Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Whole Year Inn (Actually, The Hole I'm In)

I've dug a financial hole for myself and I can't seem to stop digging. The total cost of my renovations is... drumroll please... $30,355. And this doesn't include appliances (fridge, washer and dryer) or living room furniture.

Everyone tells me, "Don't try to do everything at once." I know, I know. I hear the advice and my common sense tells me this is absolutely correct. But I've succumbed to my demons and I've resigned myself to massive consumer debt once again.

This is no excuse, but I'm almost turning 40 and I've lived like a college student for the past 22 years. I'm sick of it. I've lived in a 1 BR/1 Bath apartment forever with a daybed as a sofa. I'm not saying I deserve a richly furnished/decorated home, but I finally want to be able to put my imprint on a place I call "home."

Due to my excellent credit, I'll be able to finance most of this project on a 0% interest loan for 2 years. Only time will tell how well I pay this down.

4 comments:

Michelle said...

Wow that's a lot of money! I see what you mean though, a place that you can call home is the best.

Anonymous said...

Good luck. Hopefully you can pay everything off before the end of the two years. You've done a lot of paying off so this should seem like old hat :) I've enjoyed reading the various twists and turns of everything. Hope all is well!

spiffikins said...

This really doesn't seem like a prudent course - your blog shows that you don't have your emergency fund in place, you still owe $50k on your student loans, you are signing up for a mortgage and you still think it's a good idea to go into more debt to the tune of $35k for pretty walls and floors?

I get that you're tired of living like a college student - I was tired of having housemates and renting "a room" - but that doesn't mean I'm going to go into huge amounts of debt to make my house perfect *immediately*

If I were you, I'd be focused on building up my e-fund - especially since, as a homeowner, all the repairs and emergency issues that can come up are now your responsibility.

Anonymous said...

Don't freak out. When I bought by first apartment Isplurged on all sorts of things to the tune of $14,000 in 1996. It's thrilling having your own place and I spent hours choosing china and tables, tiles for the kitchen, and patio roses -and, i have to say, I'm not gay. I just couldn't believe how much fun it was.

You've made great progress over the last few years