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Home > Gardens, Move-out costs & Nice surprises

Gardens, Move-out costs & Nice surprises

November 18th, 2012 at 03:10 am

This week has been somewhat eventful.

We are almost entirely settled into our new apartment. Just a few more things to get squared away. We went in to talk to my manager (the property manager), and she surprised us with another $25 off for the unit. So a total of $50/mo we will be saving on this apartment.

However, today, we just received our move-out costs from the other property. $372. $110 more than we expected. Quite unfortunate. So, it will take eight months for this new apartment to make up for the move, but we still feel it was worth it. Especially considering that we will be able to grow a garden!

We got ten five-gallon paint buckets from work, and we are going to be cleaning them out. They will serve as planters. We will, however, have to build some sort of enclosure for them, as they could be considered an eye-sore to other residents. We still need to do our research into just what it takes to grow a garden, and come up with the upfront costs. Any pointers would be great!

We went to IKEA yesterday to get some Christmas items. For the wee one, we got a little baking set. They were out of the cookware set, but they should have it on Monday. We also got her an easel that doubles as a chalkboard, as well as a storage box.

For ourselves, we got four folding chairs, new 16-piece dish set, coffee mugs, and the tables we wanted was out, but should be back in-stock just after Thanksgiving.

So glad my overtime did not get taken away before I was able to save all of the money for Christmas. This will be our first Christmas with our own tree and what-not. A pretty big deal for me, considering my family did not celebrate any holidays, birthdays, etc.

Earlier this week, I learned that one of our team members may be getting promoted, and that our supervisor wants the rest of us to move up if it does happen. This would be great! Also, I just performed my annual self-review, and soon will have my supervisor perform the review as well. Depending on how well that goes, he will submit the reviews to the Regional Manager, and request that I be offered a raise. And, in 2013, the minimum wage is going up. My supervisor says that we should get an equivalent raise for that as well.

So, while we have had a few set-backs this month, I think we have done a great job at keeping our wits! It will definitely take some time to recover our savings to what it was, but we can do it!

Thanks to all for reading.

8 Responses to “Gardens, Move-out costs & Nice surprises”

  1. LuckyRobin Says:
    1353211948

    See if your library has Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces: A Layering System for Big Results in Small Gardens and Containers by Patricia Lanza and Container Gardening for Washington and Oregon by Marianne Binetti.

    And for small scale composting, here is a simple compost bin made from a Rubbermaid container: www.yougrowgirl.com/2004/05/08/urban-composting/, though I'd use a drill instead of a knife to make the holes.

    I'd also recommend you look at the blog www.nwedible.com. The woman who writes it is a Seattle area gardner and has quite a bit of good gardening information on what you can grow there.

  2. Looking Forward Says:
    1353219017

    Congrats on the new space. Enjoy your first holiday season as a "real" family in your own place. Smile

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    1353248327

    Fingers crossed that promotion and raise come through for you! You deserve it.

  4. snafu Says:
    1353272190

    Have a wonderful holiday, the first of many to look forward to. Possibilities of increased income sounds terrific. What made move-out costs $ 372. so high? What costs $110. more than expected? Keep these listed so that you don't get thrown off future plans by these nasty surprises.

    I suggest stopping by the in-store bakery when ever at a supermarket to ask if they give-away the buckets their supplies come in. They are usually very clean and complete with lids. Very useful for planters, composter, and storage. I've found beautiful, high quality dishes, mugs, glasses etc. at Goodwill or similr Thrift Shops since the trend is for coordinated tableware rather than matched sets. For example, plain diner plate, glass salad plate, colored or pattern soup bowl. I like to use the smaller sized plates [often called bread & butter] for lunch or snacks as they are practical for portion control.

    It would be a good idea to list your spending against monthly income for December and again when you get increases in the New Year to ensure you get the very most value for every bit of earnings. The folks that responding on Saving Advice are very good.

  5. Wino Says:
    1353282780

    There is a paint called "Fusion" made by Krylon that can paint plastic. If you paint the outside of the containers, then they'll look very nice. The paint is about $5 per can, but if you buy primary and secondary colors, you can make quite a nice looking garden planter that you'll be proud to show off. I found that solid colors work best. The tip for spray painting is to take your time. Do a light coat several times and let it dry for ten minutes between coats until the item is covered. If you try to go too fast, you'll make a mess, and there will be drips running down the sides. I believe you could probably paint running water with Fusion paint.

  6. Frügal Says:
    1353289800

    @LuckyRobin - Thank you for those suggestions! Just reserved them at our library.

    @Looking Forward - Thank you! It sure is nice.

    @creditcardfree - Thank you for the swell wishes. I won't hold my breath, because the likelihood of it happening depends on so many factors. I know I am ready, as my supervisor has told me so. He has also already told me that he will be submitting my review for recommendation for a raise (even though we haven't completed the review process). We have a close-knit team, and I am proud to be apart of it.

    @snafu - My supervisor helped me calculate what the cost would be if we had to replace the carpet, and it came to $266. Carpet replacement will actually be $376. Also, we have to pay last month's WSG bill still (not a big deal). We had a $177 credit on our account, because I already calculated the cost of WSG, so all that is owed now is $372 for the carpet.

    We get free paint buckets from work. The paint is latex, so it is easy enough to clean out, and not harmful.

    Not sure I understood exactly what you meant in your last paragraph. I think what you are saying is to simply not increase our spending?

    @Wino - We originally wanted to paint them a metallic copper colour with the same paint you are talking about. However, that may be more expensive than building an enclosure for them. It is still preferable to me, though. However, the eye-sore I was referring to would be in the opinions of our neighbours. It is possible that they could complain and management would have to tell us - as residents - to do something about it. We would much rather paint them, of course, as building an enclosure would mean we could not move them about freely.

  7. snafu Says:
    1353354197

    I was trying to suggest that it's a good idea to plan for expenditures for an entire year to try to reduce surprises. There are always unexpected, unplanned challenges and the Saving Advice 'Forum' participants have ideas you may have not yet considered.

  8. Jerry Says:
    1353938724

    I also think that painting the buckets makes lots of sense, and that will lead them to look very presentable... of course, there is no insurance against nosy neighbors complaining about ANYTHING, but if you make an effort to keep things looking nice, then that should help. Good luck!
    Jerry

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