Going for Not Broke

We got an estimate on a new heat-and-air unit earlier today. Turns out, whoever connected our current unit back in the 1970s took a few shortcuts. We cannot get a new unit without having some major electrical work done first. I really need to start making time for freelance work so that this home improvement project doesn't force us into bankruptcy.

Now that the most recent festival is out of the way, I'm going to start trying my hand at transcribing audio. I have the foot pedal for stopping audio; if it doesn't work out, I figure I can always sell it later. I still need to download the software to do it and find the sites that will give me a chance to practice. Hopefully, the work pays off and we'll be able to get some extra income in to pay down our debt. It looks like we're going to need a new heat/air unit sooner rather than later. We had hoped to limp it along for another year.

My husband and I had another work-filled day yesterday. It feels good to make progress on the home projects that have been in limbo for quite some time now. We made another supply run, getting a few wall patches and an electrical box for a ceiling fan we're going to install. Thankfully, we were able to pay for all of those supplies with a Home Depot gift card we have had for a while.

The building supply salvage store didn't pan out as a good place to buy paint. It has paint, but our choices were salmon (orangish pink) and terra cotta (an even orangier pink). Because the paint is going in my husband's home office, neither choice would do. However, the prices were definitely good. A 5 gallon bucket of paint was only $29.95. The store didn't have any interior paint in a smaller quantity, though. We wound up going to Walmart to see what options it has. I was surprised we were able to buy flat paint for $10 a gallon. Not too bad. Hopefully, any other supplies we need this week will be inexpensive, too.

Well, my week off has arrived, as I thought, the delay in the freelance project I was working on means I don't have extra cash on hand right now for our home improvement list. Therefore, I plan to buy as we go along, which will save me from overbuying. For today at least, we shouldn't need to buy anything. My agenda calls for clearing out a bedroom, removing border paper and filling in holes in the walls to prep for painting -- all projects for which I have the supplies already. Hopefully, tomorrow we'll be painting, and then the buying starts.

On Friday when my husband and I were dropping off items for the consignment sale, I drove past a place I haven't thought of in years. Back when I was a teenager, my mom used to get home improvement supplies from a store that sells salvage building materials. Amid moulding, beams, 2-by-4s and wall board, the store used to have wallpaper and carpeting too. It occurred to me as we drove by that I could check there to see if they have paint and other items we need for our weeklong plan to whip our house into shape. I want to get an idea of how much paint is at Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe's first, so I know if the salvage store's prices are really cheaper.

I just completed a large freelance job. I had hoped to get paid for it before my week of home improvement projects arrives in a couple of weeks, but because I got a later start on it than normal, whether that happens is iffy right now. I hope to complete some additional, but much smaller, projects between now and then. Otherwise, I may be relying solely on overtime money from my full-time job, which isn't enough. If that's the case, I will have to scale down my want list.

As I mentioned in a previous post , I have a week off coming up, during which I'd like to get through quite a few home improvement projects. To make that week as productive as possible, I'd like to spend time between now and then getting some of the prep work out of the way. I also need to work on a freelance project due around the middle of the month, plus I'd like to spend time on other less-pressing freelance endeavors to earn more money so that we can pay for the home improvement supplies without whipping out the charge cards. Add to that the upcoming consignment sale, which I need to prepare for by going through my daughter's clothes and pricing them. Oh yeah, I also have regular household chores to do. I don't know how I'm going to manage to do all of the above between now and then, but I do have a plan, of sorts. Each Sunday, I plan to make myself a list of daily tasks for the coming week. I hope that will keep me on track and help me to keep my wis...

I've taken a week off in September to finish some home improvement projects that have been in progress for far too long. My challenge between now and then will be to both set aside and earn enough to buy the supplies without having to charge anything. Our biggest expense will be paint. We've got to paint our living room ceiling, living room, kitchen, two bedrooms and one bathroom to have our home "finished." Hopefully we'll be able to get that far with it, but my fear is we'll need longer than a week to complete it all because several walls need to be repaired in places first. I've got a freelance project in progress right now that will give us the bulk of what we'll need, but I don't think it will cover everything. Plus, I have to make sure I don't spend any of it between now and then on "wants."