Dandelions and Daydreams

I tried to upload photos, but I am having issues. Last night we slept in the “lake house” for the first time. I’m calling it our lake house because we are just a few blocks from the lake. I’ll be running between the two houses for a few weeks until I get internet switched over to the new house.

The bedroom in the new house is 8 1/2 feet X 8 feet. We had to push our double bed all the way against the wall to make room for one dresser. As I was setting up the room and putting things away, I noticed that it felt a lot like camping. The smallness of the room feels about like the size of a four person tent. Tonight we’ll move the living room over and then all that’s left is to sort, sort, sort.

We will be getting rid of a lot of stuff over the next few weeks. Some stuff will be going into storage, but most will be going to Goodwill or Freecycle. It’s almost time for supper so I’m off.

Keeping cool in a heat wave is a bit of an art when your house doesn’t have an air conditioner. North Idahohas had it’s two weeks of summer now, we have been seeing temperatures close to, and even topping 100. That’s not all that bad compared to Texas heat and humidity combination, but very few people have air conditioning in Idaho. I’ve been working diligently to keep the house cool. In a way, I am lucky because I grew up in a house in Georgia that didn’t have air conditioner. I’ve always known how to keep a house cool even without A/C.

As the sun goes down and the temperature starts to drop a bit, I open ALL the windows in the house. I leave the doors to the rooms open and turn on a small fan in the door of the bedroom. This fan is pointed into the main part of the house so that it pulls air through the bedroom and cools the rest of the house.

In the morning, I try to go out running before 7 a.m. If I am not out by then, it is too hot to run. When I get back, I close all the windows in the house (this must be done by 8 a.m.). I keep the blinds closed on the side of the house where the sunshine would come in. For most of the day I keep the curtains and blinds closed on the Eastern and Southern facing windows of our house. In the late afternoon I open the blinds on the southern facing windows and close them on the western facing windows. Sometimes I leave them all closed all day. The fan faces wherever I am working at the time. I try to work in the western rooms in the morning and then move to the eastern rooms later in the day. All in all, this keeps the house pretty cool until about 5 p.m. By that time, I can open the windows again in anticipation of things cooling off in the night.

Following this procedure, I have actually had to put a jacket on in my house because I was cold even though the temperature outside was in the 90’s. This is good advice for anyone who is trying to stay cool in the summer without air conditioning, or who is trying to save on their cooling bills. It works for me in this great adventure.

Also Check out this related post:
Keep Cool without Air Conditioner: Use Gel Packs

Negotiating is a lost art in America, but everywhere else in the world, negotiation is the standard way of shopping. While at most regular stores negotiating is frowned upon, at garage sales negotiating is your ace in the hole.

You have to remember that there are two kinds of people who hold garage sales–those that want to make money and those who want to get rid of junk. Personally, I prefer moving sales. The host is leaving and so has an urgent need to get rid of stuff, they will often sell much nicer stuff than the average neighborhood rummage sale, and they are motivated to sell.

I’m going to borrow shamelessly from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University lesson “Buy Only Big Big Bargains.” First remember, there is nothing wrong with getting a deal if you haven’t’ misrepresented the truth or set out to harm the other person. Consider what the other person needs and create a win-win deal.

Negotiate everything. Always assume that you can get a bargain. At moving sales, you can often get 30-50% off the asking price just by asking, “Will you take $X for it?” Another way of phrasing it is “How much will you take for it?” When you ask this, you might get a better bargain than you would have offered, but you have to know the power of silence. Silence adds pressure to a negotiating situation. The seller may talk himself way down without you having to say anything.

Practice patience. If you wait long enough you will find what you want at a great bargain, and if a bargain isn’t good enough the first time, you can usually wait. It will come around again.

Garage sale shopping can be a lonely thing, it’s always good to bring a friend. I’m not talking about bring just any kind of friend. When you are trying to sort trash from treasure, you need to bring the buddy who will talk you out of buying that velvet Elvis print (or whatever garage sale “must have” you find). You need a good friend who will ask, “Do you really need that?” or “What are you doing to do with it?” A really good garage sale friend will tell you, “You already have 5 just like it and you don’t use any of them!”

When you are choosing your garage sale buddy, look for someone who isn’t afraid to be honest with you. He or She will be your greatest asset in finding garage sale gold

One of the best ways I know to keep from over spending at a garage sale is to only carry cash, and only carry the amount of cash that you actually are willing to spend.

This one is pretty simple. If you don’t have a checkbook, you can’t write a check. Set your limit for the day/week/month and pull out the cash at the beginning of the time period you choose. Don’t let yourself get any more garage sale cash FOR ANY REASON. With unlimited cash, you can bring home unlimited trash, but if you have a budget, you have to look for the treasures.

One more tip, when you are carrying cash to a garage sale, bring small bills $1, $5, $10, and even some quarters. Garage sales usually don’t have change for larger bills.