Well, it’s the new year, and it’s time to think about resolutions and whatnot! I’m not making resolutions, per se, but I wanted to take some time to talk a little about our house goals for this year. Not sure what we’ll actually be able to accomplish before 2012, but here is a try.
1) Fix the backyard – February/March. This is important for water drainage issues, as well as bug problems. Also, I want to put up a clothesline to dry our clothes outside this summer.
2) Save up for the foundation repairs. The quotes we got ranged from $10,000 to $18,000. We have about $5k saved right now. The cheapest price is from a company that I hesitate to trust, as it was their botched estimate that convinced us to get this house to begin with – we wouldn’t have bought had we known the full extent of the damage. The most expensive price is unfortunately the price we think would actually fix everything, and fix it right. So, we need to look over the quotes again and decide which price we want to save up for. Our decision about that will affect how long it takes to save up the money, and whether we’re able to do it in 2011 or not.
3) Fix the kitchen. My reward for saving up for the foundation is to tackle the kitchen! Even though it might not make the most sense compared to all the other problems, it does make sense to have a nice kitchen for resale value, and it also affects my daily life probably the greatest. And it’s the most exciting for me. :-) As I work hard at saving money this year, I hope to brainstorm some wonderful plans to make the best use of the space. I’ll also need to come up with a realistic budget!
In between, we hope to tackle some little things in 2011. We want to replace all the light switches and electrical outlets so that they will all match. Also, I want to replace the blinds in the bedrooms. And if I can, I’d like to get new baseboards for the main level of our house. And last but not least, we need to either clean or replace the carpet in the den because the cats have pretty much destroyed it. Not sure what exactly to do about that, but I’d love to get that room back!
Right now I’m feeling positive about everything; we’ll see how long this lasts!
Regarding the kitchen, we saw something really neat at IKEA to keep your eyes open for – at ours when they are ready to redo the kitchen displays they sell them off as a whole normally. This year since they are updating them all at once they are holding a silent bidding process that is starting at about half the price of what the kitchen cost. I think these prices even include the appliances. We saw an awesome full kitchen on Thursday for $1200 total! I hope that at least gives you an idea.
I know it isn’t an easy decision to fix the foundation, but I know you will make the right choice for what you need to do. It just seems a horrible shame that it is going to cost so much to fix!
I hope you get the clothes line up soon! I love having ours and there is something oddly relaxing about hanging laundry up outside. I know I am weird, but it makes me feel really happy to do it. It is something I need to get back in the habit of since AJ built me a really nice clothes line.
I’ll keep that in mind, Molly! Though to be honest, I wouldn’t want a full-on Ikea kitchen. I like the style, but I don’t think it fits me or the house. But, if I could get it that cheap, then I could mix and match with other styles.
Oh and I wouldn’t really get much from a clothesline until April or so when the sun comes out again. :-) So no rush for that! I’m excited to get one, though. I used a drying rack last summer which worked okay, but was kinda annoying and also not all my diapers fit.