Cleaning Up Our Rental

Dec 4, 2013 /

Here we go people. The countdown is on for moving day which means our window of being able to clean up this rental is slowly (well quickly) closing!

We talked to our landlord last week and told her the news. She is bummed but of course understands. She left us with one request… to really get the house clean. Mike and I feel very strongly that we need to honor her request. She has been a wonderful landlord and has given us so much flexibility. So operation clean up this house is in full force.

I’m going to make a checklist of all the rooms in our house – simply for accountability – and I will hopefully cross everything off in the next couple weeks. I’m also going to pass along some tips…

Deep Cleaning Your Rental Tips

I have lived in a handful of rentals in my time and have definitely not done a good job at cleaning them up at the end and yes, my deposit was kept in return. This time? It’s not worth it, and we really care about our landlord and don’t want her to have to come out to clean. One time my sister moved out of her rental and was sent a bill for cleaning – my mom and her had spent at least two days seriously cleaning that place and they charged her for dusty baseboards. Dusty baseboards?!

Tips for Cleaning up your Rental

1. Don’t leave everything to the last minute.

If you dust your baseboards two weeks before you move out they won’t get coated with dust in the two weeks you’re packing and doing other things. Feel free to start ahead of time and knock out some of the daunting tasks before moving day.

2. Look high and low – don’t miss the small things

When my friends and I moved into our rental our senior year, the renters before us had forgotten to look up while they were cleaning. The ceiling fans and the corners of the ceilings were disgusting. I don’t even want to tell you how many wipe rags it took to get the gunk off the fan. Don’t skip those things – I think your landlord would rather sweep a little dust than pull out a ladder to clean the ceiling fan. Also don’t neglect your closets. Just because they’ve been filled with clothes doesn’t mean they’re dust free.

3. Fill nail holes

We’ve all been asked before moving in to not use nails and guess what? We all use nails. Do you landlord a favor and fill those in. It’s tedious, yes, but it’s also something that can happen before the day you move.

4. Manage your time wisely

The kitchen and bathroom are going to be the dirtiest rooms in your house – please spend more time in there than you do sweeping the floors. Unless of course your floors are disgusting, then maybe you should spend a little extra time on them.

5. Magic Erasers are your friend

Seriously, I took one of these and wiped down our bathroom walls (around the light switch, near the shower where water can splash, around the vanity, where the laundry basket rubs the wall) and it literally transformed the room. It looks cleaner than it did the day we got it just because a few small smudges were wiped off the walls.

Take a magic eraser to all your doors and any obvious marks on the walls.

WARNING: Don’t scrub too hard with the magic erasers – they have taken off paint for me before and that is usually not the desired result.

6. Vacuum attachments contain the dust

If you’re like me, dusting is the last thing on your cleaning list. It frustrates me because I wipe it up and then the dust is in the air and settles somewhere else. Nothing ever really gets clean. I think part of this is the old house we’re living in, but since I’ve started deep cleaning the vacuum seems to be the best option. The brush looking one? It’s great for dust.

7. Don’t leave everything to the last minute!

I realize I said this before, but I really believe it needs to be said again. Don’t kill yourself the day before your big move to try to get every knick and cranny clean. You have enough to be worried about – like moving into and unpacking your new home. Put away some extra time in the two weeks leading up to the move to clean. It will save you a huge headache and it will give you a much smoother and more relaxed moving day.

These things have helped us so far and I wish I would have thought through them in my previous rentals. It would have saved me lots of money and frustrations with management companies.

Since we are under the wire here, I have already started cleaning. It’s surprisingly fun for me. I put on Netflix in the background and just get to work. Happy cleaning, packing, and moving!

Oh, and Happy Hump Day!
Love, KJ

We Bought a House!

Nov 28, 2013 /

Well, IT’S OFFICIAL! We bought a HOUSE!!

Which in turn is what we’re most thankful for during this week of Thanksgiving. We are so excited to move into this beauty of a home. We are just smitten and feel so blessed that we get to live here.

I hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving. I can’t wait to share more of our “journey to Wichita”, but for now we have family dinner and then family game night to attend. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Jaderstons

House Hunting {Day Two}

Nov 26, 2013 /

Journey to Wichita Feature

Day number 2 of house hunting took place again on a Saturday and this time Momma Scheer and the littlest sister joined us.

We walked through 2 houses we’d already seen (one of which we really loved) and 3 new houses.

Now, before we went on house hunt # 2 we tried to be as prepared as possible. We eliminated some houses throughout the week but really wanted to keep our options open as we approached our next weekend.

The type A personality embedded at the core of my being of course made a list.

A list of 11 houses that I thought were still on the table…

Then, on Thursday evening, Mike and I sat down and sifted through this list and eliminated the ones that were just not a good fit.

The second to last house on the list happened to be our house (that we’re closing on TODAY). Mike hadn’t seen it online yet – it was our first time looking at it together. I’m gonna be completely honest here and say it was newer than the other houses we had been looking at so in turn seemed a lot nicer. It was built 15 years later and had a lot of updates.

I warned Mike that I was really going to like this house if we decided to walk through because I’m drawn toward “updated” things. If I had to choose between a really nice old house and a really nice newer house – I’d choose newer even if everything else was comparable.

I was feeling really worried about this. I don’t love that I like nice things, but it’s just how it is I suppose. But no worries – as self conscious as I am about liking nice things – Mike liked it too! (AKA – need to stop being self conscious of liking nice things)

So the house hunt began again.

We walked through our house 2nd on that chilly Saturday morning. I was in love even before we walked in the door. Mike liked it right away too, but I think love is a little strong at this point. It had everything on our list (except a fireplace) and it was in a great neighborhood in a central location to everything we needed.

What We Learned on House Hunt #2

1. I act and speak purely on my emotions. For example, I loved the house before we even walked in the door because I FELT good about it. The house made me feel happy. Yes it had wonderful things and everything we wanted, but I loved it and tried to sway Mike to love it because I felt good about it.

2. Mike acts and speaks in reality. He thinks through everything and balances the bad against the good. So essentially? He compliments me perfectly.

We are still feeling so blessed to even have the opportunity to move to Wichita let alone being on a journey to homeownership. We walked away from day 2 almost confident that we had found “our future home”.

And now, 4 weeks later, after an offer, multiple counter-offers, and a contract we are signing the documents to become homeowners!

Happy Tuesday!
Love, The Jaderstons

About Kelsey Jaderston

Posts by Kelsey Jaderston: