You’ve seen all of the weekly, and sometimes monthly, “no spend challenges” all over the internet. Basically, you only spend money on food, gas, or any other ESSENTIAL items needed. You do not frivolously spend on things that are not needed. Well, folks… welcome to your very own challenge… whether you wanted it or not!
Now, is the time to save, save, save. Considering all of the extra time that you are most likely spending at home, that might not be so easy. We never have this much time to spend at the house so it feels like the perfect time to finish (or even start) all of the home improvement projects you’ve been thinking about doing. Now, if you have a can of paint in the garage that you can use to touch up a few spots, then you’re right. This is the perfect time for that. Remodeling your kitchen, not so much.
This is exceptionally difficult for us. As most of you know, we have been working on home improvement projects for years off and on, but we have been on a roll since Christmas! We just installed our french doors and were planning on starting on our deck. We are going to wait on the deck, obviously, but I’m trying to figure out cheap or free things that we can be doing. Specifically me, since Brian is still working full time (for now) and I am only going into the office once or twice a week.
Funny story, our neighbors told us that it is around $100 for a pallet of sod. We have had $200 saved up for two pallets for a little while now so we figured we’d buy the grass and then pause the projects until all of this coronavirus stuff calms down. Well, Saturday we went to pick up the sod and it was actually $200 per pallet! I can’t bare to spend more money right now so we just got the one pallet for now. Our yard looks a little patchy, but it’ll work for the time being.
Before this whole pandemic broke out, we had big plans for our house and a LONG list of projects. We purchased a 5 gallon bucket of paint for the exterior (yes we are still planning to paint the brick!), some landscaping stuff, and wood to frame our french doors we just installed. We are trying to work on the things that we already have supplies for, hoping to spend elbow grease instead of more cash! Especially because the job site right next to Brian’s just got shut down for 30 days because one of the worker’s tested positive for Covid-19. We’re trying to plan and act as if both of us being laid off is inevitable. As much as I enjoy using every penny we have to pay down debt, I really wish I had saved more than $1,000 for an emergency fund.
So, I’m planning to use this time at home wisely. When I’m done making sure everyone is fed, entertained, schoolwork is done, etc. I’m going to be working on finishing up everything I can around the house. Below is my list of things I plan to work on, plus whatever I come up with along the way.
Quarantine To Do List:
- Finish painting the entire exterior of the house
- Finish large flower bed in the front yard (with plants we already have)
- Install french drain (already have it, just needs to be installed)
- Scrape popcorn ceilings (NOT looking forward to this)
- Declutter the entire house, especially the master bedroom
- Create an accent wall in Aubrey’s room
