28 Days: Errands and a New Sofa

Today we knocked out a few more items on our list:

-Stop 1 was a Dollar Tree store - Nathan has been trying to figure out how to package our old beach cruisers to protect them for shipping, that doesn't cost more than the actual bikes did 15 years ago. He saw a video (probably on TikTok) of a guy using pool noodles to basically build a protective bubble around them. 8 noodles x $1.25 each, it's worth a shot! I also found some large self-watering plant pots in a neutral "Greige" that should go with anything, for $5! Plus their price sticker is on them. If Customs wants to charge me 40%, then I'm $7 in. Worth it!

-Our second stop was a furniture store to look for a sofa for the villa. Our existing sofa came with it, so it is of unknown age and origin. It's gray, which doesn't match the rest of the home, although I tried to tie it in as best as possible by adding some cooler tones with the accents.

We're both leery of upholstery in rentals; who knows what has happened on them, and they can't be deep-cleaned easily or often. We know we'll be in the villa for most likely a year plus, and we did have one guest relay to our manager that the sofa is on its last legs. No time like now to butt-test some sofas and make sure we select one we will enjoy!

The sectional we sold yesterday came from Living Spaces, a furniture mega-conglomerate with 40 stores in 8 states. Their stores have massive footprints, so we could see many sofas in one location. 

Nathan wanted a comfortable sofa with durable fabric (since the villa will revert to a rental once our new home is built), that was long enough for him to nap on (he's 6'1"). I wanted all of that, but also one that wasn't going to murder us on duty when we import it. I think we found a great fit! I went to grab a photo of it from their website and reviews are either awesome, or awful, so I am second-guessing that choice.

As we were checking out, it occurred to me: They deliver for free ANYWHERE in the U.S. Rather than have it delivered to our current home to go into our trailer, why not send it directly to the freight-forwarder...? Then we aren't paying to ship it to the Freight Forwarder, and it's one less pack/unpack event that could potentially damage it. BRILLIANT! So that is currently the plan. Which means I need to make a decision on who we are shipping with ASAP.

-Stop 3 was Home Depot for spray paint; we want to color-code our items so it's easy to pull them for delivery. I also thought we should distinguish between what needs to come into the villa (either things we need immediately, or that are temperature-sensitive), versus ones that can go into the bodega (yard equipment or things we won't need until the new home is ready). That should make unloading go much more smoothly/quickly.

-A quick diversion to Pita Jungle for lunch, which was on my list of places to dine before we leave.

-Lastly, we ran into Smart & Final for dried dill. Why? Today, I read on a Facebook group that dill is difficult to find, and tough to grow. We use dill for potato and egg salads, tzatziki, chicken...fresh is always better, but we'd rather have dried, than go without.

With errands complete for the day, we returned home and tackled bathroom clearing-out. We moved into this home December of 2021, yet I cannot tell you how many vitamins and OTC meds we moved that expired 10+ years ago. UGH. For partially-used items like shaving cream or shampoo, we are making boxes for our boys to take. That consumed the rest of our day.

Nathan's back to work tomorrow, so we'll see if I'm able to keep up this level of productivity solo!