In the past year we gutted our kitchen, updated the outdated electrical, knocked down a wall and put up a header, drywalled, installed new cabinets, new countertops, new appliances, ripped out the old floor, sanded down the wood floors and painted them, installed a tile backsplash, installed crown moulding, built out new door trim to match the original trim in the house. In the laundry room, we tore down old wallpaper, put up beadboard on the walls and ceiling, installed chair rail and crown, ran electrical and plumbing to make it a functioning laundry room, installed new washer and dryer, installed a new flooring, put up wallpaper.

I painted Penny’s bedroom three times. We breathed new life into the original rope & pulley windows.

In our bedroom we built a headboard and I made new curtains.

Matt installed a new gas fireplace.

We had the tiles in our bathroom reglazed, installed a new light fixture, and had the rotted floor joists and subfloor replaced, updated all of the plumbing, and installed a new tile floor.

Our upstairs was drywalled and carpet was installed.

And we painted. Everywhere. With lots of painting yet to do.

We have a lot of finishing touches to do on the inside of the house which will occupy us until next spring. When we’ve completed all of these projects we hope to move on to the exterior of the house – repaving our driveway, putting up a basketball hoop in the backyard, doing a ton of landscaping… a TON. Tearing down the unsightly awning above the front door and perhaps building out a new doorway. Eventually our roof will need to be replaced.

Yesterday, I will admit, I was pretty down. The HVAC guy came by to look at our broken air conditioner and told us that we need to replace the entire system including the furnace. We can do it anytime between now and next spring, but it will mean dropping another five grand. I’m not gonna lie, it’s been an expensive year. We’ve spent a lot on the renovations we’ve already done, although considerably less than if we had hired them all out. We bought a new car. We had a baby and paid for my week-long hospital stay. We’ve done some very necessary traveling. Matt has bought a lot of new tools. It all has added up.

I’ve really been hankering to take a little family vacation, just a week away to a dog-friendly beach condo where the four of us can just hang out in the sun and sand and do some playing. When we have free weekends, they are typically spent tackling one of the many remaining projects, not getting out and doing some playing. I’m itching for the latter.

But when our HVAC friend dropped the bomb yesterday, I realized that little family vacation just ain’t happening this year. And maybe not next year either with all of the remaining projects we have yet to do. Instead we’ll keep spending our weekends painting and nailing and fixing things up. And I suppose I’ll just revel in our AC, do laundry in my new laundry room, and gaze up at the crown moulding.

Yeah, we could have bought a newer house with paint already on the walls and kitchen cabinets just ready to fill. But heck if I don’t love our house like another member of our family. The more sweat we put into it, the more we love it, and the more we can’t imagine living anywhere else. It’s the only debt we’ve got, and one day we’ll pay off this daggone mortgage and go on one heck of a vacation.

Both of these people asked me how breastfeeding with Penny was going, and whether or not I liked it. Frankly, I went into motherhood pretty blase about breastfeeding, and I continue to be blase about it. I choose to breastfeed because A) Penny took to it really easily, B) I like the research behind breastmilk building a stronger immune system, and C) it’s cheaper (probably my most compelling reason, honestly)!

I’m all about people who are breastfeeding advocates, and completely understand why they are. I’m also all about women who choose to formula feed because of the many logical reasons they choose to. For me, it’s all about the cash money.

The more I started to think about it, the more I realized most of my mothering decisions so far have had to do with my thrifty New England spirit. For instance, I’m cloth diapering because I love how it is better for the environment, but I’m also doing it because the average home spends $50-75 a month on disposable diapers. Because of my very generous friends, all 16 of my cloth diapers were given to me, without me spending a dime on diapering. I’ve realized I need to pick up a few more, but with some giftcards that I’ve been given, I think I might only wind up shelling out $20 or so to round out my supply. Pretty incredible when you think that Penny can wear these same diapers until she’s potty trained. And then I can reuse them for future kids. When you add it up, that’s a hefty savings!

(I did have a higher water bill in July, probably from doing a load of diapers every day. Which is all the more reason for me to get more diapers since 14 dirty dipes is only a half load in my washing machine.)

Well if I’m not a hyper breastfeeding advocate, why am I a hyper natural childbirthing advocate? A lot of this, again, comes down to money. We just got the bills from my C-section and hospital stay which added up to a whopping $30,000. Fortunately, because of Matt’s fairly comprehensive employer-sponsored healthcare we only have to pay about 15% of the total bill for my care, Penny’s nursery stay and her EKGs. But $30,000 as opposed to $2,000 for a natural delivery? Why would anyone choose the former if they didn’t have to?

What it all comes down to is that Penny (who is currently wearing some cute, and free! hand-me-downs) won’t be carrying a cell phone in Elementary school not because I have issues with it (although I do), but because I’m too cheap to buy her one. And perhaps all the money that I’ll save by handling her poopy cloth diapers for all those years will make it possible to build that Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired house in the Tennessee countryside that I was sketching out earlier today.

What’s the driving factor behind your parenting decisions? Whatever will keep your kid from life behind bars? Whatever prevents you from being blamed in 10 years of therapy once they’re adults? Or are you just cheap like me?

It was bittersweet cleaning out our Volvo wagon, because I knew I was ultimately cleaning it out to be replaced. The little guy has been everything we could have wanted for carting around drywall and a muddy dog over the past few years, but has now gotten to a place where it needs major repairs – repairs that are significantly more expensive than the car is worth. As of December it won’t pass inspection without those repairs, so we’re planning on replacing it, perhaps with an Outback, perhaps with something else.

We’ve put 85,000 miles on our already well-loved wagon in almost five years, which is crazy considering it was my car and I took public transportation to work for 2 of those years and was at home for another year. Matt’s jobs have always required an outrageous amount of driving, so we’ve had to face the fact that we will inevitably replace cars sooner than the average American family. It’s a bummer on the wallet, but has gotten us pretty adept at car shopping over the past few years.

This Saturday we had an appointment to test drive an Outback and a Forester; the former we decided was the car for us. We’re wagon people. We like having a five-seater with lots of storage capacity and good gas mileage. We like a car that drives well in the snow, not that that matters so much anymore. We like a car that you can put a muddy dog in and not think twice about.

But I didn’t like how the smug salesman was unwilling to negotiate down to the price I wanted. So today I called down to a competing dealership to see what the Polish salesguy could do for me. After I played a Chris Matthews-worthy version of hardball, he made me some good promises that the car we’d be special ordering would come in right at the price we are willing to pay.

I like the Polish people. They make great sausages. And sweet sugary baked goods.

I’ll hear back from my friend later this week, and I hope he has good news for me. Yeah, I want a new Outback, but more than anything I’m just gnawing at the bit with an insatiable desire to install this adorable new carseat!

Until then, I can bide my time re-reading the owner’s manual.

It was a late night – Matt accidentally downloaded a bad file that sent trojan viruses through the computer, which I stayed up late trying to repair. I think all is well now, but I will not be surprised if a window pops up with an African-American basketball player rapping about my credit score – I’ve already seen him once today.

When I did finally lie down for the night, Pendragon wouldn’t stop squirming around. Overall she’s a pretty mellow chica, but last night she was wide awake. There really must be something to the “sleep when the baby is sleeping” since she really, honestly kept me awake. Downside is I’m fairly certain “the baby” hasn’t slept in 24 hours.

I was up early to go to a friends house for a women’s prayer group and got absolutely lost on my way over there. So much for going into it “totally knowing how to get there.” I was calling her every five minutes for directions which seriously inhibited my driving as I’m not good at multi-tasking while driving a manual yet. I kissed the sky that I was in Tennessee as Mass drivers would have slaughtered me with my erratic behavior.

Overall it feels like a day that is challenging me to stay posicore. Just as I was about to kick the cat out of frustration, Matt texted me saying  ”Extra fun surprise coming!!” When I inquired further he responded, “Special treat.”

Instantly, out of nowhere, my mind ran to “I hope he’s won $250,000.” I’m not sure why that figure came to mind, or how exactly Matt would have won that sum of money, but that’s what I thought.

I’d also settle for a bouquet of flowers.

OR A WHOLE BOTTLE OF PINO GRIGIO ALL TO MYSELF.

Whaddya think it is? Bets and/or affirmations of the wine/$250,000 theories are welcome in the comments.

Head over to this page on Verbal Intent to read more. Your comments will each raise one dollar towards Komen, so get commenting!

Recently Matt has picked up a new hobby. Because he needed a new hobby, seeing as his upright bass, rock climbing equipment and woodworking tools get so much use. The boy is notorious for picking up expensive hobbies that require a lot of gear, including the motorcycle he’ll be getting for his birthday later this month. Then he puts all kinds of time into them at the beginning mysteriously running out of that time later on. The crossword puzzle at the back of National Geographic seems to suck up all that extra time.

Now, I can’t say anything, really. I have my own issues with hobby ADD. But my hobbies tend to cost very little money. For instance, I play my own share of instruments but always trade in an existing one for a new one at little to no cost. Or my recent hobby is making all manner of things with my sewing machine, which is a pretty cheap hobby when you buy your fabric on clearance and your mom gave you the sewing machine years ago for a birthday gift. I tend to only read books that I can get from the library, bottles of wine for under $10, and large cuts of meat with coupons clipped from the Sunday paper. Yes, “large cuts of meat” is a legitimate hobby. My favorite hobby of all time is packing my man and my pup into the stinky old wagon and driving to the beach or a big grassy park to play fetch and take a nice long walk. This is, ironically, my most expensive hobby since an 11 year old Swedish automobile is not the cheapest thing to maintain.

You would think that I would have learned to start saying “no” to Matt’s expensive hobbies, especially as he’s on the brink of starting up the most expensive one – the hog (I think as of this writing we’ve narrowed it down to a Honda). But if you heard the stories of how much fun he had when he comes back from jamming with friends on his many instruments or rock climbing in the Gunks with his buddy Brian, you’d go straight to the nearest Harley dealership and throw down your plastic for a brand spanking shiny new 2010 cruiser. If you could see the pride in his face when he nails up that final piece of crown molding, and it fits absolutely perfectly with the one next to it, you’d head to Lowes and pick up a gorgeous new table saw for the boy. He’s just that endearing.

I make him sound like a big spender, and he’s really not. It’s just that the things he researches and dreams about for years and years cost a pretty penny. But he knows that, so he waits and saves up his gift money, and then when he goes out and gets himself that gadget I can support him whole-heartedly as  he works hard everyday and gives me one heckuva great life. Plus he’s never asked to see a receipt when I return from Target.

But this new hobby he’s picked up? Recently he’s into making “mashups” which is essentially smooshing together two songs that would work really well together, mixing them up and then posting it to all manner of “mashup” websites for feedback from other mashers. He’s currently working furiously to put a Prince song together with the Supremes. I’m not gonna lie, it sounds pretty sweet.

Best thing about this hobby? All it requires is a couple hours a week with the laptop, some free software, and a set of headphones. Not bad, if you ask me.

So, Matt! Can you make me a mashup of “Streets of Arklow” by Van Morrison and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” by the Beatles? That’ll keep you busy enough for me to blow a whole afternoon in the clearance section of Target! Thanks, babe!

(Speaking of things that are FREE! Have you entered to win the gorgeous Sesame Letterpress coasters? No? Time is ticking away!)

I’m excited to try my hand at making baby food because 1) I love to cook, 2) I love to save money, and 3) I think I have no excuse not to. I have fourty hours a week that I’m not in an office, so my full-time job will be taking care of Penelope and managing our budget. And by saving money on things like diapers (by cloth diapering) and home-pureed carrot grossness (by making it myself), I’m going to be able to buy plane tickets to visit my family, thankyouverymuch. Also, really? Do you recommend I spend that time watching General Hospital instead? Because is it just me or has Jax not aged a day in the past ten years? THAT’S believable!

So I picked up the book to find out just how complicated this whole making-your-own-baby-food thing really is. About halfway through Super Baby Food the author mentions that an ice cube is the perfect size for one portion of smashed up frozen veggies or fruit, and you just might want to pick up some more ice cube trays.

And here’s where I need to confess a sin. Nearly every apartment we have lived in has had a few ice cube trays in the freezer when we arrived. And when we moved out I took them – every single one. I am swimming in ice cube trays. In fact I’ve never actually purchased one. Only when we moved to Nashville did I finally have a fridge with an icemaker. But even after Matt installed said icemaker, I stashed my ice cube trays in the pantry cabinet, because guys, YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU’RE GOING TO NEED MORE ICE.

Just watch. Penny won’t want anything to do with food that doesn’t come in a Gerber screw-top jar. Something about karma?

1. Habitat for Humanity. I’ve recently started volunteering with Habitat, and let me tell you, I could not be more impressed with this organization. The biggest misconception is that they give away houses for free. On the contrary, they provide interest-free loans to families who have worked very hard to be fiscally responsible. The programs and classes that they provide to support these families are truly amazing. And the families themselves are even more amazing. I’m really psyched to see how working with Habitat changes my perceptions and pushes me outside of my comfort zone in the next year or so.
2. Mosaic Community of Faith. This group is essentially our dear friends Robert and Michelle, the couple who gave us pre-marital counseling and married us. Two greater people I have never known. They have done loads of community outreach in their neighborhood in Columbus, OH, and have opened their home up to anyone and everyone in need of a place to call home. It’s really hard to describe everything they do, but they live a missional lifestyle that is all about serving and helping others in their community. To find out more about them or to send a check, you can reach them at: 1358 N 5th St, Columbus, OH 43201 or info@breakdividingwalls.org . They are non-denominational and will basically rock your socks off.
3. Elim Christian Services. This is an awesome organization in Chicago that educates kids with all kinds of disabilities including Autism. They do it in a really respectful and empowering way, and let me tell you, the kids send us THE CUTEST artwork in the mail. It’s worth giving to them just to have something to hang on your fridge.
4. Compassion International. Compassion is a highly-regarded organization for international child sponsorship. We’ve been sponsoring a kid in Burkina Faso for about two years now, and it’s been really fun. We get letters from him in French which I embarrassingly try to translate on my own, and he always includes adorable drawings (more fridge artwork!). We’re hoping to take a trip to Burkina Faso in the next few years to meet him in person.
5. Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation. Now for a great organization that isn’t faith-based! Fidelco raises German Shepherds with very strict breeding and training to be world-class guide dogs. They place a high priority on community involvement and are changing the lives of people with disabilities by providing exceptional canine companions that significantly improve the standard of living of their owners. Can you tell that I HEART THIS ORGANIZATION!?!??!
6. National Parks Conservation Association. As you’re probably well aware, our national parks are SHAMELESSLY under-funded and many are falling into disrepair. The NPCA works hard at raising money and fighting for better legislation to protect our national parks. They have a pretty great magazine that comes along with your membership, and is well worth a small donation. The national parks belong to US and it’s OUR job to preserve them for our own enjoyment as well as for future generations.

So that’s the list that I can think of at the moment. What are some of the organizations that you love to support and how will you be spreading cheer during this Holiday season?

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…

While I have some mixed feelings about the quality for the price of some IKEA furnishings, our last apartment had a kitchen outfitted with their cabinetry, and I was surprisingly pleased with the quality. Sure, they’re not custom cabinets made my the Amish (rock on!), but they hold up well under normal wear and tear. I also think they leave a lot of options for changing styles – future owners of our home would be able to simply replace the doors with ones they prefer, instead of ripping out all of the cabinets.

We looked at Home Depot and Lowes, primarily at the assembled, ready-to-install cabinets, but none of them had the selection and sizes that IKEA carried. By choosing cabinets by the Swedish masterminds, we were really able to maximize our space – a necessity in our small kitchen.

But the biggest selling point was the price. The average cost of cabinets for a kitchen of our size is between five to six thousand dollars. We wound up paying about half of that for our cabinets. There is a great deal of assembly that is required, but so far that has been pretty fun. And you get to mock the bad drawings in the cryptic instructions while you’re in the process of constructing, what feel like individual caskets for very small children. Bonus!

We will need to return a few pieces that we realized were the wrong size – our error, not IKEAS. Although they did make one error with our large corner cabinet and sent it home with us in the wrong color. Luckily, we can use a local service, ModernNash, to return the cabinets and exchange them for us.

And now a few pictures of the assembly process.

From Daily Daguerreotype

From Daily Daguerreotype

From Daily Daguerreotype

Of course, I’ll post some more photos when they’re installed. Anyone else out there have IKEA cabinets they’ve enjoyed?

1. I posted this on Twitter a while back, but I was psyched to find out that Home Depot/Lowes can mix up custom paint colors on demand. This means you can use more expensive colors, and sometimes better colors (ie: Restoration Hardware, Benjamin Moore) at the lower price. I’ve had custom colors mixed up for all of our paint so far, except for the trim, and I’m just using regular old Behr. It’s a great way to save.
2. I’ve been using Behr’s new primer/paint in one, and it’s been pretty good so far. For a few more dollars per gallon, you can cut back on the number of coats you’re using, ultimately saving you cash. I have yet to paint a lighter color over dark (which I’m going to be doing tomorrow in the master bedroom) so I’ll give you an update on how well it works in that instance. But I have switched over to their new paint, and I’m enjoying the time it’s saving me as well as the dollars!
3. We’re using Home Depot for the most part, since they’re much closer to the new house than Lowes is. It’s really just a matter of location. Our Home Depot happens to be a brand new one, so I’ve been pleased with the over-eager servicepeople and their newest-of-everything-stock in store. At any rate, our Home Depot (and probably yours!) will accept competitor coupons. This rocks our world, since we’re constantly getting coupons in the mail from Lowes, which we can then use at Home Depot. So far I’ve saved $35 this way, and I just received another coupon for $10 off my next purchase of $50 or more.
4. When it comes to appliances, you can save big if you buy them in bulk. Over Labor Day weekend, I went into Lowes (this time because they had the dishwasher I wanted) and told the salesman, “I need three new appliances. I want them to be Frigidaire, I want them to be XY&Z models, and I want them all for $1,000.” (I actually wound up with a non-Frigidaire dryer to save a little more.) He gave me the Labor Day Sale price, a multiple appliance purchase discount, and honored my two coupons which were not supposed to be used together. I got my ice maker for free with a rebate that I today sent away for in the mail. And now I have the fridge, dishwasher and dryer all for the price I wanted – ultimately saving over $300.
5. Cash in those credit card points! We cashed in our Amex points for two $100 giftcards to Home Depot. We blew through those last weekend for drywall (and necessary accoutrements) in the kitchen and breakfast nook. The fact that the project was virtually free made it a heck of a lot easier to accomplish.
6. Craigslist! I’ve already told you how I bought my new washing machine off of Craigslist. Today we hooked her up, and she’s more beautiful than I could have imagined. I saved $300 (and more in sales tax) by buying her second-hand, but still in the box.

Now do YOU have any money-saving home renovation tips to share?