How are you doing today, Tom?

Stupid question for the real adults in the room, from one who was raised by DIYers and has only ever done DIY and is so sick of DIY I could spit: how the hell do you save enough to pay for a remodel? Or do you finance it? HOW DOES ADULTING WORK???

How are you doing today, Tom?

Well, my analyst was away for a big chunk of August, and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things with him on my childhood/self-esteem/loneliness issues. My anxiety levels were already high enough that 9/11 isn't making much of an additional impact.

Uhm, thanks for asking?

Plei, do you have a financial advisor? Ours was the adult in the room who told us whether to use our money, his money, or someone else's money.

Financing remodeling: I thought that was what refinancing your house was for.

Financing remodeling: I thought that was what refinancing your house was for.

Yeah, we did some work on our house with an inheritance when my grandfather passed, but mostly it's been home equity/re-fi money.

It makes sense if your house has significantly appreciated, so you can plow some of that money back into making it even more appreciated. (Financially speaking.)

Well, my analyst was away for a big chunk of August, and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things with him on my childhood/self-esteem/loneliness issues. My anxiety levels were already high enough that 9/11 isn't making much of an additional impact

Oh man! Well, love to you regardless.

We are doing a big remodel and we got the money these ways: 1) deliberately putting 10% down on the house when we could have afforded more and saving that cash for the expected remodel, 2) getting used to living on one paycheck when we moved and I was out of work for a year, and not adjusting all the way back up when I got a job, 3) mr. flea's parents believe in being very fair and so they gave us some money because they gave his sister some money (she needed money, we didn't, but they don't think that way), 4) our county, which is full of old housing stock in disrepair, has a low-interest loan for exactly this purpose.

Plei, do you have a financial advisor? Ours was the adult in the room who told us whether to use our money, his money, or someone else's money.

AHAHAHAHA. A what? No, no we don't.

We are doing a big remodel and we got the money these ways: 1) deliberately putting 10% down on the house when we could have afforded more and saving that cash for the expected remodel, 2) getting used to living on one paycheck when we moved and I was out of work for a year, and not adjusting all the way back up when I got a job, 3) mr. flea's parents believe in being very fair and so they gave us some money because they gave his sister some money (she needed money, we didn't, but they don't think that way), 4) our county, which is full of old housing stock in disrepair, has a low-interest loan for exactly this purpose.

Ah, so through very specific, not very broadly applicable methods!

Which is to say, equity loan appears to be the way forward, should we desire improvements. (I fear these, given that this is how we wound up with two houses for many years, but I should remind myself that we had 20% down in this house, have been here a while, and though housing could always crash and correct, probably not right away to the cost of a new roof or even an improved bathroom.)