Dollars and sense.
Posted on September 30th, 2007 – 8:47 PMBy Jason Hammond
In both my personal and professional life I am notoriously conservative when it comes to spending money. I can not tell you how many times I have picked up a pair of pants or a really cool shirt, then proceed to wander around the store while I debate with myself over whether I really need it or not. Inevitably the answer is almost always “NO” and I end up returning the item back to the rack while I reassure myself — “maybe we’ll get it when it goes on clearance.” I’m sure this fiscally conservative nature is a result of my modest, Midwestern, Scandinavian upbringing and I know for a fact that it has made spending money on our project in such volumes so uncomfortable at times.
Only making the spending harder is when it is on items that are unforeseen necessary little additions. They’re ultimately needed expenses and crucial to the completion of the project but leave you with little sense of satisfaction. You see them take their tally in the budget column and it is hard not to say “well there goes the new sofa we were looking at”. Or I would have rather spent that on some really cool tile for the bathroom or a great light fixture of the living room. Ultimately, the most disturbing part of it is the feeling of not having total control of your purse strings. “No I don’t think I want to spend any more on backfill. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend anything on it in the first place but my general contractor tells me it’s a “necessity”. Instead you find yourself trying to counter balance the little overages and off set them somewhere else on your project to keep you on budget.
I guess the lesson here is that no matter how much you believe you are in control of your project and your budget, it occasionally takes the reins and drives for awhile. The trick is having planned for some of this and determining other places where you can save to offset the added expense.
6 Responses to "Dollars and sense."
Backfill is certainly not where the sexy money is on a project. “Now just step out here on the patio and we’ll show you our backfill.” oooo! aaah!
Have a good contingency budget helps. Prayer, too. Sounds like you are doing fine.
I so understand this. This is one of the reasons the NYTimes dream house blog drives me crazy, they said they wanted to build a cottage, and they are throwing money away like it is water on a monster half-thought out giant house.
Perhaps it would help if you set aside an amount as a slush fund, knowing things were going to be eating at it from time to time. I have never heard of a house project where that didn’t happen.
Just imho, get the bathroom tile anyway, as it’s now or never. How many times do you build a house?
The light fixture stuff can wait and be upgraded later when your budget has recovered.
Jason, I’m with you on this spending or rather *not* spending money. When we built our house, we were so much over budget that we actually had to sell a lot we owned in Denmark. And because selling it took a while, we had to temporarily borrow from my parents. I had quite some sleepless nights.
Trudy is right. The light fixture or the sexy sofa can easily wait. But you’ll be unhappy if you don’t install the tile of your choice.
That has been one of the things that we have spent a lot of time doing, weighing the essential items that will cost more to do down the road and which can be done at a later date with little to no effort. I think this is where we excel when managing the budget, prioritizing.
Realistically we are still staying in our budget because we’ve found some great deals on things like lighting that have helped us to stay under our alloted amounts.However it’s frustrating when those efforts to save get lost somewhere else on something that is out of your control.
Jason
Sell a lot in Denmark? I am rending my garments…
Anyone who has built a house or done a major remodel hears you. In the end, the infrastructure is the most expensive thing to go back (if it is even possible) and do right everything else can be changed at a later date. We may not go on vacation for awhile, but the property is perfectly graded now and will drain properly when it rains.
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