SSPN

Following the advice on KC Lau's book "Top Money Tips for Malaysians",  I went to open an SSPN account to maximize the savings for my child's education and take advantage of the tax relief of 2012.

SSPN form

The application and savings can be submitted in any Maybank or CIMB.  So I applied for mine at a CIMB branch.  You also need to bring cash, a copy of the parent's Mykad and a copy of the child's birth cert/Mykid, and ask for the SSPN form at the bank for filling up.
After the deposit has been made, in a few weeks time I received my SSPN card with the designated account numbers.  To get a statement from SSPN, just view the e-statement from the PTPTN website.

Fixing Curtain Railings

CNY 2nd Day and what do we do?
Continue working at the apartment, kids all in tow.

I want to highlight how good dear hubby J is, he fixed the curtain railings by himself, including the hard to do corners. We managed to put up curtains for one side of the windows.  Still need to buy 2 more pieces for the sliding door sides.
The picture is just a sneak peak to test the curtains' length and the strength of the railings. I will try to get more interesting colors to blend and give some contrast to the place.
Besides the curtains we fixed the bookshelf to the wall so that it will not topple over.  

Cleaning Up Apartments for Rent

It's the eve of CNY eve.  And J is on leave because we have 2 apartments to set up.  One of my tenants left on 1 Feb and we are cleaning up and repairing some stuff.  The other apartment is new.  So when my hubby suddenly has the mood to do things, I'd better take advantage of it.
Even if it meant working from 10am till 8pm today.
10am: went to bank to settle some technical stuff
11am: went to another bank, change new notes for the CNY angpows.
12pm: Had sandwiches for lunch to save time.
12.30pm:  went to Celcom branch, I needed to change my simple voice plan to a more comprehensive plan that included data access.  Not to mention get a new phone with the package.
1pm: went to 1st apartment, set up the bookshelves and half set up the bed frame.  Left unfinished because of missing parts, probably left in store room at home.

Sneak peek of what is to come!

4pm: went to 2nd apartment, vacuumed and swept and mopped while J repaired a broken cupboard door, a broken shelf and replaced broken pipes, changed light bulbs.  And still cannot finish because now we have quite a major problem of kitchen tiles falling off.  Need to get a kitchen cabinet guy to help fix and now we are smack into CNY holidays.  Looks like this will take some time but I hope to finish this asap to be ready for next tenants!

Moving Stuff

We had a busy day today moving some stuff from our home to the new apartment that we wanted to furnish.  Hubby is so great, he just asked me to borrow the Arena and we together with the kids move the stuff by ourselves.  It started to drizzle but luckily stayed like that, not much heavier.

I followed behind the furniture car, we moved the Ikea Klippan sofa and an Ikea bedframe.

When we got there, the guard told us we were not supposed to be doing moving on a Sunday.  However hubby explained to him that that is the only day we could borrow the little pickup, and after some friendly exchanges they let us go.  It was no small feat moving the stuff just between us. Plus the sofa cover was soaked wet.  So in the end we removed the cover to take it home to wash, thankfully it protected the sofa underneath.

The weird things we do as landlords.....

Birds Problem at Apartment

If you have birds creeping under your roof tiles and building nests and doing business there, what do you do?  I had a tenant who solved this problem for me, he called his own handyman contractor to climb through the plaster ceiling, cleaned the place and put wire mesh at the openings so that birds cannot fly in anymore.
Although I had to pay for the services, the problem was solved for me once and for all.

Bird droppings causing discoloration of ceiling

Hole cut into plaster ceiling to access under roof

Wire mesh added to prevent entry

Roof hole closed and repainted

A "New" Washing Machine

I needed a new washing machine to replace my old one.  Unfortunately, because of the space constraint in the kitchen that is designated for the washing machine, I can only choose top-loaders.
I have had my National washing machine since I first moved into my apartment.  It had to be serviced several times but it is still a hardy, working horse.

My trusted working horse

But now it is time to replace it and we choose the "same" brand again, Panasonic, to match the size closely.
Being an avid property buyer, I have had experience buying used washing machines and learnt that actually some people sell pretty new ones at good prices, because they were moving houses or leaving the country.
So I got mine today which is about 1 year old, at a bargain.

"New" model

Why didn't I just buy a new one?  Because I want to save money to buy a front loader when I move house in 2-3 years' time.
The catch is: we have to transport it on our own.  So I asked Rohaniah Noor, how she also used to transport a washing machine into her rental property. She told us we could transport it by putting it on its side in a car which you could fold down the backseats. That gave us some confidence. And we did it. J and I were the coolies.

Ikea Malaysia Collects Used Light Bulbs

A few years ago, I learnt that we should not throw away used batteries and light bulbs like normal trash because the chemicals that they contain will cause soil and water pollution.
So I started to collect light bulbs, unable to throw them away and unable to do anything because I did not know who would recycle light bulbs.
Then just last month, while taking my used batteries to Ikea, I saw that there was another bin for used light bulbs.  I was very pleased.
So today, after work, I took my collection and went to Ikea.  I was also buying some new light bulbs.

Ikea Sparsam 11W light bulbs cost RM18.90 for 3 pieces, which is about RM6.30 per piece, and that is quite inexpensive compared to various other brands that I use.  So for the new light furnishings at Regalia, I will be using these light bulbs.  Inexpensive and you can take them back to Ikea when there are burnt out.