The totals of the rehab have been $1,732.27 in materials and services, including utility deposits and such. This is what we’ve spent after March 25th, 2011 in direct rehab of the house and improvement of the land.
We’ve made 15 trips back and forth since closing, 70 miles round trip, with our car which gets about 25 miles to the gallon, and a gallon here costs $3.80 on average. $159.60
We don’t count food because we would have to eat anyway. (haha) And we try very hard not to eat out or fast food it just because we’re working hard. The crock pot has been our very good friend! We love to pop anything in there and come home tired to a finished meal! Wonderful…
So in 15 days of hard labor, we’ve managed to keep our balance fairly low… $1,891.87
Each day costs us about $125 so far. But the good thing is, that aside from our heat issue, we don’t need anything else for at least a week. We have enough paint and such to keep us busy for a good while. We have heat and one more professional landscaper visit left in the bigger ticket cost range.
Soon, we will be looking at a stove/oven and a dishwasher. But they will be used and from Craig’s List. I have seen soooo many good deals, it’s just going to be a matter of picking out the best. I think we will be able to get both for under $100. We’re not picky, so that really helps!
We have all the landscaping plants and trees we need, so no expense there. And we have a very healthy collection of garden seeds, so I think we are set there as well. Oh, just onion and potato sets, that really it. And sunflowers. Hmm…. okay, I’ll budget $50 for those… potatoes, onions and sunflowers. And whatever other little gaps we have in seed and garden needs. But we don’t need any tools or whatever. Got everything we need.
The girls each need a gallon of paint for their rooms… $40. We have all the flooring that we will need, at the moment, and aside from a few incidentals, I think that is all we need right now. Oh, a shower door. haha… We priced that out, brand new is $100, hopefully we can find a nice one of Craigslist! (gg)
We hope to be rehabbing our chicken coop, but we were driving home today and came to the realization, we could always put the hens in the BARN for awhile… haha… I’m sure they wouldn’t mind having a HUGE perfect barn to live in while their chicken palace is being built. They would only have like a 30 x 20 foot barn to hang out in, plenty of space to be chickens and then of course, a lovely area to free range in. We’ll see how the demo goes next week and plan accordingly. Heck, if the barn is too big, there is the well house shed… it would work perfectly as well. And if that was not good, there is the tractor shed… or the poultry barn. Hmmm…. you mean, put chickens in the poultry barn? A 70 x 20 foot barn designed just for chickens? Hahaha…. we could have oh 100+ hens in no time if this keeps up!
Well, that is the state of the homestead rehab report. I do believe that you really need to keep a close watch on what you spend when you do any big rehab of a property. You can very quickly and easily overspend and get into a lot of trouble. We spend almost $5,000 on the moby rehab and that included the purchase of the home. (It was $800, so I suppose you really should say that the rehab was $4,200) And to see that we are really close to being ready to move in and it’s half of what the moby cost… I’m thrilled!!! That’s fantastic! Everything in perspective!
I know that by next fall we will have to address the heat issue. But setting that aside, it looks like we are going to be in for perhaps another $500 or so, and then we’ll be able to move in. And comfortably!
We have a friend with a big truck and trailer who has offered to move our last big things for us. With just the wagons and a couple loads in Curtis’s truck, we’ve managed to get about 75% of our little stuff out to the farm already. So the big move shouldn’t be too expensive.
Sure we’ll have some decorative issues at hand, and there is that pesky internet situation still to solve, but those are niceties, and not necessities. And we can budget those over the next few weeks. It’s all such a wonderful thing… we thank God everyday for this amazing blessing and opportunity. We can still hardly believe it’s happening…
Pin It
Well… our first big set back. The furnace is dead.
Really dead.
Not worth it to fix, dead.
The combustion motor is dead, the control board, sensors, etc. Apparently at some point it was flooded and most of the stuff was rusted out and yucky. I am beginning to think that it was ruined back when the area flooded 4 or 5 years ago. I am also thinking that the people living here were not really here long, as renters. I’m not sure how they were heating the house in the winter, and I’m just not even sure they were in the place last winter. It’s all fine, but it’s puzzling.
We’re not discouraged at all, just have to figure out what to do now. It’s too cold to work in the house today, only about 40 degrees. Can’t paint. It’s supposed to be at least 50 degree for the paint to properly cure. Tomorrow, it’s suppose to SNOW. Who knows what is wrong with this weird weather.
Our problem is pretty simple, yet complex. We have 14 days until we need to renew our lot rent for the moby. And by a lot of the reports and such, it’s not going to get warm enough at night for us to sleep at the farm without some sort of supplemental heat. A whole new furnace is just not something we can pull off right now. We can get one, brand new, installed for $2,200. We can save that up and make it happen in the fall, but right now, we’re pretty tapped after buying the place for cash. So… I see it that we need to get by about a month, maybe a bit less.
We can stay in the moby for another month. That works, but we sure would love to be at the farm for good. Cost: $350 for rent.
Benefits: We can take more time to move plants, etc from the moby and we can more of the moving of our stuff and take more time to really get the house ready. Disadvantages: The cost of gas back and forth to the farm is getting expensive. And well, we just so want to be at the farm for good!
We can use supplemental heat, such as propane or kerosene heaters and heat up the core of the house so we can at least sleep there and stay warm in the night time. Cost: $100 for the heaters, and then the cost of fuel for a couple weeks. Benefits: Pretty little initial cost, and having the equipment for any power outages in the future. Disadvantages: Potentially hazardous, needs careful attention all the time.
We can get a wood stove, and use the OVER abundance of dead wood we have at the homestead to heat up the house at night, for sleeping. Cost: $300-$400 for stove, piping, etc. Benefits: We’d love to have one anyways, and planned for it. Very economical way to supplement the house year after year. Disadvantages: Don’t have a good place yet for it, not sure how to place it, and the cost for venting, etc. We have a chimney, but it’s buried in the walls and we’re not sure of it’s condition…
Those are our three big options. We have one last little chance… we have this little gas wall heater in the living room that for some reason is not getting gas. I have to call a local gas supplier and see if they can come out and do a safety check for all the house’s connections. Lance, our heating fellow, said that the regulator might not be working. If we can get that sorted out, it might be very helpful. Apparently it will heat a great amount of the house, if it works. Lance said it looks like it should work, it’s just not getting any gas right now. Will call about that tomorrow. Fingers are crossed!
Well.. in the end, it will work out and we’ll be able to move in eventually! It’s got to get warmer sooner… right?
Anyone have any other ideas???
Thanks!!!
Sherri, Jessy and Maggie
P.S…. We do have hot water now! Yeah Steve!!! Heat is our only problem right now…
Pin It