Category: Home Furnishing

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Basement Renovations Underway

Yes! we are finally renovating the basement – putting in a tv room in the basement with a wood stove and a laundry room, computer room and a play room for Chloe.  The basement renovation will cost us quite a bit but I think it’s all worth it ! why keep the money in the bank and do nothing when you can spend it on something useful right?  That was what I said to PB and since we are not doing much investing this year – I figured doing the basement and the backyard is the way to go.

I’m pretty excited – in another 2 weeks – you can see the finish work and so far *touch wood* i’m pretty happy with the progress.  Wish us luck now – and a whole living room upstairs to entertain my friends from now on – woohoo!

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Spring Cleaning Begins

Yes! and the spring cleaning begins – to make room for renovation work in the basement.  We are hoping to sell some of the stuff that we don’t use anymore – like this queen size bed frame. But it turned out that it is quite moldy – so this went to the garbage instead.

This chest of drawers went to Grampie.

The washer is sold but the dryer is still around hoping it will sell soon.

And the changing table is still around.  Bummer!  so i’m going to put it up on the yard sale again and see if anyone would take it off our hands.  Both items are in good condition.

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Clever Ways To Cut Down Your Laundry Bills And Help The Environment

Image Source: Frugal Living

When it comes to being frugal and eco-friendly, many people may not realize the amount of laundry that they do can have a significant impact on their expenses and their energy-consumption. The average size household will do at least 7 loads of laundry per week, which totals around 400 loads of laundry per year. A load of laundry can use 20-40 gallons of water meaning a year’s worth of laundry will use 16,000 gallons of water.

That is not to mention the amount of electricity that will be used to wash and dry 400 loads of clothes, towels, and blankets.

When you are looking for ways to save money and reduce your family’s carbon footprint, the laundry room and your washer dryer is the perfect place to start.

Pro Tip 1: Wash in Cold Water

By washing your clothes in cold water, you can cut the amount of electricity you use by more than half! The average load of laundry washed in hot or warm water, uses 4.5kWh of electricity (about $0.68 per load-$265/year) whereas a load washed in cold water uses a mere 0.3kWh ($.04 per load- $16/year). [Source]

Pro Tip 2: Use Other Drying Methods

The clothes dryer is a major culprit in raising electric bills. Any item that generates heat uses more electricity to operate. Use a clothesline to dry your clothes or hang them from hangers on the shower rod in the bathroom. Clothes will take longer to dry; however, you will save a great deal of money on your energy bill.

Pro Tip 3: Avoid Expensive Detergents

Yes, expensive detergents smell great and will leave you with the impression that your laundry is clean because of the way it smells. However, cheaper, economy-sized laundry detergents contain the same basic ingredients and will work just as well.
For half the price, you can purchase larger containers of laundry detergent and your clothes will be just as clean. Furthermore, there will be less packaging to recycle or toss out. You can also choose eco-friendly detergents. Environmentally-friendly ingredients to look for include grain alcohol, coconut plant oils, rosemary and sage.

Pro Tip 4: Top Load Versus the Front Loading Washer

If you are still using the outdated washing machine that you bought ten years ago, chances are you are wasting a lot of water. The average top load washer uses almost 40 gallons for one single load of clothes. A front-load washer only uses about 20 gallons per load.
Upgrading to a new washer can dramatically reduce the amount of water that you use in your home and is an eco-friendly choice.

Pro Tip 5: If It’s Not Dirty, Don’t Wash It!

Okay, this does not mean that you and your family should wear dirty clothes just because you are trying to reduce the amount of money you spend on laundry. Just make sure that you are not washing clothes that are not dirty. If you wear your nice dress slacks for an hour and then change, they most likely will be fine to fold up and put back in the drawer.
Some other tips to try:
– Cut your dryer sheets in half (or omit them altogether). This way you can cut these dryer sheet costs by half!
– Dilute your laundry detergent. By keeping an extra detergent bottle aside, you can fill it half way with detergent and the other half with water.
– Use vinegar instead of fabric softener. ¼ cup of fabric softener (for big loads) saves money and does just the trick.

By paying a bit more attention to how, and when, you do your laundry, it will be completely possible for you to save hundreds of dollars each year. This will help reduce the impact that your family has on the environment by cutting water and energy usage as well. Everyone likes to have clean clothes to wear, but this should not come at such an expensive cost and it really does not have to.

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My Lifestyle In Canada

Looking back to my life before living in Canada makes me smile – because never would I have thought I was so passionate about supporting our local businesses and online shopping. Where I come from – we have shopping centers 8 stories high in department stores. Where I am now in a remote area in Canada, it’s really hard to shop for everything in town. I’m passionate about buying local because the spouse owns his own business – a small one – and without the support of the local community – we could never have a comfortable life. Therefore, whenever I can – I will only shop locally or within Canada – it’s smart move to shop within Canada because shipping is cheaper and in a lot of cases it’s even free. Most importantly, I don’t have to pay for brokerage fees. If I needed to buy a big item like a painting (made the mistake once and paid as much for the brokerage and shipping fees as the painting itself).

Since I can’t head to the city every time I need something (because of the store and Chloe at school), shopping online at places like Centrsource or Roots are my best options. I like to shop for everything under one roof, so it’s great when you find an online shop that carries most of the things I need. And I never shop for anything that is not on sale or has a deal/great offer, for I get a little carried away when I shop – don’t you? I’m checking out Centrsource as I write and it’s very unique, it brings you to the site the offer is on – and you deal directly with the seller/shop – pretty neat. And I can shop after Chloe has gone to bed so I can read up on the things I love and get the best deals. Now if only they carried Asian groceries I’d be all set.

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Bedside Table/Drawers

So I finally settled for a Wicker’s emporium Maize 3 drawers storage for a bedside table and plus it was 50% off – so I bought it for my bedroom. I had wanted it in a different color – but they only had this color or the multi-colored ones – so I settled for this color since our bedroom’s furniture are almost all brownish in color. Looking kinda gloomy I know you are gonna say – but not to worry because I ordered a painting from Etsy – and am looking forward to getting it – that way I can add a splash of color to our bedroom. I feel that it is time to dress up our bedroom since we haven’t for this long. We’ve been in this house for almost 7 years now and as surely as I am trying to dress it up – everything seems desperately slow – because I just can’t find anything I really liked. And I won’t settle for less or just an item – that I mediocrely liked. Like for my tv room/living room I would really like to get some calligraphy work for the living room – but of course to do so – I would have to go home for it – because you need to be quite selective – as to who write the calligraphy for you. Oh well – we’ll just have to wait then.

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A-Frame Houses

The photo doesn’t do it justice because the A-Frame houses that is near the lake – looked really cute from far away. I don’t really know who lives in these A-Frame houses – or if they are for sale but i found on the internet that they are for rent at $500/month – doubt they have heats and lights included though. But it’s such a unique place – great for bachelors or single ladies – who works near the hospital – it has a great view that’s for sure. If I were single – i would definitely rent something like that – back home rental for a room alone is about $500 – if not more for just a HDB house. Rent is a lot cheaper here in Canada – but of course – the standard of living is also lower as compared to back home. So will you survived in Canada ? for sure – but make sure you have some money saved up and run your little business. Working for someone unless you are a professional yourself – can be harder.

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Winter Must Have

If any of you decides to move to Canada and migrate here permanently – like buying a house and all – there are some things you need to have for winter. Why? winter is wicked in most part in Canada and to survive winter – and make life less miserable for you – these are the two things you have to have. The garage door opener and a car starter for the winter. Why? because you don’t want to be stuck outside while you unload your groceries in the middle of winter and you don’t want to freeze in your car – while you wait for it to warm up or when you are shuffling. We learned this the hard way – and like i said – the garage door open and the car self starter to warm up the car – before you need to put your children into the car – to send them to school early in the morning. Trust me! you will thank me for this info – later.

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A Cozier Home This Year

So we started the new year – with some new furniture for our home. We finally broke down and bought chairs for our dining table – because the ones we had – were not color co-ordinated. So while eating at a local restaurant in town – we were kinda inspired – they had the kind of sturdy chairs we wanted – so after a late lunch one afternoon – we headed to get the chairs. Chairs are expensive here ! at $70 a chair! we bought 3 new ones. Then we bought a new chest of drawer for Chloe – since she is still using her old one – that is too small for her now. And next we bought a new kitchen faucet for our kitchen – and the only thing we are looking out for – when the price is right – is a front load washing machine and dryer. We needed a new kitchen faucet – because our current one was leaking and rusty looking as well. As for the washing machine and dryer – it’s because we want an energy and water saving machine – our old one works well – but it’s an top load one – and it’s time to change. I can’t wait to do other little things for our home – so that we can start having friends and family over for visits.

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40″ Plasma For The Bedroom

Having a store like ours is pretty awesome because we sometimes do come across really good and cheap stuff. You see people don’t know how to budget or manage their money here – they have no money for emergencies and neither friends nor family can help them out. So what they do? they sell whatever things they bought recently for half of what they paid for – and sometimes even less. Of course, we get first dips on things like that. So recently we acquired a 40″ plasma for only $100 – so now we are looking around for tv stands – because it’s for our bedroom – so we need something that isn’t too bulky nor expensive. We weren’t keen on putting a tv in our bedroom but since it came so cheap – we just can’t resist it. Our tv stand would probably end up being more than the plasma itself… hahahah!

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Upgrading Home & Store

It had been a really busy summer for us – in fact – so busy I had to cancel my pedicure a few times now in the last 2 months. The store is doing some revamping with new fixtures and our home ? we are getting our patio all fixed up with mosquito nets – so that we can enjoy sitting outside without the buzzing of mosquitoes and bugs. The zapper that we had bought a few years ago – didn’t seems to help – so I told PB that we really needed to get the mosquito nets up. Afterall, what is good with having a patio and a golf course for scenery when one don’t get to enjoy it. So off we went looking for some Baldwin hardware for door knobs and other accessories. As for the store – we got new fixtures for the movies and games and cabinets as well. The store is beginning to look “proper” now and most of the handmade shelving by PB were taken down. I think he is a little nostalgic about them – hahahha!! for they had followed him for 11 yrs now. So yes! if i haven’t answered your emails or gone on Facebook – it’s because we are busy running around looking and shopping for stuff to fix up our house and store.