D-Day is coming nearer and nearer...

I felt a sense of excitement rushing inside me last evening. We visited our new home site and it really seems like its ready for handover to the purchasers .. meaning "us" ... real soon! The units (particularly mine!) was nicely painted up in 2 coats of paint and the insides were all washed and cleaned and the air-conditioners were seen installed in the living room already ... yippee!!

So from now on, my renovation ideas, home furnishing and home electrical items shopping plans (especially our LCD TV!!!!) will be on a fast-forward track from now on! But this also signals the beginning of all headaches right? There are so much to think, consider and decide. Then there is always the $$$ issue.

Let's see .. we have the interior design to think of, the home garden to decide on, the kitchen cabinets, yes kitchen cabinets of course .. and from the dining right to the bedrooms, the washyard, etc etc and if budget permits, perhaps even a home-office for hubby. Yeah!

But I still cant figure out it is indeed worth it for me to engage an interior designer to take over the headache from me. As much as I would love to shop and do up the place on my own, I doubt I can have the freedom to go out and check out the latest trends at the various exhibitions in town. Life is just not the same since the lil one came along ...aaarrrrggggg!

But before all this, I need to shop for lil one's birthday gift. I have decided on this perfect item for him. He would love me dearly for it. I am sure he will. I know he will. He'd better!!!!

Cheapest Kitchen Aid deal!

I have been eyeing a Kitchen Aid as a nice lil pressie for myself .. its kinda like a "house warming gift" from myself to myself ... hahaha. Love that idea. I mean excuse. So far, never found a real good deal. The best I ever found was at the Homedec 08 @ PWTC .. but prices were still a bit too steep for me.


Recently, while scounting for my hood & hob during this year end sale, I visited The Living Depot in Puchong and came across the Kitchen Aid. I have no intention at all to get one now but just enquired for the price for the sake of knowing. And guess what! They offered it to me at only RM2,200 compared to the exhibition price of RM2,488 just 3 months ago! The salesman told me that the normal retail price has now increased to RM2,788 but dont know how far its true.

If you wish to know, no, I did not buy it. Its not my top priority at the moment in terms of finance & budgeting. Who knows, I might really get one as a gift from friends at my real "house warming" party ... hint! hint!

Hmmm ... maybe I should post up a "wish list" in my blog huh .. maybe something like a wedding gift list ... hmm .. good idea.

Window Shopping - Refrigerator

Its year-end time and the Mega Sale has begun. So its time for me to decide on which particular model I wish to purchase and start hunting down the best price.

As this is my first time buying ANY household items, I, of course, did some research. And oh boy, the choices out there a mind-boggling! Top mount or bottom mount freezers, side-by-side freezers, french door refrigerators, single door ones --- haiz ... so confusing!

Many have recommended me Panasonic, Toshiba. Mitsubishi and Sharp. But I like Hitachi - its wide and the space inside is BIG! Nothing fancy but just a simple BIG fridge .. hehehe.

And electricity is darn expensive these days, so I am also looking for an energy-saving model. So need to look out for their "Energy Star"ratings.

More tips on energy-saving from FOMCA:

• Refrigerator coils must be vacuumed at least twice a year to keep the compressor running efficiently.
• 30% of cooled air will escape every time the refrigerator door is opened. The same rule goes for oven.
• Do not overload the refrigerator or freezer, cold air needs to circulate freely to keep food at the proper temperature.
• Place the refrigerator right so that it can automatically swing and shut the door. This will prevent wastage of energy if the door is left open.
• Refrigerator door seal must be checked. Place a One Ringgit bill and close the door. If you can pull the bill, you need to replace the gasket.

... i like the one Ringgit tip *smile* ... go back and try tonight on my existing fridge. Can you pull yours?

HomeDec 08 - Results

Visited HomeDec 08 last Saturday and then headed for mom's place to make some konnyaku jelly. Yeah, did not cry .. hahaha... tell you why.

My main "target" was to get some good deals for my hoob, hob & oven combi for my new home. But before even going to this exhibition, I made several visits to some stores to find out more about the current prices and their latest store promotions. So at least, when I am at the exhibition, I know if they are indeed offering a real good deal.

And guess what! From the so-called "special exhibition prices" offered, I realised that I can easily get better deals on an ordinary day from a few of the electrical outlets in town. So hey! Who are you kidding with all your "special exhibition prices" huh???? I was indeed glad that I did some "homework" instead of rushing blindly to this exhibition.

What we did purchase on that day was a water filteration system. We bought the Kinetico system that has an auto back-wash (that means we dont have to do anything, it automatically does the back-wash when the system detects clogging). Moreover, this is a US made product and comes with a 10 year warranty! We only had to place a 30% deposit and only upon installation, we pay up the balance. So, one down, many more decisions to make *headache*.

Our other objective was to get some interior designer contacts. Wow .. these so called designers do make good money! Hardly one or two is willing to give a free advise for broad interior design consultancy. The rest straight way wanted to charge RM1,000 fee or even more! Sigh. So what we did was, we gave them a copy of our home's layout plan (which I prepared several sets in advance .. hehehe) and asked them if they are willing to provide free initial consultancy on interior design as we are not willing to fork out RM1,000 for something we have totally no idea! So if they can come up with something which we feel is the "look & feel" of what we like, then we will proceed further. Smart eh ... well, times are bad, so have to make sure we dont spend wastefully .. and times are bad, sure they need to attract customers too ... best of both worlds!

So hopefully, a week or two after the exhibition, those designers will have some time to work on my floor layout plan and call us in for a free preview!