thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Mar 25, 2019 21:30:22 GMT -5
Speaking of remodels....
I just got my contract from my contractor.
We are re doing the gall bathroom, which is a fricken mess - we can't get the drain unclogged, the tub is peeling, the wall is crumbling from water damage, the cabinets don't close, the counter and sink are chipped. The towel rack is good. I can keep that.
We are "refreshing" the kitchen. New counters, paint, sink, exhaust and fridge. I'm also adding some shelves.
We are grinding the concrete floors in the hall and main room, getting a new roof, and new insulation.
We will also have the contractor do all of our stupid little projects. Replacing our janky interior doors, paint, baseboards, ceiling fans and changing out some light fixtures.
And, we are going to buy a couple of kayaks and start kayaking! I am finding the joy in my kids growing up.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Mar 26, 2019 15:09:46 GMT -5
By the time all that's done thyme4change, you'll probably want a new towel rack LOL. The kayaks sound like fun!
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Apr 3, 2019 17:04:01 GMT -5
Have you started the remodel yet thyme4change ? How is it going? Anyone else have any progress to report?
Just 2 items left on our list: - our bedroom reno (includes repainting our bathroom) - new oven We are planning to repaint/refloor our Master bedroom in June/July. I wanted to wait till next year but DH is (justifiably) worried about the flooring we got for the downstairs Master last Oct being discontinued if we wait. So DH prefers to do that sooner than later.
DH also wants to buy a new oven. I vetoed that. If we are going to redo our bedroom, the oven can wait.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Apr 4, 2019 0:30:19 GMT -5
They are starting the roof tomorrow, and will probably be start the bathroom sometimes next week.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Apr 4, 2019 0:50:45 GMT -5
But I did get my Kayak. Just bought it. Ended up spending a lot less than expected. They just happened to be on sale, and REI was giving members 20% off, which we used to get money off our life vests (big ticket items were excluded from the coupon).
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Lizard Queen
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Post by Lizard Queen on Apr 4, 2019 6:39:11 GMT -5
I got a permanent job, which starts on Monday. Its part-time, which is fine except for the complete lack of benefits. Its doing something I've done, plus something new to me.
I've got a few less things in my house. Still have to work on that plus the other things from my list.
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steph08
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Post by steph08 on Apr 4, 2019 7:59:41 GMT -5
Redo our master bath - paint, floor, vanity Pay off DH's student loan (almost $11k) Pay $7k off our HELOC Determine if building a house is in our budget or not. If yes, build within two years. If not, sell land (which eliminates the HELOC). Take a family vacation Goal 1 - Complete Goal 2 - Paid down about $2.5k so far Goal 3 - Paid down $1k Goal 4 - Getting multiple estimates next week Goal 5 - Scheduled one for July
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Apr 4, 2019 17:29:14 GMT -5
Congrats on the yakak thyme4change ! And good luck with the work.
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Ava
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Post by Ava on Apr 4, 2019 18:33:41 GMT -5
I know I am late to the party as we are now on month 4 of 2019, but I'm going to participate.
I did participate in a similar thread last year. I don't know if it's writing it down, or sharing it with other posters or what, but I generally achieve the goals I set up here.
For this year my goals are;
Focus more on my health. I was doing great until I started to concentrate on the CPA exams and then I lost my focus. Now I eat whatever, barely exercise, etc. I want to go back to exercising daily and eating healthier.
Finish writing my first murder mystery novel
Cook more homemade meals. I wish I had people to share them with. To me, cooking is better when you get to sit at the table and share the food with others. But I have to do it for myself.
Go back to maxing out the 401k.
Figure out what I want to do with my professional life
Go out more and meet more people, and hopefully make one or two personal friends. I have been attending meetups for one group. It's a ladies only Meetup. The organizer is great and she schedules really fun activities. All the members are friendly and I feel really comfortable there. The only thing that bothers me is that for some reason I am never able to pass beyond the acquaintance stage. Everybody is friendly but nobody is a friend, if you know what I mean. I've been attending for a year, and I plan to continue. I am looking for a second Meetup group to go out more, but I have yet to find a group that matches my interests, time schedule, geographic location, etc.
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Artemis Windsong
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Post by Artemis Windsong on Apr 4, 2019 19:40:05 GMT -5
I want people to stop interfering with me.
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buystoys
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Post by buystoys on Apr 5, 2019 7:13:32 GMT -5
Goals for this year: 1. Apply maintenance free material to the eaves and gables of the house. It's in the budget so we should be able to get it done. 2. Sand the walls and paint my hobby hole. We've said for two years we're going to do it and we have some of the furniture that will go into it. I need to sand and paint the two Air Force lockers we bought to put in there. 3. Go on a vacation. We're really limited with my back issues and the dog. I don't mind boarding the dog for a few days, but DH feels bad about doing that. I'd like to go back to San Antonio, but I know I can't do the necessary walking to really enjoy it.
Zip, zero, nada has been done from my list! lol We've been busy with the rental, trying to get the contractor to finish it so we can get it on the market. Long story, don't ask.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Apr 8, 2019 15:45:18 GMT -5
We were hoping to have our bedroom redone later this year or early next year.
On Sunday I checked online at our local big box home store for the parquet we want (the same parquet we had installed in DS2's former bedroom/DH's new office last Oct). I check about once a month. Turns out, that parquet is discontinued.
It was no longer available at the local store, but it WAS still available at a store 30 min away.
Guess what DH and I did yesterday?! So it looks like we will be doing our bedroom reno sooner rather than later.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on May 4, 2019 16:52:01 GMT -5
Our bedroom/bathroom reno was finished last week (paint in the bedroom/bathroom, new flooring in the bedroom/landing/closet). We ordered new curtains. We picked up our new car today. For the first time, we leased. I was totally against leasing but DH really wanted to lease. DH is generally not "spendy" so I let him choose. Now we just need to replenish savings LOL.
I'm feeling very blessed these days. With our bedroom/bathroom redo, there are no longer any visible "scars" from the subsidence. That makes me very happy. The last thing on our "wish list" is a new oven. DH keeps wanting to get it NOW. I said, NO WAY. (Our 21YO oven still works, but badly.)
We really need to rebuild savings now. Plus, I think it's important to always have another "goal". We've done SO MUCH MORE this year than I ever imagined. Now it's time to enjoy it, and wait patiently for the next purchase.
How are you all doing on your goals/wish lists?!
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Anne_in_VA
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Post by Anne_in_VA on May 4, 2019 19:35:23 GMT -5
Hoping to finish the kitchen remodel this summer. I also want to take some sort of vacation this summer, but not sure where. DH just got the proceeds from his mothers estate this week which will more than pay for the rest of the remodel. It was only a small amount, but we weren’t expecting anything. We’re going to put some in savings for the grandkids college education.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 4, 2019 20:43:42 GMT -5
So....I started my remodel. They tore apart my bathroom, and I picked out my tile and tub and counter, and they opened up our drain, to find our sewer pipes are collapsing. Not entirely surprising, our house is 60 years old and many in our neighborhood have had the same problem. $15,000. Yikes. So, we decide to scratch our closed cell foam insulation to help cover it. When they start opening the drains, it turns out worse than they thought. There are holes dug through my slab, paint ruined, dry wall damaged. They removed our sink and all the tile in our bathroom (not the one under construction). We moved out for a week. Then....my contractor had a heart attack.
I thought we were back on track with our project manager stepping up. But, the electrician is now getting us a quote on replacing our box, because it is about to blow. He also suggested getting a new air conditioner because that will make the box cheaper. That might actually make sense, because our A/C is not new.
And, our neighbor is giving us shit about the wall we need to put in - and they are good friends, so we have to tread carefully.
Sigh....
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Anne_in_VA
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Post by Anne_in_VA on May 5, 2019 7:09:45 GMT -5
I feel for you thyme. We had the same issue last year and ended up trenching out our entire slab from the garage through to the master bath at the other end of the house. Pipes were cast iron which deteriorated from the inside so you can’t tell until they break.
Cost was about the same as you paid, then we had to redo both baths and are still working on the kitchen since they had to tear out some of the cabinets to trench the floor. A lot of the work done to redo the floors and baths/kitchen has been and continues to be done by my wonderful SIL who is a contractor and handy man and DH. Between materials and labor, I think we’re going to be somewhere around $30 to $40k and we’ve cash flowed almost all of it.
Good luck with your baths.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 5, 2019 10:35:00 GMT -5
I feel for you thyme. We had the same issue last year and ended up trenching out our entire slab from the garage through to the master bath at the other end of the house. Pipes were cast iron which deteriorated from the inside so you can’t tell until they break. Cost was about the same as you paid, then we had to redo both baths and are still working on the kitchen since they had to tear out some of the cabinets to trench the floor. A lot of the work done to redo the floors and baths/kitchen has been and continues to be done by my wonderful SIL who is a contractor and handy man and DH. Between materials and labor, I think we’re going to be somewhere around $30 to $40k and we’ve cash flowed almost all of it. Good luck with your baths. Ugh. The one silver lining we have is that we were going to re-do the floor in the main part of the house (and the one bathroom) and one of the bathrooms anyway, plus paint and we will have a drywall guy here for other things if anything needs repair. Our kitchen cabinets also got damaged, but we have a carpenter doing some other stuff for us. We also will have a tile guy in the house. There will be some expense to re-do the floor in bathroom 2, but it will be less than if we had to pay him to come out. They also ruined a couple of tiles in the kitchen, which he said he could replace quick and easy. So, all of our repairs are mostly in the budget and timeline. We currently only have one working sink in the whole house. Hopefully our counter guy will fabricate quickly. 😀
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plugginaway22
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Post by plugginaway22 on May 5, 2019 12:08:01 GMT -5
The only real thing on my wish list this year was a new refrigerator. Ours is working perfectly fine, but I have hated it since the month it was delivered in 2007! It is hard to justify spending about 2k when something is functioning after 12 years. Also, our dishwasher and washer/dryer are all working, but about that same age, so sooner or later they are all going to have to be replaced. None of these 5 appliances have cost us any money after the purchase! Ha-ha, I want that fridge to die.
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buystoys
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Post by buystoys on May 6, 2019 7:34:22 GMT -5
Goals for this year: 1. Apply maintenance free material to the eaves and gables of the house. It's in the budget so we should be able to get it done. 2. Sand the walls and paint my hobby hole. We've said for two years we're going to do it and we have some of the furniture that will go into it. I need to sand and paint the two Air Force lockers we bought to put in there. 3. Go on a vacation. We're really limited with my back issues and the dog. I don't mind boarding the dog for a few days, but DH feels bad about doing that. I'd like to go back to San Antonio, but I know I can't do the necessary walking to really enjoy it.
We are getting the maintenance free siding on the house on May 20. It was in the budget, but the final cost is almost double what we thought we'd spend. So we'll just tighten up in other areas for the remainder of the year. We're talking about taking a three or four day vacation to WinStar casino. One day will be committed to spa treatments. I can't wait! We won't go, though, until the rental is occupied. Sanding the walls will have to wait until the weather is cooler. There is so much to do outside and I can't help as much as I normally would.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 6, 2019 9:30:40 GMT -5
The only real thing on my wish list this year was a new refrigerator. Ours is working perfectly fine, but I have hated it since the month it was delivered in 2007! It is hard to justify spending about 2k when something is functioning after 12 years. Also, our dishwasher and washer/dryer are all working, but about that same age, so sooner or later they are all going to have to be replaced. None of these 5 appliances have cost us any money after the purchase! Ha-ha, I want that fridge to die. Sell the fridge. It won't bring you a lot of cash, but it will be more than if you wait until it stops working. And, someone will pick it up - their labor. If it dies, you may have to pay someone to remove and dispose of it.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on May 6, 2019 14:38:37 GMT -5
thyme4change I'm sorry to hear that. We had a similar issue (no slab here), with subsidence. It cost us 35K to repair last year. Insurance refused to pay, it was all OOP. That's actually the reason why we just reno'd those two badly damaged rooms: the downstairs Master last year, the upstairs Master (our bedroom) last month. Thankfully we were able to sell a rental which funded it all. Savings is getting quite low though. I was a total wreck while discovering all those problems. Thinking of you and Anne_in_VA.
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nittanycheme
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Post by nittanycheme on May 6, 2019 14:45:28 GMT -5
The only real thing on my wish list this year was a new refrigerator. Ours is working perfectly fine, but I have hated it since the month it was delivered in 2007! It is hard to justify spending about 2k when something is functioning after 12 years. Also, our dishwasher and washer/dryer are all working, but about that same age, so sooner or later they are all going to have to be replaced. None of these 5 appliances have cost us any money after the purchase! Ha-ha, I want that fridge to die. Sell the fridge. It won't bring you a lot of cash, but it will be more than if you wait until it stops working. And, someone will pick it up - their labor. If it dies, you may have to pay someone to remove and dispose of it. Our electric company will give you $50 if you have them pick up an older working fridge or freezer plus another $25 if you also have them pick up a freon containing device at the same time. They won't pick up the freon device without a fridge or freezer though. You may want to check that out depending on how much $ you think you could get for your old fridge - or how much hassle it would be to sell it. They also give you some $ if you buy an energy star appliance, in case that makes a difference in your decisions.
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nittanycheme
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Post by nittanycheme on May 6, 2019 15:06:58 GMT -5
I have a list of projects - in fact, I was just working on writing the house project list this weekend.
House projects: - Get someone to fix the garage/drive way transition. For some reason, when the previous owners got the driveway repaved at some point they actually transitioned the asphalt under the garage door and up to the people door transition so the garage floor is about 2.5" to 3" below the level of the driveway. - possibly get a new well pump - redo the sunroom, including putting in either sliding glass doors or french doors to the patio. -Take down the two tall arborvitae at the corners of the house as they are both getting ready to interfere with the wires running to the house. Replace the one with a bush that won't get as tall. The other will be replaced with the below alcove: - dig out a section of the small hill next to the driveway and put in a retaining wall "alcove" to have a better place to store the garbage cans. The hill is about 2' tall at the highest part, so that shouldn't be too difficult. Hopefully, when I pull out the arborvitae's roots on that side a lot of the digging out will be done for me.
Personal: -Work out more. Every year I feel like my strength and flexibility is declining and I'd like to halt/reverse that feeling - Finally finish spreading my mom's ashes. I spread her ashes in 2 of the 3 places we talked about; the last one is a state park near where I live where we used to camp a lot when I was little. With the heavy/frequent rains last year, I just couldn't get out there. Mentally I'm more ready as well. - Read more for pleasure. I've really gotten out the habit, and I miss it.
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laterbloomer
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Post by laterbloomer on May 6, 2019 21:16:31 GMT -5
My wish list includes a soaker tub in my bathroom. I need to refresh the whole bathroom but the cost scares me all in one chunk. So I'm going to get the tub and tile around the tub done first. Then I'll watch for a sale on vanities, medicine cabinets and lighting.
I'm already going to Jamaica for a week, but I want to get one or two more trips in. One for sure in October and maybe one in March. This isn't counting my trip to see my parents in the summer.
So I got the whole bathroom done. And I took the trip to Jamaica in February and a trip to Vegas in March. I will probably go to see my parents in the fall and make that a twofer.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on May 13, 2019 16:04:38 GMT -5
Are you happy with your new bathroom laterbloomer ? I'd love to see photos! Just the oven left on our list. It really seems unbelievable to me.
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laterbloomer
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Post by laterbloomer on May 13, 2019 21:10:38 GMT -5
Are you happy with your new bathroom laterbloomer ? I'd love to see photos! I'm really happy. I've been trying to post pictures but I can't figure it out.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 29, 2019 13:16:33 GMT -5
We are getting close to done. The paint is mostly done (some touch ups needed). The floor is done, and we will be moving our furniture back in. We still need to replace our electric box, and get the range hood installed but everything else is the small stuff - towel bars, trim, little fixes, and lightbulbs, etc. Whoop!
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buystoys
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Post by buystoys on May 30, 2019 8:23:46 GMT -5
Goals for this year: 1. Apply maintenance free material to the eaves and gables of the house. It's in the budget so we should be able to get it done. 2. Sand the walls and paint my hobby hole. We've said for two years we're going to do it and we have some of the furniture that will go into it. I need to sand and paint the two Air Force lockers we bought to put in there. 3. Go on a vacation. We're really limited with my back issues and the dog. I don't mind boarding the dog for a few days, but DH feels bad about doing that. I'd like to go back to San Antonio, but I know I can't do the necessary walking to really enjoy it.
We are getting the maintenance free siding on the house on May 20. It was in the budget, but the final cost is almost double what we thought we'd spend. So we'll just tighten up in other areas for the remainder of the year. We're talking about taking a three or four day vacation to WinStar casino. One day will be committed to spa treatments. I can't wait! We won't go, though, until the rental is occupied. Sanding the walls will have to wait until the weather is cooler. There is so much to do outside and I can't help as much as I normally would.
1. Maintenance free material is being applied as I type this. I hope they'll be done tomorrow. We've had some weather delays. 2. Not even started. It may not get done this year, but I hope we can at least start it. 3. Vacation will be in August. w00t! The rental is occupied so I will take the first three or four months rent to pay for vacation and then start putting it into a savings account for upgrades/repairs on the property. It's a family with almost tweens, so I'm really hoping they stay for a while.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 30, 2019 14:15:45 GMT -5
We are getting close to done. The paint is mostly done (some touch ups needed). The floor is done, and we will be moving our furniture back in. We still need to replace our electric box, and get the range hood installed but everything else is the small stuff - towel bars, trim, little fixes, and lightbulbs, etc. Whoop! Spoke too soon. 😖 Need more electrical work.
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cktc
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Post by cktc on May 30, 2019 14:29:00 GMT -5
Spend a week in San Diego Save for a new car Finally get a dental implant for a tooth I've been missing for going on 20 years! Potty train DS so he can start preschool in the fall Buy a new kitchen table and sofas Convert the guestroom to a bedroom for DD So far we've done a week in Oklahoma. Still want to do San Diego in the fall, but nothing is scheduled yet. I paid off my student loans, so that money is headed to savings. I would like to wait another year or two before purchasing a car. Dental implant - check, 6 more months until I can get the crown! Potty training isn't getting anywhere. We are close to pulling the trigger on a sofa. I've measured the room today and will make an inches to millimeter scale of the room to play with on paper. I don't know how to decorate. DD's room is slow going. Hopefully by the end of the year we will have more cleared out.
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