Homemaking – Laundry and Dishes

2019 Renovations and Other Homeowner Things: Part 1 [Feat. Mike]

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People of the wife’s blog,

I have some juicy updates on the house and renovations.

When we purchased our house in October, we knew a renovation had been started and not finished. However, we were not given the full story.

I asked around and the story behind it is that the homeowner passed away and the house sat vacant for a few months. Then the homeowner’s grand-daughter needed a place to stay so she started renting the house from her dad and two aunts. Later they decided to renovate the house to sell later. About a year before we looked at the house, the grand-daughter decided to move west and nobody thought anything of it. Until January when a pipe burst in the living room, so they repaired the damage and decided they just wanted out of the house. One sister wanted out so bad she made the other two siblings buy her out.

That is the story of why we have new flooring downstairs.

Now on our end.

Man do I not make enough money. With the house, credit card and Jeep payments I’m carrying around a lot of debt. But I was a good boy and built excellent credit in college by having the good fortune of paid internships and a strong cattle market. So I have decent interest rates and doable payments. Again, I was a good boy and landed a sweet job in a high-demand field in the sweet state of Montana – albeit at the lower end of the salary my friends have gotten, but that is neither here nor there. So after tax, health care, and pension my income is enough for bills, food, gas, Sunday breakfast and work snacks.

My hope was that my tax refund would cover my credit card debt with the leftover money going toward renovating the house, but life doesn’t always go the way you want. My grandparent’s house had a medium sized fire and while nobody was hurt the roof is pretty bad, so a good chunk of any tax money I get back will probably go to help them out. So for now it looks like any major renovations or hobby projects will have to wait. Unless of course I get a lot of overtime this year.

Anyway, this concludes my 2019 Home Renovations Report.

Mike

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October Goals Response

Hello everyone!

First, I would like to give a huge shout out to all of my followers and to everyone who has liked or commented on my blog. This past week I got a notification that Laundry and Dishes has officially gotten 500 likes and 200 followers! So thank you all so much!

Since it is now November, I decided to check in with myself to see if I accomplished anything on my list of goals from October.

Last month I made a list of things I hoped to accomplish in October. And today I will be revisiting that list to see if I actually did anything. If you’re interested you can check out October Goals here.

Here is how October went for me:

Blog Goals

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One of my goals was to do a recipe review because I had been putting it off for a really long time. I ended up reviewing an amazing recipe for Brocoli Beef.

My next goal was to post new content every week and I did it even though this whole month I have been struggling to find enough creative inspiration to sit down and write.

My next two goals were to be more creative and get better at photography. I’m not sure if I’m any better either of those two things but in at least one of my posts I had two pictures instead of one so I’m going to go ahead and say that I sort of am more creative and sort of am better at adding more photos to my posts.

Personal Goals

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I also had four personal goals and I only did one thing on my list. I completely moved into our house and completely unpacked everything. It actually doesn’t look to shabey in here if I do say so myself. If you guys are interested in a home tour let me know in the comments and I will see what I can do.

My next goals were productivity, gyming it up and getting a pet. I was sort of more productive than I have been in recent months but I still had some days where I barely had any motivation to do anything. Some days I still have a cloud of sadness around my heart from losing the baby which makes it hard for me to want to do anything besides stay in bed and sleep all day. I think I have been struggling with some sadness and maybe even a little depression since August. But I am starting to be better and most days are good now which is such a relief.

As for working out, I was really good about it at the start of the month for like a week. But going to the gym has always been such a boring experience for me and I hate it so I stopped and started doing home workouts. I still hate those but at least I’m not bored anymore.

We still haven’t picked out our pet from the shelter because everything is on hold for hunting season. I also am a bridesmaid in a wedding in Tennessee in a few weeks and then Mike and I are going on vacation to celebrate our first wedding anniversary! So maybe we will get a puppy or kitten as an anniversary present to ourselves in December.

Financial Goals

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My only financial goal was to save $50 and I did it! I am so happy and thrilled that I was able to in spite of moving, mortgage payments, and buying a lot of things for the house that we needed but didn’t already have.

So overall all for the month of October, I think that I was about 50/50 split on being goal oriented and just having good intentions for my life. I have to say that I am ok with that because I don’t think that people can do everything they set out to do in a set timeline because sometimes life just happens.

So thanks for joining me today! I hope you liked this post and I will see you all next time!

* All photos in this post are from the Free WordPress Library

Poshmark: @ourlifeinmt

My Newlywed Morning Routine

Hello Everyone!

Since I finally have my own house it seemed like it is finally appropriate to write this post. I have lived in my home for about two weeks and so far it has been my dream house! You guys, this place has a dishwasher, a washing machine, a dryer and a ton of linen closets!! If you have been reading my blog, then you know those are pretty much the only things I wanted in my house.

I could not be more thrilled to live here with my husband which has made all the mundane tasks of housekeeping seem so much more fun. So here is my morning routine and to be quite honest, I have been having such a blast every day even though all I’ve been doing is boring chores.

I usually wake up around 8am. I’m not sure if that is early or late but it works for me.

Then I just lay around for a minute or two like everyone else and contemplate whether or not I actually need to get out of bed.

After I loose the argument with myself about why staying in bed all day is better than cleaning the house, I get up, brush my teeth, and make some coffee.

While I’m drinking my coffee, I usually check on my blog to see how its doing. If I have any comments or new follows I’ll reply and check out their blogs. This is also when I will write if I’m feeling creative enough.

Next I pick up the house and wash any dishes left over from breakfast or last night’s dinner if I was too lazy to do them the night before. I also wipe down my counters and make my bed because nobody wants to get into an unmade bed at the end of the day.

After that I will pick out my outfit and shower. I don’t think I need to explain this step of the day because everyone does it.

Then I put on my 5 minute face and decide what to make for lunch. If Mike comes home, its usually a little more elaborate but if its just me then I usually eat a sandwich or leftovers.

After that I take something out of the freezer to start thawing for dinner and I clean up after lunch.

Then my morning routine is over so I just sit around for a few minutes and try to read a blog post or two.

So there you have it! That is my morning routine and next week I think I will post an afternoon or evening routine. But you guys, I’ve been having a bit of a creative slump recently so if you have any ideas about what I should write about please feel free to comment and let me know!

* Photo from Free WordPress Library

5 Things Nobody Tells First Time Homeowners

Hello everyone!

It’s official! Mike and I are homeowners!!

We signed all the paperwork on Friday and were moved in on Saturday. By moved in, I mean all our stuff was moved out of our apartment and put into a pile at the house. I have everything unpacked except a box of books I kept from my college days and I honestly haven’t found a place for those to go yet so they are still in a box. I could keep talking about the process of unpacking but I already did in my other post Settling In.

Anyway, please excuse my rambling intro. Today I’m going to tell you all about some of the unexpected side effects of becoming a homeowner.

It’s fills you with an equal dose of freedom and dread. – You can put the pictures wherever you want and nobody will tell you that you aren’t getting a security deposit back because you used picture nails instead of sticky hooks. At the same time, you’re responsible for buying and changing the lightbulbs when they burn out and all the lightbulbs will eventually burn out.
Moving is tough. – I have mentioned this in other blogs but this is the third time my husband and I have moved in our first year of marriage. We pretty much have it down to a science now, but the process of packing up all your belongings and hauling them to an empty house just to put them away into unfamiliar places hasn’t gotten any less exhausting.
It can bring you closer to your partner. – Of course I married Mike because I was head over heals in love with him and super close to him. However I would just like to say that this year has been packed full of experiences that have brought us even closer and buying a house together is definitely one of them.
You will have to go to the store a lot. – So far we have been constantly making lists of stuff we forgot we needed and running back and forth to the store. I cannot stress this enough, budget in a little extra money for a lawn mower or hedge trimmers or a hammer? And any other things that houses need that apartments don’t.
You will love your new house. – I obviously like my house or I wouldn’t have bought it, but the more time I spend here hanging pictures and making it more homey the more I support our decision to become homeowners and the more I love the house.

So there you have it folks! The 5 unexpected side effects of becoming homeowners that I have discovered in week one of being a homeowner.

Don’t hesitate to leave a comment about your housing experiences, I would love to know if I should be prepared for anything else!

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October Goals

Hello everyone! I know I have missed a week or two of posting new content because I have been frantically packing up our apartment so we can move into our new home. Anyway, I thought I would begin the month with a goal oriented mindset. So here are my goals for October.

Blog Goals

Do at least one recipe review
Be more creative with my writing
Become a better photographer and add more photos to my posts
Post new content each week

Personal Goals

Be completely unpacked and moved into our new home
Be more organized and productive
Work out 3-ish times a week
Adopt a pet from the shelter

Financial Goals

Save at least $50 each month

* Photo from Free WordPress Library

Help! We Accidentally Bought a House..

Hello everyone!

We are buying a house!

When we moved here, my husband and I were given two weeks to find a place to move into. We did and so far I don’t really care for the apartment we are currently in for a number of reasons. This post won’t be a list of reasons why I don’t like where we are currently living, it will serve as an informal First Time Home Owners Guide on How to Buy a House.

Step 1: Have a conversation with your partner. Here is how the conversation between my husband and I roughly went.

Husband: “Do you think we should buy a house?”

Wife: “Not really. I thought we wanted to move again in a year or two?”

Husband: “We do, but our rent currently costs more than a mortgage payment would, so do you think we should buy a house?”

Wife: “I guess if it will be cheeper, sure!”

Step 2: Go buy a house. We spent about a month or so trying to figure out how to buy a house before we realized we didn’t know what we were doing. Then we gave up and hired a relator.

Step 3: Tour all the houses your relater picks out. This is the most fun part because we would mostly just hem-and-haw about the housing options.

Step 4: Go to the bank. We had to do this because I realized that my husband was actually serious and not joking about wanting to buy a house.

Step 5: Settle for a house that is actually in your price range. We looked at a lot of houses that we could afford that needed a lot of work, but there were also some good ones. So we ended up picking the best most affordable one and its actually a pretty good house.

Step 6: Panic because you don’t have enough for the down payment and closing costs. My husband and I did this for about a week before we realized that we had enough money because people gave us money at our wedding and we had already been saving up to buy a house.

Step 7: Make an offer on the house. This was pretty complicated so unfortunately I have already forgotten most of the important things you are supposed to do during this part of the home buying process.

Step 8: Go to the bank a lot more. We ended up going to the bank a ton because there is a lot of paperwork and its hard to get everything done in one bank appointment.

Step 9: Have a home inspection and get your house appraised. I don’t really know how to explain what those things are, but they’re important so we did them. We learned that our house is livable and expensive.

Step 10: Realize that you need home owners insurance. This step made my husband and I a little nervous because we sort of forgot we needed it. But we found some pretty affordable quotes and everything ended up working out.

Step 11: Keep going back to the bank a lot. I think banks like paperwork and somehow they always seem to always have more no matter how times you’ve previously gone in.

Step 12: Move into your new house. Even though we haven’t moved in yet, I am not looking forward to this. I forgot how much work it is to move and how exhausting it is to unpack everything.

Step 13: Adopt a dog or a cat. This is probably the most important step in the home buying process because everyone needs a dog or a cat. We currently live in a pet free apartment so I cannot wait to move so we can adopt a puppy, dog, cat, or maybe all three!

Step 14: Live happily ever after! Or at least live happily ever after until you decide to move again.. We probably will end up moving again sometime in the next 5 to 10 years but I secretly am hoping that we don’t because its a lot of work and I’m pretty lazy.

So that is pretty much the story of how we became home owners.

* Photo from Free WordPress Library

Newlywed Cooking..??

Hi Everyone!

My latest brainstorm for expanding my blog is to talk about cooking so if this post isn’t too boring, I will probably be writing about this subject again in the future. So how on Earth did I learn how to cook dinner every night for my husband after barely cooking dinner for myself once a week?

Obviously I helped my mom in the kitchen growing up and cooked for myself in college, but I realize now that I wasn’t really cooking. At home my job was basically to stand there and make sure dinner didn’t burn. In college, I only had a microwave so I got the Betty Crocker Microwave Cookbook for One and did my best to make something edible in a bowl or a mug.

Because of this, I had a semi-difficult and pretty comical transition from being single to being a fabulous married cook. To make things more exciting, the only cooking utensils Mike had when I first moved in were a medium sauce pan, one small frying pan and a crockpot. This made learning how to cook an adventure.

Since I had very few resources, I went on Pinterest and searched for “easy crockpot recipes” which changed my life. I no longer had to interact with the kitchen and the stove. I could just chop up some vegetables, throw in a few spices, add some protein, turn on my crockpot and forget about dinner until Mike came home.

After about 6 weeks of marriage, Mike quietly asked if I would mind making something besides soup for dinner. Naturally, I was more than a little shocked because to my knowledge I had never once looked at a soup recipe. He went on to explain that everything I made in the crockpot was a little soupy because to cook properly in a crockpot, you have to add a fair amount of broth or water.

So I bravely decided it was time to graduate from crockpot cooking to cooking on the stove. The first thing I did was buy some pots and pans. Once I had a few more resources to work with, stovetop cooking became a breeze.

I could now make things like macaroni and cheese from a box and chicken nuggets. It took a while but eventually I became so confident in my skills as a cook that I could make dinner without burning the main course and having the kitchen threaten to catch on fire.

* Photo from Free WordPress Library