Financial Friday - Curb Appeal Cost Breakdown

I'm going to attempt to start a little tradition of financial related posts on Fridays. Since doing the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover a few years ago, we attempt to hold a Budget Committee Meeting each Friday night (after Dave gets paid) so we know what to do with our money for the week, so it's only natural that I have financial topics on my mind on Fridays.

Here's the breakdown of what we spent on curb appeal on our home...


$292 - Plants
$64 - Mulch
$17 - New Mailbox
Free - Paint for mailbox post we already had
$530 - Materials & Labor to clean and paint foundation
$2,200 - Materials & Labor to clean and patch siding, scrub & stain deck, replace deck railing, repair soffits
$350 - truckload of gravel delivered & spread, grading of yard
$1,380 - patio & sidewalk (materials only, bartered labor)
$140 - grass seed, fertilizer to patch areas (NOT growing...so dry...)
$546 - new gutter installation
$55 - new picnic table for patio (repainted it with paint we already had)
Free - tree trimming that Dave did himself
$2,400 - Roof (material cost only, volunteer labor from family & friends - thanks guys!)
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$7,919 total spent on curb appeal

Wow. No wonder we don't have anymore money!  I think I should have done Financial Friday posts every week for the last 3 years....still, I'm thankful that we have not gone into one dollar of debt to do all this work to our house. We have spent way more than we ever planned to, but we are left with a gorgeous home. And we have learned so much about renovating. It has been a fantastic experience. But we are running out of belongings to sell to raise money for projects and Dave's about worn out...

Looking a little more closely at the breakdown, I'd say that the $2,200 spent on the siding, deck, etc. was our real budget breaker. The guy we hired to repair the siding, etc. started April 12 and didn't finish till July 12 (well, he's still not technically finished with what he was hired to do but we finally just gave up on him). It should have taken 2 weeks to do the siding. Through that experience I've learned many valuable lessons about hiring work done, about the importance of clear communication about deadlines, expectations, etc. I'm thankful for the lessons learned at least.

So what are your plans for the weekend? We have a fun one coming up! Heading to the County Fair for the Outlaw Mud Bog

and then to the park for Levi's first birthday celebration with our family.