Just over a year ago, I made a giant list of home projects. Let’s see how I’m doing. Updates in red.
I’m actually kind of disappointed in this list. I feel like I’ve made such progress, but it’s just not noted in the list. Another giant task is to organize everything – the closets are a disaster. Maybe I’ve been reading too many organizing blogs, but those things need work. I want neatly labeled shelves and bins.
The big expensive project was the yard. And I couldn’t be happier with how the yard looks. I love it. I’m so excited that it’s summer and I can spend time outside again, just enjoying the weather.
To Dos – The Smaller
- Sprayfoam around the basement bathroom window, sump pump pipes, and guest bathroom shower pipe
- Purchase and install larger flange for guest bathroom shower
- Hang bathroom cabinet in guest bath
- Install bathroom organizer in master bath (changed my mind on this one)
- Purchase paint and touch-up walls
- Sand and repaint guest bathroom molding to hide sticker under paint
- Remove residual stickers on all three basement toilets
- Finish unpacking all boxes
- Finish loading curio cabinet
- Hang pictures in master bedroom, upstairs hallway, living room, main entrance, dining room, and basement (Just a few more left)
- Paint master bedroom, master bath, basement bath (for now)
- Sand and stain border around fireplace
- Sand down the poor painting job on the banister and repaint/restain
- Scrape the paint from the office door
- Repair the jammed lock (there is a rock inside it, but don’t worry, it’s locked nice and tight)
- Hang medallion above master bedroom fan to hide hole
- Finish furnishing living room
To Dos – The Larger and/or More Expensive
- Re-form flower beds
- Have yard re-graded and re-seeded
- New sidewalk in front yard and new patio in backyard
- Strip/repaint porches
- New front porch railings
- Attic pull-down ladder (this may or may not be possible)
- Gas fireplace insert
- New windows in dining room and master bedroom
- Closet organizer in walk-in closet (Elfa, perhaps?)
Furnishings to Save For and Purchase
- New washer/dryer
- Breakfast table (or maybe a bench?)
- Living room couch and table/ottoman
To Do Someday
- New flooring in living room/dining room
- New flooring upstairs
- New stairs
Megan is a 30-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
