Major Home Repair

Tomorrow we are starting a major home repair.  We need a new roof.  Yikes!!  What an expensive project.  Fortunately, we knew that this was a repair that was inevitable.  We have had some minor leaks, our gutters and downspouts are notorious for getting clogged and the shingles have started to curl.  We knew that if we have the same weather this spring that we had last spring, the roof could cave in during a torrential downpour.  Time for a roof.

Because we knew this project was in our near future, we saved for quite awhile.  I set up a separate savings account specifically for the roof.  It took a couple of years, literally, to save the money for this project.  We finally hit the magic number in the last couple of months for the roof. 

For anyone planning on a huge project like this, I would recommend setting up a separate savings account to cover the expenses.  Take out a little bit out of each paycheck and save, save, save.  Because we did it that way, we can do this project without a loan.  What a relief that is for us.  To know that when we pay for this project, we can be done with it.

Make no mistake about it though.  Saving for this was not easy.  Many times, I was more than a little tempted to dip into the roof fund for something fun, extra expenses or even day to day living.  It also took a really long time to save the money.  Sometimes, I would get so frustrated, because it seemed like we would never get there.  Whenever the roof would leak, it was more than a little tempting to just take out a loan, or God forbid, use a credit card.  But, we persevered, stayed true to our frugal roots, and saved.

Here's to a new roof!   We will be ready for the next downpour, that is if it does not rain while tear down is occurring.