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Thoughts on Moving & Owning, Almost 1 Year Later

Published on March 11, 2014 By Emily. Updated on March 11, 2014

This time last year we were negotiating the details on our first ever successful house offer.  We’d gone to an open house, fallen in love, walked through again with out realtor four days later and then made an offer just days after that.  And so began a whirlwind of inspections, mortgage paperwork and packing that culminated in our house closing and moving in mid-April.

A year later, we’re still in the process of figuring out what we want to do with the space and how to best invest in it.  We’re settled, but we have a lot of dreams as well and most of our furniture is still the “temporary” items we had in the apartment.  This week, my sister and her husband closed on their first house.  I’m thrilled for them and all their excitement has led me to think about what we’ve done so far and where our house is headed.  It seemed only right to share what I’ve learned with you (and her).

Items I’d recommend stocking up on and having at the ready, if you’re moving:

In the weeks between closing and finally getting settled in, we frequently found ourselves running to the store because we were either using things up as we moved or didn’t realize we’d need them to begin with.  Even though our house didn’t need much work at all, it was really dirty when we moved in and we had no problem finding little projects that had to be taken care of.

  • Mr. Clean magic erasers
  • extension cords
  • vinegar/water cleaning solution or multi-purpose cleaner
  • white gloss trim paint
  • lots of painters tape
  • Swiffer Wetjet with lots of extra cloths / vacuum and extra bags
  • super easy snacks to grab when you have a spare moment
  • an infinite supply of rags and paper towels
  • multiple tape measurers (they’re easy to misplace)
  • pencils for marking walls

Things I’m glad we did while moving:

  • making a crockpot soup for lunch/dinner so we didn’t have to worry about meals and could “cook” at our new place without a whole kitchen’s worth of supplies
  • moving in slowly…we took our entire April break last year to move from our apartment which greatly reduced stress
  • having friends help us move was much cheaper and more fun than renting a van or hiring strangers
  • taking a whole day just to clean our house before we attempted moving in
  • setting up one of our bathrooms immediately so that we could stay at the house or the apartment at any time during the move in process
  • Ordering pizza and picking up beer from new (to us) local places for our first dinner in the new place

Best purchases/improvements:

spices

buying the lazy susan for our deep and wide (18”) corner cabinet

installing window film in our bathroom – only one of our three full size bathroom windows was frosted, but this film applies easily and hasn’t needed to be reattached once.  It was a bit of an investment up front, but totally worth it.

IMG_2951

painting the back of our (beat up, scuffed, dirty) bathroom door an awesome blue-green color

installing a new furnace and water heater, largely thanks to MassSave

July_photo_challenge_day_1_Happiness_is...this_dresser_I_scored_at_a_tag_sale_for__10.__fmsphotoaday

picking up garage sale finds, including a $10 ($15 with the new knobs we bought) for the guest room and a set of kitchen stools from my parent’s local Facebook “yard sale” page

My sister is in the midst of fixing up their place and moving in soon—leave any advice you may have in the comments below!
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Filed Under: life

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Comments

  1. Jean King says

    March 11, 2014 at 9:09 pm

    I can’t believe it’s been a year! Happy 1st year house-iversary! As for advice, live in your house a little while before making major changes. You have a life-time, take it slow!
    Good luck!

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Emily
Last week Brian and I finally got around to hiring Last week Brian and I finally got around to hiring a sitter for a rare night out. We went to dinner at @publicna and took advantage of the opportunity with drinks, appetizers and dessert.

Pictured:
- Citrus Braised Beef Tacos
- "Chicken and Waffles"
- House Fries with Garlic Aioli
- Fried Chickpeas
- Blood Orange Cheesecake
It was no surprise that Public was close to full on a Wednesday night - everything was so good. 

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#igers413_food #igers413 #BerkshireFoodies #InTheBerkshires #EatLocal #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #NorthAdams #NAmazing #PublicEatAndDrink
New year, new theme word! This year's word is "enr New year, new theme word!
This year's word is "enrich" and I'm really excited about it.

I've written more about this year's theme on the blog. Click in the link in my profile or follow the link below to read the post.
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https://www.relishments.com/blog/my-2023-theme-word-enrich/
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#YearlyTheme #MyOneWord #2023 #enrich2023 #NewYearsResolution
It's not New Year's Eve without a Top 9 post. It's It's not New Year's Eve without a Top 9 post.
It's almost all #Berkshires content this year, which is great.
1. A pasta salad reel that took longer to create than the recipe took to make.
2. A reel from North Carolina where I could have watched birds all day.
3. The @thelazygenius book giveaway.
4.@plantconnector 
5. @berkshiremuseum 
6.@sculpture.now at @themountlenox 
7. @massmoca 
8. @mountainviewfarm413 
9. The #AshuwillticookRailTrail
New on the blog: My 2022 reflections on last year' New on the blog: My 2022 reflections on last year's theme word - resume. 

I was able to get back to many activities that were meaningful to me this year and I'm calling this theme a success. Follow the link below or click the link in my profile to read more.
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https://www.relishments.com/blog/reflections-on-resuming-in-2022/
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#resume2022 #newyearsresolution #myoneword #yearlytheme
New on the blog: My Favorite Recipes of 2022. For New on the blog: My Favorite Recipes of 2022.

For the fourth year, I've recapped the best new (to me) recipes I made this year in the hope that they'll give you some new dishes to try. This year's list is short, but delicious. It includes @budgetbytes My Favorite Recipes of 2022
Published on December 30, 2022 By Emily. Updated on December 30, 2022

It’s hard to believe that 2022 is basically behind us. Though overall this year found me getting back to the person I want to be (post-babies and “post”-pandemic), I did not try nearly as many new recipes this year as I used to. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I’d made note of any new-to-me recipes I wanted to share in this post. This year’s list is short, but delicious. It includes recipes from @budgetbytes, @smittenkitchen and @howsweeteats.
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Read the post by visiting the link in my profile or 
https://www.relishments.com/blog/my-favorite-recipes-of-2022/
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#RecipeRoundUp #BestRecipes2022 #FavoriteRecipes
@coastalmainebotanicalgardens continues to be one @coastalmainebotanicalgardens continues to be one of the highlights of all my return trips to Boothbay and their annual Gardens Aglow event continues to impress. It was great to be back to walking the gardens instead of the pandemic drive through and there seemed to be more lights than ever.  I'm already looking forward to next year.
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#Boothbay #BoothbayMaine #CoastalMaineBotanicalGardens #GardensAglow #BotanicalGarden #MidcoastMaine
It has been a while, but there is finally a new CS It has been a while, but there is finally a new CSA menu plan on the blog! Visit the link below or in my profile to see how I plan to make use of some of the @mightyfoodfarm produce seen here.
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https://www.relishments.com/blog/welcome-to-winter-farm-share-csa-menu-plan-148/
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#MightyFoodFarm #EatLocal #EatSeasonal #VermontGrown #CSApickup #CSAshare #KnowYourFarmerKnowYourFood #MenuPlanning #MealPlanning #igers413 #igers413_food #BerkshireFoodies
Fall in the Berkshires is always incredible, but t Fall in the Berkshires is always incredible, but this year we've had weather that has also been outstanding. The past 2 weekends have included time at Jaeschke Orchards, the Greylock Glen, and the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail as well as stopping to photograph any random foliage I see. 
Check out the last slide for video of some feathered friends we saw on a walk.
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#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #EatLocal #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #FallFoliage #FallColors #autumn #AshuwillticookRailTrail #JaeschkeOrchards #GreylockGlen
@freshgrassfestival continues to be one of my favo @freshgrassfestival continues to be one of my favorite events each year, and it doesn't hurt that it's just minutes away from home. Enjoying the festival with my kids is definitely a different experience than without, but it's still a good time. The weather was especially cooperative today which was great for all the laps I did around the @massmoca campus pushing a stroller. I'm already looking forward to next year.
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#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #NorthAdams #NAmazing #FreshGrass #FreshGrassFestival #MassMoCA #MusicFestival
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