Made appointment (and a huge AARGH)

Ok, stuff cleared out today** and I made an appt with the contractor to start one day  next week.  Let's see how that plays out!

** almost all - despite a months' worth of talking and discussion and showing M specifically what was being removed to the recycle center, and after all these discussions resulting in debates and arguments and finally compromises, he took some of the stuff and put the rest IN THE GARAGE!!!!   He insists he's not a hoarder.   His excuse is that he'd rather see someone get some use out of it rather than it being destroyed.  We're talking about 20 year old printers that we stopped using because the ink clogged or the drum or laser needed replacing!!!  At least that's all he confessed to -- I'm sure there are lots of 30  year old broken components that he smuggled away as well.

Ok, bright side -- at least it's out of the rooms that the contractor needs access to work in.  I think when we're ready to clean out the garage, I'll figure out a way to get him out of town for the weekend and then get a junk hauler to come in!

Another attempt!

M is taking the morning off of work tomorrow and hired a friend to help him with the heavy lifting of the all the stuff to be taken out of the downstairs room and over to the recycle center.  We can then spend Sunday removing or rearranging the furniture and taking up as much carpet as possible.  Perhaps the work can then start next week?

Meanwhile, we have about $6K of receivables (work billed but not paid), so hopefully once that starts coming in, we can plan to start work on the upstairs.  We shall see!  In light of the way this has been going, I shouldn't jump ahead of myself!

Ok, what's going on???

I called the recycle company to confirm that we're still on for tomorrow (the 4th reschedule date) and learned that they had a meeting just today and determined that they can no longer pick up from residences in NJ since they are a PA company (I wonder if they were ever planning to tell me this, or would I have taken yet another day off of work waiting for them?)  They said they can only pick up if it was arranged and brought over to a place within my town or county.

So I am basically back to square one - figuring out how to get all this stuff out of my house, into a truck and brought over to the recycle center in my town which is only open on Wednesday mornings!

Somehow, I think there's a message here I'm supposed to be receiving.  I do hope it's not that I should give up trying to fix up the house to put on the market to sell to get cash for the RV.

Postponed yet again!

Well, the recyclers were scheduled for Feb. 4th but apparently they got very busy and ran overtime at a previous stop (a school).  Since they were an hour and a half away and it was almost 4:00, they decided they'd postpone.  Now I'm scheduled for next Wednesday - Feb. 13th!  I guess it's true that you get what you pay for.  As much as I want to complain about the big inconvenience in that I can't get the repair work started until the junk is removed, my only other options is to load it all into a huge truck (which I'd need to rent and would need to hire someone strong to help lift all the stuff) and bring it to the local recycling center, or pay a company to remove it (the lowest quote I got was a bit over $500).  So, for FREE, I guess I just have to grin and bear it.

Meanwhile, starting to believe the Next Chapter will NOT take place in 2013 either.  House may not be market ready this year at this rate.  Sigh.

Update to work

I was certain the recycling company rescheduled for February 1st, but when I called to confirm, they said it was the 4th.  I suppose I could have misheard.  So, hopefully, we're on for tomorrow to pick up all the junk from the downstairs rooms.

Meanwhile, the contractor is busy and can't schedule us to start until the following Monday.  That's ok; gives us a little more time to pick up more carpet and move what we're keeping into the garage temporarily.

On the RV front: we did make a final decision as to the rig (or should I say "home"?) we want.  Of course, it depends on how much we can sell the house for, but for  now we have our sights on a custom built DRV Mobile Suites, 43' unit, using the Atlanta floorplan as a base, changing out one sofa for 2 recyliners or theater seating, having a peninsula counter rather than an island, and changing out the rear bunk area with the Phoenix office.  Still have to do much research in finding a good but cheap used truck to pull it with.

Did I really expect it to happen?

Even something as simple as a company coming to pick up junk managed to delay everything by a week!  Why?  Because they didn't show up on Friday like they were supposed to, and as such, the contractor couldn't start the work on Monday because there's too much stuff in the way.  They are now scheduled to come this Friday (Feb. 1st) so the work might begin that following Monday.

Do the obstacles ever end???

Took another big step!

We just put down a 1/3 deposit for work on the downstairs.  All recycleable junk and giveaway items will be removed on Friday and Saturday and the work starts on Monday.  By the end of next week (Jan 31, 2013), our downstairs landing, den, bedroom and bathroom will be freshly painted (with holes patched and smoothed), and new floors put down. 

I am trying to look at this as the glass half full - that we're making progress and this is a big step.  If it's half empty, then I have to look at the many other projects upstairs and outside that still need to be done before we can put the place on the market.  And since we're cleaning out the savings account with this work, it could be months before we can tackle the next project.

I know.. steady and slow wins the race.  But I really want to start the next chapter NOW!!!!