Works For Me Wednesday

Last year we completed an expensive home project. (Well, we watched the contracter complete the project.) And with the completion of the stone patio we created Phase II, and realized it wouldn't happen for a number more years. The expected cost of Phase II and the list of pending project/purchases were factors in the time frame.

1. Paint the interior of the house


2. Door knobs and pulls for the kitchen cabinets, and bathroom cabinets


3. Closet organizers
   
4. New carpeting (after potty training three kids ... well you get the picture)


5. New furniture (after potty training three kids ... )


6. New flooring for the downstairs


7. Hubby's Man Cave, electronics, furniture, the whole kit 'n kaboodle


8. New windows


9. And when we are done with all that we get to start all over again, plus replace the siding, a new roof, the water heaters, ...

It's funny, we bought a new house so we could skip all these projects. Oh well. Let it be known, when the builder says "construction grade windows" it is code for "crappy windows".

Anyway, sorry for the digression.

While we watched Phase I of our hardscaping go in, and planned Phase II, we also realized that what we needed was a Housing Fund. At the time our bank was promoting a new high interest savings account. We can only move $100 a month into the account, however every time we use Bill Pay (all the time) or use our debit card (never) $1 is moved into the account. Then once a year the bank pays us a certain percentage of what we saved.

Now that we have an account dedicated to housing projects (which won't be paying for Phase II anytime soon, but oh well) our to-do list looks more like this:

1. Paint the interior of the house


2. Door knobs and pulls for the kitchen cabinets, and bathroom cabinets


3. Closet Organizers (a dreamin' and a wishin')


4. New carpeting (Lots of Spot Shot and Febreeze until then)
   
5. New furniture - Slowly working on this one


6. New flooring for the downstairs (nothing is wrong with it, would just like hard wood flooring throughout the whole downstairs)


7. Hubby's Man Cave (a wishin' and a dreamin')
   
8. New windows (maybe we should look into the new tax credit)


9. And when that is all done ....

We still have a long way to go, but it feels good to have a few items crossed off our list. And as we work on these projects we are not breaking the bank, nor the monthly budget.

For more Works for Me Wednesday tips head over to We are That Family.