# Losing money when migrating



## Miss Swan (May 28, 2012)

My decision to migrate came rather suddenly, and with only a month to go before I move, I'm left with a few months of gym membership and a massage package that will be wasted unless I find someone to transfer the membership too. This is depressing me a little as I'm so uncomfortable with having paid for something that I won't be using. The amount lost isn't much, I'm looking at a few hundreds, but at this stage, every dollar counts.

Has anyone experience something similar, i.e. incurring losses because of migration?


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## Ozgirl (Apr 27, 2012)

Miss Swan said:


> My decision to migrate came rather suddenly, and with only a month to go before I move, I'm left with a few months of gym membership and a massage package that will be wasted unless I find someone to transfer the membership too. This is depressing me a little as I'm so uncomfortable with having paid for something that I won't be using. The amount lost isn't much, I'm looking at a few hundreds, but at this stage, every dollar counts.
> 
> Has anyone experience something similar, i.e. incurring losses because of migration?


Definitely, it's part of the move. Could you suspend your gym membership? Or sell it to someone? Same with the massage package. I'm sure you could offer it to your family or friends? Perhaps even try to sell on some Singaporean website.
We are packing up our stuff, and we are going to make a loss with some of the furniture that we bought last year before we made the decision.


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## Miss Swan (May 28, 2012)

No I can't suspend. The gyms and spas here are absolutely cutthroat and rigid. They're really nice when getting you to sign up with them but once you talk about refunds due to valid reasons, they start saying "I'm sorry, but our policy says .... " I've begged and pleaded with them but the management stood firm. 

I only have a month left and I did put up my memberships on 3 popular forums but have received no responses. Worst case scenario would be to take this as sunk costs, which is such a shame.


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## claire.foo (Jun 10, 2012)

Hi Miss Swan. Where / which massage package do you have? I might be interested  Maybe you can PM me?

Cheers,
Claire


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## Nelly87 (Jul 3, 2011)

I knew about 10 months before emigrating that I was going to, so I had time to plan things out very well. On top of that I was a student, so things like massages and gym memberships were too grand for budget to begin with. My biggest losses were a phone contract of another year after my departure date, and selling my things really. Partially because you'll never get for it what you paid for it when you resell, but mostly because it was stuff I had consciously gathered and collected over the years to be part of my home.

My biggest loss, though, has been that I had a history degree from uni at home that isn't recognized in Australia until I jump through hoops and pay money to get it acknowledged. Back home I was finally eligible for good jobs after graduating, here I can't even get a retail clerk job. That is by far my biggest loss.


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## Miss Swan (May 28, 2012)

claire.foo said:


> Hi Miss Swan. Where / which massage package do you have? I might be interested  Maybe you can PM me?
> 
> Cheers,
> Claire


Hi Claire I can't PM you as you don't have enough posts.


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## Miss Swan (May 28, 2012)

Nelly87 said:


> My biggest losses were a phone contract of another year after my departure date, and selling my things really. Partially because you'll never get for it what you paid for it when you resell, but mostly because it was stuff I had consciously gathered and collected over the years to be part of my home.


Yeah I forgot about phone contracts too. I didn't get a phone contract even though everyone else has one because I knew I'd be joining my partner one day, I just didn't know when.


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## claire.foo (Jun 10, 2012)

Miss Swan said:


> Hi Claire I can't PM you as you don't have enough posts.


Oh... Didn't know that. I'm totally new to this. I'm also applying for migration to au. Went to au high commission last week and got sent back :-( Said my wedding date was set too far back. Oh well, wasted my half day leave.


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## Miss Swan (May 28, 2012)

Hi claire, are you applying for PMV?


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## claire.foo (Jun 10, 2012)

Miss Swan said:


> Hi claire, are you applying for PMV?


Yeah, was considering between partner and PMV, onshore and offshore. Many pros and cons but we are going for PMV in the end.


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## Miss Swan (May 28, 2012)

Hi claire, good for you. I was originally going for offshore visa which saves a lot of time and money but my circumstances did a 180 degree turn. I think I'll be able to PM you after you post a couple more times.


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## accessoriesbridal (Jun 22, 2012)

Well the thing is where i am if I was leaving all that would have been just wasted and my folks would have given me a nice lecture on wasting money. But that's just the way it is.


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## nettle (Jul 17, 2011)

I'm taking a third pay cut and giving up my share options which will pay out BIG in 6 months time but trying not to think about that. Life is precious, live every minute and as long as you have enough to get by then don't worry about money. You have to do what makes you happy. I don't want to sound morbid but if you knew you had a year to live, would you worry about a few months of gym membership or a phone contract? Happiness is most important so just let go of your material ties - the thing about golden handcuffs is they are made of gold leaf so you can break them whenever you want. If you are getting ready to move there are far more important things to worry about xxx


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## Miss Swan (May 28, 2012)

nettle said:


> Life is precious, live every minute and as long as you have enough to get by then don't worry about money. You have to do what makes you happy.


Love the line of thought. Absolutely right too. Life is too short to worry about a few hundred bucks... As someone who grew up in Asia, money is a huge thing to Asians - 99% of life revolves around money, which is sad really.

Live and let live. From that first post in this thread till now, I've definitely moved on.


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