Debt Dumpers - 2018

[Tygerlilly]

I have considered this. We originally wanted to install a wet bar but have decided to compromise to just have the plumbing trenched so that we could do it later down the line. And I was willing to hold off on some spaces but financially and logistically that probably would be more disruptive and more expensive over the long haul to have people come in later to finish.

I am thinking that the compromises are doing the painting ourselves, picking cheaper carpet, cheaper bathroom fixtures and tile and skipping the rubber flooring in the fitness room. We don’t really want to go over $60k since that is what we have available in HELOC. I think we will just have to see how things pan out with the revised quote.

I'm actually surprised you chose to buy the camper and take the additional expenses over using that money to add 10k to your remodeling budget. I know how important the basement project is to you guys.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I'm actually surprised you chose to buy the camper and take the additional expenses over using that money to add 10k to your remodeling budget. I know how important the basement project is to you guys.

We are pretty settled on our remodeling budget given that the HELOC is $60k. We will figure out how to keep it there and then just add or finish some things down the road as we have the money.

Plus, we have been saving that $10k specifically with vacation expenses in mind. There is no way I would have put that money into the basement project. Originally it was being saved to get another DVC contract, but for the past 8 months or so we had shifted our thinking to getting a trailer. I just didn't think we would be pulling the trigger on that so soon as we were going to wait about 2 more years and keep saving during that time. But this opportunity was just too good to pass up. We took the longest term with the lowest interest rate. Our plan is to make very accelerated payments and pay off the $15k we financed on the trailer asap, but if we needed to, we will have the flexibility to drop monthly payments down to just $160. That definitely made me feel more comfortable with it all.

 

[FQLover]

Sounds good! I hope that things can finally get rolling for you soon.

 

[MEM]

We did all of these things. We worked with the architect to source builders. I also originally wanted to act as general contractor and spent the entire summer getting individual bids for the different parts, but the bids were also expensive and it was like pulling teeth to get anyone to get back to me, which is why I decided to just look into hiring a builder to manage the entire project. Our search all started this past February by attending the home show in our area. Most of the contractors weren't for the kinds of things that we needed and the ones that I did talk to weren't very helpful.

I wanted to chime in here and say that this is typical for where I live in the Greater Boston area. Contractors do not want "small" jobs and you can't get individuals to complete the project room by room or piece by piece. Getting permits can be insane, around here. Your project could cost as much as $100,000 here. Its definitely a regional thing.

 

[Buzzsgramma]

We are retired but my hubby was in construction for years.....With the economy doing well....Builders are in high demand....sometimes they bid high..cause they really don't want to do the job....i know it's hard to believe...anyway,hope it all goes well for you guys...

 

[DLgal]

I have considered this. We originally wanted to install a wet bar but have decided to compromise to just have the plumbing trenched so that we could do it later down the line. And I was willing to hold off on some spaces but financially and logistically that probably would be more disruptive and more expensive over the long haul to have people come in later to finish.

I am thinking that the compromises are doing the painting ourselves, picking cheaper carpet, cheaper bathroom fixtures and tile and skipping the rubber flooring in the fitness room. We don’t really want to go over $60k since that is what we have available in HELOC. I think we will just have to see how things pan out with the revised quote.

We lived in a house with a very large finished basement for 4 years. I learned a few things about finished basements and how they wear very differently than the main floors of the house. The basement we had sounds about the size of yours, about. 1000 square feet of finished space. It had a media room (entertainment center, large sectional couch), a large open "game room/workout room" space, a bar, a full bathroom, and a bedroom. It was a combo of carpet, laminate floors, and tile in the bathroom. While we lived there, there were 3 instances of flooding. One from a pipe leak in the main plumbing of the house, one from a sump pump failure, and one was weather related (there was a sliding patio door that lead out to a set of outdoor stairs up to the back yard. We had VERY heavy rains overnight with lots of leaf debris that blocked the drain on the patio, causing water to come in the slider onto the carpet). Two instances resulted in serious water damage to the carpet and pad underneath. The second time, the carpet needed to be ripped up and replaced. The other happened on the laminate floor and resulted in water getting underneath and bubbling up of the floor. We were glad we were just renting because the owners spent a lot of money on those cleanups and repairs.

We constantly had bugs down there as well. Lots of spiders and small worms. It always felt damp down there and was always very cold even though it was connected to the home's HVAC system. We needed to use space heaters in the winter and a dehumidifier year round or we would see mold spots forming on the soft goods like furniture and drapes.

If I ever owned a home with a basement that I wanted to finish myself, I would only install tile floors throughout (or just epoxy seal the concrete) and use area rugs and those rubber jigsaw type playmats and exercise mats for those areas, which are inexpensive. Water damage in basements is very common and tile flooring will eliminate needing to replace floors that get damaged in the future. I would never install carpet in a basement. Basements just get so damp no matter what, and that leads to mold and mildew in carpets. You can install vinyl sheet flooring for less than carpet, and it will last much longer and be much, much easier to keep clean and maintain.

 

[StacyStrong]

Delete

 

[HunterRose13]

It sounds like you have a pretty solid plan. You'll find this thread to be the perfect place to vent your frustrations and to gain encouragement.

I appreciate the support. A little more back story. Three years ago I was 'laid off' from my employer of 19 years. It was pretty frightening at the time. Thankfully there are still some good people in the world that value hard work and loyalty and I was employed with a great company in short order, promoted after a few months, and frankly doing better in many aspects of life that previously.

I am the planner and mathematician in the family and when things go sideways I start crunching numbers. Our ideal was to be debt free except the house at the end of the month. As it is we will probably be in that situation for a few weeks as the foundation repair is finalized.

After a couple months making sure the monthly budget is solid we will throw as much as we can at the foundation repair bill and try to kill it in two years. My gut says it will probably be three though with doing some remodel work along the way. Life happens though and that is why I have the foundation repair bill matching the student loan payment we previously had.

I'll make a fresh post if there is a 2019 thread and see where it goes.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

We lived in a house with a very large finished basement for 4 years. I learned a few things about finished basements and how they wear very differently than the main floors of the house. The basement we had sounds about the size of yours, about. 1000 square feet of finished space. It had a media room (entertainment center, large sectional couch), a large open "game room/workout room" space, a bar, a full bathroom, and a bedroom. It was a combo of carpet, laminate floors, and tile in the bathroom. While we lived there, there were 3 instances of flooding. One from a pipe leak in the main plumbing of the house, one from a sump pump failure, and one was weather related (there was a sliding patio door that lead out to a set of outdoor stairs up to the back yard. We had VERY heavy rains overnight with lots of leaf debris that blocked the drain on the patio, causing water to come in the slider onto the carpet). Two instances resulted in serious water damage to the carpet and pad underneath. The second time, the carpet needed to be ripped up and replaced. The other happened on the laminate floor and resulted in water getting underneath and bubbling up of the floor. We were glad we were just renting because the owners spent a lot of money on those cleanups and repairs.

We constantly had bugs down there as well. Lots of spiders and small worms. It always felt damp down there and was always very cold even though it was connected to the home's HVAC system. We needed to use space heaters in the winter and a dehumidifier year round or we would see mold spots forming on the soft goods like furniture and drapes.

If I ever owned a home with a basement that I wanted to finish myself, I would only install tile floors throughout (or just epoxy seal the concrete) and use area rugs and those rubber jigsaw type playmats and exercise mats for those areas, which are inexpensive. Water damage in basements is very common and tile flooring will eliminate needing to replace floors that get damaged in the future. I would never install carpet in a basement. Basements just get so damp no matter what, and that leads to mold and mildew in carpets. You can install vinyl sheet flooring for less than carpet, and it will last much longer and be much, much easier to keep clean and maintain.

I think this really depends. Your one experience with a finished basement is not indicative of all basements. My parent's house has a finished basement and it is clean, never damp and not cold. Our basement doesn't have any water issues and also doesn't feel cold, even unfinished in the winter.

 

[DisneyMandC]

In the vein of home repairs, we're looking at some upgrades too. I told DH I want to save over the winter and get our house painted in the spring. The previous owners painted a log home. I have no idea why. The natural log would be beautiful, but instead they did a terrible poo-brown (sorry, but it's true) exterior color. I would like to have the house and the two nearby sheds painted a really rich chocolate brown color. I really don't know how much exterior painting costs, though I'm thinking somewhere in the ballpark of a couple thousand dollars. Our house is small, so it's not a lot of space, but I am not AT ALL interested in trying to tackle this myself. Anyone ever had the exterior of their home painted?

DH then told me that he would like to replace the cabinets and countertop in our kitchen. We have terrible kitchen cabinets. And I don't just mean like those prefab ones at Lowe's. I mean somebody built these janky things in the backyard and hung them up. Because we're in a one room house, our kitchen is actually just one 6 foot stretch of wall with 6 cabinets total, plus a sink and the remaining portion of wall is the counter. So honestly I don't think it would cost much at all to redo this. I told DH we would need to nail down the cost of exterior painting before we look into doing this though.

 

[amalone1013]

The previous owners painted a log home. I have no idea why. The natural log would be beautiful, but instead they did a terrible poo-brown (sorry, but it's true) exterior color.

WHHYYYYYYYYYYYY.

I don't get people. Near us is DHs aunts' old home, a log home that the family helped build. I love it (from the outside at least - she sold it many many years ago and always says that was the biggest mistake she made).

 

[DisneyMandC]

WHHYYYYYYYYYYYY.

I don't get people. Near us is DHs aunts' old home, a log home that the family helped build. I love it (from the outside at least - she sold it many many years ago and always says that was the biggest mistake she made).

That's exactly how I feel. My brother builds log homes and lives in one. You don't paint it, just let the wood age... Apparently you can strip paint from log cabins, but it is costly and can potentially damage the wood depending on how it's done. So, unfortunately, I think we'll just have to settle for repainting it a better color.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

In the vein of home repairs, we're looking at some upgrades too. I told DH I want to save over the winter and get our house painted in the spring. The previous owners painted a log home. I have no idea why. The natural log would be beautiful, but instead they did a terrible poo-brown (sorry, but it's true) exterior color. I would like to have the house and the two nearby sheds painted a really rich chocolate brown color. I really don't know how much exterior painting costs, though I'm thinking somewhere in the ballpark of a couple thousand dollars. Our house is small, so it's not a lot of space, but I am not AT ALL interested in trying to tackle this myself. Anyone ever had the exterior of their home painted?

DH then told me that he would like to replace the cabinets and countertop in our kitchen. We have terrible kitchen cabinets. And I don't just mean like those prefab ones at Lowe's. I mean somebody built these janky things in the backyard and hung them up. Because we're in a one room house, our kitchen is actually just one 6 foot stretch of wall with 6 cabinets total, plus a sink and the remaining portion of wall is the counter. So honestly I don't think it would cost much at all to redo this. I told DH we would need to nail down the cost of exterior painting before we look into doing this though.

We got a quote for the wet bar and it was about 6 feet of cabinets with 3 lowers and 3 uppers plus a 36" bathroom vanity. We looked at Merillat brand cabinets, same as we have in the rest of the house, because I wanted all the cabinets to match if possible. The cost was about $5k without countertops.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

Made a list today of what out of the ordinary things we need to pay for next month so that nothing takes us by surprise. On the smaller end, I just ordered the Little People Advent Calendar for DS, which will go to next month's budget, get a few final Christmas and December birthday gifts, and I need to get an outfit for DS's first birthday photos. I also need to get his birthday cake but that will be covered with CC rewards I put aside for it specifically. On the pricier end, I need to renew my passport and get storage for our board games and a table for our entryway, plus get the car in to be checked out before we visit family for Thanksgiving and order Christmas cards after we get photos taken (same sitting as DS's first birthday photos). Gonna be an expensive month, but afterward we'll have a lot of big expenses out of the way and can enjoy the holidays 100% knowing that the major expenses associated with them are taken care of.

 

[DisneyMandC]

We got a quote for the wet bar and it was about 6 feet of cabinets with 3 lowers and 3 uppers plus a 36" bathroom vanity. We looked at Merillat brand cabinets, same as we have in the rest of the house, because I wanted all the cabinets to match if possible. The cost was about $5k without countertops.

Yeah, we only have one lower cabinet haha. It's a very awkward set up, but until we can do a serious overhaul remodel on our house, there's no other way to configure it. I would honestly be fine with the prefab Lowe's cabinets or some IKEA cabinets. I would like to splurge for a nice countertop for DH since we have a formica one right now. I would probably take that opportunity to upgrade our fridge as well. It's the only appliance in our house that we haven't upgraded as others have died off. Plus it's a terrible side by side fridge and you can barely fit a frozen pizza in the freezer

 

[pblack]

Yeah, we only have one lower cabinet haha. It's a very awkward set up, but until we can do a serious overhaul remodel on our house, there's no other way to configure it. I would honestly be fine with the prefab Lowe's cabinets or some IKEA cabinets. I would like to splurge for a nice countertop for DH since we have a formica one right now. I would probably take that opportunity to upgrade our fridge as well. It's the only appliance in our house that we haven't upgraded as others have died off. Plus it's a terrible side by side fridge and you can barely fit a frozen pizza in the freezer

I'm not sure why the inventor of the side by side fridge thought it was a good idea. Those things are so horrible to try and get food into.

 

[amalone1013]

I'm not sure why the inventor of the side by side fridge thought it was a good idea. Those things are so horrible to try and get food into.

My ILs did the column fridge and freezers so now I'm ruined for life.

 

[DLgal]

I'm not sure why the inventor of the side by side fridge thought it was a good idea. Those things are so horrible to try and get food into.

I love side by sides and have never had trouble fitting food into it, even pizza boxes (we always have several frozen pizzas on hand). They actually, in my experience, fit far more food than any other configuration. You just need to have enough clearance to fully open both doors, which can be hard with some kitchen layouts. I've had all manner of refrigerators. The French door ones are the worst for efficiency in storing food, in my experience.

 

[pblack]

I love side by sides and have never had trouble fitting food into it, even pizza boxes (we always have several frozen pizzas on hand). They actually, in my experience, fit far more food than any other configuration. You just need to have enough clearance to fully open both doors, which can be hard with some kitchen layouts. I've had all manner of refrigerators. The French door ones are the worst for efficiency in storing food, in my experience.

That makes sense with the kitchen layout, that's probably why i'm not a fan of them. I've never been able to fully open both doors which makes it difficult to store items. We have a french door and I love it.

 

[jen7233]

I would probably take that opportunity to upgrade our fridge as well. It's the only appliance in our house that we haven't upgraded as others have died off. Plus it's a terrible side by side fridge and you can barely fit a frozen pizza in the freezer

I love the side by side door fridges, lol.

Does anyone spend a lot on Halloween here, if you celebrate it? I know some people go all out on their favorite holidays. I spent so far about $70 on costumes this last week, have to return one as I ordered from Amazon from a third party supplier and the order was stuck in an "ordered" stage even though it was past the deadline it quoted to have it shipped, and it finally was sorted out and Amazon upgraded my shipping to expedited with no cost and had things moving along. I may just keep it for next year pretty sure it will still fit one of the kids assuming they'll want to wear it next year. We aren't doing any pumpkin patches this year, the kids just showed no interest despite me talking about it with them. Saves us about $60 or so on the combined entrance fees and food we might have bought there, although this is the first year we haven't been with them since they were babies so that makes me just a bit sad for me but they're fine! Still have to go get some carving pumpkins at the store this weekend and candy.