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Prioritizing home maintenance

September 17th, 2006 at 02:03 pm

Like Dollars for Doughnuts just wrote, too many wants chasing too few dollars...

A few weeks back I decided the top priority was getting the lights installed on the back of the house. It's getting dark earlier all the time, and it had to be done before we switch to Standard Time. No brainer.

I kind of decided I should get the plumber next. There are three jobs that need to be done, one of which I'm kind of worried about putting off. There's a problem with our upstairs toilet, and even though we've turned off the water at the shut-off valve I can still hear the sound of water running. It just doesn't seem right, and I don't want to wake up to a geyser one morning!

Yesterday we got a flyer about the fall festival going on in two weeks. They are starting up the lawn decoration contest again, and probably coming down our street with a hayride. Our property looks horrible because of the driveway, and I'd love to get it coated before then.

We still need a new back step, a cabinet put up, and wallpaper removal finished. Also, I need about $300 worth of work done on my car, even at our neighbor's prices.

However, our official EF is pretty low right now. I have an extra $400 in checking now as padding because of the automatic payments I set up. $500 is sitting in the Netbank money market, the minimum balance for not getting hit with a monthly fee. I can't close the account yet or I'll forfeit the $75 bonus.

I could pay off the HSBC cc more slowly to free up funds. It's 0% into the spring. Or I could raid the "new car" account again.

On the one hand, I'm nervous about spending too much money, too soon. On the other hand, the house stuff is weighing on my mind. Anyway, our water bill was way up last time, probably because of the plumbing issues. Getting them fixed should save money in the long run. And our plumber bills us, so the cash doesn't have to be in hand this week anyway.

I think I'll go ahead and make calls tomorrow.

p.s. - Still glad I spent the money on the scanner. Have already got rid of lots of paper. There's actually some wiggle room in the file cabinet now. Smile

4 Responses to “Prioritizing home maintenance”

  1. Carolina Bound Says:
    1158504565

    Oh, I hear you!

    I have so much to do on my house, but the funds to do it aren't there. The jobs get done so slowly, it drives me crazy.

  2. JanH Says:
    1158505226

    The only thing that helps me is that Hurricane Rita left all of us in the same boat. I just don't tell them that some of my needed repairs are from pre-Hurricane. With two college kids, you don't have the money. Even though son is basically on his own, we still are paying off lots of his school stuff. Good luck on priortizing. It's been a challenge for me.

  3. Ima saver Says:
    1158506941

    Wow, I am so lucky that I have a husband that can do anything, plumbing, electical, driveways, steps, carpenter, etc. I don't know how I would manage without a jack of all trades!

  4. freeme journey Says:
    1158520010

    Sounds like our home but what frustrates me is that my repairs always co-incide with low money levels and then I have to DIY (ha ha ha) or just pretend I haven't noticed.
    My roof needs some work and I really don't know when or how I am going to get it done *sigh*

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