Spend a Lot of Money Day
Today was spend a lot of money day at the Ng’s. This happens every now and then and while most of the spending is necessary, it’s still a jolt to see the grand total.
Our backyard fence is in major disrepair. I can live without a fence but since we have a pool one must go up. Plus we have a puppy who enjoys spending the day outside. I’d hate for him to get out into the busy road.
For the past two years, every time a fence panel blew over, Mr. Ng would go out and nail it back up again. This winter was the last straw as some of the panels splintered as they fell. There’s no saving them and we have no choice.
The good news is that Mr. N is rather handy with a hammer. He used to be a carpenter so DIY stuff is fine by us. Since the fence posts are still good, we only need to replace the panels. We ordered 48 unfinished fence panels which cost us a pretty penny. We thought about getting them pre-stained, but it’s a lot less to do the work ourselves. So that’s fencing and ten gallons of stain.
I did buy a couple of extras. A blueberry bush that was on sale for having some leaves missing and a six pack of broccoli plants. We have a strawberry bed and I wanted some blueberries as well. This was a nice sized bush and there’s nothing my family enjoys more than fresh berries. The broccoli will definitely save us money as we eat a lot of that, plus I like to grow my own fresh veggies if I can. Oh and we bought grass seed too. The only impulse buys were the broccoli and the blueberry plant - we knew we were buying the rest.
The grand total: $1200.00. Yup. I know. We have an account for renovations so it’s all paid for free and clear, but I hate dropping that much money in one day. We did the math, for pre-stained panels we would have spent around $4,000 and if we went for fancier fencing we probably would have spent $6,000 to $8000.00.
The problem with renovating is that there are more spend a lot of money days than we care to admit. Good thing we saved up.
Image © Deborah Ng
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POSTED IN: Doing it Yourself
5 opinions for Spend a Lot of Money Day
pickel
Mar 30, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I think I have that beat. We just started our kitchen remodel. It all started because we needed new hardwood in the living room and ended up being a full first floor flooring project, the entire kitchen, and some extras. Total project is about 25,000 (and we are doing this on the inexpensive side).
Thrifty Karen
Mar 30, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Ouch. Home repairs are costly, but thankfully, most of the time they increase the value of your home.
Is the DIY Life Worth it?
Apr 1, 2008 at 12:19 pm
[…] that fence I was telling you about? The fence panels were delivered yesterday in the pouring rain, Except the truck driver/forklift […]
SMB
Apr 1, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I want that puppy!
DIY Fence Project Update
Apr 9, 2008 at 6:17 am
[…] need to be stained with a weatherproofing material. We could have gotten them pre-stained but we saved money by doing it ourselves. I’m thinking in another week or so we’ll be regretting that […]
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