Please post tips for preparing for and surviving renovation?
Comments (10)
suzanne_sl
11 years agoNow that spring weather is here - or almost depending on where you live - I can recommend an outdoor kitchen on the back patio. We bought a 10 x 10 pop up from Costco that looked sort of like this
except we kept 3 sides on with the "door" sides pulled back. Inside we put the peninsula that came out of the kitchen, a folding table, the MW, a Coleman stove, and the appropriate kitchen ware needed for basic meals. The refrigerator was in the living room right next to the TV - weird. The garage 10 feet away has a utility sink that was very handy, but you could make do with the garden hose if necessary, maybe attached to a camping sink. Lots of paper plates and plastic silverware is useful. We did have to spray around the edges for ants, but the pop-up itself did very well in wind and rain. This was a very workable solution for us.Related Discussions
new apartment survival advice please
Comments (6)Oh, there are lots of resources on the Internet if you care to search for them. And what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. That said, however, there are a few rules that seem to work for everyone: - Pay yourself first. If you want to save money, take it out of your paycheck first. Many financial institutions will transfer funds periodically into a savings account. Do it. It will be a lot harder to spend money you don't have in your savings account. And if you have to budget around that payment first, it will be easier to make it a habit. - Get into the habit of paying for things as you buy them, not paying for them on credit, even if you know you have the money. Or translate a purchase into work effort: if you're making $10/hr, buying that new CD will cost you about two hours of work effort (actually more than that if you are grossing$10/hr, not netting $10/hr. Is it worth two hours of labor for that CD? You can decide. Knowing the true cost of things is a good way to decide if you want to complicate your life with them. - Pay your bills on time. If you can take advantage of electronic bill-paying services (without them charging you a bundle), use them. That way you don't have to worry about when to send the payment and if you have stamps, etc. What I do is put all my (non-electronic) bills in one place and go through that pile every Sunday night. I pay the bills that are due in the next 7-10 days and that's how I keep up with them. That can work for you if you get into the habit of checking at a set time every week. - If money is really tight, think about a roommate (one that doesn't necessarily share your bed). While that person can increase utility costs some, there aren't that many of them in most apartments, and cutting your rent in half has got to be an appealing idea. Good luck!...See MoreTips on surviving a gut remodel?
Comments (33)robotropolis: well said. And funny as heck. I am trying to skip over the "i need a vacation" and move straight on to acceptance. It doesn't help that my family doesn't quite want to follow my guidance on how to live in our modified house. A tantrum might be in order. I'm flying to NOLA for the weekend on Friday. I've encouraged the contractors to take the day off. We've already had to bail for the in-laws' and kennel the pets once, while the furnace was out. I, too, am home all day, and I rather love watching them work (which means I'm getting less work done myself), but I've managed to stick my nose in a few times to prevent mistakes. The weather in Chicagoland is causing delays. Our GC is my husband's cousin, which is brilliant in a lot of ways, but also a slight tightrope act in that I love my husband's family more than my own and don't want any bad feelings are a result. They also live in the far west suburbs, which means it's a hike for them to get here. A hike that is far worse when there's snow. We've had other contractors mess up bits and pieces of our house, and it's nothing short of wonderful to see the thoughtful, careful, meticulous work these guys are doing for us. They are even't close to the cheapest, but the other contractors weren't exactly cheap either, and we couldn't get through to them that, yes, we really want to spend 2/3 the value of the house on fixing it up. So please do a proper job and send us a bill. I'm also glad to know I'm not the only "Boss Lady," sherri58. That was another problem with other contractors that I no longer have. They would always look to my husband for guidance, and this is just not his domain. He put this all in my capable hands and everyone from the architect to the plumber has been made aware that I'm in charge. As it turns out, I've got some light construction experience under my belt (I can even weld). No one is going to "little lady" me. :-)...See MoreSurvival tips for really long flights?
Comments (48)A good friend of mine knits while travelling. For the first few years after 9/11, she was unable to use knitting needles, but now people can do so. Ambien. I've never tried the stuff, but I've heard so many stories of diverse reactions, l certainly wouldn't want to experiment in the air. Alcohol. If you can handle a drink or three on the ground, go ahead, but note that high altitudes will make the stuff go to one's head much faster than on the ground. Cut yourself off sooner. Unless you like airplane toilets, cutting back on diuretics may be indicated. Although, yes, it's a good excuse to get up and move occasionally. If you are sensitive to any foods, avoid those. Those compression socks sound like an excellent idea! Reading material is essential. A magazine or two, a paperback, an e-reader... I'm not afraid of flying (momentary holding of breath as we take off and land aside). My problem is the extreme discomfort at being folded into seats not meant for tall people with bad knees. Hence I always aim to get aisle seating. Since my last flight, I now have a bad ankle. At any rate, due to my size and leg issues, it is impossible for me to sleep on planes. I suspect not even morphine would do it... i do try to sneak a leg into an edge of that aisle where it won't trip anyone, and drowse a bit, but that trolley (which needs the full aisle) comes by every 30 minutes! At 2 am, really???...See MoreFall renovation (ok, ok... really just a brag post)
Comments (12)As far as feeding, my maintenance plan is very simple (maybe too simple?) - OceanGro (my local version of Milorganite) all year, finishing with a synthetic winterizer. Plus whatever Morpheus tells me to do after reading my Logan Labs soil test. This fall I’ve been applying Potassium Sulfate which will continue into spring. I’ve used the Winter Survival but am not brand loyal with synthetics, so it varies year to year which one I actually use. I’ve used Mag-I-cal, but only when soil tests indicated it was needed. Other than that I just use a variety of pre and post emergents for weeds control....See More
breezygirl
11 years agophiwwy
11 years agoNicole
11 years agoraehelen
11 years agoWe were fortunate enough to have a basement kitchen that we could move into. Lucky for us, cuz we starting gutting kitchen in June, and granite didn't get put in till the end of November... one thing I learned, you don't really have a functional kitchen until you have a sink!
Useful for us, little portable cart with coffee maker, and all coffee/tea supplies. We had tons of company that summer (of course! well-original completion date was supposed to be Aug 08! Ha!). DH and I preferred it downstairs, but our company wanted it upstairs (we had patio table set up in gutted DR)--honestly can't remember if we used hose or bathroom to fill coffee...
Amazing how little space you actually do need, note my ~ 2ft of counter and most of the time it had a drying rack on it! We kind of enjoyed it...viewed it as 'camping with all the amenities"! Maybe part of it was the little table we had in basement was from our first apartment, so brought back pleasant memories!
I had packed kitchen stuff in open boxes, so that it was reasonably easy to retrieve things. Seldom used items got packed away, and some never got unpacked...good time to get ruthless and declutter! This 'kitchen' was my craft room/plant starting room, so most of those cupboards and drawers were already filled with my supplies, I think I took over the large upper for plates and glasses, etc.
DCkitchen13
11 years agosara_the_brit_z6_ct
11 years ago
Gooster
11 years ago
williamsem
11 years agoUm, excuse me , Breezy, but these are -smoothies-, not mere juice boxes, lol! Though I suppose in a pinch...
But seriously, they are pretty healthy as far as alcoholic beverages go. Those boxes are all fruit juices and fruit purée. And the alcohol is for mental health.
We have demo starting 4/29, but Mom and I are taking out all the cabinets on the 27th/28th so she can put them in her garage. I'm looking at my hood on the floor, the Advantium comes on the 22nd, really starting to become real!
ginny20