Last night we had to move all the furniture out of our living, dining and hall/foyer areas to clear the floor for refinishing. It wasn't too bad: the dining room table fit on the kitchen island (upside down), the floor lamp and TV table on the balcony, TV on the built-in by the window, couch and rocker in our room, dining room chairs divided between our room and the kids', foyer cabinet in the front hall closet.

Today the floor guy is working on it. Not sure but I think it will take 2 days. I do know he says the floors will be ready for foot traffic by Friday, so that's when our realtor will list our place.

We have $2500 set aside for floors. I didn't get an exact quote from him on how much it will cost to do this; I know his usual rate is $3 per square foot. Our entire condo is 963 or so, but he's not doing the bathroom, kitchen, balcony, closets or (for now) bedrooms. I haven't thought to measure the remaining areas to see how much it is.

He also vaguely said that he'd "give us a good deal" because we had to wait so long for him to fit us into the schedule. No idea what that means either.

I know it sounds shockingly lazy of me, but the truth is, this is the guy my realtor uses for all the units she fixes up, we've seen the work he's done on them and he's very good, and he's familiar with the buildings, the front-desk attendants and the rules. There's just no way I'm going out of that comfort zone to bring in an unknown contractor, so price is really irrelevant. The only thing it will really affect is whether we can afford to get the bedrooms done too, or if we see if someone can just buff and polish them for a lower rate. (They're not nearly as scratched and damaged as the main living area floors.)

I am just trying to cross off tasks and keep things moving, without obsessing or stressing too much. Things will happen, we will survive, eventually (hopefully) our lives will settle down again.

The project I've taken on to distract myself -- helping my friend fix her finances -- is going really well! I've got her started on my spreadsheets and she's excited to see how she can arrange and adjust things to make sure she stays on budget. Right now her account is in overdraft and she's bleeding NSF fees as automatic bill payments post, but tomorrow is her payday and I hope to help her ensure that she never pays another NSF after that.