House Hangover

[spryng]

We're both having a bit of a "what have we done??" reaction. Dr Lady has been looking at other houses and rentals to reassure herself. I just keep running the numbers. I know it's going to be okay, that buying will be better than renting, but boy are we both having a bit of an adulting hangover.

I woke up this morning much too early but couldn't fall back asleep because immediately my mind went to furniture layouts, paint, types of laundry machines, internet companies, cat logistics, booking a POD-esque moving apparatus, garage gym flooring, gardens, lighting, second hand doors, etc etc etc

At first I was excited about all the possibilities, but now I'm just overwhelmed.

I had to spend all of Saturday reading and sleeping to recover and it was glorious, but now we must get back to life. 1.5 weekends left before move-out and I keep wondering what else we can do right now to help the move go smoother. My mom remarked on how everything has just fallen into place for us and I wanted to shake her and remind her of the weeks and months of prep that has gone into all this. Some luck was involved, yes, but mostly it was a whole lot of planning and research and timelines and anxiety.

Now I'm going to go make a list for what else needs doing before move out day in t minus 23 days.

Comments

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

Yep...the smoother it looks to people on the outside, likely the more planning went into it from the inside!

[spryng.livejournal.com]

So true! I feel like I'm learning that again and again, but especially this year.

[kerrickadrian.livejournal.com]

It's like ducks.

Smooth sailing on the surface... little webbed feet PADDLING LIKE MAD under the water.

[spryng.livejournal.com]

Love that imagery :)

[audesapere.livejournal.com]

I think that's normal.

This site really helped me, but a lot has to do with my specific situation in Portland and just how bad the rental market here has gotten: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html?contentCollection=smarter-living&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Apparently "even if I could rent for free," the house i just bought "will pay for itself." SERIOUSLY.

It is a pain in the ass, but I, at least, after less than a week feel like I made a great decision and this will go well. it's been a rough week with lots of annoyances that snowballed into feeling like a crisis, but I think in a couple weeks when this starts feeling like My Home and not just "this weird house i paid $20k to house sit and still smells like a damned dog, which is probably why this move broke one of my cats," it will feel better. I just ordered a ton of Feliway.

The only advice I'd have so far is:

1. If you're like me, I really regret not stipulating that the sellers had to clean the house as well as vacate it. I keep finding "surprise" random crap they left behind, some of which is like, "score, another Tupperware container" and a lot of which is like, "What am i going to do with one baby shoe?" My cats keep finding kibble under the washer. Just as I was typing this Dziga pulled another tupperware lid out from under the stove. He can't find the letterbox a lot of the time, but apparently he can sense with laser precision wherever someone left junk.

2. I wish I had budgeted for unexpected stuff a bit more. I had figured, $500 because moving always involves a ton of unforeseen expenses, and i think it's amplified now. I had to buy a lawn mower. got a great deal at an estate sale this weekend. also shelves. also estate saled - but i had to rent a uHaul truck to do it. My small smart cat is so angry and traumatized I just had to Amazon Prime ("just had to" ugh) a bunch of Feliway because I was getting really worried. $66 including tip.

3. It IS overwhelming and another thing I've learned is like, literally everyone will have an opinion on what you should do. I guess it is like parenting. Like my place has a huge yard. And my real estate agent, whom I love, had this huge verbal prescriptive list of everything i should do. me, i'm a vegetarian because i hate plants. I managed to plant a tomato plant this weekend. I am not a decorative gardener. She also has this vision of my knocking down one of the walls in the kitchen and making a great room. I....just want to get through the summer, man.

Hm, what else...I knew this already, but you can get SO MUCh quality house stuff from estate sales. Estatesales.net. Truly make your house a grandma house! I spent $200 this weekend, but i got a $400 mower for $110, a weed whacker for $20, and a fuck ton of shelves, dish towels, bath towels (all mine had become ragged and gross), cleaning stuff, dustpans, etc....and it keeps things out of landfills, if you care about that sort of thing, plus it's all at a huge discount. Something to consider!

[spryng.livejournal.com]

Oooh that site. Good to look at that again with our actual numbers. It helped when we were initially deciding whether or not to foray into this whole buying a house thing. The housing prices are just so effing cheap there, and rent so ridiculously high. Even if we sell the house at the same price we bought it for, we'll still come out way ahead.

We minimized the down payment as much as possible so we'll have a lot more wiggle room for unexpected stuff. Already it looks like we need to install a dryer vent. x.x Idk how the renters were doing laundry, but this was the one house we looked at that had neither a washer nor dryer. Oh well. It's also in such good shape we really can't complain.

The house is like, squeaky clean already and no one is living there so I hope it'll be in that shape when we move. There were definitely some we looked at tho, that would have needed some deep, deep cleaning before hand.

Omg estate sales! How did I forget about those! Thanks!! I was thinking of second hand stores and Craigslist, but estate sales have so much more. Like lawnmowers, exactly. It doesn't have much lawn, but we'll still need to mow it a few times before winter hits.

Also also I've been reading all of your posts I've just been a bit bad about commenting on everything lately. o.o So I 100% appreciate all of your insight.

[audesapere.livejournal.com]

Estate sales are great because it's useful stuff, but not sentimental. I always get dish soap from them. It's not like it's haunted. And if you need a washer dryer ALWAYS go to an estate sale. nobody wants the heirloom washer. Everyone dies with dirty laundry (literally & figuratively). I saw 3 sets this weekend. Just be sure you get there early and go to a reputable company, not just like, the family running it - which is why I recommend eStateSales.net. I usually go to Peerless' estate sales since they guarantee all electronics, but I think they are just in Portland and SoCal. :-/

also, after you close on the mortgage, literally every single person in the world will try to sell you life insurance. Be prepared (haha). it's a good idea to have it anyway, but i've been a bit surprised by just HOW many sales pitches I've gotten from EVERYONE.

[audesapere.livejournal.com]

ex. https://www.estatesales.net/MI/Southfield/48076/1213902?highlight=Washing%20Machine+washed
https://www.estatesales.net/MI/Fenton/48430/1253070?highlight=Washer+washer

of course, i also have a spare washer and dryer i can sell you if you want to drive to Oregon and back :-P

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

LOL that is so random about the life insurance.