Category Archives: House and Home

Almost There

Posted in House and Home, Kara and Kyle, Moving by

We have a week to go before we move. A week! That’s 7 days! *insert happy dance here* We visit the Notary on Tuesday to sign all the paperwork. Hopefully it doesn’t take long and Kyle and I will be able to have a tasty lunch downtown before I have to work. We’ll see!

I’m more or less all packed. All that’s left to go are a few kitchen things and our clothes. Our moving schedule is going to go something like this:

Day 1/Possession Day: Pick up keys in the morning, move some stuff over in my car, leave Kyle a key, go to work, come home from work, move the essentials (kitchen, clothes, bathroom stuff), sleep at new house! We’re also having the cable/Internet installed the same day too, which is pretty exciting.

Day 2: Move all the big stuff. The beds, couch, TV and heavy stuff will be moved in. This will be the day were I just stay out of the way and let Kyle, his uncle, and his mom’s boyfriend move stuff. I’m just a weak little girl after all!

Day 3: Unpack boxes! I have to work at 5pm, so hopefully we can get it all done before then!

I’m soooooo looking forward to it all!

Anyone have any moving tips? Tricks? Horror stories?

The Hunt is On

Posted in Growing Up, House and Home, House Hunting, Kara and Kyle, Life, Money by

Without getting into the nitty, gritty details, Kyle and I have decided it’s finally time to buy a place of our own. We’ve been saving money for a down payment for nearly two years, and while it’s been slow going, we’ve finally met our goal.

It’s amazingly stressful, not that I thought that it would be a breeze. Number crunching has got us both stressed, more Kyle than myself, but  we have to start somewhere.

Last night we looked at four different places, three houses and a townhouse, with our Realtor and came out with a pretty good view on things.

Our first stop was an interesting little modular/maybe a mobile very close to where we are now. Pros: Nice big yard, good area. Cons: Dirty, close to highway. Verdict? Nay

Our next stop was the townhouse which was a private sale. Pros: Central AC, nice and clean, low strata fees, allows pets. Cons: Very small yard (but enough for Daphne to pee on), one parking spot, being very close to the neighbours. Verdict? We’re keeping this on the “List of Considerations”

Our third house was in an older area of town. It looked really nice online, but it was slightly more deceiving when we walked through. And the basement? It didn’t have a staircase, but a ladder. Terrifying. Pros: Close to the University. Cons: Needs a lot of updates. Verdict? Nay.

The last place was Downtown in a nice quiet, reputable area. We’re pretty sure it used to be owned by a Grandma & Grandpa type. Pros: Good area, decent yard. Cons: Needs work (possibly electrical), appliances need updating. Verdict? Not too sure.

We’re hopefully going to go look at a couple more next Wednesday, but we’re feeling really good about our hunt this time around. Last time we were looking it was right before  the cutoff for 0-down payment and we felt rushed. This time? This time we have time to really look at what we want, and in better areas of town too.

Overall, the hunt is going good. Our Realtor is an awesome guy and really laid back; we don’t feel pressured by him to hurry up and pick a place. He gets that we’re first-time buyers and wants to make sure we find the right fit. :)

So there you have it! Part 1 of “Kara and Kyle’s Great House Hunt”

Progress Report: 96 in 1096

Posted in 96 in 1096, House and Home, Photos by

Last month, I started my 96 in 1096 list. I won’t go into details, but you can check it out here.

*****

After a weekend of shopping, I realized that I have way too many clothes. I had ZERO hangers available in my closet. I searched Kyle’s closet and he didn’t have any either. Dammit. Cue my 96 in 1096 list!

One of my things to do was to organize and clean out my closet. I don’t know how long it will last since I love clothes, but I did it! Here’s a before picture:

I didn’t even have room to hang my work clothes up. The shoe boxes are storage, not shoes, and that big green case is my gun safe. (Yeah, yeah, I know, hillbilly FTW.)  The shelving unit in the middle had a mix of shorts and junk. Basically, it was a mess. It even leaked out onto the back of my door because my sweaters didn’t fit in the closet:

Basically, the story is: What I moved in with Kyle I left my giant walk-in closet behind but brought my walk-in closet sized wardrobe. That was a problem, so on Monday I tried to tidy up my closet a bit. I tossed out anything I hadn’t worn in more than 6 months (not including my dresses and summer stuff). I now have a huge garbage bag full of clothes to take to charity.

Here’s my closet now:

Not too shabby, right? And the great thing? I have SOOO many free hangers! I even donated some to Kyle’s closet. I rolled up my shorts to make more space and threw out a bunch of the junk. I designated the top left section for my work clothes and the bottom left section for after work/weekend clothes. The right side is for my sweaters and more jeans. I just wish that cleaning out my closet was as fun as Carrie and the girls make it look in the original SITC movie.

Photo from here

Happy Wednesday!