E R I K A

If you happen to 'accidentally' sign up for NHK subscription even though you don't watch the damn channel! Here's a tip!

That's what I did! Simply 'coz I don't want to pay ¥13,990 yearly for something I don't watch and is a lot more expensive than my Amazon Prime which I watch ALL THE TIME and only costs me ¥3,900 a year! Aaand. I get a lot of benefits from Amazon Prime! Do I get benefits from NHK? NO! Do all Japanese people pay for NHK? Certainly NOT! Even though you're REQUIRED by a STUPID LAW to pay for something YOU DON'T EVEN WATCH! I refuse to throw away my husband's hard earned money for something we don't get used out of. I mean, sure if you watch it, why not pay for it? But yeah, we don't! So, I don't want to pay! You could ignore and not pay for it as there is no punishment if you don't pay but the bills would just build up under your name and they would not stop sending you bill after bill until you die.. not until you cancel your account. So yeah, cancel your account..

Next time they come knocking on your door, remember to always look at the peephole first or the camera thingamajig 'coz you never know.. sometimes they don't tell you they're from NHK not until you open the door. They're sneaky like that! Especially if they know you've been avoiding them for a long time (Based on experience folks!). And if you already know it's them (You can tell 'coz they always carry a touchscreen remote thingy.) just IGNORE. 

Today, I feel really productive and I just felt like blogging about it.. I did the lawn yesterday (I know so boooring) because we just bought a lawn mower and I know I should've bought one a long time ago! I'm so stupid! But yeah, nothing fancy.. it's a manual type and it's not that expensive.

So we've finally decided that we'll be moving on to our new home in 4th of January. We're really excited yet really overwhelmed. I know my husband is
NOTgonna help me with all the packing and stuff. He's busy and I know he's tired from work so I have to do EVERYTHING! And oh my gosh, I don't know where to start?! Hmm..

10 big boxes and 20 small ones which I don't what to put yet.

Oooh.. TAPE!

Today, a guy from a moving company (Sakai) came to tell us everything about moving. I know we could haggle a bit to lower the price but since I let my husband do all the talking ('Coz you know, I gotta let him feel he's the boss even though I'm the real boss! Lol.) he didn't haggle because he can't! He's the type of person who would see that this person is working so hard that this person deserves to be payed like how he wants it which in the end will turn into regret. He'll be like, "why did I agree to pay for that much?! It's too expensive!" Urghh..

But we did get a discount because our real estate agent introduced us to this company and we are moving in the afternoon, not sure what time yet but you'll get ¥10,000 or more worth of discount for agreeing to move in the afternoon. Depends if the movers are busy and they have customers during the morning. So we're going to pay a total of ¥73,360 instead of ¥100,000 - ¥120,000. It's a lot of money to pay for movers. My husband's friend only payed 50,000 for the movers because that guy could haggle! And he moved in September. But I thought it was reasonable.. I mean, they are going to remove and install the aircon on the 2nd floor of our new home too.

I read somewhere that the cheapest times of the year to move are June, October and November. Not really sure about September. But I've learned that it's cheap when you're going to move during the rainy season. It says that the most expensive times are March, April, ('Coz a lot of people are moving due to company transfers)  July, August because it's summer vacation and the Golden week which is about in April and May.

We decided to move in January instead of December because it's a lot cheaper to move in January. If we moved in December we're going to pay between ¥100,000 - ¥120,000 and we're not paying for that much! ¥70,000 is already too expensive for us. Besides, it's unlucky to move by the end of the year.. you know, superstitions.

I've also read that they can give 2,000 discount if we would take used boxes instead but the person from the Sakai company (Panda) already gave us new ones so it's okay. He also gave us 1kg of rice and a magazine. I guess I'll do a part 2 of the actual moving process. I found quite a lot of helpful moving tips from youtube!

Here's the site with a lot more information about moving here in Japan with the help of a moving company. Click me!