I live, write, and garden in the PNW with my husband of 30 years, disabled daughter, autistic son, and my 85-year-old mother. We have paid off $250,000.00 worth of debt (if you include the interest) in the last fifteen years and as of 6/12/2020 are 100% DEBT FREE!!!!It has been a ridiculously long haul of saving money, 2 years and 3 months, but we finally saved $23,000 to renovate the bathroom after the black mold and gut to the studs and mold remediation issue, which itself cost a lot of money. Our quote was less than $18,500 for the whole job, which was a far cry less than the one guy who said $30,000 just for materials and then labor was on top of that. We had various quotes, but this guy we just trusted.
He works by himself, so he only has his own labor costs, he doesn't a team of workers to pay. He is licensed as an electrician, a plumber, and a contractor. He worked as an HVAC installer for 5 years. So he has it all, but we don't need to mess with the HVAC, just the rest of it. He's also a Christian and goes to church with the family and an all around good guy. We've seen some of the work that he has done in the homes of people we know and they say he is a hard worker who does an excellent job. So here's hoping.
It was really, really hard handing over the down payment of $9180. Most of that is for materials. We pain in cash and got a receipt. Handing over cash makes everything more real. It's so much more tangible than handing over a plastic card or even than writing out a check. Envelope one is empty, save for a receipt. Envelope two still looks pretty plump. Everything is back in the safety deposit box for now.
He started today and says it should take 3 to 4 weeks depending on certain features we wanted for the bathroom, particularly the exact sink. Home Depot can be a little slow on things that are not in stock and unfortunately Lowe's doesn't carry the sink I want. If it takes a little longer, it takes a little longer.
There were two things that were non-negotiable for that bathroom. One was the sink and the other was the shower wall tile. I was flexible on the shower floor and the bathroom floor tile. I was flexible on the toilet being white if we couldn't find a black one. I was even flexible on the shower fixtures being a color other than black. But I wanted my sink. Actually, I would have given up all but a strip of the shower tile I wanted, if I had to for that sink.
We are putting in a shower system that has jets in it. It was a bit of a splurge, but it is worth it to have jets that will hit your back down the length of a shower panel that you can turn on when you need them and turn off when you need all the power overhead to rinse your hip length hair out from shampoo and conditioner. Which I am seriously thinking of cutting. It's been 6 years since I've gone to a stylist and had it cut. I have cut my own ends, but I am thinking of getting it cut shorter before I can ride through town like Lady Godiva.
Anyway, I am so excited about the new bathroom. I really hope there is some money left at the end, but I know these things tend to run over. I just hope they don't run over the money we have saved. I'll keep saving, but we were only managing $500 a month, so it won't be much. I can scrape together $4373 between the Emergency Fund and various sinking funds, but I won't touch the biggests one for car insurance, and then home owner's insurance, and property taxes which I pay half of for Mom.
But finally, finally we will soon have another working bathroom with a full size walk in shower that will be fully handicapped accessible, with a bench and grab bars. And it will be beautiful. You will be able to take a walker through the door and a regular wheel chair if it ever becomes necessary for my daughter. And maybe after a year or two we can replace the shower/tub combo in the bathroom down here and paint it a different color and replace the door and change the trim of the door to match it and change the windowsill trim to match the door's new trim. But we have other things to do in the meanwhile.
June 5th, 2025 at 02:17 am 1749089862
Post at least before & after pics!
June 5th, 2025 at 06:00 am 1749103240
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June 6th, 2025 at 12:37 am 1749170276
Good luck. I hope it all goes smoothly and they don't find any surprises of significance (they always end up finding something).
June 7th, 2025 at 02:07 am 1749262022
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June 7th, 2025 at 02:37 am 1749263856
The main kitchen is pretty nice, but I would still change almost everything about it except I would keep the cupboards, just change the color.
June 8th, 2025 at 07:56 pm 1749412563
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