Selling Our Home

Where to begin….

As you noticed from all my posts, we have been eliminating items from the house over the course of a year. Yard sales, Goodwill donations, giving to friends in need, and some garbage have been our lives for the past year.  It is a lot of work and made me realize I need think before I buy ever again. Is the item something you absolutely need and will you use it daily? If neither question is answered, then don’t purchase it. As mentioned before, America is the country of hoarders and accumulation. There’s so many stores for cheap stuff so people just buy without any second thought to the purchase, because, well it’s so cheap! 

Once we paired down majority of our items in the home we reorganized to sell. Let me tell you, it may be a pain to do, but rearranging your kitchen and bathroom cabinets will help you sell quickly. Seeing the back of the cabinet is nice for those looking at the home. My realtor said: “if it can open, they will probably open and look”. So make sure closets and cabinets are organized enough. We sold our electric appliances with the house, so those items were also spotless and organized. Yes the fridge had to be organized so they could see how much space they have.  

From there we downsized furniture to pieces we definitely needed. Getting rid of useless furniture will help make the home feel less cluttered. The more clutter the less desirable. It was inconvenient because we had no coffee table, we had a smaller tv, we had less of everything. But it was a good transition for coming to our new home here in Paris. 

Next, we repainted the entire house. Our bedroom was the only exclusion because I repainted it a year ago to a neutral grey. The rest of the house got a neutral tan/grey from Behr called toasty grey. It was perfect because the rooms all looked different depending on the light. So a 5 gallon bucket of paint, some new white trim paint, and supplies for painting ended up being around $200. Then I got the carpets cleaned and the grout cleaned. That is important even if they remove them, especially if you have pets and need to have a less allergic space for people to come see. Shockingly getting the carpets cleaned wasn’t breaking the bank. 

Before paint: 

After paint: 

The warm color made it feel more comfortable and look really clean. Make sure you declutter all surfaces especially the kitchen and the bathroom. Those two rooms are the most important to buyers. Make sure you keep it clutter free so that it will be easier to leave for a short-notice showing. 

Here’s my checklist for getting your house prepared to sell: 

• Declutter every room, cabinet and closet. Rearrange the cabinets and closets so you can see the back of them.
• If your appliances are staying, deep clean them. Oven, microwave, dishwasher, fridge and washing machine/dryer. 
• Downsize amount of furniture to necessities. That corner table that holds a photo, yeah get it out.
• Remove all personal items like photos, calendars and anything with you all over it. The new homeowners need to see themselves in your house, without your face or your family members faces looking at them.
• Empty rooms that you do not use daily. You can live without your craft room for a little while. 
• Clean all your windows.
• Repaint if needed, including trim.
• Recaulk counters, cabinets, bathtub, and anywhere else that has been caulked. 
• Clean blinds or curtains. (Old socks work well for dusting blinds)
• Get the carpets and tile cleaned professionally if needed. 
• Declutter the yard and any outdoor space like a patio/deck. 
• Clean your basement, laundry room, and garage. (I know, yuck)
• Minimalize items on every counter or piece of furniture.
• Purchase cheap neutral colored linens, shower curtain, and towels, preferably white or beige. It makes the bathroom and kitchen look clean.
• Maintain the decluttered lifestyle for easy preparation for a short-notice showing. 

Believe me, once the massive overhaul is done, you will like having less to worry about. Your hard work will pay off. It will be easier to maintain for your showings and you will be able to give up your home easier. 

Home Again

We arrived in Paris on April 1, 2016. It was a big relief to be back. Paris has become our home over the past few years and continues to feel …

Just Go

It’s been an amazing journey the past two years in our household. We have come a long way to being more minimalist, frugal, and content with simplicity. If you saw …

Decluttering: the Process

This experience has been eye-opening. Decluttering my life is challenging though. 

We started the process over the spring and summer months. It took some time and energy to do the first round. Really figuring out what we needed was tough at first. My problem was dealing with the sentiment in the beginning stages. I promise though, you will not remember what you got rid of months later.

My process started with the “knick-knacks” that I accumulated over the years. It is tough to get rid of things that may have been presents from family and friends. My first round of getting rid of stuff for the yard sale was hard. My next round has gotten easier. 

  
I kept this candle holder with neutral colored stones for my table. This is 1 of my 4 knick knacks in my downstairs. 

  
These glass pieces make up the total number in the downstairs. When you think about dusting your knick knacks, 4 items doesn’t seem like too much work. 

After removing the unnecessary items like decoration, it got easier to remove the other clutter. The decision became easier: just get rid of it. Even my husband was less attached to items of his.

 It was tough at first but once the yard sales and the donations happened, we felt relieved. Getting rid of clutter is a huge weight that gets lifted off of your shoulders. You do not realize how hard it is and overwhelming it is to live with clutter until you get rid of it. 

Of course there is still more to do, even when you drop off donations a couple times a week, there is something else that you can get rid of. 

Green Cleaning: Tile Grout

There has been a lot of green cleaning recently. When you are trying to sell your house, you need to make sure it’s clean. Even down to the corners and cracks, like tile grout. 

I have been cleaning my grout like this for a few years now. It’s really simple, just need two ingredients, scrubber, and some elbow grease. 

• Hydrogen peroxide
• Baking soda
• Brush (old tooth brush works well or you can purchase a brush meant for grout cleaning)
• Sponge or rag to wipe it.

Here is my bathroom grout before. It is a little darker to begin with but not supposed to be this dark 

  
So you use a spoon or something small to sprinkle the baking soda over the cracks. And then squirt some hydrogen peroxide on top of it. It will form a paste. 

  
Use your brush to scrub it. (This is where you need elbow grease) 

  You can see the liquid is discolored…. That’s the yucky stuff. Make sure you wipe the grout clean with your sponge or rag. I set up a bucket of clean water to use. 
  

Let it dry and then here you go. There may be some baking soda residue, but you can mop or steam the tile to remove that. It’s a lot better than it was. 

Let’s just say that baking soda, vinegar, rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide are cleaning staples in this less waste home. Without those I don’t know what I would be doing besides spending a lot of money on cleaning supplies. 

Green Cleaning: Kettle

We switched to an electric kettle about two years ago. We got one that was stainless steel, ordered on Amazon and it was shipped to our house for us to use upon returning from Europe. 

The most annoying thing to do is clean a teapot or kettle. It’s awkward to stick your hand in there, and doesn’t seem like you can get it all.

Using as much vinegar as I do, I just gave it a try for my kettle cleaning. 

We only put water in it to boil, but over time there will be mineral buildup on the bottom.

  
A little yucky. It happens so quickly here because we use it everyday, maybe even twice a day. 

Put 1/2 cup vinegar with 1/2 cup of water and boil it. When you are done boiling it just swirl the water gently around in the kettle to reach the sides. 

The finished product will leave you amazed and a new mirror to look in. 

  
I’m pretty sure this technique would also work on other kinds of teapots/kettles. Just beware it’s a little smelly while pouring it out. However, the results are worth the stench. 

Don’t hate me

Yes, it has been months since I last created a post. 

Since my last post, life has taken over and I have been very busy with work and the house. 

I will say that it has been a challenge to balance it all, but I am very happy with my results. Becoming less waste has been difficult in the everyday things, but we are becoming minimalists in the house itself. 

It is very American to have “things” and “stuff” everywhere. (I feel like the word “stuff” was created for hoarders)  Getting rid of so much this summer during the two yard sales was very uplifting. However, there was still so much to continue getting rid of. 

• I donated my art supplies to a local artist who would use them. (Including my art table and easel) 
• I boxed up sentiments. Including: photo albums, books, photos, etc.
• I cleaned out my kitchen cabinets and donated to goodwill and made a pile for friends with more valuable things. I also boxed up things I know I will not use. (Even down to spices!)
• By rearranging my cabinets I was able to minimalize what is on my counter in the kitchen. 
• The junk drawer became a regular drawer.
• My nightstand was a catch all, so that got changed also.

There’s still more to do, especially since we are putting the house up for sale. Lots of heavy cleaning and reorganizing. We will be: 

• Removing our very large old projection TV and replacing it with the other TV that’s smaller and can fit on a piece of furniture.
• Removing a piece of our sectional couch to make it smaller for perspective 
• Repainting the kitchen, spare rooms, and bathroom 
• Getting the carpets cleaned professionally. (Which is cheaper than I expected!)
• Emptying the crawl space, the garage, the back porch/shed. 

There is a lot of work but it has been going well and there is a difference in the house. 

I will try and update as much as possible. Much love ! 

My Hair Care

My hair: easy to tangle, a lot of hair, thin strands, straight as straight can be, naturally soft. 

Everyone’s hair is unique, it’s own quirky tendencies, different ways that you learn to style overtime, and of course you’re always learning about how to tame it. 

One thing I noticed as I got older: my hair changed in how it needs to be taken care of. My hair has always been straight, very very straight. When I was 6 years old I was in my Uncle’s wedding. I remember my mom trying to curl it and it did not hold it at all. (This was in the early 90’s so it had to be big!) Instead she settled with a French braid with some baby’s breath stuck in it. That was even a challenge, my hair was too soft to keep in a nice braid. I remember going to touch it and getting my hand slapped. Never tried touching it the rest of the day. 

Bangs were popular for kids my age growing up, so therefore I had ’em. But of course my hair was so annoying to cut, and they always looked a little crooked. 

  
Hah! I rocked them though! 

Well now I started dying my hair, but really I waited for a while to dye it. The first time I touched it was in 2011 so I was 24 years old. Having natural dirty blonde hair, nobody wants to dye it. (And my mother was very unhappy with me!)

Because I have bleached hair now, it is a little more dry. It always tangled easily though, but with some ends being dry it’s more fragile. 

Here are some things I have done in my hair care routine:

• I do not wash it everyday. It has been getting extremely healthy by giving it a break. I wash it every other or every two days. In the winter my hair gets extremely dry and brittle, so I sometimes go three days without washing it. 
• Use a jersey knit fabric for drying your hair. I use a jersey knit pillow case. (Pictured below). Jersey knit is soft and will not tangle your hair. Towels are rough on your hair. Believe me, this will change your hair. 
• Proper shampoo. Make sure you use sulfate free. I tend to use part baking soda and part natural shampoo. The baking soda dries out my hair too much so I cannot do just that as a shampoo. But with the natural shampoo it really keeps my hair healthy and my scalp clean. 
• Proper conditioner. I do use an expensive conditioner. I do not need a lot of it to condition, so it lasts a long time. I do not use it every time I wash my hair, I don’t want a build up. 
• Brushes. I use a wide tooth comb to start. Then I use a boar bristle brush (for vegans you can find a non animal product bristle brush on Amazon) The boar bristle brush is great for distributing the oils from your roots to the rest of your hair. I use it every morning. 
• I try to not blow dry my hair as much as possible.  I tend to wash before bed so over night it dries naturally. Or I wash my hair on my day off when I will be home all day. As it dries I brush it with the boar bristle brush to smooth it out. 

   
My pillow case as a hair towel.

  

My wide tooth comb and boar bristle brush. (Sadly my comb is plastic but there is no point to throwing it away just to buy a new one)

After it is brushed out with the comb. 

  
After some drying time I brushed with the boar bristle brush. 

Of curse everyone’s hair is different. This is how my hair naturally dries, which is rare for majority of mankind. But I must say, no matter what hair type you have, you should use natural products and jersey knit “towel”. 
 

Using What’s Left: Orange oil

In my quest of learning to make things from scratch, I decided to try essential oil. The easiest one I found was orange oil. 

Orange oil is good for many things like cleaning solution and also for your body. 

You need to eat a bunch of oranges and save the skins! 

 
Let them air dry on a baking sheet for a couple days in a warm area. It is important to just let them dry rather than dehydrate them in an oven.  

 
Find a mason jar with a lid. You can chop up the oranges into smaller pieces if you would like or just put them into the jar how you dried them. 

  

Find a cheap vodka or grain alcohol. This was $6 vodka from the store, it tasted pretty cheap so that’s ok! 

Let this soak for a week or so. If you want to make it less than put it in a sunny window.  Shake everyday at least once. 

  
I let mine sit for a week or so. It’s very cloudy and strong. Get a coffee filter to strain it for the next step. 

  
Once it’s strained put it in a clean jar. I used a mason jar and kept the ring part of the lid only. Put a thin piece of napkin on top and secured with the ring part of lid so there’s airflow. Let it sit like this for a week so that the vodka can evaporate. (To further process- put in the sun)

Once it evaporates you can put it in a dark glass jar (I used old Yeast jar)

 
Some uses for orange oil include:

• Antidepressant- use in a diffuser
• Cleaning solution- add it to your homemade glass cleaner or vinegar cleaner
•  Use it for your teeth- can use some in water for mouthwash
• Homemade poopouri spray- small spray bottle with water and heavy amount of oil. Spray the toilet bowl before doing number 2 and it will release a fresh scent. No febreeze chemical crap needed.
• Stain remover for tiles. 
• General antiseptic. 
• Add to your homemade sugar scrubs for refreshing scent. 

Cutting Out the Dryer

 
While in France we used our good friend’s washing machine the first week.  The washing machines in Europe are different than in the USA. They are smaller, and sometimes they are dryers too, like a two-in-one special. They do not have lint traps and the dryer takes much longer. So we used it and hung most of our clothes up around her apartment to dry. (Thankfully she has a lot of radiators) 

When we got back to US we decided to get a rack that we could use instead. We also have some drying space on some hooks that I have used for nice clothing items to hang, but it’s not enough to do everything.

  

I have been using the rack for almost everything. It holds a lot more than I expected. We got it from Ikea, and it was definitely worth it. The past few weeks I have not used my dryer at all. 

We used to have a clothing line outside but during a storm a few years ago it broke. That is something I want to put back up, but in the meantime I will air dry on this rack. 

Dryers are quick and nice sometimes, but your clothes will not appreciate it in the long run. Air drying keeps the quality of your clothes like new.