I cannot get ahead of my house issues

amother

OP ↓

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 11:20 am

We bought a house when we were desperate to move out of our apartment. We could not afford to renovate but we were able to afford the house- huge brocha. We work very hard to save money each month to put into the house but it's never ending and then there's repairs and other things that need to be fixed or dealt with and I feel like I cannot ever get ahead. Everytime we save enough money to fix up something in our house, some kind of emergency repair or issue comes up and we need to use it for that.
It really makes me so depressed.
My DH refuses to take out loans and we have no one to borrow from anyway. It just feels like our house is sucking up all our savings and my list of things that need doing in the house is just getting longer and longer.
Any chizzuk?

amother

Papayawhip

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 11:31 am

amother OP wrote:

I hear you. Kind of in the same boat.
Bought a very cheap rundown house during covid with the hopes of fixing it up one day.
Got plans and estimates and everything is out of reach. We have been carefully saving for years but expenses mount as the kids get bigger. Trying to figure out what I can do so I'm not miserable looking at this space every day.

Trying to be positive. If Hashem wants me to do the work he will send us the money.

Busybee5 ↓

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 11:34 am

It's really hard not to love the place that you live in. Can you do any of it yourselves? I know paint and the rollers etc also cost a lot but way less than paying someone to do it for you.
If your dh is handy you be can maybe change the floors and light fittings? Hope you manage to make something of it soon so you can enjoy your house, your home! Hatzlocho.

amother

↑ OP

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 11:41 am

My DH is handy and he has done a lot of the minor things, it's the bigger things that we are just not ever getting to. Flooring, the yard, the basement, the lighting, the bathrooms, the stairs, there are rooms with weird built in things that we need to redo the flooring and walls and ceiling with that, I mean the list goes on and on.

↑ Busybee5

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 11:44 am

amother OP wrote:

Yes I understand what you mean. It's best to do that in one go. Not easy to come up with all the money though Sad

amother

Brickred

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 11:55 am

5 years ago we bought a house at the edge of our budget. I couldn't find a contractor that we could afford to do even the minor things needed to move in.

My high school aged brother convinced us that we could build a wall. (One of the first things that needed to be done) We watched a lot of youtube videos, built the wall and never stopped.

We have now redone a good portion of our house by ourselves. We've ripped down closets and non-load bearing walls, built new walls and closets, created new doorways and hung the doors, hung sheetrock, spackled. Painted, tiles, redid the entire kitchen with RTA cabinets (we hired out the electric, plumbing and counter tops) and more.

We bought tools as we needed them for each project. A miter saw, table saw and assorted other things. My garage looks like a carpentry shop.

We did not know how to do any of this before. I used to get nervous when my husband used a razor to cut the tape on grocery boxes. But we didn't have a choice (our kitchen was 50 years old, falling apart and trief) so we started with smaller projects and learned as we went.