by Hope
My budget is completely blown for this month and probably next as well. Why you ask?
The house needs to be painted, and power washed, landscaping cleaned up and prettied up, two inside doors need replacing, and the list goes on and on and on. I mean, like 20 things that need to be done around here that I cannot do. While my dad said he would take care of getting the house ready to sale once I moved out, I don’t feel right leaving him with that. It’s our mess (it’s not really a mess, just day to day living and things you do to sell a house) and we should be responsible for it. So I’m doing my best to get most of it done before we move out. So when he comes into town a week later…voila, it’s ready to go on the market. At least that’s my goal!
So while I hoped to put up a new monthly budget either this week or next, well, it’s going to have to wait at least a couple more weeks so I can get this housework done. All but minimum debt payments are on hold until we move out.
Now the bright side…my “deal” for moving into the apartment is that I get October free and 1/2 of November free. So hopefully, I will catch right back up with my momentum, not to mention all the monies from the sale of stuff and we will be on track or maybe *crossing fingers a little ahead.
Look for a new proposed budget closer to move date. I did get the “average” utility costs from the apartment management so I can plan that way.
Hope is a resourceful and solutions-driven business manager who has spent nearly two decades helping clients streamline their operations and grow their businesses through project management, digital marketing, and tech expertise. Recently transitioning from her role as a single mom of five foster/adoptive children to an empty nester, Hope is navigating the emotional and practical challenges of redefining her life while maintaining her determination to regain financial control and eliminate debt.
Living in a cozy small town in northeast Georgia with her three dogs, Hope cherishes the serenity of the mountains over the bustle of the beach. Though her kids are now finding their footing in the world—pursuing education, careers, and independence—she remains deeply committed to supporting them in this next chapter, even as she faces the bittersweet tug of letting go.
Since joining the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015, Hope has candidly shared her journey of financial ups and downs. Now, with a renewed focus and a clear path ahead, she’s ready to tackle her finances with the same passion and perseverance that she’s brought to her life and career. Through her writing, she continues to inspire others to confront their own financial challenges and strive for a brighter future.
Do you know if your Dad has a realtor in mind that he intends to use? If so, the realtor likely has a good handyman or recommendations for hiring out the work you’re not able to do on your own.
I think he’s leaning to sale by owner for now (it’s how he sold his house here a year ago.) I’ve got a great handyman doing the repair work. It’s the painting and the power washing and the floors and the…well, you get the point. Got a quote to get the inside of the house walls ready…$5000! Guess what I’ll be adding to my list?!? Going to get other quotes for sure, but have sure felt over-whelmed a couple of times with the cost of this. I know it will work out and be okay, just the stress in the moment.
What is the condition of the walls? Do they just need a fresh coat of paint? If you use the same generic color throughout, for a decent size house it’d need a lot of paint, but not much else.
For walls, most of the work is just the time involved. It’s pretty easy to run a roller over a wall, and that’s something teens can do. I’m not sure how fast you have to get it done, but if you’re just hiring one person to do it, they couldn’t get it done much faster than two or three of you.
If the walls need to be repaired, holes filled etc, that isn’t all that hard to do either, my dad has had us doing that as teens and young adults several times now.
If your plate can’t even handle doing the work yourself, that’s 100% understandable. I just wanted you to know there are cheaper options than $5000.
Oh and one other thought, perhaps your homeschool group has a parent who knows about painting? Maybe you could pay them to oversee a group of teens doing the house in a weekend or two. That would be good experience for the kids, and a lot cheaper for you.
just a word of caution – i would make a budget for these repairs. Human beings work better when constrained by limits, imagined or real. I can easily see how the costs can just keep rising. If you have a hard amount you must operate within, i think it will help a lot. You will HAVE to make everything you want to get done fit within the parameters.
Is this something personal? Because it would make a lot more sense budget-wise to let your Dad front the money, and pay him back out of proceeds of the sale. You can take care of arranging everything so the he doesn’t have to deal with it himself.
Hope, I wish you the best of luck during this transition, but it makes my head spin to read about it! 🙂
Why don’t you have the painter do the trim work and any detail work and you and the big kids do the walls? Another thought is to see if any other neighbors want to do any power washing. You can rent it together to save costs and then do your own power washing.
For any kind of home repair estimates, there is a website called “Home Advisor.com” (www.homeadvisor.com). It’s free compared to Angie’s List. You describe what you need done and they give you three local vendors that bid on the job. I would attach photos of the rooms or house you want painted. Measure all of the rooms sizes so you can get an accurate bid. Some will certainly come out and do the bid but I found pictures of the walls and rooms sizes helped them do the bids.The vendors will call you asap (often within 5-15 minutes of the bid) because they try to get the job. I like to get the bids and then read the reviews on the website before I call them back. I have used them a few times for plumbing, painting and dryer vent cleaning. I believe they are a national chain. I’ve spoken to a few of the vendors after using them and they love it because they get to bid on the job and they get to read all the reviews. Because people post the reviews, the vendors make sure to do an excellent job since they don’t want any bad reviews. It’s a win-win.
As for painting, yes, it’s very expensive. That number didn’t astound me at all but only because I had just hired a painter in the spring. It was sticker shock for sure! I moved into a townhome that was all redone (flipped). I didn’t like the paint color and while I repainted the kitchen and hall, I have a living room/dining room/foyer great room with a vaulted ceiling that is 12 feet tall so I got some bids for painting that room and the hall. No moldings or ceilings (moldings were brand new and ceilings and walls were freshly painted), I just wanted a different wall color. Bids averaged $800-$1200 and I hired the guy that had the best reviews and he was only $450. I was nervous because my place had all new floors and I didn’t want someone who was messy ruining my floors or moldings. They guy I liked was the cheapest and did an awesome job. He was extremely neat and honestly there wasn’t anything he could have done better. He was also fast; it’s amazing how much more quickly a professional can do things and I am an avid DIY. He did such a great job, I’ll never paint myself again, lol.
I think most whole house painting for the interior run around $3000-$4000. Every area will be different. One key thing though is to get the bids WITHOUT the cost of paint. Tell them you’ll buy the paint. Once you get the bid, you can ask them how many gallons you’ll need to buy and then buy it yourself. The reason is that they doubled and tripled the price of a gallon of paint so it was cheaper to buy it myself. I used Benjamin Moore paint and bought the same color that was in two of my rooms since I liked it the best. Eventually the whole place will be the same color for continuity. I have the painter coming back next year to paint my laundry room and son’s room (more vaulted ceilings and tall walls). Certainly, you can use a cheaper paint however the advantage to a better paint is that the coverage is much better meaning they can do it with fewer coats and less time equals less money:) I had two coats of Benjamin Moore Bone White and it looks great. Looks fresh.
You could also use the Home Advisor website to find a handyman or anything else you need for repairs. Good luck.
Hi Hope-
I know you are probably very busy this weekend trying to finish everything up and get into the new apartment, but I would like to mention that a lot of hardware stores have their end of summer sales right now. If your dad was planning to come out and pay someone to ready the house, you could spend a couple days after you get your belongings to the apartment to do the job yourself (even if you think you aren’t capable!)
-Your twins should be strong enough to use a power washer that you can rent from Home Depot or Lowe’s. My experience renting from both these places has been that the employees behind the counter where you rent items are very knowledgeable about explaining exactly how to use equipment.
-I agree with the above poster that you could hire a painter just for trim and hard to reach places. Also if you have a Lowe’s near you (I am in Northern Virginia so I don’t know how far south they reach) they had some great deals on paint in their Labor Day sales flier so purchase that paint this weekend!
-As far as replacing the two interior doors, talk to your handyman about if they really need to be replaced or if they can just be sanded and repainted. If they do need to be replaced, consider checking out a salvage shop or a Habitat for Humanity Restore instead of buying new (you could save a bundle)!
-In regards to landscaping, I think if your kids have been keeping up with it that they should be able to do a good job readying that as well. Plant nurseries and hardware stores have significantly marked down their plants as we are heading toward the end of summer. Take advantage of those sales to pick up a few flats of flowers that you can plant to spruce up the place!
-You mention having several odd jobs, I have been able to learn how to do lots of work on my car and around the house with the help of Youtube videos. If they are bigger jobs that really need someone with more skill than you feel you have, ask if they would consider using one of your boys as a helper to cut down their need to bring one. It might also be worth looking into a general handyman type service (or even an individual) who would offer a multi-project discount!
You mention as a quick end note that you are planning a new budget and have received utility averages from your new apartment complex. Please consider adding a hefty padding (40%?) to that number they gave you, it is most likely based off of 1-4 people with maybe one dog in the apartment and they all leave six days a week for work, school, errands, and other activities. Six people and several dogs who work and school from home will greatly increase that bill. I mention it not to be a Debby-Downer, but I would hate to see you blowing your budget several months in a row as you try to find a more accurate number. While the goal is to make accurate estimations, I think it would be better to be over and able to make an extra snowflake payment then to have to find ways to come up with the difference.
I hope you are having with your move and know that with the right attitude you will be fine in your new living situation. While we normally live in Virginia, my family of two adults and two small children spent our summer living in a one bedroom apartment in Chicago and while my husband felt a bit cramped I really enjoyed it! Less mess to clean, less belongings to make a mess, less space to make a mess, etc!
Cheers,
Meghan