We sincerely apologize for not writing an update in nearly two months. There may, or may not, be a good reason for this.
Over the past two months, we went through the process of painting the exterior of our house. While at first glance this seems like a dumb decision since we are trying to pay off debt, but in an effort to save money long term, we went ahead and painted the house. The whole job, including replacing parts of the cedar siding, was $4,500. We had an original cost of $3,800, but as you have seen before, the trim on our house was entirely black. So, some of the rot was not noticeable until the workers were on a ladder and could actually see the deteriorated trim.
My wife tried three different paint colors before she found the right one. Those things are not cheap! They cost about $7 a piece at Sherwin-Williams, but the color she chose turned out beautiful! We are extremely happy with the work that was done. Pictures are at the bottom of this post.
So, the real reason I did not write a post is because I did not feel like I would add any encouragement to anyone going through the same thing we are. Here we are nearly $75,000 in debt, but we decided to spend $4,500 to paint the exterior of our home. However, we truly went back and forth on this for three months before we decided to do it. That $4,500 could have gone a long way to paying off debt. On the other hand, we could have spent about $10,000, if not more, to replace the siding and paint over the long haul, not to mention the amount of energy that was escaping each month. So, we decided for the long run, it would be in our best interest to paint the house.
Now, for a little laugh, here is a picture of my dinner from tonight. This is what dinner for people who are in debt looks like.
Some delicious peanut butter bread with about six tortilla chips and a glass of milk. I would love to see some pictures of other peoples' dinner that they are eating while they get out of debt.
Also, I am going to start a tally of the debt we pay off by staying under our grocery budget each month. Last month, we were able to add a whopping $110 to debt from staying under our grocery budget each week and only buying necessities.
Now for some pictures of the house!
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Thank you guys for reading!
I love the new colors, it looks really nice! Your dinner picture didn't load but I had instant mashed potatoes for dinner. Have to consume what we have until payday on Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I think I corrected the dinner picture. Instant mashed potatoes sounds good! I have not tried those yet, but will certainly keep those in mind next time we say we have to go out to eat.
DeleteHad to laugh at the photo of your meal. Not sure if it's just on my end, but it's an error image with a blank page, a blue, yellow and red dots. Wasn't sure if you were trying to be funny by saying that's what your dinner looked like or not, but it was comical anyway! You wouldn't want to see my dinner plates... I under-eat severely (have always done so), so while it could be seen as a reflection of what I eat while on debt, I don't eat that way because I am in debt, but because I just eat that way.
ReplyDeleteThe new paint looks definitely better. More awake and lively.
That is too funny. I corrected the photo I believe in case you want to check it out again. That would be quite an "in debt" dinner. I am glad you enjoyed it! I wish I could under-eat...I usually over-eat peanut butter bread!
DeleteThank you for the comment on the paint. It does make it more awake and lively as you say and adds value to the property.
I like the new look. Incidentally this is just the style of house I would buy if it existed in these parts (mostly small ranches, cheap split levels, and Cape Cods).
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteWe live in an area just like yours! There are so many small ranches and split level homes! We got really lucky when we found this home. Keep looking! Hopefully a house like ours will come up in your market.