ecandle96's Profile

These are amusing and useful! Of course my problem always with putting things in an unusal and "safe"place is that I forget where they are.

Umm, is it just me or is obvious that tupperware has been serving this purpose for many years? Sure, Mason jars are cute, but I've been carrying heartier meals with me for quite some time now.

Successful people frequently have organized and non-cluttered households because they can afford to hire people to clean them. So let's just get that out of the way. Also, getting rid of a few rolls of wrapping paper or old towels may seem like nothing to a person with money, but quite the opposite for people who need to watch their spending. Which, by the way, is most people.
I enjoy AT and take a lot away from the organization and de-cluttering posts but the sanctimony around them is getting a bit out of hand. A minimalist is not a better person. I think of my grandparents, who saved everything and yeah, their house was cluttered. (and as a kid I loved it, full of interesting treasures) But they were also homeless during the Depression, despite being well-educated, and that experience taught them to keep anything you might need, because you never know when it might all be taken away.They were not huge consumers, they actually were super frugal, keeping anything that would serve a purpose. That mentality is really just a different side of the same coin. If part of the point of this post is resisting the urge to buy stuff, than you make do with what you have.

Staging definitely is smoke and mirrors, but necessary for selling. Most potential buyers (people who probably don't read AT) have very little imagination when it comes to seeing what a house could be. That is the sad truth, but good for those of us who can see beyond the surface aesthetics if it means we can get a bargain on a place.
I'm sometimes amazed at the difference in level of quality of listings in different cities. My experience of looking in Chicago and Los Angeles is that Chicago realtors generally put up really nice pictures while a lot realtors in L.A. put absolutely NO effort into them at all. Fuzzy photos with dirty dishes.

I was astounded to find out that orange farmers treat the oranges to turn them, well, orange! Perfectly ripe oranges often have patches of green and yellow but of course most sellers believe people won't buy them becuase they'll think their unripe.

Someone above mentioned all the time it takes driving places. I guess part of it is a readjustment in how to run errands. Every summer I spend a couple of weeks up at a cottage in northern Michigan, with the nearest grocery store a good 40 minutes away. You do your best to buy everything in one trip and if you're out of something, oh well, you have to improvise.
For you going from SF to Illinois I think the biggest shock for you might be the weather!

You had me at Lindemans Framboise. I'll have to try it with both the cheap and expensive beers!

Wish this was something one could have more control over but it's hard. I bought a condo in a new building that was emptty, but talked to a couple of other people moving in, they were great. Then the people above me moved in and were utterly terrible. I knew it the minute I saw them moving in their stuff. The kids were completely out of control, up at all hours of the night and day, the husband blew up constantly at his wife and kids, and even made vague threats to people in the building. I tried to talk them several times about the noise (one time they set off my alarm!) but they refused to compromise in any capacity. I developed a sleeping disorder it was so bad. Because we were a new building we didn't have an association for me even to complain to. I shouldn't be glad about the demise of anyone's marriage but I was ecstatic when the couple divorced, the wife and kids moved out, and the husband eventually sold the place. If they hadn't I might've had to move. I love my condo but my quality of life was seriously compromised for too long. Neighbors absolutely can make or break a place. I rarely see or hear my new upstairs neighbor and for that reason alone I adore him.
If you can, definitely talk to the neighbors before deciding to move.

Very cute. I think Betty's is the most clever.

I think one of the things I've realized about making friends from the few times I've moved is that you might have to go through a phase where you have what I call "transitional" friends. You hang out with whoever might be halfway interesting and usually after about a year you've found at least one or two people you really click with. Maybe you even met them through the transitional friends. You might eventually scale back your time with some of the transitional friends and that's okay. You'll always be grateful to them, they're just not necessarily people who are meant to be your good friends. Be patient with yourself that it may take awhile to find that special platonic someone.