When we moved from Ontario to Nova Scotia last August, we piled our Honda Civic with as many belongings as possible. A month prior to our departure, we found a guy that would sell us his clam for the roof of our car. Did you know that roof racks cost $200?! We saved our money and the roof of the car by putting our eggshell mattress between the clam and the roof, and by the time we arrived at my mother’s house the mattress was slathered in bugs. It was gross. I purchased vacuum bags for clothing and towels, and very smart packing allowed us to take everything of importance. The other belongings we’d acquired while living there were given to the Salvation Army, back to the people who lent us stuff, sold on Kijiji or tossed. The only piece of furniture we were able to bring with us was a tv table we’d purchased at a Home Depot a month or two prior.
Anyone know what that means? It means that when it came time to set up our new home in Halifax, we had next to nothing. We borrowed some stuff from my family, we bought some stuff off of Kijiji and I ended up spending a whopping $4000 of my savings on setting up our home… all within about a week. It added up quickly, and I’m still not sure how I managed to spend that much. I’m thrifty, but I can only do so much. Actually, while we were bringing the baby home from the hospital for the very first time, I spotted a piece of furniture (a really old record player) and demanded that Clive go back and pick it up and bring it home. He dropped Ash and I off, I called my sister for help, and we had a “new” piece of furniture to go along with our brand new baby.
We skipped getting a few important pieces- a desk for each of us and a couch. I had spent too much money and I wasn’t ready to spend more right away. We made due, Clive was on the kitchen table with his laptop, I was in the bedroom- sitting on the bed and the laptop on the tv table, and we just didn’t really have guests over very often so a couch wasn’t necessary to have. We wanted one, but it just wasn’t in the budget.
Scouring flyers, Kijiji and lots of stores, we finally found a desk on sale at Zellers a few weeks ago. It’s meant to be a corner desk, but Clive was able to put it together so that we each have our own. We knew we needed the desks sooner than later because of all of the random wires that computers generate- Ash was getting more and more curious and grabby, and buying a desk was more baby proofing than anything.
I really started looking for a couch when we were planning Ash’s 1/2 birthday party. The setup of our living room/dining room/kitchen was awkward and there wasn’t any room for people to sit. The night before his party, I finally found a gem in the middle of a bunch of ten year old, stinky, flowered couches on kijiji. An Ikea couch, supposedly only a year and a half old, for $100. Score! I sent Clive to go and look at it, and he came back and he approved. I hired a guy with a pickup truck to deliver it the next morning, and voila, we finally have a livable space.
We switched around the furniture (I took before and after pictures, but I cannot find the before pictures, bah!) and suddenly Clive and I have a home. I feel a sense of pride about my home that I haven’t felt yet about this place, and really… er, haven’t really felt about many of my apartments. It’s such a nice feeling. I’ve even made a promise to myself to spend some time each evening and clean up. Toys where the belong. Dishes away. Dinner cleaned up.
Most evenings I just want to veg out in front of the tv or the internet (and I often have work to do as well), and so I’m lazy when it comes to chores after a day of entertaining a six month old. But not anymore! Thanks to this couch and our new layout, I feel good about where we live. If we had a back yard, it’d be perfect.
We’ve also been sleeping as a family on the new mattress and although he’s still sometimes stuffed up, it’s better than it was. If only I could get used to sleeping with Clive who occasionally snores and more often than not has a whistle-y nose, both of which get him a swift kick or me harshly whispering “ROLL OVER!”
The spare bedroom has been turned into our office/playroom where our futon, desks and tv are. It’s comfortable.
It’s lovely loving where you live.
The day before Ash’s six month birthday he started babbling. This is almost all we hear now:
Oh, and this means trouble:
