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Archive for February, 2015

Shower Head Filter for Hard Water

February 25th, 2015 at 05:10 am

The location where I bought my house has very hard water. My hair comes out like straw even when I use a weekly deep conditioner daily. My skin is always very dry and soaks up lotion.

I finally did some research the past few days looking for a water softener or filter I could use just on the shower head. Purchasing a whole house softener is not on the table right now.

I found online at Home Depot that was able to be purchased in the store. It was cheaper than the same product at Lowes but Lowes is closer. I printed out the HD price and bought it at Lowes for $18 and saving $2.16. I pit the savings into my house EF account. Every little bit helps! I hope the filter helps. I am also looking at the shower head softeners. I will try this one for a while and see if it works. If it doesn't then I will go try a more extensive filter.

Tomorrow I have someone coming to reinstall the freezer drawer, installing a new water heater and garbage disposal, the key guy is coming back because one door does not open, a sprinkler guy is coming by to look at my system and figure out what it is doing or if I need a new timer mechanism, and I have a meeting with my tax accountant at 8 am re taxes for 2014. Obviously I took the day off to be able to do all that. It will be a busy day!

Work from home today

February 21st, 2015 at 05:48 am

I worked from home today because I had to call a plumber for the hot water heater and garbage disposal.

The call is under the home warranty given to me for three years with the purchase of the house. The hot water heater does not stay hot and looses quite a bit of heat. Within 6 minutes it is luke warm. The garbage disposal kicks up rust and the safety cover is a replacement and not protective. Both of them will be replaced next week. I only pay $50 total for both. Warranty hires the plumber and they process everything including the city permit. Of course I get copies of everything.

I spoke with the home inspector who'd said it would go within a year. He was surprised it lasted less than a week. He had not noticed the issue with the disposal but it also is not covered under his inspection stuff as it is not required by appraisal or bank issues.

The loan I have requires a home warranty for at least three years and I worked that into the request from the sellers so I am covered for three years. I am not worried I know things will go and I will always call the warranty company first if it is something I cannot figure out on my own. Fifty dollars a call is not bad and I can fit as many issues under one call as I want as long as they are related: appliances, plumbing, electrical or something else. The warranty was the platinum one because the loan required certain things to be covered and only this one covered what they wanted plus about 30 more things.

I tracked down the manuals for the sprinkler system and the thermostat this week so tomorrow I will reprogram both. City is not requiring watering on specific days yet but the county says odd numbered houses are Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. I will stick to those days and only 2 days a week for only very limited times. With the lack of water and snow this year they will eventually say no watering.

I am attending a rainy barrel installation course next weekend. For $20 I get the lesson, lunch, and two 65 gallon rain barrels! (A colleague is going but doesn't want blue barrels and is giving me hers.) I checked, you can paint the outside so I will with the house paint I have in the garage to match the house.

I wish I'd had them installed two weekends ago - they would be full already. It was a monster storm and according to research 1 inch of rain off a 1000 sq ft house is enough to fill two 65 gallon barrels. My house is 1500 sq ft so I could have easily filled three or perhaps four with that rain storm. I plan to fill with rain water but also water from the shower that has to run to warm up in the am. Saving as much as possible for the yard without using extra water.

In at the New House

February 16th, 2015 at 04:39 am

I moved into the new house on Thursday. It was an all day affair with the movers. I had a coupon from a home owners website that offered 10% off with the moving company I chose (they will pay 10% of the cost to the company) which was one of the thank you gifts from my mortgage company. They started the move at 845 am and finished with everything in the house at 615 pm. Was a very long day.

Then the driver didn't want to accept the coupon even though I had a confirmation from the owner that they accept it. He hemmed and hawed and I finally picked up the phone and called the owner emergency line. He called right back and suddenly didn't remember saying yes. I had the email confirmation and sent it to him to "jog his memory" about the conversation. I finally said accept the coupon or instruct your drivers to repack and reload all my stuff back to the house-then the move never took place. They accepted the coupon. All it means is they call the home buying company, give them my 15 digit code and immediately get the10% paid to them. It does nothing for them but saved me $80.

I have spent the past few days unpacking and moving things around the way I want them. I bought a desk/table yesterday that I love. It is a small table built in 1860s used at a library. It has three drawers a large working area and plenty of space. It will hold all my work times and my printer and still give me space to work. Love it! Offered half price and asked for free delivery and they agreed. :-)

Today I received an email from Home Depot that the items I had "put in my shopping cart" three weeks ago were on sale. They were the same ones I purchased at Lowes on Feb 1. I looked at the prices, saw they were $100 cheaper for the washer and dyer each, and called Lowes for a price adjustment and they gave me their current prices which was $1.20 cheaper than Home Depot. :-) So I got back a little of over $225 on my credit card.

Then I asked them about a 10% off coupon from my home buyers welcome gift that I forgot to use. After some discussions back and forth the appliance manager agreed to do it if I brought in the coupon tomorrow. That will be another $270 back as well. In total I will have received $3790 worth of refrigerator/washer/dryer for about $1900 after all is said and finished. Not bad I think. And I got the refrigerator I really wanted for $1300 on sale instead of $2300. I never would have paid $2300 it just happened to be on sale on their website and a local store had the same model.

I will not be buying anything for e house for a while.

Taxes were sent to my accountant and I have an appointment in a couple weeks to review with her and push the button on submission to IRS and state. I know there is a bunch coming back.

To Do List for new house

February 1st, 2015 at 11:20 pm

List of items for new house:
Re-key house DONE
Garage door opener installed DONE
Select garage code DONE
Air filter
Lights in hallway changed
Bulbs in hallway changed
Figure our switches in master
Bulbs in bathrooms changed
Dining room light fixture changed
Refrigerator DONE
Washing machine DONE
Dryer DONE
Washing machine pan DONE
Leak in water system
Program sprinkler system to match city schedule
Security system
Measure floors
Cleaning carpets DONE
Movers scheduled/moved DONE
Cleaning house DONE
Rebuild garage shelving
Hot water heater 2/25/2015
Replace ceiling fans
Roof issue 6 cracked tiles
Replace door to garage
Replace master bath shower thing
Buy tv mounts and Mount tvs
Sell ceramic animals from back yard
Transfer utilities: gas, electric, sewer, garbage, water DONE
Move master bath door
Table in entry way
New electrical outlet covers with night lights integrated
Scrape stars off ceiling DONE
Remove bathroom border and fake crown molding
Paint laundry room
Paint guest bath
Guest bath towel holders
Flooring throughout house
Lock for outside power cabinet
Laundry room drying rack possible?
Cancel renters insurance. DONE AND DEPOSITED REFUND
Move ATT services DONE
Dryer wool balls need 4 more
Chimney cleaning
Hallway light coverings
Pantry redesign
Window coverings
A add French doors off living room haha, years from now
Change sliding doors to French doors
Re do "brick patio" off living room
Laundry room light fixture
Porch light fixture front and back
Buy lawn mower
Fence and gate replacement
Find and buy desk for office DONE
Replace garbage disposal 2/25/2015

EDITED / UPDATED FEBRUARY 15, 2015, FEBRUARY 20, 2015