#42: How We Budget Meant for Big Projects Without

As we find ourselves in the midst of our biggest and most pocket-draining project ever, on this week’s episode we are sharing our system for planning and managing our spending during any large scale upgrade or renovation (plus we divulge a few money-saving pointers along the way). We also share how some plain house updates paid off big for a friend, we learn why you should not touch someone else’s toilet paper, and we school ourselves on the correct pronunciation of “hygge.” Also, MARIGOLDS!!!

You can download this episode from iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos that we referenced. Note: If you are reading in a feed reader, you might have to click through to the post to see the player.

What is New

Let us serve up some updated shots of the beach house, mostly the 98% completed framing throughout (next up: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, insulation, and drywall! Hootie hoo!). The piece of plywood protecting the front door was taken down during our last visit, so we could get the shot above, which shows the view from the front porch.
In the shot below you can see there is plenty of new framing upstairs too (I know, I know, you cannot truly tell what is what in this photo – but once the walls go back up it’ll get truly exciting).

And you can tell how much more secure it is compared to the last photo of the upstairs we shared (below). Also: hooray for no more termite rot!

Among the things to note: we now have a hallway! This is the view of it while standing in the back/master bedroom. We modeled it after our current house’s hallway (43″ wide) so it does not feel too cramped, but does not encroach too much on all of the nearby rooms.

Speaking of the master bedroom – the tracks for the double pocket doors are officially installed over the back staircase. Picture two colorful doors with frosted glass panes on the top half of them to let light through.

Downstairs is looking mostly the same, although you can see where we are starting to mark off the island and cabinets to get a sense of where the lighting needs to go.

Lastly, If you missed ’em in last week’s show notes, that is where you can go to see before & afters of our neighbor’s home that we helped stage to sell. Sherry’s still talking about how much lively it was. And we are thrilled it sold so fast!

Updates

Here is the previous episode (#39) where we chatted about hygge and the book, The Little Book of Hygge, that sparked our interest
And here is episode (#36) where we spoke about the failed attempt to recognize marigolds as the National Flower
Lastly, if you want to practice your hygge pronunciation, below is the video we played this week:

What is Not

Here is Apartment Therapy’s “Hands Off” list: 10 Things You Should Never Touch In Somebody Else’s Home

Listener Question: Budgeting

This podcast covers how we are budgeting for this big beach house reno, and as promised here are some of our go-to general money-saving posts from over the years:
- What We Splurge On Vs. What We Save On In A Home
- 21 Ways We Cut Costs In Everyday Life
- Simplifying In General (you’d be amazed how much you save)
- 11 Ways To Save Money On Clothes
- Saving Money On Kid Clothes
- 14 Pointers For Saving On Baby Stuff
There are also dozens of other posts about ways we have saved loot in our Money Saving category.

We are Digging

Above is a shot of the new large-scale lamps that Sherry picked up for our dining room (here is the shade she picked for them).
And below is a round-up of other gloriously big lamps that she’s digging (all are at least two feet tall & many are more): 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / a / b / c

Here is more about the #TryPod Initiative from NPR and other podcasters. If you want to assist a friend try a podcast, you can even send ’em to our Getting Began With Podcasts guide.

And here is that S-Town podcast we are excited to check out this week, as well as Planet Money – the nerdy but compelling look at all things economic in the world.
Also, this is the episode about the kid who sells $20,000 worth of truffles a day… out of the trunk of his car. This one about combating burnout is fairly good, as is well as this one on the Wells Fargo scandal.

Psst- Looking for something we have dug in a past episode, but do not remember which show notes to click into? Well, here is a master list of everything we have been digging from all past episodes.