Thursday, April 22, 2010

Back at Home

After almost six weeks in Belize, I'm back home in Camarillo, to start the final push to sell the house, pack the belongings and move to our new home in Belize. Mischelle did a wonderful job in my absence to keep the home front going, getting our IRS and property taxes out on time. All the bills are current and paid and the house looks great with new flowers planted and the yard trimmed. I guess since everything is OK, I could head back to Belize, but Mischelle will have nothing to do with that. It's my turn to take care of everything on the home front.




We went shopping the last couple of days to pick up various items for the new house. They had some umbrellas on sale, so we had to pick up a couple of new ones. While we were there picking up the umbrellas, of course, there were other things on sale that we decided we would need (like to have) in Belize. A weeks' paycheck later, I think we just bought out the entire store. New pots and pans, assorted cooking utensils, dishware, etc. And after a trip to Home Depot, we've now have all the fans we need for the house along with all of the plumbing fixtures for the kitchen, bathrooms and showers.

What an experience it is picking out every detail for the house. When you buy a new home from a developer, they have a pre-set list of tiles, carpeting, wall colors, cabinets, etc. to chose from. Doing it yourself adds a whole new layer to building a home. Then there's the other factor. Finding what you want in Belize. It's getting better, but still leaves a lot to be desired, just because you'll need to visit so many places to find everything you may want. And in the end, they may not have what you want, so then you just have to make do. Decisions, decisions.

We decided in the end, to get a few items from Home Depot and ship them down, paying the shipping, taxes and duties. The selection is much better here, and over the lifetime of the product, the price is not that much more to get what we want instead of just settling with what is available.

3 comments:

Donna said...

Glad to see you're back home safely. You have a beautiful home there too! Let us know when you have definite dates to return to your new home.

Donna & Jacques

JRinSC said...

Hi Perry,

I've been following your adventures for a good while now... and thanks for sharing all your experiences - both good and bad!!

I think you are right in getting what you really want, even if you have to pay a little more for them. In the long run you will be happier as we have found in building our homes. Very little cost when divided out over the years of use -- although Dave Rider has had some fun with warranties down in Belize *grin*

Good luck on getting your NOB house sold and your final move south!!

Julian

Perry and Mischelle said...

Hi Julian,

Glad you're enjoying the blog. Both good and bad, it allows me to vent and provide some wisdom to others. Thanks for the vote of confidence on buying things here in the US that we want. We get one chance at it now because I'm not building a new one again. We hope to be out of here by August, if everything works out. The blog will probably slow down for a while, now that I'm back in the States. But keep in touch and watch for updates.

Perry