Finance Gets Personal

When I hear people talk about treating their house for termites, I’ve always assumed the cost was somewhere in the $2,000-$3,000 range.

Happily, it’s not!

We had a company my co-worker recommended out to the house today and they are going to treat the entire perimeter and interior of the garage with holes drilled and filled with Termidor for $650. Then, we’ll pay $70 a year to have it checked and retreated for free if termites are found anytime in the next 10 years (we’re not obligated to have them come every year - but we will!).

Needless to say, I’m relieved.

And, we discovered the termites before they had a chance to do any damage or spread to other parts of the house, so that’s good news too.

The sad part is, I know my parents have had termite problems for at least the past 5-10 years, but have never treated it (to my knowledge). I don’t understand their priorities, which allow them to take yearly vacations to places like Hawaii and Mexico, while not keeping their own house from falling apart.

I know they are aware of the problem, because I’ve heard my dad say things like “the termites ate up that step.” I’m worried they have major structural problems since the termites have been allowed to stay that long, but I’m not sure how to bring it up to them. Maybe if they knew the cost of getting rid of them was so low, that would at least be a start (and prevent any further damage)?

I really dislike having to parent my parents.

Photo Credit: Termite Building by Zapgun, used under Creative Commons licensing.

One of the things that sold me on our house was the windows.

The dining room has floor-to-ceiling windows - well, very long windows with smaller windows on top of them. Ten windows in all. They overlook the backyard, and are beautiful.

The problem is, at night, the windows give half the neighborhood and anyone driving down the street parallel to ours a great view of the entire house. So we mostly keep the cheap, yellowed, falling-apart blinds that came with the house closed.

I’ve been wanting to replace the blinds with wooden blinds ever since we moved in. Faux wood, at least. Hell…I’d settle for bamboo at this point. But at a price of $100+ per window, it’s something that will have to wait.

Recently, the strings in one of the blinds snapped. Well - not so recently - I tied the string in a knot and the blinds have been hanging haphazardly half-open, half-closed at a diagonal for at least the past six months.

This drove me crazy. And today, I decided to do something about it: visit Lowe’s.

Did I break down and buy the $100 blinds for all 10 windows?

No, I special-ordered white vinyl blinds to replace the one that broke (and the side-window blind that broke and was taken down three years ago).

I felt like I was giving up on ever having nice blinds.

Which is irrational.

But it was still hard.

Photo Credit: After: Dining Room by srbyug, used under Creative Commons licensing.

Yes, that’s right, everyone. I have something special to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, and it ain’t turkey.

It’s termites.

No!!!!!

Monday night, my husband and I went to the Smashing Pumpkins concert. On our way out, we ran into a friend he used to work with. So, we joined the friend and his girlfriend at the bar next door for a drink. Only they knew the bartender…and people kept handing me free drinks…so pretty soon I was trashed.

It was not pretty. Since I have no alcohol tolerance anymore and since I’m on medication that I technically shouldn’t be drinking with, I proceeded to throw up in the passenger’s seat of my car on the way home. And again in my bed. And in the earshot of my father, who was babysitting for us. Again, it was not pretty, and I’m extremely embarrassed about the whole thing.

My husband cleaned out the car as best he could that night, but I needed to give it a more thorough cleaning. So after work tonight, I went to the car wash with the free vacuum cleaners, and took one of each type of cleaning supply I own. My stepson was dying to get out of the house, so I took him with me.

Of course, after going through the car wash and vacuuming, my stepson was about ready to pee his pants and there was no bathroom there. So, we headed home.

Of course (again), it’s dark, cold and my side of the garage still has a lot of leftover crap from our June garage sale in it (Yes, June. Have you seen the Oprah episode about the Messy House Tour? I’m totally working on that now). So, in order to have enough light to clean up my crusty car, I needed to make room for my crusty car in the garage.

One hour into cleaning the garage, I discovered intruders…termite tunnels running up the side of the garage foundation behind some ladders.

This is horrible! Horrible, horrible, horrible! And what timing!

But I don’t think they’ve been there long since we just reorganized the garage in the Spring, and I’m sure I would have noticed the tunnels then (there are just three of them).

So, I guess you could almost argue that getting so drunk that I puked in my car and called in sick to work the next day might have actually saved me a lot of money.

We shall see.

Photo Credit: angel by ilselieve, used under Creative Commons licensing.

I knew that stopping the debt snowball to replace our heat pump and hot water heater was necessary, but also dangerous.

You see, once I get started on a home improvement project, I want to keep improving!

Here is my list of things I currently want to do to the house:

• Install a storm door for the front entryway
• Replace the water-damaged storm door that leads out to the deck
• Replace the door leading out to the patio, which doesn’t close right and has rotted in the corner
• Put new knobs and deadbolts on the doors (shiny brass is icky!)
• Tile the floors in the bathrooms and laundry room
• Replace our aging dishwasher, stove and microwave with stainless steel appliances
• Replace our aging washer and dryer with front-loading machines
• Remove the popcorn ceiling texture from the ceilings
• Replace the ceiling fan in our bedroom
• Replace the carpeting
• Get a twin-size bunk bed for my stepson to save floor space in his bedroom and make it easier for his friends to spend the night

Some of these are needs and some are wants, but I don’t want to use our debt snowball payments for any of them.  So, it might be a while…

Meanwhile, my husband has this itch to finish the basement (once we’re sure we’ve got the water problem taken care of).  I don’t really think this is a good use of our money, but he’d like to at least finish the “office” section of the basement before we have a baby (the current office would be the baby’s room).  So, we’re trying to allocate some of our budget toward that without sacrificing our debt repayment.

Conflicting goals are such a pain!

Photo Credit: M. Design Interiors Inc. by decor8, used under Creative Commons licensing 

On Friday, we received our $1,500 economic stimulus payment and a $213 state tax refund.

So, being proud Americans, we spent $3,467 on a new heat pump and $674 on a new hot water heater before the deposits even had a chance to hit the bank.

No need to thank us, America. We’re just doing our part to save the country…and not bake to death this summer…and have a hot shower that lasts more than five minutes…

Photo Credit: Be Patriotic or Else by Mike Licht, used under Creative Commons licensing

Speaking of emergencies, I’m concerned we’re going to have one if we attempt to paint our house ourselves. No, this isn’t our house, but it’s about the same height. Yikes!

We are definitely in over our heads, and we haven’t even started yet. Last night we watched “10 Things You Must Know About Exterior Painting,” and we’re sitting there like, “What? How long do you have to wait to paint after it rains? You’re not supposed to use flat paint? Those little clips do what?”

Yeah. So we are getting some bids this week. I figure it will cost us between $1,000-$1,500 to do it ourselves, so if it costs $3,000 for someone else to do it, it’s probably well worth it.
I have a feeling it’s going to be more than that though…

Photo Credit: Our Scaffolding by nuanc, used under Creative Commons licensing

If you haven’t heard of Angie’s List, you’re not alone.

Angie’s List is a website where members can access and submit reviews of local companies, contractors and even doctors. I guess you could say it’s kind of like a member-generated Consumer Reports for local services.

While some cities offer free trial memberships as initial reviews are gathered, access to my city’s list is $59 per year or $7.50 per month with a $15 activation fee. I signed up today.

But why pay a fee for advice you can get for free from friends and neighbors?

Well, in my case, we’re looking for a structural engineer to examine some potential foundation problems and don’t know anyone who has had this type of service done. Although a few people are supposed to be getting back to me with leads, I haven’t heard from them yet and am starting to get impatient.

But my $22.50 should pay for itself if the structural engineer I found is as good as the 16 “A” reports he’s received from Angie’s List members. I must say I’m a little disappointed in the sparse reviews in some of the other categories on Angie’s List however. I plan on cancelling before the next month hits my debit card.

Has anyone else used Angie’s List? What are your experiences?

I’ll let you know how the inspection goes.

(This post was included in the Money Hacks Carnival, hosted by Save and Conquer.)