The Money Pit

I am not a handy guy and considered that fact carefully when purchasing our home which was built over 15 years ago. Even with this in mind, little things do go wrong from time to time and require an outlay of time and in my case money.

The past few months we have dealt with a range replacement, a broken screen door, a broken garage spring and an infestation of birds in our HVAC system. While nothing was terribly expensive, it does all add up to some $XXXX.

On top of that we have a few renovation items. The simple one was purchasing a storm door, which will add some security and also improve ventilation in the summer time. The tougher one is the basement remodel which will run $XX,XXX. The money is significant and it is also a foray in the complicated world of contracting. With the economic decline, people may be hungrier for work, but they also may be tempted to squeeze a higher profit margin from each job.

At the end of the day, these are all luxury problems. For people who see home improvement as a hobby, I can see spending money on landscaping, painting, wall paper, bathroom tile, backsplashes and a full host of niceties that can easily taken in $XXXX annually. For my wife and I, we just want everything to be in good working order and allow us to take full advantage and pleasure of the time we spend at home. The aesthetics on a day to day basis are secondary.