state of california Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Blogging Away Debt Blogging Away Debt

Handling the Costs Associated With Updating Your Home

Making updates to your home is something that you have to be prepared to do. This is because every home is prone to wearing down over time and requires the help of trained professionals to handle replacements or improvements to be made. Being able to save money while updating your home is a sure way for you to be motivated to keep up with the necessary updates. Read on to see an outline of the ways in which you can handle the costs that are associated with updating your home. These tips can help you keep things manageable and ensure that you keep your home in top condition.

Inspect Your Plumbing Frequently

The first thing to do in order to ensure that your home is affordable to maintain is to have frequent inspections performed by professional contractors. This is especially important for your home’s plumbing, given the importance of water and the frequency with which most plumbing fixtures will be used. According to House Logic, you need to replace your drain pipes if your house is more than 40 years old and the plumbing hasn’t been replaced since you moved in. If you’re completely unable to find out the age of your home’s plumbing, your best bet will be to inspect it regularly so that any issues will be spotted and dealt with in good time.

Get Quality Appliances

Next, you need to invest in quality appliances for your home. These are bound to last for a longer time and save you a tidy sum in terms of frequent replacements or other fixes. This means that you need to research the best quality and also ask the professionals in the relevant industries for the appliances you need. One of these appliances is your water heater, which, according to Forbes, typically needs to be replaced if the water heater is more than 10 years old. This is one of the main reasons why you may want to replace it, so it’s important to find a new model that will allow you to save on your energy consumption costs.

Consider Switching to Solar

You should think about making the switch to solar power for your home’s energy needs. Going solar allows you to have energy independence, allowing your home to not be affected by power outages that hit your area for various reasons. This will save you from having to get additions like backup generators.

According to Money Pit, backup generators provide uninterrupted power supply 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That said, ensure that your system is set up correctly to minimize the chance of issues coming up that might cost you time and money to fix. From installing the right number of panels to setting up the necessary appliances to manage the power and convert it, there are many things that you should verify so that nothing’s left pending.

Always Work with Professionals

Last but not least, make sure that every time you need something done, you enlist a qualified and licensed professional. This can save you from having to redo things and spend more money on them than was necessary to do. They’ll also have ample training and know the safety measures that they need to take in order to work safely and not get injured while working. In the end, you’ll enjoy the outcome of working with experts on everything you need to be done in and around your home.

These tips should enable you to handle the costs associated with updating your home. From getting things done once and for all to working with the right professionals, borrow from the tips above to ensure you get the best outcome. You’ll enjoy the comfort and peace of mind that you can achieve in the end among the other benefits.

Debt Update and Mortgage Increase

by Vicky Monroe

Last year, my partner and I had a long stretch of a few months when we weren’t able to make any progress on our mortgage. Luckily we turned things around and have been steadily paying down our mortgage for the past few months. We’ve been averaging about $2400 per month in overpayments.

The next time we make a principal payment (which should be this Friday), our loan will finally hit the $130s. Our loan started off at $179K when we bought our home in January 2021, so I’m pleased that we’ve been able to pay off about $40K so far.

We’ll Probably Make Less Progress This Year

Unfortunately, we probably won’t be able to make as much progress for the next few months. In my last post, I wrote about the dental work that I need, including oral surgery to remove my wisdom teeth and Invisalign, which the dentist said costs $4K to $5K. So a lot of our savings over the next couple months will probably be going toward dental work.

However, I’m planning to get a second opinion about the Invisalign. My partner has the most perfect teeth I’ve ever seen, and the dentist still recommended Invisalign. I don’t really care how my teeth look, so I want to make sure straightening them is medically necessary before I sign up to wear plastic aligners 24/7, which I suspect I won’t enjoy.

After doing some research, I found out that there can be some pain and discomfort with Invisalign. Honestly, I’m a big baby when it comes to pain (especially tooth pain), so I’m a bit wary. I may try a night guard first (I just found out I’m a teeth grinder) to see how I tolerate sleeping with a retainer before I take the plunge and get Invisalign.

If you’ve used Invisalign, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments, especially regarding pain and discomfort while wearing the aligners! I’m still planning to save up for Invisalign even though I’m unsure, because I don’t want to go into debt if I make the decision to get it.

Mortgage Cost Increase

Another reason we won’t be able to make as much progress on the mortgage is that the payment just increased. Our property taxes went up by about $80 per year, which isn’t bad on its own. However, our PMI increased by $230 per year, and our homeowner’s insurance went up by $475 per year. We’re going to try to shop around for a lower rate. But if we can’t secure a better deal, our mortgage payment will go up to $1500 per month.

Our mortgage payment started out at $1350 per month when we bought the house and has gone up steadily over the past two years due to fee increases. We can afford it, and it’s better than the rent increases we had to deal with when we lived in Boston. But it’s still a bigger payment jump than we thought we’d experience as homeowners and will affect our budget.

We’re already pretty bare bones expense-wise, so there’s not a lot of room to cut things out to absorb this increase. As a result, our savings rate will probably go down a bit. Combined with the dental work, we probably won’t be able to make as much progress on our mortgage in the next few months.

But life happens and you just gotta roll with the punches! We may look into side hustling a bit more to help with some of these expenses, but luckily we don’t absolutely need to. And that’s something to be thankful for!

How is your debt repayment going? Let me know in the comments!

2023 Financial Goals – Outlook and Updates

Finally Dealing With My Dental Issues

Replacing Eggs With Cheaper Alternatives And Planning for Kids

Vicky Monroe

Vicky Monroe is a freelance personal finance and lifestyle writer. When she’s not busy writing about her favorite money saving hacks or tinkering with her budget spreadsheets, she likes to travel, garden, and cook healthy vegetarian meals.