The other day I was talking with a friend about how we pay so much each month for our mortgage payment, yet maybe 10% goes towards principal.  It’s frustrating, and often makes me dream of selling my house and being mortgage free.  Of course, then we’d have to pay rent and who knows if that would be better for us.  I told her how I had been paying extra on the principal to reduce the amount of interest we end up paying and to shorten the length of our mortgage.  She had some objections, and I listened to her while taking mental notes.  Here’s what she thought about us paying extra on the mortgage: -Because we don’t plan on staying in this house forever, she thought it would be in our best interests to stop paying extra on the mortgage and to start putting that money elsewhere.  Maybe a Roth IRA, investments, etc.  Over the long term, she thought it would be better if we invested the money over it being tied up in (maybe) equity in the house. -There’s [...]

It seems as though the home improvement list is never ending. I thought I would share the list of projects I want to partake here, as well as details on the projects themselves as I attempt to DIY a lot of them. Anything over my head will definitely be a professional’s job. Part of me is so tired of working on this house and wants to sell it and move, and another part of me wants to stay here forever and revel in the fact that I made my house my home. Here are the things I’d like to accomplish soon: -Make a chicken coop. I’m thinking of something like a chicken tractor that I can move, but that sounds a little complex for me! -Paint the guest bedroom. A few years ago we painted it a nice, gender neutral light green. I hate the color, and have found which color I really want to paint it (Olympic Bamboo) -Build a clothesline. I already have the plans, I just have to get the supplies, time, and energy to do it! [...]

I’m all for doing home improvements to help save money.  In our house, I have painted pretty much every surface in our house, replaced flooring, installed baseboards and quarter rounds, and even tiled one of our bathrooms.  I’ve become pretty good at home improvement (but definitely have made mistakes) and I’m proud of what I’ve learned and accomplished.  I think it’s funny because at our house the roles are pretty much reversed.  Mr. Money does the cooking, and I do home improvements.  I do a lot of the other domestic duties, but that’s because I enjoy doing them.  He is good at cooking and I’m good at everything else. Just kidding. There are some projects that have been over my head, and I’ve turned to Mr. Money because they are “man jobs”: electrical, plumbing, etc.  I know that if I put my mind to it, I could probably do it, but I’d rather not electrocute myself, thanks.  I have to give Mr. Money credit, though.  He will attempt almost any project I ask him to do. About a year or [...]