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Archive for September, 2016

Car Done & Remodeling Questions

September 30th, 2016 at 02:51 pm

I had written up a long post days ago and it got deleted and I didn't feel like retyping it all again, so here is the short version.

Car maintenance is done. $552 later. Ouch. Thankfully I have $375 put back for this, and I should have the rest when I get paid on Tuesday. So I'm glad it's over and taken care of.

HVAC guy came out to discuss plans for the addition. After some thought he is urging us to purchase a NEW upflow furnace that we can place in the basement rather than move our new downflow furnace to the addition and have to put it in the master closet. What a bummer to have to replace a furnace that is less than a year old. We knew this was going to cause problems when we bought it but we didn't have another choice at the time. Thankfully he has agreed to buy it back (not at full price) or we can try to sell the old "new" one ourselves. We might loose a thousand or two but we will save in labor costs and also gain more square footage in the addition. So I think it's worth it. He is going to run the numbers and see what the price difference is and then we will decide. Honestly the furnace saved us $1,500 in propane bills last year. So it has already paid for half of it's self. lol.

We are having a hard time deciding what we should prioritize with the addition. I REALLY want to replace all the siding. It's going to look funny to only have one side of the house redone and half of the front, and I worry about leaks where the old and new meet. But to redo all of it is going to be nearly $12,000 more. Which we do not have. Might have to think about this some more, and see if there is something we can cut instead. Might be worth it to wait on finishing the interior, to get all of the exterior done. Thoughts?



FINALLY an Estimate... Sort of...

September 23rd, 2016 at 04:36 pm

So the nice contractor got back with me, with an estimate! Big Grin

It's way over our budget. Frown But then I noticed a number that looked weird and I asked about it, and he realized he had accidentally figured the numbers on a 28' x 30' addition rather than the planned 14' x 30'!

So now I have numbers, but they aren't the right ones... lol. But at least this gives us a starting place. Poor guy, I feel really bad that he has to re-figure everything. The total is not going to drop in half because some costs won't change, but I am hoping the estimate will go down by at least 1/3.

But for now, I will share what numbers he gave me. Keep in mind this is for double the size we are actually wanting.

Concrete - $13,600
Excavation - $900
Framing - $13,879
Roofing - $2,874
Electric - $3,256
Lights/Fans - $600
Plumbing - $2,972
Shower - $4,768
Tub - $1,000
Faucets - $600
Vanity - $450
Insulation - $1,222
Sheetrock - $3424
Taping & Painting - $4,650
Doors & Trim - $2,188
Flooring - $4,800
Closet Shelving - $350
Addition Siding - $6,275
Existing House Siding - $11,528
Stairwell Drywall - $1,250
Repair Sill Plate - $500
New Flat Roofing - $2,010
Waterline- $350

Total $83, 446

This is not counting windows or HVAC which I am guessing to be around $10,000 but I haven't gotten recent estimates yet.

$93,500 ish

This includes doing some other projects on the house such as reroofing our flat roof, running a new water line to the barn, residing the entire house, replacing all the windows, new duct work for entire house, drywalling stairwell, etc.

Obviously we can't afford that, but if we can get it down by 1/3, and not do the siding we are getting pretty close to our target range of $40k-$45k. We can whittle down by doing some of the work ourselves such as the painting, electric, trim, etc and choosing cheaper finishes. (He aimed high)

We are getting excited that this may actually be a reality!

My List

September 20th, 2016 at 07:23 pm

Okay, I'm late but here is my list anyway.

1. I'm younger than 25.
2. I've been married for 4 years next month, started dating nearly 9 years ago.
3. My husband is the only person I dated and vice versa. Regardless of common stereotypes we have a very happy marriage, and do everything together. (Honestly in 9 years we have rarely/if ever fought about anything, and never raised voices.)
4. I have had 5 heart surgeries and 2 lung surgeries.
5. I have a pacemaker.
6. I have a rare lung disease called Plastic Bronchitis, which has a nearly 50% mortality rate.
7. I'm a web designer.
8. I love animals a LOT.
9. I always ask for power tools for holidays.
10. I love to build things.
11. I play a lot of video games.
12. I have a ridiculous attachment to my pets.
13. I really don't have any close friends.
14. I never clean my car.
15. I'm the world's cheapest traveler.
16. I don't own any makeup or jewelry except my wedding ring.
17. I don't really like kids.
18. I'm a worrier and a busybee.
19. I've never got anything but A's throughout school including college.
20. I was homeschooled 6th - 12th grade.

Here are some very random facts for you. Big Grin

Sick Again

September 20th, 2016 at 03:22 pm

Well I have pneumonia yet again. I was gradually declining for a past month or so. But then it just dropped, I felt so sick for several days including during sister in laws shower. Ugh. But thankfully I can read the signs and started on antibiotics as soon as I felt it turning for the worse. It's always a struggle to take antibiotics. I'm getting resistant to them, so I really try to not take them if I can. But when I'm running a high fever, very weak, and have severe chest pain it's not safe it go without anymore. Thankfully my doctor is a family friend who I can talk to, and she can call in medicine for me on the weekends if she thinks it's important.

Slowly starting to feel better. So glad I didn't have to go to the hospital again.

Hoping to set up the appointment for my car next week. Want to get it done.

I seen everyone's list. How fun! I think it's too late for mine though. But I enjoyed reading everyone else's. Smile

Back to the Bottom

September 13th, 2016 at 03:59 pm

Well I got the washer all paid off, and 6 months worth of car insurance. All caught up! Whew.

And then I went to the hospital to inquire about the bill I received 9 months after my hospital visit. They told me there was some mixups with the insurance company that just now got ironed out so that is why the bill was so late. Yes I do owe it, and no I do not quality for a bill reduction or assistance. Frown

Sooo now I have a $1,860 debt. Hiss. They only do payment plans up to 6 months, so that is $300 a month. I went ahead and put $300 on my credit card for the first payment.

BUT, if I pay the bill in full within 30 days they will take off 10%. So if I can scrounge up $1,374 this month that will save me $186. Hmm.

I will probably just put back as much cash as I can, then before the 30 days is up I will charge it all to my credit card. Then I will have until the statement balance is due to pay. No way I will be able to come up with the full amount, so I will just take from our savings and pay it off, and then I'll have to spend the next several months paying myself back. I hate that. That is all money that could be paying off the LOC instead. Oh well. I wouldn't have went if it wasn't life or death, and you can't put a price on that.

Also, I've got an estimate for changing the timing belt on my car. $514. Ouch. That also needs done this month. It's going to be a super tight budget for a while.

I've requested to go home early today from my office job. I worked a very hard and long week, and I have so much work with my design job to catch up on it's unreal.






Productive Weekend

September 6th, 2016 at 03:53 pm

The second guy came out to look at the house. He was very rude! He talked down to me because I was a woman, and only wanted to speak/listen to husband. He also set up an appointment which husband and I asked off work for, and then he didn't show up. When he finally called me back 1.5 hours later he said he had stopped by earlier in the day and we weren't home. Uh yeah. Because we work, and we had set a specific time when he was coming. He ended up coming out after some huffing and puffing, and then every thing we told him we would like done he whined about. He is a contractor, isn't he supposed to do the work we want, and then we pay him? It was very odd. I doubt we will ever hear from him again. At least I hope not. No way would I let him work on my house. Oh well. We really liked the other guy and can't wait to hear his estimate.

We did end up buying a washer. The heavy duty, basic Whirlpool model. It had 4.5 star reviews out of close to 7,000 so it seems like a good choice. We specifically looked for one with knobs rather than buttons. So far I am REALLY happy with it. It cleans so much better, wastes less water, and no stinky smell. Only had to come up with $200 after my bonus, so it seems like a steal. Especially if we can sell our old one in the yard sale this weekend. .

I bought the last of the boards for our downstairs window trim. We cut, sanded, painted, and installed the kitchen window last night. It was a lot of work, but it looks great and every project I do I wonder why it took me years to do it. Only have the bathroom window left and we will be done with windows!

Bathroom has a LOT of projects left. Patch the drywall, re-paint, fix the broken vent, re-caulk tub, paint door and install hardware, and trim window and door.

We cleaned for hours upstairs. We threw away at least a dozen black trash bags worth of stuff! It feels great. Everything we kept was put in tubs and stacked. One room left upstairs to clean.


Everything we get done it one step closer to a finished house.