Do you remember the flooring dilemma I had a few months ago? I’m almost embarrassed to say that I am just now getting around to solving the problem. I installed laminate flooring into my hallway and bedroom. And I have to say, at this moment I am confident this was the best decision for us.

Not only do I have the peace of mind of having a complete, normal, beautiful floor in my bedroom, but I have the financial peace of mind knowing I didn’t spend $3737.50.  I love the look of hardwoods, but with the dogs I couldn’t justify spending that much money and watching them get scratched.  Going with laminate flooring eliminates that worry.  It’s going to take a lot (knock on wood) for them to scratch the laminate.  Also, I was able to install it myself, which saved us a ton of money.

With the current housing market the way it is, we’ve decided to love the home we’re tied to, and make improvements that fit our lifestyle.  We can afford the laminate flooring.  We actually bought it at Costco and will get 2% back on our purchase because we have an executive membership. Also, I was able to pay with cash out of our hardwood floor fund, and I’ll tell you, when I pulled out my envelope and paid cash for the flooring, it was amazing. It felt so empowering to know that I had been saving for so long to be able to do this, and I wasn’t having to charge it or use my debit card. What a natural high!

Although I was worried about the resale value of the home after installing laminate, I realized that was a silly concern, as there are more serious problems going on that are making my home value go down right now.  We love our house, and although it’s not where we’d prefer to stay for the rest of our lives, it’s where we need to be right now, and we need to make it into a home we can love.  We’ll just have to keep making frugal renovation decisions and realize that anything’s possible if we put our minds to it.  After all this is said and done, I can look back and realize that sometimes the most frugal decisions are the wisest ones when we are pushed to our limits.  I’m thankful the flooring is done in my bedroom, and now I can relax.  Or paint the living room…

Posted under DIY, Home Ownership, How To

This “fall back” daylight savings thing is kicking my butt!  It’s only 6:40 P.M. and I’m almost ready to go to bed.  Lame!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I spent mine doing home improvements but I am really glad I did, because I feel so much better about staying in this house!  Here are some posts I enjoyed this week:

Kacie @ Sense to Save is cancelling her cable. I think this is great! I would love to do this, but I’m afraid I’d miss TLC and HGTV too much! I could probably do without if I could watch the shows online.

Pinyo at Moolanomy advises people not to cash in your 401k. I personally wouldn’t do this but it’s a good reminder to those who are thinking about doing it not to!

Ashley at Wide Open Wallet talks about building a wardrobe. Sometimes I get the urge to purge my closet but then I realize that would be stupid. I think adding one piece at a time is a great way to build a wardrobe!

Mrs. Micah reminds people what we really own in stocks: shares, not dollars.

Tricia at Blogging Away Debt asks the time old question: Can money buy happiness? I don’t think it can. I think it can make you feel good for a little while though!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Posted under DIY, Round Up

Ever since we started growing our own vegetables in our garden, I’ve been addicted. I’m addicted to the taste of my fresh organic vegetables, and I’m addicted to all the money we save by not having to pay for as many vegetables.  We’ve started drinking green smoothies to help incorporate more greens into our diet, and while it costs us more to buy more produce, we spend less on other junk food and crap and I think we end up saving money.  I am bummed because our garden isn’t as fruitful as I wished, but I’m trying to come up with some remedies to that.  I’ve come up with a few ideas.

• Buy a membership to Costco.  The one thing that is holding me back is the $50 a year for a membership.  That is a lot of money!  Right now we’re using a friend’s membership when we want to go, but that gets inconvenient, especially with the amount of greens we consume. We do buy our dog food there because it is a lot cheaper and is good dog food, but my cost savings would be in the bulk vegetables.  Of course then I also wonder if we’d use them before they went bad, and also if I’d go over board and be tempted to buy other things while I was in there.  Sometimes I think if it’s a good deal I will buy way too much.  Of note: I haven’t had to buy body wash in over a year.
• Plant a fall crop. This is realistic.  I just need to figure out when to plant it.  Maybe that will be one of our weekend activities!  I want to plant lots of leafy greens like spinach, kale, and swiss chard.  I’m afraid of mustard greens because I tried those in my smoothies once and it was spicy!  Talk about gross.  This option will be the cheapest and easiest.
• Plant a hydroponic garden.  This is something I’d really like to do in the winter.  I’m also going to research planting some greens down in our basement.  My only worry is that we’d have to buy expensive lighting and that would stink.  Of course, it may be worth it. 

What do you think we should do?  Is there anything that I’ve missed?

Posted under DIY, Food