FlipperToolbox

So, we put our house up for sale this week and already have showings lined up. We’re really eager to sell because we have a 3-month-old baby and want to move closer to family. Oh, and did I mention we have 5 cats? Yeah, it’s a bit of a zoo around here.

For the first showing, we went all out – got the cats and litterboxes out, cleaned like crazy, and even had the place professionally cleaned last week. We’ve decluttered the place and removed all our personal stuff to make it look spick and span.

I work as an ED RN on night shifts, which means I can be around for showings to tidy up and get the cats out. But it also means I’ll have to deal with showings when I should be catching up on sleep. Like today, when I should be napping before work but instead will be prepping the house, wrangling the cats, and taking the baby out.

I’m low-key freaking out about the sleep deprivation I’m about to face. Sometimes I’ll have worked the night before a showing and have to go back to work that night, leaving me with minimal rest and a whole day of cleaning and cat-wrangling ahead.

My partner works from home but is tied up in meetings most of the time, so they can only pitch in here and there. The housing market in the Southeast isn’t exactly in our favor right now, so I’m bracing myself for a long haul of this showing routine. How am I going to survive this?

I’m doing my best to keep the house clean with a baby and a bunch of furry critters running around, but it’s a constant challenge. We can’t afford a short-term rental, especially with our feline entourage, and we don’t have family nearby who can put us up.

Anyone out there have any survival tips for me? I could really use some advice on how to navigate this chaotic selling process while juggling night shifts, a baby, and a clowder of cats.

My partner and I recently moved into our first apartment together, and we’ve decided it’s time to ditch our old hand-me-down mattress and invest in a real one. I’m a side sleeper, and every morning I wake up with aching shoulders and hips from our current mattress. My partner and I have different sleeping preferences, so finding a mattress that suits both of us has been a challenge.

We’ve been scouring the internet for reviews, but it’s hard to tell which ones are genuine and which are just marketing ploys. All I want is a mattress that will alleviate my side-sleeping discomfort without sacrificing my partner’s comfort. I’m willing to spend a little more if it means we can both get a good night’s sleep in the long run.

I’m curious to hear about your experiences. How did you and your partner navigate the mattress-buying process, especially if you have different sleep styles? Did you have to make compromises, or did you find a solution that worked for both of you? Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we embark on this journey to find the perfect mattress for our needs.

So, I moved into this house back in 2015, a classic two-story colonial built in 1996. The basement had this musty smell from Day 1, you know the one. I remember heading to Lowe’s right after buying the place to pick up a dehumidifier to tackle that specific issue. I thought I was being proactive, but looking back, I realize I was pretty clueless about the whole situation.

For over a decade, I faithfully emptied that dehumidifier’s water buckets, thinking I had the problem under control. It did help with the smell, so I was content with my DIY solution. But then, one day, it hit me – gutters! I mean, they aren’t that expensive, why didn’t anyone clue me in on this earlier? So, I decided to get gutters installed, and boy, what a game-changer!

Since getting those gutters up, the dehumidifier hardly runs anymore. I’d say the usage has dropped by a staggering 80%. And get this – the musty smell in the basement? Totally gone. It’s like magic. Even during crazy rainstorms, when you’d expect the dehumidifier to be working overtime, it barely kicks on. I can’t believe how much of a difference those gutters made.

So, there you have it. Who would’ve thought that something as simple as gutters could have such a huge impact on the moisture levels in my basement? It’s one of those things that makes you wonder why you didn’t figure it out sooner. But hey, better late than never, right? Now, I can enjoy a fresh-smelling basement without constantly babysitting a dehumidifier. Lesson learned – sometimes, the solution to a nagging problem is right above your head, literally.

So, our main broker had this brilliant idea to send some of us to a seminar he found online, promising to teach us how to become “Master Closers” and improve our deal-making game. Little did we know, it turned out to be a total flop. The seminar kicked off with a bizarre activity of spraying water on us in a conference center, leaving us all soaked and confused. Then, this guy named Adam Elliot strolled in and started berating us, calling us “Cucks who don’t sell too good.” Yep, that was pretty much the tone for the rest of the day.

We were informed that the tickets for this so-called event were priced at a hefty $2900 each. However, as if the day wasn’t already a disaster, the organizers dropped a bombshell at the end. They announced an additional charge of $500 per person because, apparently, they had to use a ton of extra water to “get us right” and wouldn’t be getting their deposit back from the hotel. And guess what? We were all expected to foot the bill for their mess.

All in all, it was a day wasted, money down the drain, and a lesson learned the hard way. Let’s just say, our hopes of gaining that extra edge in our deals were dashed, along with any enthusiasm we had for future seminars. In the end, it was more of a comedy show than a professional development opportunity. But hey, at least we got a day off work out of it.

So, I moved into this new apartment building in Istanbul, and let me tell you, the noise situation here is just off the charts. From day one, it’s been a real headache. When we first got here, the entrance door to the building was slamming shut like crazy every time someone stepped in or out. It turns out it had been like that for months, and nobody had bothered to do anything about it. But guess what? I grabbed a trusty screwdriver, made a quick adjustment, and voila, the problem was pretty much solved. That got me thinking that a lot of stuff around here is just slapped on haphazardly and then forgotten.

Now, the major issue we’re facing is with our apartment entrance door. It’s a hefty door that appears sturdy, but we can practically hear conversations happening in the hallway crystal clear. The real kicker, though, is this electric strike/buzzer from the building entrance unlock system. We’re on the ground floor, so every time someone opens the building door, this jarring metallic buzz reverberates inside our place. It’s so loud that it feels like someone’s buzzing OUR door. And to top it off, people are coming and going at all hours, even late into the night during the week. It’s a real nuisance.

I took a closer look at our apartment door, and sure, there are rubber seals in place. But when the door is shut and locked, I can still nudge it inward a tad, maybe a few millimeters. It doesn’t sit snugly against the frame; there’s definitely some play there. The door gives off the impression of being weighty, but it lacks that tight seal you’d expect. I even snapped some pics of the door.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the garage door right under our place. That thing is as noisy as can be, squeaking away every time it opens or closes. But that’s a whole other headache to tackle 🤔. I’m racking my brain, trying to figure out what might actually make a difference here. Should I add more rubber around the door, block off the gap at the bottom, hang a thick curtain behind it, or perhaps just bite the bullet and call in a professional door guy to properly adjust it? I’m not exactly a door expert, so I’m a bit lost on what the real issue might be. Plus, since I’m renting, I can’t go all out

Hey there, so I was doing some online shopping for some Valspar Potato Skin Solid Exterior Wood Stain and Sealer from Lowe’s, right? But when the delivery came, it was totally untinted. Like, not even close to what I ordered. So obviously, I needed to sort this out. I called up customer service to try and arrange a return or get a refund. And get this – they said the only way to return it was to drive all the way to a physical Lowe’s store. My nearest one is a three-hour round trip. Like, seriously? No way I’m doing that for a $30 product.

I was like, “Can’t I just ship it back or something?” But nope, they shut that down. And as for a refund? Forget about it. They were not having any of that. And that’s just not cool, you know? I mean, we all order stuff online to make our lives easier, save some time, and get things done. But when a company messes up and sends you the wrong thing, the least you’d expect is a reasonable way to fix it.

I mean, come on Lowe’s, you’re a massive company worth billions, and you can’t sort out a simple $30 mix-up? That’s not right. Every dollar counts, especially for us regular folks trying to juggle work, family, and everything else life throws at us. So yeah, I just wanted to give you a heads up in case you’re thinking of ordering from Lowe’s online. If they mess up your order, you might end up stuck with the wrong stuff or forced to make some crazy trip to fix their mistake.

After this whole ordeal, I can tell you one thing for sure – I won’t be shopping at Lowe’s again. It’s just not worth the hassle and the headache. So, take it from me, if you want a smooth online shopping experience, maybe look elsewhere. Because when things go wrong, you don’t want to be left high and dry like I was.

So, my husband’s credit isn’t the greatest, and I’m a stay-at-home mom. Luckily, he brings in a good income. We managed to qualify for a $200k loan with a no down payment program, but when we started looking, there was literally nothing in our area within that budget. It was a real eye-opener about how tough the housing market had become. Back in 2021, I got approved for $125k, and I actually had some choices back then. Eventually, I found a nice house that didn’t need any fixing up. Fast forward five years, and now we’re back at $200k, but all we see are trailers on land. We live in a small town in Indiana, not some fancy city, mind you. We’re even contemplating buying one of these run-down $200k homes and trying to fix it up ourselves. But here’s the thing that’s keeping me up at night – can we really afford all the repairs that come with it?

People keep saying that the housing market is going to crash, that prices will drop, and all that jazz. But honestly, I’ve been hearing these predictions for years now. Will it ever actually happen, or are we just stuck in this endless cycle of inflated prices? Oh, and just to clear it up since I’ve been asked a few times – the house I bought back in 2021 was sold in 2022. It wasn’t a foreclosure or anything like that; there were just some unique circumstances, and selling turned out to be the best move.

It’s frustrating to see how the housing market has evolved over the years. What used to be a comfortable budget of $125k now barely gets us a rundown property. And the idea of pouring money into a fixer-upper, hoping that the market will eventually shift in our favor, is a gamble that’s hard to swallow. But at the same time, the fear of missing out on a potential opportunity if prices do fall is also nagging at me.

Living in small-town Indiana, we’re not expecting any luxury mansions, but it would be nice to find a decent home within our means. The thought of taking on a project to renovate a less-than-ideal property is daunting, especially when considering the financial strain it could put on us. Yet, with limited options available, it seems like we may have to take a leap of faith and hope for the best.

As we weigh our

So, all I wanted to do was switch out my bathroom faucet. Sounds easy, right? I mean, I had watched a couple of how-to videos, had all the necessary parts, and was feeling pretty confident. Well, I turned off the water supply valve, and what do you know? It starts leaking. Great. So, I replaced the valve, no big deal. But then I noticed the pipe behind it had some corrosion. So, I decided to take a closer look and found that the connector was practically holding on for dear life, wrapped in layers of plumber’s tape. I fixed that too.

Just when I thought I was in the clear, I went to turn the water back on and saw that the caulking around the entire tub had been slowly peeling away from the wall, probably since 2011. And that was just the beginning. What started on a regular Tuesday afternoon turned into a four-day saga that ended on a frustrating Saturday. But hey, at least my faucet works perfectly now, right?

Throughout this whole ordeal, I learned more about the inside of my walls than I ever thought I would. It’s like a crash course in home repairs that I never signed up for. I’ve even given it a name – the old house tax. You don’t pay it when you buy the place; you pay it every single time you attempt to fix something. And let me tell you, the house always finds a way to throw more problems at you than you started with.

I’m sure many of you can relate. You start with a simple task, like replacing a faucet, and end up coming out the other side a completely different person. It’s like a rite of passage for homeowners – the moment you realize that every DIY project is bound to uncover a whole new set of issues you never knew existed. But hey, at least now I can proudly say I conquered the faucet fiasco, even if it did come with a side of unexpected challenges.

So, to all my fellow DIY warriors out there, just remember, every project, no matter how small, has the potential to spiral into a full-blown renovation. But hey, at the end of the day, we emerge stronger, wiser, and perhaps a little more knowledgeable about the inner workings of our humble abodes. Who knew a simple faucet replacement could lead to such an adventure?

So, picture this: You finally finish a massive home renovation, get everything sparkly clean, and life is good. Fast forward 15 months, and bam! Dustpocalypse hits. For the last seven months, my house has been engulfed in a never-ending battle with dust. It started off small in September, but quickly snowballed into a full-blown dust invasion. Think tumbleweeds of dryer lint materializing out of thin air, coating every surface in sight. At first, we shrugged it off, blaming the dryer, so we gave it a good scrub and even upgraded the duct and vent. But no luck. The dust persisted, undeterred by our best efforts.

We called in the big guns – another round of air duct cleaning. No cracks, no leaks, no contaminants. Nada. We thought we were being smart cookies with our high-efficiency MERV filters, but the dust just laughed in our faces. So, we upped our cleaning game, vacuuming every nook and cranny like there’s no tomorrow. Still, the darn dust kept coming back, mocking us with its greyish-white presence. It seemed to have a special affinity for our washroom areas, congregating around the air vent like it’s hosting a party.

After some good ol’ online sleuthing, we learned that this dust might be airborne buddies clumping together due to moisture, then deciding to crash land on our floors as lint look-alikes. Our house has two washrooms, each with its own exhaust fan playing the role of the party pooper, venting air outside. No construction nearby to blame, no obvious culprits to finger-point at. We are absolutely stumped and desperate for a solution. Seriously, any advice would be a lifesaver at this point.

So, there you have it – the dust saga of our lives. Living in a constant state of dust warfare, fighting a losing battle against these pesky particles. Will we ever find peace in our dust-covered kingdom? Only time will tell.

So, I’ve been dealing with a mouse problem in my detached garage lately. It’s been a real pain – I keep finding droppings near my workbench, and those little critters have been gnawing on the insulation of my hot water heater pipes. I’ve tried sealing up every gap I could find with steel wool and expanding foam, but somehow they’re still managing to find their way in. Frustrating, right?

To combat this issue, I’ve been experimenting with a few different methods. One thing I’ve been doing is placing cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil around the perimeter of the garage. I make sure to refresh them every week to keep the scent strong. I’ve also tried using BugMD Vamoose pouches in areas where I notice the most droppings. These pouches actually contain citronella oil among other oils, and while I couldn’t find solid evidence of citronella’s effectiveness, the pouches seem to be doing something.

I’ve had a colleague at work suggest citronella oil as another option for repelling mice, but I’m not entirely convinced. I mean, the BugMD Vamoose pouches do contain citronella, so maybe there’s some truth to it. But at the same time, I’m trying to stay realistic about what actually works versus what’s just internet hype.

One major limitation for me is that I can’t use poison in the garage because my neighbor’s cat sometimes sneaks in through the gap under the door. Yep, I know that’s probably how the mice are getting in too – I’m in the process of installing a door sweep to address that. So, I’m really looking for non-toxic solutions that won’t harm the cat or any other critters that come through.

So, my question to you all is: have any of you had success repelling mice with citronella, or is peppermint oil the only essential oil worth trying? I’m all ears for any practical advice or experiences you can share. I’m just trying to find a solution that actually works, not just something that sounds good on the internet. Let me know your thoughts!