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Our week in review

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This weeks ups and downs in our little world:

The good:

We were interviewed for a radio segment on Marketplace for NPR. Depending on how ridiculous we sound, we’ll post a link to the podcast for y’all. Overall a really fun experience talking to an expert about our financial situation and getting some third party advice on our debt payoff strategy.

I moved out of my studio space: I’d been renting a shop/ studio for over a year, which had its own ups and downs. While it would’ve been possible for me to work from home in the last two rental houses, I felt it would have been inconsiderate to the neighbors (because of the noise and clutter) disrespectful of our agreements with our landlords, and could have hurt my business because both neighborhoods were kind of sketchy- ghetto (but cheap).
Luckily, I was able to move over the course of the week, which gave me time to clean and organize while I went. I did 90% of the moving on my own, which saved me the expense of hiring a crew. It definitely wasn’t easy and I got pretty beat up and exhausted, but at the end of the week I could see what I’d accomplished. I love that feeling! I’m looking forward to the money saving benefits of running my business from home! I wont have to pay rent (about 450 a month) I’ll be saving in gas (300 a month) and hopefully Ill be able to cook, clean, and get household chores done throughout the week. Hopefully this working from home gig will also help us spend less on groceries and eating out! YAYYYY!

We may be borrowing some mini donkeys: One of my clients offered to let us borrow them for two weeks to help accelerate clearing the land. I’ll keep y’all posted on if we get them or not. I am SO excited! MINI DONKEYS!!!

Cooking day with my sister: we spent half a day cooking some meals for our families and one of her friends that just had a baby. My sister is a master at cooking yummy food on the cheap, and I was once a manager in a commercial kitchen (for a summer in college) so together we can get a lot of goodness done in a little bit of time. This time we just made Thai coconut chicken curry and meatballs with sauce, which were both were uber inexpensive and delish. It’s a good way for me to spend quality/ fun time with my sister and get stuff done at the same time. Lots of giggling and making fun of eachother. 🙂

Getting the rental cottage cleaned and occupied: we were both pretty nervous about our previous renter moving out and the new renters actually showing up and moving in. It turned out to be pretty stressful, but it goes in the good category because we cleaned and prepped the space together, without hiring a crew, and the new renters said the place looked great! I’m proud of us for getting all the cleaning done pretty efficiently and working together. I’m also happy the new renters are here, moved in, and paid. What’s that saying? It ain’t over until the fat lady sings? I think we both kept thinking they were going to back out, but it’s gone we’ll so far!

Free baseball game: A fun date on the cheap! Even parking was free! And the game was awesome!

The not so great:

Adjusting to a new budget: I feel like it’s just one more thing I’m going to worry about, and it’s going to take some more adjustment on my part to get used to the new way of spending money. Or not spending money. Bah humbug! 😉

Waiting for the previous renter to move out: This was really, really frustrating. We told him we had renters moving in on the first, and we would need to get in there and clean as soon as possible, and he said he would be out by Sunday the 28th. At 11pm on the 31rst and he was still over there “cleaning” and moving, leaving us to hustle booty to get it cleaned and ready for the renters who were moving in later that day. I was already pretty peeved at him for leaving the house so messy when we would have showings (it was so gross we were not sure we were going to be able to rent it), but this last minute move out was icing on my angry cake. It was really, really frustrating having to clean up after a grown man. I know he knows better than to leave the house in that condition for showing and when he moved out, but he did it anyway. Not cool.

Fighting about renovations: I really would like to at least try to make some updates to our home. It hasn’t been updated or really even cared for since it was built in the early 90s, and the wear and tear from it being a rental for so long really shows. I’m starting to feel like we shouldn’t have bought this house (or any house) if we knew we wouldn’t have the funds to make it a nice home. Before we bought this house, we should have agreed on a time frame for renovations and made sure our goals were clear. I think I’m just generally frustrated that we don’t share the same goals for making the house comfortable and homey. When we talk about it, Adam brings up good points about needing to save for a bigger emergency fund, retirement, paying down our debt and then paying off our mortgage early. I think he’s probably right, I just wish we could compromise a little 🙂

Work flow: With the move this week, it was hard for me to schedule appointments and meet with clients. I still have some rearranging to do at home before I feel comfortable inviting customers over for sales and consultations, and I need to get it done fast! This was a week with no sales, and that’s frustrating. I do have some great projects coming up, but I’m a little apprehensive about how I’m going to run the business from home. I’m hoping it will be a huge advantage to us and not an extra stressor.

Yay for the weekend! I’m ready to kick back a little and chill 🙂 Thanks for following us as we are on this crazy journey. 🙂

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16 Comments

  • Reply emmi |

    You bought with a renter in place, right? How did the previous owners deal with passing on the deposit on that renter? Or didn’t they have one? You should have been holding something over the guy’s head. Sad when people abuse others like that.

    Also, kitchen rework. In this episode of my fav show, they actually paint the countertops to redo them. Just a thought. Something I wish I’d known was possible before redoing ours. http://www.hgtv.com/video/soaked2-video/index.html

    • Reply Jen from Boston |

      I was going to suggest paint, too. If you’re stuck with really ungly cupboards just paint them white or something. It’s much, much cheaper than buying new cabinets or appliances, but it can do a LOT to change the look and feel of your home. And ditto with the rest of the house.

      And I would focus on taking care of general maintence/cleaning. Doing stuff like cleaning out all the gunk the gets caught in the corners can help you feel better overall.

  • Reply Joe |

    Nice work, sounds like good progress all around, even the “not so great”.
    Regarding the renovations, I would encourage a) incorporating some proposals into your longer-term budgeting ideas (like putting a chunk of the studio rental savings into the “renovation bucket”) and b) until things get done, imagine having bought a “home” (for your life together) and renovations are just done to the “house” (which is just a thing).

  • Reply Kristina |

    What are the terms of your mortgage? And do you guys consider this your ‘forever’ house??

    I agree that y’all should save up a bigger emergency fund, retirement (you should have been doing that already! *nag*) and pay off the debt.

    Did you sign up for a home warranty when you bought the house? I had to use mine today, AC went out (and I’m in the San Antonio area!) $60 a visit (unless the part being replaced comes in under, then you pay that). I would have been looking at a couple hundred out of pocket, but instead paid my $60, and my AC got to workin’, and is going to get refurb’d next week.

  • Reply Cathy C. |

    Emily, just some advice from someone who operates a business from our home:

    Be careful you don’t get trapped into taking care of household matters (cleaning, laundry, etc.) before you work. You may think this won’t happen, but trust me it does. It will seriously affect your productivity if you let it. You MUST schedule your work day as if you were getting in the car and leaving the house. All of the other stuff gets done in an allotted amount of time that you also have to schedule. This will be your biggest challenge with moving your business to home. I’ve learned over the past 2 years that I have just as little time to care for things in my home as a person who works full-time outside the home.

  • Reply Karen |

    We moved into a fixer-upper 8 years ago, and though we were able to do the major work right away (100+ year old house) due to a forgivable loan there is lots you can do cheaply. It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to a room, simply replacing faucets (yourself) and update a bathroom, loads of inexpensive ways to repair/replace countertops/floors. It’s not too late to make a list of needed/wanted improvements, rank them, then stash a little each month toward knocking them off your list.

    • Reply CanadianKate |

      My house is dated with 3 decade old bathroom fixtures. I did ‘refresh’ in the 3 pc powder room that wowed my daughter when she came home to visit.

      Repainted (and removed old wall paper border.)

      Decided to go with black accessories so added some black hooks for towels, a pretty black framed print and black wrought iron candle holder. Bought a black shower curtain, toilet seat cover and bath mat. Had a black garbage can already.

      Replaced the chipped sink ($60) with exactly the same style (to make installation easy.)

      Updated the taps. ($60)

      New framed mirror to replace the sheet mirror. ($10)

      New brushed nickle outlet and light switch covers.

      Splurged and spent $1.50 for a box of tissues that matches the room better than the $.89 box.

      Seriously, something small like that can really buy you a lot of time.

    • Reply Walnut |

      Definitely make a huge list of all the improvements you want to do, anticipated cost, and rank the tasks in difficulty. I like to break things down by room and also list out what I would need to purchase to accomplish each task.

      If you have a good idea of what you need, you can stalk Craigslist, thrift stores, watch for sales, etc.

      The other key element to home renovations is spending enough time truly living in a house before making big decisions. Pay attention to where you drop your mail, where shoes pile up, where you have sun, or frankly, which rooms you almost never use. This will help you make impactful changes.

  • Reply CanadianKate |

    Our home was built in ’85. We added an addition in ’93 and redid all flooring and counters (except one bathroom) at that point. Since then (i.e. in the last 2 decades) we’ve pulled carpet from the living room and office and put in prefinished hardwood, and we redid the stairway carpets. That’s it.

    People rave over our home. It isn’t because it looks anything like it should be in a magazine. I figure it is because:

    1. It is clean
    2. It is uncluttered*. Surfaces have a few items of significance but in general there’s open space and the feeling you can breathe.
    3. It is bright (in daytime) and lit warmly (at night)
    4. It has a good energy because we have a good energy. We are welcoming, we are harmonious, and we love to fill the house with laughter (even when it is just the two of us.) Rooms develop an energy and people feel the energy of a room (that’s why your guests prefer to visit in the kitchen than in the formal living room)

    My tip to you: DO NOT WATCH ANY TV SHOWS THAT DEAL WITH REAL ESTATE. They are designed to make your feel unhappy with what you have and, as a result, buy things.

    Instead, live with the eye to making your spaces as uncluttered as you can and as well laid out as they can be so that your space is efficient as well.

    Yes, you can make a list of things that bug you and you want changed, but keep your mind open to more affordable solutions to buy yourself time before the big reno. Peel and stick flooring for now. Painting cupboards and putting on new door pulls. Watching for a cheap area rug to cover the stains on your floors.

    We had vinyl flooring with a bad joint in a door way that was peeling up. Putting a strip of metal down over the bad joint didn’t look out of place (despite the fact that the flooring is the same on either side of the door) and meant I no longer stressed over that floor (which would cost a fortune to replace.) When we got a new dishwasher, it was set back farther under the counter so the kitchen flooring didn’t go under it. Black duct tape has filled that gap nicely so no need for a new kitchen floor.

    None of these make-do’s add to the resale of my house, but they do add to my sense of satisfaction with my home.

    • Reply CanadianKate |

      I put an asterisk on Uncluttered and need to define that.

      The sitting rooms and the dining room are uncluttered. Unfortunately, my office is also in the kitchen and I’m a person who needs to see everything I’m working on so the kitchen table is a constant challenge.

      If I know someone is coming over, it will be uncluttered but if you drop in, we’ll be having our tea in the family room because it is not cluttered and the kitchen table is.

  • Reply Janelle C. |

    We have been in our home for over 9 years. Its a major fixer. I’ve had open beams in my family room for over 4 years now (due to the sinking economy, all projects got put on hold). Now we are starting to work on it again. I still have 30 year old carpet, brown paneled walls, but my laundry room is nearly done! I have learned a few things:

    1. Paint is cheap, relatively quick and does wonders to anything and everything.

    2. With open beams and ugly paneling, I have still made my home welcoming by: keeping it clean and uncluttered, ignoring the walls and still decorating, choosing to see the positive, making my house smell good with a warm fire, good cooking and candles. Oh and Christmas lights make everything look good – I changed an old attic into an awesome kid hangout space with Christmas lights and old sheets that I dyed many colors. I hung the sheets on the walls and ceilings, like big, loose pillows/clouds and hung Christmas lights everywhere. I then threw down old carpeting, cut it to ‘fit’ together that I got for free on craigs list and freecycle. We picked up some furniture for cheap at garage sales, covered them with again, colored sheets and throws. Put in some shelves we got cheap at garage sales, painted them all to match and put games and kid-fun stuff on them. Walla – HUGE hangout/game space for my kids for about $100 bucks!

    3. Speak proudly of my home and share what it will be like – people like to see your plans.

    4. Making long-term financial plans for remodel. Do most of the remodel yourself. Right now we are finishing our kitchen – I bought all our appliance on craigs list for really cheap, updated our knobs, painted our cupboards, did the flooring ourselves and all we have left is trim. I’d like new counter and cupboards some day, but man in the meantime, paint sure works!

    5. Once you have some emergency fund and more debt paid off, give yourself one project a year to remodel. One room – start with what annoys you most and work on it Saturdays together. In 5 years, you’ll have 5 rooms done.

    6. Don’t ignore the important stuff that you can’t see like plumbing, electrical and your roof. We spend 4 years updating the not-seens before we got to the seen.

    7. Be thankful you own a home. A lot of people have lost and are still losing theirs.

    8. Plant flowers. Flowers make any home look inviting and warm. I LOVE to garden and have an abundance of flowerbeds – 90% perennials that I got trading or for free on craigs list and from other gardening friends. Use horse manure in shavings for free – check with local stables – great fertilizer and if its mixed with shavings, you will cut your weed growth substantially.

    9. I say DO watch HGTV and the like – you can get so many home ideas but learn how to do it on the cheap! Pinterest is great for that too, but concentrate on one room. Craigs list is a great place to find building materials for free or on the cheap.

    10. Its fine to want to make updates but ALL of that has to be budgeted, agreed upon and you need to know it won’t happen right NOW! Don’t go into debt to remodel your home – do it yourself, one project at a time.

    Great progress – you can do this!!!!!

  • Reply turn one pound into one million |

    I also work from home and it has pros and cons. I do a lot of work at weekends and in the evenings as I can. This is okay, but you need to make sure you schedule in some relax time as well and do not take a laptop to bed with you! I was taught a lesson with this when I was working on my laptop in bed and my son, who was a toddler at the time knocked it on the floor and it broke. I bought a desktop afterwards and cannot work in bed any more – he did me a big favour!

  • Reply Dream Mom |

    First, meet with a CPA so you know what your tax deductions will be when you work from home. There are very specific rules with regards to home office deductions.

    Second, not taking into account all of the renovations before you purchased a home is part of a larger money issue-not adding in those costs before you took on this place. When I was shopping for a home, I’d make a list of the things I wanted to change with the homes I liked and you’d be surprised at how quickly the numbers add up!

    That being said, my sister purchased a home years ago that required a lot of fixing up. She used to go to garage type sales in expensive neighborhood nearby that did a lot of teardowns. She purchased a kitchen sink for $5, faucets, appliances and even a furnace used! I never would have even thought of that. She sold it at the peak of the market and paid cash for her next place and has been mortgage free ever since.

    With regards to updating things, I am a homebody and also a professional organizer & home stager. There are a lot of things that you can do that don’t cost much. In my own life, I like things to be neat, clean and simple. Here are some tips:

    1)First, clean everything up. Get rid of any clutter and clean and make everything you put into a room spotless.
    2) Next, create a plan for each room. It’s as simple as writing down what you want to do from paint to décor. I also sketch out my rooms as well and do things as the budget allows.
    3) Paint. It makes a world of difference. Prep work is EVERYTHING. If you are not sure what to do overall here are a few tips: Paint the whole house one color (preferable neutral) and add colors to each of the rooms to go with that color. Keep a color palette of three colors or so and interchange them for each of the rooms with the main whole house color as the backdrop. If you want to go with different colors for each rooms, choose all of them in the same “shade” or “tone”; for example, if you pull up three different color paint chips, you could choose all of the “lightest” shades of each paint chip and the house would flow.
    4) Keep things simple-A bedroom looks great with a bed, nightstands, lamp, dresser and window treatments. You don’t need much else. Keep the bedding simple (no million pillows) and it will look great. With no clutter, you’d be surprised at how nice everything will look. For me, I rarely have more than three items on a nightstand or end table-usually lamp, flowers and clock or home décor item.

    I agree with Canadian Kate as well. My home is simple but elegant and you’d be surprised at how many compliments I get.

    One last item, stay focused and don’t take on too much. For example, my projects for the summer are all outdoors in the yard since I purchased a home that needs yard work. I have de-weeded everything, put down new mulch, painted my front door and added new house numbers and painted the gas meter. I added one bed of flowers. Next year, I’ll landscape and add bushes etc but this year I am just focused on the clean up. That way, when I am ready to plant next year, I don’t have to clear out, enhance the soil, etc. it will all be done. I am staying focused on the outside before I start any painting projects inside.

  • Reply sandra |

    “I agree that y’all should save up a bigger emergency fund, retirement (you should have been doing that already! *nag*) and pay off the debt.

    Did you sign up for a home warranty when you bought the house? I had to use mine today, AC went out (and I’m in the San Antonio area!) $60 a visit (unless the part being replaced comes in under, then you pay that). I would have been looking at a couple hundred out of pocket, but instead paid my $60, and my AC got to workin’, and is going to get refurb’d next week. – totally agree with you…

  • Reply Terry |

    This may not get read as I am just catching up on this blog, but was your old renter paid up until the end of the month? If he was, he was absolutely entitled to still be there until the end of the month. Yes, he should have left if broom clean, but how do you know how it looked when he moved in?

So, what do you think ?