The sense of dread that has been underlying my every thought since March is finally starting to abate. It's a relief to see the negative effects of moving so much come to a halt, and to begin on damage control. We're finally catching Mia up on school, getting back into a routine.
I'm excited to have a place to put everything- take everything out of boxes (lots of it for the first time since we were married!) We keep wandering around in shock at all the space we've acquired, and the fact that we're paying almost $200 less per month than we did renting.
We won't be decorating much- right now we're spending all our extra dollars trying to get fully functional. And most of those extra dollars have been going to amazing deals from ads we've found on Craigslist.
Kenmore refrigerator: $100
It's kind of old, but it's huge, clean, and has a water-in-the-door thingy! The original owners were so kind to discount it $300 and then keep it in their garage for us for a couple of weeks until we moved- every time I open it, or the girls get themselves a drink, I feel a little splash of gratitude.
Buffet and hutch: $130
This was advertised on Craigslist by a guy who owns a little furniture store that buys store models with damage, fixes them and re-sells them. I couldn't find anything like this new for under $800, so I'm still not sure how he made a profit off it, but whatever. I think we've had this china in its box since our wedding in 2002- it was the first thing I unpacked. :)
Maytag Neptune Dryer: $150
A little old lady had a stroke right after she bought this. :/
I have only been able to do one load of laundry a day for the last few months because the apartment dryers were so bad. The last dryer took 300 minutes to do a normal load (prematurely aged a lot of clothes) and it squeaked like metal against a chalkboard the entire time. This puppy has a sensor, and only runs until the clothes are dry, which is usually as fast our washer cleans! Warms my clothes and my heart.
And my favorite Craiglsist story. Sectional with two ottomans and storage: $350
Our first night here the kids wanted to watch a show on our $80 Craigslist TV (we got that months ago because Zach left our old monster TV back in Ohio) but I had our couch up in the front room to avoid further damage to the new upholstery Grandma made us. So while the kids sat on the tile, I looked up sectionals for the hundredth time, not really hoping to find anything and bummed that we hadn't found one in time to move it with the U-haul truck we'd rented and taken back that morning. I saw one for a reasonable price in our part of town and called. I told her we had just moved and that my husband might be able to stop by to see it after work. She gave me her address and we realized she was right next door. I went over with the kids (Zach had already talked to them and knew they had four-year-old triplets- when she told me her address I asked if she had triplets and kind of freaked her out- haha) and she said "I guess it was time for us to meet!" They gave us $50 off the price because of some wear (and maybe because it was just going next door, ha) and we carried it over and had a place to watch tv that night!
Aside from our new stuff, I'm also loving being able to open cabinets in the kitchen that don't smell like the halitosis of a mummy, being able to take pictures without flash because of all the windows and light!!, walking into the house with groceries from a garage, and not around a building, past everyone and their dog, and up two flights of stairs calling for three kids to keep up.
I can't describe the change in my psyche. Everything seems more... possible.
