Week 15: Fixing, Buying, Grocery Outlet and Buy Nothing Group successes

As usual, at least with our moves, there are surprises that require acquisitions or fixes plus desired items related to the new location and lifestyle. Two weeks in our new home and this is how that has played out for us.

Fixing:

The water heater pilot light was out (discovered when trying to take first shower) but good old Google came through with clear instructions and it working now. That led to discovering that we had to keep it set to very hot to have hot water in the shower so adjusting the shower faucet temperature mixer is now on the plumber list so we can turn the water heater temp down.

Lots of cold air was coming in under the kitchen sink but Hubby purchased an outlet cover and gasket plus some safe insulating material and very little air comes in now.

The kitchen fan vent was not connected to the outside so Hubby fixed it. He also fixed the sink stopper in the upstairs bathroom.

The frig and freezer were not cold enough on the recommended settings so I bought an inexpensive friend/freezer thermometer and finally got the settings food safe.

Buying:

In addition to the small items to fix things we ordered more costly items to address the lack of storage - A dresser for each of us, floor shoe rack for me, wall mounted coat hooks for entryway, a standing towel rack with a clean towel storage rack on the bottom. 

The microwave that came with the house was not well suited for us so a new one was purchased along with other things like a doormat, drawer knob lost in the move and hamper. We did return an expensive faucet that we had brought with us thinking we would replace the kitchen faucet.

Grocery Outlet: After discovering that Safeway here is way more e pensive than Vons was (and “soulless” as my son said) we went to grocery outlet and found that over a year it would save us so much. We still need to check out Lucky for the things that Trader Joe’s and Grocery Outlet can’t provide. Moving requires changing your shopping.

Buy Nothing Want Fulfillment: There is a very active Buy Nothing group here that I have joined and it is lovely.

So far it has provided a very long coloring poster and some felt animals to make that I hope my older granddaughter will enjoy doing.

We also discovered there is a very thorough recycling center system in the city and county that also has a sharing space for books and items in good condition,

Buy Nothing Gifting: Gifting the stuff you no longer want is a big part of these groups. You can ask for things you are in search of and the most touching one I’ve seen so far was for gestational diabetes insulin for a woman whose prescription didn’t arrive in the mail before she ran out. She got some!

So far I’ve given away moving supplies: boxes, bubble wrap, packing paper and a step stool that came with the house. We found some things in the house that will be offered: partial bottle of bleach, wet swifter and a few pads, plunger, strange brush with telescoping handle. It looks like we will have 2 small table lamps we can’t use so those will also be offered and the microwave that came with the house will also be listed.