My 8 best Craigslist tips

Hello there! Let's talk about Craigslist for a minute, shall we? We are big Craigslisters in this house.

My husband has sold his car and purchased a jet ski using the online classifieds. He's also purchased a chainsaw, snowboard and bindings, a camping tent and other "guy things." I bought a $100 Crate & Barrel desk a few years ago and recently re-sold it for the same amount. I also recently sold a dresser I found at an antique store for $30 more than I paid for it. We also found a ski condo to rent for a weekend via the "vacation rentals" section.

I happen to love buying and selling things on Craigslist, but know that's not the same for everyone. I thought I would share my best tips for buying and selling on Craigslist.

Buying
* If you're looking for something specific, you might have to look for a long while. Craigslist is a marathon, not a sprint. I looked for my table and chairs for around five months before finding what I wanted. Take 10 minutes every few days to search for your item. Don't forget to try different search terms! For example, I'm currently looking for this white Ikea Hemnes dresser; my search phrases include: white dresser, white Ikea dresser, hemnes, white bedroom furniture and Ikea.

* If you're interested in a particular listing, follow the contact directions; don't e-mail if they ask you to text. Explain that you're interested and willing to come with cash that day (or the nearest weekend day). It's best to get the bulk of your haggling done before you show up.

* Bring a buddy or, at the very least let someone know the exact address and time you will be there. Safety first! Make sure you're going during the day if possible.

* Unless there's something completely different about the item from the photo, I wouldn't haggle in person. But I'm non-confrontational like that!

Selling
* Take bright photos of each item in natural daylight. Get several different angles. Original photos are key. You want local buyers to know they're buying from a normal, local person.

* Give as much detail as possible in short, concise sentences or lists. With furniture, I always list the width, depth and height dimensions. If you can find a link to the original item online, that will help, too. For other items, like clothing or shoes, it's also important to describe in-depth and provide plenty of pictures.

* I like to price my items in $20 increments if possible (it's nice for folks stopping at an ATM). Aim high but put "negotiable" in the description. People love to think they're getting a deal.

* As above, make sure you have a buddy with you for the transaction. For furniture, I always drag the item out to my driveway or porch so the buyer doesn't have to come inside. If you're selling a car, it's best to meet in a very public setting. When Max sold his car, it was in a gas station parking lot and he had a bill of sale for the buyer to sign.

Here are a few of our recent buying successes:

I found our dining set (West Elm table, Target chairs) in separate listings on Craigslist. That saved $600+ from the retail value (plus savings on tax and delivery).

It took me a while to find it, but I finally found this West Elm mercury glass pendant for $40 cheaper than in-store. I have our old pendant from Home Depot for sale on Craigslist right now.

We purchased this elliptical for $150 less than the retail value. It works great and we actually use it! Our neighbor saw us unloading it from our car and said, "nice clothes rack!" Ha ha!

We saved $50 on this Ikea Hemnes dresser for our bedroom, and we didn't have to put it together! That was worth it in itself. The owner had assembled two before he realized he only needed one.

If you're interested in more Craigslist buying/selling tips, Young House Love has a very thorough article about how they shop via the site. Also, blogger Emily Henderson posts these really fun trolling Craigslist articles ever so often! She recently profiled several listings in Denver.

What's your best Craigslist find? I'd love to hear!

A few before and afters

We have been busy busy around here doing some yard work and a few minor organizing projects. Max installed a second shelf in my closet, so I'm in the midst of a nice closet clean out (I love a good closet intervention)!

Our Memorial Day weekend was fantastically packed with fun activities but I did manage to sneak in a laundry room mini makeover:

Kind of embarrassed to say this was our messy mud/laundry room before! There was a mini propane tank (what? not safe) and about 15 other things that did not belong up there! 

After! Purchased those colorful bins from Target and cleaned out a lot of random junk. I still want to paint or do some stick on polka dots on the opposite wall!

And we've done a couple minor cosmetic changes in the yard over the past few weeks. We removed the ugly privacy slats from our front chain link fence and also painted the clotheslines in the backyard to match the trim.

These slats are the bane of my existence. Too bad we have them all the way around.

After! Much less noticeable. Our neighbors approved!

Before - yuck!

After! Not so bad. The other close line has two topsy-turvy tomato plants hanging from it!

I think it's a good idea to snap a before pic prior to starting any project, large or small. It's a fun reminder how much work you were able to accomplish! Next up on our list: staining our patio furniture and maybe {hopefully soon} hardwood refinishing!

ACDC: Air Conditioner Decisions and Choices

Many of the houses we were looking at while househunting did not have air conditioning; it's a fact of living in an older neighborhood - most of the brick bungalows were built in the 40s and 50s and just don't have them. We even heard a funny nickname for our style of house: the Park Hill brick oven.

While we thought we could live without, it turns out that should have been a deal-breaker. Or at least a negotiating point! We moved during the hottest weekend of the year and what followed was three weeks of 100 degree + days. We were hot, cranky, mean folks. I was reluctant to turn on the stove or oven because that would make the heat worse, worried the dog would melt while we were gone during the day, and so tired from no sleep! My dad finally scored us the last portable AC in the state (we couldn't have window units since ours slide vertically). It was a great temporary solution but we decided to take the plunge and go for a real central air unit.

After a couple of weeks of quotes (and even grand illusions of DIY with a friend), we decided on a local company and a lower-priced unit (as opposed to a national company who only sells high-end units). While the sticker shock was a little hard to swallow (you mean we could go to Tahiti for the same price?) we decided it was worth the investment for resell value. Not to mention the investment in our sanity!

So far we are thrilled. I even put on slippers the other day while baking in the kitchen. Slippers! In July! Glorious. I might change my mind after we see our first Xcel bill, but for now I'm a happy (indoor, airconditioned) camper.

$200 pergola roof DIY

Roof before

This weekend we attempted our first DIY project - finishing the pergola over our patio in the backyard. When we bought the house, there was a frame for a patio cover (we think there was a corrugated tin cover at some point). With temps in the 90-100 degree range all summer (not to mention my ginger skin) we needed some shade! Max was in charge of the planning and layout. I was in charge of complaining about the cost and the three trips to Home Depot. 

During install

Breakdown:
40 3"x8' wood boards: $150
1 gallon exterior paint: $25
150 screws: $10
Painting supplies: $15
F-Bombs: about 50 :)
Time: About 8 hours


After purchasing the boards, we painted them to match the trim on the house. One broke and one warped, and we didn't account for slant when measuring, so we ended up being 4 boards short (back to Home Depot!).

Completed pergola

After painting all the surfaces of each board, Max hopped up on the ladder and began screwing them in to the existing beams. We of course chose the hottest weekend ever to complete the install, but treated ourselves to the pool and patio drinks after!

Can't wait to sit in the shade! I consider this first major project a success!

We bought a house!

After six months of looking at what feels like every house in Denver, we finally, finally closed on our home last week! What followed was an insane 72 hours of packing, moving, assembling and organizing. Thank goodness for my family who helped us a TON! 

Highlights:
*There is not a single box left in the house itself. The garage is another story...
*Our new Ikea bed has tons of storage and fits perfectly in our room!
*One set of next door neighbors are absolutely awesome and I think our puppies will be great fence-friends.
*We have a dumpster! I never thought I would be excited about this, but when you have that much moving trash, it helps!
*Flowers, wine, and housewarming presents from friends, family and our realtor!

Lowlights:
*I measured all 9 windows incorrectly, which meant a second trip to Home Depot to get them re-cut - only after we each had a meltdown about it.
*We moved during the hottest two days of the year so far. Did I mention we don't have air-conditioning?
*It took two trips to Ikea to get the bed (not a nearby destination)!
*I got stung by a bee in the front yard - boo!

We can't wait to settle in and start making this little brick bungalow ours! I'm already learning so, so much about being a homeowner and we're loving our new neighborhood so far. Excited to host lots of dinners and parties in the near future (after we get some air conditioning)!

Changing our address

If everything goes according to plan, we will be able to to move into our new house in about 2 weeks! Hooray! I've been compiling a list of all the places we need to change our address and realized it's a LOT:

2 Employers
3 credit cards
2 Banks
2 Retirement accounts
1 Student Loan
2 Auto Insurance
2 Health Insurance
2 Driver's Licenses and car registrations
4 Magazines
2 pet microchips
3 college alumni groups
Plus my Birchbox and Starbucks cards

Can you think of anything else!? That's a long list. I know we can submit an address change notification to the post office but it's probably more effective to change these all manually.

It's time to pack!

Well - not quite, but probably next weekend! This weekend I've been making goodwill piles and putting some things in Craigslist.

Our super sweet realtor Kari dropped off a packing kit for us from PorchLight - love it! It's complete with stickers for boxes, a sharpie and box cutter, too!

Here we go again!

We are officially one week into house-buying experiment #2. It is so nuts how quickly things move. We went to look at a house we had already seen once, when our realtor mentioned there was a new listing just around the corner! It's an adorable brick ranch in our first-choice neighborhood, so we will be convenient to work, City Park and the new Trader Joes :) . It's a little smaller than we were originally going for but we are super excited to move in and make it our own!

Here's a little recap of how the last week went:

*Wednesday: House went on the market at 12 pm. Saw it a 5 pm. Made an offer at 8 pm.

*Thursday: Received and accepted counter offer.

*Friday: Starting getting the permits we asked to see (learned our lesson from last time)!

*Saturday-Monday: Cautiously excited!

*Tuesday: The inspection went great and the sewer scope was successful this time - whew!

*Wednesday: Met with our mortgage guy to sign a lot, lot, lot of documents for our loan!

We are so happy this one is working out so well thus far! We still have a couple more hoops to jump through -- appraisal and resolving the minor issues from the inspection -- but if everything goes as planned we can expect to move in exactly one month! Anyone want to help pack?! :)