My CD Journey (Part 21) - The Final Upgrade? [My Largest Lair... so far...]

Can’t believe it is already 3 months into 2024. How are you all keeping up with your new year resolution? For me, I am trying to keep my blog alive by frequent articles. Not trying to outdo Isabelle but more of making my blog as a place of useful resources for fellow CDs (or even TSs) to visit. So far, I guess I am making the best of 2024 with another big news!!! Yes, I UPGRADED MY LAIR (AGAIN and AGAIN)… This has been the biggest lair upgrade ever and probably will not go beyond this size. My new lair is around 260 to 280 square feet, which worked out to be around 24 to 26 meter square. This is almost double of my previous lair, which is around 150 square feet or 14 meter square.

Some may question, why the sudden move to upgrade when I was trying to downgrade my lair size back in 2023? Well, the move at the start of 2023 was not by choice but because my previous landlord was trying to increase the rent price and the unit was really not in tip top condition for the price I was paying as it had high humidity in the room, causing some of my photography equipment to have mould… Hence I downgraded from 180 square feet to 150 square feet…

However, like I mentioned, having a lair or a storage space is going to bleed money in the long run regardless how cheap it can be. Hence I made a decision to share out my lair to another 2 CD sisters B and J. With the cost split, it was quite a breather for me. However, as time goes, our wares (for me, both CD and normal store stuff) start growing. I feel we might need a bigger space to be more comfortable. Hence I made the decision to start sourcing around.

Just coincidentally, my neighbouring unit was moving away, it happened to be the same neighbour who tends to work at wee hours and odd timing on the weekend. To me, it was quite a relief that they are moving and based on my recollection, the unit that they rented was quite big as I have seen the interior before. So I arranged for a viewing before committing with the move.

As moving the lair is no longer a one person decision, I have to discuss with my other 2 tenants, namely B and J. I worked out my financial side and see what is the comfortable amount for all of us and proposed to them. They are agreeable and I immediately sign the leasing agreement.

As the time when I signed the leasing agreement was about the Lunar New Year, I scheduled the move to be after the CNY period. Once CNY holiday was over, I went over to get the keys for my new unit and started moving. For me, as I was quite a seasoned office mover, I moved over to the new unit using only 2 days (I actually scheduled 2 weeks for my moving). B and J did wanted to help with the move but I guess I am more used to do the moving myself plus I usually will try to layout the room when I am in the midst of moving. 

After moving all our stuff over to the new unit, my next upgrade was the flooring to craft out the CD area. As I do not have sufficient SPC (Stone Polymer Composite) flooring pieces to cover the new area. I went back to the original seller but to my surprise, he was no longer in business. I got to make a tough decision, either to continue to using the current SPC flooring I have and find an alternative supplier who can supply the same or similar item or change all my SPC flooring and discard the old one. After much sourcing, I was met with disappointing results as it seems that suppliers tend to carry their own style of SPC flooring. So, I got no other choice but to throw away my old flooring and buy a full set of new ones… After ordering and getting the flooring, I realised that what I got was a softer version of SPC, which is known as LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tile). As they are softer, they are much harder to work with. It took me like 4 days just to get the flooring lay out. In the midst of laying the LVT, I gotten a lot of cuts on my hands and legs… Really putting in my blood for my lair… However, looking back, this is all worth it as the lair layout is really complete is so much more spacious now. Simply love it…

Now, to add the icing to this new lair, I gotten a larger standing mirror and also a mini bar fridge so that we are enjoy cold drinks after CDing. Really a lovely addition to the lair. Now what is lack is just some backdrop stand and some studio lightings and my lair is really complete. I guess my lair is more conducive for crossdressing now. Maybe I should consider converting my lair to a pay-per-use type of CD studio on top of my renting for CD storage with other crossdressers. Well, this really need more consideration. We will see how it goes. Cheers.

My CD Journey (Part 17) - Yet another switch [Changing my lair... Again...]

Have not been blogging since my last solemn post about death. I have been super busy. Busy on my personal male ego front, busy with work and hardly got time to CD. I used to be able to sneak out one Sunday a month or weekday evenings when my wife is having a girls' night out. Now, it has been really tough. Or maybe I am just tired or jaded that I no longer feel excited about CrossDressing. Luckily I got my lair to keep all my CD stash intact. If not, me being me, I know that thought of purging yet again is never too far away.

Talking about my lair, the truth is, it is definitely "bleeding" money as I am renting an office space that is not used to generate income yet I got to pay for rental every month. I have been thinking of alternative arrangement but I still quite enjoy my current arrangement where I can have a room that I can access easily, to go in as and when I wanted and also to store some of my house items, e.g. plastics chairs for CNY and so on. I take it as an overpriced storage space. However, when I need to just have a quick fix or to test out my newly bought clothing, my lair is definitely a heaven for me.

Anyway, back to my update on my CD journey. I moved my lair yet again. As of again, this move was not on my own accord. While I have been sourcing around for a cheaper alternative or commercial rental space, my actual rental contract with my current landlord is not due until later half of the year. So I thought I got more time to "shop and source around" while I plan my way ahead.

I was prepared to downgrade to a smaller storage space or even to explore options that are further away from where I stay or just go and rent from storage space providers like StorHub and so on. This was not a matter of urgency as I still got a good six months or so to look and see. And so I thought... With the fight with COVID came to a close and the resumption to normalcy for the life of Singaporeans. Office spaces rental somehow are back in demand again even though the big G (government) encouraged to have hybrid work arrangement. Plus, with the increase in GST and electricity pricing, my landlord wanted to increase the rental cost and consider an early renewal.

For GST, I have no problem with that 1% this year (and also 1% more next year) as this has been factored in when I started. However, for the electrical cost, I feel unjustified as I used that commercial space mainly for storage and I hardly go to my lair these days due to busyness. Having said that, it will be selfish of me not to help to offset the burden of landlord since I have been "enjoying" the privacy of his owned office space. That been said, when I heard the price that he offered for my recontract, I was totally turned of. That price increased was close to 50% of my current rental price, so I will be paying like 1.5 times of what I am paying now. That is not the way to operate as the price increased is too steep.

Forced to no choice. I decided to start sourcing for a new place for my lair. After a few viewings for a small space. I found one that is slightly smaller than my current space but it cost like $50 more. Considering that this rental space does not charge GST, I feel that I getting a slighter better deal as I do not need to worry about that extra 1% more next year. Another plus point, this new space was newly renovated and I quite like the layout. So without thinking much. I just signed up for another 2 years with this new landlord.

As for my old landlord, the handing over part had been quite an episode, which was quite frustrating. Thankfully when I look back, it is over now. I will spare you the details of messages exchanged that basically feel like they were chasing me out... Once I gotten the keys to my new unit, I moved almost immediately. It took me like 2 days of moving and set up my new place and now it is ready. 

Same like my previous office space that I rented, my current space is inside a unit that houses another 4 other offices who are my "neighbours". Little did I know that my "neighbours" have a habit of working till late at night even on weekends... Guess it is harder for me to try and dress out as I run the risk of bumping into them... However, I still managed to get my privacy inside my room and that is what matter most now...

On a totally unrelated note, while nothing much else has been happening in Francesca's or my male persona. I managed to try out Boyzilian hair removal at my private area. It has been quite a nice experience and feeling. I am quite happy to say that I am quite clean shaven from my neck downwards. For those who like to find out more about the hair removal service that I am using, can just drop me a message. Till next time, cya.

Tips on finding a suitable storage space (Part 3 - Commercial Unit)

Continuing from my previous post about searching for a commercial unit and arranging for a viewing. You may want to ask the agent or landlord the following questions when you head down to see the unit. 

1. Are utility bills included in the pricing? Some of the prices listed does not include utility fee, so it is important to ask. Usually, they will have a separate meter for each of the room unit and at the end of the month, just need to pay for what you use. Consider this, if you are away for most of the time and you may hardly use the unit, the electric bill should not be too expensive. If not, just look for one that include the utility bills inside the pricing.

2. Are there any other monthly costs involved? Good to check. Some of these units include internet and WiFi or even a refrigerator but they usually won’t add that inside price. However, it will be good to find out.

3. Is the price negotiable? If you are like me and don’t like to haggle over the price. I will try not to ask this question, but if you just want to try your luck, can go ahead, and ask for a price you are more comfortable with. Most of the time, the listed price is just a guide, it may end up slightly lowered than expected.  

4. Is GST included? Depends if the landlord company is a GST registered company or not. Some of the landlords do not collect GST and the price as listed is as it is. If not, you will need to add a 7%.

5. Any agent fee involved? Usually for tenant, we do not bore the agent cost. It is the landlord who will pay the agent instead. But better to find out also. 

6. What is the minimum lease period? The lease term is minimally 2 years, I will usually ask if after 2 years, can the unit still be renewed? However, this is quite hard to say…

7. Is the access 24/7? Usually, if you take up the room unit, you will be given card or pin access to the main door to allow you 24/7 accessibility. 

8. What are other things included in the unit? For commercial unit, they can either be fully fitted, partially fitted or bare. That is why it is important to view the unit physically. Most of the time, the flooring should be carpeted and for furniture, it really depends. Some of the landlords wanted to rent out the unit to those office workers who just need a small mobile office, hence they will have some office tables and chairs inside each of these room units. However, for CDs like us, we do not really need those. You can tell the landlord or agent if furniture is needed.   

9. Can you use the unit for light storage and business? Some commercial units are more suited for office work only and the landlord may not like to have their room units becoming a warehouse, but this is quite unusual. Normally, it is allowed, but good to ask.

10. Can you add additional locks or fittings inside the room? You may like to have additional locks to prevent unauthorized access, so it will be good to ask if you can add a digital lock or do simple fitting in the room. Good to trash out all these queries before committing to the rental.

11. Do you need a business entity for the rental? Usually, for commercial unit, unlike the Work+Store concept, the landlord and agent will prefer to rent to a business entity instead of individual. But this should not be a big problem. I will share how I did my application and share the cost also.

If you are comfortable with the unit and pricing, they will need a 2-months security deposit (which will be returned to you after the end of the lease term, and you wanted to move out) and you need to give your particulars to the agent who will prepare the Tenancy Agreement. At this time, you should have your business entity ready. Even if it is not done up yet, as long as you have given the deposit, you have already reserved that unit technically. 

Now, I will share how to apply for a business entity. 

1. Go to Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) 

2. Go to e-services and click “Login to Bizfile”

3. You will end up in a new page. Under the “For Business” tab, go to “Start a new Business” option and under there, you will see “Business (Sole proprietor / Partnership)". You will see a “Register Now” option. Click on that.

4. It will prompt you to log in, just log in using “For Individual Users” where you need your Singpass to log in.

5. For a start, you need the apply for a new business name, so you got to think of what do you want to name your company. For the “Application for a New Business Name”, you will need to pay $15.00 and the name will be reserved for 120 days. This process should be quite fast unless your business name has some implications. If not, you should get the approval almost instantaneously. 

6. After the approval of the New Business Name application, you need to apply for “Application to Register Person(s) and Business Name". For this part, it will cost you around $100 to $160 and this should last you for 3 years. For business renewal, I believe it should be around $30 per year. More details can be found here. 

7. After the previous step is done, you will need to wait for around 1 week or so for the approval. Once the approval is done, you will get a UEN (standard identification number of an entity).

Once all these are done, congratulation, you are now a business entity owner. You will need to pass that information to the agent who will do the paperwork for you. The agent will input these details into the Tenancy Agreement whereby stating that you are renting the commercial unit under your business entity. Even though it seems like a tedious and complicated process, it is quite simple actually.

Anyway, some may question, what is the draw of going through all these processes to get a business entity, just to rent a commercial unit? One thing is, the pricing of the floor space. Some of the floor space are going for $3.00 per square feet (as shown in the picture), some included the utility fees inside the rental cost. I am getting close to $3.50 to less than $4.00 per square feet for a floor space bigger than my previous unit. For the same price I was paying, I am getting a much bigger floor size. On top of that, I get full privacy and my own room where I can use the electricity without going through the trouble of needing an extension cord from the corridor…

Some may ask, what is the downside of commercial unit? Well, the two months deposit can be quite a hefty amount and the monthly rent is not a typical $100 to $200 per month. But like I mentioned, if you are sharing the unit, the cost will work out to be roughly the same. Another possible downside is, after the lease period, what is next? Will the landlord raise the price? Can you renew the lease? There are uncertainties regarding these questions. Other than that, I cannot think of any, maybe some other CDs can share their views on this.

Can’t believe I wrote so much for this post but I try to be as detailed as possible to help other CrossDressers who are still contemplating between getting a storage space or a commercial unit. Hope that these 2 most recent posts can help you to analyse better. Happy Storage Space Hunting!!! Cheers.

Tips on finding a suitable storage space (Part 2 - Work and Storage Unit)

Guess I am on fire these days as I have been blogging a lot more recently. Let's continue from my previous post about renting commercial units for CDs purposes since it is still fresh on my mind... For those CDs who wish to consider renting a commercial unit, you have come to the right place for information. I will try to be as objective as possible to give you some food for thoughts and consideration.

As mentioned previously, getting a commercial unit can sounds quite daunting initially. Some may ask, do you need a business entity, how much is the cost, do we need to pay for utilities, is there short-term leasing and so on. Let me help you with that as I have gone down that path before. As there are quite a lot to talk about on commercial units, I will focus more on work and storage unit here, then introduce how to search for a commercial unit before focusing on the rest later in my next post. 

For those who wish to have a hassle-free commercial unit without long term lease commitment or the need for a business entity. You can check out the Work+Store concept. Due to the rise of e-commerce, this option is very popular recently; people generally use Work+Store unit for storage of goods and dispatch arrangement or for small businesses such as walk-in store for wares or photography services or conducting of workshops and so on. The pricing for these Work+Store concept varies based on location and facilities provided. For those who are interested, you must check if the unit is solely for storage purposes or suitable for work and storage. If it is purely for storage only, the unit usually comes with lightings and nothing else. 

For those work and storage unit, they come as individual room unit with door lock system that either use keys or security codes to open up. Air condition can either be individual unit or a centralized system, depending on the setup. If you want power points for electricity, some providers only provide corridor power points to prevent abuse or overuse of electricity. Toilet is usually common use type serving the whole level of tenants. Do note that for work and storage unit, they are usually bare unit, meaning the floor is uncarpeted and without flooring boards. There will be no furniture or anything. I think this is good for CDs as they do not need any furniture anyway. To sign up for a work and storage unit, you need to have an idea of what business you want to use the unit for, although a business entity is not compulsory. In terms of pricing, some of these Work+Store units look expensive based on the link below.

http://workstore.com.sg/listings/WorkPlusStore.pdf

Using a 110 square feet unit for calculation, the pricing is $720 (less 25% off is around $540 per month). This cost includes the facilities fee, utilities fee and GST, so no additional fee needed except… you will need to purchase fire insurance depending on what things you want to store inside your unit. The cheapest insurance is around $10 + 7% GST, which works out to be $10.70 additional. There is 3 months free rental, but I will not take that into consideration for the calculation. So, the price per square feet is around $6.50 before discount and $4.90 after discount. Can see that the rate of $6.50 is pretty standard even with storage unit. What is the advantage of a Work+Store unit as compared to a Storage unit? Well, the main thing is, the work and storage unit is like a personal room where you can access easily and have privacy when needed, there is lighting and no need for artificial lights. So, it is more comfortable to dress up as compared to crossdress in a storage unit. The downside is the unit size can be an overkill if you just need like 25 to 50 square feet to really dress up and you do not wish to share the space with anyone else. The smallest unit that I ever get was 80 square feet and I was like paying $470 per month. I have to admit that it was another CD who gave me that idea and I never regret this decision of trying out a work and storage unit. Other additional cost includes 2 months’ rent as deposit (will be return to you if there is no damages to the property) and administrative fee of $53.50, all these are one time payment.

The pricing of the work and storage unit does not look super attractive as compared to the storage unit despite all the perks of having more privacy and comfort. This is where it can get interesting when you start looking for a commercial unit. You may want to check out commercialguru website to find something that is able to better suit your needs.

https://www.commercialguru.com.sg

I will guide you through the search. First, on top of the blank, there is BUY and RENT, this should be a no-brainer that we are looking for rental. After that, you can select the price range that you are comfortable with but be prepared that you are not looking at $100 to $200 price range. Depending on your comfort level, go for $500 to $750 if you okay with that pricing. The price is a bit steep but if you are considering sharing with other CDs, the price is quite reasonable. Next, the size that you want. I guess we must be more practical here. We cannot look for a 1,000 square feet unit when you are just looking for somewhere to store your CD stash and to crossdress. Anything below 500 square feet will be good, you can set your smallest size that to something that you want, maybe around 100 to 150 square feet. There are 4 options under the “Commercial” drop down menu. Usually, the best will be Industrial area, followed by Office. Please do not have the mindset that industrial area is all dirty and messy, or that they must be big. If you set the parameters correctly, you will find a lot of small units, ranging from 100 over square feet to 300 square feet that can be quite nice.

All thanks to WFH (Working From Home), a lot of these industrial or office units were left vacant. Thus, it is a good time to look around. After you have found the units that you are interested, do not be afraid to go for viewing. Just arrange for an appointment and go down and view the unit physically. Usually, for those units that are between 100 to 300 square feet, they are rooms that are partitioned from one big unit or floor area (usually around 800 to 850 square feet). There will be a common area or corridor connecting all the rooms, this is the usual set up for industrial or office units.

I will continue the rest of the procedure in my next post as it can get a bit too technical. Cheers.

Tips on finding a suitable storage space (Part 1 - Storage Unit)

I have been wanting to do this blog post since my very own episode of storage space hunting. Hopefully this post can help my fellow CrossDressers who are having troubling hiding their CD stash or clothing in their home, to find a nice place to hide their CD stuff and possibly dress up. As this topic can be quite technical and can be quite lengthy, I will split this into a three parts postings. 

Singapore is not a very big country; most of us do not have the luxury of owning our own penthouse, studio apartment or private property. Unless you are still single and above 35 years old, you can probably get your own singles unit of 2 room housing. If not, it is highly likely that you are staying with someone else in your house, they can either be your parents, your siblings, your spouse, your children or if you rent a unit, maybe roommates or landlords. The bottomline is, having your own living space or privacy is not an easy feat in Singapore. 

When staying with others, if you are sharing a room with siblings, not sure if you face the problems of someone rummaging through your stuffs and belongings. If you have the privacy of your own room, good for you. However, does your parents have access to your room and may want to help you tidy up your room once a while? For married couples, do you have place to keep stuff that you will not want your better half to find out? I guess these are the typical problems faced by a CrossDresser, having a private space to hide their female clothing and other CD stash such as make-up boxes, wigs, heels and etc... (of course unless you come clean with your spouse or family members about your CrossDressing habit and they accepted it, then it is totally no issue at all...)

Technically, the best option will be to get a storage space since it become quite popular in the recent few years all thanks to Working From Home (WFH)... Storage space is gaining traction in Singapore especially the recent years with many companies setting up within the last 10 to 15 years. We got StorHub, Extra Space Asia, Space Next Door, Lock+Store and many others. You can check out some of the storage space using the links below. 

https://www.bestinsingapore.co/best-storage-providers-singapore/

https://thesmartlocal.com/read/storage-spaces-singapore/

Space is scarce in Singapore and storage space is extremely good business. For CDs, it is definitely a godsend as it can definitely help to address the conundrum of having a proper and private space to store our CD items. In fact, some of the CDs I know use the storage space as a secret place for them to dress up. That is killing two birds with one stone, having a secret hideout to store all your CD stash and a small personal area to crossdress. In my initial stage, I was using this as an option. However, I did not really do my homework and I was just thinking of cost. So, I rented a 25 square feet storage space in a secluded area (good thing that I drive) for around $100+ per month but the storage place is not air conditioned and the lighting works using motion sensing. It is definitely good to store my CD stuffs but not really conducive to crossdress… 

For those CDs who are considering this as an option. You will need to take the following into consideration.

(1) Location of the Storage Space – Is it easily accessible? If you drive, then it is less of an issue but remember this, the more time you take to travel to your storage space, the less time you have to dress up. And also, if it is more out of the place, that means you can have greater privacy to dress up without the fear of other people accessing their storage space unnecessarily…

(2) Size of the Storage Space – How much space do you need? I have to forewarn you. This can get really addictive, at least for me… Space is never enough. If you just want to store clothing and other CD stuff and crossdress when you book a hotel, then a locker size will do just fine. If you want to storage space to be like a mini walk-in wardrobe style. I think you will need at least 25 square feet and above. 

(3) Facilities and amenities – Is it air conditioned? Air condition is a MUST. Trust me on this one. How is the door like? Is it shutter down type or normal door type? For me, the door type is better as you can somehow “lock” yourself inside and crossdress without the fear of busybody checking out your storage unit. Generally, you have to provide your own locks. Do you need power point for electrical power? Most storage units do not come with their own power socket. Some CDs may want a basin or toilet nearby for washing and cleaning up of make-up or even showering, but this can be quite tricky for storage unit. However, the easiest way is to use wet tissue, make-up removal and some cotton pads then go to the nearest toilet to do a final wash up. However, shower units not commonly found in these places.

(4) Costing per month – How much are you willing to put in per month to maintain this space? I will not advise you on this, to each his own. For me, for the price I paid, I feel is not worth. You can see from 2 different perspectives. (A) Overall amount you paid per month VS (B) Price per Square Feet or Square Metre. I have gotten an extract from a quote that I inquire from a popular Storage Space provider who got air conditioned units to rent out. If you look at the promotional or discounted price, the storage space unit is actually still quite expensive. Let’s do some math here. For an 81 square feet unit (7.5 square metre) with air condition, we are paying like $526.44 per month. That works out to be around $6.50 per square feet. If you want cheaper and choose a non-aircon unit, I got one that is around 29 square feet (2.7 square metre) that goes for $189 per month (not including service fee of 10%), that works out to be still around $6.50 per square feet. Of course the pricing will varies with the location, for those more "ulu" storage space, like the one I used previously, it will cost around $228.74 (not including service fee of 10%) for a 39 square feet unit, that works out to be around $5.80 per square feet...

However, for these storage units, they usually bundle with more discount (such as giving a few months free rental) or give better promotional price if you sign up longer lease term with them. So, if you factor those in, you may end up paying slightly lower price overall. However, I feel that the cost per square feet will still be steep regardless… 

Most CDs do not need a large space to store their clothing and CD wares and if they want to crossdress, they can just find a few other sisters and book a hotel for a dressup staycation or crossdress in the storage unit if it is big enough. Hence, they will go for the smaller units that suit their needs and this is why storage space units are more popular with crossdressers here. 

There are other crossdressers who choose to rent a commercial unit and share with other crossdressers to even out the cost, thus they do not need to fork out so much each person for the monthly rentals. I guess when it comes to commercial units, a lot of us may have a lot of queries and worries. I was in that predicament too last month, but having gone through the trouble and landing myself a good unit. I have to say, it is not that difficult or scary after all… I will share how to source for a unit, what is needed and also the costing. Stay tune for Part 2. 

My CD Journey (Part 12) - Of Sweat, Blood and Petrol [Moving my Fortress of Serenity]

I was working on another blog topic when this thing happened, so I decided to blog about it first. Weird title to start off and I was still contemplating if this episode warranted as part of my CD journey. But seeing how this event can be quite relatable to all those closet Crossdressers like me who are renting a place to stash their CD stuff, I decided to share this journey with them... So here goes...

One fine day, just out of the blues, I got a call from my Work and Storage space agent asking me to relocate to a new premises that is nearby my current storage location. I had been considering of moving over to this new place as it is a  newly renovated building. Me been me, I am always looking for a bigger and nicer space to setup my ideal Fortress of Serenity to CD. 

However, after setting up an appointment and viewing the new place, I was much disheartened with what this new place has to offer. The aircon system is a centralised, which is different from my current storage space that utilizes individual aircon unit in each of the room. There is also no power socket in each of the room, this is to prevent people from abusing and overusing the power utility. There is only power point along the corridor and in order to use electricity in the room, one must use a power extension cord, lead from the corridor and into the room. In this way, the room door cannot be closed properly. The lightings in each of the unit is not as bright as my current storage space, so there is very little motivation to move to this new premises. 

I told the agent that I will not consider the new place and wanted to stick to my old one. This is where he broke to me the bad news... the building owner is going to take back the whole building, so like it or not, I have to move my lair out of the building before end of the year...

This news came as a shock to me as I just upgraded my lair in April and coming to half a year later, I have to move again... I was really devastated as I spend so much time, effort and energy doing up my current lair. Even though I was constantly thinking of upgrading, but never did I expect it to be so soon and the worst part is, since the building owner wants back the building, that will technically mean that I have to move to other locations. Imagine the trouble of moving all my stuff and stores...

To some who might not understand the whole situation, if you remembered from my previous post about my secret lair, I practically "split" my storage space into 2 section. One section is for my CrossDressing activity, the other section is my front façade where I put my personal stores such as books and other items to give others the impression that I am renting this unit for business storage. For my CD stuff, I got one "detachable wardrobe", one big Toyogo box, one "detachable shoe rack", one 5 tier plastic drawer and a couple of medium size boxes. To some, that is a lot but I have to admit, that was the least of my worries. It is my "business" front stuff that is my headache because I am quite a hoarder unfortunately and I store quite a lot of things that I cleared from my house in order to free up some living spaces... This is the part of the store that got me really perturbed as I got 4 tall shelves filled with items to the top... You can see where I am going with this... 

In the past, when I upgraded my lair, it is all located within the same building and on the same floor, so it is quite easy for me to move as long as I can get a trolley to load up all my things including my open shelves. But now, I was totally thrown into disarray as the only option I have is to move out to a new premise and moving is not going to be easy...  

After receiving the ill news from my agent, I was distraught and upset as I see my current lair setup close to my ideal place for my crossdressing. Nonetheless, there is not much I can do except to look for a new place to set up my new lair. I contacted my agent to view the other properties under the same company but the conditions of the other premises are quite rundown and the cost per square foot is not cheap. In fact, I am paying like $4.5 per square foot with my current storage space and it is not like this is in a prime area...

I was thinking, since I am going to move, then might as well do some proper planning and scouting for a cheaper yet bigger space. In my mind, I got a few options...

Option 1: Find those aircon storage hub and rent maybe 2 units (one for my personal store, the other for my CD store). Thoughts: Not really as cheap as I thought and the environment is not conducive to CD, so might take a few months or maybe years off CD.

Option 2: Take up the offer from my agent to move to the new premise. Thoughts: Might not CD as much but still can consider as a proper space to CD. However, I feel that the area is smaller even though the agent offered me a unit that is quite similar to my current storage size... 

Option 3: Look for a new office or work space and convert it into my lair. Thoughts: Privacy issue and more troublesome as I need to set up business entity for rental and so on. The floor area and setup might not be ideal...

So, you can see my dilemmas here... For 2 weeks, I did intensive searches, messaging other properties agents and arranging for viewings... This has not been an easy process but it is quite an experience for me. Thus I will share my experience and blog about how to look for rental properties in another blog post to help other CrossDressers who may be facing the same predicament as me...

After a few viewings, I found a unit that I feel suits my needs in terms of the floor space and layout. The location is still reasonable and the pricing per square foot is cheaper than what I am paying for now. Without much hesitation, I accepted the offer from the agent, signed the Tenancy Agreement and gotten the keys for my new unit...

For almost a week, I was disassembling and packing all my belongings in my old stores, making frequent trips to and fro my new space. I did not really have the time to unpack my stuff as I was just dumping them inside my new unit and rushing to pick up my boxes and items from my old location...  After multiple trips and an exhausted body, and all the sweats, blood (through accidental cuts) and petrol that I used to ferry all my wares to my new lair... I finally completed my move and it has not been easy... Just to share a quick overview of my wardrobe and clothing in its new environment. 

My new lair is still a work-in-progress as I am still trying to lay out the vinyl floorings over the carpeted floor and I really need to do some housecleaning to clear up some of my stores and stuffs. Looking forward to complete my setup and sorting out my stuffs so that I can start CDing again. At the end of the day, this is all worth it as I really love my new premise and I am making plans for it to become a sanctuary for me to CD and possibly do photoshoot. Hope to share more pictures of my completed lair soon... Cheers.

My CD Journey (Part 11) - Getting bigger and bigger... Space [Secret Lair Upgrade]

How time flies and we are already 4 months into 2021, nothing eventful has been happening with my life, likewise for my alter-self except for today's topic about my secret lair. More of that later in my post. Have not been able to CrossDress as much but I saw that Isabelle and Gin have gone to a photography studio to have their bridal photos taken. It is so brave of them... Well, I have been considering setting up my own photography studio so that I can take glamorous photos of myself without the fear of people recognising me. This thought has been on my mind for quite a while already since digital photography has made photo taking much easier and equipment are more affordable now. In fact, after coming to adulthood and with social media taking to the sky, I have been trying to take nice photos of myself as Francesca especially since I learned the beauty of make-up and cosmetics... 

Back to today's topic, my constant pursuit for bigger and bigger... storage space. Back around the mid of 2019, after my first experience with online and app shopping, the ease of getting my hands on female clothing and life stress brought Francesca coming back into existence after my last purge. I have been buying things from WISH, Aliexpress, Lazada, Shopee and TaoBao, as a result, it was getting a bit difficult for me to keep them hidden. After I learned about storage space, I have been wanting to take up a unit for myself to hide my stash of ever growing women's clothing and accessories.

After doing some research, getting quotations and working on my finances, I settled for a cheap and small yet cozy storage unit to house my secret stash. I also bought a simple garment rack, some wooden floorings and a chair to allow me to dress up inside my storage unit... Dressing up in a storeroom is quite a tricky affair as it only allows you to lock from the outside and not from the inside, so there is no privacy and it also runs the risk of people who might open up your storage unit since it is unlock from the outside. Thankfully, I managed to figure out how to "lock" myself inside my storage unit and this allowed me to have some personal space to dress up. However, as my storage unit is located in an industrial building, so there is no aircon and it is be quite uncomfortable and hot to dress up. Most of the time, I just do a quick test of my purchase in my storage unit or wait for opportunities such as a solo hotel stay where I would bring my luggage of ladies' garments for a proper dress up. The photo of my first storage unit setup as as shown... 

Moving on, around beginning of 2020, I learned about those Work and Self Storage unit from another fellow CrossDresser and that brought me to another level of storing my female's clothing. The unit is actually a small work unit but I feel that the space is good enough for me. Most of all, it is air-conditioned and I can lock from the inside without the need to figure out how to skillfully "lock" myself from the inside when I was using the storage unit...

After having a much proper storage and dress up space, my alter-self just could not control the buying spree and urges, I just went on to decorate my place to make it more cozy and conducive for me to enjoy my dress up session. I went on to buy an inflatable bed, a foldable table and a self assembled wardrobe. I also expended my wooden floorings to give it a more comfortable feel as you can see from the pictures below...

I really loved this concept of Work and Storage space rental as it allows me to have my personal space to release myself and be Francesca. Despite the small space, this space is definitely bigger and more conducive for me to CD without any fear as compared to my previous storage unit. However, in terms of my vision to set up my own photography studio to have my own CrossDresser photos taken, it is going to take a while as this first auxiliary unit is good for individual storage and that is all. It is quite narrow and only sufficient for me to walk but not even enough for me to do a simple phototaking... 

After taking the unit to close to 6 months, I decided to upgrade my first unit to something more spacious. I managed to get a unit that was one and a half times bigger and it is a great difference as I got more space to dress up and to store my things. In terms of the floor space, I managed to squeeze out some space to take portraiture shots of myself using one of those selfie ring light with stand. This is not how my dream studio looks like but this setup is good enough for me. So every time when I need to do a full body selfie, I will need to set up my lights and move some of my storage boxes around to get the space I need. 

More space means more things, I decided to properly organise my ever growing stash and gotten quite a few storage boxes to help me sort out the stuff that I used to CD. I even managed to partition out a portion of my room to store some of my other items in the front (not included in the photos as these are truly personal). You can see my new secret lair outlook from the photos below. 

This new unit is really a nice and comfortable place for me as it even allows me to separate out my CD items and my personal things into 2 section; I actually used some IKEA curtains to partition out the 2 sections. In the front façade, it is my personal things that include some boxes and my other wares but behind the curtain, it is my CrossDressing and photography space. In fact, it was in this unit where I met another fellow CrossDresser who came by for a short meetup.

I held on to that unit for quite a while but I had been keeping a lookout for better storages spaces offers as the bigger the space, the more expensive it is going to get. So, wherever I see other CDs posting in Facebook about getting rental space, I was quite interested to ask for more details as I hope to fulfill my dream of setting up my own CDs space and photography studio but at an affordable cost.

Luck was on my side as one of the tenants in my Work and Storage space decided to move out and I took the opportunity to upgrade a much better unit. This unit is around one and a half times bigger than my 2nd unit and it is so much more spacious. I feel that with this space, it can allow me to take some nice studio shots with the proper equipment. In terms of comparison to a professional studio, it is still a bit too small. However, I feel that it is sufficient for me... For now. Haha... Anyway, you can check out the photos below. I was still in the midst of sorting out the items as I had just moved quite recently...

Now, with more spaces, I can better organise my stash and wares. In fact, I gotten some better flooring to decorate my secret lair to make it more cozy and comfy so that I can hopefully host some guests in my secret lair next time. In the meantime, I am looking around for some studio lighting in my pursuit to have my own photography studio. Wish me luck that I can get a much bigger and cheaper unit next time. Until then, this space is good enough for me. Cheers. 😁