Harold's Renovation Blog: #64: You’ll Never Believe What We Did… Again

We’ve got some big news this week that you probably didn’t see coming (also: we might be crazy). Plus we share how we were able to pay off our mortgage (!!) and how the groundwork we laid over a decade ago in our first house made it all possible. We also chat about the stuff you should NOT pass down to your kids (there are some surprising things that experts say don’t make good heirlooms anymore) and we cover everything from our first house’s cost to how our mortgage for our third house was actually smaller than our first.

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

Thar she blows, folks: our next project (just one house away from our pink one!). You can hear all about how & why we purchased this in the episode (and how we could afford to make it happen) and we’ll follow up soon with a proper post full of details – and a video tour!
Below is the inspiration picture that helped Sherry picture what it could someday become. See the similarities? This house is certainly grander, but it got the necessary wheels turning in our heads to “see” where we could take it. One of the coolest realizations is that the porch fans and columns are similar to another historic house on our street, so we know they’d fit right in.

(image source)

We also spotted another duplex a couple of blocks away that got us excited for how ours might fit into the town. Picture this one with mint green shutters and doors like this – or maybe wood doors and these shutters? Or maybe this color for the shutters? I’m sure we’ll change our minds for many months to come.

The reason we’re fantasizing about the outside so much is because this is what’s currently staring back at us from the inside. Here’s the main living area on one side of the duplex, followed by a picture of the kitchen (which is currently tucked into what used to be a side porch):

There’s so much more to show you! We’re hoping to make a video tour and share a lot more details in a real post soon!

What’s Not

Here’s the list of 6 Things To Consider Getting Rid Of Before They Become A Burden To Your Kids
As well as a counter-list of 5 “Future Heirloom” Investment Pieces That Are Worth Every Penny

Paying Off Our Mortgage

There are a lot more details in the podcast, like our first house’s cost and how the mortgage for our third house was actually smaller than our first, but here’s a post from 2009 about refinancing our first home’s mortgage. It was a funny (“we plan to live here another 5 years” – ha!) yet fact-happy read even for us. We saved $430/month by refinancing – or, to put that another way, we gained an extra $430 each month to put towards our house’s principle, which helped us make a much bigger dent in paying it off.
Here’s another throwback post about how our self-employed status forced us to buy homes below our means, which is something we highly recommend, along with getting a 15 year mortgage whenever you can.
Another huge part of being able to direct more money towards paying down our mortgage was having a simple backyard wedding (the entire thing was under $4,000) and sharing one car for the last 11 years (just one to buy, insure, and gas up instead of two).
And as promised, here are some other general “money saving” posts (you can browse even more in our Saving Money category):
- How we cut the cable
- How we stay debt free
- 21 things we cut out (or down on) to save money
- Free haircuts for life
- How we chose to cut back on spending (when my old job issued company-wide pay cuts during the economic downturn in 2009)
- And a follow-up to that three months later!
We also shared other money-related tips and info in last week’s podcast (where we interviewed a money coach and shared our top negotiating tips), as well as this podcast about six phone calls that saved us $1500.

We’re Digging

Above are 11 shelf bracket options that Sherry’s into, including the ones we have in our own kitchen: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11
Here’s the OXO Tot Tub Drain Stopper that we use to remedy our old not-capable-of-holding-water tub drains.

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes.

And lastly, a big thank you to Universal Furniture for sponsoring this episode. You can enter to win $10,000 in new dining room furniture at http://ift.tt/2vVGQ48 now through October 16th.