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View Full Version : House to a home...ugh ($)



cebeu
02-20-2011, 10:17
I spent a lot of years livin' on-the-road. Maintained apartments here and there to store my meager possessions, to have a place to do laundry on occasion and receive mail but, airports and hotels were home. I made a life change a few years back and part of that was to "get back home" to CO, buy a house (a necessary portfolio add) and settle down. With that back-drop...

[WORTHLESS SUNDAY RANT ON]

I was and still am inexperienced at trying to turn a house into a home and I've learned something...HOLY F*** is this "stable life thing" outrageously expensive! I don't know how those of you with families have tolerated it over the long-haul without blowin' a gasket.

I'm still realin' from last year at the price of patio furniture. The expense associated with quality products blew my friggin' mind. But...I got passed that and did the deed. For the past two weeks I've started pursuing this years list, on it is "new sectional and dining table," amongst other things and Man...I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW MUCH A QUALITY SECTIONAL SOFA COSTS! Granted, I'm looking at higher-end custom products (little choice) but holy shit...

Screw the trivial healthcare debate...we should be having a national knock-down drag-out over pricing in the home furnishing and improvement industry...that shit costs way more than insurance and/or health expenses! I could have a heart-attack and end-to-end it would probably be cheaper than buying a damn couch! As a matter of fact, I think I'm having a heart attack right now just thinking about the prices of couches!

[/WORTHLESS SUNDAY RANT OFF]

While I jest a bit and I've never been "lost on reality" as the above hints at...dang...I'm thinking of going back on-the-road...less hassle and more cost effective than "livin' normally" like the rest of you good people! [Tooth]

Byte Stryke
02-20-2011, 10:21
I Agree with you, but you aren't buying a new sectional every month.
with our insurance payment every month I Probably could.

My insurance payment is more than my rent [Eek3]

*Insurance: Health, Automotive

Cman
02-20-2011, 10:27
Fear not home improvements never end, ever!

hobowh
02-20-2011, 10:33
I used to work contract work in IT gave it up to get a straight paying job so I would not have to pay over 1000 a month for insurance. Then I marked into an instant family and hope I never have to foot the bill for self coverage again. It is highway robbery. And what they charge without insurance oh my,,,

but yes on the other hand what happened to the days when they only charged for materials, labor and a small markup, does it really cost 4000 for a robotic assembly line to put together a couch out of scrap metal?

kidicarus13
02-20-2011, 10:49
It's the cost of keeping up with the Jones'. It's called the American Dream even though the majority of Americans are likely living paycheck to paycheck to try to live the lifestyle. Just another reason our country is in such a mess... living above our means.

eighty duece
02-20-2011, 11:03
It's the cost of keeping up with the Jones'. It's called the American Dream even though the majority of Americans are likely living paycheck to paycheck to try to live the lifestyle. Just another reason our country is in such a mess... living above our means.

They are just doing what our great almighty govt does. If you dont have the money, borrow it!


Stuff is so dang expensive anymore its rediculous! Everything but my pay goes up every year. Furniture goes up, food goes up, gas goes up, utilities go up. Eventually something has to happen?

Hoosier
02-20-2011, 11:17
Check out American Furniture Warehouse. Products are OK quality wise, and cheap.

How do you get health insurance to cost that much? Do families add that much more to the cost?

H.

Byte Stryke
02-20-2011, 11:22
It's the cost of keeping up with the Jones'. It's called the American Dream even though the majority of Americans are likely living paycheck to paycheck to try to live the lifestyle. Just another reason our country is in such a mess... living above our means.


not everyone is living that delusion.
Every year the energy costs skyrocket, along with insurance, food and housing.
All the while the wages stagnate, get shipped overseas, or just vanish all together. These Jobs vanish for the American worker for no other reason than corporate greed. Have to keep the stock values going up anyway possible. God forbid it be through solid business practices.
Until the government levels the playing field through steps like Tariffs and tax fees , we will pay for the decisions of Corporations from both ends.

Monky
02-20-2011, 11:23
Piece by piece.. unless you want to be in debt.. I slowly build up.. and I just restarted 2 years back..walked away from everything.. stupid whore of an x..[BooHoo]

I've got the basics.. living room.. bedroom.. washer/dryer.. all I really need currently... now I'll start on getting a house again.. then i'll piece the rest of it together... I'd probably have a pretty sweet bit of furniture..but i seem to like guns more than end tables, or art work to hang... [Weight]

Priorities I guess..

Oh yeah.. wait till you try to landscape. [Mad] Talk about robbery.

jerrymrc
02-20-2011, 13:05
When we bought our house I swore I would not be married to a mortgage. The house we bought was about 60% of what they wanted to loan us.

The other side of the coin was I will not be in a position that it takes two incomes to pay the bills.

And you need to be handy. All the landscaping we did bit by bit. I have some things that I would like to do over but I learned to pay upfront for most everything.

I will use a card if something comes along like when we walked into the HD one day and they had a floor model pellet stove for 1/2 price.

This summer we are replacing some of the windows for this years projects.

Great-Kazoo
02-20-2011, 13:52
sage words to shop by

Craigs List


AND

Any quality / clean thrift store.


what's patio furniture???? i have a few generators, lots of misc tools and made sure the spouse has her own matching set of tools to utilize, without using the snap-on 36" pry bar for removing sheetrock.

sniper7
02-20-2011, 17:12
buy once, cry once. get something that is quality and will last you a long time.

gnihcraes
02-20-2011, 20:58
17 years working on my house, still not done. Bought cheap, been fixing up since. Market dropped out, now I'm losing money. Didn't over improve, but can't get my money back at this point.

Learn to do as much as you can yourself, save the money of a professional and buy the good tools so you can do it right. Obviously hire out when the work might be beyond what you want to tackle. Eventually you have a good supply of tools and knowledge to do most jobs for yourself. About the only way I see anyone can survive.

I don't know how people make it, having to hire out everything, any small job is going to cost you couple hundred probably. We hired out to put an addition on our house, cost us about 90k, and we did all the finish work. (still working on it)

As for furniture, look around at the thrift stores, find a really nice chair or couch that is sturdy, doesn't smell but needs upholstery. Find a good guy to update the upholstery and you have something decent for a $300. If you need a good guy to recover items, send me a PM, got a friend who is reasonable. We've had him do several pieces in our house and its great, nice older furniture that looks new and modern with some updated cloth. (made in America!)