A testimony from Courtney
After looking for our dream home for several months, we quickly realized that what we had in mind as the home to raise our family didn’t exist on a police officer’s salary. I was working too, as a teacher, but only for another year or so before I quit to become a stay-at-home mom.
We decided to get used to living on one income early by purchasing a home based on my husband’s salary and using my salary to build our savings.
The Background
Finding a home under our budget and fit all our requirements was a difficult and sometimes frustrating process.
We realized if we were going to find a home we could live in for the long-term it would not come without some flaws. We were careful though, and knew we had to find a home at the low- to mid-range end of our budget so we wouldn’t be financially stressed to complete the renovations.
We also decided that we didn’t want to buy a home that needed a kitchen remodel since those can tend to be more expensive.
Having these things decided, we found a home we loved and fit our budget, but needed some cosmetic changes. The kitchen had been remodeled eight years earlier and was in great condition. We just changed the handles on the doors to update it a bit. New hardware for the cabinets and drawers cost us around $60.
What We Did
- New carpet throughout
- The hardwood floors in the kitchen sanded, sealed and extended
- New interior doors
- New paint throughout
We budgeted $5,000 to get this done and were successful.
How We Did It
- It was hard to be patient when we wanted a new, beautiful house right now, but we saved carefully and did projects as we had the money to — not charging anything.
- We shopped around and had several businesses gives us estimates on supplies to ensure we were getting the best price.
- We did much of the labor ourselves. We ripped out the carpet and pads, pulled carpet staples and prepped all the floors. Removing the carpet, combined with a 10% discount my husband gets through his work at a home improvement store, we were able to save almost $2,000 on our carpet, compared to some bids we received.
- We borrowed supplies and labor from friends, co-workers and neighbors. Professional paint equipment was offered by a co-worker who used to own his own business; my husband’s parents had drills, saws, and sanders we used, and countless friends offered their labor to get the jobs done.
- Carpet was the only thing we had professionally installed.
It was a long, time-consuming process but definitely worth it to see the finished product and know that we improved the value of our home without going into debt. It’s also a good feeling to know we didn’t finance our renovations with our mortgage so we aren’t paying interest on it either.
Courtney and Blake have been married for seven years and have a two-year-old daughter. They reside in Utah where Blake is a police officer and Courtney teaches seventh grade. They love spending time as a family and doing things outdoors.
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We are currently doing the same thing. We live in a 100 year old house and we have been renovating a bathroom(with cash), and I just wanted to mention something on here – we have found a LOT of our supplies at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. New in box toilet, pedastel sink, carrera marble tile (at only $2 per sq ft) – they always have new and different things, and we have saved a LOT of money by shopping there, and by doing a lot of the work ourselves. Someone above said that they learned a lot about plumbing and electrical work – is that an understatement or what?!?!
Beautiful job! Everything looks great. Good point about the kitchen renovations, too. They are pretty costly and tend to get out of hand, fast!
My husband and I bought our previous two homes as “fixer uppers”. The great thing about it was, once we did the renovations, we were able to sell both houses for a considerable profit and both of them sold within a week. The money we made off those two houses allowed us to put 50% down on our current home!
We bought a very inexpensive 2-bedroom home ($84K) on a police officer’s salary as well. We’re rapidly outgrowing it though (three kids in 3+ years) so we’ll have to remodel soon. Just started a plan to start saving up! My FIL recently lost his job too, so we’re hoping to hire him for a lot of the work.
All I can say is GOOD JOB!!! It’s been non-stop DIY projects since we purchased this super old house…and I know that sweat equity is exhausting!!!
We’ve been in a similar situation – since we moved into our 60-year-old house 4 years ago, we have:
* remodeled one bathroom (completely gutted it and moved one of the walls so we could put in a tub rather than just a shower)
* replaced the sink and part of the wall in the other bathroom
* new paint & carpet in one bedroom
* ripped out the walls and started fresh in another bedroom, including adding real studs and insulation
* replaced a sliding door with a french door
* learned a lot about plumbing and electrical work 😉
We’re currently in the process of saving up $5,000 to re-do our kitchen. Not going to replace any appliances, but we’re planning to move a wall, completely replace the cabinets, and add a dishwasher.
@Jen T. My husband did wood floors for 13 years, and the floors that I had were less slippery than the tile we had in front of the doors. It also feels more warm and has more give than tile. And they are SO easy to clean and they look beautiful and not streaked when cleaned. Just my two sense if you care to read it. 🙂
Thanks for sharing. This is just the encouragement I needed at this moment. We are attempting to renovate an entire 1940 house for 7k cash right now.
If Courtney is reading this… =) I really like the paint difference in the second set of pictures – it’s such a great choice. I also think that it looks much nicer with the hardwood floor from the door to the kitchen, and it makes it look more “clean”. I’m kinda wondering about the hardwood floor in rainy weather. Is it slippery? Do you put down a mat inside the door? Thanks Courtney! =)
Thanks for the compliments! And yes, we put a mat down on both sides of the front door for people to wipe their feet. So far this winter, we haven’t had a problem with our floors getting too wet. And when they do, it hasn’t been a big deal to use a microfiber cloth broom to wipe it up.
Move in house, HA, that is only a dream for us. Eleven years later and we are still fixing it up. Just finished the living room today, and I did it all myself and paid cash. Finsihed the kitchen which only needed some patching and paint last week, paid cash. Our house is 150 years old, so lots to do on it and the outbuildings. It is so worth it as we are in the middle of no where:) Everone I know who bought or build a new home had some many cracks and other settling problems that they ended up having to do what we did within 5 years. Why pay for new when you can get used and do it your way. Plus when the kids spill juice on the twenty year old carpet I don’t cry.
Thanks for sharing! My husband and I are looking for a new home as we prepare to move back to my hometown. Although housing is extremely affordable, we are trying to stay on the lower end of our budget as well. It’s tough to see past some of the work, but simple cosmetic changes like this are so worth it and much cheaper than buying a move in ready home.
Good for you! So smart to not fixate on some more minor issues and to focus on finding a home that would WORK for you. We’ve had to do something similar… we moved from the Midwest (where housing was inexpensive) to New England (where things are much pricier). We realized right away that we’d have to deal with ripping out shag carpeting and puling down wallpaper in order to stay in our budget. 🙂 Loved reading your story- thanks for sharing!
Hello Courtney,
Thank you for sharing your inspiring story. The house looks beautiful!
-m