spending money?

[advisemewisely]

how much do you spend on keeping your house looking nice?
weve just had a leak in the kitchen, so have to replace the floor, and its pissed me right off.
i know these things happen, but the floor has only been down 2 yrs

we have been in our house 8 yrs, have replaced, bathroom, kitchen, windows, floors, repainted all rooms, twice, had 2 walls moved.
it seems to be never ending.
and im fed up!

In our 6 yr old house, quite a bit. This year have had the boiler fixed twice, have two leaking bathrooms, broken radiator in loo, new tap for kitchen sink, cooker hood fixed.

Thats without any decoration. Or the new curtains I'm working my way around the house buying.

I always have a wry smile when people buy new houses so they won't have to do anything! There is always something that needs time and money spending on it!

That's home owning for you, I'm afraid. There's always something that needs doing.

i guess it depends to some extent on how much you want to spend and how necessary it is.

we've been here 6 year, we've re-carpeted, replaced bathroom and downstairs toilet, re-painted all rooms except kitchen, had driveway put in and we're shortly starting on the kitchen.

to be fair, we didn't have to do any of that. when we moved in everything was incredibly dated, but basically was live-able with. we chose to replace the bathroom etc

i do know what you mean that it seems never-ending when there are things that you want to change, but ultimately it's a choice you have? apart from when you have leaks and stuff. could you not have claimed on the insurance for the leak?

We have always rented and never have to do repairs. I always smile wryly when people tell me I should get a mortgage and buy a house 'because paying rent is dead money'. They always forget the insurance and the repair costs they have to pay for that I don't.

In the 25 years of renting I estimate my landlords ahve paid roughly 25 - 30% of my rent out in repair/insurance costs every year.

Most people only find out that an house is an expensive thing to own when they get older. That is why so many older people live in big houses that are in a poor state of repair. They just can't afford to maintain them once they stop working and retire.

I've been in my house almost 10 years. Other than replacing the boiler about 7 years ago, I hadn't done anything to it until a couple of years ago when we gutted and redid our bedroom - so had only spent about 3 grand on it. Until now.

Currently mid extension and replacing kitchen. Just been told my radiators all need replacing otherwise boiler will be killed, electrician isn't overly happy about the state of my wiring, paintwork throughout is starting to look awful and I now really hate my green carpets.

I estimate a spend of between 30 and 35 grand on it this year alone

Yes, that's owning a house. But on the plus side, you get to decorate to whatever style you want.

morebeta yes there was rent/insurance but the landlords have then banked 70-75% of your rent. That's not a bad return.

Also the old people/dodgy house is partly to do with not liking change as you get older and not noticing the decay, as much as not having cash.

But yes homeowning is expensive.
OP sounds quite houseproud tho. Repainting the whole house twice in 8 years sounds OTT or that she is really messy!

Surely if you had a leak, and had to replace the floor because of that, it would come out of your household insurance ?

I certainly don't repaint everything twice in 8 years !
We've been in this house 9 years, and I think have almost done all the rooms. The only one done a 2nd time was the stairs, when I realised such a busy route probably shouldn't have been done in the chaep paper I chose.

x-posted with loads!