Moving

For the last year we have been trying to move.  Our house was built in 1976, and needed upgrades and renovations completed.  My husband and I already did a lot of work to the inside of the house but we still needed to complete a ton of outside projects.  --Like build a new garage (the old one was falling down), re-side the house, upgrade the windows and doors.  EXPENSIVE.  We had to make up our mind if we were going to spend our time and money on our current house or look for a different home.

After our decision to move to a different house, we listed our house last June (June 2012) with a realtor.  We had lots of interest and offers to purchase.  Every offer we accepted ended up falling through.  VERY frustrating.  In the fall, we decided to take our house off the market and stay in our house for a few more years.  Not long after we made the decision to stay, our septic system backed up. Oi!

Our fall and winter of 2012 were busy with cleaning up the downstairs and repairing the damage.  We also tackled renovating the downstairs and the upstairs bathrooms.

In the spring of 2013, we listed our house.  We decided to try our luck again at selling.  Our house was on the market for one day, and we accepted our first offer.  After, what seemed like forever, waiting for purchaser’s conditions to be removed… the final purchase contract was signed!  YAY!

Our house hunt began again.  We had looked at houses last year, and some of the houses we were interested in were still available and on the market.  We had to be out of our old house by May 31, 2013.  This didn’t give us much time to find our new house, get an inspection, line up financing and secure a possession date before May 31.  Just our luck, my husband was up north with work and he wasn’t scheduled to be back for a few weeks when we accepted our offer.  We never imagined our house would sell so fast.  To get a start on our house hunt, I got a babysitter and looked at some houses on my own with our realtor.  (So much easier to look at houses without kids!)  I was able to narrow our search to 3 good houses. 

When my husband got home, we put an offer on our 1st choice and the offer was accepted.

We got possession on May 17th.  Here is our new home!…



More pictures to follow!

As Always,
Sandra

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Towel Washing Advice

Do you have bath towels that don’t absorb water?  How about stinky washcloths or dishcloths?  I’ve found a solution…



Vinegar.

When I get new towels, here is what I do after I get them home from the store.  I add about 1 cup of vinegar to the wash cycle.  No need to measure, just pour.  I do this for the first couple times I wash them.  This allows the towels to absorb water better.  If you have colored towels, vinegar also helps to set the color.



I also use vinegar as a fabric softener.  Don’t worry about the smell of vinegar in your laundry.  The smell is gone after the clothes are washed.  If you still smell vinegar, just give your clothes or towels an extra rinse.  Much cheaper than store bought fabric softener!

If you have stinky washcloths or dishcloths, try adding vinegar to the wash cycle to get rid of the smell.  If that doesn’t work, try soaking the cloths in a solution of 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water for an hour and then throw them in the washing machine.  Vinegar has natural antibacterial properties which gets rid of that yucky smell!

Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

As Always,
Sandra

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Decision… White Towels?

I’ve struggled with this decision for years.  Invest in white towels or not.  I’ve heard mixed reviews on keeping white towels looking clean, bright and fresh looking.  The last thing I want is stained or grey marked white towels.  YUCK.

I decided to take the plunge.  I looked a little online to get an idea of prices to replace all the towels in our house.  I scared myself.  I’ve never bought bath towels for our house.  Our collection of towels was a colorful and eclectic mix of house warming gifts, grad gifts (graduating from high school, yep that old), and towels my husband had before we got married.  On my last visit to Costco, I came across some white towels and checked out the price.  I couldn’t believe it…

Wash Cloths (24 pack) for $12.79 or $0.53 each
Hand Towels (12 pack) for $18.49 or $1.54 each
Bath Towels (6 pack) for $25.49 or $4.25 each



The towels are nothing fancy.  Plain white 100% cotton towels.  I’ve used them for a couple months now and I’m really impressed with them so far.  They are soft and are holding up well.  Still looking CLEAN! 

I’ve retired all our old towels into rags.  My new towels make laundry easier.  They all get detergent and a little bleach.  No need to sort different colors to different bathrooms, since all our bathrooms get the same white towels.

Best part… I was able to replace all the towels in our house and didn’t break the bank!  If these white towels don’t work out for us, I don’t feel so bad since I was able to get 6 bath towels for the price of 1 towel at another store.  CRAZY!

Check out my advice for washing towels, click here.

As Always,
Sandra