pantoufle

Well, at first, my hubby and I were planning to buy a car after we moved in to our new place. but with the high COEs recently, that plan has become really a luxury item, and we realized that our savings might not be sufficient to buy a car after all. Also, we bought a place near the MRT station so we thought we wouldn't need a car. When we talked about not getting a car with my FIL, apparently he was very against the idea and to him, not having a car is impossible (older generation). He's also worried that when I get pregnant, I will also need a car. But I definitely want to try to get along without a car since we can barely afford a car nowadays. With a price tag of $110K and 50% downpayment, I must say that the majority of the Singapore population will not be able to afford a car. So I was hoping to get by with taxi and MRT which I think worries my FIL, since it can get pretty crowded during peak hours. So right now, I've discussed with my hubby and we'll probably buy a used car (5 years old) and split the cost 50-50 between my FIL and us. BTW, my FIL only works part time cos he has to take care of my MIL. I hope that this is a win-win arrangement.

As a daughter in law, do we have to buy a car for our father in law to use even if we will end up having zero savings for our children? I'll never get to drive the car and he wants a 2 year old car at least. I have already bought a hdb and the parents in law moved in with us. We also live across the street from the mrt station where there's NTUC, cold storage and a shopping mall. Inside the multi storey car park near the mrt also has four share ride cars. Technically,we don't need a car. I know that we should take care of them but does this extend to buying a car for them especially when it's so expensive nowadays and we'll never get to use the car? It's also complicated by the fact that my mother in law has stroke and she has anxiety taking public transport on a wheel chair. But she only goes out once a week and it doesn't justify owning a car. We can rent a share car for an hour or so. My father in law uses the car to drive to work, me and my husband has to take public transport. He also uses it to buy groceries and hawker food that my mother in law or he likes. Technically i think he should pay for his own car since he's the main user but they told me not to be so calculative. Do you guys think I should sacrifice my childrens savings just to get a car for my parents in law? Is this my responsibility? Is giving them money every month and letting them move in not enough as a good daughter in law?

The lighting ideas sounds good. Will any of those hide the wires from the wall to the ceiling fan? I suppose we can build a false ceiling and then attach the fan to the real ceiling? Is that against any rules? Yeah I dislike the ceiling fans with lights too, some of my friends say the ceiling fans with lgihts are less powerful than the normal ones and as you can tell, I'm really scared of the heat and hence the ceiling fan + AC in every room! Yeah a lot of Pentagonal Space haha! Gotto do the best with what we have then Actually the store walls are already broken down by the previous owner O.o! haha so one less problem for us to solve. Yeah, we are thinking of scraping the idea of a ceiling fan for the maid's room. Probably like what you suggest, will do with standing fan (take up space) or wall fan (not as modern looking) XD Thanks so much for your suggestions!

We couldn't afford an Interior Designer (Fresh Graduates) and hence we decided to go with a contractor for our renovations. This also means that we will have to self-design our own home and hence any tips from the experienced RenoTalk forum members are greatly appreciated! We bought a 150sqm (1600 sqft) 5A flat in Bukit Batok. Here's the original floorplan: The Access Balcony is now part of our flat and we have moved the door to the end of the Access Balcony. So here's our proposed layout: What we are confused about is: 1. How do we have adequate lighting and yet have a ceiling fan in every space? 2. How do we ventilate the maid's room with a smart modern design? Thanks so much for your help and suggestions! :D Very excited!