Connecticut Real Estate
Helped us buy our first house in a completely new region of the country and walked us through every step of the way - was "hard core" on our behalf so we wouldn’t get screwed, but no-nonsense and very kind dealing with our insecurities and ignorance. We’ll go to her for the rest of our lives out here in CT!
Connecticut pump & well servicing
Our only contact for well services. He helped us with the inspection at a place we considered buying, and we’ve had him out here each time at our current house. My husband usually interacts with them when they come, and says he - and his employees - are very easy to work with. I know scheduling them is a breeze on the phone and it’s very reasonably priced for services!
Connecticut septic services
We’ve used them every time at our house for upkeeps and maintenance. They’re prompt, efficient, reasonably priced and super friendly on the phone when booking. Also, they don’t insist you’re there when they do the work - they just send a bill, which I love!
They move a lot in the area and quoted us easily $200 less than the next cheapest movers, who were NOT at all nice on the phone! Tony communicated with me via email (my preference) the entire time and they were prompt, effective, and safe! They also know (and will provide) the good/bad tuners, movers, etc. in the area so are a great resource as well!
Tuning & sales
Bill was flexible and friendly in scheduling. He not only gave honest answers about the condition of our piano (what’s cheaper to fix vs. toss vs. buy new), he also step-by-step took me through things "insiders" know to look for when purchasing a used piano - so I know for next time! He was gracious, patient, and actually fixed a broken string for me - all at the cheap charge of his service call! I will be going back to him forever - including when I go to purchase another piano (which he refurbishes and sells really reasonably!).
I’ve personally vetted each of them for ease–of–use, turn–around–time, & background IRS/contribution research to see where funds go and I just keep coming back to use them time and again.
Play word games to donate food via World Food Programme.
Easily my favorite place! They have an “Animal Registry” (pick specific gifts for specific animals) so you can tailor it according to the person you're donating on behalf of – or just donate for yourself!
Great gift for people who have everything and to those who don't.
I use them only to donate used products (clothes, housewares, etc.), since you can schedule everything online and they come to your house to retrieve it. You leave it on your stoop and they leave a receipt – no fuss, no interaction – awesome!
They have a lot of options for different animal donations and you get actual, decent gifts for donating (not sure how they fund that responsibly, though, so I still prefer Noah’s Ark). But if you want someone to get a physical gift (rather than just a receipt/certificate) when you’ve donated on their behalf, then this is the place to do it. The only thing that is a major negative is that they bombard you with a ton of mail afterward (something I’m looking into blocking).
Things that I find generally intruiging/fantastic
These are all the products whose companies I’m fairly certain do animal testing (in my book, not testing for some or “most” of your products still means that buying your stuff, I’m supporting “some” animal’s painful, abused demise - because you haven’t totally eliminated it), probably clog up and destroy our planet/environment and almost certainly have objectionable marketing/lobbyist interests/practices. But I just still haven’t found anything to substitute for the product that meets or even comes close to the quality it does for me. So yes, consider these a confession. I’m not proud to use them, but I love their results nonetheless. And if you can recommend something equivalent to me, I’m happy to try it! (believe me, I’m constantly testing alternatives, but just can’t find any that compare… yet.)
Yes, Unilever still tests on animals and other crappy things… But I’ve used this product since I was little, all of my grandmas (who easily look 20 years younger than their ages) use it to this day, and I swear by it. Scabs, itches, cuts, poison ivy, dry face (I slather it on at night before bed), lips, feet, legs if you’ve just shaved and want to go into saltwater, dogs’ dry skin patches, everything. There is no wrong use for this stuff. And it only slightly affects their potty habits if your dogs happen to get into it and eat a whole container (don’t put it on around licking animals!).
I freak out at smells – especially fakey ones (the fact that I get hives from perfumes may have something to do with it). So these are a blessing. They have recently reduced chemicals in these products, though they’re still not “natural”. But if I wash things in the Tide Free, then my body can still handle the scents on some of Bounce’s dryer sheets. Yes, Procter & Gamble still blatantly admits (while claiming it’s ”necessary“) to frequently abusing many small animals, but I just haven’t yet found something gentle enough to wash all my delicate clothes while also strong enough to get hair and poo (both from dogs) off blankets just as well. So I’m a total hypocrite in this case.
I am obsessed with this company! It is easily on par with (and in some ways, better than) Amazon Subscribe & Save Prime. Petflow was around before all of these other similar pet-order sites online, and are still amazing (they are constantly responding to and actually implementing customer feedback too, so great ideas get worked into the program)! We get every pet product humanly possible delivered from this company – and have stayed with them for years! The only time we go to the actual Petco or local places (YourHealthyPet is one in Newtown where the people are uber–helpful and really solid overall, ordering in things for you that are hard to get) now is to bring the dogs in for some stimulation outside the house – never because we actually need to buy something.
First of all, I frequently price-compare and our products are always cheapest at this site. Next, you get your products delivered at intervals, automatically charged so you never have to worry about getting refills. It took me a few months to figure out the right schedule, but since then, it’s been fantastic. Further, you can set different items at different intervals, so some shipments are different than others… something a lot of other pet sites haven’t separated out yet. Next, their customer service is phenomenal! Once, a plastic item came damaged and they sent me another one free with a couple days - even though I was able to repair the previous one – so I essentially got 2–for–1. I have never had to use the phone with them. Next, one of my pet peeves is when online services/sites make you actually call them to settle issues. Not so here (although you can call them if that’s what you’re into)! And they always get back to you within 24 hours (although, it’s more like 2 hours max, in most cases). I really can’t speak highly enough of this site! They even have a cute little "spoiled rotten" pet box you can get monthly from them. It’s new products you get to try out – and unlike other sites, it’s not the knock–offs, sample sizes, or residual products no one wants – it’s actually really good, natural, quality products at full–sizes. We don’t subscribe to that anymore (our dogs are spoiled enough), but it’s totally worth doing! Finally, the flexibility is such that you can constantly change your orders and buying one–time products is just as easy, but not more expensive than if you’d bought it long–term, so it’s still worth it to buy with them even on occasional things.
Dogs keep chewing on them (great for their teeth!) even after the filling (we’ve done the beef and the peanut butter, which they seem to like better) is gone! We have about 20 in our house at any one time. Both pugs and Newfies handle them well! We buy them from our vet, but you can get them on Amazon (and occasionally, Petflow) too. I probably wouldn’t buy some of their other products (e.g., food), but these bones are the best we’ve found out there – across the states! Yes, big dogs love them, but it’s more impressive to us that our abnormally–high–intelligence mini daschund (you think your Rottie or Shepherd or psycho terrier/lab is a chewer until you meet this breed – who destroys freakishly intelligently!) would never conquer one completely. There is literally no. toy. on. earth. that dog didn’t destroy in minutes (the closest champion was a rock, once – at 25-20 minutes until destruction), and he didn’t get through these bones!
Anything that smells like your standard “litter/perfumed” smell makes me want to vomit, because the cat smells like it still when they walk on you afterward. This stuff is wonderful! The cat has NO smell – even if she just came from the box. I get the pine–scented one only because I like the smell when I scoop it in better than the non–scented version. But it’s barely a noticeable smell – definitely not a perfume/fakey smell! Basically, it’s all corn. So even when my dogs get into the litter (and they will try to eat it out of the bag!), their potty habits aren’t even affected or sick, so it doesn’t really matter! With one cat, I scoop about once a week and only change all of it monthly. So we go through a 28 lb. bag every 6 months or so. Get it delivered from Petflow!
We squirt a few shots of this in every dinner-time meal, because our dogs typically only eat hard foods (we have a few favorite brands for hard food, but since it varies by our dogs’ age and "issues" I won’t be posting them here). I tried giving it to kitty too, but it made her stomach quite upset (probably because she’s already getting those nutrients in her excellent food). We’ve also used Grizzly’s product, which is fine, but this one is easier to obtain and the bottle “speaks to me” more. Anyhoo, all pups have better coats since we started this stuff – plus, they feel more like they’re getting a treat when it’s on their food (I notice they don’t rush to it the same way without this and the next item). Best part is that it’s a small bottle with a pump to make it easy! Store it in a little tray, though (we use an old plastic food container), since it may drip when not being used – and you don’t want that smell on your stuff or yourself! We go through about 1.5 a month – delivered automatically from Petflow, of course.
Although they love these, we don’t usually serve them as treats. Rather, we break them up and put the right dose into each dog’s dinnertime food (along with the oil squirts, above). We didn’t really care about hip stuff until we got the Newfie, but now it’s pretty much part of their long-term diet – especially important for the big dogs as they’re growing, so totally suitable for puppies! The other ones just enjoy the treat. We’ve always bought the beef ones, so can’t vouch for the others.
Since pet products are all marked up, I go out of my way to find equivalents that are people-versions, but essentially the same. The stuffing in Target’s brand of cheapo polyester-fill pillows (not the down ones!) is perfect for making and re–stuffing pet beds. I make one standard case (as large as each dog needs) from an old sheet or thermal blanket and then just stuff it with their stuffing, taken out of the pillow. I like it because it’s still washable, inside of the sewn blanket, so I never have to take out seams or zippers or whatever to go in the wash when they mess on their “beds” (frequently! since they’re getting old). There are at least 2 dog beds of varying sizes (Newfie to pug) in each room of our house, and I haven’t bought an actual pet bed in years! Whenever ugly blankets and towels (it’s never the “pretty” ones) go on clearance at Target, I also stock up. We have a whole batch of just–dog towels (same quality as human ones, so even 10–year–old ones are still going strong) for any possible dog event. And we frequently weed out old blankets for shelters, because they’re not even really “old” yet.
I’m a total snob and so occasional clothing and interesting dishes from Goodwill are fine, but I’m completely grossed out by the idea of used sheets/blankets/etc. from them – even for animals (though I’d probably feel differently for outdoor pets). I just don’t want that stuff in my house. Sooo… it’s weird that the best place I’ve found for stuffed animals is Goodwill. They are always new with tags still on them… usually cleared out from a local store and haven’t even touched the "used" products. If you don’t mind an Easter bunny rabbit in the summertime, then I get these stuffed animals for about $2 each ($1 each if you get the Goodwill card!), compared to the exact same construction ones at a pet store for $15 or over. Since every dog will eventually tear through a stuffed animal (some sooner, like 1 minute, than others), I get these to "spoil" the pups with a new present for cheap. HomeGoods sometimes has their children’s toys on clearance too, which is just as good (but not as cheap)… but anything in the pet section is still marked up!