First House Starter Kit

Cutter's Log - Stardate 2012.42.90
Current Song - Boomin' Bump (John Baker)


At this point I am 100% committed to the new house, and all I have to do is sign the lease to make it official.

I plan on officially moving in November 1.  

112 12th Avenue, Sterling  

I'll have a lot to bring in from my bedroom, as well as the closets around the house and the basement. However, there are many, many things that I still need in order to maintain the appearance and make it look presentable.  

Problem is, I would like to do this without spending as much money as possible. Lucikilly, this coincided with the final day of Sterling/Rock Falls's Garage Sale Days - where many houses sell stuff from their yard. I was occupied all of Saturday, so I did my searching on Sunday.  

I did some searching for a dresser last Sunday to no avail. Along the way, I stopped to get gas at one of the Shell stations that I once worked at. "Who goes garage saleing on a Sunday?"  

I do.  

To me, Sundays are the best time for it. This is the tail end of the sale and people are more and more willing to let go of things for a low price.  

With an area map in my car, I planned on hitting the south subdivisions of Rock Falls first and working my way up to the north subdivisions of Sterling.  

So here's what I got (in order):  

My little coffee table, and a placemat for the top of it.
My popcorn bowl
A metal sign that reads, "deadlines make me laugh"
My hard-plastic set of plates and bowls
My halloween candy basket
A Christmas centerpiece that has a six-inch fake Christmas tree on it (This will actually be my Christmas Tree until I get a bigger one)
My toaster, which I find suspect now
Two telvision sets - these were actually free! (whether they work or not will be determined later)
My clothes dresser priced for $30 and I was able to knock down to $15 (skelton keys included)
--Thanks to the guys there for hauling it back to my house!
A pair of fake wine glasses for the kitchen
--Thanks Johnna!
My mini-vacuum
My Rock Falls Rockets pennant, for the sports collection
My kitchen table: round with a glass top (and $5, too!)
--Thanks Dalan!
My vacuum cleaner
--Thanks Jessica!
Two lamps
My wall clock
Placemats
My flatheads and phillips' screwdrivers
My dinner table chairs  

--- All for $55  

All but three things were bought in Rock Falls. By the time I made it across the river, I knew time was running out. I got the dinner table chairs in Sterling, and I originally bought just the one. The person there mentioned that the other chair is in the house, and he was maybe looking at selling that one also. The chair is white and would normally go in a living room, but I looked at it as a dining room chair (hard wood vs. a cushioned chair - that's a no-brainer) and a living room chair when the time calls for it.  

I had to haul the chair in my trunk in such an oblong way that bungee cords were necessary. After bringing it back home is when I looked at it as a dining room chair. So I went back across town to that sale and asked to buy the other chair.  

By this time I could only find one more sale, and they were putting things back in the garage. Was there anything in particular I was still looking for? I showed them my list, and they referred me to the Dollar Tree. So with no time for more garage sales, I planned on spending the rest of my money at the DT. This trimmed my list down a bit, but there's still quite a few things left to buy.  

Also bought at the DT were a few picture frames. This not just has to do with pictures, but something I read in one of the books I bought Thursday @ Barnes and Noble.  

The books are still in my car, and I don't plan on reading them extensively until I get settled in. These were the best three books at B&N that had anything to do with moving out and getting on two feet (so I guess I deprived Rockford's youth of this opportunity, unless they bring in more books).  

I had arrived at Ottawa early the next afternoon for a football game, so I started on one of the books to occupy time. Just the first six pages had those "make a list and save it" demands. Hence, the picture frames.

As for the rest of the list, a trip to the Walton Mart will suffice.  

My hope is to have my house look like the insides of all of my relatives, and not just a college dorm room.