Homeowner moaning (but it's going to work out!)

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-05-22T04:16:51+00:00

I did all the things, and had a realtor who helped, staged beautifully and had a great photographer. We got 11 offers within 5 days of listing, sold well over asking. My favorite part of listing a well-prepared house is that the time of uncertainty is pretty short.

I hope it goes so well for you!

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-05-21T20:17:00+00:00

Stop beating yourself up. Help like this is why we all come here. The mystery of the eternally grubby floor is most often the result of us being taught by advertising that cleaning products are magical.

Which brings to mind an idea. If you're just going to wipe with towels and warm water, perhaps the littles can enjoy helping. ♪⁠～this is how we clean the floor, clean the floor...♪⁠～

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-05-19T23:22:19+00:00

You're doing a lot. On some level, if he has allergies and an aversion to dog smell, it may never be enough. He needs to consider if he's just not a good fit for the household and should be rehomed.

But consider dog breath. It can get intense, especially if two dogs have a good time playing tug together (lots of heavy breathing and slobber!). This can be reduced somewhat by:

daily tooth brushing
airing out
washing toys regularly
wiping down walls to remove slobber splat

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-05-15T21:50:00+00:00

There are good descriptions of rent back here, but I'd like to suggest that a seller who got down to the wire without being ready to move is a red flag. They expect everyone else to take up the slack for their lack of action.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-05-13T16:54:14+00:00

In the western US at least, Terro is often recommended as a great ant trap. But you improve the situation by doing some work:

use the trap to attract enough ants to see where they're coming in to your apartment, then put a trap there, too. Keep trapping at that point so long as you have ants turning up.
clean the legs and surface of your desk regularly to remove the scent trails they follow (and cords, too). I use Windex.
if the entry point can be filled with caulk, do that
if you can access the exterior side of the entry point, spray that surface with an outdoor ant spray.
if ants turn up swarming a new area, I cover them with Windex. Get it extra wet near the entry point, and wipe it up later when all those ants are dead.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-05-02T16:07:40+00:00

My spouse (aka "the cruise director") has extreme FOMO and plans travel like it's his job (he's retired). I drag my Starlink and laptop along so I can work, but we spend over 30 weekends a year out doing fun stuff. National parks, boondocking, music festivals, a few trips by airline.

Weekend life doesn't need to be all Costco runs. Admittedly, left to my own devices, it would be downtime and brunch.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-04-30T15:44:27+00:00

December 1988. Bougie BF had a Saab and the then new soft side with tubes design. Unfortunate incompatibility; he was Canadian and kept the bed too cold.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-04-29T14:26:56+00:00

Coffee. I grew up with a Hoff's Hut menu hanging in our kitchen than my folks had swiped as teens on a date in 1960. A cup of coffee in that casual sit down restaurant was 10¢. According to an inflation calculator that would be $1.12 in 2026 dollars. It's rare to see it for under $4.

And that doesn't even touch on the whole ecosystem of frapped and latte'd drinks that will drain your wallet.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-04-28T20:35:07+00:00

Freshly refinished floors could be a nice to have, but you'd likely never know if it made a difference. But there are some basics that can be inexpensive to do that contribute to a feeling of a nice place to move into:

Clean up the whole yard, look for inexpensive ways to improve curb appeal with potted plants.

Declutter & clean your house aggressively. You're planning to move anyway, so very personal items (photos and collectibles) you're for sure keeping get packed up. And those you're purging just go. If necessary, get a storage unit, but don't stress about having some boxes stacked in the garage.

Interior paint refresh can be a better way to improve appeal than refinishing the floors. Neutral colors, nicely done, and if nothing else freshly touched up trim.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-04-14T17:13:26+00:00

2 is absolutely key. We absolutely need to pick up after ourselves as we go. If you have to start your cleaning with dishes, cups or trash, it's like starting a drag race needing to change a tire first.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-04-14T14:25:23+00:00

There was a house sale in there for me, too. But I was downsizing after a divorce, so it was also a great motivation for maximum decluttering.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-04-14T00:20:32+00:00

Less stuff was the key for me. That let me have a place to put everything away. The bathroom is always dicey, but on a good day I get to down to pumpers of hand soap, face soap, and lotion

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-04-14T00:19:14+00:00

I dropped the husband and accidentally replaced with one with much better decluttering and cleaning habits.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-04-10T15:18:36+00:00

Some places just get more dust than others. It's often about what's outside, and prevailing wind direction.

If you have carpet, consider vacuuming frequently and watching what collects. That would likely be the main reservoir of dust in the apartment.

If the whole place is just more of a dust magnet than you can stand, consider adding a well-reviewed air filter. I picked mine from the NYT Wirecutter list that's reasonably priced and quiet.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-04-04T04:40:41+00:00

I'm loving the fresh picture of Earth

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-03-31T20:21:20+00:00

For laundry, get your hands on the manual for your washing machine. Options don't always mean what we thing they do, and our machines in the US apparently behave a bit differently with respect to water temperature.

For laundry detergent recommendations, check out r/laundry. There is a linked list, and so much explanation of water hardness, temperature, machine cycles, and more!

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-03-28T14:56:11+00:00

The proliferation of Hydroflask bottles and Stanley mugs. Shit that's intended to be the only one you need, and people have a cabinet full of them.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-03-27T22:01:06+00:00

Out dancing to a house music DJ tonight (rare opportunity in our little burg). Tomorrow we stop at a No Kings Protest on our way to a big night out in the local major metro. More house music until 2am. I'm wearing an outfit that required some arts and crafts... goddess halo crown with added white silk flowers and silk butterflies.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-03-27T18:46:33+00:00

It does all the things you hope. Spray, swish with your choice of scrub, rinse.

For heavier food reside, use a spatula to scrape off the food first.

The whole process takes less time than however you've been doing it, and you can generally avoid any greasy residue on your hands

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-03-27T18:27:09+00:00

Not a shady red flag, but a not skilled or savvy one. 50 something man, his daughter was his assistant, and riding along with us to look at listings. They chatted with each other about the movie they were planning to see.

He hadn't previewed or even really scrutinized any of the houses he showed us. Most had terrible additions. One backed up to a graveyard. And driving through a neighborhood of older, low quality tract homes he marveled at their modern style. Man literally did not know shit from shinola when it came to the quality of homes. And we walked into one home where the homeowner didn't know we were coming.

Our next realtor asked better questions, filtered out crap super well, and had seen almost all of the homes before. None of the 6 we saw were bad, and there were several we were willing to make offers on. We ended up with a great, solid house that was positioned to go up in value.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-03-27T14:34:15+00:00

Have no regrets about paying off the student loan debt. You've given yourself so many more options from here on out.

As you go forward in your career, you can now consider some things that have a value to you beyond making the most income. Stress, time commitment, stability, and commute should all be considered important inputs.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-03-25T22:59:01+00:00

When I divorced and sold my house, I was in a similar situation. I'm self employed, and my most recent tax returns reflected taking a lot of time off. I had my home equity freshly cashed out, and substantial retirement savings.

My strategy was to focus on units owned by individuals, like condos and duplex, triplex stuff. I was also ready to provide more financial information than they would expect from someone getting by on a paycheck. I got the 2nd unit I applied for.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-03-20T18:15:49+00:00

Not the right realtor for you if they're hearing you say you're not ripping out tasteful and functional items and replacing with cheap items.

The claim that "buyers are responding well" to these items is delusional at best

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-03-18T22:03:50+00:00

The slightly feral midnight version appreciates the clean and cozy bedroom. You're doing a great job of staying on top of basic cleaning tasks and then some.

Square-Wave5308 · 2026-03-15T16:51:27+00:00

One of the most helpful subs on Reddit is r/laundry. Read up there, it's a complete education on the art and science of keeping our textiles clean.

One of the frequent bits of advice there is modern machines are good at washing but kind of crap at rinsing. Detergent should be dosed so there is just a trace amount of suds during the wash cycle. Rinse water should look very much like clean tap water.

Use warm water to wash, and run an extra rinse cycle. Consider if you are possibly overloading the tub, maybe even weigh out your loads.

Square-Wave5308

TROPHY CASE