Survivor: CHICAGO BUNGALOW
The trick to Survivor Bungalow is to OUTLAST your funds, your energy level and your desire to chuck the whole thing.
I am, of course, being overly dramatic. :)
However, there is a grain of truth which other old house owners will see in this.
When you commit to something like this, you joke around with friends, "Oh! It's our fifteen year project." Or, "I love camping. And I love this neighborhood. So, really, this is the best of both worlds."
We make tough choices in order to make LIFE and THIS PROJECT work...at the same time. Balancing a budget and balancing a life.
House, and...work.
House, and...having time for friends.
House, and...starting a family.
House, and...having yearly funds for the not-for-profits we care about.
House, and...saving for retirement.
House, and...sleep. Exercise. Healthy eating. Health in general.
At some point, we'd like a living space where we could invite a couple of friends...who happen to have toddlers. That means no piles of sawdust. No hard hats and work boots. No power tools. Toddlers and miter saws don't mix.
(Though, McKenna is clearly saying, "Bring it on!")
We don't want to get ahead of ourselves in paying for things. Once the initial funds from selling the old place are gone, work will proceed as we build funds from our monthly budget.
That's where the survivor part comes in.
We're at a crossroads. We've been full steam ahead and flat out runnin' on repairs and restoration for 18 months in order to create a space in the house as a "haven" away from projects and chaos. Now, we are going to have to make some tough decisions about work done right away, work to do later and how to make everything work in the meantime.
These are your average "old house" decisions. Many of us who tackle these projects don't have unlimited funds or time. It's just reality. (Maybe more than any "reality show." :)
We're not going anywhere (there is A LOT of work to be done...and boxes in the attic we still haven't unpacked for "What On Earth?"). But we need to balance and pace ourselves...and that will take a bit of strategy.
Maybe you can help with some advice or ideas?
I'll let you know what we're up against within the next few days.
(7)
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Comments
J-
I can't imagine where we'll be at 18 months - we're only through the first two, and already we're exhausted.
Our big push right now is to get things cleaned up in time for our new insurance company's inspection - since the first insurance company pulled our coverage due to some problems the previous owners left us with. After that, I think we'll have to treat ourselves to a fancy dinner out and a week with no big projects scheduled.
Maybe you guys should rent a nice hotel room for a weekend and plan to do nothing but soak in a hot tub. I have trouble relaxing at home nowadays because my mind gets racing with all the little things I could be knocking off our to-do list.
~Mindy
Posted by: mindy | January 10, 2005 9:29 AM
J & A, you have my empathy.
Your sanity and marriage come first. Being at a crossroads isn't a bad thing - you just need to know what road to take.
Do you have a master plan for the house? I'm not talking about rolls of blueprints, binders with schedules, or calendars with dates. I'm talking about a notebook or a spreadsheet that tracks the known set of projects you have in mind. Some are way hard - "Kitchen Remodel" and some are easy "Paint hallway". Some have dependencies (other projects), some don't. The point is, the list is _dynamic_. And it categorizes projects by the resources they require - time, energy, money. This makes it easier to find that weekend project when you have lots of energy but an empty checkbook.
I hear what you're saying about having a living space where friends can bring their toddlers (or where you can raise your own?). Ours isn't quite toddler-safe, but we're getting there. Maybe another column in the spreadsheet should be what goal the project contributes towards. e.g. "Kid friendly".
Nick
PS. Perhaps you should create and market the Bungalow Survivor game. 'Might turn out a windfall of cash to help survive your own reality bungalow...
Posted by: Nick | January 10, 2005 9:54 AM
We decided to build 52 years ago, bot a stock plan, did my own contracting with no experience, thus numerous mistakes, and one by one got it built. That included the following: priming and glazing window frames-delivered day before Christmas in the snow!- wired it with Romex-(not smart) insulated walls and ceilings, drywalled and mud applied, primed cedar siding both sides with stain in winter - thus not much drying!- finally moved in with Mark at 5yrs and a new baby girl. On a teachers meager salary yet. So, GrampK has great empathy with you two, if not sympathy. Still have some tools from those days which I'll be glad to ship to you, n.c.
Posted by: Gramp K | January 11, 2005 2:04 PM
Don't show me pictures of cute babies, or I start wanting one! Babies and pointy-toed shoes ... I can't resist 'em.
Posted by: Kristin | January 12, 2005 12:34 PM
Anyone under 12 is strictly prohibited from my house. It's not that I wouldn't love to have them, it's just that no matter how much we clean and vac there's still going to be some lead or asbestos floating around somewhere until the house is all sealed up. Right now there are too many crevices and voids, and some bits of the house are still crumbling. While I'm confident that it's safe for adults to live there, I'm not willing to to risk (even slightly) exposure for fragile growing kids. One day...
You guys are doing great~ though I wish I had some proceeds from a previous sale to finance my project! Everything's just come out of my regular check so far.
Posted by: Nathan | January 12, 2005 1:58 PM
Ah... yes the crossroads... I remember that day.. when the money ran out and time got small Honestly you will live through it..hell I did it and do it while raising 5 kids while rebuilding the house. We really did "camp" in the house the first two years.. no heat, part of the roof was open. The kids lived..heck they thrived. we even had a baby at the time!
As for how to do the projects after the "chunk-0-change" is gone. We make two lists.. the BIG MONEY PROJECT LIST and the piddly crap that needs to get done list. Beside each thing there is a price tag... so when time and money are convergent we do it. While a bit willy nilly at times it's better than stopping work for a long period of time just because funds get thin. Feel free to write me for more chat on the subject..
maddie6@bellsouth.net
Maddie, in Chattanooga
Posted by: Maddie | January 12, 2005 4:55 PM
At that age, never mind the miter saws. The kids want EARTH-MOVING EQUIPMENT. I've seen them in action.
Posted by: tully monster | January 12, 2005 10:43 PM