REUSE, REPURPOSE AND REIN IN YOUR REMODEL

Recently my husband and I remodeled our kitchen and I have never been a happier clam!  

When we first purchased our home, three years ago,  we knew it needed LOTS of work and having plenty of experience remodeling homes, we weren’t daunted by the fact.  However, after we moved in and our priorities changed, the kitchen just sat there, in all its circa 1966 glory and drove me bonkers at every meal. My husband wasn’t as motivated as I was to give it a facelift.  The kitchen was more utilitarian to him. He was more into buying a new tractor, replacing windows, building a barn.  Yes, all necessities, but a kitchen is the heart of a home!  And our heart was in need of a quadruple bi-pass!  Old and faulty appliances, worn-out and dinged-up vinyl floor, buckled formica and plumbing that had been repaired 15 times over...old-man-style.


Since we also want to replace the roof this summer and add in solar panels, we knew the kitchen was going to require some creative use of affordable materials.  Luckily, we both appreciate repurposed/recycled materials and often times find it lends a cool factor.

Since we were on a budget, we wanted a very clear picture of how much we were spending.  Everyday I help property managers and landlords track their property operations, and decided to use the free tools Rentec BASIC offers to keep an eye on our expenses.  How could I resist a FREE web-based solution?  Not only would I have a clear idea of the remodeling expenses, I could prepare for taxes ahead of time by using the custom income & expense categories.   Yay!  (where was this when I was managing my own rentals back in the 90’s???)


There is also this cool drill-down ability to see the detail of particular expense categories, and I really liked this for easily making sure I had posted all of my receipts.


And after it was all said and done, I am sure our investment in a new kitchen not only makes me jazzed, but increased our home’s value.  

Now onto new dining room floors... I think I can sneak them in before the roof!  ;)

________________________________________________________________________________
Janell K. is a member of Rentec Direct, a web-basedproperty management software program offering Landlords and Professional Managers tools for tracking income and expenses,payment processing ,tenant screening andonline advertising.