When should we fix up our homes?

It's difficult to concentrate as I write this. Workers are installing new siding on my house and the hammering is incessant - and hard enough to knock pictures from my walls. The yard is a mess, and the neighbors are not happy with the noise, junkiness, or length of time it is taking to finish. But by the end of the week, the misery will be but a distant memory and I will have a nicer home to look at each time I drive up. 

Not having the ability to travel internationally and thus not needing the funds to finance such travel, I've been doing some needed upgrades to my modest home.

While I had new flooring installed and all the walls painted when I moved in a few years ago, the interior woodwork (doors, baseboards, kitchen cabinets, window frames, etc), were all a sorry-looking dark brown with lots of scratches. On the outside, woodpeckers had found a source of some kind of insect under the wooden siding of the house and  and were pecking ever larger holes in it. Plus most of my neighbors in the attached units of my townhouse had already installed vinyl siding that looked very nice.

After long debate and discovering that my house in this crazy market has appreciated some $60,000 in value since I bought it, I put out bids and had the interior trim and kitchen cupboards painted and siding installed. Despite the inconvenience, I am glad I am having it done now.

I really don't know how long I will live in this small house which I only half jokingly refer to as my "expensive storage locker." There is no mortgage and monthly expenses which include home owners' association fees, insurance, taxes, and utilities average less than $600 a month. I can turn down the heat, turn off the water, ask the neighbor to keep her eyes open for problems, and hop on an airplane, knowing my stuff will be there when I get back.

Yes, like many Minnesotans, my heart is really set on a house on a lake or river (I do have a pond in my back yard.) The pandemic has made cabin costs rise steeply and I recognize that should I purchase a cabin, my costs would be higher and recreational opportunities like participating in group hikes/bike rides and attending theater events will be out of reach. And my discretionary income would go to higher living costs instead of international bike rides or winters in warm climates hostels.

So I will hang on to this place for a while, gritting my teeth while I wait for  travel to really start again. I will be enjoying my newly painted cupboards and hole-free siding for the rest of my residence here.

I have always found it somewhat ironic that people do a lot of improvements to their homes in preparation for selling them - kitchen remodeling, new furnaces, new flooring, etc. Why, I wonder, do we not make these improvements while still living in the home so we can enjoy them as well? Ironically, the next house we buy needs similar upgrades.

Work on your house now and enjoy the improvements...