Here's My Elephant.....4 Months of Progress

So here are the things that did get done once Daughter left to move back to Louisiana in May.  We've gotten a lot done in the last 4 months. 
It's been a big old game of Dominoes really. ;-)

*  Daughter's old room gets cleaned(clear out furniture/vacuum/shampoo the carpeting/clean walls/trim/ceiling/ceiling fan/dressers she isn't taking.)  Then EX-CB moves in his crap and takes that room.  He was planning on moving out within the next few months but then the new job search happened so that's delayed.

UPDATE-- The room got emptied triple quick(can you guess I was uber motivated?!? lolz
What was left in Daughter's room........

Here it is after I finished cleaning in there.......

Then Ex-College Boy spent the next couple of days moving all his stuff into the room and setting it up like he wanted it.

The only money spent on this room was new blinds on the window.
I figure once Ex-CB moves out we'll have to repaint but he'll have to live with purple walls for now.  Depending on wear, the carpet may or may not need to be replaced so I'll keep that possible expense in the back of my mind for another year.

* After Ex-CB vacates his room, rinse and repeat cleaning that bedroom(clear out furniture/vacuum/shampoo carpeting/clean walls, trim, ceiling, ceiling fan/dresser.  Then I am painting that room(hasn't been painted since 2005).  Once we get the room cleared out we can evaluate whether carpeting needs replacing.

UPDATE--EXCB vacated his room and it looked like this.............

And the closet view..........

After I got done shoveling it out and vacuuming it looked like this........

Then this room got repairs for lots of wall damage...........

 And then a coat(or five for that dark accent wall!)of paint..........

Then the saga of ordering the new carpet and install began with a trip to NH wedged in between this part.

But finally the new carpet was installed in early July to finish off the improvements in here.............

And I could begin to set up my sewing room..........

In July I put the shelving in and started sorting fabric in the tubs

The closet was were the dresser went.  It holds the toiletries stockpile reserved for the family.

A few days later I had the shelves mostly filled(the fabrics I want to use sooner rather than later)and the tub sorting/filling was finished.

And here is how it looks today......

11 tubs of fabric.  2 are stacked by the serger to act as a table for my record player.  I've been migrating my record collection into the room so I can play them finally after having them stored away for 12+ years.
A few of my slug/snail collection sit on the wall shelves too. ;-)

The closet with projects(repairs, alterations, hems, etc.)hanging on both sides of the dresser.  A tub of fabric to sell or otherwise de-clutter sits under neath the to-be finished projects with more projects sitting on top of the tub.  The 2 bins on top of the dresser hold thread, elastic, bindings, etc. for use in my sewing.
Christmas stuff is stored on the high shelf in tubs.

The expense in here were new blinds, sparkle and paint and new carpeting.


*  Once that bedroom(now sewing room)is cleaned out and up I can move all my crap into there-a combination of sewing crap and toiletries stockpile(what doesn't fit into upstairs hallway closet).  

A "before" shot of the man cave holding a lot of miscellaneous crap, books, toiletries and fabric........

And all that fabric now...........

I would have put up a third shelving unit(it's in the garage and was utilized for the stockpile sale)but I ran out of wall space for it so the bulky tubs take up too much floor space. bleh.


*  Once my crap is out of Hubs' room then we clear that bedroom out and rinse and repeat all the cleaning/fixing.  This bedroom will definitely be getting new paint and carpet(original carpet from before the previous owner we bought from in 2000 so very old and nasty rug).
Hubs puts his room back together.

UPDATE--Hubs finished emptying his man cave room and painted it.  I didn't offer to help him paint it because he refused to put a/c in that room and it was August and I wasn't about to do that sort of work in the heat and humidity of August without the benefit of a/c.  So he was on his own.
Hubs DETESTS painting but he manned up with very little whining and got it done in 3 days time(he had a LOT of wall patching to do as well as painting).  We used the same white paint in here as in the sewing room.

Then he went and ordered new carpeting and ordered something in stock so we didn't have to wait ages for it to come in and then get the job on the installers schedule.  It's a tan carpet.......

Here is the carpet we replaced.  This was the original carpet when we moved in circa 2000 and had been the ORIGINAL carpet from when the house was built in 1986..........

It was still "sort of" green in places. lolz  It was like walking on burlap. bleck.

He got rid of a lot of books, the broken blinds and the valance.  One book shelf(which was mine to begin with)relocated into the master bedroom and now holds MY books.  He moved one of the two large bookcases to the wall by the door where my bookcase was and the other one out into the hallway.
Here's the hallway in July after getting rid of a large desk and desk top computer.
Nice dirt spot on the wall where the kids use to put their feet on it while sitting at the desk *snort*.

Here's the hallway in September..........

Hubs moved 1 bookcase out here(covers the dirt spot lolz).  At least now ALL the family photos/albums are in one spot now on that bookcase.  They use to be squirreled all over every corner I could shove something into.  Still need to find a place for a few things....a suitcase, a Xmas tub, a wooden chair(Ex-CB took the trumpet next to the suitcase and will teach himself how to play that instrument too).
We didn't paint out in the hallway due to needing a professional to come due it as this also involves the stairwell walls and we can't reach.  So that is still on the Master List of things to do around here.

Hubs' small metal bookcase got moved into the closet in his man cave since the dresser that use to live in there is now in my sewing room holding toiletries.
He bought himself a proper desk, the daybed got moved into this room and we bought a new memory foam mattress for it.
Here is the man cave now.............

You can't see the one bookcase left in the room as it's to the left and I didn't photograph the closet in here.  He's still got a few things to put away.  He opted for no window coverings in here but I suspect he'll put blinds in eventually because the sun comes right in those windows in the morning.
Costs were for spackle, paint and new carpeting, plus a desk in this room.

* Once all these bedrooms are done we can attack the master bedroom, the whole cleaning deal including the furniture.  We will be getting a new mattress and bed frame(adjustable one). 

UPDATE--I don't have any photos of the master bedroom yet as it's not finished.
We have moved some furnishings out(an etagere holding fabric, my serger and table, sewing machine and table, and ironing board)which all relocated into the sewing room so it's fairly emptied out except for night stands, 2 dressers, a large rocking chair, a cedar chest and an old coffee table sitting under the window that Hubs' refuses to get rid of.

We got the new mattress and bed frame and the old ones went to the garbage man.  We weren't planning repainting or new window coverings in here and the flooring is good(having replaced it about 10 years ago).  I would like to hang some paintings on the walls in here but that's it.  If I ever get it looking respectable I'll share a photo or two then. '-)

I am still rejiggering the master walk-in closet.  The photo albums and Xmas stash boxes left but there are more things to consolidate/move around/de-clutter in there so that will be on the next update if I do one.
Expenses in the Master Bedroom were new mattress and an adjustable bed frame.

The expenses for all we got done?
Paint & Spackle.........$16.39*
Carpet & Install.......$1079.46
Bed & Frame...........$1108.23
Blinds(2 Sets)......................$0.00*
New Desk for Hubs............$50.86
TOTAL SPENT.......$2254.94

*All but $16.39 for these items was put on free Home Depot gift cards earned from cashing in credit card points.

What I consider wins........
* Doing the work we could do ourselves to save money on labor.
* Using gift cards to pay for some of the expenses.
* Replacing one bed/2 mattresses for better sleep.
* Having 4 rooms that now function better(or at all)vs. what they were before.

So that's a wrap on this Summer tine phase of the Home Redos at Chez Sluggy.

We're not planning on any other home projects until next Spring as the weather is getting too cold to replace windows now.
I've also got a main bath redo and a den/kitchen makeover on my list for the future besides windows.
But I am tired...very tired of doing this stuff for now.  This was enough.  ;-)


Sluggy

Last Weekend's Not-So-Frugal & Kinky Yard Work

Last weekend was an expensive one.

If you remember a couple of weekends before we started laying the border for the bed on the side of the yard......

 

Well last Saturday we got this......

a truckload of white stones
$$$!

We laid down the landscaping barrier I got at Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)on sale and using a 10% off discount card......

Then Hubs shoveled a large quantity of that pile of stones......

 

On Sunday it was off to Lowe's to spend more money.....

on a bench.  I wanted to one of the far right.
Of course they only had one left in stock and it was up in the rafters of the Garden Center......

 So after wrangling an employee he mounted the fork lift and ascended toward the heavens...

and retrieved the last of that bench in the store.

Yay!  Hubs with the yet-to-be assembled bench.
More $$$!

One more stop before the check-out for some garden seeds..........not on sale, boo!.......

then home to put the bench together(which was much easier than we thought it would be!)and Voila!

Once the trees leaf out it will be a nice tranquil shady spot to contemplate ones navel this Summer.

And Hubs bought a hose last week too......

Let it never be said that Hubs is kinky. ;-)

On Saturday morning I also finally broke down and ordered a freezer......

It arrived early Wednesday morning and by Wednesday evening I had filled it.

Did you know that the freezer compartment in a full sized fridge is only slightly smaller than the freezer space in a 7.1 ft. chest freezer?
Did you also know that you need a step ladder to reach the bottom of a chest freezer if you are well over 4 feet tall?
Well now you do! 8-)

Since my last experience with a new Whirlpool standing freezer that died after 3 whole weeks of owning it I have been gun shy about replacing the freezer.  This one is much smaller(with 2-3 people at home fulltime, we just don't need that much space for frozen food anymore)and much cheaper so if it dies well before it's time I won't be in a panic to replace it and save a lot of food but I will still be summarily pissed off if it doesn't last at least a few years.

$600 give or take a few $s leaving the account last weekend for all this....rocks, barrier cloth, seeds, bench, hose and freezer.
I can't WAIT for the credit card bill to arrive for this month.........actually I can wait........lolz

This weekend is more low key as we are picking up College Boy on Saturday for his Summer vacation.  I am sure he will bring with him a whole mess of hooliganism back into our lives.
Can't wait.......*insert eye roll*

Sluggy
 

Friends, Cars & Money

*Bonus points if you got that my post was a riff on the Warren Zevon song "Lawyers, Guns & Money".


What the last few days it's been here! 
Can you guess what I'm going to talk about today from my post title? lol

First, a longtime online friend's husband passed away.  I am part of an online group, a closed group that came together as beanie baby collectors.  We've been a group since 1998 and have actually had a few conventions early on where we got together in person.  I traveled to Minnesota in 1999 for the 1st convention and to Missouri in 2000 to another one.  The mini-gathering held in Chicago I was unable to attend in 2001 or 2002(can't remember when it was held).

Anyway, this member was very active in the group, even now, when many of us have moved on and don't communicate much anymore.  Her husband has had a chronic/permanent condition for many years but she has stayed in touch.  Usually when difficulties like hers have arisen with other members, she was the one to organize and send out sympathy cards and flowers and such from the group.

Well, I took it upon myself to organize an effort to let her know that we, as a group, are thinking about her.  I'm not usually the one to handle this kind of stuff and I'm sure my missteps this time will show that.  But I felt I owed it to her to arranged something.
So all the back and forth emailing everyone in the group and arranging what to send her has taken up a good chunk of the last two days.

Second, to add to my concerns lately is that #2 Son was in a car accident.  The other night, he was pulling out onto the highway to come home after working and someone plowed into him.  If he hadn't seen them at the last minute and floored the gas, they would have hit him broadside, t-boning his car.  With quick thinking, he was able to save all but the rear left side of his car.  Well, "save" isn't quite the right way to describe it.  The back end of the car is now "a Modern Art Project" rather than a car.

Most probably, the car will be totaled and insurance will cut us a check.....and then in Aug. when our premium is due, our rates will increase.  Sigh.......

But more importantly, #2 Son is fine....just a little shook up but the boy seems to have nerves of steel.

And in regard to the "shit hole" nearby, we have decided that no, we don't want to retire to this area, so we will pass on that particular opportunity.
If we are going to be shelling out cash, we might as well do it on getting our present home up to snuff.

And speaking of fixing up your house, we come to my third point of this post.
We finally bit the bullet on the largest home improvement project we need to do here at Chez Sluggy as part of The Great House Fix-Up & Purge of 2013.

We decided on and signed a contract to install an a/c system.
We even went one better than that.
Since we needed a better a/c plan than window units AND we also needed a new plan for a heating system, we got both.

We have no ductwork and the logistics of installing ductwork in this house is unworkable, so we went with an a/c mini-split unit.  These are a/c units put right into the wall of your rooms that are run via an outside compressor unit(a heat pump thingy-technical term).  We are having 2 units installed downstairs that will cool the entire first floor, and 1 unit put up into the master bedroom.  We didn't have the whole house covered because we basically don't need it for the number of people living here and the way we live in the house AND it would have been too freaking expensive to do the entire house it turns out.

We tried to have the 3 splits installed and a compressor large enough to support 5 splits(so that when we sold the house, if the new owners wanted to have all the bedrooms air conditioned, they could add on splits).  But they don't have/make a 5 split sized compressor so the next step up would have been an 8 split compressor.....and that one was just much higher than we wanted to shell out for something a new owner might or might not want.  If they want to go full house cooling, they can replace the compressor on their dime with that much larger one we declined to buy.

Then when we priced this system out, to add heat to it(thus making it a heating AND cooling system)was only going to run $1,500 more.  And it's no fly-by-night equipment either.  We are talking Carrier and Mitsubishi, both top brands in their respective parts lines.
Hubs was talking to our neighbor after we signed on with this system, and he was telling Hubs that they had a split unit which they ripped out and replaced with ductwork and the whole magilla(there house is configured much differently from ours so it was feasible to install).  He said it never worked right and didn't cool anything(it was just a/c, not heat too).  Of course then Hubs found out he spent $3K on it installed and it was years ago and a brand nobody ever heard of and without a large enough seer rating to move any air.  And a "Johnny one truck"(aka a small time questionably self-employed HVAC person) installed it.

As I've talked about before we have a heating system that is slowly dying.  The house was built with ceramic storage heating units(that run off of the electric).  When our electric company offered an on/off peak rate plan, your ceramic storage would run off-peak when the rates were lower and then give off the heat during on peak hours, saving you money.  But they no longer offer it and the ceramic storage heating units are one by one ceasing to work.  It makes no sense to repair/replace them, especially since there is ONE GUY who repairs/replaces these within an hour's drive of here and he charges-get this--2 TIMES the Cost of a unit to replace one.  Yep.  The units cost about $1K each and he charges over $2K to take out the old one and hook the new one up.  If you are gaining no energy savings once the thing is replaced and operationally again, why spend that kind of money?!
Just to replace all 5 of these ceramic units would run us over $15 THOUSAND!!  And after spending all that, we'd be left with plain old expensive electric heat......no heat pump system that's less expensive to operate and NO COOLING option either!

So of the 5 ceramic storage units we have/had in the house, 3 have broken and we have replaced, so far, 1 with plain old baseboard electric heat.  And the stupid thing is, we didn't have the ceramic units in every room of the house, just the main floor and the master bedroom so it wasn't a house wide system to begin with.
Getting a combined heat and a/c system just made sense and as the 2 units that are still working stop, we can just rip them out.  The rooms that never had ceramic units have baseboard anyway and they are fine as is.

So within the next 2 weeks, we will have sorted out our heating/cooling problems and have that major obstacle to selling this house when we are ready to do so out of the way.
We spent a good chunk of change(but we knew we would be from the research I had done)but I think we accomplished a solution on the cheap compared to other possibilities.
But we spent LESS than replacing all the ceramic units would have cost plus we get a system that will cost less to operate AND we get a/c with the deal.
Nice. 8-)))

I am just glad that this is out of the way and off my list! 8-)
I figure too we have increased the value of the house about 10-15%.
We missed out on a rebate from the electric company to have this system installed by one month. ugh
But we do get a $300 tax credit next tax year....not a refund, just a credit when we go to do our taxes for 2013. 
Rah.

The only down side will be having to keep my hand steady enough to write that check to the company. lol

So #1 heating/cooling problem solved and it's onward to planning the next project.....which one that is yet?.....I don't know.  ;-)
Needless to say, none of the other projects we need to do are as expensive as this one.
Thank goodness for my Money Savings Challenges over the past few years, huh?

 

Sluggy