hoping to return to full-time employment in Singapore at least three months before key collection, which should bring our combined income up further.

However, as we’ve been self-employed, we haven’t been making regular CPF contributions. Based on the original loan amount, our current combined CPF savings would be enough to cover the remaining downpayment (during key collection) without needing to use any cash.

My concern is whether HDB will reassess our loan because our employment status has changed. Even if our combined income is similar, could they consider freelance income less stable, apply a haircut to it, and reduce our loan amount? That would mean having to pay more cash upfront.

Ideally, our original loan amount would remain unchanged, since our CPF savings are sufficient based on that amount.

Has anyone gone through something similar between BTO application and key collection? Would really appreciate hearing how HDB handled your loan and if there was a reassessment because of a change in employment status.

Went to the KFC (Westmall branch, just reopened after renovation for a few weeks) near my home to get dinner for my family today but had to wait for almost 50 mins to ultimately get my order (after pestering the counter).

The service was always slow (& usually with missing/wrong items) before renovation and I thought they would try to improve the service after doing renovation. But no, it is still as bad as before (at least from what I observed during evening peak hours).

There were only 3 people (a manager in black uniform, a makcik and a very young part-timer) doing the packing in the front today but they were very slow. Out of the 3, the makcik is the more efficient one and I can see that she is trying very hard to fulfil the orders. It doesn't help when all the ordering machines were located either at the entrance or at the back door with no direct view of the queue inside the restaurant. All who ordered later find themselves stuck waiting for the order to be ready (at least 40+ mins waiting time) or you can choose to forgo your money. The speed at which the orders were coming in was way faster than how fast they were able to serve.

It doesn't help when the young part-timer suddenly at one point decides to print all pending orders out at once, stacking 10++ orders into a pile, put them on the table (while stuffing a few of them into his pocket ?!) and decides to just leave. After the part-timer decided to disappear, I don't know why the manager still looks very chill and nonchalent and taking his time to do his stuff (no sign of urgency at all), while the makcik is trying hard to clear the mess, pack long overdue orders AND apologize to quite a few angry customers. To the extent, she verbally said that she's going to breakdown, I really pity her for having such lousy co-workers.

I think the customer experience manager from corporate (if such a title even exists) should really come and have a visit to survey the extent of the situation. I don't know what kind of training was given to the staff since I spotted them having a staff meeting prior to re-opening (but i guess it didn't really help?).

I wonder if other outlets also face similar problems...

hello! i will be traveling to SG from tomorrow for an event on saturday and i have tomorrow night free. was wondering if there's any free activities i can do 9-11pm around the Rochor - Newton area? i can go further if it's interesting enough. thanks!

Anyone has been to Virtus Fertility Centre, KKH or NUHS for IVF or IUI? Anyone has succeeded with IUI? Have a great day ahead.

have been 2 months since the NDR. I think everyone is expecting this scheme to start in Jan 2027 but there has been no news about this. If this doesn't start in 2027 I think the NDR announcement is for hype purpose and many families will be disappointed

Do I need to physically or digitally certify with the alumni primary school or will Singpass have all the details during the online primary school registering? thank you

hi i have my vacation planned for singapore in the last week of November, is it a good idea considering the recent haze, locals out there what is your take on this ?

Had a genuinely ridiculous experience today and I’m wondering if anyone has encountered something similar, or knows what recourse I have.

I was at work when a family member, who was home, suddenly called me to say that a contractor had arrived for an appointment to inspect my common bathroom. Apparently the contractor told him that I had arranged the appointment. Said family member naturally assumed I had, so he let the guy in.

Except I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. I have not arranged any appointment, received any notification, or been informed of any inspection.
I immediately video called my fam, who passed the phone to the contractor.

Within what seemed like barely a minute of inspecting my bathroom, the contractor confidently informed me that:

1: My shower screen was illegally installed and had to be removed.
2: My bathroom piping was also illegally installed.
3: These installations were causing water leakage into my downstairs neighbour’s flat.
4: I would have to pay $300 for the hacking and bear the costs of any reinstallation to be done.
5: There was nothing I could do about it because the leakage needed to be resolved.

I was damn shocked. I have a good relationship with my downstairs neighbours. We’ve spoken multiple times, and they’ve never once mentioned any leakage.

I also made sure my renovations were carried out in accordance with HDB requirements. So I was baffled that this contractor could apparently identify multiple illegal installations almost immediately.

Thirdly, how was I suddenly being told to remove fixtures and pay for repairs when nobody had even notified me of a problem?

I questioned him on all of this and told him I wanted to dispute his findings. He then said he’d check with someone named “Ryan”, whom I had supposedly been communicating with.

I told him I had absolutely no idea who Ryan was.
He paused and asked:

“Is this unit #07-XX?”

Me: “No. This is #09-XX.”

And that was when he realised HE WAS IN THE WRONG FUCKING FLAT.

So recap ah:

This contractor:

- Turned up at someone’s home without verifying the correct unit.
- Entered the property because my family member was led to believe I had arranged an appointment.
- Inspected my bathroom.
- Declared multiple installations illegal.
- Claimed those installations were causing water leakage downstairs.
- Told me I had no choice but to pay for rectification.
- And only realised he was in the wrong unit AFTER I challenged him?

What was genuinely concerning isn’t even the address mix up. It’s how confidently he made all those technical claims.

If my bathroom installations were supposedly illegal, are they suddenly legal now that he’s realised he’s in the wrong flat?

If he was so certain my piping was causing leakage downstairs, what exactly was that conclusion based on? And if I hadn’t questioned him, would I have ended up paying thousands to remove and reinstall perfectly functional bathroom fixtures for a problem that might not even exist in my unit?

I’m not a contractor or an engineer. That’s precisely why homeowners rely on these professionals to provide accurate assessments.

How is anyone supposed to trust their findings when something as basic as confirming the correct address wasn’t done?

For context, the contractor identified himself as being from Strategic Engineering and Construction and explicitly stated that he was an HDB appointed contractor.

I have not independently verified his appointment with HDB. I intend to lodge formal complaints with both HDB and the company. I would also like for HDB to clarify whether this contractor was officially appointed by them and what procedures contractors are expected to follow before entering residents’ homes.

I’m not alleging that my installations have been independently verified as compliant, or that the contractor deliberately lied. But surely such serious conclusions should require more than a cursory inspection of the WRONG PROPERTY?

A few questions for anyone familiar with HDB procedures:

1) Are contractors required to verify the unit and appointment details before entering a residence?
2) Can a contractor determine that bathroom installations are illegal simply through a brief visual inspection?
3) Can homeowners be made to bear rectification costs without proper investigation into the actual source of leakage?
4) Is a formal complaint to HDB sufficient, or is there another authority I should escalate this to?

I’m genuinely disturbed by how easily this could have turned into an expensive mistake had I simply trusted what I was told. Would appreciate advice from anyone who’s experienced something similar, particularly those familiar with HDB maintenance or renovation regulations.

Thanks in advance.

In 2019, N95 masks for 3-6yos were developed

https://www.temasektrust.org.sg/what-we-do/impact-hub/article-details/launch-of-new-air--kids-protective-mask-system

https://www.temasek.com.sg/en/news-and-resources/stories/community/air-mask-for-kids

Scientifically designed and engineered to fit the smaller facial profiles and breathing patterns of young children, AIR+ Kids is tested and benchmarked against European and American respiratory standards for protection against haze, PM2.5 particles, bacteria and viruses. The features of child-friendly innovations in AIR+ Kids include a 3D True-Fit mask shape that wraps around the face to provide an effective seal; wide and stretchable Flexi-Strap ear loops that minimise pressure on the ears, with a tear-to-adjust feature allowing for a more precise fit; and a smaller, lighter and quieter Nano Fan that removes trapped heat, moisture and carbon dioxide within the mask.

However, the product doesn't appear on the air+ official online store. It's not Out of Stock, the product just doesn't exist anymore.

The current mask distribution is for kids 7yo and up. Some parenting circles are saying we can use these >=7yo masks (S size) for our younger kids whenever they are outdoors, but, i'm not sure how safe that is (restricting their breathing?)

There are also KF94 & KN95 masks for <7yo kids being sold online, but those kiddos that have tried it found it very uncomfortable (even if they were used to wearing medical masks before)

I do understand that the recommendation is to keep them indoors as much as possible, and that the commute to presch does not need masking (?), but just curious to know what happened to this which seemed like such a good invention after years of research (doing 3D scans on preschoolers, fit-test equipment, various iterations, trials and surveys on the developed product which had positive feedback by the preschoolers surveyed)

Bought my tickets a while ago. Honestly regret buying them since the haze is prerry bad and hhn is outdoors. Is it still worth it to go? Did sentosa make any new accommodation to avoid being outdoors when queueing? (From what I saw last year all the queues were outside the haunted houses)

Just flew back into Singapore and found that my damn Air Purifier kicked the bucket while I was away on a business trip. Looking through online marketplaces yielded nothing but pre orders and no stocks. Heck, some storefronts don't even allow preorders anymore, like Xiaomi.

I have tomorrow off and was planning to spend the day visiting each Xiao Mi store in SG to see if they have any stock left, but does anyone have a smarter option...?

Curious how many of you in office jobs have been allowed wfh? Mine has given us options if scores >100 but I don't think this is the norm.

Hi guys,

I have accepted an offer from a large SG company a month ago, I am still doing background checks with this Avvanz company, which will then lead to MOM decision for approval.

Does anyone know the timeframe for this kinda of pre checks before MOM? And how long will the MOM approval take after the background check is completed?

Background:

- Engineering

- S pass or E Pass (salary is below 5600)

Has anyone requested the certificate of clearance from Singapore police force from Australia? I have made the payment and received an email from them stating my COC application number. However, I haven’t received any instructions on the fingerprints yet. To anyone who has done it, did they email you about the fingerprints or do I have to proactively do them myself here in Australia? On the SPF website, they said they will send instructions on fingerprints. I am a non-citizen non resident.

Has anybody else noticed Amazon.sg no longer seems to have anything in stock locally? I think they must have effectively stopped warehousing anything because everything is now being shipped from abroad (Japan, US or Europe), so long delivery times.

They had announced prime groceries was gone, but it seems they have quietly left the market altogether.

I have a flight out of sg next Tuesday and am concerned if my flight would be cancelled. Would the haze affect the flights?

Sister bought a dog few years ago. Got married and moved out leaving dog with us. She doesn't take care of dog most of time and leaves it to us to walk, feed, groom the dog for 95% of the time. Sister doesn't want to take back dog as she say not home during work hours and scared dog doesn't live well in her place. Also doesn't offer to walk dog much other than couple of days.

Parents refuse to give up the dog or pass it back to her as they are scared dog is not well taken care of or gets given up by them

Yet parents still complain that taking care of dog is so troublesome and time consuming

Travelling is a pain as need someone to be present to take care .

Anyone in similar or adjacent situation? What would you do?

Hi folks, I'm wondering if anyone can help me out. I'm joining a ship in Singapore in a few days and I usually use snus but I know that's banned in Singapore so I'm looking to bring Nicotinell lozenges from the UK through.

I've found guidance online that could be read either way so I'm wondering if anyone with experience or knowledge can help me out if they are okay to bring in?