Just When You Think It Couldn't Get Any Worse.....ha!

   You ever have a thought about things, thinking, well, what more could happen?  Nah, two busted pipes, two bathrooms, one living room, one hallway and one master bedroom all damaged with water, and all the carpeting and well, really, what else could happen.  Almost don't want to drive, ya know? 

     So, dummy me, I really had this idea that I could use that new shop vac to suck out a ton of water.  I just didn't realize it was two tons of water.  I plugged in the steam cleaner, so I had two machines, sucking water.  Now, see, I don't know a thing about amps and circuits.  So, I didn't know plugging two things into the same outlet was a bad idea.  Until I found myself sitting on a wet rug in the dark and I hear a two year old screaming from somewhere else in the house.

     Yeah, so, well, uhhh, I blew the circuit.  I mean, really blew it.  It won't go back on.  I burnt something somewhere and as of today we can't find it.  That's the bad news.  The good news is it didn't affect the entire house.  The bad news, well, it's a real pain to try to remember which lights work and which ones don't. 

     The good news, the shop vac still works.  The bad news, well, the hose is a bit shorter.  Taking a break in the kitchen I thought I could smell burning plastic.  I asked, "anyone else smell that?"  Then all of a sudden I hear my husband yelling french words in the bedroom.  At least I thought it was french.  I didn't want to venture any closer right then.  You see, he has this extremely bright light,....that's hot, very hot.  Melt plastic hot.  The shop vac hose was plastic.  You know that's why they make duck tape right?

The bad news, the fan on my ceiling doesn't work.  The good news, the restoration company that came out put a ton of fans in my room.  Yeah, well, can hardly hear yourself think with those things on.  But then it is a fan.  The bad news is that the dehumidifier makes the room steamy which negates anything good the fans are doing.  The good news, just maybe when I fall asleep I can pretend I'm in a heavy wind in tropical weather, like Hawaii. 

More bad news, they can't get the bathroom dry, they might have to rip it apart.  Noooo, it's the only room that's been remodeled in a nice way.  Well, they started to rip at it, but decided to give it one more night with the fans.  In that last picture you see the dehumidifier, yeah, that took most of the bathroom, our only bathroom right now.  So, needless to say, trying to "go" involved getting over a fan, wedging yourself between the toilet and the dehumidifier.  I can't really describe the next thing nicely, so I'll leave it up to your imagination.  Let's just say, having a fan blow on you full boar while using the commode is an awful thing.  And most of the toilet paper is unrolled and blowing in the air above your head. 

   How did I save any money on this venture?  Hmm, tough one.  These things happen and cost.  We did get the claim money.  I refused the restoration people at my expense, they finally conceeded to me and paid for it.  Aha, I saved the insurance company money since I did most all of the wet drywall removal and some of the water removal, and of course water shut off myself.  I thought shutting off the water was a given, but they were surprised at the work I did, joked about how I did their job and told me than many people had no idea to shut off the water.  Well, I think, ( I could be wrong) it paid off for me in that I was paid for better moulding in my room than what I actually had in there, in the closet.  Just little things like that.  Now, I was also paid at what a contractor would charge reasonably for the work that now needs done.  Which means, if I can possibly do the work myself I will save a ton of money.  I can then take that money and upgrade something else. 
Plus, they also paid me for time spent doing removal of damaged materials, and general removal of closet items. 

   It's not like I planned this at all, but when these things happen it does help to work it all out and think it through.  It's not always necessary to hire someone to do some of the tasks.  Or you might know someone who can do it for a better fee.  I still want to call the electrician, for safety reasons.  You also won't see me using a knee kicker on the carpet. 

Now, if I can just figure out where to put all my clothes.....the rest are all over the living room.  A bit of reorganizing for the duration of this will be ongoing.

NEXT:  Some of the projects I did while my house was falling apart. When I had water that is.

Plus:  What Have You Changed In Your Life This Week To Save Money?  (okay, if you must, change week to month) 

Upcoming Groupon Deal on Elf Makeup, BOL (be on the lookout)