Spinoff: How do you live below your means?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone with young children get babysitters to go out to date night and such, or do you feel it’s an unnecessary expense?

Unnecessary expense. We just stay home, have a glass of wine and watch a movie on Netflix after the kids go to bed!

I don’t consider it an unnecessary expense however it is avoidable. Swap with another family or plan play dates and go then. Hi

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our #1 is never paying someone to do work for us. Mow your own lawn, lay your own wood floors, paint the walls yourself, put your own brakes on (dh learned through YouTube), install your own light fixtures, clean your own house. We have a well maintained, beautiful house with new kitchens and baths we did ourselves. We only hired out what was mandatory under code (like gas lines). We've saved tens of thousands.

This is assuming you want to sacrifice family time for these things. We are firmly in the camp of not worth it. Plus i don't want to have a bunch of tools around the house. We just had our HW floors refinished and it took 3 guys 5 full work days to do our floors. That's 120 man hours. That would take us months to complete.

Then you must have a huge house. We diy'ed ours and it was not a big deal. The prep work was the worst. We have tons of tools but a floor sander is something you generally rent. We get the kids involved so it is family time. We don't work on our cars but do our house. That's not really living below your means. Living below your means is spending less and saving.

Not interested in exposing my kids to those fumes. The people who did our floors wore respirators and it was strongly suggested that we stay somewhere else for the week. They were correct. Polyurethane is not healthy to be breathing in without the proper equipment.

Just look at the back of the can of those chemicals. Nope.

Not to mention, I recently bought a home and the DIY projects were so obvious. So many hack jobs out there. The DIYers just do not have the expertise to make the job look finished. If it works for you great, but I don't want my house to look like a kids art project.

This is so unnecessarily negative and mean. So what if you don't do the job perfectly? Sometimes learning, saving money, and the satisfaction of doing something for yourself makes up for it. You call DIY a "kids art project" when you just admitted that you bought a house with DIY projects! Does your house look like a "kids art project?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone with young children get babysitters to go out to date night and such, or do you feel it’s an unnecessary expense?

Unnecessary expense. We just stay home, have a glass of wine and watch a movie on Netflix after the kids go to bed!

I don’t consider it an unnecessary expense however it is avoidable. Swap with another family or plan play dates and go then. Hi

Kinda crazy, but my frugal husband NEEDS a babysitter every weekend. I was really surprised at his willingness to pay for one every week. We typically go out for 3-3.5 hours and we go out dancing so it's $40 ($12 an hour) every Friday or Saturday night. We aren't willing to pay just to go to a movie or to eat dinner though. He also travels a lot and I get one to attend book club or my monthly happy hour with friends. It's a pretty huge quality of life increase getting to leave the house and not just sitting at home feeling sorry for myself that my DH travels so much and I have no friends. Oh and my toddler and infant haven't ever met our babysitter! They go to sleep before I leave. So it's not like my kids are missing out on parent time.

[Anonymous]

We took our HCOL salary (~750k) and moved to a LCOL area. The money goes much farther here. We bought a beautiful house with cash, have no debt, and are still able to spend ~ 50k a year on travel while saving enough to pay for college and retirement, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our #1 is never paying someone to do work for us. Mow your own lawn, lay your own wood floors, paint the walls yourself, put your own brakes on (dh learned through YouTube), install your own light fixtures, clean your own house. We have a well maintained, beautiful house with new kitchens and baths we did ourselves. We only hired out what was mandatory under code (like gas lines). We've saved tens of thousands.

This is assuming you want to sacrifice family time for these things. We are firmly in the camp of not worth it. Plus i don't want to have a bunch of tools around the house. We just had our HW floors refinished and it took 3 guys 5 full work days to do our floors. That's 120 man hours. That would take us months to complete.

Then you must have a huge house. We diy'ed ours and it was not a big deal. The prep work was the worst. We have tons of tools but a floor sander is something you generally rent. We get the kids involved so it is family time. We don't work on our cars but do our house. That's not really living below your means. Living below your means is spending less and saving.

Not interested in exposing my kids to those fumes. The people who did our floors wore respirators and it was strongly suggested that we stay somewhere else for the week. They were correct. Polyurethane is not healthy to be breathing in without the proper equipment.

Just look at the back of the can of those chemicals. Nope.

Not to mention, I recently bought a home and the DIY projects were so obvious. So many hack jobs out there. The DIYers just do not have the expertise to make the job look finished. If it works for you great, but I don't want my house to look like a kids art project.

This is so unnecessarily negative and mean. So what if you don't do the job perfectly? Sometimes learning, saving money, and the satisfaction of doing something for yourself makes up for it. You call DIY a "kids art project" when you just admitted that you bought a house with DIY projects! Does your house look like a "kids art project?"

i did not buy a house with DIY projects. They were obvious when were were looking. It is GREAT that you like the satisfaction of doing them and learning, but not everyone wants to live in that kind of house, nor does everyone want the property value hit when they go to sell. Bottom line everyone knows it is a DIY project and that is fine for you, just not for everyone. This is not mean, this is the trade off of not getting your work done professionally. Same reason I do not sew my own clothes, they would look terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone with young children get babysitters to go out to date night and such, or do you feel it’s an unnecessary expense?

Unnecessary expense. We just stay home, have a glass of wine and watch a movie on Netflix after the kids go to bed!

I don’t consider it an unnecessary expense however it is avoidable. Swap with another family or plan play dates and go then. Hi

Kinda crazy, but my frugal husband NEEDS a babysitter every weekend. I was really surprised at his willingness to pay for one every week. We typically go out for 3-3.5 hours and we go out dancing so it's $40 ($12 an hour) every Friday or Saturday night. We aren't willing to pay just to go to a movie or to eat dinner though. He also travels a lot and I get one to attend book club or my monthly happy hour with friends. It's a pretty huge quality of life increase getting to leave the house and not just sitting at home feeling sorry for myself that my DH travels so much and I have no friends. Oh and my toddler and infant haven't ever met our babysitter! They go to sleep before I leave. So it's not like my kids are missing out on parent time.

Wow, that’s a cheap babysitter. Is it a teenager or are you not living the the dc area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone with young children get babysitters to go out to date night and such, or do you feel it’s an unnecessary expense?

Unnecessary expense. We just stay home, have a glass of wine and watch a movie on Netflix after the kids go to bed!

I don’t consider it an unnecessary expense however it is avoidable. Swap with another family or plan play dates and go then. Hi

Kinda crazy, but my frugal husband NEEDS a babysitter every weekend. I was really surprised at his willingness to pay for one every week. We typically go out for 3-3.5 hours and we go out dancing so it's $40 ($12 an hour) every Friday or Saturday night. We aren't willing to pay just to go to a movie or to eat dinner though. He also travels a lot and I get one to attend book club or my monthly happy hour with friends. It's a pretty huge quality of life increase getting to leave the house and not just sitting at home feeling sorry for myself that my DH travels so much and I have no friends. Oh and my toddler and infant haven't ever met our babysitter! They go to sleep before I leave. So it's not like my kids are missing out on parent time.

Wow, that’s a cheap babysitter. Is it a teenager or are you not living the the dc area?

My babysitter is also $12/hr. We use teenagers. I see no reason to use expensive nanny type sitters for a friday night when the kids are mostly watching a movie and going to bed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our #1 is never paying someone to do work for us. Mow your own lawn, lay your own wood floors, paint the walls yourself, put your own brakes on (dh learned through YouTube), install your own light fixtures, clean your own house. We have a well maintained, beautiful house with new kitchens and baths we did ourselves. We only hired out what was mandatory under code (like gas lines). We've saved tens of thousands.

This is assuming you want to sacrifice family time for these things. We are firmly in the camp of not worth it. Plus i don't want to have a bunch of tools around the house. We just had our HW floors refinished and it took 3 guys 5 full work days to do our floors. That's 120 man hours. That would take us months to complete.

Then you must have a huge house. We diy'ed ours and it was not a big deal. The prep work was the worst. We have tons of tools but a floor sander is something you generally rent. We get the kids involved so it is family time. We don't work on our cars but do our house. That's not really living below your means. Living below your means is spending less and saving.

Not interested in exposing my kids to those fumes. The people who did our floors wore respirators and it was strongly suggested that we stay somewhere else for the week. They were correct. Polyurethane is not healthy to be breathing in without the proper equipment.

Just look at the back of the can of those chemicals. Nope.

Not to mention, I recently bought a home and the DIY projects were so obvious. So many hack jobs out there. The DIYers just do not have the expertise to make the job look finished. If it works for you great, but I don't want my house to look like a kids art project.

First pp here (the others weren't me)- like I said, ours does not look DIY. We are extremely meticulous and it looks better than friends who have hired out jobs. We're really good at what we do and DH and I encourage each other. My paint jobs are perfect and DH has gotten REALLY good at cabinet building (not exactly a cheap way to live below your means, but he's really interested in carpentry as a hobby). We have not refinished our floors, we just laid new. We do own respirators and use them for cutting wood (a cause of cancer), painting, spray painting and many other things. You act like respirators are expensive, but they aren't. Also, my house is up to code and we do get permits/inspections.

Youtube is great for learning how to do anything! 90% of the contractors you hire learned on the job and didn't get any special training. The exceptions are the ones who went to trade school like electricians and plumbers obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone with young children get babysitters to go out to date night and such, or do you feel it’s an unnecessary expense?

Unnecessary expense. We just stay home, have a glass of wine and watch a movie on Netflix after the kids go to bed!

I don’t consider it an unnecessary expense however it is avoidable. Swap with another family or plan play dates and go then. Hi

Kinda crazy, but my frugal husband NEEDS a babysitter every weekend. I was really surprised at his willingness to pay for one every week. We typically go out for 3-3.5 hours and we go out dancing so it's $40 ($12 an hour) every Friday or Saturday night. We aren't willing to pay just to go to a movie or to eat dinner though. He also travels a lot and I get one to attend book club or my monthly happy hour with friends. It's a pretty huge quality of life increase getting to leave the house and not just sitting at home feeling sorry for myself that my DH travels so much and I have no friends. Oh and my toddler and infant haven't ever met our babysitter! They go to sleep before I leave. So it's not like my kids are missing out on parent time.

Wow, that’s a cheap babysitter. Is it a teenager or are you not living the the dc area?

Yes of course it's a teenager to watch sleeping children. She feels like she's well paid too. She watches 2 movies or does her homework and gets almost double minimum wage, with no taxes taken out.

[Anonymous]

My car is really old (14), and I don't care. I literally drive it less than 10 miles a day, and I park in lots and garages where it can get door-dinged, so I am happier with an older car.

I don't overheat or overcool my house, which helps keep the utility bills manageable. I'm more likely to pull out a box fan or a space heater than turn the thermostat down or up. We also take short showers and I'm efficient in my dishwasher and washer use.

Once my house was furnished, I don't really change things out, though I do continue to buy more art. (I like local artists and photographers.) I get a new sofa only when we need a new sofa, not when I'm bored of the old one.

I do most things around the house myself - painting, lawn and garden care, most minor repairs. (plumbing, electrical.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our #1 is never paying someone to do work for us. Mow your own lawn, lay your own wood floors, paint the walls yourself, put your own brakes on (dh learned through YouTube), install your own light fixtures, clean your own house. We have a well maintained, beautiful house with new kitchens and baths we did ourselves. We only hired out what was mandatory under code (like gas lines). We've saved tens of thousands.

This is assuming you want to sacrifice family time for these things. We are firmly in the camp of not worth it. Plus i don't want to have a bunch of tools around the house. We just had our HW floors refinished and it took 3 guys 5 full work days to do our floors. That's 120 man hours. That would take us months to complete.

Then you must have a huge house. We diy'ed ours and it was not a big deal. The prep work was the worst. We have tons of tools but a floor sander is something you generally rent. We get the kids involved so it is family time. We don't work on our cars but do our house. That's not really living below your means. Living below your means is spending less and saving.

Not interested in exposing my kids to those fumes. The people who did our floors wore respirators and it was strongly suggested that we stay somewhere else for the week. They were correct. Polyurethane is not healthy to be breathing in without the proper equipment.

Just look at the back of the can of those chemicals. Nope.

Its easy to DIY refinish hardwood floors. Common sense is not to use strong chemicals. They are still in your house for months so don't kid yourself to think you aren't breathing them. You should have used a tung or other natural oil finish if you were so concerned about smells.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our #1 is never paying someone to do work for us. Mow your own lawn, lay your own wood floors, paint the walls yourself, put your own brakes on (dh learned through YouTube), install your own light fixtures, clean your own house. We have a well maintained, beautiful house with new kitchens and baths we did ourselves. We only hired out what was mandatory under code (like gas lines). We've saved tens of thousands.

This is assuming you want to sacrifice family time for these things. We are firmly in the camp of not worth it. Plus i don't want to have a bunch of tools around the house. We just had our HW floors refinished and it took 3 guys 5 full work days to do our floors. That's 120 man hours. That would take us months to complete.

Then you must have a huge house. We diy'ed ours and it was not a big deal. The prep work was the worst. We have tons of tools but a floor sander is something you generally rent. We get the kids involved so it is family time. We don't work on our cars but do our house. That's not really living below your means. Living below your means is spending less and saving.

Not interested in exposing my kids to those fumes. The people who did our floors wore respirators and it was strongly suggested that we stay somewhere else for the week. They were correct. Polyurethane is not healthy to be breathing in without the proper equipment.

Just look at the back of the can of those chemicals. Nope.

Not to mention, I recently bought a home and the DIY projects were so obvious. So many hack jobs out there. The DIYers just do not have the expertise to make the job look finished. If it works for you great, but I don't want my house to look like a kids art project.

First pp here (the others weren't me)- like I said, ours does not look DIY. We are extremely meticulous and it looks better than friends who have hired out jobs. We're really good at what we do and DH and I encourage each other. My paint jobs are perfect and DH has gotten REALLY good at cabinet building (not exactly a cheap way to live below your means, but he's really interested in carpentry as a hobby). We have not refinished our floors, we just laid new. We do own respirators and use them for cutting wood (a cause of cancer), painting, spray painting and many other things. You act like respirators are expensive, but they aren't. Also, my house is up to code and we do get permits/inspections.

Youtube is great for learning how to do anything! 90% of the contractors you hire learned on the job and didn't get any special training. The exceptions are the ones who went to trade school like electricians and plumbers obviously.

Sounds like me and my husband. We laid a new hardwood floor in our TV room and it is much better work than friends of ours who had theirs professionally installed. You would never call it an art project, by any stretch of the imagination.

I have done the majority of painting in our house and am really good at it. Looks awesome.

We are very meticulous, though, and take time to do things right. If PP can't do that, fine, but not all DIY projects look like crap.

[Anonymous]

Can all you angry DIYers keep to the original topic of this thread? I’m sure all your projects look wonderful. Now let’s move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone with young children get babysitters to go out to date night and such, or do you feel it’s an unnecessary expense?

We do date night once every few months - but we're fortunate enough that our parents are nearby and able to come and babysit. If we had an added sitter cost on top of the cost of dining out (which we almost never do), we probably wouldn't do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can all you angry DIYers keep to the original topic of this thread? I’m sure all your projects look wonderful. Now let’s move on.

*slow clap*