splash79's Profile

Unless they've changed things, be prepared to be swamped with emails if you signup for flylady. I tried them a couple of years ago and would get 5-6 emails a day from them, with only 1-2 being at all useful (to me). The rest either didn't apply to my household situation, were "testimonials" from people who used the system, and advertisements selling flylady branded stuff.

One more thing, I never, ever take my clothes off the hangers and pack them in boxes. I buy a box of cheap trashbags, make a hole in the bottom, slide the hangers through the hole, and tie the bottom closed. That way, you can hang the clothes up or slide them in small spaces without worrying that they will get dirty. Then, when you get to your new place, just take off the trashbags and hang them in the closet.

And the trashbags can still do double duty as bags for packing paper, protection of hardwood floors from random objects, or paint can drip protectors.

My husband and I collect shot glasses from places we've been and we use socks as packing material. Since our collection isn't to be used, it's not gross and they fit perfectly.

I also have a tip for picture frames. I cut my hand once on a piece of glass that had broken during a move, I started taping the glass on picture frames with painters tape. On smaller frames, I just do an X, but on larger frames, I do an X and a +. It won't keep them from getting broken, but it will usually keep any broken glass in place and keep it from sliding around and accidentally cutting you.

Also, I'd check out the local wine/beer places in your area before your move and see if they have toss the cases that have the dividers in them. Those are excellent for packing glasses!

My newbie essentials are, in order of importance: a box/pocket knife, Philips and flat head screwdrivers, tape measure, level, hammer, flashlight, and plunger. Everyone always seems to forget the plunger, but it always seems to be the thing you forget about until you REALLY need it.

I'd go even further and say to figure out how to turn the water off on your toilet before you use it. There are few things worse than panicking because of watching a toilet overflow due to old pipes and aren't sure how to stop it. Also, immediately locate your breaker box. I once sublet an apartment and had a brown out. I did a search for the breaker box by flashlight, looking in all the usual places, but couldn't find it. I finally called the power company, who basically decided I was a moron who didn't know what I was looking for. Turned out that the breaker box was in the basement (I was living in a house that was broken up into apartments) and didn't know it.

And really, multiple flashlights are a good idea, with extra batteries. Put one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen. I haven't lived in an apartment in years, but the power to my house goes out about 6-8 times a year, so I've got flashlights, candles, and lighters scattered in every room of my house.

Firefox and Chrome is all I use, unless I'm doing a microsoft update.

The whole tone of that article irritates me. The implication that, since I'm a woman, all I care about are curtains and pillows and will only dare wield a hammer if it's pink just drives me batty.

My parents used leaves to make patterns when they were building a concrete patio on their first home. It turned out pretty cool.

LOVE your room. We have a purple scheme in our bedroom and I've had difficulty trying to choose a wall color that would look nice that would be rather neutral. I've been thinking about a dark grey, but wasn't sure if it would make the room too dark. You've totally convinced me!

I vastly prefer the before picture, but I prefer brick. Kinda sad that all of the personality has been taken away.

I'm rather excited to get the ball rolling with this! I reached my limit this summer and decided I wasn't going to live in a house that I found boring, cluttered, and unappealing. So, I spent most of the summer going through rooms and purging/decluttering. I have a long way to go, but it's progress.

What I'm planning on focusing on for the fall cure is to making our house feel like we live here. I started with our dining room and I'm about halfway finished. It has a fresh coat of paint (no more off white that came with the house!) and we've decided to refinish the hardwoods, so I pulled up the carpet.

Part of my motivation for getting rid of stuff is also because I've slowly been "inheriting" parts of my mom's house. She's in the process of downsizing, so I'm getting furniture that I've had my eye on. That probably sounds counter-intuitive, but now I have places for my books (rather than them being boxed up in the closet) and a dresser for clothing (rather than them stuck in piles in the guest room). I've also discovered some funky/unique things that I didn't realize were hanging around, like some chairs that will look cool in various parts of the house, picture frames, etc.