Just for fun - What house splurges do you have?
jlw2505
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Just for fun - what do you consider "House Splurges" that you have now that you might not have paid for when you were younger?
For DH and I, we have paid for a lawn service since DD#1 was born. At the time it was simple because DH didn't want to spend a few hours each weekend dealing with the lawn when he could be playing with DD and we love it so we have kept it.
This winter for the 1st time, we hired our lawn service for the winter to remove the snow (they also do this as part of the business and we live in MN). DH has a really bad knee so its hard for him to do this and rather than replace our very old snow blower that is way to big for me to use, we are having someone else just do it for us.
We have had a house cleaning off and on (off right now) and next year, once DD#2 starts daycare and my monthly expenses go down, I plan to hire one again.
I would just rather spend my free time with the family than cleaning and doing house chores. My kids are only going to be young once (they are 4 1/2 and 6 years now).
We could really use an update to our kitchen and all 3 bath's but we chose to build a new deck this summer so that is it for the big house projects for a while.
Growing up, my mom (single parent) hired someone to do the lawn once our mower broke - I have never moved the lawn and plan to never do it. I don't know that my mom ever did it as my dad did it before he left and then my brother did it.
I did grow up having to shovel (no snow blower) a very, very long driveway (I think it could fit 10 cars or something crazy like that from street to garage at the back of our property and near the garage, it was 3 wide but only 1 wide for most of it.)
Re: Just for fun - What house splurges do you have?
DH just built a new shed and is going to start on finishing our basement. Those are rather big IMO.
We are talking about getting a cleaning service to come every other week. We need to look into the cost.
We used to have a lawn service that would mow and do fall and spring clean-up.
If DH is going to be gone at all this winter I want to hire someone to do snow removal. Our friend that normally plows for us is in Afghanistan and won't be home for months (just got there). If DH isn't home I can't leave LO alone in the house and it would take forever to shovel (I'm afraid of the snowblower) with him outside.
Cleaning lady.
We really should have canceled when I lost my job, but I honestly can't handle cleaning the house by myself (or even with DH's help) because it is a good size and my parents' suite needs a lot of work.
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Before DH lost his job, we had a lawn spraying service for our yard and MIL's. DH tends to break out from something in the yard, so this controlled it. Since then, he's had to suck it up, and takes a shower immediately after mowing the yard. We did renovate the kitchen using a contractor 3 years ago, and hired the same guy to tile our bathroom last year.
Would love a cleaning service.
We have a cleaning woman and a nanny. My friend jokes that I have "staff."
I went a bit nuts turning DH's man cave into a nursery. We did a complete renovation--flooring, painting, crown moulding. I spent way too much on furniture, art,etc. but I was so crazy excited to finally be having a baby!
My in house cleaning crew switched specialties to demolitions. Seriously, the only splurge I have is my Keurig. Dh has three jobs so I do all that crap myself. maybe when I win the lottery!
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Like pp, we rent our house so no big splurges, although when I think about possibly buying this house I get so excited about the renovations we would do. lol My 18yo self just had a good cry that this is what excites me now. lol
This exact thought is what prompted me to post this. I have been laughing at myself for a while at the thought that I am so excited about hiring a snow removal service and how excited I get over home improvement projects (that I hire out - I am so not a do it yourself girl). How we change with age!!!!
My husband would call himself frugal.... I say cheap.
Just this summer I finally badgered him into getting a barely used electric lawnmower at a yard sale. Otherwise, we have a fairly dull rotary mower.. those old school push mowers. I won't touch the bloody thing anymore.. kills my back. Granted, we have a tiny yard, but still! I don't have the time to mow with a very active child who needs a constant eye.
Next step.. snowblower!! I am usually the one to shovel and again, my back hates it! Fortunately we have a retired neighbor who usually does all the sidewalks... I just have to do the driveway.
Other than that, we do have a 2x per year tree service to help keep our crappy maples alive.
We have a cleaning lady who comes every other week, which is fantastic.
We also just bought our first "real" house last year (we had a condo before, followed by a few rental houses) and our big splurge this year is going to be air conditioning! I am so excited. It is a splurge out here because it really only gets hot for a short time each year, but I HATE being in the house when it's like an oven, especially at night. I have been telling DH for years that when we finally have our own place I was going to get A/C, and now we're going to do it! (Most houses, and even apartments, do not have it here. I grew up in the South and this is insane to me).
Gardener every other week
Pool maintenance once a month.
Doggie daycare twice a week
Oh and we are in the middle of building a new house so that's a pretty big splurge! We are keeping our current house and will rent that out once we move into our big new house.
And yeah, 18 yo me would cringe.
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We just renovated our master bathroom. We put in new tile on the floor, shower, and granite counterops for the sinks. It looks really nice.
We added new tile backsplash to our kitchen.
We have a lawn service.