So you live in an apartment or soon you’re gonna have to move out from your parents’ house because you’ve been a freeloader all these years and it’s time to make a living son. I recently moved into an apartment myself, due to the limited space and different setup from a landed house obviously I had to adapt to my new surroundings. Prior to the move, I did some research on the net about essential things for living in an apartment and most of the guides or list out there tells you to either bring your favorite mug, your favorite pillow or other things that you may already know. At the end of the guide they would normally say the most useful thing that could come to mind, which is you have to live there first to know what you actually need. So I followed the advice and here’s the list that I have gradually came up with to make life much easier living in an apartment:-
No. 1 on the 5 Essential Things You Need For Apartment Living
Door Viewer / Door Guard
I’m sure we’ve all stayed at a hotel or someplace that calls itself a hotel but in actual fact is a cheap motel before right? So do you notice a small round glass presumably eye level height on the door of your hotel room? That thing is called a door viewer and the reason it’s there is because there are no windows next to your front door in an apartment. So that you know who’s at the front door before you actually open the door you better install one of these.!! As for the door guard, its there as a precaution measure from unwelcome people barging into your home once you open your door. Personally I feel that the main reason you should install a door viewer and door guard is so that you’ll make your apartment feel like a hotel or that cheap motel you've stayed in before. Get the feeling?
Door Viewer: The brass color gives a more natural look |
Top: Door Guard, I also installed a Half Deadbolt for extra security measures (Second from top) |
No. 2 on the 5 Essential Things You Need For Apartment Living
Heavy Duty Door Holder
Heavy Duty Door Holder |
If you live in an apartment like me, your front door is most probably heavy and rather tiring to keep open especially when your hands are occupied with your little kid on your right and a hand full of groceries on your left. The front door of a high rise apartment is heavy for obvious reasons; its a fully insulated Fire Rated Door made out from multi-layers of Fire Resistant Insulated Boards and internal timber edges, whatever that means. Leaning against the door while entering the house just won’t cut it and it may as well be pretty dangerous if you’re underweight like my wife who's cute and petite. The door may be the least welcoming feature of your home which can potentially kick you out before you know it. I’ve found the perfect solution to this; behold the heavy duty door holder that works like a charm. The long part (magnetic end) should be attached to the back of your door and the round metal bit should assembled to the wall - simple DIY needed there. The magnet is quite strong and sometimes you might need to give it a little nudge to disconnect the magnet in order to close your door.
No. 3 on the 5 Essential Things You Need For Apartment Living
Aluminum Steel Lifting Hanger / Ceiling Mount Lifting Hanger
Let’s face it not all apartments have the luxury of an open balcony area which could be utilized as a place to dry your laundry. My balcony for instance can only fit me standing with my but pressed against the sliding door and my family says at least you have a balcony son. Great so where should I dry my clothes then? Most apartment owners have no other choice but to utilize one of their rooms as a laundry room and hang their wet clothes to dry. I’m lucky enough to have this utility area which is not so spacious but who am I to complain because complaining never gets you anywhere right. I decided to work with what I have and found this solution to help me dry clothes with the limited space of my utility area. I got this Aluminum Steel Lifting Hanger / Ceiling Mount Lifting Hanger at The Living Depot, Puchong branch for RM160 and DIY the installation with a little help from my bros. There's a manual rotating lever handle which you turn clockwise to pull the hanger up and the other way around to bring the hanger down. You see how those words rhyme there mate, writing with Lukas Graham's Blue Album in the background just happens to unveil my poetic side. While conducting an online survey for my Aluminum Steel Lifting Hanger / Ceiling Mount Lifting Clothes Hanger I also found other options on Lelong.com.my and HoTaTa but I believe I chose the cheapest option at The Living Depot
No. 4 on the 5 Essential Things You Need For Apartment Living
Foldable Hand Trolley / Platform Trolley
Living in an apartment means that the walk from your car to your front door could be a mile of sorrow. The sooner you accept the fact that you don’t have your own parking space in front of your home door, the sooner you’ll begin to figure out ways to carry big sized items from your car. For my initial move in I used a platform trolley that I borrowed from my brother which helped a lot in lightening the burden of carrying big bulky heavy stuff items. Once I had settled down it seemed like a good idea to stuff the platform trolley in my car boot to help out on carrying groceries especially the box of 12 x 1.5L of mineral water I purchase on a weekly basis all because I refused to give in on getting the Coway Water Purifier. However when I got the Baby Jogger Stroller it filled half of the space in my boot so the platform trolley was no longer feasible to me in terms of space. That was the time when I turned to the foldable hand trolley which saves a lot of space and works for me up to this day. It's safe to say that I've got own way so no thanks Coway I’ll stay away.!!
No. 5 on the 5 Essential Things You Need For Apartment Living
WiFi Wireless Range Extender
After a while living in an apartment with no UniFi and maxing out my phone internet data every two weeks or so, I came home one day and noticed a TM UniFi booth opened up in front of my residential hall. I was overwhelmed with joy foreseeing the future where I could stream or download my favorite TV shows Game of Thrones, Runningman, The Flash, Gotham, Limitless and the list goes on. Upon successful installation of the UniFi Advance Plan 30Mbps, I soon found out that the stock TM Wifi router is indeed lousy as claimed by the online community all throughout Malaysia. It has proven unable to cover a small area of 1000sqft (because it uses internal antennas, as told by my friend who works in TM), not really worth paying RM230/month for my UniFi subscription when I’m not able to fully utilize it then is it? Suggestions online would recommend upgrading the wifi router which is in the range of RM200 – RM1000 depending on your needs. A slightly cheaper option would be purchasing a Wi-Fi Range Extender, I got the TP-LINK TL-WA850RE at RM73.90 from Ookas and it has helped tremendously in boosting my WiFi signal to previously unreachable or hard-to-wire areas. If you prefer to pay cash on delivery (COD) then checkout Lazada which advertises the TP-Link Wi-Fi Range Extender at RM80.50
Well they you have it, these are my 5 Essential Things You Need for Apartment Living and in the future I’ll add more things to the list that makes apartment living more interesting..!! If you found this post helpful or think that it may be useful for your friends and family who lives in an apartment, why not share it with them..!!