On Friday, April 24th, Roby and I were at the realtors office five minutes to 9:00 ready to sign papers and get the keys to our first home. Turns out that they were already half an hour behind. We didn't get in to sign our papers until after 9:30. It took us about half an hour to go over everything, get the entire stack of papers signed, and everything taken care of! It was even our realtors idea to take the picture of us signing the final papers! (And I'm the one that takes pictures of everything!!!)
That day Roby started bringing truck loads of boxes over to the new house in his friends truck while I cleaned. We spent a good 12 hours doing that. My friend, Fonda, came over and helped for a bit as I was devastated at one point. Nothing is never as good as it seems...well, these people weren't as clean as I thought. The refrigerator that we had to bargain to get, was, well, nasty to put it nicely. I spent no less than 4 1/2 hours cleaning that alone. Because of where it is located, I had to move it out from its spot to pull the drawers out. They had never done this. Ever. The glass shelves still had tape on it from when they bought it. I had it all sparkly and I was happy...then I looked up to where you get ice and water...and saw grime and MOLD. I didn't know what to do. I called Steph because I was on the verge of tears. When Fonda came over, she brought spiffy cleaning tools, bleach, and q-tips and got up in there and cleaned it for me. I'm still not drinking out of it (visions of mold dance in my head)...I'm still finishing the 2 gallon jug Roby bought last week...but have the feeling that I need to buck up, re-clean it today and just do it. I will not die. I will not die. I will not die. It was just really really really icky!!! (Pictures coming soon!!!!)
During that 12 hours, I also wiped out all the cupboards, cleaned the counters in the kitchen, and cleaned the pantry. I cleaned the bathrooms really well, cleaned the grimy window sills, vacuumed (emptying my canister at least 6-10 times), and steam-cleaned the carpets. There is cat urine in some of the closets (and one corner of Natalie's room) that I couldn't get completely out with the steam cleaner or the special cleaner that I have for when Maggie has "accidents." I either need to get something else or just put a little extra elbow grease into it when I have more time to try again. It is gross I'm telling you! But like a few people have told me...once we get their "dirt" out once, it wont be so bad cleaning our "dirt." I agree with this 110%!!! I don't mind cleaning up after my family...other people, not so much.
I was very worried about the weather during our move. We had 40% chance of rain both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was supposed to be worse. Fonda took the kids home with her Friday night, so Roby and I started moving boxes and all that last minute packing at 8 am Saturday morning. We had two guys help us for 5/6 hours which rocked. We ended up moving 90% of our house that day, working a total of about 14 hours just on Saturday. It was a long day. We slept in OUR house for the first time last Saturday!!! (We're VERY glad we got it all moved on Saturday as it only sprinkled off and on and POURED all day Sunday.)
Nikole spent the night as well that night because Fonda is part of Honor Guard and did a ceremony three hours away on Sunday. I got up with the kids bright and early, letting Roby sleep in a little. I got several boxes moved/unpacked/whatever that morning. We headed over to the old house to start the cleaning process. We were there from about 12-7:30pm. About the Same on Monday (I had school and an apt). Tuesday...we were there for a good 11 hours. When Wednesday rolled around, we were so tired...but only had a couple touch up things to do. I wish I could share the complete list of what they require people to do when moving out. It is utterly ridiculous. There are countless horror stories of what people get charged if they don't do those things exactly, so were decided to go above and beyond so we would hopefully not get charged too much. One guy Roby works with got charged over $300, another person I spoke with has a friend that got charged over $400 and they were charged $175. I figured that with our combined nearly 50 hours of yard work, cleaning, etc...we would be good. And to Roby's surprise we were!!! We had to pay $16 for an area in the back yard where there was no grass. I tried to grow grass there, but it wouldn't grow. I'm pretty sure at least half of it was like that when we moved in. When the inspector walked into the house he more or less smiled and said that he doesn't see many houses that clean and that he wished he could get a testimonial from us saying that some people do pass the inspection!!! We're ok with $16!!!
We haven't gotten a whole lot done at our house yet. Roby put a new light fixture up in the entryway, which I love. He also replaced the locks (we're all for safety!), door bell cover, several light bulbs (to the CFL kind--we still have more that need replacing), spent hours mowing the lawn, put curtains up in the front room and our bedroom (he sleeps during the day so this is greatly needed!), and countless other odd and end jobs. We have made a small dent in the boxes/plastic bins in the garage. But there is still so much to do. Cleaning will be very time consuming. I have the feeling that it will be very similar to cleaning the old house. I will have to go room by room, scrubbing my little heart out just to feel comfortable. (Yesterday I started the "self clean" mode on the oven and set off all the smoke alarms because I didn't open enough windows! The oven was nasty!!! But today I can finish cleaning it and actually used the inside of the oven!!!)
We did purchase paint for Natalie's room, which I'm super excited about! We'll see how excited I am about painting other rooms once I paint hers!
So much more has happened, and I'm sure there is so much more to tell about...but this is all I can think about right now. I'm sure I'll add more when I get the pictures to post!!!
And to top it off...the break line in my "gets me to school car" is leaking break fluid, so I have no breaks. And another part that helps stabalize the car while turning (I have no idea what its called) wasn't even attached on one side. Grand. Roby is fabulous and can fix it...but has to work 12 hour shifts all weekend and doesn't know when he can get to it. Its not like we have any spare time (or $) for this right now!!! Oh well, I guess its just another thing to pile on the "to do" list when you're already overloaded!!!
That day Roby started bringing truck loads of boxes over to the new house in his friends truck while I cleaned. We spent a good 12 hours doing that. My friend, Fonda, came over and helped for a bit as I was devastated at one point. Nothing is never as good as it seems...well, these people weren't as clean as I thought. The refrigerator that we had to bargain to get, was, well, nasty to put it nicely. I spent no less than 4 1/2 hours cleaning that alone. Because of where it is located, I had to move it out from its spot to pull the drawers out. They had never done this. Ever. The glass shelves still had tape on it from when they bought it. I had it all sparkly and I was happy...then I looked up to where you get ice and water...and saw grime and MOLD. I didn't know what to do. I called Steph because I was on the verge of tears. When Fonda came over, she brought spiffy cleaning tools, bleach, and q-tips and got up in there and cleaned it for me. I'm still not drinking out of it (visions of mold dance in my head)...I'm still finishing the 2 gallon jug Roby bought last week...but have the feeling that I need to buck up, re-clean it today and just do it. I will not die. I will not die. I will not die. It was just really really really icky!!! (Pictures coming soon!!!!)
During that 12 hours, I also wiped out all the cupboards, cleaned the counters in the kitchen, and cleaned the pantry. I cleaned the bathrooms really well, cleaned the grimy window sills, vacuumed (emptying my canister at least 6-10 times), and steam-cleaned the carpets. There is cat urine in some of the closets (and one corner of Natalie's room) that I couldn't get completely out with the steam cleaner or the special cleaner that I have for when Maggie has "accidents." I either need to get something else or just put a little extra elbow grease into it when I have more time to try again. It is gross I'm telling you! But like a few people have told me...once we get their "dirt" out once, it wont be so bad cleaning our "dirt." I agree with this 110%!!! I don't mind cleaning up after my family...other people, not so much.
I was very worried about the weather during our move. We had 40% chance of rain both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was supposed to be worse. Fonda took the kids home with her Friday night, so Roby and I started moving boxes and all that last minute packing at 8 am Saturday morning. We had two guys help us for 5/6 hours which rocked. We ended up moving 90% of our house that day, working a total of about 14 hours just on Saturday. It was a long day. We slept in OUR house for the first time last Saturday!!! (We're VERY glad we got it all moved on Saturday as it only sprinkled off and on and POURED all day Sunday.)
Nikole spent the night as well that night because Fonda is part of Honor Guard and did a ceremony three hours away on Sunday. I got up with the kids bright and early, letting Roby sleep in a little. I got several boxes moved/unpacked/whatever that morning. We headed over to the old house to start the cleaning process. We were there from about 12-7:30pm. About the Same on Monday (I had school and an apt). Tuesday...we were there for a good 11 hours. When Wednesday rolled around, we were so tired...but only had a couple touch up things to do. I wish I could share the complete list of what they require people to do when moving out. It is utterly ridiculous. There are countless horror stories of what people get charged if they don't do those things exactly, so were decided to go above and beyond so we would hopefully not get charged too much. One guy Roby works with got charged over $300, another person I spoke with has a friend that got charged over $400 and they were charged $175. I figured that with our combined nearly 50 hours of yard work, cleaning, etc...we would be good. And to Roby's surprise we were!!! We had to pay $16 for an area in the back yard where there was no grass. I tried to grow grass there, but it wouldn't grow. I'm pretty sure at least half of it was like that when we moved in. When the inspector walked into the house he more or less smiled and said that he doesn't see many houses that clean and that he wished he could get a testimonial from us saying that some people do pass the inspection!!! We're ok with $16!!!
We haven't gotten a whole lot done at our house yet. Roby put a new light fixture up in the entryway, which I love. He also replaced the locks (we're all for safety!), door bell cover, several light bulbs (to the CFL kind--we still have more that need replacing), spent hours mowing the lawn, put curtains up in the front room and our bedroom (he sleeps during the day so this is greatly needed!), and countless other odd and end jobs. We have made a small dent in the boxes/plastic bins in the garage. But there is still so much to do. Cleaning will be very time consuming. I have the feeling that it will be very similar to cleaning the old house. I will have to go room by room, scrubbing my little heart out just to feel comfortable. (Yesterday I started the "self clean" mode on the oven and set off all the smoke alarms because I didn't open enough windows! The oven was nasty!!! But today I can finish cleaning it and actually used the inside of the oven!!!)
We did purchase paint for Natalie's room, which I'm super excited about! We'll see how excited I am about painting other rooms once I paint hers!
So much more has happened, and I'm sure there is so much more to tell about...but this is all I can think about right now. I'm sure I'll add more when I get the pictures to post!!!
And to top it off...the break line in my "gets me to school car" is leaking break fluid, so I have no breaks. And another part that helps stabalize the car while turning (I have no idea what its called) wasn't even attached on one side. Grand. Roby is fabulous and can fix it...but has to work 12 hour shifts all weekend and doesn't know when he can get to it. Its not like we have any spare time (or $) for this right now!!! Oh well, I guess its just another thing to pile on the "to do" list when you're already overloaded!!!
3 comments:
So happy to see a post. Wow chica Im still surprised at how much work you put into your old base housing, but I guess it was for a good cause. And like Ive said a million times when one thing is accomplished 2 more get on the list. Its never ending...NEVER ENDING! I guess this the joy of home ownership or so Ive come to find out.
So happy to hear from ya =]
You have been BUSY!! Sounds like a lot of work but oh sooo worth it. Can't wait to see the new place.
I bet you guys are pooped! FYI, I've been able to get most of cat urine stink out by dousing the area with white vinegar, then dumping a lot of baking soda on top. Then put down some paper towels &/or old rags (several). Put a plastic bag on top of that, then some heavy books. Let is set overnight. When you remove the books, bag & rags, let the baking soda dry completely (maybe a couple of days), then vacuum up. The vinegar will neutralize the urine. The weight of the books will force the vinegar up into the baking soda & rags. Good luck! Hugs!
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