Trusting your house.. and being frustrated in the meantime

One of the frustrating aspects of buying an older house is finding that sense of trust. Trusting that its secure, trusting there is no hidden mold, or hidden defects just waiting to pop up. Along with that comes the fact that most, if not everything needs to be replaced. Old water filter, old water heater, thermostat, windows, etc etc etc.

As we continue to tackle renovating our house, I find myself optimistic, excited, but in all honesty - most of the time frustrated and hopeless. It feels too large of a task, especially while running a household of 3 kids, two pets, and 2 parents. Throw in winter, financial woes, and just everyday life and it can be totally overwhelming. Many of my friends in similar situations as us have quit, they just don't get around to the renovation. I have so many people tell me they can't fix one thing in their house, let alone all the changes we have made. They can't understand how we get all that we do done. But, it comes at a price - a stressed out price. Just hoping and hoping that in the end (which will hopefully be sooner than later) it'll be all we wanted.

Since we have moved in, we have replaced the water system. That was a year ago, today they are coming out because since the new, amazing water system our water smells like sewage. Seriously. We had a bit of an odor before and now, especially the master bath, it is gag worthy to brush your teeth in there.

The mold in our windows. We have single paned 1987 Anderson Windows. Any poly on the wood has since worn off and the condensation that drips has created a warped mess of mold and soggy wood. Sadly, we didn't really notice this when we moved in since the previous owners didn't live here in the winter and so the windows were blessed the massive heat discrepancy of outside and in during cold winter months.

Old thermostats. We don't have the luxury of our thermostats telling us the temperature of a room. So we think we are placing the room at 65, but honestly have no idea. What has mostly made me not trust the thermostats is the new thermostat in the kitchen. It works amazing. You put the temp on 60 and the kitchen is there. You can tell. The boys room, you turn it on 70 and its freezing most of the time. Not too bad a fix at $21 a pop, but as the owner of an electric heated house, that is 11 x $21.

Here's the nasty windows in the master. I hadn't gotten around to finishing the trim in here. But even those windows I did look like this.

It's entirely frustrating and gross.