by Vicky Monroe
Recently my partner and I have been in spring cleaning and home maintenance mode. We’ve had some nicer weather the past few weeks and the black flies haven’t come out yet, so we’ve been doing lots of yard maintenance.
We finally managed to mulch the flower garden in front of our house, which we planned to do last year but never got around to. We had the mulch and the time, but we just couldn’t get our butts in gear! Motivation used to be a problem for us, especially when it came to house projects. So I’m pretty proud we’ve managed to get the house in such good shape even though we’ve been really busy with life and work.
What We’ve Done So Far
In addition to mulching the garden, we’ve used our weekends to recaulk one of the showers, replace a broken shower head, reorganize the basement and attic, repaint the front steps, powerwash, and fix the lattice skirting around the bottom of the porch. I’m tired just writing all that out! All we had to buy was a $50 shower head and some caulk—the rest was just sweat equity and elbow grease.
Plus, we had a big gap in our kitchen counters where they met the wall, so they never sat flush. The gap was due to a weird aux cord that the old owners installed. I think they had some kind of TV there and thought hiding the cord was worth ruining the countertops. It took a whole lot of caulk, but now they look so much better… you can hardly tell there was ever an issue!
We’re still hoping to repaint the primary bathroom with some pretty light blue paint that we already have to spruce it up. But I think that’s about all that’s left on our spring projects list. The house has never been so clean without some kind of company coming!
Learning to Drive
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it on here before, but I actually don’t know how to drive. I’ve held off on learning because of my health problems. I got sick as a teenager and used to struggle with dizziness much more often, to the point where I’d get close to fainting. My doctor was fine with the idea of me driving because I mainly have issues while standing. People with dysautonomia aren’t usually forbidden from driving. I just didn’t feel comfortable with it yet and wanted to get my symptoms under control before getting behind the wheel.
I’ve made so much progress on my health and found so many treatments to improve my symptoms that I think I’m finally ready! I’ve been reading the driver’s manual and am hoping to take the written test within a month or two. I’ll keep you updated on how it goes!
Just to be clear, we’re still planning to only have one car. I don’t need to drive for my job since I work from home, so there’s no reason to be a two-car household. I just think it’s important to drive for my own independence and in case of emergencies. My partner is happy to chauffeur me around, but I’m excited to be able to run errands solo if I want to.
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Vicky Monroe is a freelance personal finance and lifestyle writer. When she’s not busy writing about her favorite money saving hacks or tinkering with her budget spreadsheets, she likes to travel, garden, and cook healthy vegetarian meals.
