The lack of a safe space to dress up is a common problem faced by crossdressers around the world. Usually the inclinations to crossdress start somewhere in puberty, meaning that in order to wear a dress without your parents discovering, you'll need your own bedroom and parents who give you some privacy. One typically live with parents until one enters university or joins the workforce, where you'll usually move out of your parent's house to a dorm or rented flat in a different city to finally live truly independently in your own space. This means you'll get the desired freedom to explore your feminine side around the age of 16 - 21.
Singaporean crossdressers however, face a peculiar situation; Singapore's housing situation. Renting your own room doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint, especially since parents usually have space at home and it is so easy to get around our tiny island to university or to work. Even if you do decide to rent, you will likely need to find other friends who are intending to rent (rare, since most people will continue living with their parents), risk the same group of friends discovering that you like crossdressing, as well as come up with a good excuse to explain to your parents why you no longer want to stay with them
Affordable housing in the form of HDB flats built by the Government are only available if you are married, which for the confused, fledging crossdresser is a catch-22 situation. Here is a crossdresser who is uncertain of his inclinations due to the inability to dress up and explore his sexuality/gender identity, yet in order to do so, he needs to find a girl who is willing to accept his crossdressing tendencies and marry him. This would seem like an insurmountable challenge. The typical scenario would be to keep the crossdressing inclinations a secret before and after marriage, keeping the stash somewhere unlikely to be discovered like the army duffel bag or in the car boot, occasionally letting the inner woman out to play. Once again, the crossdresser is back in a cage, except this time it is one of his own making.
The other option left would be to purchase a HDB flat as a single. However, restrictions put in place by the Government means that the Singaporean crossdresser can only do so when he turns 35 years old! By then, the golden years of dressing up and exploring would have passed. Woe is the Singapore crossdresser who wants a home to call his/her own.
It is no wonder that many Singaporean crossdressers are still deep in the closet, squeezing in secret dress up sessions when their parents are out of town, but unable to properly practice with makeup and letting their inner woman reach her fullest potential. Most also seem to be able to dress in public only in their mid-20s to 30s, which is around the time where their earning power goes up and they can book hotel rooms to do staycations in. Unfortunately, hotel stays are expensive and not something you can do regularly without causing a big dent in your bank account.
An alternative that some crossdressers go for are storage facilities. These can range from a small un-airconditioned store room, to a full fledged air-conditioned storage space with enough space to put tables, chairs and even a bed. Of course, the latter comes with a premium. Such storage facilities are cheaper than renting a HDB room or flat and comes with privacy too, albeit tending to be in slightly less accessible locations.
I'm not very familiar with the storage options out there in Singapore so I cannot make recommendations. But fret not! Francesca, a local crossdressing blogger wrote 3 separate posts about the topic which I think will be very useful for crossdressers looking for a decent storage space to keep your growing stash of female clothes and having a place to dress up without worrying about parents, spouse or siblings stumbling upon your female self. You can find out more about Francesca's experience in renting storage units, as well as commercial units (part 1 and part 2).
