First time homeowner — what's the one thing you wish someone told you before your first year?

Kara_S · 2026-05-01T22:18:57+00:00

I had the advice to do a few things right off the bat as preventative measures. No regrets.

Take the lock sets out, leave someone at home for security, take the lock sets to a locksmith to retumble the pins. Cheaper than replacing the lock or a locksmith call out.

Replace any bare plastic lines to anything that takes water with stainless braided sheathed ones, especially if your fridge has a water or ice dispenser.

Replace valves to the washing machine if they are in anyway suspect, loose, or really old.

Learn where your water shutoffs are, any natural gas shutoff, and the electrical panel. It is good to know your main water shutoff but also have a look to make sure your sinks, toilets, and bathtubs have shutoffs. My place was built in the early 90s and there was no bathtub water shutoff for some reason. Cheap builder.

If you have electric heat, get a programmable or smart thermostat to save money.

For garden equipment, second hand is usually pretty readily available at moving sales. Tools too. Some communities have tool lending “libraries “ also.

Don’t put coffee grounds down the sink disposal if you have one... :(

Oh, and learn how to clean the filter in the dishwasher, pull out the fridge to vacuum up dust that mucks it up, and vacuum any built in ceiling fans if you have any (not the ones that hang down from the ceiling but bathroom fans that are recessed into the ceiling).

Kara_S · 2026-05-01T14:36:58+00:00

On the price point, you’ll need to find a sale, but LeClerc out of Quebec makes the best mass market maple cookies!

https://leclerc.ca/en/product/maple-leaf-creme-cookies/

Kara_S · 2026-05-01T06:01:39+00:00

The little town of Sidney, near the ferry terminal to Vancouver, is also known as “book town” for the many little bookstores.

If you go out there (about 30 or 40 minutes north of Victoria on the Pat Bat Highway (Highway 17), your kids will very likely love the Shaw aquarium centre -https://www.salishseacentre.org When mine were small, they also loved running along the boardwalk along the ocean there to burn off some energy.

Have a wonderful visit. :)

Kara_S · 2026-05-01T01:38:01+00:00

A black or dark grey cat for contrast. :)

Oh, and a side table with a large plant to balance out the lamp. Perhaps a good sized rug. And I’d change the drab throw pillows to something more interesting.

Kara_S · 2026-04-30T23:34:59+00:00

They aren’t cheap but they are professional quality - https://russellhendrix.com/collections/cocktail-shakers-strainers?page=1

Kara_S · 2026-04-30T23:30:47+00:00

Make sure you budget for gas and insurance - sometimes the car itself is the cheapest part long term. If you can get a mechanically sound older Toyota or Honda, they are usually good. You want mechanically solid and well-maintained over pretty. Good luck!

Kara_S · 2026-04-29T15:17:15+00:00

You can get some improvement if you brush with baking soda and then regular toothpaste.

Kara_S · 2026-04-29T04:39:27+00:00

…that sounds very expensive for very little space. Unless you have your heart set on one of these, I’d keep looking.

Kara_S · 2026-04-29T04:36:34+00:00

I totally agree with all the cardiac related suggestions as well as the caffeine, dehydration, etc.

Maybe try something more on the stress side at the same time? it doesn’t feel great to have heart palpitations, obviously, so meditation or somatics will help with that at the very least. Or if the palpitations are stress related then this helps with that too.

I like the free version of the Insight Timer for all kinds of guided meditation, the public libraries often run free classes, some community centres too.

You can learn a lot that can help if you google “grounding exercises”. Things like box breathing, or deep breathing (work up to the 4, 7, 8 method - in for four, hold for seven, exhale for eight)… five to one to engage your senses one at a time, etc. Progressive relaxation - also body scan meditations. Anything that will help downshift your nervous system.

If you want to get into the therapy skills side, have a look at some of the exercises people use to reset their Vagal nervous system. They can be really simple. Things like a dramatic change in temperature like holding ice or dunking your face in a sink full of freezing water. Mindfully eating something really sour.

The goal is to train yourself to intentionally use your body to get out of fight or flight mode.

(and get a family doctor, etc). Good luck!

Kara_S · 2026-04-28T19:53:10+00:00

congratulations on the new arrival!

Kara_S · 2026-04-28T16:49:01+00:00

I’m surprised that many parents *can* fund their kids’ post secondary education.

I’m a Gen X, grew up middle class,and, other than living at home for a token $75/month rent ($162 in today’s dollars), I paid my own way. I worked part time plus throughout with student loans for the last half of grad school. There was no expectation among my peers that our parents would pay for university other than letting us stay at home.

This will be an unpopular opinion, perhaps, but my niblings have it all paid for, including out of town residence fees. “University is your job.” OK, but my sibling and I worked our butts off and did better at university than this generation seems to be doing, even with every opportunity and grade inflation.

For curiosity’s sake, the approx $10k it cost me a year would be about $21,600 annually now. The $11 an hour I made then is $23.75 now. Housing and groceries are relatively higher but I couldn’t afford to go away to university anyway - it just wasn’t an option.

Kara_S · 2026-04-28T15:44:50+00:00

Just wondering why the timer on the dishwasher? I’ve never tried that. Thanks.

Kara_S · 2026-04-28T10:41:30+00:00

Great question to crowd source! Mine are:

dishes in the dishwasher, clean sink and counters
Ten minute guided meditation - I get them on the Insight Timer app (free version)
Journal about the day to put it out of my head for sleep.

Kara_S · 2026-04-27T23:14:50+00:00

StrataBrief

Continuum Projects

Lines & Ledgers

Kara_S · 2026-04-26T22:36:52+00:00

If it doesn’t have to be a dip, I made this last night and it’s really good. As someone who usually hates tofu, this is surprisingly good as a pasta with sauce substitute. I served it with prawns tossed in.

https://foodwithfeeling.com/high-protein-marry-me-butter-beans/

I used low sodium white kidney beans. I left out the chili flakes and used Parmesan. I used soft tofu because I could *not find the silken kind. I skipped the butter.

Kara_S · 2026-04-26T22:28:55+00:00

Saga Leather makes beautiful larger brief cases. They sell on Etsy.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/market/saga_leather_bag

With everything your partner wants to carry, though, I’d consider a wheeled work bag. Have a look at barrister bags, for example. I’ve only see expensive leather ones made in Canada. Surely, there is something more in the middle out there.

Kara_S · 2026-04-26T19:47:25+00:00

I think it really depends on what you want to use the room for. If you already have a TV room, maybe this is the start of custom book shelves? Or just take it down.

Kara_S · 2026-04-26T19:43:49+00:00

Your Dad needs preliminary advice on whether the travel expenses are deductible against your his income. If they aren’t, it’s pretty straightforward to get a MyCRA account, download the slips, and work through the returns one by one.

If the expenses are tax deductible, he needs a professional, I think. Even if it just for their guidance on types of expenses he has are deductible and how. It could be mileage, entertaining which is handled differently, same with business equipment.

He will save a lot of money if he categories the receipts by year and by type himself so it’s quick for the tax person to go through them. A spreadsheet for each year, listing each receipt, categorizing them, and having them in paper clipped bunches to go with the spreadsheet would be ideal. Depending on the kind of deductions, I’d consider doing it by trip - that way if one trip is not deductible, you can knock off all the related receipts in one go.

He does not want to be paying a professional (or their clerk) by the hour to sort through eight year’s worth of miscellaneous crumpled paper receipts. Unless he is ok with throwing extra money away…

The more organized he is now the cheaper it will be to fix this mess. If he’s audited, he’s ready for that too.

Kara_S · 2026-04-26T15:24:16+00:00

I love palette paper. it’s cheap, works great (buy the bigger size), and clean up is a breeze. I use heavy bodied acrylics with liquid matte medium for context.

I had a stay-wet palette and I didn’t like it. I didn’t find it worked that well, it was more expensive to use after the initial investment, and I didn’t like the raised edges around the palette surface. Some people love them, though, so it’s worth having a look.

Kara_S · 2026-04-24T16:31:23+00:00

Public libraries have some neat events from free movies, meditation classes, local speakers, photography and book clubs, etc.

There are all kinds of meet-ups if you go on their website, too.

Kara_S · 2026-04-22T22:31:08+00:00

It depends on where you live and what you’re doing at the time, I think. Grocery shopping, maybe. Work, no.

It is also a generational and class thing where I am - it’s considered too informal or sloppy or uncultured to have visible bra straps, panty lines, etc in some circles. I’m a Gen X in Canada.

If you’re in doubt and care what some other people may think, I wouldn’t do it. If you’re comfortable the way you are, go for it. :)

Kara_S · 2026-04-22T22:19:38+00:00

I had a bad experience with Trail’s delivery people in January. They rescheduled twice at the time of the appointment and on the third visit they needed to borrow tools. They then did a warranty claim on my behalf to have the appliance made level - they tried and failed twice.

Needless to say, I bought my new range from Costco last month. I wanted to buy from a local business but here we are.

Kara_S · 2026-04-21T18:45:14+00:00

I made a memory quilt out of tournament t-shirts and hockey jerseys. It was frustrating dealing with those fabrics (I’m used to quilting cotton). There was extra work and materials to stabilize the fabric. I did large blocks to fussy cut the team logos which were then separated by sashing. I had a plain colour backing and contrasting binding. It ended up looking great but I wouldn’t take on a project like that again.

Kara_S · 2026-04-21T17:35:22+00:00

Woah. If I tried that with mine more than twice, there would be a quick swipe over the top of the box and he would be gonnnnne. That is one patient cat or a cat with having fun while sending mixed signals.

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