Aug

11

How to Get a Free Refi

Filed Under Home Maintenance, Housing, Loans | Leave a Comment

If you’d like to get a free refinance, also called a no-cost refinance, I would start by calling a local broker. If you don’t know a broker personally, ask around. Someone you know does. Call them up and explain your current loan balance, interest rate, and income. Tell them you’d like to know if they offer a free or no-cost refi.

How Can It Be Free?
Obviously, it’s not really free. You pay a slightly higher interest rate for not having costs. Usually 1/8 of a point. In most cases, that’s not a big deal, but you should run the numbers to make sure it makes sense in your situation.

You should also make sure that the loan value is equal to or lower than your home value. In our case, both our appraisals came in higher, one substantially higher, than our purchase price. Actually, I think the second appraisal was too high. There’s simply no way my home value has increased 6% in the last year, even with the window treatments and new paint. But whatever, it got me my refinance.

If you need to pay down your mortgage to qualify for a refinance, determine whether you’ll really save that much money and have enough cash to pay the difference without completely draining your emergency fund.

When Should You Refinance?
Keep an eye on mortgage rates. Right now, they’re at record lows so it’s a great time to refinance. Keep in mind that the averages you see are just that: averages. Unless you pay points or costs, you won’t get the absolutely lowest rate available. Also, if you have a conforming jumbo or jumbo loan, your rate will be higher. You may hear rates being advertised on the radio that are much lower than yours, but those are reserved for loans below $417,000. If you’re close to that, ask your broker if paying down the mortgage to get below that magic number will reduce your rate.

What Kind of Mortgage Should You Get?
It really depends on your budget. Obviously, in this market a fixed rate is the best way to go. Today’s low adjustable rates will rise, but a fixed rate is a fixed rate for the term of the loan.

There is the question of a 30-year mortgage vs. a 15-year-mortgage. If you’re in the first couple years of your loan, a 30-year loan is probably the most doable. If you’re halfway through, then a 15-year-loan will help you save money on interest, both by reducing your rate and reducing the interest paid over the term.

If you’re at less than fifteen years, take a close look at those numbers again. How much interest do you really have left on the loan? Make sure your the total interest over the life of the loan will be less than you’d pay in total with the original loan. Finally, you can refi to any term, but continue to pay the same amount you did before, which will allow you to pay down your mortgage faster.

Aug

10

Refi #2 – Am I Crazy?

Filed Under Home Buying, Home Maintenance, Housing, Loans | Leave a Comment

Crazy like a fox! Yes, just one year after closing on my original purchase, I’ve refinanced my mortgage twice. It cost me nothing but a little bit of time and paper, but the combined refinances will save us $160 a month on the mortgage. Over ten years, that’s a whopping $15,000!

How I Got Two No-Cost Refis in Six Months
I have a mortgage broker friend. He emailed me about four months after we closed on our first loan to let me know he could get me a free refi that would drop our rate by a quarter point. At the time, this was a fantastic deal.

We sent him our bank statements, got the appraisal, and then he sent a notary to our house to sign the papers. We closed right before Christmas.

Fast forward five months. After rising slightly, interest rates started falling drastically. My mortgage broker friend emailed again, with another free refi offer. This time he could get us down to 5% even. I confirmed that we could refi while my husband was on disability. He checked and said yes, so we started the process again.

Fortunately, the answer turned out to be no. We were midway through the process when we had to call a halt. I say fortunately, because rates continued to fall. About six weeks later, my husband was back to work full time and we had a full-time paystub to send over. The appraisal was still good, and in fact our loan paperwork was still in the system. Even better, we could now get a rate of 4.875. We closed within ten days of restarting the process.

What about the Extra Year of Interest?
Both times we refinanced into new 30 year mortgages. We didn’t add to our loan balances, so the equity we’ve accrued over the past year is still ours. We did essentially “lose” that extra year of interest we paid, however it’s not a big concern for me for three reasons:

First, we don’t plan to stay in the house for 30 years. I imagine we’ll be here about ten. It doesn’t make a difference at that point whether we’re at year nine of our loan or year ten. The loan balance is the same.

Second, if we did somehow stay in the house for more than ten years, by that point we should be able to make catch up payments. We’d have $24,249 in interest to make up, but it’s still doable if we spread it out over a couple of years.

Third, over thirty years, the interest savings is $25,640, so even if we stayed thirty years and never made catch-up payments, we’d still save $1,400 in interest.

Why Not Pay Costs?
Both times we could have paid the closing costs to get the rate down another 1/8 of a point. We opted not to because the additional savings weren’t significant enough to save us a big chunk of change. We’d rather keep that money in our pockets, thank you!

Why Not Wait?
We could have waited a little longer to see if rates fell further, but I also need to buy a new car. It looks like I’ll be buying it in the next two weeks. I wanted that refi done before I started applying for car loans.

So now you know my story. Tomorrow I’ll tell you how to get a free refi of your own.

Aug

2

Homeownership: A Year in Review

Filed Under Home Maintenance | 2 Comments

So, my vacation happened to coincide with the one-year anniversary of buying my house. It’s been quite a year. Here’s a quick review of my first year:

Boxes Moved: 80
Rooms painted: 9
Rooms left to plant: 1
Ceilings painted: 2
Ceilings I will paint in the future: 0
Thanksgivings Hosted: 1 (my first)
Refinances: 2
Husband’s surgeries: 2
Employer reorganizations: 1
Pieces of furniture bought: 17
Pieces of furniture left to buy: 10
Rugs bought: 0
Rugs left to buy: 6
Lemons picked from my tree: I lost count, but let’s conservatively say 200
Tomato plants planted 3
Tomato plants producing fruit: 2
Tomato plants suffering misfortune: 1
Tomatoes harvested: 15
Compost bins started: 1
Contractors to visit my house (including estimates): 33
Expensive plumbing repairs: 2
Warranty claims: 7
Warranty claims that resolved a problem: 2
Fires burned in either of my two fireplaces: 0
Lessons Learned: 1,000,005

I’ve posted several of my adventures in homeownership along the way, but here are a few of the more important lessons I’ve learned:

Schedule three repair estimates. Only two will show up.

The things that seem vital can usually be put off, and the things that seem like they can be put off will probably irritate you so much that you do them sooner.

Everything is expensive, especially when it comes to plumbing.

Painting a ceiling is really, really hard. Especially when you get the wrong kind of paint. Do yourself a favor and hire a pro.

If your mom informs you that you’re hosting your first Thanksgiving and you don’t have a dining room table, a six-person patio table will do. Just put baby mittens on the legs so they don’t scratch the floor.

Do not hire Mike Diamond. For anything. Ever. Not even an estimate.

Jun

8

DIY or Hire Professionals for House Projects?

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We have a few projects pending on our house and we’re debating whether to DIY them or hire them out. Sometimes, it comes down to cost, and sometimes it comes down to effort. Where do you draw the line?

Curtains
As I’ve mentioned before, I have access to cheap fabric. When we moved into our house, I calculated the cost of making or buying curtains for a very large entrance/window where blinds or other coverings simply won’t work. I did some research and determined that buying curtains would cost over $1000. I could get fabric at $8-10 a yard and make them myself, which would bring the cost closer to $330, including lining and supplies. I decided to make the curtains myself. I’ll keep them simple – just cut and sew straight seams and use clip-on rings. It will take me a couple weekends to make the curtains, but it’s worth it to save $670, at least.

I also bought some gorgeous sheer fabric for another room. This fabric was about the same cost as ready-made panels, but it was gorgeous, so in the end this one is a break-even.

Backyard Steps
We have a hill in our backyard that has three steps at the bottom and one step at the top. In between, there are no steps. From the view, it’s pretty clear that there were steps at one point and they were ripped out. It’s possible the old brick steps had crumbled, but it’s not clear why they weren’t replaced. Especially since our primary storage – the shed – is at the top of that hill.

We priced out the cost of railroad ties and rebar at Home Depot and the materials themselves are fairly affordable. However, the effort would be huge. Home Depot would probably cut the ties for us, but we’d have to rent a truck to get the lumber home, and then we’d have to lug heavy railroad ties to the backyard, drill holes in them, grade the hillside, and hammer the rebar into the ties once they were in place. Since my husband recently had surgery, this job would largely fall to me and my best friend. We’re not wimps, but I think the effort far outweighs the cost of hiring landscapers to build the steps for us, even if the cost is $500.

Sod
Again, we’d have to spend money for a sod roller and spend a great deal of time prepping the lawn to make way for the new sod. Instead, we can hire our landscapers to lay the sod for us. If we buy the sod and have it delivered, that should reduce some of the cost, but it’s possible our landscapers could get a better deal. We also want to install grass plugs at the top of the hill in the back, but that’s a small enough space that we (meaning I) could tackle it.

In the end, it comes down to cost vs. effort and experience. I’ll do a high-effort task that will save me a lot of money if I have the necessary skills. If it’s a high-effort task that I don’t know how to do, and may not save me that much money, then I’d rather hire professionals to do the job. What would you do in these situations?

May

24

Price or Service: Local Nursery vs. Big Box Store

Filed Under Gardening, Home Maintenance | Leave a Comment

As I’ve mentioned before, I have several Home Depots and a Lowe’s near me. Both have garden centers, however I’ve found that I usually prefer to go to the local small chain nursery for plants, even though the prices are higher. Sometimes, the better service and quality is worth the higher prices.

Soil and Compost
If I just need a bag of garden soil, I’ll hit Costco or Home Depot. In this situation, the higher price isn’t justified – the name brands sold at the big box stores are better. However, I like to mix the soil with compost. I’ve found that the nursery’s compost is better – I get a good mix instead of a single-source compost. Ultimately, it’s cheaper to buy the mix instead of several different kinds of compost if I only need a little. Of course, home compost is the best, but mine’s not ready yet.

Planters and Garden Supports
Definitely go to the big box store for these. The nursery will have a similar selection, but the prices will be much higher. One ceramic pot is as good as another, so there’s no reason to pay more. Unless, of course, you’re buying a lot of plants and don’t want to make an extra run to the big box stores. In this case you have to decide whether an extra hour of your time is worth more than the price difference.

Plants
This is one area where I find the real difference. Although the big box stores have decent plants, the plants at the nursery are generally healthier. They may also be locally grown instead of shipped in from out of state. Interestingly, your local insects (especially our greatly suffering bee population) prefer locally grown versions of the same plant to those shipped in from elsewhere. If you plan to plant a vegetable garden, locally grown flowers and plants that attract bees will greatly improve your success with pollination. Depending on the plant, you’ll usually pay anywhere from $1-$5 more at the local nursery, but it might be worth it.

Advice
The local nursery wins, hands down. I can walk into my local Armstrong, which is about two blocks from my house, and ask any of the employees for advice. If they can’t answer, they’ll get one of the managers to help me. Twice I’ve taken in tree leaves to ask for help correcting a problem. They told me exactly what type of food I needed and how to apply it. When I said I didn’t want to use bug spray, they offered other solutions. Try that at a big box store. You might get lucky, but you might have to wander for a while to find someone with enough knowledge to help you.

As another example, I wanted to plant bee-friendly flowers or herbs near my tomato plants. I asked the first guy I saw and he immediately named two plants. As we walked to the plants, he asked me a little more about my goals, then pointed out the plants, advised me on their maintenance, and told me that they didn’t need a lot of water (important in Los Angeles).

Plant Food
The plant food at my local nursery is much more expensive, but it’s also usually organic. When the nursery recommends a food, I usually buy it there the first time, but then I buy it from the big box store when the first batch runs out.

Both types of stores have their advantages, so it’s really a matter of choice. Do you want higher quality or lower prices?

May

13

Homeowner Help: Home Depot vs. Lowe’s

Filed Under Home Maintenance | 3 Comments

I don’t think I’ve spent as much time visiting hardware stores as I have in the last eight months. Our local hardware store is an Ace, which we use for small parts and screws. It’s a bit pricier than the big box stores, but it’s also only a half mile from our house. We also do some garden shopping at OSH. However, our main hardware stores are Home Depot and Lowe’s. The nearest Home Depot is five miles away and the nearest Lowe’s is ten miles away. We’ve found that both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Home Depot vs. Lowe’s Prices
It really depends on what you’re looking for. Some items are cheaper at Lowe’s, others are cheaper at Home Depot. Overall, I’d say that Home Depot is probably cheaper for most of the items we’ve purchased, but not so much cheaper that we’d automatically choose one store over the other.

Customer Service Comparison
Lowe’s customer service is light years ahead of Home Depot’s. While I can sometimes find good help at Home Depot, often I find myself wandering to even find someone who can help. Our local Home Depots seem to have a lot of clueless teens working there. For example, when we moved into our house, neither of our fireplaces had screens. It was August, but we thought we might be able to find something. The kid at Home Depot said, and I’m not making this up, “What’s a fireplace screen?”

When I shop at Lowe’s, there are always knowledgeable people on hand to help me find what I need. If the person I ask doesn’t know the answer, he’ll find someone who does. (Yes, it’s always a man. I’ve never seen a woman anywhere except the register.)

Selection Comparison
In general, Home Depot has more products, but Lowe’s sometimes has a better selection in specific categories. I prefer Lowe’s garden and lighting departments, but Home Depot’s tool and lumber sections are better. Doors and windows are about the same, but Home Depot has more appliances.

Organization
Lowe’s seems better organized. It’s much easier to find items and prices for them. I usually end up wandering around for a while in Home Depot until I find what I need.

Home Depot Coupons vs. Lowe’s Coupons
This isn’t even a contest. Lowe’s wins. When we moved into our house, our real estate agent signed us up for Lowe’s mailing list. In addition to a 20% coupon that was good for three months, we received numerous “project” coupons, usually for 10-20% off. I signed up for the Home Depot coupon new homeowner 20% coupon, which was only good for about two weeks after I received. The store still accepted it, but it was a bit more of a hassle. I signed up for additional newsletters to get more coupons, but they tend to be discounts on particular products I don’t need.

Paint
I found the paint color options at Lowe’s to be much better than Home Depot’s. Home Depot’s colors always seem just a little bit off, and they don’t have a wide selection. Lowe’s has several paint collections and I found several great colors there. They also have small sample pints that are very cheap. I didn’t end up actually buying my paint from Lowe’s, but I had two of their colors paint-matched at our local Benjamin Moore store so I could use Aura paint. Lowe’s green paint colors were the best I found anywhere.

Overall, Lowe’s is better for the new homeowners and small-time DIYers. If you need home décor hardware, Lowe’s is a good choice. If you know exactly what you need or have a big project, opt for Home Depot.

May

11

Should You Replace a Refrigerator?

Filed Under Energy, Home Maintenance | 3 Comments

Last week our new fridge was finally delivered, and this weekend we spent quite a bit of time reversing the door so it swung the right away. So, first, a few tips on determining when it’s time to replace a fridge, and then a few tips on reversing a refrigerator door.

When It’s Time to Replace a Refrigerator
Our apartment refrigerator had been making some rather distressing sounds for several years. A couple times we thought it was on the verge of death, but it chugged on. We held off on buying a new fridge because we were planning to buy a house. We ended up holding off for over three years! Then, because we had to get a cabinet rebuilt before buying a full-sized fridge, we waited another eight months after moving into the house.

When we finally removed the fridge, we learned two things:

  • It was twenty-two years old.
  • The thing cost more in energy than it probably would have cost to replace it four years ago when we started to become concerned.

So, if you’re on the bubble about replacing your refrigerator, ask yourself these questions:

  1. Does it need repair and how much does that cost? A friend of mine paid $300 to have her fridge repaired, while a new one was just $500. Worse, the repair didn’t work, and she still had to buy a new fridge. (She got her repair money back.)
  2. Is it more than ten years old? After that time, the likelihood of repeated breakdowns rises and the energy-saving technology is outdated, if it even has energy-saving technology.
  3. Are you planning to move or remodel the kitchen in the next few years?
  4. Can you get a rebate for buying a new fridge? Our utility offers $35 for recycling our old fridge, and may get $65 for buying a new Energy Star fridge.

Do the Energy Cost Comparison
Our new fridge is 21.9 cubic feet while our old one was about 14.4 cubic feet. Even with the size difference, the new one is significantly cheaper to operate. Use the Energy Star calculator to compare the energy costs of the old fridge to a new fridge. If you could save more than the cost of the new refrigerator in energy savings during the time you plan to own it, it’s probably worthwhile to replace the old one.

For example, our old fridge costs $173 per year to run, while a new one of the same size would cost $43 to run. It would pay for itself in four and a half years (assuming a $450 fridge plus sales tax and $75 delivery fee.)

Our new, larger fridge costs $60 a year to run. We didn’t opt for the ice maker, so I’m not factoring that into our costs. A fridge with an ice maker won’t deliver as great an energy savings over an older model. The energy savings from the new fridge will cover its cost in seven and a half years. Since we plan to stay in the house ten years (or we’ll remodel the kitchen at that point), we’ll sell the fridge with the house and start over with a new fridge.

And Now a Word on Reversing Refrigerator Doors
Ug. This took two hours! The instruction manual and the delivery people made it sound easy, but it was actually rather difficult because the instructions were unclear, and in some cases completely wrong. The instructions told us to simply move the hinge screws over to the other side. After twenty minutes of trying to figure out how that would actually work, we realized we should follow the instructions for removing the door instead.

If you’re planning to reverse a refrigerator door, I also recommend having an electric screwdriver, a thin manual screwdriver, a socket wrench, and a friend to help you on hand. Follow these steps:

  1. Empty the refrigerator door.
  2. Remove any hole covers or screws from the side of the fridge that opens.
  3. Remove the handle.
  4. Remove the hinge bolts on the top of the fridge. Put them in a safe place. You don’t want to lose 15 minutes trying to fish a screw out from under the fridge.
  5. Lift the door off the base hinge. Set it down gently.
  6. Remove the bottom hinge screws.
  7. Move the hinge to the other side and screw it back in.
  8. Put the door back on.
  9. Attach the top hinge.
  10. Attach the handle.
  11. Place the hole covers into the empty holes where the fridge now opens.

Apr

29

How Buying a House on the Wrong Side of the Street Cost Me $5500

Filed Under Home Maintenance | 2 Comments

Already I have an update on our adventure in homeownership, and it’s only getting worse. The problem: the City of Los Angeles is broke and always has been. They can’t afford to maintain the things they’re responsible for, and now it’s costing me $5500. Sadly, if I’d bought a house across the street, I wouldn’t have this problem.

City Trees = Homeowner Headaches
When we bought our house, we didn’t notice that the tree maintenance on our street was lopsided. The city planted trees on the parkway between the street and the sidewalk. Those trees are owned by the city, not us.  The houses on the side of the street with overhead power lines have one-story trees. The houses on our side of the street have three-story trees. It’s the city’s policy to trim the trees near power lines regularly, and trim the other trees once every 7 years. Except they don’t even have the budget to do that anymore, so who knows when the trees will get trimmed.

This causes several problems:

1. Dropped limbs sometimes result in homeowner lawsuits. We have a lot of apartment dwellers parking on our street. A limb fell from an untrimmed city tree and hit one of their cars. They waited too long to sue the city, so instead they sued the homeowner. The homeowner isn’t responsible, but still had to get a lawyer to defend the lawsuit.

2. Untrimmed trees can damage our homes. I live in fear that a strong wind will break off a huge limb and send it crashing into my house. Sure, I could sue the city at that point, but it will take a while to get paid.

3. The trees drop leaves all fall and clutter the sidewalk with droppings in spring. Whose responsibility is it to clean that up? Ours.

4. The trees destroyed the sidewalk. Unmaintained trees break sidewalks. The city has a program where they’ll pay half the cost to fix the sidewalk if we pay the other half, but why should we pay $1300 to fix one small portion of our street when it’s the city’s fault in the first place?

5. The trees destroy the sewer pipes. And that brings me to our story.

Trees vs. Sewer Pipes = Huge Costs
Trees spread as far underground as they do above ground. So, the roots find their way into the sewer lines. The city has determined that homeowners are responsible for the sewer lines, even if they’re on city property (under the sidewalk and street).

Our story went like this:

We knew we had roots in the pipes so we called a plumber to roto them.

The plumber discovered that the pipe from our house is partially collapsed from the roots. So, that was $1775.

They dug a big hole in the yard and discovered that the house line and the city sewer line had been sealed together with concrete.

They then discovered that the sewer line is split in more places and could collapse beneath the street at any time. The problem? The city tree is planted right next to the sewer line and is crushing it.

We have to line the sewer pipe under the street, at a cost of $3720. The upside is that the liner will prevent crushing and future root intrusions. And it will have a 20-year-warranty, so if there is a problem, someone else has to pay for it.

We considered just taking the tree down, but the city requires us to prove repeated repairs before it will permit us to cut down trees they refuse to maintain. They’re considering making us maintain the trees at our cost, but we still wouldn’t be able to cut them down! I’d rather cut it down and plant a new tree in a better location, but it’s not my land.

The Moral of the Story
If you’re looking for a home, inspect the tree heights of the street where it’s located. If the trees on one side are significantly taller than the rest (on average), you may live in a city that doesn’t adequately maintain the trees. Save yourself a headache by buying on the side where the trees are maintained.

Apr

22

Neverending Adventures in Homeownership: Month 8

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It’s been six weeks since my last homeownership update, and already we’ve got loads going on with our house. When it rains, it pours. Fortunately, rain damage hasn’t been one of our issues, but lots of other things have.

Always Take the Part to the Hardware Store with You
It started with a toilet running continuously. I tried tightening the float arm, but that made it worse. So I drove four miles to Home Depot. I’d looked at the part, so I sort of knew what I needed. I tried to explain it to the guy there and he handed me something that looked similar. I got it home and discovered it was completely wrong. Back I went to Home Depot. It turns out they don’t carry the part! They suggested replacing the whole assembly, for $8-11. Instead I went to Ace Hardware, which is blocks from my house. They had the part for $1.99. It took me three minutes to install it. I would have saved two hours driving back and forth if I’d done two things: 1. take the part with me, and 2. go to Ace for small parts. Home Depot doesn’t carry that stuff.

Our Emergency Fund Gets a True Emergency
We’ve been having some plumbing problems for about a month. We knew there were branches in our sewer line, so we finally called a plumber to come rooter them. Yeah, turns out there are branches there, but only because the pipe is collapsed. Fortunately it’s a small section, so it will only set us back $1775, as opposed to the $8-10,000 it cost my friend. We asked if it was past the property line, making it the city’s responsibility, but it turns out the homeowner is responsible to the middle of the street. That’s right, you might have to dig up the city street, but that’s not their problem. I’m thinking really bad words about the City of LA right now.

In addition to that problem, we need a new pressure regulator and something is wrong with the water heater. The first problem could be causing the second one, so we’ll have to see how our home warranty company handles that.

Mike Diamond is a Rip-off
We had an estimate to install a water line from an independent plumber that was pretty reasonable, but we have a maintenance agreement with Mike Diamond from when we had our kitchen pipes replaced at Thanksgiving so we called them to get an estimate. My husband and I had a miscommunication, so he had them come out even though they charge $65 just to give an estimate, and it doesn’t count toward the cost if you have them do the work! That’s rip-off #1. The second rip-off is their inflated prices. After our 15% discount, their quote was 30% higher than the indie plumber’s quote. We ate the $65 loss and will never use them again. I’m now convinced that we didn’t need all the work they did at Thanksgiving and that we paid 30% more than we needed to. They had us over a barrel on that one, and we’ll never make that mistake again.

The Cheapest Contractor Isn’t Always the Best
In addition to all that, we have to get a cabinet in our kitchen elevated to make room for the new fridge. We got an estimate for that in December, but the guy flaked. The first guy who came out last week spent 10 minutes detailing his ethnicity (not that we cared) and giving us a song and dance about getting his own reality show. He started out saying he might not even want the job. I simply gave short answers and let him talk himself into it. He promised to follow-up with a quote, but then he would only give a ballpark. He refused to give us an actual quote unless he knew he was getting the job.

The second quote was from a cabinet company. Their quote was $400 more, but included items the first two had never mentioned and was much more thorough and professional. Even though it costs more, we went with the second company. The first one was too shady.

Apr

5

Save Big Money by Learning Simple Home Repairs

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Now that we’ve lived in our house for several months, problems are starting to crop up. Some will require a handyman or even a major replacement, but others are things I’m learning to fix myself. My husband’s first response to most issues is to suggest calling the handyman, which is weird because his dad was a plumber. My first response is to see if we can fix it ourselves. Usually, it’s faster to do it ourselves, and a lot cheaper. Here are a few examples:

Quick Sink Repairs
The faucet had a slow leak for a few days before I discovered the cabinet under the sink was full of water. I mopped that up and then tracked down the source of the problem. I finally determined, after a few minutes of testing, that it was the connector between the pull-out faucet and the hose. When I unscrewed it, white tape came off. My husband’s best friend happened to be over and confirmed that we needed Teflon tape. We also need a new faucet head eventually because the buttons are cracked, but the tape would fix the leak pronto. Off I went to Ace Hardware. Ten minutes and 89 cents later, the problem was solved. We would have paid the handyman $50 for that.

Toilet Repairs
We have two toilet problems. One is a slow leak, which is evidenced by gasping noises from the tank. We happen to have air bubbles in our pipes right now, which made it very easy to look into the tank and see exactly where the leak is coming from. I consulted our home repair manual and will be buying a new set this weekend to install in our toilet.

The other problem was a clog. A really stubborn clog. Again, my husband wanted to call the handyman, but I didn’t want to pay $50 for a toilet clog. Instead, I consulted the internet. First I tried putting dish soap down the toilet, but that didn’t work. After bailing out the sudsy water, I consulted the home repair manual, which recommended a closet auger (toilet auger). Off to OSH I went, where I also stocked up on gardening supplies. That night, we tried the auger, but couldn’t figure it out. I called my dad, who said to keep trying. Back I went to the internet.

I love the internet. Several plumbers have posted videos showing you how to use the auger. I watched both videos, then returned to the bathroom. It was a struggle, and one of those occasions when three hands really would have been helpful, but I did it.

Cheap Weatherstripping
Our windows had terrible drafts. Again, I consulted the home repair manual to determine my options, then went to Home Depot to buy weatherstripping. It was simple to pop it into place and the room instantly felt warmer. It cost me just about $20 for the supplies and took maybe half an hour.

We could have spent far more getting a handyman in to fix those items, but it’s a lot cheaper to learn to use tools so you can solve them yourself. Especially since most of these problems tend to occur at the worst time – like Christmas. You don’t want to pay for a plumber on Christmas!

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