Home Improvement With Purpose

You would be surprised what you'll actually critique and let go about your home when the time comes to get it appraised.  Refinancing is serious shit. Two or three hundred dollars a month might not sound much per month, but add it up and you've got a whopping... ::counts on fingers:: ... $2400-3600 minimum per year "extra" that can go toward bills and groceries or a date night every now and then.  That's a lot of easing up and it's more than a supposed "cost of living" raise would be these days.  If a company even decides to have a cost of living raise that year.

We had our appraisal appointment this past Monday and it seemed to have gone well but we'll find out in a few days.  We slathered on paint in all of the downstairs rooms and did a lot of repairs.  Fixed stairs, fixed toilets, put up nice curtains.  There was a lot of decluttering.  A lot of scouring.  But other than mowing the lawn, we let the landscaping lapse.  Luckily the appraiser said that landscaping doesn't really add any value to the house, but things like the original oak flooring being in excellent shape is valuable.  Original oak trim is valuable.  Our new fridge and the new-ish cabinets in the kitchen that the previous owners put it are valuable.  The fence we put in a few years ago was a great move.  All of the lush green foliage that acts like extra fencing giving lots of privacy in the backyard is good.  The structure is good.  My room was probably the only room I didn't have the energy to clean.  I just lost the will to clean any more.  He didn't even care.  He had this little digital laser device that measured the rooms for him from one or two vantage points and he wanted to know about any improvements we had made or that had been made right before we moved in.

Now that it's done I want to edge my yard, do some landscaping, plant some flowers and bushes, and concentrate on the outdoors.  Stretch my legs, so to speak.  Home improvement is rewarding, especially if there's a reward for it, but it's exhausting week after week and day after day.  It's time to be lazy.