Taking the First Step!

Even though we still have six months until we list our house, we felt like we were taking that first step yesterday when we met the realtor, Diane. We were very pleased with the meeting, and with this realtor.

 

 

Harry took this picture of the cats watching me fill their water dish.

I’m waiting patiently for a little attention.

 

Diane has a great record of sales, even over the past few years when the market has been challenging. She makes great use of technology to market one’s home, and regards the internet as one of the most useful tools to selling the home.

Hey, why are all my toys picked up?

 

So the results of the meeting…we’re going to back up our listing date just a little bit, to the middle of October. Since we couldn’t possibly go anywhere until after the first of the year, if the house were to sell right away, the timing would be a little too tight.

As I’ve mentioned before, it is not possible to live in the fiver up here once our house sells. We can as long as we have our driveway to park in, but we don’t have anywhere to move to. Campgrounds in this area are closed by October 15th. We’ve looked around and tried to think of an option that would work, and…it just won’t work. So we are back to having the closing at a time when we can just hitch up, jump in the truck and head south. I did find a campground about two and a half hours away that is open year round. So that will be our first destination if we head out during the winter months.

Ahhh, but I’m getting ahead of myself….back to the house sale….Diane had nothing but good things to say about all of the improvements we have made, and the condition of the house. She expects that it will show very nicely. She would like to take some pictures of the outside of the house when we don’t have a full driveway. So that will be done in August, while we are off to the Adirondacks for a few days.

So, we are back to working on our ever dwindling list. Thankfully, Diane had no improvements to suggest beyond the ones that we have already done, and those we plan to finish over the coming months. She did suggest one test that the buyers will most likely request. Depending on the results, there may be one more expense that we have to add to our list. But I figure it’s better to know now than to be surprised in November or December. So we will add that to our plans for the next month or so.

We’re almost to the weekend! And only 44 days now until our first trip of the season!

PS I uploaded my recent pictures this morning when I was starting this blog, and every one was a picture of the cats. haha So I decided to make it a cat themed picture day.

Another “Got A Lot Done” Weekend

Another great weekend, lots on our list getting checked off.

Yesterday was the more low key day of the weekend. I got home from work at 2:30. Harry had spent the morning working on touch up projects around the house. They are all little things, but it takes awhile to go through each room and get them done.

When I got home, I worked down in the basement, piling up the last of the stuff that will be going in the garbage at some point, and sweeping up the floor.

Today has been a super productive day. We broke down more of the cardboard in the garage to get as much as possible into the recycling bin for this week.

 

Harry’s brother stopped by this morning and, when he left, an old pellet stove and a rototiller left with him. Yay! Another couple things gone.

 

 

We also went through all those piles of coats I took from the closet a few days ago. We filled three big bags for the clothes collection box, and filled another tote with a few that we want to keep and will put into storage.

We also spent some time over in the fiver.

Harry worked on putting up a pull handle that we bought for the screen door.

The directions appeared quite complex.

 

 

 

 

But the end result looks great!

 

 

 

 

 

And added a towel bar over the bathroom door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then it was time to sit down for a few minutes, and just enjoy…

 

 

 

 

According to the weather forecast, next weekend looks to be sunny and pleasant, so we went over to Home Depot today and picked up some materials for another project on our to do list…

 

 

Sprucing up the outside of the house!!

 

 

 

 

Just have to make our way through another work week first.  

We are still keeping a good pace, since we want to get as much done as we can before we hit the road for our first trip – we will be heading out for Hartwick Heartlands Campground in just 47 days!!

Stuff, Stuff, Stuff!!

Where does it all come from? Today I tackled a couple more areas – the hall closet and the basement.

I don’t even know how we crammed all these coats and jackets into the space we had!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there are still a bunch of coats actually hanging in the closet!

 

 

At least we have cleaned out some areas…

 

the basement (still needs some cleaning up, but most of the stuff is out of here anyway)…

 

the office…

the bedrooms…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One week from today we have an appointment with the realtor. And only 51 days until our first camping trip!!

Getting More Off the List

It’s been another one of those productive weekends.

Yesterday Harry worked on another project for the fiver – hooking some speakers we were given at Christmas up to our sound system.

He did an awesome job! They are attached to the wall of the basement, but they have extra speaker wire attached to them, and are easily taken down and placed on a table below the basement door. All we have to do is turn on the speakers in the bedroom, and we can listen to music outside.

Today my sister Denise and her family came by. The kids stayed at our house while Denise and her husband Mike went into Albany. We had fun hanging out in the fiver, and playing a few games. It was a little cool, but we turned on the fireplace and we were nice and cozy.

 

We have almost finished cleaning out the area above the garage. The piles in the back are going to Harry’s kids.

 

 

The stuff in the foreground is either being given away or going to the garbage if it’s no good.

 

 

 

While they were here, Mike helped Harry bring up a ping pong table that we had in the basement. It is the last really big piece that we needed to bring up the stairs. The basement looks bigger now that it is out of there. Only a few more things to pick up down there and the basement will be all cleaned out.

Phew! I can’t believe the weekend is over already. We pack as much as we can into these two days each week. But the good news is that there are only 54 days left until our first camping trip of the season – then we will have some time to relax.

Making Progress

We have been continuing our work out in the garage.

Look, there is a floor under there after all!!

 

After I got home from work last night, we worked for awhile trying to organize all the stuff out here into piles.

This whole pile of stuff is garbage.

The challenge is getting it into our garbage bin. It will probably take at least 5 or 6 weeks to get rid of the majority of it. The small pile of cardboard will go into the recycling bin – that will be gone next week.

We are planning to get a dumpster in August. Whatever we have left at that point will go in there, along with the remains of a ramshackle shed that we have in our back yard and intend to take apart within the next month or so.

And this is the main area left to go through – the shelving in the back and Harry’s workbench. Most of the larger items in this picture will be going to family members.

I am so looking forward to having an empty garage! It will be a few months before we get to that point, I think. But we’re definitely making progress!

Yay – Freecycle! :)

I discovered Freecycle a couple years ago, and don’t even remember where I first heard about it. But it sure has been a godsend for us this year. This morning I listed several items as available for the taking….

a set of outside table and chairs…

 

…a large suitcase

 

 

 

…a set of camping dishes

 

 

 

 

and three sets of modular shelves…

Tonight, just a few hours later, they are all gone except for the suitcase! I may end up reposting it, if it doesn’t go this time, but I have never had something that didn’t go on freecycle.

And, one of my co-workers came by and took our deck bar and chairs off our hands as well…

The stuff is just marching out of the garage!!

It was another gorgeous day, and the leaves are coming out like crazy.

 

This is the view from the fiver’s front step…

 

 

 

In other house news, I called a realtor whose name we have been given, and we have an appointment with her for two weeks from today for an initial meeting and market analysis! Six months left until our house goes on sale!!

And One More Time

So, now that the weather has been getting nicer, we have started to tackle the last remaining area that needs to be cleaned out – the storage area above the garage.

I wish I had thought to take a picture before we started because we have already cleaned out a bunch of stuff.

If you can use your imagination, this pile of cardboard used to be A LOT of boxes (with a corresponding pile of Styrofoam innards).

 

And our recycling bin for this week is filled with as much or more cut up cardboard.

 

 

 

This pile is destined for the garbage bin – but it will take several weeks to get it all taken away.

 

 

 

 

And this is what is left upstairs to still be cleaned out.

 

 

 

I keep saying that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s going to be a lot brighter when all of this STUFF is gone!