After last week's meltdown, I decided to do something about the situation.
I spent hours using Google Translate to try and figure out what to do! There are so many companies out there that either build houses or reform houses, some companies do both. The problem is that they don't show any plans online, or estimates for reform. If you want information you have to request a catalogue, that's alright but they keep calling, asking if you would like this deal or that deal! If the people calling weren't working for a company they could be charged with stalking. Anyway, I bit the bullet and asked Christopher to fill in two forms, one for a company that builds houses, the other a reform company.
This morning Christopher and I went to talk to the reform company and it was very educational.
One big problem is the broken sewage tank for the toilet. We asked about that, the salesman suggested calling the city hall as the city can help to pay for that as it's a health risk. If we can get money to help pay for that or get connected to the main sewage that would be the best.
The next thing, I wanted to move the kitchen back, into the bathroom area. The bathroom is big and basically dead space. But one of the main support beams is in the kitchen wall, so can't move the wall.
We asked about a loan, we can get one through the company. He went on to explain about getting a mortgage to rebuild versus a loan to reform the house. Apparently, because I'm inheriting the house there are certain documents I would need to get. Just that would cost about 5,000 pounds before doing anything!
So I've decided that putting in the toilet tank is the most important, no tank we can't use the toilet. Then a new kitchen. I could live with the one in there but the black mold is inches thick and I have no confidence I could get it clean. Also with mold even if you clean it, it comes back.
To help myself deal with the massive amount of stuff I have here I've been watching videos about hoarders. I know I'm not at that stage, yet, but I think it's easy to get there. The room I cleaned out the other week was really bad but I honestly didn't see the trash, going around with blinkers on! One thing a lot of hoarders seem to say is that they didn't notice it was bad until it got too bad!
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| Fred with the toy! |
The toy in the photo is one Fred bought downstairs a few months ago, problem is no one knows where it came from and who it belongs to. I had never seen it before and all the kids say it isn't theirs. None of the students said they had lost a toy, also it was upstairs where the students don't go. It's a mystery, where did it come from?
Concerning the black mold, in the US there are companies that
ReplyDeletecome in and use(?) to get rid of the mold. Here they are called
restoration companies. I understand that it's an expense you don't
want, but if it rids the house of mold, it might be worth trying.
Good luck and take care.
I have been reading your blog for years and like the obvious love and warmth your family shows each other. Here is unasked/unsolicited advice/suggestion, but here goes... I have a friend who lives on the other coast of the country and she has/had a clutter issue. When it came time to move she was overwhelmed, and could not see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is what we did.... on facetime/zoom we spent an hour together every day for about 3 months and she would focus on one drawer/or a shelf each day. I would watch her empty the drawer, and she held up each item, then we discussed how important it was to her and we made a decision about every item (trash, daily use, memory box). There were occasions when we would argue about her keeping unnecessary items. Trash would go out every single day. Once the item was in a trash bag, and out of the house, she ceased being nostalgic about the item. She had forgotten that THINGS do not define us and in today's paperless society we do not need records and paper and material items that bog us down in memories that do not allow us to grow. She only kept select things that held happy memories that could literally fill only a single carton size memory box. She got rid of anything she had previously thought of as "might need just in case" cause we do not actually need these things. She only kept clothes that fit her and looked nice. No "just in case I get skinny/fat" clothes. That was the general principle. In the kitchen she got rid of anything she could not use in daily life, and got rid of all plastic. That trimmed down her kitchen by a third easily. While getting rid of trash/clutter she cleaned the shelf/drawer and labelled everything (marker on painting tape works well). Needless to say her move went well and she only had about half the items to move to her new home.
ReplyDeleteAll this sounds like common sense but what helped her was having an accountability partner. I was 2500 miles away from her but we kept at it, and she trusted me enough to know that I would not allow our close friendship to deteriorate however frustrated we were with each other. It helped her to have someone emotionally detached from the item to help her make a decision to trash or hold onto each item.
My friend's new home is neater and cleaner everyday because she has fewer things to cloud her judgement.We intend to do this process over again every year with her to keep her hoarding in check.
About the mold, the construction company can bring in a mold mitigation contractor that may also be covered in the loan.
You have quite a few months to mend/repair things including furniture that you want to move so they are in the best condition they can be and you only move items that you want to live with everyday. My father was in the Navy and the word "shipshape" was a part of our daily vocabulary. Every item in our house growing up had to be in good repair and useful... so our home was spare but my mother had an easy time managing it and packing at a moments notice.