seriousthistime
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Post by seriousthistime on Jun 25, 2022 10:31:34 GMT -5
debthaven , glad your procedure went well! I met with the realtor yesterday. Pictures will be taken the week of July 4. Showings will start the week after that. I have a lot of work to do to get ready. Decluttering (trash, donate, pack, move boxes to storage) and cleaning. I also have to move a few pieces of furniture around, including a few to storage. I'm prioritizing chores to make the photos look great, with deep cleaning to follow after that. Any advice from all of you who have sold houses recently? Especially needing advice for maintaining my sanity. It's really a three-stage process, I think. Prepare for photos. Picture perfect, focus on appearance. Includes moving excess to storage. Prepare for showings. Deep clean, organized closets, orderly garage. Prepare to move. Pack, trash, donate.
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seriousthistime
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Post by seriousthistime on Jun 25, 2022 10:50:53 GMT -5
finnime, the paint is near perfect, a light neutral color throughout. I've washed some marks off the walls and they look pristine. I'm going to paint two accent walls in the living/dining room to make the decor pop a bit more and add some visual interest. I'm just one person who up until the end of 2020 was gone most of the time so there is really no wear and tear. When I moved from the Midwest to here, I had friends come over for wine, hors d'oeuvres, and staging. I took a picture of each of my rooms, assigned a room to each friend, and told them to bring decor items from their house to stage that room, all items to be returned to them when the place sold. We had such a good time! The place was under contract in two days, and the furniture consignment place said they would take anything I wanted to sell, based on the realtor's pictures. I wish I had my friends here now to do the same, now. I do have some boxes going right now. Things in the bedroom bureaus can be moved as they are, and I culled all clothing a few months ago. The vanities are a nightmare. Does everyone have a plethora of bath and body products, or is it just me? Instead of boxes, I have plastic bins for all the excess and take delight in finishing a bottle or container of something so I can recycle it. I would be judicious about moving vs. tossing all of that stuff. I'm eating/decluttering from the freezer and pantry right now, buying only the basics as needed. The grocery bills are low. However, the wine bills are higher than usual.
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Sharon
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Post by Sharon on Jun 25, 2022 11:42:57 GMT -5
When I was getting ready to sell I had moved a lot of unnecessary items out of the house. My goal was to get down to just the bare essentials and while I didn't quite make my goal it sure made a difference in how the house looked. I also made sure to wash the windows inside and outside. My DD staged my pantry for me. She is weird that way and loves to have a perfectly organized pantry. People commented on my wonderful pantry. The thing I really miss from my last house was that pantry.
DD just sold her house. She had rodent bait stations in the yard that were included as part of their routine pest control services. They received several negative comments on those.
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moneysquirrel
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Post by moneysquirrel on Jun 25, 2022 11:56:51 GMT -5
Thanks, all. It was a relief not to have to have any additional medical items on my list. Hope that all I have is the usual annual/semiannual routine checkups -- one each for the next three months and one later in the year. Plus the routine tests that go with them. Caught up on laundry and dishes. routine chores are up to date. I am beginning another pass of all closets, drawers and storage places to see what else I can declutter. I am pretty closs to filling that last box that I want to pack before I call for my donation pickup. I did check with my DS.s to see if she wanted one item but told her that she needed to pick in up asap otherwise that it was going into this donation pickup. Pretty sure that it will be donated. Work is continuing on my craft projects. Beginning to see the end of third one from y retreat . Have two more pieces to stitch and then assemble all of the pieces together. I have not worked on the last of the retreat projects this past week. It will get my attention once I get a little more headway on the one I am currently concentrating on. With the heat index in the 100s, I am staying in the house as much as possible especially in the heat of the day and using some of that time to work on these. Any errands that I need to run I do in the mornings when it is a little cooler. Of course, I wake up to temps in the low 90s so cooler is relative. Thank goodness for AC and ceiling fans. We could use some rain as well. It has been very dry the last few weeks. I miss the ususal afternoon thunderstorms but they should be returning soon if the weather gurus are correct. I won't hold my breath. I am continuing with my usual eat out of the garage freezer summer routine. I Hope that I can unplug it next week as I think that I can move whatever is still in it to the freezer section of the fridge. If not next week than soon after. debthaven -- Enjoy the times with friends. TheOtherMe -- Glad that you are enjoying the visit with the Toddler Also hapy that your new shower work may be started soon. seriousthistime -- Wishing you the best as you move forward toward your future move. finnime -- Hope that your unpacking goes as smoothly as possible startsmart -- Take care not to work too much in the heat. If you are like me you have a ton of things that can be completed inside. It is better than suffering from heat exhaustion.
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Rukh O'Rorke
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Jun 25, 2022 14:26:30 GMT -5
Not sure where the weekend may take me on catching up on cleaning and organizing. Still mulling it over..... The gardener I met by chance has been fantastic, the entire yard has been transformed. I honestly can't beleive how much he has gotten done, and in some ways I'm pretty confused about it too! I couldn't have gotten this much done all year. I've been trying for years to conquer this overgrowth! I'm not sure how it can have happened, lol!! but what a relief! I've had him come over about 6-7 days so far I think. 2-3 days a week for 4-6 hours a day for the past 3ish weeks at an approximate cost of $550, so it did take him time and me a bit of money, but so well worth it. I scarcely know what to do with all this extra time! ok - so what to do indoors? - Clean kitchen
- do laundry
- tidy up DR/LR
- vaccum 1st floor
- finish cleaning my room
- organize and identify source for giveaways
This might be a list for the next week or two. Feeling a bit fatigued today so maybe start tomorrow....
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jun 25, 2022 17:55:33 GMT -5
Rukh O'Rorke the gardener seems like a fantastic find! I wish I could find someone like that. Once he's finished, I'm sure maintenance will cost much less. Sharon congrats to your DD! I assume this is not the house where they now live near you? Great news on the medical appointments moneysquirrel ! We appreciate you too Iggy aka IG . We had a really nice evening. Dishwasher run, emptied and partly refilled. (I always start the dishwasher after the main course when I have company.) Tomorrow we are going to the annual theater summer BBQ. We'll stop at the bottle bank on the way. Then two more very arduous weeks at work ...
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startsmart
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Post by startsmart on Jun 25, 2022 20:17:38 GMT -5
Well it’s still 98° at 8pm and I just finished painting part of the house foundation and I am hoping it dries before the rain arrives at 9pm. Still getting eaten alive by the bugs, unfortunately.
I am way behind on the house projects but I’m also considering I inviting the family that invited themselves.
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Sharon
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Post by Sharon on Jun 25, 2022 20:27:53 GMT -5
Sharon congrats to your DD! I assume this is not the house where they now live near you? This is the home they owned in the part of the state where we used to live. They had been renting it out for the past year and the renter wasn't keeping it up to their standards. With rising interest rates etc and an anticipated slow down in home sales they decided to get out while prices were still high and then sit on the money. Their home over here is farm housing which they rent at a steeply discounted rate. They are hoping that if the market does have a down turn that they will be able to pick up some acreage at a decent price. Right now they are in a double wide manufactured home and it is awfully small for the size of their family, especially with little kids and all the toys kids that age like to drag out.
There home did sell in 3 days with an all cash offer above asking price.
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saveinla
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Post by saveinla on Jun 25, 2022 21:13:56 GMT -5
Today we cleaned the photos that were in a few small throwaway albums and organized them into the large ones. Lots of happy memories while we were going through them.
We also started clearing out some old cds and organized the ones in the TV stand. We have 100s more in a different shelf and that has not been touched yet. Even though I listen mostly on my phone, I still put on some cds when the mood hits. I had 4 cds in and it was fun cleaning and organizing with music blasting.
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Knee Deep in Water Chloe
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Post by Knee Deep in Water Chloe on Jun 25, 2022 21:50:15 GMT -5
We are on vacation. We're visiting DD#2. Be back soon with organizing plans for the new house, organizing myself now that it's summer/I'm switching jobs, getting all of our stuff updated with the new address, etc.
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startsmart
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Post by startsmart on Jun 26, 2022 11:50:27 GMT -5
Finally got my laundry started today (5 loads!) including the dog’s blankets which were in dire need of cleaning.
While everything was washing I moved 2 nightstands, a bookshelf and several boxes to the 2nd and 3rd floor. I also carried out 4 more old windows, a bag of trash, some cardboard and other trash.
It’s still pretty wet outside so waiting for things to dry out before I go paint the south side foundation. It looks like I will need another gallon of this paint so I’ll get everything in front of the gates done.
The foundation is partially brick, partially stone and had been painted a badly faded red. I’m making it a dark gray but all the bumps and crevices are taking up more paint than expected.
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nikiz628
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Post by nikiz628 on Jun 26, 2022 12:44:43 GMT -5
Finally caught up on the last few pages, you ladies have been very productive!
We just wrapped DS1's travel baseball season this weekend, so minus 2 (1 game each) all star baseball tournaments he's playing in July, we are officially finished with all outside obligations for the summer! I am very happy- we have only managed to use our pool 4 times since we opened it. I am ready to not leave my house for awhile. H is off until July 6th, we kicked around the idea of a small, closer to home vacation but I just don't know if I want to do anymore driving and hotel stays (we've been in hotels the last 3 weekends for baseball). I am sure I will figure out something fun to do with the kids and H before he returns to work. In the meantime, I plan to spend a lot of my time in the pool doing NOTHING. And getting caught up on the little tasks around the house I've been wanting to do. I plan to sit all of my FREE, PLEASE TAKE THIS stuff in the garage out on the curb tomorrow. It should go quickly and that will be a BIG to do off my list. I want to purchase a shelving unit for the garage to put our sports equipment in one place, and then the garage cleaning will be complete! Hallelujah!
Now my basement... that's another story lol
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jun 26, 2022 13:24:35 GMT -5
Yay for the season being (basically) done nikiz628 , and for being able to paint startsmart !
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Sharon
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Post by Sharon on Jun 26, 2022 16:00:59 GMT -5
This morning I worked outside until it became just too hot. We are supposed to hit 99 today but I wouldn't be surprised if it pushes up past 100 degrees. Tomorrow is supposed to be 102 degrees.
I think this afternoon I will get to some of the sewing that needs to be done.
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startsmart
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Post by startsmart on Jun 26, 2022 16:17:25 GMT -5
Sharon - this weather has been too much! Thankfully it’s cool today so I got more painting done but I fully support hot days = sewing!
South side of the house foundation is 1/3 done and I’m making good progress.
Still getting my laundry in from the car and I did clean out my car while waiting at the laundry mat.
I did another big furniture swap so the chair from my closet is now in the office and the dresser holding pictures in the office is now in my closet holding clothes. I am probably a few months away from buying my closet system so this works for now.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Jun 26, 2022 20:17:10 GMT -5
Doing some laundry and running the vacuum got a LOT of cat hair out of this house.
Where does it all come from?
The new bed has arrived. I managed to drag the 100 pound box from the porch to the extra bedroom. Now to figure out a time when the nephews can take the old one down and set this one up.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jun 27, 2022 14:19:42 GMT -5
TheOtherMe could you offer the old bed to someone in exchange for help? If your nephew wanted the bed, that might encourage him to help (although I know he would anyway!) But I understand you wouldn't be comfortable with having strangers in the house. We have a similar issue ... we have a convertible couch in the basement we want to give away, but we don't want strangers in the house potentially checking things out. I remember that finnime had help when they were clearing out their old house ... who helped you finnime ? Today was the first of six days of oral interviews at Job 2. It was a VERY long day. I left at 7.15 am and got home at 6.50 pm. The next days this week should be a wee bit shorter. I don't yet have my schedule for next week. (I know which days, but I don't know the hours.) Tomorrow I'm WFH doing my faculty lessons online.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Jun 27, 2022 14:55:52 GMT -5
Nephew doesn't want the bed. I have a basement full of their stuff including beds.
It's an adjustable bed. Niece's husband told me in the spring that he would get one or two of the nephews together and take it down and haul it to his house and put it on the curb. They live where most stuff they want rid of leaves that way. Nothing goes away here. I also want him to take mom's sewing machine that is in a beautiful wood cabinet. He thought someone would take it, too. I finally know that I will never use it for sewing and it's more stuff.
I don't think anyone is available over the 4th and I leave for Canada right after that so will probably deal with it when I return.
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Iggy aka IG
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Post by Iggy aka IG on Jun 27, 2022 17:01:38 GMT -5
Hi everyone! Neighbors came over to watch yesterday's thunderstorm, which brought some much-needed rain. However, they overstayed their welcome, as in, the storm wasn't 4 hours long. When I noticed they weren't leaving anytime soon, I tended to my laundry between conversations. The kiddos did help me bring out and arrange (it was so cute) the deck decor and helped DH with a few things. After they left, DH and I ate supper while watching Stanley Cup Final. It was 11 by the time I got to the dishes, and this week's boiled eggs and produce for lunches. And we didn't get to the list of things I need DH's help with. On a positive note, because he was in from the rain, he cleaned the Traeger inside and out. Over the weekend: ~5 loads of laundry, including our sheets ~Did a ton of dishes from the busy week ~Refilled the ice trays and Keurig several times ~Organized the back pantry food items ~Meal planned ~Exercised, had a lovely meal out with DH, played Wordle and Words, listened to music, cooked several tasty meals, and watched several DVR programs
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startsmart
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Post by startsmart on Jun 27, 2022 17:39:23 GMT -5
As if life wasn’t stressful enough… now I have to boil my water and rinse all my dishes in a water and bleach solution.
Something failed in our county water processing and there’s a risk of bacteria in the water. So no watering the garden, washing hands, dishes or drinking it. I had to toss all my ice cubes and rewash the dishes.
No idea how long this will last either.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Jun 27, 2022 18:32:19 GMT -5
So sorry about your water situation startsmart It's happened in several towns around me. Thankfully, it hasn't happened to my town yet.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jun 27, 2022 18:35:58 GMT -5
Yikes startsmart ! I hope it gets sorted out soon. And yikes Iggy aka IG ! That's a long time to stay! DH has a friend who never leaves. N can arrive at 11 am, stay for lunch, and he's still there when it's time to prepare dinner. I tell him, it's been so nice to see you N, but you need to go home now. DH gets pissed off when I do that, but I don't care. I tell DH, if I didn't tell N that, he might still be here ... he might even be living with us full time! Would you prefer that?! LOL
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jun 28, 2022 10:44:25 GMT -5
Our freezer died. I called our local appliance shop. They said it's 17 years old and not repairable, but they have two models in stock: one at 1100e, and one at 1500e.
So we went to the big box store at the mall. We found one we're happy with for 550e, it'll be delivered tomorrow. It would have been free delivery but we're both out all day so we paid 29e for a specific (5-7 pm) slot.
PS It's the freezer compartment of our fridge-freezer, we don't have a separate freezer.
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Iggy aka IG
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Post by Iggy aka IG on Jun 28, 2022 11:35:07 GMT -5
Ugh, startsmart and debthaven! Sorry for the extra troubles! It's times like that where I am extra grateful for things such as safe water and working appliances. debthaven, LOL at the fact N might still be at your house! Yeah, I mean, sometimes I stay a long time at they're house, but it's in the evening and we're playing cards, etc. And I'd do other chores while they're at my house, but the mom and one of the boys are very opinionated with their "suggestions" on different ways to do things, which drives me nuts. Anyway! Lately I've been tightening up our food inventory. Last night I made chocolate covered almonds to use up the rest of the Christmastime baking melting chocolate, and a batch of protein balls utilizing the remaining bottle of slightly crystalized honey. Tonight's cod dish will contain some frozen lemon juice from last fall. It is the last of the cod until grocery shopping next month. Office: I brought a plant from home for my desk corner to somewhat block stairwell and lobby passerby's view of my computer screen and me. I don't want to go as far as getting the windows tinted, as I do like to look out there in case of an emergency, etc. Next up I may rotate my desk a bit.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jun 28, 2022 11:42:54 GMT -5
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finnime
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Post by finnime on Jun 28, 2022 12:46:49 GMT -5
TheOtherMe could you offer the old bed to someone in exchange for help? If your nephew wanted the bed, that might encourage him to help (although I know he would anyway!) But I understand you wouldn't be comfortable with having strangers in the house. We have a similar issue ... we have a convertible couch in the basement we want to give away, but we don't want strangers in the house potentially checking things out. I remember that finnime had help when they were clearing out their old house ... who helped you finnime ? Today was the first of six days of oral interviews at Job 2. It was a VERY long day. I left at 7.15 am and got home at 6.50 pm. The next days this week should be a wee bit shorter. I don't yet have my schedule for next week. (I know which days, but I don't know the hours.) Tomorrow I'm WFH doing my faculty lessons online. I hired help from the close-by immigrant services center. It worked great for me.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Jun 28, 2022 16:08:09 GMT -5
I have no idea if we even have one and I am not in town. I am in a rural town of 2000.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jun 28, 2022 16:51:58 GMT -5
We DO have one nearby. But the kids will be around in late August, so maybe there will finally be enough of them to shlep it upstairs. If not, I'll reach out to them in Sept. Thank you finnime ! PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE: This has been a very exciting week in the Debthaven household! DS2 has been looking for a bigger apartment for 9 months ... he finally found one, and it's fabulous! DS3 and A have been looking for their first place for 4 months, but the UK is the wild west. They kept getting outbid. It looks like they finally found an apartment too! DS3 is going back to school in September for his Masters. They needed to find one soon (because DS3 wouldn't be able to get a mortgage while he's in school). Their mortgage will be the same as their current rent, which is amazing! The icing on the cake is that DS3 and A will still be just a 20-min walk from DS1 and DDIL!!! That makes me VERY happy! We're SO excited for all of them!!! Plus, DD has been looking for her first apartment too, in the Alps. Fingers crossed that she completes the trifecta!
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saveinla
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Post by saveinla on Jun 28, 2022 18:35:00 GMT -5
We finally got a contractor to come in and see what we wanted. This is the second guy that we called. He seems to know what he is doing and will send us a rough estimate within a week. If we decide we are good, he will come and take measurements.
We may have to see when we can start as it could take 4-6 weeks, but I think it will take more time
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startsmart
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Post by startsmart on Jun 28, 2022 23:14:58 GMT -5
Still under boil water advisory.
Told my family they cannot come to visit as they planned.
Will reshuffle my to do list later this week.
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