I have been out of town for the last few days. I will resume blogging tomorrow after I get a good night's sleep. Happy Friday!

Not feeling so frugal

We are spending, spending, spending these days. Our spending is almost exclusively on home improvements.

I hired the neighbor (a college student) to paint all the bedrooms. Okay, so that is frugal, he is not as expensive as a professional painter would be. Yes, we could do it ourselves for free, but I am the world's worst painter (my husband will confirm that) and my husband is busy beyond belief. He has been busy at work as well as remodeling the basement, on his own. Which brings us to another thing we spent a lot on, carpet in the basement. We did cheap out on the baseboards in the basement. I think they are made out of foamy, plasticy, synthetic material that will probably prove to be toxic. But, it cost us $69, total, versus a few hundred dollars. I guess we were frugal in that area.

Next thing we did, we turned an area of the basement into a workout room. So, my husband bought some flooring that we need to make it comfortable, I guess. He said he will save money when he paints the room by using all the leftover paint from the bedrooms. That could be an interesting look. I will have to take pictures of the final results in that room.

We are also looking at new windows. Which in all honesty we really need. They are the originals from 1967. On some of the windows the caulk has finally given out and the glass can actually be pushed off the frame. The window in my son's room is a guillotine, he will lose a hand if he ever tries to open the existing window. My daughter's window has a crack right down the middle of it, and she does not have a storm window in it, oops! We are determined to have the windows installed by April 22nd so that we don't have to pay extra for disposal of the windows. A new law goes into effect that day with stricter disposal guidelines in regards to lead paint. We don't have lead paint, so I do not want to pay extra for something that is not an issue in this house.

Finally, we need a retaining wall in our back yard. This to is mandatory, that is if we wish to stop our yard from eroding. I don't even want to know what that unexciting little improvement will cost us.

Sometimes I wish that we would have bought a new house. One that did not require all the improvements that this house requires. But, than I look around at this house that we have made a home and I wouldn't have it any other way. We have made this house our own. We have never been a couple to feel like we need to keep up with "The Joneses" to feel adequate, so why start now? Our house with all it faults has kept us warm, made us happy, created lasting memories and given our children a place to call theirs. So, I think I will happily continue with these crazy improvements and consider myself lucky. Lucky to be able to give them this home. Lucky to be able to afford the home we have.