Well, not really, I still do lots of stupid things, and leave work early & watch too much tv. But, I did finally open an IRA (Roth, so I don't have to worry about weird tax laws that make my income taxable, but not eligible for any retirement savings allowances). I signed up with Sharebuilder.com, where you can buy portions of stocks, and made my investments automatic, so it will actually be a pain to cancel them & hopefully I'll just suck it up & keep making deposits. I've actually been meaning to do this since I was 23, but being a graduate student doesn't really jibe with saving money.
In house news, our place is very cold. Unless you go outside & come back in, at which point it's almost steamy. We actually got the know & tube wiring cut out of the bathroom, with the only bad consequence being that my working kitchen no longer has any power. Except for the fridge, which is on a different circuit (thankfully & surprisingly!). So we've trekked the microwave downstairs, and capped off the wiring in the bathroom, since the electrical inspector should be coming by soon to look at the panel & subpanel work that got done last month. In case anyone has forgotten, D hired some yahoo last year to redo our panel & subpanels, installing breaker boxes & upgrading our service to 200 amps. Unfortunately, the guy wasn't actually registered with the city of Pgh, and apparently didn't know the codes, or didn't care, since he never filed a permit & obviously was never going to get it inspected. So, one year later, I finally got around to calling a real electrician to fix all of his mistakes. The most ironic part was that the real electrician charged less than half what the scheister did. I don't think I'm going to let D hire people anymore - one more example of how the stereotype of women not dealing well with tradespeople/fixing stuff doesn't really apply to us.
So the project line up for this year is: 1) upstairs bathroom. I know, I know, I've said that this was going to get done for almost two years now, but house renovations apparently always take 6 times as long as you think they're going to. But, D & I have a valentine's day date planned at the tile store (in the overstock section, of course), and hopefully we'll be going to buy an obscene amount of green-board soon. The sub-floor has already been cut & fit in (though not permanently affixed), and I suppose we'll go root out a baseboard heater thingy soon. 2) Downstairs kitchen. We actually have to get a dumpster permit & rental first for this, since a huge amount of plaster & flooring needs to be removed before we can start re-assembling it. But at least it will be a lot easier to run wiring once the walls have been removed. And drywall will be a lot lighter than the current plaster/lathe that is covering everything. Plus, we'll be able to inspect the piering underneath this part of the house once the floor is up. I'm praying that there won't be some problem with that that will cost 30 bazillion dollars to fix. 3) (or maybe it's 2) - garden planning and starting seeds. I've actually already started planning the front flower garden, & we picked up a couple of hanging light housings for very cheap at the home despot. Of course, the growing lights were incredibly expensive, but we're looking forward to getting our tomato, pepper, lettuce, herbs, etc all started a little bit earlier this year. Of course, the garden tends to distract us from other household projects, but it's so relaxing to work outside that I think it's worth it. Plus I'm going to have to make more cherry/pear tomato preserves next year. Make that a lot more, that stuff is awesome with Brie :)
Love you all, hope you had a good holiday season & are keeping warm! It's horrifically cold here today, but should be 60 on Monday. I know I should be upset about the global warming induced strange winter temperatures, but I'm just glad for the heating cost reprieve.
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3 comments:
Just a suggestion, leave the lathe and plaster alone. There is nothing that matches it, it needs no vapor barrier. Snaking the Romex in is easy for a competant electrician. Make sure the guy has a license and insurance. Unauthorized electrical work voids your insurance if there is a fire. YOU MUST GET A PERMIT! The town will have an inspector inspect the work. Pull the floorboards up gently, most of them can be re-used. Old wood is usually of much higher quality than new. Judging by the age of your home, you might have chestnut. There is nothing finer and it is no longer available.
I'm so impressed by how much you and D have done on that house and how much you know about renovations and everything. Congrats on "growing up" and getting the Roth IRA - that's great! The earlier you start that, the better.
It's been really cold here, too, but we're looking forward to Monday when it'll be in the 50s. Woohoo! It's hard to believe winter just started. I'm done being cold! :-(
Is there nothing you can't do? Man, that electrical stuff is scary, I was looking into buying a place that was crazy cheap and then found out that all these additions had been done without permits, and eventually the place had to be torn down-it was like Frankenhouse, this old trailer covered by 5 additions. Your place will be beautiful when it's done, and I admire your grownupedness in all areas-you've been an adult since you were about 8 years old.
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