What's Going On at Chez Sluggy This Week? Frugal Friday....the July 22nd Edition

Lots of cleaning and clearing out this past week at Chez Sluggy.  Not much as far as frugality other than not going anywhere and/or spending money.

*  I made no food shopping trips or even a Rite-Aid trip since last Friday.  Hubs bought a watermelon and some rice side dish packets but that was it.  Not leaving the house is frugal, right?

*  I had Hubs take 2 boxes of books and 21 bags of fabric to Salvation Army this past week.  4 more bags of fabric are waiting to go and I'll continue to dig through my fabric stash to fill more bags to donate.

*  We used a gift card to buy Subway subs for dinner on Thursday as Hubs didn't want to deal with cooking.

* I met up with the lady who runs the auction at a local church on Monday to hands off 7 bags of new items for them to sell this coming Fall.

*  Ex-College boy came over last weekend to help me move tubs of items I am keeping into the garage, along with a coffee table Hubs refuses to get rid of(that we have never used).  I also loaded Ex-CB up with toiletries and some food items.  He's coming back next weekend to help power wash the outside of the house and I'll give him more stuff.

*  I got in touch with a local ceramic studio and they are interested in taking all my ceramic molds.  Giving them away is better than having to pay for a construction container and throwing them away.

*  I've filled two large bags for the Food Bank but they won't leave until next Friday.  That will give me more time to fill another bag too! ;-)

*  I got the closet doors by the front door painted.

Hubs just needs to realign them now.  I've got to sand down and repaint the posts on the front porch but that's my last painting assignment to go.

*  I've been using frozen foods for meals and trying my best to eat down the freezer.

*  I found NO money this past week!  Well, if you don't go anywhere you don't get a chance to find money. 8-((

Total Found in last Week.... .00¢
Total Found This Year.....$13.65

That's about all I've got for this past week.  

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

And have a good weekend!  

Sluggy  

What's Going On This Week So Far?

Well on Monday Hubs took me out for a Mother's Day lunch(too crowded on the actual holiday)to Red Lobster.  They have Endless Shrimp on Monday so I got that.
I decided I shouldn't have had a helping of Shrimp Scampi(too much garlic and butter)as my stomach didn't feel well.  I ended up throwing up lunch afterwards. 8-((

On Tuesday I went to my old storage facility and  got a new unit.

This is where I'll be emptying the garage contents so I can stage a stockpile sale in the garage for next month.

I've made 4 trips so far and the garage is in a stage of chaos right now. lolz  It's getting worse before it gets better in there.  I'll take another load over to storage on Friday.

I burned a fair amount in the firepit of old wood/broken pallettes/tree branches piled by the shed. 

Hubs got the soil in the garden boxes so I can plant there as soon as the weather is warmer here and we are out of the frost/freezingtemps overnight.

I've got photos through July of 2017 edited.  Now it's on to August 2017.   8-))

Hubs is filling wall dents and dings and sanding in prep for painting the upstairs hallway.  Maybe by Monday he'll be ready to start in on the downstairs hallway, kitchen and den.

What's going on at your house?

Sluggy

Here's My Elephant.....4 Months of Progress

So here are the things that did get done once Daughter left to move back to Louisiana in May.  We've gotten a lot done in the last 4 months. 
It's been a big old game of Dominoes really. ;-)

*  Daughter's old room gets cleaned(clear out furniture/vacuum/shampoo the carpeting/clean walls/trim/ceiling/ceiling fan/dressers she isn't taking.)  Then EX-CB moves in his crap and takes that room.  He was planning on moving out within the next few months but then the new job search happened so that's delayed.

UPDATE-- The room got emptied triple quick(can you guess I was uber motivated?!? lolz
What was left in Daughter's room........

Here it is after I finished cleaning in there.......

Then Ex-College Boy spent the next couple of days moving all his stuff into the room and setting it up like he wanted it.

The only money spent on this room was new blinds on the window.
I figure once Ex-CB moves out we'll have to repaint but he'll have to live with purple walls for now.  Depending on wear, the carpet may or may not need to be replaced so I'll keep that possible expense in the back of my mind for another year.

* After Ex-CB vacates his room, rinse and repeat cleaning that bedroom(clear out furniture/vacuum/shampoo carpeting/clean walls, trim, ceiling, ceiling fan/dresser.  Then I am painting that room(hasn't been painted since 2005).  Once we get the room cleared out we can evaluate whether carpeting needs replacing.

UPDATE--EXCB vacated his room and it looked like this.............

And the closet view..........

After I got done shoveling it out and vacuuming it looked like this........

Then this room got repairs for lots of wall damage...........

 And then a coat(or five for that dark accent wall!)of paint..........

Then the saga of ordering the new carpet and install began with a trip to NH wedged in between this part.

But finally the new carpet was installed in early July to finish off the improvements in here.............

And I could begin to set up my sewing room..........

In July I put the shelving in and started sorting fabric in the tubs

The closet was were the dresser went.  It holds the toiletries stockpile reserved for the family.

A few days later I had the shelves mostly filled(the fabrics I want to use sooner rather than later)and the tub sorting/filling was finished.

And here is how it looks today......

11 tubs of fabric.  2 are stacked by the serger to act as a table for my record player.  I've been migrating my record collection into the room so I can play them finally after having them stored away for 12+ years.
A few of my slug/snail collection sit on the wall shelves too. ;-)

The closet with projects(repairs, alterations, hems, etc.)hanging on both sides of the dresser.  A tub of fabric to sell or otherwise de-clutter sits under neath the to-be finished projects with more projects sitting on top of the tub.  The 2 bins on top of the dresser hold thread, elastic, bindings, etc. for use in my sewing.
Christmas stuff is stored on the high shelf in tubs.

The expense in here were new blinds, sparkle and paint and new carpeting.


*  Once that bedroom(now sewing room)is cleaned out and up I can move all my crap into there-a combination of sewing crap and toiletries stockpile(what doesn't fit into upstairs hallway closet).  

A "before" shot of the man cave holding a lot of miscellaneous crap, books, toiletries and fabric........

And all that fabric now...........

I would have put up a third shelving unit(it's in the garage and was utilized for the stockpile sale)but I ran out of wall space for it so the bulky tubs take up too much floor space. bleh.


*  Once my crap is out of Hubs' room then we clear that bedroom out and rinse and repeat all the cleaning/fixing.  This bedroom will definitely be getting new paint and carpet(original carpet from before the previous owner we bought from in 2000 so very old and nasty rug).
Hubs puts his room back together.

UPDATE--Hubs finished emptying his man cave room and painted it.  I didn't offer to help him paint it because he refused to put a/c in that room and it was August and I wasn't about to do that sort of work in the heat and humidity of August without the benefit of a/c.  So he was on his own.
Hubs DETESTS painting but he manned up with very little whining and got it done in 3 days time(he had a LOT of wall patching to do as well as painting).  We used the same white paint in here as in the sewing room.

Then he went and ordered new carpeting and ordered something in stock so we didn't have to wait ages for it to come in and then get the job on the installers schedule.  It's a tan carpet.......

Here is the carpet we replaced.  This was the original carpet when we moved in circa 2000 and had been the ORIGINAL carpet from when the house was built in 1986..........

It was still "sort of" green in places. lolz  It was like walking on burlap. bleck.

He got rid of a lot of books, the broken blinds and the valance.  One book shelf(which was mine to begin with)relocated into the master bedroom and now holds MY books.  He moved one of the two large bookcases to the wall by the door where my bookcase was and the other one out into the hallway.
Here's the hallway in July after getting rid of a large desk and desk top computer.
Nice dirt spot on the wall where the kids use to put their feet on it while sitting at the desk *snort*.

Here's the hallway in September..........

Hubs moved 1 bookcase out here(covers the dirt spot lolz).  At least now ALL the family photos/albums are in one spot now on that bookcase.  They use to be squirreled all over every corner I could shove something into.  Still need to find a place for a few things....a suitcase, a Xmas tub, a wooden chair(Ex-CB took the trumpet next to the suitcase and will teach himself how to play that instrument too).
We didn't paint out in the hallway due to needing a professional to come due it as this also involves the stairwell walls and we can't reach.  So that is still on the Master List of things to do around here.

Hubs' small metal bookcase got moved into the closet in his man cave since the dresser that use to live in there is now in my sewing room holding toiletries.
He bought himself a proper desk, the daybed got moved into this room and we bought a new memory foam mattress for it.
Here is the man cave now.............

You can't see the one bookcase left in the room as it's to the left and I didn't photograph the closet in here.  He's still got a few things to put away.  He opted for no window coverings in here but I suspect he'll put blinds in eventually because the sun comes right in those windows in the morning.
Costs were for spackle, paint and new carpeting, plus a desk in this room.

* Once all these bedrooms are done we can attack the master bedroom, the whole cleaning deal including the furniture.  We will be getting a new mattress and bed frame(adjustable one). 

UPDATE--I don't have any photos of the master bedroom yet as it's not finished.
We have moved some furnishings out(an etagere holding fabric, my serger and table, sewing machine and table, and ironing board)which all relocated into the sewing room so it's fairly emptied out except for night stands, 2 dressers, a large rocking chair, a cedar chest and an old coffee table sitting under the window that Hubs' refuses to get rid of.

We got the new mattress and bed frame and the old ones went to the garbage man.  We weren't planning repainting or new window coverings in here and the flooring is good(having replaced it about 10 years ago).  I would like to hang some paintings on the walls in here but that's it.  If I ever get it looking respectable I'll share a photo or two then. '-)

I am still rejiggering the master walk-in closet.  The photo albums and Xmas stash boxes left but there are more things to consolidate/move around/de-clutter in there so that will be on the next update if I do one.
Expenses in the Master Bedroom were new mattress and an adjustable bed frame.

The expenses for all we got done?
Paint & Spackle.........$16.39*
Carpet & Install.......$1079.46
Bed & Frame...........$1108.23
Blinds(2 Sets)......................$0.00*
New Desk for Hubs............$50.86
TOTAL SPENT.......$2254.94

*All but $16.39 for these items was put on free Home Depot gift cards earned from cashing in credit card points.

What I consider wins........
* Doing the work we could do ourselves to save money on labor.
* Using gift cards to pay for some of the expenses.
* Replacing one bed/2 mattresses for better sleep.
* Having 4 rooms that now function better(or at all)vs. what they were before.

So that's a wrap on this Summer tine phase of the Home Redos at Chez Sluggy.

We're not planning on any other home projects until next Spring as the weather is getting too cold to replace windows now.
I've also got a main bath redo and a den/kitchen makeover on my list for the future besides windows.
But I am tired...very tired of doing this stuff for now.  This was enough.  ;-)


Sluggy

The Estimate or Selling Our Firstborn

We finally got the estimate for the work on the house last Saturday.

The handyman guy called here about Thursday wondering why we hadn't gotten in touch with him.
HUH?

Come to find out..... at least he says this is the issue....he had a problem with his email.....he's send out emails with estimates to prospective clients but the emails never got sent.  He's had this issue with a number of clients.

Don't know if it was an issue with his mail program, his employee or "him".  But that was the story why we hadn't heard from him for 3 weeks or so after coming here to look over the jobs.

So I open up the attachment/estimate and the floor about fell outta my ass.

Seriously?
The total was over $9,600 for the work we need/want done.

In my mind I had a figure of around $6K for all this.  That is what we were willing to spend to get this stuff done.
Not anything near almost $10K!

Here are a list of the jobs, broken down into 5 projects, we wanted priced out.

1.
 Repair and patch ceilings and walls-One spot in kitchen, 3 spots in dining room, a few seams in living room.
Skim coat of spackle 1 ft. wide section of walls around living/dining rooms.
Redo 4 corner beads over exposed metal edging.
Labor and materials.
Estimate-$1,140.00

2.
Paint downstairs walls and ceilings, approx. 1000 sq. ft. plus stairwell and upstairs hallway walls plus 2 interior doors.
Customer supplies the paint, handyman supplies the primer.
Estimate-$3,185.00

3.
Cut and install bifold door on front closet.  Customer will supply door and hardware.

Install crown molding in living room and dining room matching existing.
Labor and cost of crown molding.
Estimate-$675.00

4.
Remove carpeting in dining/living room.
Install approx. 400 sq. ft. of bamboo flooring(to be nailed down).
Customer supplies flooring and underlayment(if needed).
Estimate-$3,010.00

5.
Wrap garage trim in aluminum, 6" on jamb and brick molding.
Replace 3 sets of shutters on front of house.
Replace 2-23" hexagon gable vents on front of house.

Estimate-$1,330.00
 

An additional fee of $300.00 to cover material disposal.

 

Total Estimate-$9,640.00

 

The ones I thought  that came in high were Jobs 2 & 4.

Job 2 we are supplying all the paint(except the primer)so I really thought this one was high as it's basically just labor.  Painting isn't necessarily difficult work but it is time consuming.

 

So we decided to modify the painting job and make it smaller.  We will only have them paint the living/dining rooms and the stairwell and upstairs hallway and ceilings instead of the whole downstairs and upstairs hallway.

We can live with the kitchen/den as it is and when/if it needs painting, we can do that because we did it the last time.  We would also do the living/dining room ourselves but with the timing element of spackle repair, painting before the flooring gets done, it's easier to just let them paint those rooms.

The one place I can't paint is the stairway/hallway upstairs as I can't reach some of the stairwell walls and the ceiling.

Would like to get this down to $2K.

 

But I am also thinking I can paint the living/dining rooms so just have them do the stairwell and upstairs hallway.  I will go back and see what they would charge just for this paint job.  I think if I have a day or two between the time he spackles/repairs the living/dining room and throws up the moldings, I can do the painting in there, especially since we have the a/c now. ;-)

 

and Job 4.....Laying the bamboo flooring.  I really though this one was high!

We had our old handyman/contractor guy replace our master bedroom with bamboo in 2007.  He charged $550 and we furnished/bought the flooring, plus we removed the old carpeting.

Now I know the living/dining room is a tad larger than the master bedroom was(by only 10' x8') and prices have risen since 2007 but to go from $550 to $3,010??

 

So we went up to Lowe's, since that is where we bought/buy our flooring, and got a cost estimate for having the crew from Lowe's install that floor.

The Lowe's guy gave us a quote of $2,800 including the cost of the flooring and the cost of carpet removal, or $2,500 if we take up the carpet ourselves.

And the price of the flooring would be $850 of that cost.....so labor of $1950 or $1,650 to install.

So we have a difference of $1,060 for a complete labor only install(w/carpet removal)between Lowe's and the Handyman guy estimate.

Wow.....

 

Me thinks the handyman guy will NOT be laying our bamboo flooring......

 

I'd love to call up the old handyman and get put on his schedule for him to put in that floor because I know he'd be even less than the Lowe's quote but I don't really want to wait until JANUARY 2014 to be able to buy furniture and use the living/dining rooms.

Sigh.

 

So if we decrease the painting job and remove the flooring job, the handyman will cost us $5,630.00 plus another $2,500 to Lowe's for the floor job, for a grand total spent of $8,130.

We already have 3 boxes of bamboo flooring leftover from our bedroom floor we can use but we need to buy paint, so that basically evens out, so we need to spend $8,130 for these projects....or  if he'll accept $1K to just down the stairwell and upstairs hallway we can get all this done for $4,445.00(handyman) + $2,500(Lowe's)=$6,945.00

 

Still more than I planned on spending but it looks like the least we can get away with paying and still have a good outcome.

 

 

Sluggy