Harold's Renovation Blog: #63: Let’s Talk About Money & How To Spend It Smarter

Who wouldn’t want more money in the ol’ bank account? So we picked a money expert’s brain for the most common places he finds his clients overspending, and for his best tips on making (and sticking to!) an easy household budget – which is definitely the key to saving more each month. Plus we share our not-scary techniques for negotiating with contractors, including how one short sentence has saved us $1500 in the past two weeks. We also dive into the not-so-straightforward process of fixing up our vintage pink stove, and a simple craft idea to keep little hands busy (which is always a good thing).

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you might have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Here’s the original post about our plans for the vintage pink stove we bought for the beach house, and you can see all the crazy wires Sherry mentioned having to navigate with the electrician in the picture below (these normally aren’t exposed, the backplate was removed during repairs)

Also, if you missed our last episode about our freshly paved driveway, you can check out Episode #62 for more on that

Dr. Budgets

You can learn more about Daniel Rodriguez on his website and his Facebook page, and you can download his free e-book: Ten Ways to Save 10K
Here’s the free online budgeting tool he mentioned during our chat (Mint.com)

Since Daniel mentioned cutting the cable a few times, here’s how we did it a few months ago
We also mentioned a few random things like Kroger’s Clicklist, an online grocery ordering service that we talked more about in Episode #41
Also, my “Aqua-tober” month of drinking only water is coming up! We talk more about it in Episode #17.
And not to be out-punned, Daniel practiced “No-Spendtember” last year to force himself on a financial “cleanse”

Oh, and here’s that diet with the containers that we mentioned trying last year: 21 Day Fix

We’re Digging

Here’s one of our phone photos of Moonrise Jewelry’s mermaid-fabric-wrapped canvases. One side of the sequins was gold and the other side was silver, so she could quickly make sparkly abstract art (or draw a tree with her finger like you see on that canvas on the right). The same mermaid fabric was wrapped around the checkout desk – and our kids loved drawing on it.
After our visit we found some mermaid fabric options on Amazon, like this one, this one, and this one which all have multiple color options (the going price seems to be about $20 for a 3 x 4′ piece – which is an awesome size to wrap around a large canvas or bulletin board for a kids room or playroom).
I’m also pretty entertained by this image on one of the listings as a “possible use.” Sherry does love a blazer…

Here’s The Shrunk’s Inflatable Toddler Mattress that we use for traveling. We love its compact size, the included air pump, and the fact that it hasn’t ripped or leaked in almost 4 years of use.

And lastly, a big thank you to Thomas Avenue Ceramics for sponsoring this episode. Head over to http://ift.tt/2mK5jaG to shop beautiful tile that’s delivered right to your door, and to see Sherry’s 10 favorites from their collections (some are pictured below). Also, don’t forget to useYHL20 to score 20% off your first order.