Kitchen Revamp Challenge: Part II

Everything and the Kitchen Sink: Remodel Your Kitchen without Losing Your Mind

Hello All!

So Dave and I popped out to a tile showroom today on our lunch break to have a look around. Our idea for the backsplash is to use subway tile (roughly 35 to 40 cents per tile) - great, clean look for a very low cost - and to accent it with a more expensive tile. This is a great way to add a lot of beauty to a space without spending a huge amount of money. We had spotted some tile at Lowes that we really liked for the accent. It was $22.22 per square foot (these small fancy tiles are sold in square foot sheets). They also have a 20% off sale right now (until the end of April), but there was no signage to that effect; we only found out because we spoke to the guy who works there. Since we'd only need two sheets to do our basic accent (one row of the accent tiles across the backsplash), this would have cost us around $40. Great price!

We decided to wait and check out another tile place first. This store is one that specializes in tile and only tile. The showroom was stunning and they had some amazing tiles. The prices here are generally high because they deal in high quality tile. Dave and I, however, were going with a purpose. When these stores discount their tile, it can be a great place to find amazing deals. After a stroll around to look at the regularly priced stuff :) we moved on to the clearance section and found a beautiful green glass tile that is just perfect for our backsplash. It was regularly just over $17/sq ft, and was marked down to $8.60/sq ft. We did a quick calculation of our needs and decided to purchase 5 sheets. This brought our grand total to $48 and some change - more than what we would have paid at Lowes - but we got a tile we really love, and we are now able to do a 3-inch row of tile across the wall, instead of 1-inch, and we are going to try a vertical design behind the stove, which looks stunning in Sketch Up! (I really can't wait to take some pictures and post them here...We'll be sure to take befores and afters.)

So here's the running budget so far;

Supplies                                  Budget                          Actual
Paint                                        $60                                $16.98
36 Hinges                                $150
Countertop                              $220 (Ikea)                  
Backsplash                              $347                               $43
Countertop lighting                   $60 
Miscellaneous                          $50

Subtotal                                  $887                               $59.98
Taxes                                     $133.05                           $7.80

Total                                      $1,020.05                        $67.78

Not bad so far! Looking forward to continuing this challenge. I'm going away for a few days this week and Dave will have his exams early next week, so we'll pick this up again then...and actually get started on painting those cupboards!!

'Til then, party people:)

-Erin and Dave


The Black & Decker Complete Guide to Kitchens: *Do-it-yourself and Save *Third Edition *Design & Planning *Quick Updates *Custom Cabinetry *Remodeling Projects on a Budget

Kitchen Revamp Challenge: Part I

Been a while! This has been a crazy month for Dave and I. He's trying to get everything wrapped up for school and I'm working on a few new projects for work...all the while managing the kids and trying to live within our newly formed budget. (That's going pretty well...but more on that at the end of the month...)

Recently, we decided that the kitchen in this house needs a lot of work. Okay...it wasn't so much a decision as an acknowledgment. I've been dying to replace my kitchen cupboards and countertop for many years now. Dave suggested that we could just paint the cupboards and replace the countertop and maybe do a backsplash and that would give it a whole new look and feel. I hemmed and hawed for a few minutes because I detest the cupboards, but then I saw his point and also accepted the fact that I want it done and don't have the finances to afford a full kitchen reno. (I have long ago accepted the fact that I won't be applying for any more credit, so anything I do or buy has to be with cash.)

So we started pricing stuff out and came up with a budget that was roughly $1,000 (see the table below). We think this is a reasonable estimate for what we want to do. But then the spark of genius; let's see just how far under budget we can do this for! That's the challenge: we will paint the cupboards, replace the hinges (the knobs are newer and very nice, so we will reuse those), replace the countertop and get some new countertop lighting, and do a backsplash for as inexpensively as possible against our original estimated budget of $1,000. The table below shows our budget and I will keep reposting it as we purchase the different parts required with the actual costs filled in.

We achieved our first big savings this past week when we took an impromptu trip to Lowes, just to look around, and found gallons of paint on sale. We purchased 2 gallons of paint, regularly priced at just over $33 each for $8.49 each. (As a side note, we also found a small can of white touch up paint that we needed for the ceiling on sale for $3.49.) This brought our budget for paint down from $60 to just under $20 (see table below)!

Another idea we had was to have some paint that I have in my garage re-tinted. Some places will do this for you for free or a nominal charge. That is another great way to save money and also spare the environmental costs of disposing of unused paint. We will still do that for another project, if at all possible.

Supplies                                  Budget                          Actual
Paint                                        $60                                $16.98
36 Hinges                                $150
Countertop                              $220 (Ikea)                  
Backsplash                              $347
Countertop lighting                   $60 
Miscellaneous                          $50

Subtotal                                  $887                               $16.98
Taxes                                     $133.05                           $2.21

Total                                      $1,020.05                        $19.19

We'll keep you posted as to how this is going as it develops! If you have any time/space/money saving ideas for a kitchen project, let us know!!

'Til next time!


-Erin and Dave

Bring it on, Debt-Load!! You're goin' DOWN!

So, task #1 is to get a handle on the debt we have. It's not that bad, really. I've seen scarier numbers than $30K in debt. It's actually a bit higher than that when you take into consideration some personal loans we've both had (thanks to amazing family who are nothing but supportive:)). We want to take care of those debts as well, but as any of our family would tell us, taking care of the ones that are charging interest is the priority right now!

So here's the plan, I have a house that I have to remortgage anyway to take my ex off the title (he graciously gave me two years to get my income established as a self-employed individual before I had to take the mortgage on myself). So going through that now gives Dave and I the perfect opportunity to draw on some of the house's equity (though there isn't much) to take care of the most costly debt; the credit.

Credit is a wonderful thing when you know how to use it properly, but unfortunately for most people, even if we know how - we don't. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and never in my life have I found that more true than in how i intend to use credit and where I actually end up!

Credit is great when you have the discipline (and that's all it is, people - discipline) to only use it when you actually have the cash on hand to pay it immediately. Doing that can help you establish an outstanding credit rating, which makes getting a mortgage or other loan super-easy when you need it. Also, if you have a credit card that earns you some kind of reward points, that can be a great way to build those up and reap those benefits. Those are the good intentions:)

The reality is that we end up using our credit for purchases we don't have the cash for but believe we can pay off easily or to help sustain us through periods when money is tight. That is how we end up with maxed out credit cards we can only make the minimum payments on and paying hundreds of dollars a month just servicing our debt and making the credit card companies rich on our interest. Credit Hell.

So with the remortgaging we are going through right now (as soon as I manage to get my taxes done :P ), we can pay off both credit cards and more than half the line of credit. Dave also has a decent tax return coming and we will use most of that to pay off more of the line of credit and some personal debts. With these high interest-charging debts taken care of, we can use the money we were putting towards servicing those debts every month (roughly $1000) towards paying off the rest of the line of credit (now much more manageable) and those personal debts (...not to mention my taxes from '08...YIKES!! The joys of being self-employed :) ).

In this way, by the end of the summer we will have about $30K of our debts completely paid off (well, about $20K will be refinanced into the mortgage, but that is a preferable option to simply maintaining high interest debt) and be well on our way to financial recovery! Sounds very ambitious, I know, but doing this work now will have so many long term benefits, that the few short-term sacrifices will be well worth it. And it's the first step in working towards the simple, sustainable, abundant, worry-free and joyful life we want.

In the next posting, I want to talk about how we are decreasing our household expenses and managing our cashflow in an intelligent way.

'Til then, folks!!

e