On the Surface
Went around to my aunties and uncles place yesterday to hand-deliver kad jemputan in the evening. With mak bapak pengantin of course. The last house we went were abg Shf's eldest sister's (lets call her KN) place some where in Loyang. Its a 2 and a half terrace house that she & husband shared with her 2 daughters, 5 grandchildren and a son-in-law (10 of them under one roof).
They just moved in about a year and a half ago and I must say I am quite impress with the amount of space. The house has a "Open Concept" to it. The living room faces the kitchen and the dining area to the left. There's no wall or no partition separating any of these area except for maybe a pillar that is essential in supporting the whole house frame.
They have a backyard, grassy turf that they built a miniature waterfall thingy. All looked very nice and quaint.
KN is a very talkative and a entertaining host. Both she and husband lived in hdb flats all their lives and their characters and attitudes are just like us. She's a housewife all thru her married life and her hubby work for our national carrier and will be retiring in about 6mths time. Both daughters did well in their studies, both are graduates, and I am sure earning good monies. Thus I think, they pull their resources together plus from the sale of their parents' flat, bought a 1.6mil terraced house. The renovation alone cost them $200K. I dunno where else these people got their monies from, I am sure they don't freaking rob a bank!!!
Anyways, the toll of having 10 people living under one roof is showing on KN. She complaint (not bitterly, but with affection) about doing non-stop house-work. And the amount of groceries that they have to spend!!
These are some examples; the family consumed 30 eggs per week (kalau masak sambal tumis 15 biji telur tak cukup, kena masak 20), 3 packs of the 10kg variety washing detergent for the month, the whole lot consume 40kg of rice a month and food must always be readily available all the time, so she just cook non-stop. Kesian and teruk seh.
Well, on the surface it looked nice and quaint, but underneath, its damn expensive. Property tax, the house maintenance, the pest like white ants to worry about, landed property will always have that to worry and the overheads. Its so exorbitant!
I'm just glad I live in a small pigeon hole high up in the sky.
They just moved in about a year and a half ago and I must say I am quite impress with the amount of space. The house has a "Open Concept" to it. The living room faces the kitchen and the dining area to the left. There's no wall or no partition separating any of these area except for maybe a pillar that is essential in supporting the whole house frame.
They have a backyard, grassy turf that they built a miniature waterfall thingy. All looked very nice and quaint.
KN is a very talkative and a entertaining host. Both she and husband lived in hdb flats all their lives and their characters and attitudes are just like us. She's a housewife all thru her married life and her hubby work for our national carrier and will be retiring in about 6mths time. Both daughters did well in their studies, both are graduates, and I am sure earning good monies. Thus I think, they pull their resources together plus from the sale of their parents' flat, bought a 1.6mil terraced house. The renovation alone cost them $200K. I dunno where else these people got their monies from, I am sure they don't freaking rob a bank!!!
Anyways, the toll of having 10 people living under one roof is showing on KN. She complaint (not bitterly, but with affection) about doing non-stop house-work. And the amount of groceries that they have to spend!!
These are some examples; the family consumed 30 eggs per week (kalau masak sambal tumis 15 biji telur tak cukup, kena masak 20), 3 packs of the 10kg variety washing detergent for the month, the whole lot consume 40kg of rice a month and food must always be readily available all the time, so she just cook non-stop. Kesian and teruk seh.
Well, on the surface it looked nice and quaint, but underneath, its damn expensive. Property tax, the house maintenance, the pest like white ants to worry about, landed property will always have that to worry and the overheads. Its so exorbitant!
I'm just glad I live in a small pigeon hole high up in the sky.
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