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Mistakes in home buying

February 25th, 2009 at 02:55 pm

During the last 2 weeks I got really behind on recording my spending (but I saved about 70% of the receipts) and now I need to get back on track and feel overwhelmed. And shame.

We spent so much on fast food. We spent so much on things that we could have done without.

Its like buying the house gave us a "reason" to give in to our desire to spend. Not even buy things we have been wanting...just to buy because we could.

We purchased new flooring and bought 10 extra feet "just in case". Now we have an extra box of flooring under the house.

I wanted 1 outlet cover for 1 outlet and bought a whole packet. Now those are in storage.

I went a bit crazy buying paint. At first I bought 2 gallons of paint for a room- got home- hated the color. Went to the store bought 2 gallons of a different color- still didn't like the color. So I bought some samples. Went sample crazy- bought 6 samples @$4 each- then bought the paint I liked by the gallon. Well come to find out each room needs about 1/2 gallon (plaster takes less paint than sheetrock apparently). So I have gallons of unopened paint.

We bought a swiffer for the floor. We were told a different brand would work better and bought that one (it didn't). We still were not getting good results and paid $60 for a steam shark (swiffer with hot steam) and it works GREAT! but now have 2 swiffers hanging in the closet never to be used again.

Stuff like that makes me angry with myself.

8 Responses to “Mistakes in home buying”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1235573991

    Time to sell those items on craigslist! Someone may want them.

  2. lizajane Says:
    1235574674

    Can't you return some of that, especially the unopened box of flooring? Also, I always see at Lowe's reduced cans of paint that I think are those that have been returned.

  3. gamecock43 Says:
    1235575371

    yeah- the policy is "no returning paint unless you raise a big stink"...and in good conscious I cannot raise a stink over my own mistake. And the flooring is not returnable. We have made returns...about $300 in returns- but our spending has been out of control and I don't know where to start in getting back to normal spending sanity.

  4. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1235575591

    Oh, yeah, this is why people always say that there are a lot of expenses associated with a new house.

    Your area is serious termite territory so don't store flooring under the house....Paint will keep a long time, so you might be able to store it and use it on the upstairs apartment. Remember that you can change the color you bought, too. You can add pigments to it. You can either buy the pigments in a tube, or go back to the store and have them add pigment, which they will probably do for free if you have your receipt.

    Hmmm, as you don't have a basement, do you have a backyard storage shed?

  5. gamecock43 Says:
    1235576529

    thank you for the termite tip! I didn't think of that! I'll move it to the guest closet today. No storage shed yet- plans for a garage to be built down the road.

  6. Debtfreeme Says:
    1235582771

    Put items on craig list or free cycle.

    Kepp the wood flooring though. it will come in handy when you might need to repair something some day.

    have you heard about the paint can add ins? it can help lighten or darken a gallon at a time, might work for you.

  7. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1235620086

    What is it they say? The first step in fixing something is admitting it is broken. So, you know you're spending has gone a bit haywire. Now you just have to decide what you want to do about it. Sit and regret the purchases? Or make an action plan of how to decide future household purchases to try and avoid regrets?

  8. whitestripe Says:
    1235620968

    be careful using a steam mop on timber flooring - wood doesnt like water and a steam mop effectively pushes water into the floor. just a tip from someone who's been around timber floors for a VERY long time.

    you can read some more stuff here:
    http://www.alliancefloors.com.au/floor-maintenance/

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