housethingsgoing
A frog and a duck living in a 4rm resale flat
Our favourite home investments after 1.5 years of living here
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After moving in for close to one and a half years, we're starting to realise which of our reno purchases were worth it... and which ones were not (like our wobbly desk and the weirdly short Taobao chairs we try not to offer to our guests) So, here are some of our favourite household buys, which have withstood the test of time and which we'd definitely recommend to our fellow homeowners: 
1. A storage bed! The bed came together with our mattress in a package, and while we don't have the exact price breakdown, it wasn't exactly the cheapest :) It's also a king size, which explains why it looks very wide. It also differed quite a bit from Duck's ideal bed - she was thinking white wooden frames to match our wardrobe... but there were no white wooden framed storage beds that fit the regular king mattress in Singapore, much to her disappointment. We ended up going with this bed in grey and while it might not be 100% in terms of the aesthetics, it is 200% in terms of storage! One main feature of this bed is that it doesn't have the divider panel down the middle so we have been able to fit a ton of stuff under it. The storage compartment of our bed now contains 3x luggages, all of Frog's army stuff, all our extra bags, all our winter clothes and a bunch of random travel items like duffel bags, packing cubes, etc. The original spaces we reserved in our wardrobes for these items are now kept blissfully clean and empty :) Best part is - we even managed to fit in a foldable mahjong table in that empty space in the middle before! 
2. Dishwasher Can we wash our dishes by hand? Yes. Do we want to? No. The dishwasher is a wonderful machine - it washes dishes more cleanly than we probably ever could (the power of hot water!), get a whole load done in just a couple of hours and hasn't really affected our water and electricity bills. We do also have to pay extra for dishwasher tablets and dishwasher cleaners, but the total cost comes up to less than $50 a year - a worthy investment for sure. We've been proudly telling our friends that the dishwasher is one of the pillars keeping our marriage strong - we hope it helps yours too! 
3. Sintered Stone Countertops We love sintered stone so much, we even have it as the material of choice in our bathrooms. The price of sintered stone shocked us at first LOL - it's definitely a lot more expensive (that's why we couldn't afford to sinter up our backsplash as well LOL), but it's been so reassuring to cook with, knowing that I don't have to scramble around looking for pot holders and being careful not to stain the countertops with drips and spills. We also really like the feel of sintered stone - for some reason it feels really classy and... nice to touch as compared to the other countertop materials we viewed. But it's definitely a great investment only if you cook often and you're a clumsy chef (like Duck) who needs all the properties of sintered stone to keep your kitchen looking pristine :P 
BONUS ITEM! Okay this isn't really an item oops - but it's a home cleaning service! We can technically clean our house ourselves, in the same way we can wash our dishes and our clothes by hand - but we've still got dishwashers and washing machines LOL. Cleaning services aren't cheap (we know T.T) but we have a part-time cleaner come in just once a month to deep clean our toilets, mop the floor, and do all the chores we hate (e.g. cleaning the louvre windows panel by panel). It's been great knowing that we can take a break from our usual chores once a month AND also get some of the deep cleaning done - yes these helpers are so ridiculously efficient, they make Duck feel very incompetent at house cleaning T.T (not including a picture of our cleaner for obvious privacy reasons, but here's the stuff she brings along - she even has her own bucket omg). What are your best home investments? Do share so Duck can find more reasons to spend Frog's money on new things! :D
30 May
