Projects You Want Done Before TTC

StarbucksShip

Hello! I've been looking over some threads and it looks like there's a lot of reasons why some of us are waiting. Some are straight-forward like better benefits or savings. But, how many of us have something costly/time-consuming/dangerous that they want to complete first?

For my husband and I we're looking into demolishing our basement's "finishing" and taking apart the kitchen. Mainly because the previous owners didn't do a very good job with either area. However, there's a good chance there's lead in the paint, and the slipshod job has us nervous about dust and exposure. So we'll be working with pros to get it removed and then he and I will be putting up drywall and installing flooring. If we can rough those out we'll feel a lot better about TTC!

If any of you have something you're working on, I'd love to hear about it!

kuriboshoe

Finishing grad school! I was hoping to finish this December, but with some other life issues coming up, it's going to be pushed out to May. We MIGHT start TTC before I'm done, but probably not until my final semester.

FiancB

Waiting to TTC so that we can time it so that I have the baby over the summer after I'm done with my associate's in nursing. I'll most likely continue going at least part time to get my bachelor's, but at least I'll have the RN license out of the way before baby gets here. 

MWoodside

We wanted to gut/redo our kitchen prior to ttc #3. We finished in December. It was a bye undertaking, we went all the way down to the studs and subfloor.

We gutted and redid our only bathroom when I was pg prior and it was awful to be doing that during a pg- extremely stressful.

Now we are just doing little upkeep things and will reconvene on the ttc discussions in the fall after a huge cross-country road trip we have planned.

lifeonthehill

We want to re- do the floors in the bathroom and kitchen which we will be doing over the summer while we are TTC.

We also wanted me to complete all of the college courses I would need to be in the classroom for so while being a SAHM I could wrap up my degree online.

als1982

For us, it's a mix of financial, travel and home improvement:

1.  Have student loans paid off and $100,000 in retirement savings.  This goal is for before baby arrives, not TTC.

2.  One last "big" trip.  We're headed to London, Paris and Norway in NINE days!  We'll start TTC during this trip.

3.  Gut and remodel our only bathroom.  This is another goal to have done before baby arrives, not TTC.  We're meeting with a design and construction company on Monday!

It's crazy how close it all is!  Good luck everyone with your goals!!

xxkberxx

I'm similar to the PP in that it's a mix if personal, financial and education.

1. Finish my masters degree (graduate mid July 2015!) and ideally pass an exam to become certified (December 2015).

2. Ideally pay off all student loan debt. However, half would be a good start.

3. Buy a nice starter/family home.

4. Take one last big European trip.

5. Exercise regularly and eating extremely healthy.

Some of these are lofty goals but hopefully they can be achieved before TTC or a BFP.

juliebeannn

1. Kitchen renovation (June 2015) - This is going to be a monster reno - we're tearing down two walls and gutting everything to the sub-floor and studs. All the final details are coming together now and I'm sooooooo excited! 

2. Bathroom renovation (August 2015) - We were going to wait to do this reno until next year, but since we want start TTC in August/September, we're going to tack this on to the end of our kitchen reno.  I can barely stand our awful maroon/pink 50's bathroom, I can't imagine bathing my child in there.  It's our only bathroom in the house, so it should be interesting.

3. Powerlifting competition/meet (August 2015) - I've been wanting to do a powerlifting meet for a while and finally ripped off the bandaid and signed up for one this summer.  Something tells me that squatting/benching/deadlifting as heavy as possible isn't the best plan while preggo , so the countdown to this meet will also be the countdown to TTC. 

StarbucksShip

Holy cow! These are all interesting but I almost spat my hot tea when I read about the powerlifting competition! When I was in high school a lot of my classmates in weight training class were obsessed with it, but I was always too scared to try. I'm wishing you a ton of luck @juliebeannn. Hopefully you'll enjoy your first meet and be able to continue post-baby.

Also, I think it's awesome that @als1982 is considering retirement as well. We have a goal in regards to fluid assets and TTC, but retirement is something I have to nag my husband about.

A general follow-up question since there's a pretty diverse set of goals: Do you find it easy to focus on the goals or do you sometimes want to throw caution into the wind when TTC? I imagine for school and finances it's hard to feel reckless. Some days I can distract myself fairly easily, other days I'm a day-dreaming fool.

lifeonthehill

purrbucket said:

Do you find it easy to focus on the goals or do you sometimes want to throw caution into the wind when TTC? I imagine for school and finances it's hard to feel reckless. Some days I can distract myself fairly easily, other days I'm a day-dreaming fool.

H has done a great job at keeping me focused. I have been a day dreaming fool for years now. But honestly TTC before now would have been a mistake. Despite having babies on the brain I have been rational enough to know that.

juliebeannn

purrbucket thanks! when/if I get pregnant, I totally plan on continuing to lift.  I'll definitely keep the weight low and seek guidance from my powerlifting coach -- she's been doing this for 15+ years and has had 2 kids during her career.  I'm glad I'll have the guidance from someone's who's been through it before.  Ideally, I'll jump back on the lifting game after baby and continue to compete.

purrbucket said:

A general follow-up question since there's a pretty diverse set of goals: Do you find it easy to focus on the goals or do you sometimes want to throw caution into the wind when TTC? I imagine for school and finances it's hard to feel reckless. Some days I can distract myself fairly easily, other days I'm a day-dreaming fool.

Depends on the day, some days I'm up to my eyeballs with work, training and renovation details that I don't have the mental capacity to even think about TTC.  On other day...my lazy couch days, I have a bit more time to obsess about wanting a baby -- ironically, once a baby arrives, I'm sure those lazy couch days will no longer exist, so maybe I should just sit back and enjoy those while I still have them. Haha.

bmo88

We don't have any "projects" per say, unless you considering our financial goal as "project debt elimination." Our goal is to pay off all debt, except our primary mortgage by December 2017. It's about $54,000 for both of our student loans, car loan, and our second mortgage. We have paid off about $15,000 so far and just increased the payments. As soon as it is gone, we will start TTCing!

als1982

purrbucket said:

Holy cow! These are all interesting but I almost spat my hot tea when I read about the powerlifting competition! When I was in high school a lot of my classmates in weight training class were obsessed with it, but I was always too scared to try. I'm wishing you a ton of luck @juliebeannn. Hopefully you'll enjoy your first meet and be able to continue post-baby.

Also, I think it's awesome that @als1982 is considering retirement as well. We have a goal in regards to fluid assets and TTC, but retirement is something I have to nag my husband about.

A general follow-up question since there's a pretty diverse set of goals: Do you find it easy to focus on the goals or do you sometimes want to throw caution into the wind when TTC? I imagine for school and finances it's hard to feel reckless. Some days I can distract myself fairly easily, other days I'm a day-dreaming fool.

Thanks!  We've just implemented a "set it and forget it approach," so we never even see the money.  Every month like clockwork, $917 goes straight into our ROTHs, on top of 8% of my income (plus a 3% match) and 3% of my husband's salary (plus another 3% match).  It's harder to un-do or skip a payment when it's all automatic!!

kirkie928

bmo88 I had almost $40,000 when I graduated in 2011 and we just paid it off Monday!!! It gets a little overwhelming at times, but just keep at it. We followed Dave Ramsay's advice on paying off the smallest first with "gazelle intensity". Going through his course really helped DH and I not only with our finances, but also with our overall communication.

FiancB

Ooh, gotta sell my horse too. That's kind of our big thing that needs done before TTC to make/free up some money.