Little House : Our Mini Studio

Since we got the news end of last year about my pregnancy, we've been moving and cleaning things around the apartment. Our favorite space is our small studio/playroom where we spend most of the time working, watching movies/series and playing games. We were just 2 people in a 3 bedroom apartment for the past 2 years (not including when we were living elsewhere), so we have the privilege to dedicate the whole room for this alone. 

Several months back we decided on moving the studio from the master bedroom to the second biggest room in the middle of apartment (that used to be our bedroom) - because 3 people sleeping in a master bedroom seems like a rational idea (we decided on co-sleeping for a few years). 

So we moved everything to that room and managed to get the most decent space in the apartment. There are enough light and very airy. But a little cram because we put our 13 year old huge L-shaped sofa inside the room as well.

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About the red awkward sofa :

The sofa is an old red-coloured sofa in the living room that never been used for years because it became Awan's play-space and I'm allergic to her fur. We've been ignoring the sofa for so long. But after the news came and we decided on 'really' put an effort in improving our space, I decided to only keep items that are functional in the apartment - that, including the sofa.    

So I called a guy from a cleaning service to professionally 'deep-cleanse' the sofa. The sofa cleaning service costed RM 150 and took around 1.5 hours to finish : 

Next, deep cleansing the 13-year old sofa and planning to change the cover • Moved the sofa to our studio room •

Sofa cleaning service costed Rm 150 • Very fancy 💅🏻 • And it took 1.5 hours 😬 pic.twitter.com/vo8ednIGhY

— azreenchan (@azreenchan) February 3, 2019

There are still old patches and stains that can't be removed, but as long as it is cleaned and sanitized, I can use it, Af can use it, so it can fill the purpose and be used instead of being thrown. We then moved the sofa to our studio room and we put behind our desk, where we spend the nights watching movies/series and playing games and sometimes napping in the afternoon. 

The only awkward thing about the sofa is : it is bright red, and our whole apartment is in natural soft colour (beige, chocolate, white). So I hate the colour of the sofa, but oh well. And we trained Awan to not step on the sofa anymore, and it worked for now.

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Our desks after moving on our first move (to the middle room) :

We had fun spending the time in this room throughout my whole 2nd trimester. One thing I noticed in this past 3 months : we no longer used the master bedroom except for praying and changing clothes (we spent most nights sleeping in the living room because I'm in the pregnancy phase where I'm super hot and sweaty all day everyday). 

I thought this was such a waste of space, because the master bedroom is huge and we no longer use the space. When I mentioned that to Af, he was thinking the same thing, so we decided to move back the studio to the master bedroom :D Haha.

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Little House : Clothes minimal, NOT

We moved back to my red bricks apartment last weekend.

They are still staying with us until March, after we come back from our Japan trip. So for now, Af & I are going to stay in the medium-sized room in my apartment. We finally have a large windows and sun lights ! And our own personal moss-free wardrobe. 

Moving out has always been a fussy matter.
One of the things that I hate is organizing my clothes because I have piles and piles of unused stuffs. So 4 weeks before moving back in, I went back and took out all my clothes from my old wardrobe and started to divide it into 3 piles : Definitely will use, Probably will use, and Will never use. The ones that I will never use were donated at the charity box near my home : a huge pile of clothes, the size of super-packed big IKEA bag! While the ones that I will use and probably will use were taken back to my rented apartment to be washed in the washing machine. That was phase 1.

Phase 2 was re-organizing all the clean clothes and filtered again. I did 3 phases of filtering to decide on which clothes that I will really use and which clothes I will donate because I shouldn't be keeping all these old clothes that I don't use anymore. Learning to let go things is something I need to remind over and over.

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Clothes :

Among all my clothes, most of the stuffs I hardly wear were donated to the charity.
I now have :

• 2 jeans *black & blue, 
• 2 outing t-shirt, 
• 2 track suits,
• 5 running shirts
• several pajamas & stay at home shirts
• 2 telekungs
• 6 working semi-casual shirts,
• 6 kurungs, 
• 2 singlets
• 2 bras
• 2 sport-bras
• 4 socks
• 2 towels
• at least 5 tudung bawals (black x 2, red, dark blue, purple)

On dozens of running shirts :
I had to filter all the running shirts 3 times before deciding on which running shirts I do want to keep - even though I actually wanted to keep them allllll T^T I can explain each running shirt's history to Af, like my first run, or the night run when I had a bad headache and we all looked like flamingos, or the ugly red cotton shirt from our UPM run when Af first started to run in an event officially, or the nicely designed purple running shirt that I really like but seemed a bit too tight nowadays - and remember that I did looked good in it, or my first 21km finisher's shirt ! Can you believe I have around 20 running shirts? Even the ones with super ugly design and colours that can blind the eyes!

So I only kept several, I donated more than half of it. I now have 2 of my Milo running shirts for training because I love those shirts, and my favorite orange Harimau Malaya running shirt because it looked nice even though it looked a bit worn-out, one of the light blue running shirt that I might need, my finisher's shirt and the black shirt from our gym :D I think I still have a lot of them..

It is an organized mess.

Extra note : I'm a bit clingy to my old kurungs, because I personally selected them and I like having them even though I can't remember the last time I wear any kurungs these days.

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On keeping clothes :
Being a woman is a bit fussier in terms of keeping clothes, because we have so much layers and clothes for different occasions and use. On one occasion, we can wear : tudung and anak tudung, and bra, probably a singlet then the shirt itself, and then underwear, and the jeans, the socks and the shoe : at least 6-9 items at one time. While man can just wear the tshirt, the boxer and the jeans! 3 things, and 4 including the sandal.

Af is simpler, like this one black shirt; he can use it for work, for outings, for events, and even for working out. So his wardrobe is less packed than mine - he's super proud of it =.= I'm actually inspired by him, because his goal is to have everything minimal and keep only things that he uses all the time. So it's easy for him to pack stuffs for travel or choose anything to wear everyday.

Learning to be minimal and keep all items that I will use - only is hard.
Having only 2 tshirt that I use when I go out is hard. It's either that black tshirt or that dark blue tshirt, repetitively. For the work shirt, I keep it all in rotation. So the one I wore for that day will be washed and dried afterwards and kept in my wardrobe in the last line, so I will meet it again the next week. That way, I won't get confuse and wear the same shirt in the same week. Any clothes that I don't wear for more than 3 months will be donated, because obviously I don't really wear it.

I think buying new clothes is way easier than donating the old unused ones. Kan?
But I know at least 2 hoarders in my family, and I see how they get too attached on unused things. I didn't quite like the idea of wanting to collect and keep and collect and just make piles and piles of things that 'might-be-useful-someday'. You do know what I mean, right? Hoarders, keepers of things, the person who keeps things from 10 years ago, the collectors, the one with 6 watches, 7 shoes, and 15 hats?

The only thing I collect now is books.
And probably money :D

So do you think you are a hoarder?

Little House : Kitchen Makeover 02

The pipe problem :

The pipe was broken because the wooden cabinet was broken and the sink was sinking, so everything fell apart from the kitchen sink top to the pipe in the nearest toilet :( Ma called her friend to get it fixed. It took several frustrating days because the plumber got family problems but finally he got it fixed, and he installed an ugly looking plastic pipe in the toilet with sloppy concrete plastered to the wall and also fixed the broken pipe in the kitchen wall, installed a new pipe and plastered another sloppy stuffs on it. Very ugly, but it is now fixed.

Cost : RM 300 for plumbing, and new pipes

This it how it looked a couple of weeks ago *sad and miserable condition, this is how wooden cabinet will look like after 10 years - repuuut :

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The quotation for kitchen top + cabinet :

And so after 3 quotations from various people :

• one guy from ma (too expensive and too slow) - RM 6.8k for front and back kitchen top + concrete counter with cabinets.
• one guy from Aja (still far too expensive) - RM 3.8k for front and back kitchen counter, RM 3.2k for just the front kitchen cabinet with concrete kitchen top.
• one other guy from me - the one that I found from Mudah, mine is the most affordable one. I told him I am really on a budget - RM 1.7k for the concrete kitchen top without tiles. And additional RM 900 for the cabinet, if I want. I wanted to find my own tiles to reduce the cost, because they said additional RM 200 for the tiles. The job was down in less than 2 weeks.
• This is before all the old cabinets were removed :

Cost : RM 1700 for sink plumbing, concrete kitchen top and installing tiles, plus garbage disposal renting for 1 day.

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Gas Cooktop for the Kitchen Counter :

Over 2 months before, we searched at several places for a small 2-place gas cooktop for the new I-shaped kitchen counter in the main kitchen. I was inspired by Tokyo's home with small kitchen space.

The gas cooktop is really small compared to what we had before, we found it at SenQ from Electrolux brand and bought it really early because I need to buy part-by-part for the whole kitchen renovation. People on budget had to work on what they have, kan? 

Cost for the built-in gas cooktop from Electrolux : RM 932 with addition 3 years in-house warranty.

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The tiles for the Kitchen Counter :

• Saturday : Tiles searching day. Eyed for one of the shop in front of Pasar Borong. 

The original plan was to use small tiles for the kitchen counter but they said that small tiles are too fragile for everyday use, they suggested to use the thicker and bigger ones for it. So I decided to follow their suggestion and maybe use the small tiles for the walls instead. We went to 3 shops in Seri Kembangan area, and 3 more closed ones because it was a public holiday. 

I bought 10 big tiles : each tiles costed RM 8.50 on promotion, the real price was RM 19.90 each. They had a huge beige-whitish grade A tiles with some texture on it, I didn't want the white shiny polished ones like they suggested so the texture was fine. The tiles were used for the kitchen top and the extended on the floor part for the future cabinet. 

Cost for tiles : RM 85 (RM 8.50 x 10)

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The timeline for Kitchen Counter Process :

• Monday : Af and I took a day off. They came, dissembled the old kitchen cabinets and prepared the things needed.
• Tuesday : They came again, ma had to stay at home. They measured the place, prepared the framework and filled in the concrete. This took the whole day
• Wednesday - Friday : No one at home, so they left the concrete dried properly
• Saturday - Af & I were at an event opening a booth. We went to the tiles shop to buy 6 more tiles that morning. Both my younger brother and sister had to stay at home, to wait for them to clean up the concrete top, install the tiles, the kitchen place and the sink with the whole plumbing.
• Sunday - My siblings cleaned the kitchen.

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Next : Cabinet for the kitchen top in dry kitchen, and floor tiles in the wet kitchen :F

Moneeeeh.

Little House : Kitchen Makeover 01

I'll be frank, I'm not full-heartedly committed with this project.

The reasons :

1. Because I am still renting other place with AF and having to be in charge of 2 places at once isn't financially smart.
2. It's still my house, Ma mentioned it several times. I had to be financially in-charge of the full renovation because it's the "owner's" responsibility, aside from my whole family is living there instead of me.
3. The kitchen cabinet collapsed too soon, too sudden, the sink was broken, the whole kitchen was flooded. They had the problem for 2 months - like that. And everyone was not really full-heartedly committed as well.
4. I had to do something, fast, money-efficient, and solve this stupid problem that stalled for far too long.
5. I hated my siblings for turning their eyes blind for this. For letting this problem consumed 2 months of their lives like nothing happened and passed it to Ma, and living there like a renting house.

So I finally decided to kick them out, I'll be in charge and move back again this December instead. I asked my brother and sister to find their own renting place because I don't want them there. It was the hardest thing to do, but I had too, they are far too old for me or ma to take care of them. I'm fully aware about sharing this matter in my blog *it is against my rules nowadays, especially the ranting part, but I don't want to cry myself to sleep just because of these things that I told them so many times but they kept silent, just ignored my messages and let me think and think and think and rant to AF for over a year now. No, make it almost 2 years since we got married. They have no idea how stressed out I got over this. So kicking them out with a heart-stone decision is my final option and I'm sticking up to it.

Ma is disappointed with me, she felt like I'm kicking her out too.

I told her that I just want my siblings to find their own place and be responsible for their lives instead. Plus to stop using so many excuses to grow up and be independent like I did. 

So, that's the part of how this problem started and how it came to kitchen renovation project solely decided and planned on me alone, with a help from Af of course.

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The pre-plan :

So the previous 10 years kitchen plan was the L-shaped kitchen cabinet with 4-place gas cooktop installed, 2-parts sink and the whole electrical items on it. I hated the mess, because the kitchen is small and my family of 6 is all big and all the hoarded stuffs were taking too much space. It is too crammed with collected and unused stuffs.

I wanted the future kitchen to be used comfortably because I'm going to use the space everyday. So I planned on making the main kitchen a dry kitchen with a bigger dining place and the store behind that used to be my brother's room to be turned into a wet kitchen and where I'll store all cooking items and probably a washing machine. They didn't really agree on not having all the cabinets to keep things, but I wanted what I visioned and I try to not care about what people said. Plus it's my money and my apartment, I want to like the things that I spend on =.=

I prepared a mood-board. I want a white kitchen, a good space with airy ventilation, natural lights and where I can eat+lepak2 with my my whole family. I have a huge collection of pinned items in my Pinterest here - because I've been planning for far too long, so I can even imagine it vividly.

A small apartment is something I wanted so much other than travelling, but none of the things that happened since I bought it helped much. I moved-out twice since I bought it, so I supposed you can guess how much I wanted my own space instead of sharing it with my whole siblings. Now I don't believe their promises, it's over 5 years and they are still there saying that they will find a place. Nope, that won't do. 3 weeks to go.

Note : I bought one, I can't let myself buy another property in this economy. 

I have too many debts to settle and too many places to go. 

So this is my little place, I own it, and I want to love it.

Little House : 500sqft

We are nesting.

I think we overspent on buying little things we never thought we needed : like the place to put washed dishes, or the tiny case to put our keys and rings and pins, or the 3-plugs outlets, or hanging rods, or coaster for hot kettle or frying pans and pots. All the items we simply overlooked when we stayed with a big family for so long, those stuffs a mother prepared for us to use. I kinda miss Ma, and Awan. 

Suddenly leaving the house doesn't feel as excited as when I was single and alone, renting an apartment. I'm married. I know this is the phase when I finally detached myself from the family cocoon and start creating my own little family. Exciting, but sad at the same time.

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The colour :
We had it lucky. The owner furnished the small apartment using all natural soil colours : light and dark brown. The worned-out sofa, the wall, the brown kitchen table, all the cabinets, the floor, all in various brown colours. It matches my previous wooden furniture and carpet, and cushions :D I am very-very-very glad I don't have to see mismatched items.

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The working table :
And after a year, we managed to reattach my working table again. It was sitting behind the sofa for that long after I moved out from my previous rented apartment. I personally love-love-love the table, but the wooden texture is a bit splotchy now :(

I covered it up with a black desk's mat.

I finally have a working space again. A place to put my magical laptop, my graphic tablet and note/books to write or doodle. Big space to sprawl anything while packing for my Etsy stuffs and DIY projects. And my black desk lamp, finally useful.

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The internet :

The internet guy came and setup our high-speed internet ! This is one of the most daunting-and-exciting part, because we are committed with the 2-years Unifi's contract, it is a bit overpriced for both of us :F but we've been planning on being productive in our freelance business this year *at least I do. So maybe this investment will be a great thing. And I can have my drafts whenever I want to. I think Af is enjoying his daily Game of Throne series :F

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And we have a darling view from our living room :

Little House : 2nd Studio Apartment

So we've been searching for a place to live in for half a year ! It is really hard to find a decent place to live in with affordable monthly payment.

I'm in love with small personal space.

My previous studio apartment that I rented was 675 sq ft. This time, we found a studio apartment smaller than before, it's only 500 sq ft ! :D When the owner opened the door to the apartment, I knew I wanted to rent the place.

It is fully grilled and equipped with furnitures : well-worn sofa, tv sets, used refrigerator, shoe racks, washing machine, water heater, air-cond, queen size bed, nice mattress, decent curtain, blinders and everything required for a short living. It is like ready to move-in/Airbnb type of place. We are both still new in married life and we are still on our limited budget, so a fully furnished apartment in studio apartment is a real nice deal :D Some old stuffs pun boleeh lah.

We are on high-floor level so we can have the nice sunset view as well, we can even have a nice sunrise view from our corridor. Best kan? 360 view. 

Most fully furnished studio apartment costs around RM 1,500 these days. But we found one that costs almost RM 900 - fully furnished. T^T Thank you God, I hope we will be safe and sound throughout our stay. Amin amin.  

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We are going to live in the small space for awhile now, at least until my family found a nice house for them to buy :) And I'll be back to my nest !

On the first day of 2016, we moved in the to place :)

Little House : Buying your first property

I bought my first apartment in 2012.

During that time, my salary was RM 2,000 and the apartment I bought was RM 150,000.

The apartment is a low-density type, around 1080 sq ft, corner unit with extra windows, located on the first floor, fully tiled and grilled. Other than helping my mom, I love the apartment and it's a nice investment. So even though I was single, 25 and was not ready - I bought the apartment.

It is located in Seri Kembangan, in a small peaceful neighborhood where I grew up,
it is quite far from the city center.

How?

• I applied for "Skim Rumah Pertamaku" and got 90% bank loan for 30 years, I'm currently paying around RM 700 monthly. Much cheaper than renting a decent apartment in a nice environment. 
• There is also monthly maintenance fees : RM 90+, and for me personally, I like how they take care of the building, all the plants are nicely groomed, the corridor's lights are all lighted, the security guards are always there, the floor are mopped weekly, all clean and nice. So I don't mind paying the maintenance bills. 
• At this moment, my family is still living with us. So I divided the monthly fees to 4 of us grown-ups. *that's like RM 175 for us. Two of my younger siblings are still living like parasites until they finish their studies by the end of this year.
• When I first bought the apartment, I need to consider 2 big things regarding the money. Use this calculator to estimate what you will need to spend : 
• The 10% down-payment, which I haven't paid to my mom because I promised that I'll pay when I live there fully. So I haven't paid it yet. 0-0 *bonus point for me.
• The legal fees and SPA, I have a travel-saving that I planned to use for my Euro-trip back then. But I cancelled it and I bought the apartment. It costed around RM 8,000+ for the legal fees and SPA. I used it all up. T^T
• I didn't buy a car because I think it is the worst investment for people with low-monthly salary. I pay my PTPTN loan for RM200-500 each month. So other than bills and insurance, I didn't use up my salary at that time. It was cukup-cukup makan, but enough. I still don't own a car though. 

These days, the price went up to RM 210-250k for these apartments *even in this short 2 years time. If I include the loan + the interest (RM97k) for 30 years, the apartment would cost around RM 230k. With the high rise of property's prices, I think this is the greatest investment I made when I was 25. I'm not sure what will happen in the future, especially when the 2nd MRT is fully done in Seri Kembangan area :D

I'm thinking on buying the second property with AF.

I love the extensive research and all the possibilities. With property's prices go up to being almost-ridiculous, I think what we can do is find something small and nice enough place for a good investment.

As I told my colleague,
"buy a property now, when you don't have other responsibilities and loans".

Tips :

• If your salary already reached RM 2,000 per month, you can consider finding a small flat in the city or an apartment a bit farther from the city. You'll be paying more or less the same as your rent anyway.
• Don't buy car, yet. Use public transportation or motorcycle. I used to walk over 3km daily to work. It's a nice exercise.  
• Live a frugal life, especially when you just starting up your life as an official adult.
• Work as a freelancer. 
• Read useful articles on financial planning, ie : iMoney

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Little House : Studio Apartment

It's another one-month+ before the wedding, I'm back at my hometown for good. I had an interesting life renting a studio apartment alone before actually committing to a life with an officially declared partner. Mihmihmih. 

Now, is anyone searching for a small studio apartment ?

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Description :

The apartment is located right next to the LRT - Ampang line. 

Around 100 steps to the train station. Very easy to commute to work/class daily.

It is on the fourth floor, so you'll be exercising everyday.

1 bedroom + 1 living room + 1 toilet + 1 kitchen + 1 small verandah 

Door and windows fully grilled, double lock on the main door

Security on the main gate and every 2 blocks 

Bunk-bed + stand fan available 

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The apartment is unfurnished :

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Things I like about the house :

The house is well-lighted naturally, it got more than 10 windows. *great place for product photography project.

The privacy and nice environment.

Near public transportation.
There is something melancholic about hearing the train early in the morning. But I loved it.

It got a really nice view of the city. *You can see clear fireworks view at KLCC on the New Year :

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Money related :

The renting price is RM 1100

Deposit = 2 + 1 + utility RM 100

Access Card = RM 20 *if needed - 1 covered parking

The owner prefers :

Small family or single/partner friends and students

Long term, minimum 1 year contract

Malay Muslim *sorry for the mention guys - this is what requested by the owner

If interested, please contact me via azreen_31@hotmail.com or leave a comment down below.

Previous posts on the little apartment : See here
and while I was here :

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Little House 5 : Door & Security

THINGS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER FOR YOUR HOME :

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1. Change to deadbolt lock, don't use only basic grill & bolt provided by the house, it is possible to unlock them using a master key. You must have at least 2 locks on the main door and 2 locks on the grill. Buy grade 1 deadbolt lock, with longer throw-bolt (at least 1 inch) and no exposed screws on the exterior. Deadbolt lock is the one with no knobs on the outer part. With a good deadbolt lock, burglar can't get into the house without really breaking the door or the door's frame. 

Note : Normal doorknobs can be ripped off with a pipe wrench in an average of 8 secs, and it can be easily destroyed by several hammer hits. Local police said that it is possible to just use a master key or break it using a shoe and a screw-driver. So, please change it to a deadbolt lock, it is way harder to break by force.

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2. Change to proper grade 1 padlock for the grill. The police and security guards told me that padlocks like Solex are tough and hard to cut, but among the easiest to open if you know how to pick on the lock. They asked me to change to padlocks by Tricycle or Yale, or padlocks with custom keys. Range RM50+ each, the one that can't be open by force, cut through or picked.

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3. Now that I've seen how easy it is to pick padlocks and door knobs' locks, I should mention other ways to double secure your door. Like using diy grip-lock so you can avoid burglar from trying to pick on the deadbolt lock from outside. Or installing other security products : chain-lock, security bar, lock slot, lock plate, and such from the inside. Be creative in exploring ways that you can improve yourself especially if you rent the house and the things you can change is limited in the contract.

DIY Lock Grip :

• Install a door knob and a deadlock knob.
• To avoid it from being picked by a professional 'silent' burglar, double secure it with a book strap and then lock it with a pair scissor between the turn-lock and the wall.
• It is almost impossible to pick the lock silently without any strong force to the door.

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4. Learn about your door, make sure it is at least solid wood. Knock on the door to check whether it is basic hollow door like those doors they use in the bedroom or toilet. Those hollow doors are quite easy to break by force.

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5. Check the door frame. Some good options are concrete or metal door frame, compared to wood. To check this, try to drill on the door frame, you'll know. Usually you need to call for the home constructor to install door knobs, dead locks, because of the door frame. For example, mine is metal and concrete, so I can't drill into it using my usual equipment.

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6. Don't leave spare keys at home ie: in the pot, below the 'welcome' mat, etc. Give to your other family members or trusted friends.

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7. Install a peep-hole or viewer, so you can see people from inside. You can see people upfront without opening the door.

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If you just bought a house and you are considering to upgrade the security of your house, make sure you do your research on these :

• Grills on door, balcony and window
• Solid wood door
• Extra locks : addition of dead-bolt lock, chain-lock and lock plate
• Install a peep-hole on the door

Bare in mind that although you might be spending some amount of money on these, *around several thousand, it is a good investment for your house.

But if you are renting a place, do your research before hand. You can ask the owner to improve the house's security like adding grills, change door knobs, and add other security products.

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Read More :

How a Burglar Robs Your Home in 8 Minutes

Little House 4 : 4 months

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Pets :

I gave Minka the ferret back to my boss after 2 weeks + another 3 days.

Taking care of a ferret needs a lot of patience. Even writing about her needs one whole dedicated post. So I went back to my stinky home, changed to proper clothing, mixed some detergent with Dettol multi-cleaner, and started to clean the whole apartment. That took around 2 hours. I put back all things to where they belonged and the apartment is very much in order now.

But even after almost a month, the house still smells of her =.=

Maybe pet plants are enough for now.

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Pillows :

My mom made 6 cushions : 2 huge, 2 big and 2 small. *I can finally put it in the living room after I returned Minka. By now I spent the price of 1 huge commercialized cushion for 6 hand-made cushions. I chose the fabric and colours with her, a nice mixture of light and dark brown. I'm using synthetic kekabu and also learned about making batang bantal. Can't deny that I'm enjoying all little processes in creating my little home. Now I have a place to melepet2 in my living room even without any sofa or chairs :D

Plus Aja gave me a nice brown coloured carpet for my birthday to match everything in the house. I can sprawl in my living room now, while reading good books or writing decent blog posts. This is how it looks today. I put those illustrations on the wall using tack-it, I'm not sure how long it going to last :

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Frugal life :

If you have sensitive skin and living as frugal as I do, maybe you can try this. Instead of using laundry powder, you can wash your pillow cases using water and soak it with left-over lemon slices from the detox water. Other than giving fresh smell, it also has antibacterial properties.

Bills :

My electrical & water bills are below RM 10 per month, so both bills are subsidized by the government - I'm having free electric and water every month :D But rent is super expensive, for a single renter, I'm scraping money out of my comfort zone for 3 months now. What an irresponsible way of living :F

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Foods :

I can't do so much with cooking because I can't buy fresh foods (fish, meat, chicken, etc) to be kept in my tiny refrigerator. The second-hand fridge is so old, it can't keep up with freezing foods anymore. I might need 5 months to buy a proper 2-doors fridge. 

So that leave me with these easy simple foods: 

1. Soups, by now I've tried making so many types of soups. Egg soup, chicken soup, veggie soup, mushroom soup, tomyam soup, everything I can mix off. Truth to be told, the only thing I feel comfortable eating is rice and soups. 

2. Salad, the easiest way to eat without cooking stuffs up. Potato salad, fruit salad, mixed salad, tuna salad, I read up Pinterest recipes just to find ways to vary salad-makings. 

3. Sandwich, hah, my favorite would be a mixture of 2 slices of breads, cheese, egg, kewpie mayo, and slices of chicken or simple bread with honey. Mmm-hmm.

Oh, other than that, I do eat Mi Sedap sometimes.

The best part of living alone is, I can cook my favorite food every-single-day and no one will complain. 

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Little House 3 : Colourful Popcorn Shower

Another beautiful thing;

cold new year's eve, Kodaline, and colourful popcorn shower of fireworks with a clear view of the KL city from my huge window. A beautiful start for a brand new year. Happy 2015. 

Little House 2 : The Second Month

The only furnitures I bought after 2 months at my new home are a wooden table and 2 mini wooden side-tables from IKEA. That costed around RM200+ total. Other than that are all old wooden furnitures from ma and collected wooden things all around. 

Old furnitures were painted oil-based white paint so they seem a bit acceptably decent. I keep on buying cheap brushes from Kedai RM 2 and Mr.DIY because I don't want to waste thinner to wash those brushes. I don't like oil-based paint. 

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I keep on pinning things from Pinterest that might work for my tiny apartment. Mainly I wanted something more minimal, cheap, rustic with natural-coloured theme. My main inspiration came mostly from Muji and other simple Japanese apartments. Things are just too expensive, so I end up collecting old things that can work for me and making things myself.

Personal research center :

Ma doesn't agree with using cheap bamboo blinders and asked to put proper curtain, which, I argued because I hate ruffled fabrics that block lights. I also detest the bunk-bed & old carpet that the owner provides, but I have no where else to keep =.=

Now it became clear to me on how picky I can be. Hah.

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I reorganized the studio for the 3rd time in 2 months.
I found a way to put books in the small space like this :

Every time I go back home to ma's, I take 4-5 books from my old shelves so it won't be too heavy while taking the train. That is what I currently have with me. I probably need a whole lot of book shelves to keep all my books. I'm out of budget. So let just pretend that I don't own so many books at ma's.

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I finally found the use of that super heavy bed's base wood that we collected from the trash. I painted it white - double coat, and put it aside for weeks, waiting for it to become a diy sofa. But huge pillows are quite pricy for me to buy - right now, end up buying some nice natural coloured fabrics from Tewah today and asked ma to sew some pillows for my little living room. 

So the wood turned into this, next to the front door :

The apartment looked empty, decent and a bit cheap. 

Every time I feel like buying huge stuffs, I'll remember Fight Club & IKEA.

I rest my case.

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Little Things 158 : Little House 3 + Baby Plants

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Here are things that I bought at MAHA 2014 for less than RM 50 *except for some of the seeds - etsy, baby aloe vera and moss of course. Look at those different types of orchids, not quite sure which are which now.

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Aftermath :

I took several hours to replace their pots. Not quite sure whether planting orchids this way would work or not tho. Inspiration taken from too many images in pinterest, and hanging them up next to a window seems like a great idea :

Had to read several more how-to from Google to keep them orchids alive.
I don't want to repeat the past :F

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I also planted several seeds - I felt quite optimistic until I read several articles on how fussy it is to plant things indoor - in pots, compared to outdoor in their natural habitat :F Now I feel like giving up and wanting to buy all baby plants instead of seeds.

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I once asked a seller in one of the nursery in KL about air plant. I didn't know about it much, so I was just as curious as any new gardener would be. It is just a plant, that doesn't need soil and much water - perfect for this one glass ball I bought for no reason when I followed my sister to a warehouse in Balakong last month. But, the price was RM35. 

I left the place feeling a bit shocked. Clearly wasn't ready to hear such littlest being to cost that much. But when I went to MAHA, there was 3 booths that sell various types of air plants costing around RM8 - RM 15, depending on the size. So I bought one :F

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Little bonsai needs its sunlight, so I had to put it in now-healthy-looking-aloe-vera that I brought from home. Before this, the aloe vera almost died. Over-watered. Hah. 

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Little mosses were scooped up from the apartment area. I stole it, in front of the guard - picked it up with my mini tools and a plastic bag. These littles moses are by far the most fussiest plants that I'm currently taking care of. Sometimes they turned brownish and dry, sometimes they looked like they are ready to die because I over-watered it. I have no idea how much should I water to make them look normal. =.= Need more time to understand each pot's water requirement.

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I'm really glad I started indoor gardening :D

Much cheaper than taking care of Awan, although plants don't really respond much as cats do.