Monday, February 16, 2015

Time to Tighten Our Belts...

      When the hubs and I started dating in late 2004 I immediately fell in love with his house. Wood floors, oak trim, metal kitchen cabinets, old house charm. He was told it was built in 1952, but when I did a little research, I found that it had actually been build around 1946. Right after the end of WWII when the house boom was in full force. While I am not a big history buff, I find the 1940s to be one of the most interesting time periods in American history. So much change in the world and there are still people we can talk to (like my beautiful Grandma) who can remember what is was like to live in that day and age.  But I digress from the purpose of this post - belt tightening.
      Unfortunately, time and water have wrecked havoc on our little house and is now in need of some serious TLC.
Here you can see the paint peeling off of the wall. There are also some white crystals growing on the wall as a result of water filling the chambers in the cinder block of the walls. Apparently it's not harmful, just gross.

Here is an idea of the bowing the walls are encountering.

And the cracks that are going along with the bowing.

This is the worst area in the basement. It's in a corner and until the Hubs called someone in to look I had never seen it.

This REALLY shows the bowing of the walls.
      We have had several companies come in and give us their opinions on what to do. Estimates have been upwards of $60,000!!! After speaking with a structural engineer we have a plan - steel I-beams to reinforce the walls, a backhoe to dig around the outside of the house, power wash and seal the outer walls, and backfilling with a material other than the clay soil that is currently surrounding the house. That being said, we have to come up with the cash to do this.
      Like many folks in today's housing market we are upside down in the mortgage of this house. Unfortunately we are also upside down in the mortgage of the house I bought before the Hubs and I got married.  After meeting with a financial planner and discussing our options we have decided we are going to have to sell the house I own and am currently renting out. Here's the rub, I owe WAY more than it would sell for (think about $35,000 more). We are struggling with how to handle this. The Hubs is one to face a problem head on and deal with it ASAP while I tend to bury my head in the sand and hope it will go away (even though I know this just makes it worse!). So we need to combine forces, take our time to research the options available, and make the choice that will work best for our family.  
     We considered selling our current home and moving into the house I am renting but decided that was not what we want for our family. After all, this is where our family began. Our first date was a BBQ the Hubs invited me to held here at Wilted Acres. Not only that but we have a host of family memories here!


                                        We had our wedding reception in the backyard....



                                This was the house we brought Babycakes home to live...
                                                


                                     We had our first family photo taken out by the pear tree...       
                     
                                      



                         We laid my old friend to rest in the backyard when it was time to say good-bye...


celebrated LOTS of holidays...


Halloween...


...Easter...



...and Christmas.

And then there is just everyday living...



....storytime with Uncle C,



....a summer day with my favorite girl :-),

...or just swinging on the back porch.


      So while this old house has brought about some stress, it has also forced me to really look at all that it has provided to us. I have a tendency to complain about how incredibly small this house is and it's failure to meet our needs. However, I have come to realize this house has become a part of our family. As a member of our family, we need to take care of her and give her what she needs. So it's time for us to tighten our belts and live with less so that we can give this old house what she needs. I'm going to try and start a "Frugal Friday" series. Hopefully this will be a way for me to document the frugal changes and choices we need to make so that we can repair our house.

 So tightened your belts! It's going to be quite a journey!